Sports

We have been fleeing the heat for years to play sports. Science has discovered that we were losing a superpower

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Summer is coming, temperatures are rising and going for a run or cycling becomes an act of bravery. In this situation, common sense tells us that we should avoid the middle hours of the day, hydrate ourselves more and slow down, even though there is a possibility of falling into the sedentary lifestyle. This is why it is vital to adapt our exercise and rest to the high temperatures we are facing. The thermal shock. When we exercise, our muscles generate energy, but only 20-25% is translated into mechanical movement and the rest is released as heat. If we add to this a hot environment, the body faces a double thermoregulatory challenge. As detailed in an exhaustive review published in 2021Under heat stress, the body diverts a large flow of blood to the skin to dissipate heat through sweat. This means there is less blood available to working muscles and the heart. The result? The heart rate skyrockets to try to compensate and exhaustion comes much sooner. Acclimatization. The good news is that our body is an extraordinarily adaptable heat machine, and that is why if we expose ourselves to heat progressively, we activate what is known as acclimatization. Here, a study published in 2024 quantified this adaptation and it was seen that, after a period of repeated exposure to heat, the participants managed to reduce their core temperature at rest by 0.19 ºC and their heart rate by 6 beats per minute. That is, follow a process of adaptation 8 to 14 days Heat training consistently improves performance and thermoregulation. In fact, from the fifth day onwards, cardiac adaptations begin to be noticed. The physiology. Something that has been seen is that in the first week of heat training, the body retains more water and sodium in order to increase the blood volume that runs through the arteries and veins with the aim of improving cardiac output and the supply of oxygen to the muscles. The good thing is that if we maintain the thermal stimulus long term, the body responds by creating more hemoglobin, which is the protein that transports oxygen through the blood. This makes the system much more efficient when training, since the muscle will have a greater amount of oxygen. Train with heat. Just because the heat offers physiological advantages does not mean that we should go running at three in the afternoon during the heat wave in August, since there are serious complications such as heat stroke. Here the recommendation states that exposure to heat should be progressive, with short sessions at low intensity and increasing the duration over two weeks. Logically, hydration must be maintained according to physical activity, since dehydration of more than 2% of body weight nullifies many of the advantages of acclimatization and dangerously increases internal temperature. In short, training in the heat is hard but little by little it is possible to adapt as long as common sense prevails, changing the training schedule also to times with lower temperatures. Image | Unsplash In Xataka | Drink water right before going to sleep? Science has finally clarified whether it is a good idea or a terrible enemy of sleep

“45 minutes of family sports support the health of parents and children”

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Yes take out time to exercise It is complicated in the world we live in, doing it with children is sometimes practically an impossible mission. On the other hand, children themselves sometimes do not reach the recommended physical activity times, either due to an excess of non-active extracurricular activities, not having access to outdoor places to play or due to abuse of certain sedentary leisure activities, such as games with video consoles. Given that parents and children, each in their own way, have the same problems, two scientists from Nottingham Trent University, Scarlett Fountain and Karah Dring, had an idea: what if they designed a plan so that families could play sports together? In their case, they opted for rugby games in pairs, but other options could be useful. They found that, as they imagined, practicing exercise as a family provides benefits for both physical and mental health. And the best thing is that it is not necessary to completely change the daily routines of children and adults, since in just 45 minutes you can see the results. Surveys that say it all. The authors of this research They began their study with a survey in which 25 families participated. Both adults and children had to answer a series of questions about their physical activity routines and the reasons why they consider that, if true, they do not practice enough sport. Adults agreed to mention problems such as the high price of organized activities or the lack of free time. There were also some who complained about not having local sports and leisure facilities nearby. The children, for their part, reported that seeing their parents staying active encourages them to exercise more. In fact, it is something that also happened the other way around. Both parents and children inspire each other to stay active. The solution seemed clear. 45 minutes of rugby. After analyzing the results of the surveys, Fountain and Dring They decided to design a family physical activity program. It would be free, accessible and quick, to solve all the problems they observed in the responses of the participating parents, although not all of them signed up. Only 16 families participated in the program. They chose rugby as a couple, as it is fun, adaptable and, unlike rugby typical team rugbyno contact. The 45-minute sessions included warm-ups, skills practice and small games. Before and after, both parents and children had to solve a series of cognitive tests on a computer. In addition, blood samples were taken from the adults. These results were compared with another 45-minute rest session, which would serve as a control. Good for physical and mental health. Both children and adults improved cognitive test scores after exercising as a family. For example, children performed better on a working memory task right after exercise. For their part, parents showed improvements in information processing. These improvements were maintained for at least 45 minutes. Regarding physical health, it was seen that, after lunch, adults had the same blood glucose levels as after rest, but less insulin. This means that they needed less amount of the hormone to regulate the levels of sugar consumed. His cells responded very well to insulin, they showed no resistance. Family exercise is beneficial for physical and mental health From school to work. As the authors of the study explained in an article for The Conversationa third of adults do not reach the recommended levels of physical activity. They don’t clarify where, but it is possibly in the United Kingdom. Even so, it is something that can be totally extrapolated to other parts of the world. On the other hand, only 4 out of 5 children between 11 and 17 years old do 60 minutes of exercise a day. Less than an hour of physical activity each day is very little for a child. The consequences for physical health are very clear, but sometimes we do not take into account how this influences cognitive performance at work, school, or simply in everyday life. For this reason, they believe that much more emphasis should be placed on providing families with opportunities to exercise together. If it is not possible separately, the solution, clearly, is to exercise as a team. Images | Magnificent In Xataka | In the fever to train strength, the gym has faced competition: more and more people train on the street

The blockages that we saw in LaLiga make the leap to other sports. Telefónica extends them to the Champions League, tennis and golf

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What began as a controversy associated with LaLiga matches has just taken a much bigger leap. The blockages that we have been seeing for months on football days no longer stop there: they also reach other live sports broadcasts and expand the radius of a measure that was already generating discomfort and complaints. The novelty. According to El Economistathe latter is based on a resolution of the Commercial Section of the Court of Instance of Barcelona in response to a lawsuit from Telefónica Audiovisual Digital. That resolution, dated March 23, authorizes Movistar Plus+ to request the rest of the Spanish telecommunications operators to collaborate in the dynamic blocking of websites that illicitly disseminate content over which Telefónica has rights. Always according to the information published, the measure will begin to be applied this Tuesday with The Champions League match between Atlético de Madrid and Barcelonaand will continue the next day with the meeting between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. What changes in practice. From here on, the matter stops being just a judicial decision and becomes a concrete operation. As we have seen, and according to the aforementioned source, it will be the operators who must collaborate with Telefónica in the immediate blocking, during the broadcast of the content, of IP addresses, URLs and domain names used for illicit dissemination. The information also places Movistar and O2, as well as MasOrange, Vodafone and Digi operators, within this framework. The scope. The key is not only in who executes these blocks, but in the type of emissions that now come into focus. If before the public conversation tended to revolve around LaLiga, the new information paints a much broader scenario: the authorization refers to “every day of broadcasting of live sporting events” and covers not only the Champions League, but also tennis or golf competitions over which Telefónica has rights. This obviously widens the playing field. Damage to third parties. The controversy around these blockades arises not only from their harshness against illicit emissions, but from what we already saw months ago in services completely unrelated to that circuit. As we published in Aprilseveral companies described traffic and revenue drops in the context of IP blocks that also affected legitimate services. Among the cases that we collected was that of OnlyTenis.com, whose manager placed the monthly billing at a drop from around 70,000 euros to a range of between 40,000 and 50,000 euros. The expansion. In that context, what we have before us is a clear extension of a strategy that is not completely new. The difference is that now the focus is broadening and, with it, so is a discussion that has been open for some time in Spain. On the one hand, there is the will to stop the illicit dissemination of content with faster and more forceful measures. On the other hand, the same underlying question continues to linger: to what extent this tightening can once again affect users, services and companies that are not part of that circuit. Images | LaLiga In Xataka | LaLiga has been at war with Cloudflare for years over piracy. It has just joined forces with its main competitor

What competitions will you see in this new sports offer?

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Disney and ESPN have announced the launch of ESPN on Disney+ in 53 countries in Europe and Asia-Pacific, including Spain. With this movement the global presence of the sports brand expands to approximately 100 markets all over the world. For Spanish subscribers, the news means access, above all, to NBA, NHL and American university sports, on the same platform where they already watched Marvel or Star Wars (or the Women’s Champions League). LaLiga and the men’s Champions League, however, continue on other platforms. What exactly is coming. The initial offer will vary by market, with specific content for Spain to be confirmed, as well as the landing date. What is assured for all territories: NBA and NHL starting with the 2026-27 season, American university tournaments including the men’s and women’s March Madness, college football with the College Football Playoff, and events such as the Little League World Series. The complete collection of ’30 for 30′ documentaries, a library of sports films, and the football analysis program ESPN FC are added. What there was already. From the 2025-26 season, Disney+ is the exclusive home of the UEFA Women’s Champions Leaguewith all 75 matches available at no additional cost to subscribers. The production is carried out by ESPN, which was already launching its sports presence on the continent. The platform chose a growing niche sport so as not to collide head-on with DAZN and Movistar in the terrain where they are most armored. Where are LaLiga and the men’s Champions League. The Spanish televised football market is locked and the term is long. Movistar Plus+ and DAZN share the ten games of each LaLiga matchday until the 2026-27 season, and in November 2025 they already renewed that agreement for the next cycle. The agreement covers seasons 2027-28 to 2031-32with five games per day for each operator. Disney did not participate in that tender. The situation in the men’s Champions League is just as airtight. Telefónica obtained exclusive rights to all UEFA competitions (Champions, Europa League, Conference League, Youth League and Super Cup) for the Spanish market between 2027 and 2031. This shields Movistar from any competitor until at least 2031 in the most followed competition on the continent. On the other hand, as already was discussed last yearDisney+ shows more interest in the English market, where it acts as the main operator, than in Spain. And outside of Spain? The panorama is very different. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Disney+ exclusively broadcasts Saturday night LaLiga matches, an agreement in force until the 2027-28 season. In the Nordic countries, Disney+ has rights to the Copa del Rey, UEFA Europa League, Conference League and DFB Pokal. In Latin America, ESPN has been integrated into Disney+ for years with LaLiga, Champions League, Premier League and practically all top-level European football. The sport matters as much as the series. Streaming platforms have been detecting for years that series and movies alone do not retain subscribers with the same effectiveness as live sport. The women’s Champions League was a very calculated bet by Disney+ and the arrival of ESPN to 53 countries It is the next phase of that strategy. It’s also not the first time that ESPN has tried to establish itself in Europe: the brand already operated linear channels on the continent before withdrawing them when its strategy pivoted towards the streaming. As in Latin America, its plan now incorporates ESPN as a hub within a platform, Disney+, with existing subscribers. In Xataka | “What a service, do I pay for this?”: this is how LaLiga’s massive IP blocks are causing reputational and economic damage

If the question is whether you can go on vacation or play sports while on sick leave, justice has the answer: it depends.

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There is a widespread belief about what it means to be on medical leave. Many people believe that being on medical leave is incompatible with doing any type of activity physical or going on a trip, and that doing so may be grounds for disciplinary dismissal. It is a widespread fear, but the reality is quite different. Knowing the nuances around this issue can prevent workers and companies from be seen in court. A recent sentence issued by the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community confirms what Spanish judges have been repeating for years in their rulings: that the problem is never the activity itself, but rather whether carrying it out affects in some way the process of recovery from the illness or injury for which one is on sick leave. That detail changes absolutely everything. ​What the law says, and what it doesn’t say Although many people believe it this way, no Spanish labor law expressly prohibits playing sports. or go on vacation when you are on medical leave. There is no article that says “if you are on sick leave, you can’t do this or that.” What the Workers’ Statute does include, in its article 54 that regulates the conditions of disciplinary dismissal, is that a company can fire you if you seriously breach your employment obligations or act in bad faith. And that’s where these cases fit. The principle that truly governs these cases is not prohibition, but compatibility with recovery. In practice, this means that when you are on medical leave, you have an obligation not to do things that slow down or contradict your own recovery process. Not because the law expressly prohibits it, but because acting in a manner inconsistent with your medical diagnosis can be interpreted as a serious lack of honesty with your company and with Social Security, which covers a large part of your salary during that period. When the judges have ruled in favor of the company The courts have supported layoffs disciplinary action when the activity carried out during the medical leave was clearly incompatible with the declared illness or injury, especially if it occurred several times and the company was able to demonstrate it with medical reports and even with the provision of evidence by a private detective. The most recent case is the sentence which was resolved by the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community in January 2026, which stated that a worker was on sick leave due to a lumbar injury compatible with limited effort and moderate physical activity and was investigated by private detectives. During that period, it was confirmed that the employee was doing intense and repeated physical exercise for several weeks in a row (running, mountain routes lasting several hours, gym training, etc.), an activity that, according to the court, was incompatible with his illness and made his recovery difficult. The court declared the disciplinary dismissal valid not for playing sports, but for doing an activity contrary to the recommendations for recovery from sick leave due to low back pain. In a similar vein, the Superior Court of Justice of Aragon, also declared valid the disciplinary dismissal of an employee who was on medical leave due to an injury to the cruciate ligament in his knee and had to undergo surgery. During his recovery, the employee He participated in several padel tournamentsand even winning some of them while on medical leave due to his knee injury. The judges have also ruled in favor of the worker Case law also has numerous examples to the contrary, where the dismissal was considered unjustified because, although physical activity was recognized, it could not be demonstrated that the activity harmed recovery from the injury. An example of this is the who judged the Superior Court of Justice of Murcia in which an employee on leave due to depression and anxiety traveled to Albania for 12 days. As and how I analyzed Iberleythe Murcian High Court declared that the trip did not interfere with recovery nor did it contravene medical recommendations, which is why it declared the dismissal unfair. It has not been the only case. The Supreme Court confirmed in November 2024 that the dismissal of a driver who played paddle tennis while on sick leave due to low back pain was inappropriate, because her own doctor had recommended in writing that she do moderate exercise, including that type of activity. The key is always in the doctor As can be seen in the different examples, the key is not the sport that is practiced or the trip itself, but what the doctor says about that activity and whether that activity negatively affects recovery. The judges limit themselves to analyzing whether the worker’s medical reports authorized or recommended what he did, whether the company was able to demonstrate with an expert report that it was detrimental to recovery, and whether the worker repeated the behavior in a way that would suggest that he was simulating his state. A worker on sick leave due to depression or anxiety who is advised by his psychiatrist to go out, exercise or travel has every right to do so. In fact, it can be an important part of the treatment. For all this, the most useful practical advice is to always have the doctor’s authorization in writing before carrying out any physical activity or travel during sick leave. This role does not guarantee that the company will not consider a disciplinary dismissal or that the judge will always agree with you, as some of the previous cases demonstrate, but it makes a real difference when it comes to defending yourself. Without that documented medical support, courts tend to side with the company when there is evidence of activity. In Xataka | A company fired the same employee twice in eight months. The court has annulled them and returns to work with 25,000 euros Image | Freepik (pressfoto)

We have been obsessed with doing more hours of sports for years. Science points out that we were wrong

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For decades, the main message that medicine has conveyed to us is that physical exercise should be a priority and it has been summarized with one word: move. Accumulating hours of activity per week has been the great objective that many have had; However, a new study has come to turn this around, to give great importance to the type of exercise and how varied the training menu we follow is when we go to the gym. More and more complete. As we investigate more, the way we exercise is changing, and now a study published at the end of 2026 has suggested that combining different types of exercises reduces the risk of mortality, regardless of whether we do a lot or a little sport in total. That is why the message we must keep in mind is that, instead of doing many hours of a single exercise, it is worth diversifying a little between different modalities, dedicating a little time to each of them. How they have done it. To reach this conclusion, the research team used data from two large groups of people to bring together more than 100,000 people who were followed for more than thirty years. In this way, with different questionnaires, the team measured the active time that each of the people to be analyzed had, establishing a minimum threshold of 20 minutes of activity per week to estimate that someone was really doing it and that it was significant. The objective was to find a correlation between activity levels, the number of these activities and, above all, how they reached adulthood and even when they died in the event that they had not reached the end of the study. The results. The most striking finding is that the group of people who practiced a greater variety of exercise had 19% less total mortality compared to those who limited themselves to a single repetitive routine. But the most important thing is that this good effect of variety in activity is independent of the total volume of time invested in playing sports. That is, the mere fact that exercise is varied has a protective effect in itself, reducing the risk of dying from cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer and other pathologies by between 13% and 41%. The best sports. The study also broke down the individual impact of each discipline, showing a non-linear dose-response relationship, making the greatest benefits noticeable at the beginning, when we went from doing nothing to doing something. In this way, the best sports according to science are the following: Walking: 17% less risk. Racquet sports (such as tennis): 15% less risk. Rowing and calisthenics: 14% less risk. Weight lifting: 13% less risk. Jogging/Easy Running: 11% less risk. Cycling: 4% less risk. Its limitations. Logically, this note has important limitations, since the data were self-reported by the participants with questionnaires and the population analyzed was not too varied, being mostly white, so we must look to see if these percentages may vary by demographics. However, the consensus is clear, since just as nutritionists have been recommending for years that we eat a “rainbow” of different vegetables instead of gorging on just spinach, sports science is now asking us for an “omnivorous movement diet” in which we combine different types of exercise on a daily basis. Images | Anastase Maragos In Xataka | Neither walking nor running: science suggests that the squat is the true “drug” for healthy aging

The bargain Xiaomi has died. Its new era goes through luxury, sports cars and competing in premium

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Xiaomi came into this world promising that the price was a conspiracy. That the absurd margins of Samsung and Apple were arbitrary, that a decent cell phone could cost two hundred bucks and that Democratizing was, in itself, a form of gainr. It worked and grew. It became the third smartphone brand in the world with a 14% global share, not so far from Samsung and Apple. And now, at the MWC in Barcelona, ​​he has set up a stand where there is no trace of that initial promise. There is a Xiaomi 17 Ultra for 1,500 euros with the Leica seal. There is a SU7 Ultra that breaks records at the Nürburgring. and there is a concepts of hypercar electric car called Vision Gran Turismo designed to appear in the PlayStation video game alongside Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes. The Xiaomi of the bargain has not died of success. He died, in part, out of necessity. The numbers tell the story that the statements do not usually explain: The average selling price of their smartphones fell almost three percent in 2025weighed down by the weight of Redmi in international markets. In China, its natural market, closed the year in fourth positionlosing ground to Apple and a Huawei that has returned with force. With an R&D budget that exceeds four billion dollars annually and the pressure to sustain that spending, selling more cheap mobile phones is no longer a viable strategy… …so the move to premium is an Excel thing. The photography with Leica and the SU7 Ultra we already knew them. What’s new in Barcelona is the Vision Gran Turismo, and it is true that it deserves some attention. Xiaomi is the first Chinese manufacturer to join Polyphony Digital’s Vision GT program, a club that for three decades has been the exclusive territory of large European and Japanese houses. The concept itself (a hypercar electric, 900 volt platform, power that could be around 1,900 horsepower…) will never reach production. Xiaomi knows that and we all know it. But that’s not the question. The question is why a company that sells mobile phones, appliances and electric cars dedicates resources to designing a video game car and also creates its physical version. The answer is that The Vision GT is not a product but a positioning statement executed in the only territory where Xiaomi still has no history to defend or expectations to manage: the one of pure fantasy. A place where a brand that Four years ago it didn’t even have a car division. can sit without raising an eyebrow at the same table as Porsche. Some photos of stand from Xiaomi at the MWC explain well where the shots are going: What is not seen because it is covered by people surrounding it is the Vision GT, Xiaomi’s biggest eye-catcher at this MWC. Image: Xataka. What you see when you enter the security area thanks to a convenient press pass. Image: Xataka. The queue to get on the SU7 Ultra is already a classic. Image: Xataka. Cell phones continue to attract glances… but they are not even close to the ones that their cars awaken. Or his car and his concept car. Image: Xataka. The move is very reminiscent of Hyundai when it launched Lexus, although with one difference: Hyundai had the discipline to separate the brands. Xiaomi is trying to ensure that the same logo that for years crowned 150 euro phones now supports an ecosystem that ranges from hypercar to the ultra-premium mobile passing through the connected home. This identity clash remains unresolved. And at the MWC stand it looks great: the main protagonists are Leica, the SU7 Ultra and the Vision GT. Redmi and POCO surely have a big place in the hearts of the staff of the brand, but they do not appear on any display, they are something that the Xiaomi of 2026 does not want to boast about. The bet is serious because the premium margins are much better. The vertical integration that Lei Jun pursues with its own chip, its own operating system, its own AI model, etc., It only makes economic sense if the devices that incorporate them sell at a high price.and the total ecosystem that Xiaomi is buildingfrom the pocket to the living room and from the living room to the garage, generates a blocking effect that the low price segment will never be able to offer. The risk is also serious: luxury always works by accumulation of credibility, a unilateral declaration is not enough, and Xiaomi still carries the shadow of having been for a long time the brand you chose when you couldn’t afford anything else. Or when you could, but you preferred not to, and you clung to that comforting feeling of getting something as good as your neighbor while paying half as much. Convincing that neighbor that you are now worth three times as much is one of the biggest marketing challenges in the tech industry right now. In Xataka | Leica is teaching Xiaomi everything it knows. When the student no longer needs the teacher, the agreement will have fulfilled its function Featured image | Xataka

Decathlon has just bought Intersport in Spain. And with this, a business model closes: multi-brand sports retail.

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Decathlon has notified the CNMC the acquisition of Intersport CCS in Spain. The operation would add some 120 stores (30 owned and 90 franchised) to the 176 stores that Decathlon already operates in the country. Now the regulator You have one month to make a statement in first phase. Why is it important. This purchase closes one business model and consolidates another: Intersport represented the retail traditional sports: multi-brand, with Nike, Adidas, Puma and company on its shelves. Decathlon is the opposite: the own brand (Van Rysel, Quechua, Kiprun…) is what dominates, with mainly low prices, or at least lower than those of the big brands, and total control of the value chain. The first has gone bankrupt and the second keeps its locations. The background. Intersport entered bankruptcy in March 2025 with a debt of between 14 and 30 million euros. Tried to get 70% cuts with banks like BBVA and Sabadell, and with suppliers like Nike and Puma, but it didn’t work. In November, Intersport France bought the business for 300,000 euros and now it is Decathlon who takes it entirely. Between the lines. The battle of retail sports is no longer so much about what brands you sell as about how many square meters you control and what you sell within. The big sports brands have opted for direct sales to the consumer (Nike closing distributors, for example, although he got a frog). Intersport was trapped selling brands that no longer needed it to reach the customer, without great differentiation of its own and with very high inventory costs. Nike and Asics are not Kalenji and Artengo. Yes, but. Decathlon buys Intersport largely because it buys key locations before they are occupied by Amazon, Shein (which is about to physically disembark in Europe) or any other e-commerce actor that needs a physical presence at least to facilitate returns and collections. In it retail 2026, the physical store continues to be differential, but only if you sell products that cannot be easily purchased online. A Van Rysel cycling set is not on Amazon. Some Nikes, yes. The contrast. This is not very different from what happens in the food sector: Mercadona dominates because it sells its few own brands and controls the chain. Multi-brand supermarkets (those that only distribute) are in a more complicated position. He retail sports follows the same pattern: consolidate or die. Stores without their own identity tend to disappear. And now what. If the CNMC approves the operation, Decathlon will reinforce its hegemony in Spain. But the news is not so much the number of stores as the model that remains standing. In 2026, those who control what they produce, how they sell it, and where they distribute it survive survive. The rest is noise. In Xataka | Wallapop taught us how to sell used things. Decathlon has learned to make money with it Featured image | Decathlon, Intersport

a sports nutritionist helps us understand what’s behind it

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We eat every day and, even so, many doubts continue to arise around food. How many eggs are too manyif coconut oil deserves its fame, if sweeteners are a safe alternative or if training on an empty stomach really helps you burn more fat. These are questions that are repeated in conversations, social networks and headlines, often accompanied by forceful answers that do not always leave room for nuances. In the last episode of the first season of ‘Science and apart‘, which you can see on our YouTube channel and listen also on Spotify and iVooxÁngela Blanco chats with Maria Blancosports nutritionist, to calmly and contextually address some of the most widespread ideas about nutrition, habits and performance. Food, habits and many certainties that are not so certain The conversation starts with a question that forces us to go beyond personal tastes. If you had to choose a single food that is complete from a nutritional point of view, the specialist does not hesitate to point out a very specific one: “The egg is a very complete food. It has almost all the vitamins, it has minerals, it has a complete aminogram, that is, the protein we need, it has all the amino acids, and if it were missing something it would be vitamin C, it would lack fiber, it would lack other things… but well, the egg is the most complete food that I would choose.” After valuing the egg as food, the conversation enters one of the most repeated doubts. Is there really a clear limit to its consumption? María Blanco’s response is based on scientific evidence and avoids alarmism: “In scientific evidence, the daily egg, one to three eggs, is totally healthy. Because then we could restrict or avoid other types of foods that can harm us much more than the egg.” The episode also focuses on how certain reputations are built around what we eat. When asked by our colleague about foods with a reputation for being healthy, María Blanco points directly to one of the most popular in recent years: “Coconut oil. Because we have a very rich oil, which is olive oil. and that we have a very good origin because we are here and it is first-hand. And it (coconut oil) is like with a lot of propaganda.” The conversation also stops at one of the most used sugar substitutes. When talking about saccharin, María Blanco avoids simplifications and focuses attention on another less visible aspect: “There may be changes when using not only saccharin, but also sweeteners, in the microbiota that we have inside our intestine, and that can affect other areas.” To understand why this possible impact matters, the interviewee stops to explain what we are talking about when we mention the microbiota: “The microbiota or the microbiome is the set of bacteria that are living with us in our intestine.” And it adds a key nuance about internal balance: when these bacteria are no longer in a situation of eubiosis and dysbiosis occurs, effects that go beyond the digestive system can appear. The conversation ends by delving into some of the most discussed habits. From the appeal of ultra-processed foods to the debate on fasting and exercising on an empty stomach, María Blanco insists that the body does not work with instantaneous mechanisms: “There is no turn onthere is no switch, which is directly ‘well now I change this liver thing and start burning the fat from the adipocytes.’” We address all of this in more depth in ‘Science and Apart’, which closes its first season with a very interesting episode. A conversation designed to better understand how we eat and to put context to doubts that have been on the table for some time, with the help of our interviewee. Images | Xataka In Xataka | The Earth is not calm, it just seems that way: a geologist explains why natural disasters continue to surprise us

A great sports month is coming in Movistar Plus+ for 9.99 euros

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Sports are becoming a cornerstone for some streaming platforms. Traditionally we have chosen these for their exclusive series or movies, but offering live football, basketball or tennis matches can make a difference for sports lovers. If you are one of them, then surely Movistar Plus+ fits you: a platform that will provide the entire Davis Cup and that only costs 9.99 euros per month (or 99.90 euros per year). Monthly subscription to Movistar Plus+ The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The entire Davis Cup, Real Madrid and Barcelona on Movistar Plus+ For very little per month, we can subscribe and give this streaming platform a try. By not having any type of permanenceif we are not convinced, we can unsubscribe at any time. Furthermore, we can hire it regardless of our operator and we can even share it with a person of our choice without making any strange inventions. If we decide to give it a chance today, we are going to have a very full month ahead of us in terms of sporting events. The first and most notable thing is undoubtedly the Davis Cupwhich we can see in full and exclusively on Movistar Plus+ starting November 18. This eight-way final begins for Spain with a complicated tie against the Czech Republic, later facing Argentina or Germany if they pass. What if we also want to watch football? Adding several competitions, the next few weeks will be very full of authentic games, whether in LaLiga, the Champions League or even the Premier League. Below we show you some of the most notable matches that will be broadcast on Movistar Plus+: Elche – Real Madrid (November 23) Arsenal – Tottenham (November 23) Chelsea – Barcelona (November 25) Ludogorets – Celta (November 27) Seville – Betis (November 30) Barcelona – Atlético de Madrid (December 2) Liverpool – Sunderland (December 3) Athletic – Atlético de Madrid (December 6) Real Madrid – Manchester City (December 10) Celta – Bologna (December 11) Not everything is sport, of course. We also have many series, films and documentaries to choose from within the Movistar Plus+ catalogue, such as the new cases of ‘Crímenes’ by Carles Porta. All without forgetting that we can download what we want and watch it offlineideal for traveling next long weekend or at Christmas. For 9.99 euros per month, a great streaming option that you can get it for 36 euros a year if you have a Young Cultural Bonus. Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Movistar Plus+ In Xataka | The best streaming platforms 2025 | Comparison of Disney+, Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Movistar Plus+, Filmin, Apple TV, SkyShowtime and Rakuten TV: catalog, functions and prices In Xataka | So you can get Movistar Plus+ from 3.25 euros per month to watch series, movies and even football

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