Posts Tagged ‘exercise’

The time is coming near. As this year draws to a close and the next year opens, people are lining up to sell you inspiring stories of weight loss. These stories are all about people who have changed their lives in dramatic ways. Sometimes they’re selling a product or a program. Sometimes it’s a book. […]

“What gets measured gets managed.” This bit of wisdom from Peter Drucker got its start with Lord Kelvin. By now, the whole idea of tracking has become a bit of a holy grail for weight management. We get many prompts for tracking: weight, diet, and physical activity. And generally, keeping track of what we’re doing is […]

When it comes to cancer, it’s increasingly clear that obesity stacks the odds against you in two ways. First, obesity is a key risk factor for many cancers. And second, obesity leads to worse outcomes in cancer treatment. Low Awareness That Obesity Is a Risk Factor People understand that smoking and sun exposure can cause […]

Getting down to the facts about the health benefits of physical activity is harder than it should be. But three new studies this week and a new roadmap for change certainly set the stage. The popular myth is that working out is a great way to lose weight. But the truth is better than the […]

Blame and diversions are no substitute for dealing with the complex reality of a rising tide of childhood obesity. In a thoughtful essay, Sara Kirk points to blame and shame  as a tool for diverting public attention away from finding real solutions. A Ten-Fold Increase Since 1975 For the last 40 years, we’ve been throwing […]

Varidesk is the fastest growing business in Dallas. Somehow, many workers now believe standing desks have important health benefits. Maybe standing desks will save them from an early death in a desk chair.  Or maybe not. Truly, the data is mixed and all of it is observational. No matter. It’s moving tons of products for […]

Yet again, we have the PURE study this week stirring up headlines around the world. A couple of weeks ago, it was nutrition. Today in Lancet, they’re publishing data on the potential for exercise to prevent deaths. Scott Lear and colleagues say that 30 minutes of exercise, five days a week can make a big […]

How can insignificant results be clinically significant? It happens. Especially when researchers believes that their program must have a big effect. Consider this conclusion from a recent study of an program to promote more play: Although the differences between intervention and control were not statistically significant, the effect size indicates clinical significance. Promoting Physical Activity Through Child’s Play […]

Are we building places that harm our health? Yesterday, distinguished professor Jim Sallis told us, unequivocally, yes we are. At the National Academy of Sciences, he opened a survey of the young science of built environments and obesity. The Roundtable on Obesity Solutions sponsored this workshop. Rarely Studied Until the 21st Century Well into the […]

Oops. Did you just drop a few thousand on that beautiful Jarvis Atwood standing desk? Well, a thing of beauty is a joy forever, so it’s not a bad purchase. But it might not save you from heart disease. A new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology finds that jobs where people mostly stand […]