Many things we’ve been told about exercise are just wrong. See if you can identify the tidbits of truth in this interactive quiz about exercise myths.
True, if you wish really hard.“You might lose some weight, but it won’t be the huge weight loss most people are seeking,” said Melinda M. Manore, professor emeritus at Oregon State University, who has spent her career studying nutrition and exercise science.
This one may not be a myth, but we don’t know yet. The words “small study” are the big clue. But “smile!” appears anyway in many lists of trendy exercise tips, where a narrow but intriguing finding has been stripped of all nuance and condensed to bumper-sticker length., published in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise, indicated that smiling seemed to improve running economy by more than 2 percent.
“That’s such an easy, small little win you can get,” said Rider, who directs the college’s Health Dynamics program. “If something as simple as smiling can improve running economy, I’ll take it, and I know a lot of people would.” Drinking too little leads to dehydration, which may hurt performance and can contribute to serious heat illness.