Football, beer, poker … yoga?

Let’s face it. In our country, yoga doesn’t exactly top the list for macho, masculine activities even though the practice was designed for men thousands of years ago. But several male yogis are working to make yoga more accessible (and possibly more culturally acceptable) for men.

Last month, we told you about Activation: Yoga Conference for Men, which took place Nov. 11-13 in San Francisco. Last week, an article in the Boston Globe examined a different type of yoga geared toward men. BROga (the word combines the words “bro” and “yoga”) is strongly based on the physical aspect of yoga and shies away from using Sanskrit terms and the esoteric, less familiar parts of yoga.

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Tired of throwing a traditional holiday party for your employees? You know, those that involve appetizers, drinks, and standing around conversing? If you are the boss or in charge of your offices party planning committee, now is the perfect time to flex your authority muscle and throw an outside the box holiday party this year.

Most work places are notorious for unhealthy eating and offer little in the way of physical activity. By being innovative and creative and offering healthier alternatives for employees, you can cut down on company costs for sick and absent days and improve the health of your employees.

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Eat Until You Are Pleasantly Satisfied, Then Stop

One of the turning points in my awareness of my relationship with food happened when I cooked an apple crumble for pudding for myself and a naturally slim friend.

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Nov. 29, 2011 (Chicago) — Using your head in soccer may not always be the best thing.

Regularly hitting a soccer ball with your head — even just a few times a day — has been linked to traumatic brain injuries, researchers report.

In a preliminary study, 32 amateur soccer players who “headed” the ball more than 1,000 to 1,500 times a year, the equivalent of a few times a day, had abnormalities in areas of the brain responsible for memory, attention, planning, organizing, and vision.

Young men who headed the ball less frequently did not show these abnormalities on brain scans, according to the study, presented here at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

A previous study of the same 32 amateur soccer players also showed that those who headed the ball more than 1,000 times a year scored worse on tests of memory and reaction time, says researcher Michael Lipton, MD, PhD, associate director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y.

“The new study shows that there may be a safe range where you can head the ball without adverse consequences to the brain,” Lipton tells WebMD.

Until more soccer players are studied for longer periods of time, however, “we don’t have enough evidence to say ‘XX’ amount of heading is absolutely bad for you.

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