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Teenagers who are overweight, get little exercise, or smoke may be more likely than their peers to have recurrent headaches, researchers reported Wednesday.

Norwegian researchers found that among nearly 6,000 13- to 18-year-olds they assessed, those who were overweight, sedentary or who smoked were more likely to report suffering recurrent headaches in the past year -- including both migraines and common tension-type headaches.

According to the American Psychological Association, a whopping 75 percent of people in the United States feel stressed out. Almost half of us eat unhealthy because of it; 47 percent of us can't sleep because of it; it makes one in three of us depressed; and for 42 percent of us, it has gotten worse in the last year. There is so much making us anxious these days -- from big-picture problems like uncontrollable oil spills and a still-soft economy to garden-variety job, relationship, money, you-name-it woes -- that it's easy to think of chronic stress as the new normal.

the latest research reveals that revving up your body with exercise may be the most effective antidote. In lab studies, when scientists at Princeton put animals on a six-week aerobic conditioning program, then compared their brain cells with those of a group that remained sedentary, they found that the "brains on exercise" morphed over time into a biochemically calm state that remained steady even when the subjects were under stress. The nonexercising group's brain cells continued to react strongly to anxiety-inducing situations. This breakthrough discovery has scientists now saying that cardio workouts may actually remodel the brain to make it more resistant to stress hormones.

Canada’s guidelines on sedentary activity (an oxymoron to be sure) released last week say children should spend no more than two hours a day in front of a TV, videogame or computer screen.

Only 7 per cent of children meet Canada’s physical activity guidelines. (Adults don’t fare much better at 15 per cent.)

According to a recent study, regular exercise improves the ability of inactive, overweight children to do better in math. Researchers at Georgia Health Sciences University studied 171 sedentary and overweight 7- to 11-year-olds in an effort to identify what happens to children's brains with regular, vigorous exercise.

After allowing the kids to engage in fun, playful exercises, such as running games, hula hooping and jump roping, which raised their heart rates to 79 percent of their maximum, scientists used the Cognitive Assessment System and Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III, tests that measure abilities such as planning and academic skills, to identify brain activity before and after the bouts of physical activity. Students showed an increase in complex thinking and decision making -- the areas of the brain that are used in math. In fact, the more the children exercised, the more their brains responded. Intelligence scores increased an average 3.8 points in those exercising 40 minutes per day for three months. Those who exercised just 20 minutes a day also benefited, just in a smaller dose. Researchers noted that the improved math skills were "remarkable," since no math lessons were given as part of the study. This suggests longer, more sustained periods of vigorous physical activity throughout the entire school year could produce even higher results. And researchers believe all children -- not just those who are overweight -- could benefit with improved reasoning and complex thinking skills.

In a country where one-third of our children are overweight, it is increasingly important to motivate schools and parents to encourage daily physical activity. The Center for Disease Control recommends at least 60 minutes of exercise a day for children, yet there is no federal mandate for minimum standards in schools. Each state is responsible for setting their own requirements, and unfortunately, with increasing budget cuts, not all schools comply or engage the children in quality-rich physical education.

Casually flipping through a 2006 copy of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, I learned that exercise is the key to combating the stress of modern life.The authors, from the University of Ioannina in Greece, first explain (in regards to the fight-or-flight response) that "stress responses can be elicited by emotional stimuli or professional and social stress."

It takes just one negatively worded memo handed down from on high to get the glucocorticoids and catecholamines flowing, but these adrenal hormones go unused and are stored in visceral fat deposits, and this does bad things to you.

these stored adrenal hormones disturb gonadal function (no wonder Viagra is such a big seller), as well as growth hormone and thyroid function. They explain how these "metabolic disturbances" lead to "comorbidities including central obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and endothelial dysfunction." In other words, unrelieved stress turns you into an artery-clogged hippopotamus with Limbaugh-like blood pressure and a lousy immune system. Oh, and it's also hard on your brain.

"Moderate intensity aerobic exercise improves mood immediately and those improvements can last up to 12 hours," concludes study

The mood of the exercisers was better than that of the sedentary group immediately after the workout and for up to 12 hours later. "This goes a long way to show that even moderate aerobic exercise has the potential to mitigate the daily stress that results in your mood being disturbed," he says. Men and women seemed to benefit equally, and the fitness level of the participant did not seem to matter