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Short bouts of intense exercise could be the key to staying in shape after researchers found that even just a few minutes of strenuous activity can make muscles work harder. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has become popular with athletes and amateurs and has clear visible benefits. But sports scientists have always struggled to understand how a short amount of activity can produce similar effects as endurance training. Now, researchers at the Karonlinska Institute in Sweden have found that even small levels of intensive exercise boost the production of mitochondria– the cell’s batteries – which enhance muscle endurance.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teens and young adults who regularly train and compete in sports are more than twice as likely to experience sudden death than non-athletes, according to a new study. The findings are based on death rates from more than 1 million young Italians, of whom 112,790 were competitive athletes.In most cases, sudden death among athletes was due to an underlying heart condition, such as coronary artery disease. As a result, the study authors, led by Dr. Domenico Corrado of the University of Padua, write that engaging in sports likely triggers death from another cause, and does...