Be the Jay Z to her Beyonce. A Swedish study found that singing improves your heart rate variability, making you more resilient to cardiac arrest. And you can warble to your heart’s content in the park. Direct sun exposure boasts BP-lowering nitric oxide.

 

Poor preparation for that extreme race can leave you with something worse than a DNF. Anything over a marathon puts unprecedented stress on your heart – with less prepared runners most at risk, say experts. A study found extreme endurance can raise cardiac risk seven-fold. Ensure that you’ve at least three months to train for your 42k.

 

Hungry: The state you should be in to burn fat without losing muscle on cardio days. Start reducing your pre-run meal size if you want to build a physique like Usain Bolt’s.

 

Fend off the flu the Zen way. Practising yoga can strengthen your immune system, say experts. After a 90-minute session, participants had nearly double their usual amount of a peptide that attacks microbes. The relaxation provided by yoga probably lowers production of the stress hormone cortisol, which then triggers the release of the peptide. 
 

A little prick could perk you up. Acupuncture may be a viable treatment for depression, suggests a new study. Patients with the blues who received acupuncture saw similar mental health improvements as those who had counselling – and felt better after three months than those who stuck to their regular anti-depressant regimen. 
 

Studies found that long-term daily use of “antibacterial” soaps containing triclosan or triclocarban may have more harm than benefit. Not only is there no evidence that these products are more effective at preventing illness compared to plain soap and water, the compounds within also carry possible health risks, such as hormone disruption and antibiotic resistance. 
 

Experts found that chicken isn’t necessarily the main component in fast food chicken nug-gets, especially the white “meat” portion: Some are composed of as much as 50 per cent skeletal muscle, with the rest consisting of fat, blood vessels, nerves, connective tissues and even bone fragments. That will lay our nugget cravings to rest.