 onventional
wisdom tells us that a 5- to 10-minute cool-down period after exercising
is, at the very least, a good thing to do. But there’s no
hard science behind this idea, says Hirofumi Tanaka, an exercise
physiologist at the University of Texas, Austin.
Then why is cooling down so enshrined in fitness literature and
training lore? At the gym, it’s even built into some exercise
equipment.
If
you want to take a good nap
The Division of Sleep Medicine at the Harvard Medical
School suggests:
Keep it short, 20–30 minutes. Long
naps can make you groggy.
Find a dark, quiet, cool place. You’ll
go to sleep faster.
Plan on it. Don’t wait until you’re
nodding off, especially on the road.
Time your caffeine. Coordinate coffee/tea
intake with your nap.
Don’t
feel guilty. The well-timed nap can make
you more productive. |
|
Apparently, the notion
arose years ago as part of a popular theory that muscles get sore
after exercising because they have accumulated lactic acid. This
theory has been shown to be wrong, and the generation of lactic
acid during a workout is now seen as a plus, unrelated to muscle
soreness.
Even so, the need for a cool-down after exercising stuck in the
public mind, and “it’s an idea we can’t get rid
of,” says Carl Foster, exercise physiologist at the University
of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
As far as muscle soreness goes, cooling down does nothing to make
it better, says Dr. Tanaka. That was also the conclusion of a South
African study of healthy adults who were randomly assigned to simply
stop their workout or cool down for 10 minutes.
But physiologists do agree that there’s one group who could
benefit from a cool-down: well-trained athletes who exercise intensely
and for very long periods. 
—Adapted from
The New York Times
What’s so great about winter squash?
(click)
More
on the health impact of red and processed meats (click)
Post-exercise
cool-down may not be necessary (click)
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