早晨喝咖啡提神已OUT 不如做俯臥撐

Millions of us reach for a coffee at least once a day to boost our alertness and counter flagging energy levels。

我們中有很多人每天都至少需要一杯咖啡來提神醒腦，來增加我們消耗的能量。

But what if there was a free alternative that worked even better?

但要是有免費甚至效果更好的法子呢？

Writer Gregory Ferenstein believes he has the answer - 30 seconds of high-intensity exercise such as push-ups whenever he feels drowsy。

作家格雷戈裏·弗蘭斯坦覺得他就有這樣的方法——當感到昏昏欲睡的時候，他通常會選擇做30秒的高強度鍛鍊，比如做俯臥撐等。

He discovered that the exercises gave him double the energy boost of his daily Starbucks - and saved him a considerable aMount of cash in the process。

他發現鍛鍊的提神效果是每日一杯星巴克咖啡的雙倍，而且鍛鍊還能給他省掉一大筆咖啡錢。

He explained: 'Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I find a quiet corner and perform some form of body-weight exercise that jolts my heart up to at last 70 percent of the maximal beats per minute (for me, that's about 170)。

他說：“當我需要提神了，我會去找一個安靜的角落來做一些負重鍛鍊，來使我的心跳達到最快速度的70%(對我來說大約是每分鐘170次)。”

He added: 'I've found that 30 seconds of high-intensity body-weight exercise gives me the same mental boost as a shot of caffeine.'

他補充說：“我發現，30秒高強度的負重鍛鍊和咖啡因一樣，可以給人同樣的精神刺激。 ”

For reference, a Starbucks Grande Cafe Americano has 225mg of caffeine. He found that his overall cognitive performance increased by six per cent after caffeine - but 12 per cent after exercise。

參考數據顯示，星巴克一杯大杯美式咖啡中含有咖啡因225毫克。弗蘭斯坦發現，咖啡因使他的整體認知能力上升了6%；而進行鍛鍊後，他的整體認知能力上升了12%。

The only benefit caffeine gave him was when it came to short-term memory, which improved by 26 per cent compared to 16 per cent with exercise。

咖啡因帶來的唯一好處是增強了26%的短期記憶力，比鍛鍊的效果高出10個百分點。

A wealth of research backs up his findings. Last year researchers at the Montreal Heart Institute found that high-intensity exercise boosts mental and physical health。

充分的研究也證實了弗蘭斯坦的發現。去年蒙特利爾心臟研究所的研究人員發現，高強度的運動能增強身心的健康。

Previously sedentary adults were put through four months of high-intensity interval training。

在此之前，一些長期處於久坐狀態中的人們接受了持續四個月的高強度的間歇訓練。

At the end, their cognitive functions - the ability to think, recall and make quick decisions - had improved significantly, the researchers found。

在這項訓練結束後，研究人員發現他們的認知能力，包括思考能力、記憶力以及迅速做事決定的能力等，都得到了大大的提升。

Last year researchers from the University of South Carolina found that regular treadmill sessions also give a boost to the cell's powerhouses in the brain。

去年南卡羅來納大學的研究人員發現，定期在跑步機上進行跑步鍛鍊也能極大地促進腦細胞的生命力。