Health & fitness

Your year in cycling with 2014 Strava Stories

Look back at your cycling year with personalised Strava videos

A third of Team Sky’s riders are asthmatic – and it may be a hazard of being an elite athlete

Kent University study finds exercise induced asthma rife in many elite sports

MAMILs – want to look better in Lycra? Start pumping iron!

Researchers at Harvard say mix of weight training and aerobic exercise best for avoiding middle-age spread

Yoga as good as cycling for avoiding heart problems

We already knew that Yoga can improve your ride times, but researchers claim it’ll also prevent heart attacks + video

Performance enhancing placebos?

Glasgow study indicates that merely thinking that you have doped may speed you up

How active are people where you live? Report ranks local authorities by residents’ activity levels

Olympic borough, Newham ranked least active place in England but across London Richmond is the most active

Cycling and clean-living significantly reduce chances of chronic illness

‘Keep riding, eat well, drink in moderation and don’t smoke’ the message gleaned from 35-year Caerphilly study

Get people cycling for better health, says Public Health England

"Epidemic of inactivity" costs £7.6billion per year

Col Collective: All the inspiration you need to conquer the highest mountain passes

Mike Cotty and other experts bring you all you need to know to reach the world's highest summits

Cyclists and walkers five times less likely to die during operations

Study finds fitness more significant than age in predicting outcomes of surgery

Livestrong CEO departs to head fast-growing cancer charity Pelotonia

Doug Ulman leaves after 14 years to run charity whose annual cycling event has raised around $80 million to date

Breeze blows into Scotland and Wales – recreational cycling programme for women expands

British Cycling backed rides aim to get more women riding bikes for fun

Testing by MPs reveals worst air pollution is inside cars

Environmental Audit Committee members find staggeringly bad air in vehicles

Cycle commuters do it better — 4 in 10 say their sex lives have improved, survey finds

Poll also discovers riding home helps switch off from working day among other benefits

WADA bans athletes from blood-boosting with gases xenon and argon

Gases help body produce more blood cells by stimulating levels of natural EPO

Cycling to work really does make you thinner study confirms

Interestingly, according to the study in the BMJ, using public transport is as effective

Tour de France massively improved air quality in Huddersfield

Monitoring adds weight to argument that cycling is key to air pollution reduction

MAMILs may be at greater risk of prostate cancer diagnosis

But academics find no link between cycling and infertility or erectile dysfunction

Air pollution makes Oxford Street buses double hazard for cyclists

World's highest level of toxic gas found on London's main shopping street

Most parents would support a mandatory helmet law for children, claims surge – safety concerns are paramount

But only a quarter of parents give their kids' bikes an annual safety check

Artificial blood will be easy to detect if used by dopers, say scientists

Red cell replacement being developed in Essex could save lives of road crash victims

Cycle helmets save lives says Neurosurgeon – in ongoing helmet row

Surgeon says he sees three children a month with cycling head injuries he believes would not have happened had they been wearing a helmet

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Cycling could help reduce £10bn annual diabetes bill say MPs

“If cycling was a pill, every GP across the country would be prescribing it”

Joanna Rowsell talks body image: “being as skinny as possible isn’t necessarily healthy”

Olympic gold medalist puts her own confidence down to sport

Roads Minister to look into harsher penalties as study finds texting at the wheel more dangerous than drink driving

Reaction times for phone calls and texters worse than cannabis and alcohol users: calls for one year ban penalties

‘Flimsy little helmets’ completely pointless, says leading brain surgeon

Neurosurgeon also admits to regularly jumping red lights

Eight teenagers to lead out professionals for Stage 3 of the Tour de France in Britain

Talented young riders rewarded with honour of being the first to arrive on the Mall on July 7

Next on the timetable: double cycling? Calls for cycling proficiency to appear on the school curriculum

82 per cent call for cycling proficiency on the National Curriculum, new survey shows

Scottish children rock-bottom in physical activity study

Global Matrix on the Physical Activity of Children study highlights low English cycling uptake and inactive Scots

Double world cyclo-cross champion Niels Albert to retire?

Belgian press reports that 28-year-old will call halt to career due to heart problem