HEALTH & FITNESS


New £15.3m sports centre opens in Kirkcaldy, Fife


A new £15.3m sports and leisure centre has opened in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, as part of a £55m council-led project to open three new flagship facilities in the region. Part of the Future of Leisure programme,


the centre houses a 25m, six-lane swimming pool with poolside spectating for 90 people; a training pool with an underwater movable floor; and changing facilities. Users also have access to a 60-station gym,


a purpose-built aerobics studio, a four-court sports hall and a children’s play centre with nearby café and a meeting room. Te facility further provides a health suite


and steamroom located next to the pool area. Details: http://lei.sr?a=f5v5N


Execise boosts brain development


Moderate exercise during pregnancy could boost a baby’s brain development, according to new research. Te study, which involved


18 mothers-to-be, found that 10 days aſter being born, chil- dren showed signs of having a more mature brain if their mothers had exercised during the pregnancy. For the study, researchers


randomly assigned 10 women to an exercise group and eight to an inactive group at the start of their second trimes- ter. Te active group engaged in at least 20 minutes of car- dio vascular activity three times a week at moderate intensity – mean- ing at least a slight shortness of breath – with the pregnant women typically walking, jog- ging, swimming or cycling. On average, the workout group clocked 117


the researchers measured the newborn chil- dren’s brain activity while sleeping at eight to


Te new fitness centre will open in February


Opening date set for Hampton leisure centre


Vivacity, the not-for-profit organisation which manages many of Peterborough’s cul- ture and leisure facilities on behalf of the city council, is to open a new Premier Fitness club in Hampton. Te Vivacity Premier Fitness centre on


Hadfield Road is scheduled to open on 1 February 2014 and will feature a 25m swimming pool plus a full range of fitness equipment fitted with Smart Centre perfor- mance monitoring technology. Forming Vivacity’s first premium health


and fitness facility, it will also offer two high- end studios; a sauna and steamroom; four beauty treatment rooms; deluxe showers and changing facilities and an onsite cafe. Membership will provide access to all


six Vivacity Leisure Centres across the city, swimming at four pools and more than 175 fitness classes every week. Te opening of the Hadfield Road centre fol-


lows that of the Hampton Leisure Centre on Clayburn Road in September this year, the lat- ter offering a gym; dance and exercise studios; a multi-purpose sports hall and grass football pitches. Details: http://lei.sr?a=P3H9q


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Exercising when pregnant could stimulate a child’s brain says the study


12 days old, focusing on the ability of the child’s brain to recognise a new sound. Te babies whose mothers exercised had


minutes of exercise on a weekly basis, while the sedentary group clocked 12 minutes a week. Using an EEG to record the brain’s activity,


brains which were “more efficient” and could “recognise sounds with less effort”. Te research team has hypothesised that


exercise speeds up a process known as syn- aptic pruning, whereby extra nerve cells and connections are eliminated, helping brain development. Details: http://lei.sr?a=S5Z3w


250 million wearable tech devices by 2017


Over a quarter of a billion wearable health and fitness sensing devices will be shipped worldwide by 2017, as fitness technology becomes more dominant in the wireless marketplace, according to technology research firm ON World. Research by ON has found that health


and fitness wireless technology is enter- ing a ‘golden age’ of interest from users, with adoption rates rising rapidly. In a survey conducted by the firm


with 300 people, it was found that 20 per cent already owned a wearable tech- nology device such as a sports watch, heart rate monitor or activity tracker. Such is the growing rate, demand


Health and fitness wireless technology is entering the ‘golden age’


for technologies like Bluetooth Smart for mobile health and fitness devices is accel- erating, with ON stating that sales of Bluetooth Smart certified products have so far increased 380 per cent since January 2013. With this in mind, ON has estimated that by


2017, sales of Bluetooth chipsets used solely for health, wellness, sports and fitness will reach 95.7 million. ON found that having evaluated 200 mobile sensing health and fitness products, Bluetooth


Read Leisure Opportunities online: www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/digital


Smart will be used in 59 per cent of products to be launched this year. A collection of reports made available by


the research firm has also highlighted that the IOS and Android platforms for smart watches and glasses will disrupt standard technological fitness solutions by offering a multi-purpose approach, providing a multi- tude of sensors and associated apps for users. Details: http://lei.sr?a=M3n6a


Twitter: @leisureopps © CYBERTREK 2013


image: shutterstock_125264765


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