news 2021

Appealing to athletes' sense of 'future guilt' through psychological intervention could prove a powerful weapon in the fight against doping, according to a new study. Researchers discovered that making elite athletes picture how guilty they might feel about using banned performance enhancing drugs produced a more powerful initial reaction than initiatives educating sportspeople about the health risks of doping.

Researchers have developed a mathematical model that can predict the optimum exercise regime for building muscle. Surprisingly, not very much is known about why or how exercise builds muscles: there's a lot of anecdotal knowledge and acquired wisdom, but very little in the way of hard or proven data Eugene Terentjev The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used methods of theoretical biophysics to construct the model, which can tell how much a specific amount of exertion will cause a muscle to grow and how long it will take.

The landmark, University of Glasgow-led research into lifelong health outcomes in former professional footballers, the FIELD study, has revealed further major insights into the link between football and risk of dementia. In findings published today in the journal JAMA Neurology, researchers report that risk of neurodegenerative disease in former professional footballers varies by player position and career length, but not by playing era.

A new study from the University of Bath finds that conductive seams, when strategically placed in clothing, can accurately track body motion. Last updated on Friday 2 July 2021 When positioned strategically, garment seams sewn with conductive yarn can be used to accurately track body motion, according to computer scientists at the University of Bath.

An international team of scientists from Manchester, Montpellier and Copenhagen have identified why some endurance athletes experience a heart rhythm disturbance called 'heart block'. The University of Manchester-led study found that long-term exercise in retired racehorses - the best available model of the athlete's heart - and in mice, triggered molecular changes in a part of the heart known as the atrioventricular (or AV) node.

Researchers at CAMERA are investigating VR technology to help improve balance and prevent falls. Last updated on Wednesday 28 April 2021 Researchers at the University of Bath investigating how virtual reality (VR) can help improve balance believe this technology could be a valuable tool in the prevention of falls.

New findings published today in the journal JAMA Network Open show that teenage girls playing football are at almost double the risk of concussion compared to teenage boys. Teenage girls are also less likely to be removed from play and take longer to recover from the injury than their male counterparts.

Alzheimer's Society is delighted to announce that former world-leading rugby players, Shane Williams and Ben Kay, have signed up to a large-scale Alzheimer's Society funded study. The research will look at important and unanswered questions, such as whether elite rugby players show more early warning signs of dementia than the general population, and if so, why this is the case.

Taking regular physical activity cuts the risk of dying from infectious diseases, such as Covid-19, by 37% and reduces susceptibility to such viruses by 31%, finds a new global study involving UCL researchers. The research, published in Sports Medicine journal, also found that physical activity can boost the effectiveness of vaccines by up to 40%.

A University of Birmingham-led study of top-flight UK rugby players - carried out in collaboration with the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, and Marker Diagnostics - has identified a method of accurately diagnosing concussion using saliva, paving the way for the first non-invasive clinical test for concussion for use in sport and other settings.

Two new studies from Bath physiologists find that the biggest predictors of people's ability to burn fat are their biological sex and fitness levels. Last updated on Tuesday 16 March 2021 Females who are fit and healthy tend to burn more fat when they exercise than men, according to new research from a team of sports nutritionists.