Posts Tagged ‘exercise’

Obesity and aging is a neglected subject of growing importance. In people between the ages of 65 and 74 years, obesity quadrupled in men (10.4% to 41.5%) and grew by 74% in women (23.2% to 40.3%) between 1960 and 2010. The interaction of brain, muscles, obesity, and aging assumes considerable importance as people progress from […]

While we were all busy with the latest research at Obesity Week, the folks who run the subways in Moscow were busy solving the problem with squats to fight obesity. That’s right — 30 squats before a high-tech subway fare counter and you get a free ride on the Moscow subway. Obesity averted. You can […]

Now that everyone has hit the exits from Atlanta and returned to their favorite pillows, here are seven closing highlights from Obesity Week 2013. This has been a big, diverse meeting, full of energy. Media coverage has been extraordinary. The team working behind the curtain on all of the logistics made it seem remarkably smooth, […]

Obesity surgery, diet, and exercise are often set up in subtle and misleading opposition. An excellent new study in the British Medical Journal finds that surgical treatment of obesity leads to greater weight loss and remission of diabetes than non-surgical treatment. But the headlines go like this: “Surgery trounces diet and exercise for treating obesity […]

Americans with the right economic and time resources are increasingly outsourcing their own perspiration and fueling a boom in personal fitness training. The U.S. health club industry generated revenues of $22 billion in 2012 from 58 million Americans who participate. Despite the great recession, membership has grown 10% since 2008. Says Frank Bruni in a […]

Obesity headlines too often bring more sensation than information on the subject. Coverage this week for a study of the impact mosquitoes have on children provides a good case in point. Headlines in USA Today and an embarrassingly large assortment of other publications declared that mosquitoes might cause childhood obesity. Oh my! Unfortunately, the study had […]

Business, consumer, and health research suggest that obesity, exercise, and healthy eating are all rising in parallel. How can this be? What does this say about strategies for reversing obesity trends that focus exclusively on more physical activity and healthy eating? The latest report in this vein to capture media attention is a study published […]

Data from the Healthy Blue Living wellness program was just published online in Translational Behavioral Medicine. And the wellness program presents a sunny picture of compliant employees with obesity wearing a pedometer that uploads their physical activity to the employer’s wellness program. But the fact is, these employees must participate and meet daily step count […]

Employer wellness programs are all the rage lately, even though solid evidence for sustainable improvements in health is lacking for most of these programs. For a more robust option, let’s consider the benefits of pets, especially dogs. The American Heart Association has just published an exhaustive review of the scientific evidence, concluding that owning a […]

Employers are talking a lot about employee wellness programs, with some stirring up controversy by weighing their employees and imposing penalties on employees with obesity. A pair of new studies adds to the understanding that prolonged sitting time at work is a significant risk for cardiovascular disease, obesity, and a host of health problems. This growing body of […]