Posts Tagged ‘physical activity’

Our president just had his annual medical exam and that ritual is providing us an important reminder. Self-reports – especially about obesity, nutrition, and physical activity – are not very reliable. That’s because most people misremember or shade the truth. We’re all lighter, taller, eating healthier, and more active when we do the reporting ourselves. A Long […]

Pets not only make great companions, but they can also help you recover after suffering from physical and mental afflictions. Here are just some of the benefits having an animal buddy can offer while you’re healing. Better Mental Health Having an animal companion helps you become mentally healthier. Pets are capable of lowering loneliness, stress, and anxiety […]

Last week, the Lancet Commission on obesity offered us a pretty bleak view of the future. The current approach to obesity prevention is failing. Food and fuel industries are dooming us to a future that is overweight, underwater, and malnourished. But what do the data say? Ruopeng An and Shen Zhang provide a systematic review […]

January has arrived and thus, so has the annual ratings of “The Best Diets” by U.S. News & World Report, guided by a distinguished panel of experts. However, here’s the thing. There is not just one best diet. In fact, the top two “diets” on this list – the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet – […]

Beware these words: I have a theory. Science defines theories as: Coherent groups of propositions formulated to explain a group of facts or phenomena in the natural world and repeatedly confirmed through experiment or observation. Writing in the New York Times, Stephen Kearse tells us that our present age of truth decay is distorting the meaning of […]

Sitting for Too Long Could Increase Your Risk of Dying – Even If You Exercise Are you sitting down? Then you may want to stand up to read this, as research from the U.S. has found that sitting for too long could increase your risk of dying – even if you exercise. The study found […]

Among American adults, 29 percent have high blood pressure. Less than half of them have it under control. But more than three quarters of them take blood pressure meds. By contrast, only one quarter of American adults get the exercise that’s recommended for good health. However, a new study in the British Journal of Sports […]

High intensity interval training (HIIT) just got another boost in the scientific literature. A new study in Experimental Biology and Medicine tells us that HIIT might be especially helpful for brain health in people with obesity. Small Study, Surrogate Endpoint This is a fascinating study. Researchers evaluated the effect of HIIT and more moderate exercise […]

The fitness industry is booming. Since 2000, gym memberships have nearly doubled. Health clubs generate revenues of $87 billion per year around the world. In addition, we’re spending money on fitness togs and gear as if our lives depend upon it. And maybe, just maybe, some people are improving their health. But we’re not putting […]

Knowing what you believe can be extremely important. But for science, that’s not enough. There’s a big difference, for example, between believing that intermittent fasting can help patients with diabetes and measuring the clinical outcomes that it produces. Likewise, believing that an Active Classroom intervention can boost activity levels at school is not the same […]