Iron and the Effects of ExerciseSports medicine experts have observed for years that endurance athletes, particularly females, frequently have iron deficiencies. Now a new study by a team of Purdue University researchers suggests that even moderate exercise may lead to reduced iron in the blood of women."We found that women who were normally inactive and then started a program of moderate exercise showed evidence of iron loss," says Roseanne M. Lyle, associate professor at Purdue. Her study of 62 formerly inactive women who began exercising three times a week for six months was published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise."Women who consumed additional meat or took iron supplements were able to bounce back," she notes. "But the new exercisers who followed their normal diet showed a decrease in iron levels."Iron deficiency is very common among women in general, affecting one in four female teenagers and one in five women aged 18 to 45, respectively. But the ratio is even greater among active women, affecting up to 80 percent of female endurance athletes. This means, Lyle says, that "too many women ignore the amount of iron they take in";. Women of child-bearing age are at greatest risk, since their monthly bleeding is a major source of iron loss. Plus, many health-conscious women increase their risk by rejecting red meat, which contains the most easily absorbed form of iron. And because women often restrict their diet in an effort to control weight, they may not consume enough iron-rich food, and are liable to experience a deficiency."The average woman takes in only two thirds of the recommended daily allowance for iron," notes another expert. "For a woman who already has a poor iron status, any additional iron loss from exercise may be enough to tip her over the edge into a more serious deficiency," notes the expert.Exercise can result in iron loss through a variety of mechanisms. Some iron is lost in sweat, and, for unknown reasons, intense endurance exercise is sometimes associated with bleeding of the digestive system. Athletes in high-impact sports such as running may also lose iron through a phenomenon where small blood vessels in the feet leak blood.There are three stages of iron deficiency. The first and most common is having low iron reserves, a condition that typically has no symptoms. Fatigue and poor performance may begin to appear in the second stage of deficiency, when not enough iron is present to form the molecules of blood protein that transport oxygen to the working muscles. In the third and final stage, people often feel weak, tired, and out of breath — and exercise performance is severely compromised."People think that if they're not at the third stage, nothing is wrong, but that's not true," says John L. Beard, who helped design the Purdue study. "You're not stage 3 until your iron reserves go to zero, and if you wait until that point, you're in trouble."However, most people with low iron reserves don't know they have a deficiency, because traditional methods of calculating the amount of iron in blood (by checking levels of the blood protein that transports oxygen) are not sufficient, Beard states. Instead, it's important to check levels of a different compound, which indicates the amount of storage of iron in the blood. While active, child-bearing age women are most likely to have low iron stores, he notes, "Men are not safe, especially if they don't eat meat and have a high level of physical activity." (An estimated 15 percent of male long distance runners have low iron stores.) Beard and other experts say it's advisable for people in these groups to have a yearly blood test tocheck blood iron reserves.If iron levels are low, talk with a physician to see if the deficiency should be corrected by modifying your diet or by taking supplements. In general, it's better to undo the problem by adding more iron-rich foods to the diet, because iron supplements can have serious shortcomings. Supplements may produce a feeling of wanting to throw up, and may be poisonous in some cases. The best sources of iron, and the only sources of the form of iron most readily absorbed by the body, are meat, chicken, and fish. Good sources of other forms of iron include dates, beans, and some leafy green vegetables."Select breads and cereals with the words 'iron-added' on the label," writes sports diet expert Nancy Clark. "This added iron supplements the small amount that naturally occurs in grains. Eat these foods with plentiful Vitamin C (for example, drink orange juice with cereal or put a tomato on a sandwich) to enhance the amount of iron absorbed." Clark also recommends cooking in iron pans, as food can derive iron from the pan during the cooking process. "The iron content of tomato sauce cooked in an iron pot for three hours showed a striking increase, the level going up nearly 30 times," she writes. And people who are likely to have low iron should avoid drinking coffee or tea with meals, she says, since substances in these drinks can interfere with iron being absorbed into the body."Active women need to be a lot more careful about their food choices," sums up Purdue's Lyle. "If you pay attention to warning signs before iron reserves are gone, you can remedy the deficiency before it really becomes a problem."1.What is the finding of the new study by a group of researchers from Purdue University?2.If a woman suffers from iron deficiency, what can she do to bounce back?3.Why are women of childbearing age more likely to suffer from iron deficiency?4.How does exercise cause iron deficiency?5.How many stages does iron deficiency go through?6.What does it mean when you are in the third stage of iron deficiency?7.What should people do if they don’t know whether they have an iron deficiency or not?8.What are good sources of iron?Ways of Increasing CreativityMy guests had arrived, but once again, I'd forgotten to put the wine in the fridge. "Don't worry," a friend said, "I can chill it for you right away.";Five minutes later she emerged from the kitchen with the wine perfectly cooled. Asked to reveal her secret, she said: "I poured it in a plastic bag and dipped it in ice water."My guests applauded. "How wonderful if we could all be that clever," one remarked.A decade of enquiry has convinced me we can. What separates the average person from Edison, Picasso or even Shakespeare isn't creative capacity. It's the ability to use that capacity by encouraging creative impulses and then acting upon them. Most of us seldom achieve our creative potential but the reservoir of ideas hiding within every one of us can be unlocked.The following techniques suggest concrete ways of increasing creativity:Capture the fleeting. A good idea is like a rabbit. It runs by so fast, sometimes you see only its ears ortail. To capture it, you must be ready. Creative people are always ready to act-possibly the only difference between us and them.In a letter to a friend in 1821, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote about thinking of a beautiful tune while half asleep in a carriage: "But scarcely did I awake when away flew the tune and I could not recall any part of it." Fortunately, for Beethoven and for us, the next day in the same carriage, the tune returned to him and he captured it in writing.When a good idea comes your way, write it down-on your arm if necessary. Not every idea will have value but capture it first and evaluate later.Daydream. Painter Salvador Dali used to lie on a sofa, holding a spoon. As he began to fall asleep, Dali would drop the spoon onto a plate on the floor. Shocked awake by the sound, he would immediately sketch the images seen in his mind in that fertile world of semi-sleep.Everyone experiences this strange state and can take advantage of it. Try Dali's trick, or just allow yourself to daydream. Often, the "three bs"-bed, bath and bus-are productive. Anywhere you can be with your thoughts undisturbed, you'll find ideas emerge freely.Seek challenges. Try inviting friends and business associates from different areas of your life to a party. Bringing people of different ages and social status together may help you think in new ways.Edwin Land, one of America's most productive inventors, claimed the idea leading to his invention of the Polaroid camera came from his three-year-old daughter. On a visit to Santa Fe in 1943, she asked why she couldn't see the picture he had just taken. During the next hour, as Land walked around Santa Fe, all he had learned about chemistry came together: "The camera and the film became clear to me. In my mind they were so real that I spent several hours describing them."Expand your world. Many discoveries in science, engineering and the arts mix ideas from different fields. Consider "The Two-String Problem." Two widely separated strings hang from a ceiling. Even though you can't reach both at once, is it possible to tie their ends together, using only a pair of pliers?One college student tied the pliers to one string and set it in motion like a pendulum. As it swung back and forth, he walked quickly to the other string and drew it as far forward as it would reach. Then he caught the swinging string when it passed near him and tied the two ends.Asked how he succeeded, the student explained he had just come from a physics class on pendulum motion. What he had learned in one context transferred to a completely different one.This principle works elsewhere as well. To enhance your creativity, learn something new. If you're a banker, take up tap dancing; if you're a nurse, try a course in vitamin therapy. Read a book on a new subject. Change your daily newspaper. The new will combine with the old in novel and potentially fascinating ways. Becoming more creative means paying attention to that endless flow of ideas you produce, and learning to capture and act upon the new that's within you.1.The guests applauded because__________.A.they wanted to express their admiration for the woman’s brightnessB.they found themselves as clever as the womanC.they would have perfectly cooled wine to drinkD.they wondered at the rapidity with which the wime was readypared to a genius, what the average person lacks is ________.A.the creative capacity which he can use to encourage creative impulses and then act upon themB.the ability to use his creative capacity by encouraging creative impulses and then acting uponthemC.the reservoir of ideas that hides within clever peopleD.the creative potential available only to the selected few3.The word “fortunately” (paragraph 7) suggests that_________.A.Beethoven rode in the same carriage the next dayB.Beethoven returned home on time by riding in a carriageC.Beethoven awoke in time to capture the tune in writingD.Beethoven remembered the tune that he had forgotten4.When you have a good idea, you should _________.A.decide cautiously whether it has any valueB.go with it as far as possibleC.write it down as quickly as possibleD.try other good ideas5.As long as you can be with your thoughts undisturbed, you will ________.A.see the “three b’s”----bed, bath, and busB.be good at daydreamingC.find ideas coming your wayD.fall asleep quickly6.In paragraph 13, the expression “expand your world” means __________.A.travelling around the worldB.enlarging your knowledgeC.learning science, engineering, and the artsD.making discoveries7.By giving the college student’s example, the writer intends to say that_________.A.two widely separated strings can be reached at once by using a pair of pliersB.if one string is set in motion, the two string ends can be tied togetherC.it is advisable to attempt an impossible mission sometimesD.it is important to transfer knowledge learned in one context to a different one8.The writer’s advice on the enhancement of creativity is ________.A.to learn something you know little aboutB.to take up tap dancingC.to try a course in vitamin therapyD.to combine the new with the old in novel ways。