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Burn off those calories!

Wynnie Chan

Playing football is healthier than jogging

Call it soccer or football, the message from the University of Copenhagen is clear - it's a healthy sport.

Michael Krustrup from the university's Institute of Exercise and Sports Science followed a football team of 14 members aged between 20 and 40 years old over 12 weeks.

The players were tested for general fitness, muscle mass, percentage of body fat, blood pressure and balance. A group of joggers were also tested alongside the soccer players.

Professor Krustrup's researchers found that an hour of football training two or three times a week produced substantial improvements in health. Muscle mass went up and general fitness improved, while body fat and blood pressure decreased.

These improvements in health were greater than those achieved by the group of joggers who also trained two or three times a week.

After three months, the football players had lost 3.5kg of fat and gained 2kg of muscle mass. The joggers lost 2kg of fat and didn't gain any extra muscle.

The researchers pointed out that football involves walking, running and sprinting. It is this constant shift in movement that leads to better overall improvements in health.

Get rid of the germs

We carry between 10,000 and 10 million bacteria on each hand. Washing your hands frequently is a good habit, but many people don't.

Think about it: your hands touch lots of contaminated surfaces throughout the day. Infectious diseases are typically spread by direct contact. If you don't wash your hands, you can infect yourself by touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

The most effective way to reduce the amount of harmful bacteria is to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.

But what if you don't have access to a bathroom?

Alcohol gels or hand sanitisers do the same job, killing both viruses and bacteria.

The most effective solutions contain between 60 and 95 per cent alcohol.

Health experts say higher concentrations of alcohol don't work as well because bacteria and viruses are made of proteins, which can't be destroyed without water.

So do yourself and others a favour. Prevent the spread of infectious diseases by washing your hands.

How often do you wash hands before handling food?

All the time

Most of the time

Some of the time

Never

Don't handle food

Male

65%

22.6%

12.2%

0.8%

3.9%

Female

74.0%

18.3%

5.3%

0.5%

1.9%

Source: 2047 people surveyed as part of the 2006 Department of Health's Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance Survey

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