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Next time you're sweating it out at the gym, pump up the volume on your iPod. Recent studies showed that women who listened to their workout tunes a bit louder than usual not only increased the intensity of the workout but were in a better mood too. During the study, women who listened to loud music did 36 reps of the leg press, compared to 29 reps for women who listened to low or medium-volume music and 26 reps for those who listened to no music at all.

While the findings were true for both cardio and strength training exercises, the difference was most noticeable in participants who were pumping iron. Could it be that listening to music takes your mind off the fact that good grief, this hurts like heck? Yep, study author Janet McMordie tells MSNBC: "Psychologically, music gets you pumped up and it also distracts you from what you're doing," she says. Additionally, listening to music helps bust boredom in even the most routine workout.

A word of caution, though -- don't crank your tunes too much. Prolonged exposure to levels of 85 decibels or higher can permanently damage your hearing.

Ready to fire up your fitness? Check out our That's Fit playlist, sure to inspire you through the toughest of sets.

What are your favorite workout tunes?

Like L.L. Cool J, I can't live without my radio. And just as he does, I like my music loud -- especially when I'm working out. But unlike the time when "my radio" literally meant my radio (when guys would walk around with enormous boom box radios carried up against their ear), these days it's all about .MP3 players.

Inasmuch as I can't live without music during a workout, however, letting the volume on my iPod rip may not be the best idea. Common sense, I know, but this lack of it is something I sense is quite common. Men's Health magazine recently addressed this issue, stating that because iPod earbuds only block 1 decibel of outside sound, we tend to overcrank the volume to compensate (and drown out the sound of the 80s monster ballads that are always played on gym speakers).

By continuously pumping up the volume, you can eventually cause hair cells in your ears to swell and die, causing auditory nerves to atrophy. The end result, as you probably guessed, is partial or complete hearing loss.

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The American Academy of Audiology wants to help you protect your kids' ears and has kicked off a campaign called Turn it to the Left to help kids remember to turn down the volume of their personal music players. One in eight kids suffer early hearing damage, but because kids aren't aware of the warning signs, they may not even realize they've set themselves up for trouble. Symptoms of hearing loss include ringing in the ears, difficulty understanding other people when they talk, and distorted sounds.

Hearing is critical to children's development, and early hearing loss will also exacerbate age-related hearing problems in the later decades. Learn more at the AAA's website.

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Should people be able to sue tobacco companies for unfair and deceptive advertising regarding "low tar," "ultra light" or "mild" cigarettes? That's the question Supreme Court justices will have to address soon. Three Maine residents filed suit for misleading them on cigarettes which were supposed to have lower tar and nicotine. The original case was thrown out, but the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals brought it back to life.

Now cigarette makers want the Supreme Court to put a stop to lawsuits like this. The court will have to decide whether or not claims about advertising can be used against the tobacco industry. After using these so-called light smokes for 15 years, the Maine plaintiffs allege Philip Morris and Altria Group had research showing that people smoking "low tar" cigarettes had to inhale more to get the same effect as regular cigarettes.

Of course, this isn't the first time a similar disagreement was thrown out of court. But appeals have a way of dragging on, so it will be some time before this is settled. It's hard to point fingers when someone knowingly puts toxic chemicals in their body for a decade and a half. Should tobacco companies be liable? That's something for the court to decide.

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A lot of us use earbuds or headphones pretty regularly, whether it's while working out or during a long subway commute or whatever, and most of us barely give our health and our hearing a second thought while choosing a playlist and adjusting the volume. But research shows we should be giving it some thought, as causing permanent hearing damage is easier than you might think. Experts have suggested some listening guidelines based on how loud you like to crank your tunes (these are for earbuds):

• At 80% of the maximum volume you shouldn't listen for longer than 1.2 - 1.5 hours at a time
• At 70% of the max volume you can listen for quite a bit longer: 4.6 - 6.0 hours
• And if you can keep it to 50% of the max or lower you can listen as long as you want

I have no idea what percentage I usually have my iPod set on, but I'm gonna figure it out!

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A group of Canadian audiologists and speech pathologists are concerned that noisy classrooms are making it tougher for kids to properly hear lessons and therefore learn material. A study comissioned by the Canadian Language and Literacy Reseach Network showed that first grade students tend to miss at least 1 of every 6 words spoken by their teachers because of the amount of ambient noise, including other classes and audio equipment, in classrooms.

As this article points out, while adults have the language skills to determine words that they've missed in sentences, children aren't able to put the pieces of a sentence together and end up experiencing a number of detrimental effects including poor understanding, reading problems and decreased attention. Apparently the problem is worse in Canada than in the United States, where there is a national standard that keeps classrooms less noisy.

Are you worried about the amount of noise in your child's classroom?

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A small study of 100 participants conducted by the chairman of the Department of Ear, Nose, and Throat at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India found long-term cell phone users who chatted on their mobile for an hour or more a day, were more likely to suffer from high-frequency hearing loss.

Users who had their phones for four years or more were most effected, while those who had only had their mobiles for two years were less likely to have problems. According to the article, those suffering from high-frequency hearing loss have trouble hearing consonants like s, f, t and z.

It's important to keep in mind though, that the study is small and the researcher who conducted it points out that a much larger study and more research needs to be done before any definitely links or conclusions can be drawn. So don't panic, but maybe try not to chat on your phone for hours on end either.

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If someone asked you to list the health dangers of loud music you'd probably come up with things like hearing and ear damage, and maybe safety related to being distracted. But lung collapse? Wouldn't have crossed my mind, not until I read this article anyway, which reports on cases where loud music caused a pneumothorax (lung collapse) in several young men. A few of the cited cases happened at concerts, and 1 was of a guy in his car listening to his 1,000 watt bass system. Experts are guessing it's the vibration of the bass in the loud music that can cause the problem -- essentially the lungs start to vibrate along with the beat and end up rupturing.

Something to think about the next time you head to a concert -- don't stand too close to the loudspeakers!

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The body has an infinitely intricate set of mechanisms that all work together for your body to function on a day-to-day basis. Most of the time we're completely unaware of all these small adjustments our bodies are making, and, subsequently, wouldn't know how to replicate them on purpose. But by understanding these mechanisms, you can manipulate, or "trick," your body into better performance.

Eco Dialogues has created a list of 18 useful "tricks" -- such as how to "make your heart stand still." Apparently, you can calm a racing heart simply by blowing on your thumb. They interviewed an emergency medical services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh who says the vagus nerve -- which governs heart rate -- can be controlled by breathing. So when you're nervous before a big speech, or on a first date, breathing on your thumb can get things back to normal.

Other interesting "tricks" include how to tickle your throat by scratching your ear, experience supersonic hearing, unstitch your side and breathe underwater. Some are more useful than others, but all of them are certainly interesting!

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In a study recently published out of the Netherlands, folic acid appeared to slow age-related hearing loss. Although previous research linked low folic acid levels to bad hearing, this is the first data to suggest that folic acid supplements can actually slow the onset of hearing loss as people get older.

The only real downside to this study is that because it was done in the Netherlands, when laws prevented folate fortified foods, the patients followed started out with folic acid levels at only half of the average U.S. citizen. So more research will need to be done to see if the results hold true under different circumstances, and that (I'm sure) will take awhile.

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With the holiday season upon us, the wrapping paper may have already begun to fly. Your children will be opening new toys, many of them electronic, many of them noisy. I've heard more than one parent joke that they wished a particularly noisy toy had an volume switch, and it seems those parents may have been on to something.

Toys that are too loud for adults are too loud for children, experts say. While most toy makers are meeting the non-required ASTM standards on toys, it doesn't mean that children won't play with them in an inappropriate way. Parents need to be aware of how children are playing with noisy toys and to not let them hold them up to their ears for long periods of time.

The reason, one expert explains, is that hearing loss happens gradually over time and is painless. That means that we don't always know we're damaging our hearing, and children are especially vulnerable to this.

If a toy seems too loud to you, don't buy it. If you receive an especially loud toy, tape a piece of duct tape over the speaker to reduce the volume.

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