Exercise Pain? Coffee to the Rescue

More bad news this week for the makers of Advil, Tylenol and other pain medications: "caffeine can reduce the pain caused by exercise," reports the LA Times. This follows news last week that listening to music can reduce chronic pain.

In a study by the University of Georgia, participants who had taken some caffeine before a workout felt 25 to 48 percent less pain while exercising. Participants took the caffeine equivalent (probably in pill form) of two to three cups of coffee.

But use caution if you're reaching for a tripple latte instead of Gatorade to push your workouts longer and harder. An article published the same day by the Times, "Go for the burn, not the burnout," reveals that over-exercising can have the same dreadful affects as under-exercising: "muscles get weak, energy droops, mood and sleep patterns go haywire," read the Times article.

To find the LA Times piece on caffeine and exercise, I had to do a bit of digging. And I didn't notice the same story picked up by any other publication. Why is that? Well, if I'm an editor, and I'm trying to pick relevant stories that will grab reader attention, something about cutting exercise pain probably isn't it. How many people exercise regularly? And how many people exercise enough to cause pain?

I hope you're one of the 75 or so Americans that finds this story relevant. If you're not, drop and gimme 50! (That's 50 pushups)