Tag: "exercise"

O would some power the giftie gie us…

A team of researchers led by a group from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently asked 3,622 young men and women in Mexico to estimate their body size based on categories ranging from very underweight to obese. People in the normal weight range selected the correct category about 80 percent of the time, but 58 percent of overweight students incorrectly described themselves as normal weight. Among the obese, 75 percent placed themselves in the overweight category, and only 10 percent accurately described their body size.

Source: Tara Parker-Pope in the NYT.

May 03, 2012 | 4 comments | by

Some Americans Go to Canada for Care

A weight-loss option that the F.D.A. hasn’t approved.

The intragastric balloon, filled with liquid and left in the stomach for up to six months, is not approved for use in the United States, though it’s available in Europe, South America and other parts of the world… Since the balloon’s introduction in Canada in 2006, people like Mrs. Kwarciak have been streaming north in growing numbers. Drawn by the relative ease of balloon placement, Americans account for nearly a third of patients undergoing the procedures in Canadian clinics just over the border.

Full Roni Caryn Rabin article in the NYT.

Apr 25, 2012 | 5 comments | by

Speed Reading Course, and Other Links

Forget about taking that speed reading course: The human eye cannot process more than about 300 words per minute.

The human mind gauges someone’s attractiveness in 13 milliseconds. It happens before you realize you’ve seen the image.

Don’t bother to exercise: You can strengthen your muscles by merely imagining exercise.

Most popular diets do not lead to weight loss; however, unpopular ones do (i.e. diet and exercise).

Apr 18, 2012 | 4 comments | by

Exercisers Also Sit a Lot

We previously reported on a finding that the more hours the men and women sat every day, the greater their chance of dying prematurely.

In a new study from Finland a group of healthy, physically active volunteers donned special shorts that measure muscular activity in the legs. The results:

There was, in fact, virtually no difference in how much time people spent being couch potatoes on the days when they exercised compared with days when they did not. On nonexercise days, about 72 percent of volunteers’ waking time, or about nine hours, was spent sitting.

When they formally exercised, volunteers used about 13 percent more energy overall than on days they didn’t exercise. But they still sat 68 percent of the time.

Source: New York Times articleworth reading.

Apr 12, 2012 | 5 comments | by

Employers Get Tough

Once a year, employees of the Swiss Village Retirement Community in Berne, Ind., have a checkup that will help determine how much they pay for health coverage. Those who don’t smoke, aren’t obese and whose blood pressure and cholesterol fall below specific levels get to shave as much as $2,000 off their annual health insurance deductibles.

Julie Appleby’s article in USA Today.

Apr 05, 2012 | 4 comments | by

Designer Diets

Researchers at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine are studying the theory that nutrition and exercise can be affected by a person’s genetic makeup…The Studies question long-held beliefs about food selection and weight loss. For example, could 1,000 calories of turkey cause more weight gain in some people than 1,000 calories in cashews? If so, could a person lose weight through food selection without cutting calories?

More on genetic makeup and fitness.

Dec 09, 2011 | 5 comments | by

Employer Knows Best

The share of companies that used financial rewards in health management programs increased to 54% in 2011 from 36% in 2009. In 2012, about 80% of companies plan to offer financial rewards… The percentage using penalties, such as for smoking, more than doubled — from 8% in 2009 to 19% in 2011. Nearly 40% of the companies surveyed plan to use penalties next year.

More from USA Today here.

Dec 07, 2011 | 4 comments | by

The Changing Body

The basic argument is rather simple: that the health and nutrition of pregnant mothers and their children contribute to the strength and longevity of the next generation. To take just a few examples, the average adult man in 1850 in America stood about 5 feet 7 inches and weighed about 146 pounds; someone born then was expected to live until about 45. In the 1980s the typical man in his early 30s was about 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighed about 174 pounds and was likely to pass his 75th birthday. Across the Atlantic, at the time of the French Revolution, a 30-something Frenchman weighed about 110 pounds, compared with 170 pounds now. And in Norway an average 22-year-old man was about 5 ½ inches taller at the end of the 20th century (5 feet 10.7 inches) than in the middle of the 18th century (5 feet 5.2 inches).

Full article on the correlation between human evolution and technology.

May 03, 2011 | 5 comments | by

30 Years Ago All these Baby Boomers Would Have Been in Wheel Chairs

Joint-replacement patients these days are younger and more active than ever before. More than half of all hip-replacement surgeries performed this year are expected to be on people under 65, with the same percentage projected for knee replacements by 2016. The fastest-growing group is patients 46 to 64, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Many active middle-agers are wearing out their joints with marathons, triathlons, basketball and tennis and suffering osteoarthritis years earlier than previous generations. They’re also determined to stay active for many more years and not let pain or disability make them sedentary. To accommodate them, implant makers are working to build joints with longer-wearing materials, and surgeons are offering more options like partial knee replacements, hip resurfacing and minimally invasive procedures.

Full article on the baby boomer joint replacement craze.

Apr 21, 2011 | 6 comments | by

Professor Loses Weight on Twinkie Diet

For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate [a Twinkie, a Nutty bar or a powdered donut] every three hours, instead of meals. To add variety in his steady stream of Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Haub munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos, too.

His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most — not the nutritional value of the food.

The premise held up: On his “convenience store diet,” he shed 27 pounds in two months.

Full article on one man’s success with the “Twinkie Diet.”

Nov 10, 2010 | 7 comments | by
Next Page »