"Then one day, like Archimedes of old, it happened. In a physiology textbook there it was: fat oxidizes into carbon dioxide. Wait a second, I read that line again: fat oxidizes into carbon dioxide. No way! So you’re telling me that all I have to do is breathe to lose weight. I can’t believe no one has ever told me this before. Fat leaves my body through breathing??"
Tag Archives | Exercise
The Truth About Sports Drinks
If you’ve ever looked at a fluorescent colored so-called “sports drink” (i.e. Gatorade, Powerade and all the wannabes in the category) and wondered if it could possibly quality as a natural, healthy beverage, we now know the answer: No, it’s not. Don’t take my word for it, here’s an exhaustive review of the relevant science by Deborah Cohen in the BMJ:
… Read the restPrehydrate; drink ahead of thirst; train your gut to tolerate more fluid; your brain doesn’t know you’re thirsty—the public and athletes alike are bombarded with messages about what they should drink, and when, during exercise. But these drinking dogmas are relatively new. In the 1970s, marathon runners were discouraged from drinking fluids for fear that it would slow them down, says Professor Tim Noakes, Discovery health chair of exercise and sports science at Cape Town University. At the first New York marathon in 1970, there was little discussion about the role of hydration—it was thought to have little scientific value.
Lack Of Exercise Kills Roughly As Many As Smoking
Get on your bikes, disinfonauts. From the Los Angeles Times:
… Read the restPeople across the world are falling so far short on exercise that the problem has become a global pandemic, causing nearly a tenth of deaths worldwide and killing roughly as many people as smoking, researchers warned this week as an alarming series of studies was published in the Lancet.
Eight out of 10 youngsters age 13 to 15 don’t get enough exercise, according to one of the Lancet studies released Tuesday, and nearly a third of adults fall short. The problem is even worse for girls and women, who are less active than boys and men, researchers found.
The results are fatal. Lack of exercise is tied to worldwide killers such as heart disease, diabetes and breast and colon cancer. If just a quarter of inactive adults got enough exercise, more than 1.3 million deaths could be prevented worldwide annually, researchers said.
If Exercise Were A Cancer Drug, It Would Be A Blockbuster
But we all know that Big Pharma won’t let doctors prescribe exercise for their very profitable customers patients. Report from Medical News Today:
… Read the restIf exercise were a cancer drug, it would be a blockbuster, appears to be the conclusion of a new review on the benefits of physical activity to people surviving and living beyond cancer. In a report released today, 8 August, the leading UK charity Macmillan Cancer Support, firmly sweeps aside the tradition that cancer patients should “rest up” and “take it easy”, and urges doctors and nurses to prescribe physical activity to patients “at all stages of cancer from initial diagnosis through to the later stages”. However, despite the emergence of this evidence, many health professionals are failing to tell their cancer patients about the benefits of exercise, they added.
Ciaran Devane, Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, told the press that the evidence in the report, whose short title is “Move More”, shows how important physical activity is to recovery from cancer, yet “very little attention to its benefits is given by health professionals or by those commissioning health services”.
Ganja Yoga: A Higher Form Of Enlightenment
A stunning breakthrough in body/mind well-being and healing? Or just a case of people looking for any excuse to get stoned? Either way, combining marijuana and yoga sounds like a winning concept. Dubbed “ganja yoga”, the practice has gained devotees and garnered an article in the Globe and Mail:
… Read the restAs the light haze of pot smoke dissipates in the downtown Toronto living room, the ganja yoga session begins.
“When you’re high, you can focus better on your breath,” says Dee Dussault, who runs a monthly session of “cannabis-enhanced yoga” at her home dubbed Follow Your Bliss.
She says smoking marijuana in small doses before a yoga class also makes students more receptive to the poses and philosophies behind the activities. “For some people, it makes them uninhibited and open to the idea of the heart chakra, for example.”
Because Ms. Dussault publicizes ganja yoga openly, there is the question of legal repercussions.
Mark Frauenfelder: ‘Passport Ownership Prevents Diabetes’
Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing writes, “It’s conclusive: owning a passport will prevent you from becoming diabetic.”
