Here's What Energy Drinks Actually Do To Your Body

Energy drinks can give you a boost when Monday morning hits you hard. But that fizzy beverage isn't doing much for your body beyond your temporary pep, according to a new review published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health.

After reviewing the current studies surrounding the risks tied to energy drinks, researchers concluded that they might be associated with a wide-ranging slew of health problem. You might already know that energy drinks can screw with your sleep, make you gain weight, or even spike your blood pressure. But overarching evidence suggests they may lead to substance abuse, mental health problems, a higher diabetes risk, tooth decay, and kidney damage, too.

What Happens To Your Body When You Always Lift the Same Amount Of Weight

Much like our breakfast of choice or what we wear, most of us tend to gravitate to routine when it comes to our lifting workouts: We often use the same amount of weight, over and over. No shame—it’s particularly comforting to select a weight size you know you can handle when you’re at the gym, and when you’re sweating at home, you may not have a variety of weights to work with. But experts say not changing your weight size means you’ll be missing out on some pretty hefty benefits.

“When you train with the same weight week to week, over time, your body will adapt to the resistance, and you won’t see gains in muscular strength or hypertrophy [size],” says Jacque Crockford, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise. Compare it to running the same distance every time you hop on the treadmill—at some point, you’re not going to see your body improve, since you’re no longer challenging it.

This is Why You Don't Have the Body You Want Yet

I've heard stories  about athletes who enhance their performance by sleeping in high-altitude chambers, drinking kale smoothies every four hours, getting deep tissue massages every day, or training with equipment that looks like NASA's castoffs. Great for them. But for most of us, just finding 20 minutes a day to exercise is an impressive feat.

That's why I remind the average guy to keep it simple. You don't need Space Age equipment when a barbell works just fine.  In order to make continuous progress and stay healthy, I've learned over the years that you just need to follow four principles. They're not earth shattering or original, but they work. Follow them, and you'll set yourself up for a lifetime of fitness success.

26 Ways to Feed Your Body for Results

Sports nutrition is easy, if you're a cartoon character. Take Popeye: The gravel-voiced sailorman would down a can of spinach, and next thing he knew he was shot-putting a bowling ball into the stratosphere. Try that at home and the only thing you'll be heaving is the spinach.

"No specific food will make you faster or stronger tomorrow," says Lonnie Lowery, R.D., Ph.D., an exercise and nutrition scientist at Winona State University, in Minnesota. Instead, whatever your goal—packing on muscle, going the distance, or losing that gut—you have to think long-term. "Sports nutrition is all about many factors adding up over time." In other words, think marathon, not sprint.

So even though there's nothing that will make you an instant athlete (or substitute for that last set of reps), the right foods and drinks can help you work harder, train longer, and look better. Good nutrition supports good workouts, and good workouts make the most of good nutrition. We've rounded up the latest research to help you fuel the body you have—and create the body you want. All you need is enough strength to twist a lid, tear a pouch, and, yes, open a can.

What Causes Dark Armpits?

Ask most women what some of their body hang-ups are and chances are you’ll get this answer: “I hate how my underarms look dark and discolored.” This is something very common with darker-skin women due to the higher melanin concentration in our skin. Mela-what? Here’s a quick biology lesson for you: Melanin refers to the natural pigments found in our skin that when triggered causes skin to become darker as a way of protection. Yay for skin protection; boo for the uneven skin it leaves behind. 

When it comes to your armpits, it is melanin that causes the area to become darker either through external assault or internal aggression. What exactly are these aggressions? Here are four of the most common ones that are leaving you with undesirable underarms.

5 Surprising Sleep Myths & the Truths You Need to Know

It's as much a part of your daily existence as your diet and exercise routine, and yet, even those who prioritize movement and nutrition are a bit misled when it comes to sleep. Much of this in-the-dark behavior stems from a misunderstanding of some of the most important factors affecting your sleep (which, by the way, affects your waistline as well as your performance at work and in the gym). To set the record straight, we asked Equinox advisory board member and sleep expert James B. Maas, Ph.D., author of Sleep for Success!, to dispel five of the most common falsehoods.