Spinning: Indoor Cycling for Fitness and Weight Loss

Spin class is a high-energy workout on a stationary bike, set to music and sometimes combined with strength training, yoga, or Pilates.

“We have taken the basic format and made it more of an all-encompassing experience,” says Kevin Burns, a spokesman for the American Council on Exercise and a group fitness instructor in Mankato, Minn. “There is louder music, special lighting, and weights, so we are keeping people engaged and motivated.” 

You probably have heard of runner’s high -- that rush of your body's feel-good chemicals, called endorphins, after a workout. You can get it in spin class, too.

Your instructor should check your bike to make sure it fits. They should also review safety information. Instructors double as motivational speakers or drill sergeants, helping you power through. There is a learning curve, so give yourself time to get the hang of it.

As with any form of exercise, listen to your body. Stay hydrated by drinking water throughout the class.

Music is part of the experience and it can be pretty loud, especially if your bike is parked next to the speakers. Some studios offer earplugs to cyclers who want to turn down or tune out the music.

Is it bad for your hearing? According to Brian Fligor, ScD, the director of diagnostic audiology at Children's Hospital Boston, this depends on how loud the music is and how often you are exposed. “I am a little more concerned for instructors who teach a couple of classes a day, five days a week, than someone who takes a class or two."

“If the sound is under 100 decibels, it likely not causing damage. If it falls below 115 decibels, it may cause temporary, but not permanent damage,” he says. “Once you go over 115, all bets are off and there may be permanent changes in how your ear deals with sound.” If you are concerned, Fligor suggests asking the instructor about the volume or wearing earplugs.

Being part of a pack with your classmates is part of the experience. “We know that people have strong motivation to be part of a group,” says Joshua Ian Davis, PhD, a term assistant professor in Barnard College's psychology department. “The more you are part of the group, the more you can be open to take on group identity. ... I can imagine this being a very compelling experience that you would want to have again and again."

View the original article here

Higher Indoor Humidity Levels Might Slow Flu's Spread

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Feb. 28 (HealthDay News) -- As the flu season continues to pack a punch for some Americans, new research suggests there might be a simple way to reduce the risk for infection in an indoor setting: hike up humidity levels.

By raising indoor relative humidity levels to 43 percent or above, investigators reported that they were able to quickly render 86 percent of airborne virus particles powerless.

The finding is reported in the February issue of the journal PLOS One by a team led by John Noti, a senior service fellow with the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Health Effects Laboratory Division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Morgantown, W.V.

To assess the role of humidity in flu transmission, Noti and his colleagues relied on mechanized mannequins and tissue cultures rather than actual humans.

Placed in a tightly sealed and disinfected model of a hospital examination room, a coughing mannequin served as a flu patient and was outfitted with aerosolized viral solution. The viral solution was projected into the air via five mechanized "coughs," spread out over one-minute intervals.

At the same time, a breathing mannequin (serving as a caregiver) was set to face the coughing mannequin at a distance of a little less than 7 feet. The breathing model was programmed to inhale in sync with the coughing, and aerosol samples of inhaled air were collected at various points around the mouth of the caregiver for up to five hours post-coughing.

Throughout testing, humidity levels were adjusted from a low of 7 percent relative humidity to a high of 73 percent.

The result: the team found that when humidity levels were set to 43 percent, only 14 percent of the virus particles that were released were able to transmit the influenza virus, compared with a transmission rate of 70 percent to 77 percent in a relatively low-humidity environment (23 percent).

What's more, the protective impact of higher humidity levels appeared to be rapid, with the majority of viral inactivation taking place within 15 minutes of when viral particles were first "coughed" into a high-humidity environment.

The study authors cautioned that it remains to be seen whether humidity adjustments can undermine infection risk as effectively in a real-world setting.

If confirmed, however, the protective impact of humidity levels of 40 percent and above probably would be of the most practical benefit in hospital settings, where the ability to protect medical staff by strictly regulating humidity levels would be most feasible.

"I totally buy this," said Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. "It's very hard to prove that lower humidity increases the risk of transmissibility, but it's not surprising because the reasoning makes sense, which is that droplets fall to the ground in high humidity because water travels on dry air, not on water. If you combine airborne viral droplets with water droplets, they fall."

View the original article here