Philippine Nurse | 2008 Nursing Board Exam Results NLE

Joggers have it made. Not only do they tend to weigh less, be nonsmokers, have fewer chronic health problems and enjoy better overall health than their non-jogging peers, they have stronger bones as well.

These are the findings of a recent study of 4,254 black, Mexican-American and white males that took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Those who reported jogging at least once per month (about 900 men) had higher bone density than their sedentary counterparts. And those who jogged nine or more times per month had the greatest bone density.

In this case, more may not necessarily be better, as those who reported jogging 20 or more times per month had about the same bone density as less frequent joggers.

Apparently, stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of leg injury during workouts.

Australian researchers recruited 1,538 men in the army and randomly assigned them to stretch or non-stretch groups.

Over the course of 40 sessions of physical training in 12 weeks, both groups started with warm-up exercises, but the stretch group also did additional 20-second stretches of the main leg muscles for a total of five minutes of stretching.

The researchers did not find a significant difference in the number of leg injuries reported between the stretch and non-stretch groups.

What did make a difference was the men's level of fitness and age.

The five-minute stretching time used in this study may have been too short to result in benefits; still, the best way to prevent injury of any kind is to exercise consistently enough to stay fit.