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Today’s Health Upgrade
A counterintuitive approach to knee pain
How to reprogram your memories
Is it healthier to eat breakfast?
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Fitness
Knee Pain? Maybe Don’t Go Too Easy
When you get injured, the natural response is to back off exercise. But that might be the opposite of what your body needs.
A new study found that adding resistance training might be the fastest way to restore function and improve quality of life for people struggling with knee pain and osteoarthritis.
The findings weren’t based on a single study but a review of 12 randomized controlled trials, which examined the effects of three types of resistance training on solving knee issues. It didn’t matter whether it was isometric (holding resistance), isotonic (moving through a full range of motion), or isokinetic (moving at the same speed while resistance changes) — every type of resistance training led to improvements.
The researchers found that a little bit of weight training can reduce pain, improve physical function such as mobility and balance, and reduce symptoms of osteoarthritis such as joint stiffness and discomfort.
Knee osteoarthritis is one of the most common joint conditions, affecting millions worldwide. It’s not just about pain—it’s about losing the ability to move freely, enjoy physical activity, and maintain a high quality of life.
If you’re suffering from knee pain, working with a physical therapist or doctor to diagnose the injury and build a plan is best. But don’t assume rest is the fastest way to restore function; a little movement might be your best medicine.
On Our Radar
How Music Reprograms Your Memories
What if your favorite playlist could rewire your memories?
A new study found that the type of music you listen to doesn’t just influence how you feel—it can change how accurately you remember emotional events.
Music has been shown to have the power to alter emotion and motivation significantly, but the latest study added a new wrinkle. Scientists explored how listening to different types of music affects the recall of past experiences.
By using brain scans, it appears that the tone of music reframes your memories to match the mood of music. In other words, if you’re listening to happy music while trying to remember a past event, you can recall it as being more favorable or enjoyable than it was.
That’s because when you listen to music, the parts of your brain that also control memory and emotion get triggered, and the wires can get crossed. This study underscores how external factors—like music—can shape how we feel and how accurately we remember.
While more research is necessary, music-based interventions could help with the treatments of mental health disorders, depression, or PTSD.
Or, if you are having a bad day or struggling with past experiences, the right type of music could help shift your mood or change your perception of what happened during the day.
Reader Q&A
Is It Healthier To Eat Breakfast?
Breakfast has long been touted as the most important meal of the day. It gives you a head start on the day’s nutrition and energy, and some evidence suggests eating more during the morning and less at night can help support a healthy circadian rhythm, which is conducive to better health and well-being.
However, new research suggests that eating breakfast is a choice and not objectively healthier than skipping your first meal of the day.
The scientists analyzed 11 different studies that compared breakfast eaters to breakfast skippers. “Breakfast” was considered a first meal before 10 am, regardless of what was in the meal.
Skipping breakfast did not affect most health markers, including blood pressure, blood sugar levels, insulin sensitivity, or triglyceride levels.
On the surface, skipping breakfast appeared to provide a fat loss advantage, as those who missed the first meal lost an additional 1.5 pounds compared to breakfast eaters — but there was a catch.
The fat loss advantage of skipping breakfast only occurred in studies that lasted less than 4 weeks, suggesting that the weight loss was temporary and resulted from drastically cutting calories by removing a meal.
These studies didn’t control for the type of breakfast the participants ate or skipped, which can include sugary breakfast cereal, eggs and yogurt, oatmeal and fruit, and many other foods. Not accounting for the healthfulness of breakfast is an essential limitation because it can significantly influence what you eat the rest of the day.
At the very least, though, this study suggests that claims about the necessity of breakfast are likely overblown, so if you can’t stomach breakfast, don’t beat yourself up.
Instead, focus on consistency. Your overall eating pattern matters more than one meal.
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
