with the growing realisation that regular physical activity is vital for good health, more and more women are taking to strenuous physical exercises. But exercise regimens are governed by guidelines on how far the body can be pushed. Such recommendations are based on three considerations:

• potential health benefits

• safety and

• feasibility of taking up such exercise(s)

Considerations of safety are particularly crucial because physical exercises of high intensity and long duration are known to lead to menstrual and reproductive dysfunctions. The recent recommendations of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, us , and the Erican College of Sports Medicine encourage 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity on most or preferably all days of the week. This contrasts with previous recommendations which had endorsed vigorous endurance exercises.

Two doctors from the Harvard Medical School, Cambridge and the School of Public Health, Boston, (both in Massachusetts, us)