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Hard to imagine that 40 years ago a presidential act had to be passed to ensure that "no person ... shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in ... any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." But it did, and that act, Title IX, helped propagate the crazy idea that women should have academic and athletic opportunities equal to men. Celebrate the anniversary of this ground-breaking act by getting out there and joining a ladies' softball league this summer! Or...by participating in that other great American past time, watching movies.

Over at Grantland, Anna Clark has compiled the best films featuring women in sports from the 1930s to the present, revealing how our cinema reflects the status of women's sports today, which is "at once prominent and on shaky ground." Clark provides a good guide for your next trip to your Netflix queue, and a thoughtful take on female athletics, both the athletes themselves (accomplished and talented) and their fanbase (sometimes reluctant-to-nonexistent). I know, it's a little sad. Wait, are you crying? There's no crying in baseball! ("A League of Their Own?" Eh? Anyone?)

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Singapore has one of the longest life expectancy rates in the world (84.96 for women and 79.53 for men), and this video from the Singapore Sports Council shows how some of the country's older citizens are spending their twilight years (keep watching: this tea tête-a-tête is just the beginning).



We love these guys--we're calling them the Singapore Globeshufflers--for reminding us that's it's not about how many miles you can travel throughout your life, but how many three-point shots you can sink along the way.

Find out Singapore's other secret to staying in shape...as well as fitness advice you can steal from four other countries. 

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We've had salt on our minds lately, and not just because it's World Salt Awareness Week (who knew?). Specifically, we've been fascinated by sea salt. It's everywhere: on restaurant tables, in those teensy rustic wooden bowls that look like they came from a dollhouse replica of Chez Panisse; sprinkled on caramels, chocolates and cupcakes; mixed into the Five Ingredient Salad we make several times a week (the other ingredients are Boston lettuce, pine nuts, lemon juice and olive oil). It seems more sophisticated than regular iodized salt, which is more of a condiment than a starring ingredient, and it's more substantial (the crunch!), but what we've been wondering is: Is it healthier?

You'd think so, considering sea salt, which is harvested from evaporated seawater, is more natural and less processed than table salt, which comes from underground mines and is refined and fortified with iodine and anti-caking agents before it reaches us. But we found out that when it comes to sodium, which can lead to hypertension, cardiovascular disease and strokes, the two are identical. The maximum recommended daily sodium allowance is 2,300 milligrams (1,500 milligrams if you're over 50, if you're black, or if you have high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease), and it sounds like the only way to cut back on sodium is to cut back on salt, period. The good news? In our un-scientific experience, we've noticed that when sprinkling on salt at home, the intense flavor of sea salt does cause us to use less of it. 

More surprising health facts

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What's harder to resist than fresh-baked cookies straight out of the oven? Well, nothing, really, but here's some news we never expected: it may be easier to stop eating these types of wonderfully scented treats than it would be to give up something equally delicious but less aromatic. In a new study published in the journal Flavour, people who ate vanilla custard took smaller bites when they smelled a more intense cream aroma. The stronger the smell, the smaller the bite--until the custard had disappeared. Dutch researchers suspect that the aroma made the custard seem more appealing, and also made tasters think that it was thicker and creamier. Perhaps the subjects wanted the custard-eating experience to last, or they wanted to savor every sweet morsel. Regardless, taking smaller bites and chewing more slowly are tactics that have been shown to help people control how much they eat. So when you're overcome with a craving for something sweet, opt for a bakery-fresh treat, or pop a pre-made one in the microwave to activate its portion-controlling aroma.

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Back when I was a serious runner, and my husband was a less-serious but naturally faster runner, we'd usually train together. We'd run intervals in the park, tackle 10ks side-by-side, and go for chatty distance runs on weekends. I tended to be more competitive (probably to an annoying degree). Whenever we had an opportunity to race each other, I'd take it. To my chagrin, he would almost always end up the victor--regardless of whether the challenge lasted for 200 yards or 12 miles. But I've recently learned some new information that could boost my odds of beating Mr. Speedy, thanks to health and fitness writer Gretchen Reynolds.

In her new book, The First 20 Minutes: The Myth-Busting Science that Shows How We Can Walk Farther, Run Faster, and Live Longer, Reynolds pulls together tons of health and fitness studies, correcting misconceptions and turning new research into useful advice (she shares some her favorite ideas in this month's O magazine). Among the many insights in this book, one relatively small factoid especially intrigued me. Reynolds writes about Danish experiments that showed that after both men and women reduced or stopped their workouts, the women didn't lose their training benefits as quickly as the men. The explanation has to do with hormones (doesn't it always, especially when it comes to gender differences?). The study author told Reynolds that estrogen was protecting the women "against fast muscle and collagen loss when she is inactive"--like during pregnancy.

I now have a secret weapon that may help me outrun my husband (once we're both back in race shape): I'm going to challenge him to a sprint after we go on vacation together. Perhaps the R&R will cause him to peter out just a tiny bit--which will be enough to give me the competitive advantage I've been looking for. And honestly, even if he still zooms by me, my new understanding about the female ability to bounce back will ease my guilt about taking a break from exercise.

More surprising ways that women have an edge

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Quick quiz: How often do women need to get checked for cervical cancer? Up until last week, the most popular answer would have been "once a year." But a government-backed panel just issued new guidelines that say that women now only need to get Pap smears once every three years.

The United States Preventive Services Task Force determined that there isn't any evidence to support that more frequent screenings help catch cervical cancer. The government isn't the first group to change its recommendations--in fact, it's one of the last: Cancer groups and others have been urging for less frequent screenings for the past few years. But this basically means the annual Pap will be RIP (of course, these recommendations apply only to healthy women, not those who have puzzling symptoms, an unusual Pap test result or a history of dysplasia, cervical cancer, H.I.V. or other issues).  

Just because you no longer need a Pap smear every year doesn't mean you should schedule your next ob/gyn appointment for 2015. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) gave us four more great reasons to keep up the yearly visits:

1. To assess your lady parts (and other parts). At a typical exam, ob/gyns perform abdominal exams (to make sure the ovaries and uterus feel normal), breast exams and pelvic exams. Beyond your reproductive organs, they also usually check your blood pressure, weight, BMI and pulse. Good ob/gyns have been known to help women with weight problems, bloating, acne and skin discoloration related to hormonal fluctuations.

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Everyone's always telling us to take a walk: We've heard that it will help us lose weight, lower our cholesterol and blood pressure, boost our fitness, improve our moods, sharpen our memories and even help us live longer. But if you didn't already believe that walking is a near miracle cure, you will after reading about this new study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health.

They found that regular walking can change the way our genes work--specifically, our fat genes, reports Time magazine. The researchers observed people who had the type of genes that had been linked to high body mass index, and found that this type of daily exercise was able to tamper the effect of the genes by 50 percent. You'll have to put in some effort: the participants walked briskly for an hour a day. But isn't that worth it to change your obesity destiny? As an added motivation to get up and get outside--like we need one--the researchers noted that sitting in front of the TV can actually trigger those sneaky fat genes to promote weight gain.

We'd just like to thank the good people at the Harvard School of Public Health for sharing this news now, when we can enjoy the delights of spring, instead of telling us to get outside in the middle of a cold, dreary winter.

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In her wonderful memoir 8, Amy Fusselman writes about (among other things--motorcycle riding, figure skating, monster trucks, etc) her relationship with therapy. After years of visiting psychiatrists in the hopes of healing the trauma of childhood sexual molestation, Fusselman writes of her experience visiting a hands-on-healer: Long story short, it helped (though maybe not in the expected way).

I thought of this when I read this article about helping the Japanese people to heal, one year after the tsunami destroyed so many people's homes and killed 19,000 people. According to the New York Daily News, "furry, robotic seals that respond to human touch are being used in Japan to treat depression among survivors of last year’s tsunami disaster. 'Paro' is being offered to people made homeless by the disaster and is offering a much-needed bit of affection with his burbling noises and the appreciative flapping of fins when he comes into contact with people."

How fascinating that just touching something can have such healing powers. For people living in temporary housing in Kesennuma, an area badly hit by the tsunami, the trauma of last spring's storm is still a very present part of everyday reality, and as one woman told the Daily News, "Many of my neighbours don't want to have new pets because they don't want to remember." Enter the adorable robots.

But you don't have to recovering from a life-shattering trauma to experiment with non-traditional healing. We all have days pocked with small-scale wounds—the unsettled aftermath of a friend's unkind words, the lingering adrenaline from a near-fender-bender. Whatever your hurt, try a touch—hugging a friend, stroking a foster kitty, cozying up to an animatronic seal should you find yourself near one—and see, er feel, what happens next.


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Every now and then one of those studies comes out that makes me breathe a sigh of relief, as in, Oh, thank goodness that's not just me. In that vein, I present you with the awesomest study ever conducted: “An Urge to Jump Affirms to Urge to Live.”
Yes, there is finally a name for that strange feeling when you are driving on an icy overpass or walking along a high bridge and feel an urge to jump (or in my case -- disastrously for the myopic -- to throw your glasses). As the Body Odd blog on MSNBC reports, a team from Florida State University’s psychology department investigated this  feeling and termed it "high-place phenomenon."

According to the Body Odd, the researchers thought their study might  "shine light on one of Freud’s ideas, that some people have a 'death wish,' and that some suicides are purely impulsive, absent any sign of depression or even sadness." The post describes how the researchers went about gathering data, and explains why peoples' reactions to anxiety are sometimes more significant than their actual anxiety levels. Their conclusion? Essentially, it's all a miscommunication. When someone with high anxiety sensitivity stands at the precipice of something, she may experience a moment of fear and step back. She then wonders why she stepped back if there wasn't any danger, and her brain concludes there must have been a danger of her jumping.

What a wonderful thing, that brain! And always good to remember how the urge to live carries us along throughout our days—even when we eat what we know we shouldn't, even when we don't sleep enough, even when we push ourselves to the limit, even when we sway for a moment on whatever precipice we find ourselves on—how our brains move us through our lives, whispering "Live! Live! Live!"

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You had the best intentions of going to sleep on time last night to get yourself acclimated to this new Daylight Savings schedule, but when your bedtime rolled around, you were still parked in front of your favorite Sunday Night "unwind shows." Now it's Monday, you're back at your desk, and you're desperately wishing you could turn the clock forward again--9 hours this time, which would put you right back in your bed, where you feel like belong. Here are three easy ways to make the day feel less draggy:

1. Get outside. Soak up some of the early spring sunshine, which will suppress the secretion of melatonin, the body's drowsy-making chemical.
2. Go a little nuts. Cashews, almonds and hazelnuts contain magnesium, which has been shown to help convert sugar into energy (and research has shown that a magnesium deficiency can drag you down). 
3. Choose a spa beverage. (i.e., water with lemon slices). A second (or third, or fourth...) caffeinated drink will set you up for a crash later, and could even keep you up again tonight--which would put you in the exact same position tomorrow. Lemon is a natural stimulant, with a scent that's been associated with slightly boosting heart rate and increasing alertness, and water will keep your body hydrated and your metabolism on track.
4. Do jumping jacks in a deserted conference room. A quick bout of exercise will elevate your heart and perk up your mood. 

Better yet, do all of the above at once: Go for a brisk walk outside to pick up a pack of nuts and a lemonade. And maybe bring some back for the friend who's been nodding off in the cubicle next to you.