Consuming caffeine regularly may increase the ability to withstand pain, a study in Psychopharmacology suggested. Researchers recruited 62 men and women, ages 19 to 77, and had them record their daily caffeine intake. They averaged 170 milligrams of caffeine a day, about the amount in two cups of coffee, although 15 percent of the group consumed more than 400 milligrams a day.
After seven days, researchers tested the volunteers' pain tolerance using devices that increased heat or pressure on a forearm or back. The people pressed a button when the sensation became painful, and then again when it became intolerable. Researchers found that the more caffeine consumed, the greater the tolerance for pain.
6,394 injured a year mowing the lawn
Mowing the lawn can gain you physical-activity points, but research details the injury risk it can pose. Each year in the U.S., 6,394 people, on average, sustain serious injuries — including burns, cuts and broken bones — in lawn-mower accidents, Johns Hopkins researchers said in a study in the journal Public Health Reports.
Based on eight years of emergency room and hospitalization data, lacerations are most common (47 percent), followed by fractures (22 percent) and amputations (22 percent), with the wrist and hands injured more often than feet and toes. Men are injured more often than women (85 vs. 15 percent). Among kids, children up to age 4 are more likely to have foot or lower-extremity injuries and more likely to have amputation than are those 15 and older.
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