The implications of Ramadan fasting for human health and well-being

Islamic Ramadan is a 29-30 day fast in which food, fluids, medications, drugs and smoking are prohibited during the daylight hours which can be extended between 13 and 18 h · day(-1) depending on the geographical location and season. The majority of health-specific findings related to Ramadan fasting are mixed. The likely causes for these heterogeneous findings lie in the amount of daily time of fasting, number of subjects who smoke, take oral medications, and/or receive intravenous fluids, in the type of food and eating habits and in changes in lifestyle. During Ramadan fasting, glucose homeostasis is maintained by meals taken during night time before dawn and by liver glycogen stores. Changes in serum lipids are variable and depend on the quality and quantity of food intake, physical activity and exercise, and changes in body weight. Compliant, well-controlled type II diabetics may observe Ramadan fasting, but fasting is not recommended for type I, noncompliant, poorly controlled and pregnant diabetics. There are no adverse effects of Ramadan fasting on respiratory and cardiovascular systems, haematologic profile, endocrine, and neuropsychiatric functions. Conclusions: Although Ramadan fasting is safe for all healthy individuals, those with various diseases should consult their physicians and follow medical and scientific recommendations.     

对教师体育观念与体育锻炼的认识与分析

采用问卷调查法和访谈法，对荆门市区中小学教师和中专教师的体育观念、参与体育锻炼的方式和场所等进行了分析，发现大部分教师的体育价值观念以及对体育锻炼的认识是正确的。建议各中小学及中专学校在加大体育健身宣传的同时，应适当加大体育经费的投入。     

蛋白质在运动中的作用

由于运动而引起的代谢过程加强，蛋白质所起有作用主要在两方面：一是不同项目、不同负荷的运动对蛋白质和不同种类氨基酸的需要量不同；二是合理有效的蛋白质组成和大负荷的运动训练，能改变身体的营养成份，并对力量和耐力成绩造成影响，过量摄取蛋白质的非营养性作用在于它潜在的危险性。     

The effects of Ramadan intermittent fasting on athletic performance: recommendations for the maintenance of physical fitness

The behavioural modifications that accompany Ramadan intermittent fasting (RIF) are usually associated with some alterations in the metabolic, physiological, and psychological responses of athletes that may affect sport performance. Muslim athletes who are required to train and/or compete during the month-long, diurnal fast must adopt coping strategies that allow them to maintain physical fitness and motivation if they are to perform at the highest level. This updated review aims to present the current state of knowledge of the effects of RIF on training and performance, focusing on key-factors that contribute to the effects of Ramadan on exercise performance: energy restriction, sleep deprivation, circadian rhythm perturbation, dehydration, and alterations in the training load. The available literature contain few studies that have examined the effects of RIF on physical performance in athletes and, to date, the results are inconclusive, so the effects of RIF on competition outcomes are not at present wholly understood. The diverse findings probably indicate individual differences in the adaptability and self-generated coping strategies of athletes during fasting and training. However, the results of the small number of well-controlled studies that have examined the effects of Ramadan on athletic performance suggest that few aspects of physical fitness are negatively affected, and where decrements are observed these are usually modest. Subjective feelings of fatigue and other mood indicators are often cited as implying additional stress on the athlete throughout Ramadan, but most studies show that these factors may not result in decreases in performance and that perceived exercise intensity is unlikely to increase to any significant degree. Current evidence from good, well-controlled research supports the conclusion that athletes who maintain their total energy and macronutrient intake, training load, body composition, and sleep length and quality are unlikely to suffer any substantial decrements in performance during Ramadan. Further research is required to determine the effect of RIF on the most challenging events or exercise protocols and on elite athletes competing in extreme environments.     

民族传统体育培养目标的历史沿革与现状

结合国家教育方针,以高等教育改革的总目标为指导,采用资料分析、对比研究、逻辑分析等研究方法,从社会发展和历史演变的角度,探寻不同时期我国民族传统体育人才培养目标的主要特征,分析当今我国各体育院系民族传统体育人才培养目标的现状。旨在客观而准确地认识过去、把握现状,为民族传统体育人才培养目标及时而有效地进行调整提供依据和参考。     

Energy balance and body composition in sports and exercise

Many athletes, especially female athletes and participants in endurance and aesthetic sports and sports with weight classes, are chronically energy deficient. This energy deficiency impairs performance, growth and health. Reproductive disorders in female athletes are caused by low energy availability (defined as dietary energy intake minus exercise energy expenditure), perhaps specifically by low carbohydrate availability, and not by the stress of exercise. These reproductive disorders can be prevented or reversed by dietary supplementation in compensation for exercise energy expenditure without any moderation of the exercise regimen. Energy balance is not the objective of athletic training. To maximize performance, athletes strive to achieve an optimum sport-specific body size, body composition and mix of energy stores. To pursue these objectives, athletes need to manage fat, protein and carbohydrate balances separately, but it is impractical for athletes to monitor these balances directly, and appetite is not a reliable indicator of their energy and macronutrient needs. To guide their progress, athletes need to eat by discipline and to monitor specific, reliable and practical biomarkers of their objectives. Skinfolds and urinary ketones may be the best biomarkers of fat stores and carbohydrate deficiency, respectively. Research is needed to identify and validate these and other markers.     

大众终身体育活动浅析

终身体育活动直接关系到身体锻炼的连续性、持久性、长效性,本文对大众终身体育活动若干问题进行初步探讨。     

Use of deterministic models in sports and exercise biomechanics research

A deterministic model is a modeling paradigm that determines the relationships between a movement outcome measure and the biomechanical factors that produce such a measure. This review provides an overview of the use of deterministic models in biomechanics research, a historical summary of this research, and an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of using deterministic models. The deterministic model approach has been utilized in technique analysis over the last three decades, especially in swimming, athletics field events, and gymnastics. In addition to their applications in sports and exercise biomechanics, deterministic models have been applied successfully in research on selected motor skills. The advantage of the deterministic model approach is that it helps to avoid selecting performance or injury variables arbitrarily and to provide the necessary theoretical basis for examining the relative importance of various factors that influence the outcome of a movement task. Several disadvantages of deterministic models, such as the use of subjective measures for the performance outcome, were discussed. It is recommended that exercise and sports biomechanics scholars should consider using deterministic models to help identify meaningful dependent variables in their studies.     

Use of deterministic models in sports and exercise biomechanics research

A deterministic model is a modeling paradigm that determines the relationships between a movement outcome measure and the biomechanical factors that produce such a measure. This review provides an overview of the use of deterministic models in biomechanics research, a historical summary of this research, and an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of using deterministic models. The deterministic model approach has been utilized in technique analysis over the last three decades, especially in swimming, athletics field events, and gymnastics. In addition to their applications in sports and exercise biomechanics, deterministic models have been applied successfully in research on selected motor skills. The advantage of the deterministic model approach is that it helps to avoid selecting performance or injury variables arbitrarily and to provide the necessary theoretical basis for examining the relative importance of various factors that influence the outcome of a movement task. Several disadvantages of deterministic models, such as the use of subjective measures for the performance outcome, were discussed. It is recommended that exercise and sports biomechanics scholars should consider using deterministic models to help identify meaningful dependent variables in their studies.     

Motivational priming as a strategy for maximising exercise outcomes: effects on exercise goals and engagement

Abstract

Using a scrambled sentence priming protocol, the first aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in novel exercise-related goals existed between participants primed with motivational or non-motivational material (i.e. autonomous, controlled or neutral primes). The second aim was to explore whether an indirect effect was present between priming condition and the goal-related exercise sessions that individuals performed over the week following administration of the prime. No effects were observed across priming conditions with respect to subjective vitality, goal concordance and the frequency with which participants planned to exercise. However, autonomy-primed individuals set goals for their exercise sessions that were significantly longer in intended duration (M = 57.72 min, SD = 37.42) than those set by their counterparts in both the controlled-prime condition (M = 44.12 min, SD = 27.78) and the neutral-prime condition (M = 37.10 min, SD = 20.47). Bootstrapped analyses also revealed a significant indirect relationship between prime and exercise behaviour, with the autonomy prime predicting longer goal-based exercise sessions, via the effect on the duration of participants’ intended exercise sessions. These findings highlight the potential influence that priming autonomous motivation may have on individuals’ exercise aspirations, as well as the way in which primes may indirectly shape exercise engagement.     

广州市商品住宅小区体育设施建设与居民健身状况的研究

商品住宅小区是未来城市居民的主要居住形式，小区内的体育设施建设和居民健身状况将是社会体育工作研究的重点课题之一。商品住宅小区内的体育设施建设应在种类和数量上再有所增加；场地出租价格再有所降低，为居民健身提供更多的便利；广大体育工作应当走入小区，与发展商和物业管理部门配合，积极地引导小区居民开展运动健身。     

环太湖地区经济变迁与体育旅游发展的思考

通过调查研究发现,环太湖地区人们对体育旅游的认知度还不够高,市场开发体系还不够健全,“环太湖体育圈”规划还不够完善,缺乏经营人才与特色品牌。提出了健全体育旅游市场的开发和促销体系及“以人为本”的管理体系,确立环太湖地区体育旅游发展的品牌与“人才兴区”战略。     

环京津地区居民体育旅游影响感知度研究

以研究环京津地区居民对体育旅游的社会文化、环境和经济影响的感知程度为目的,运用文献资料法、问卷调查法和主成份分析法得出：环京津地区居民对体育旅游的社会文化、环境和经济影响的正面感知一致性较强,不同年龄、性别、文化程度的居民,对体育旅游认知度不同的居民,旅游地与非旅游地的居民,居住时间长短不同的居民对体育旅游的社会文化、环境和经济影响的感知程度存在一定差异。     

“环首都体育休闲圈”旅游项目开发研究

针对河北省提出的建设"环首都体育休闲圈"的战略构想,在分析当前我国体育休闲产业发展趋势,河北省体育休闲旅游项目资源整体分布的基础上,提出"环首都体育休闲圈"旅游项目开发策略:进行转变思想观念,突出区域项目特色.打造特色体育休闲项目品牌;建立多层次的休闲体育项目体系;提高体育休闲企业服务质量;大力培养体育休闲方面专业人才.     

论大众健身操与都市体育文化建设

通过对大众健身操在都市开展的意义和现状的分析,提出只有建立大众健身操网络,加快培训社会专业指导员的步伐,积极采取措施、创造条件、开发场所,同时加强与大学的区域合作,以奥运会为契机,努力营造大众健身操的化氛围,才能有利于加强都市大众健身操化的建设与管理。     

竞技体育专项训练特征及其运动训练学分析

从运动训练学角度,对专项训练多周期年度训练计划特征、专项训练的运动生理学特征、专项训练方法评价的特征进行阐释,旨在为提高运动员的专项成绩提供参考。     

Sleep in athletes and the effects of Ramadan

Sleep is now considered as a new frontier in performance enhancement. This article presents background content on sleep function, sleep needs and methods of sleep investigation along with data on the potential effects of Ramadan fasting on sleep in normal individuals and athletes. Accumulated sleep loss has negative impacts on cognitive function, mood, daytime sleepiness and performance. Sleep studies in athletes fasting during Ramadan are very rare. Most of them have demonstrated that during this month, sleep duration decreased and sleep timing shifted. But the direct relation between sleep changes and performance during Ramadan is not yet elucidated. Objective sleep patterns can be investigated using polysomnography, actigraphy, and standardised questionnaires and recorded in daily journals or sleep logs. The available data on sleep indicate that team doctors and coaches should consider planning sleep schedule and napping; implementing educational programmes focusing on the need for healthy sleep; and consider routine screening for sleep loss in athletes of all age groups and genders.