The Rundown

Massage Guns & Muscles. If you’ve ever used a massage gun and wondered if it was actually helping muscle performance and pain, recent research out of the UK has an answer.

A team from The Open University conducted a systematic literature review on the effects of percussive therapy (PT) interventions delivered by massage guns on performance in strength and conditioning settings, and on experiences of musculoskeletal pain. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria.

The review found that massage guns can promote an acute response in muscle strength, flexibility and explosive muscle strength when compared to alternative, placebo or no treatment.

The review also indicates that multiple treatments of PT could reduce experiences of muscle pain, but it only takes a single application to have an acute effect on improving muscle performance.

Weighty Issues. Do weighted blankets offer a practical solution to better sleep? A study published in the Journal of Sleep Research investigated if using a weighted blanket at bedtime results in higher salivary concentrations of melatonin and oxytocin compared with using a light blanket.

Twenty-six participants were asked to sleep in a laboratory using two different blankets covering their extremities, abdomen and chest, one hour before and during eight hours of sleep scheduled between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. The weighted blanket was 12.2% of the participants’ body weight. The light blanket was 2.4% of their body weight.

When using a weighted blanket, the one-hour increase of melatonin from baseline to lights off was 32% higher than with the light blanket. No other significant differences were found between the blanket conditions, including subjective sleepiness and total sleep duration. However, the study is the first to suggest that using a weighted blanket may result in a more significant release of melatonin at bedtime.

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Arctic Ascent With Alex Honnold. Free climber Alex Honnold is back with his extraordinary skills in this docuseries that combines an arctic rock climbing exhibition in Greenland with climate research. He uses ropes this time around but it’s no less exhilarating. Arctic Ascent is streaming on Hulu and nationalgeographic.com.

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Finding Mastery. In this podcast, host Dr. Michael Gervais talks to “the greatest thinkers and doers in the world” about human potential, leadership, health and wellness. Episodes feature discussions with Michael Huberman, Toto Wolff, Abby Wambach, Jimmy Chin and more.

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How Women Respond to Strength Training, According to Science. This piece from Outside magazine looks at a recent meta-analysis on the most important variables for determining strength and muscle mass gains in women’s strength training.