The Rundown

No Sleep. No Problem? Should you power through a workout after a bad night of sleep? Or hit snooze and skip it? A new paper says exercise may help neutralize the negative health impacts of not getting enough sleep.

China-based researchers looked at data gathered in the United Kingdom from over 92,000 adults aged 40 to 73. These adults spent one week between 2013 and 2015 wearing a wristband that measured their sleep and exercise. Years later, the team tracked the participants’ health outcomes.

As expected, those who slept too little or too much and barely exercised were generally more likely to die during that time period from issues including cancer and cardiovascular disease. Surprisingly, people who exercised a lot did not increase their risk of death, even when they slept six hours or less each night.

The team suggests that doing 150 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity every week may counteract some of the health consequences of poor sleep. An author of the study says, in what has become something of a mantra in exercise science research, “Doing something is better than doing nothing.”

How exactly does working out balance poor sleep habits? The team theorizes that exercise may fight inflammation or help regulate metabolism and sympathetic nervous system activity. Other doctors suggest that poor sleep could contribute to heart disease risk by raising blood pressure and inhibiting insulin resistance and exercise may counter this by regulating blood pressure and increasing insulin sensitivity.

An observational study like this one is not proof that exercise absolutely counteracts unhealthy sleep and one week of data is not necessarily indicative of a person’s habits over his/her entire life. Also, not everyone has the same sleep needs.

What the study does tell us, according to one former president of the American Heart Association, “is that if you can’t manage your sleep optimally right now, you should be scheduling time to get moderate or vigorous physical activity.”

Knock. Knock. Founded by two former athletes, Swiss startup Bearmind wants to protect hockey players from brain injuries with a smart helmet designed to detect and report a knock on its wearer’s head.

The Bearmind helmet, in its current form, looks like a regular hockey helmet with the addition of a small oval module that fits into a receptacle in the back. Inside the module is an inertial measurement unit or IMU, a pressure sensor, battery and Bluetooth module.

When the helmet has any sudden impacts, the module sends the impact data to an app on a coach’s smartphone. The app shows the severity of the impact and compares it to a database of head impacts typically received by hockey players.

If the app concludes that an impact has the potential to cause brain injury, it alerts the coach who can seek medical attention for the player. The app also records the frequency of impacts for specific players.

Bearmind’s founders are working on putting all the sensing hardware directly into the helmet’s padding so there will be no need for an external module.

Extra Point

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The Russian Five. With the NHL playoffs just around the corner, hockey fans might want to check out this award-winning documentary, which follows the stories of five Russian players who were brought to America in the late 1980s to play for the Detroit Red Wings. The new immigrants would lead the team to two championships and change the way North American hockey is played. You can watch The Russian Five here and on fuboTV.

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Speaking of Psychology. Kim Mills hosts this podcast from the American Psychological Association, which tackles interesting topics with guests who are experts in their fields. Recent episodes explore the use of cannabis for pain and anxiety, how procrastinating affects our mental health and the secret to living a happy life.

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Choosing to Run. Des Linden won the Boston Marathon in 2018 during weather conditions so bad that over 1200 runners didn’t finish the race and another 3,000 didn't even show up. Her new memoir chronicles this unforgettable win and offers insight into the life and mindset of a champion, including how she stays motivated to keep showing up.