Victoria University (VU) is offering men aged 18 to 40 who regularly play sport, a free holiday.
Sort of.
As part of a new exercise study looking at health impacts in men who don’t eat enough while doing large amounts of exercise, VU is offering a 12 day ‘live in’ at its Footscray Park campus.
“It’s like going on a holiday, you come, you stay for 12 days, then you leave,” explained PhD candidate at VU’s institute of health and sport, Shannon Fizer, who is conducting the study into Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDS).
REDS occurs when active individuals don’t consume enough food to fuel the demands of their training, potentially leading to health problems such as stress fractures, poor immunity, impaired reproduction, and low mood.
While the physical impact of REDs on women is well-established, Ms Fizer said the effects of underfueling and over-training in men are less understood.
“Over 80 per cent of REDS studies have been in women. But there has been little research into the syndrome in men – and as a result, we do not fully understand how they could be endangering their health by under eating while training intensely.”
Ms Fizer is hoping to change this by providing men with free food and accommodation and putting them through two exercise sessions a day for 12 days.
Various health tests are also included in the live in which Ms Fizer said would best suit men who can work or study from home.
“The study is set up so participants can work a normal workday online,” she said, adding that exercise sessions were done in the morning and evening, leaving the rest of the day for participants to focus on their jobs or studies
“We have an apartment where they will live and office space, free WiFi and meeting rooms so they can work.”
But despite $500 worth of gift vouchers also being offered, plus free access to test results that would normally cost hundreds of dollars, Ms Fizer said more men were needed with time running out.
“The study has to wrap up by the end of the year,” she said.
Sign up at: https://shorturl.at/DbKPd
