Men's Health Australia

menshealth.com.au Men's Health Australia @MensHealthAU @menshealthaustralia EARLY LAST YEAR I received a text from a friend telling me he'd started playing pick-up basketball again . . . at 6am on Saturday mornings. Initially I recoiled. For me, dawn on Saturdays is a sacred timeslot dedicated to slumber. A sleep-in, at least until 7, when my five-year-old daughter wakes up, is not something I give up lightly. And yet . . . the seed had been planted. Maybe I could get up at 5.45 to make it to the court by 6? I hadn't played pick-up since before the pandemic. Now in my late 40s, if I didn't get back into it now another three to five years might disappear. Heck, I thought, it might be now or never! (Yes, my…

THE BIG QUESTION Q Do any of those ‘hydration’ supplements actually work? – TC Technically, yes, but you need to know how to use them. Makers of powdered products in this space claim their concoctions rehydrate the body faster than water alone by providing a balance of electrolytes such as sodium and potassium, sometimes along with glucose. These products can be effective for rapidly rehydrating the body, but they are not a substitute for drinking water. “Being hydrated means having enough water to function correctly,” says dietitian Dezi Abeyta. “Although it varies, your daily water intake should be a minimum of eight standard glasses of water. But this can also include water in food, such as fruits and vegetables.” Feeling thirsty or tired or having a dry mouth, dark-yellow urine or…

Q This girl is more into me than I'm into her. How can I break things off smoothly without ghosting her? – MU Becky: Well, firstly, I'm happy to hear that you don't want to ghost her. That's a tick. Jess: Straight up: be honest about how you feel. And nowish. The best way not to ghost is not to ghost. Becky: I think how you do it depends on how long you've been seeing her, too. A few weeks? A nice text or phone call is fine. A few months? Definitely in person. Jess: I think technology makes it easy for people to be dickheads. The easy option is just to block someone – to avoid the awkwardness. But I think you owe this person a conversation. Becky: And give her…

A CUPPA DOES IT ALL. The staple of cheap and cheerful cafes and upmarket tea rooms alike is a pick-me-up that can also calm us down. That might go some way to explaining why the average Australian drinks 9.5 cups of the stuff each week. George Orwell certainly knew its value: he called tea “one of the mainstays of civilisation”. It's also good for you. Matcha, yerba maté et al might be hot property in health shops, but studies have shown that normal breakfast tea can benefit the immune system, lower inflammation and reduce your risk of developing heart disease. Now, a Chinese meta-analysis of research, involving more than one million people from eight countries suggests frequent tea breaks could also help to tackle type-2 diabetes. It's a timely finding.…

OXYGEN IS SO ESSENTIAL to human life that just four minutes without it can result in irreparable brain damage – and a further four can kill you. So what madness is the growing trend of intermittent hypoxic training (IHT), a form of exercise that involves deliberately denying yourself the amount of oxygen you need? Sometimes, less really is more. Many top-flight athletes subject themselves to environmental stress to earn a competitive advantage; boxers, for instance, often train inside lowoxygen tents. A study in High Altitude Medicine & Biology found that IHT boosts performance by increasing levels of the hormone erythropoietin, related to the production of red blood cells. In essence, restricting oxygen while training helps you process it better under normal conditions, which can enhance your sprints, endurance and the…

1/ Up In Arms Far from wasting energy, purposefully pumping your arms back and forth as you run will boost both the metabolic benefits and efficiency of your efforts*. Swing and you're winning. 2/ Get Down A 2020 study found a 30-minute downhill running workout helped athletes feel less fatigued during a flat-ground run two weeks later*. Try it: throw on New Balance's FuelCell Propel v4 for max comfort and traction. ($180; newbalance.com.au) 3/ Hard And Fast Short on time? Concentrate your cardio into eight 20-second bite-sized sets at high intensity, resting for 10 seconds between each, for fast improvements to your oxygen uptake*.…