news

As a general rule, regular physical activity is healthy. A research team from the University of Basel has now found that the intensity of the activity impacts the mortality risk. Longevity is all the rage: we all want to live as long as possible while staying healthy. That's why the internet is abuzz with tips on how to achieve this "longevity", be it through fasting, healthy eating, sweat-inducing workouts, yoga or perhaps even meditation.

Zollikofen, 19. Apprentices do better in companies that offer them a diverse range of tasks and the freedom to find their own solutions. Improvements in the quality of in-house training could help to reduce the number of apprenticeship failures by 10 per cent. These are the findings of researchers at the Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training SFUVET.

A free throw in basketball will have every eye glued to one person. It's an intensely stressful situation. A research team led by the University of Basel studied whether a friendly tap on the shoulder increases the odds of making a shot. In difficult situations, physical touch like a hug or a pat on the back can reduce stress.

Cruciate ligament injuries are among the most common injuries in sport. Researchers from the ZHAW and ZHdK have developed the ExerUp game in collaboration with a practice partner to help people return to their previous level of activity in addition to physiotherapy . A movement-based game is designed to support injured athletes after a cruciate ligament injury as part of physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

Researchers show in a new study that a short reflection exercise to boost self confidence increases job search success. This holds true even for the long-term unemployed and people over 50. For many people, losing their job is not only a financial burden but also a psychological one. They are stressed, worry about their social status and begin to doubt themselves.

The more we exercise our endurance, the fitter we become - and so do our muscles. They adapt to the load and are able to perform better for a longer period of time. A research team at the University of Basel has now uncovered fresh insights into these muscle adaptations through experiments conducted on mice.

With the start of the Women's World Cup on July 20, the quality of women's football is once again in the spotlight. In this discourse, a new study provides interesting insights: According to the study, men's soccer is only rated significantly better when the gender of the players is clearly identifiable.

The e-bike is not considered the first choice of sports equipment. In some cases, however, it can be just the thing: An app that enables controlled training is designed to give people with heart problems the necessary security and make it easier for athletic beginners to get started.

Players may not be aware of the severity of head impacts suffered during a game. Bearmind, an EPFL spin-off, has developed smart helmets that provide a series of metrics enabling coaches to monitor the neurological effects of head impacts suffered by their players.

Our working memory stores information for periods of several seconds and plays an important role in academic performance. According to findings from researchers at the University of Basel and Nagoya University, the development of this component of memory in children and adolescents is benefited by exercise - and particularly by types of exercise that require a lot of coordination.

Young people are less satisfied with their lives when they are stressed. Physical activity can counter this by helping to relieve stress. Researchers from the University of Basel found that intrinsic motivation plays a key role in this regard. One in four boys and one in three girls feels stressed during their schooling, a study conducted by Sucht Schweiz in 2019 found.

A study by the Universities of Basel and Saarland shows that there is almost no risk of transmission of the COVID-19 virus on the field. They suggest that blanket quarantine measures for opposing teams are not justified if no close contact has taken place off the playing field. Governments have introduced various measures over the past 18 months in an effort to curb transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

Many cancer patients suffer from anemia leaving them fatigued, weak, and an impaired ability to perform physical activity. Drugs only rarely alleviate this type of anemia. Researchers at the University of Basel have now been able to show what causes the anemia, and that physical exercise can improve this condition.

ETH Zurich Professor Katrien De Bock and her team have discovered a certain type of blood vessel cell in muscles that multiplies rapidly upon exercise, thereby forming new blood vessels. Researchers can use this to find novel therapies for vascular disorders of the muscle. "In industrialised countries, the leading cause of surgeons having to amputate a foot or leg is impaired vascular supply to the muscles of diabetic patients," Katrien De Bock says.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich deciphered the cellular mechanisms through which tendons can adapt to mechanical stresses. People who carry a certain variant of a gene that is key to this mechanism show improved jumping performance. Tendons are what connect muscles to bones.

A premature start in life can cause problems even into teenage years. A study by the University of Basel and the University Children's Hospital Basel (UKBB) indicates that training motor skills in these children helps even when they are older. Children that are born before the 37 th week of pregnancy remain under close medical supervision while they are young.

By exploring the benefits of sport in memory and motor learning, scientists from the University of Geneva are opening up promising perspectives for school programmes and in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease. After an intensive sports session, the memory performance are much better. @DR  If sport is good for the body, it also seems to be good for the brain.

Sporting activities can bring about a long-term improvement in cognitive performance across all age groups. However, the effects differ between men and women, and not all sports provide the same impact. Researchers at the University of Basel and the University of Tsukuba have provided recommendations based on a comprehensive analysis of previous studies.

The neurotransmitter brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) acts in the muscle, so that during strength training endurance muscle fiber number is decreased. Researchers at the University of Basel's Biozentrum have more closely investigated this factor, from the group of myokines, and demonstrated that it is produced by the muscle and acts on both muscles and synapses.

The official ball for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia has received Empa's «OK» after numerous tests. Some goalkeepers may be critical of its flight characteristics, but the reason for their criticism may lie somewhere else - the rather unconventional appearance of the new ball. Football lives on emotions.