Duh

Exercise is good for you. Here's another reason, in case you didn't believe everything everyone's been saying for the last 40 years. Exercise turns bad, white fat cells into brown fat cells (which aren't just big clumps of stuff that take up space, but are active and use energy and metabolize), once thought to cease to exist in the human body after babyhood. I never knew "babyhood" was a word. But it makes sense. It's because exercise promotes the creation of something called PGC-1 alpha, recently dubbed "irisin," a protein that continues to benefit the body even once exercise has ceased.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/exercise-hormone-helps-keep-us-healthy/?ref=health

But how muscle cells “talk” to fat, what they tell the fat and what role exercise has in sparking or sustaining that conversation have been mysteries — until, in the new study, scientists closely examined the operations of a substance called PGC1-alpha, which is produced in abundance in muscles during and after exercise.

“It seems clear that PGC1a stimulates many of the recognized health benefits of exercise,” said Bruce Spiegelman, the Stanley J. Korsmeyer professor of cell biology and medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, who led the study. Mice bred to produce preternaturally large amounts of PGC1a in their muscles are typically resistant to age-related obesity and diabetes, much as people who regularly exercise are.

But never fear, you who are exercise averse or immobilized from disease or injury -

In upcoming experiments, Dr. Spiegelman plans to study whether injections of irisin imitate some of the metabolic benefits of exercise in people who, because of disease or disability, cannot work out. He also hopes to elucidate just how much and what types of exercise produce the greatest natural irisin increases in healthy people.

Frugal Dad

This is a really neat site. Check it out -

http://frugaldad.com/

I Was Going to Make the Title of This "That's What Friends Are For" But That's Already Implied by the Title of the Article

From the New York Times -

What Are Friends For? A Longer Life

"Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship and social networks in overall health. A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk for obesity among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties could promote brain health as we age. "

I think it says something that I haven't posted anything with "friendship" as a blog label.



God, I miss ensembles likes that.

Health & Fitness Expo

This looks pretty sweet. Thanks to Vivian for the heads-up -

"We hope to see you April 25th and 26th at the Miami Beach Convention Center for this year’s largest Health & Fitness Expo in South Florida! The Health & Fitness Expo takes place at The Miami Beach Convention Center in the Main Hall. Doors open at 10 AM."

This Sucks

I'm only posting this because I thought that my title was a funny, albeit obvious, one.

Breast-feeding rates are at their highest in the last 20 years. That's good news for babies. But not for daddies : ( ...kidding of course! I'm just full of them today.

"Experts attributed the rise to education campaigns that emphasize that breast milk is better than formula at protecting babies against disease and childhood obesity. A changing culture that accommodates nursing mothers may also be a factor."


Here's an Associated Press article about it.

Ah, Push It

It's nice to see that this is the most popular article on the New York Times' website.

"Based on national averages, a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 push-ups and a man the same age should be able to do 27. By the age of 60, those numbers drop to 17 for men and 6 for women. Those numbers are just slightly less than what is required of Army soldiers who are subjected to regular push-up tests."

Whealth

"If you have not consciously made the decision to be rich, excellent, and healthy, then you have unconsciously made the decision to be poor, mediocre, and unhealthy."

-Wallace D. Wattles, self-help author

One of the things I like about HSAs and high deductible health plans is that they make consumers more conscious of health care issues and spending.

14 Years! 14. Years!

This is not very surprising, but maybe if people keep hearing this stuff they'll make some changes-

"People with four healthy lifestyle behaviors -- not smoking, physical activity, moderate alcohol consumption, and eating five servings of fruit or vegetables a day -- live an average of 14 years longer than people with none of those behaviors, a new British study contends."

Read the entire article in U.S. News & World Report.

The Pursuit of Happiness

No big surprise here. If you're happy, you're healthy. There's a lot of talk these days about inflammation being a cause of many ailments. Being unhappy can lead to that. Here's some news from a study of 3,000 people in Britain.

"In the study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, women who reported more positive emotions had lower blood levels of two proteins that indicate widespread inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation is believed to contribute to a range of ills over time, including heart disease and cancer."

Part of effective preventive medicine is addressing people's happiness.

"We need to help people to recognize the things that make them feel good and truly satisfied with their lives, so that they spend more time doing these things."

Down the Slippery Slope We Go

If you didn't see this coming, then you're not paying enough attention to the world around you.

Oxford researchers have recently proposed that a 17.5% tax be added to fatty foods, in an effort to reduce heart disease in the UK. Good thing they didn't propose that for the American colonies, or we'd have to kick their asses again, huh? Yeah, that's right England, don't even think about it.

The surprising fact that I learned was that such a tax already exist in Britain (I've now used UK, England, AND Britain! Am I talking about Wales or Scotland in any of this? Who knows?).

From Reuters online -

"The purchase tax is already levied on a small number of products such as potato crisps, ice cream, confectionery and chocolate biscuits, but most food is exempt."

I'm not sure if that was English, but I know what "ice cream" is, unless in England that actually means "milk shake". You get the point though.

"The move could save an estimated 3,200 lives in Britain each year, according to the study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health."

Even though the British Heart Foundation has rejected the proposal, the fact remains that this tax is already in place on other products! In the US and in Great Britain, taxes are used to dissuade all kinds of behavior (drinking, smoking, gas consumption). The thing is, where does it end?

Think Again

This one's for my brother, Brendan, and John Stossel. Those guys love this kind of myth-debunking.

MSN Health has a list of things that you probably think are healthy habits, and reasons why they are not. A conspicuous item on the list is the very first; anti-bacterial soap. It kills the weak bacteria and makes strong ones stronger.

Read the entire list here.

Wealth = Health

How perfect is this?

	"To get rich, never risk your health. For it is the truth that health is the wealth of wealth."
	— Richard Baker: American congressman.

"Health is the wealth of wealth." I really like that.

Lucky Number 13

WedMD has "13 Healthy Habits to Improve Your Life". You should read them, in detail, but here's the list:

1. Eat Breakfast Every Morning
2. Add Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acids to Your Diet
3. Get Enough Sleep
4. Make Social Connections
5. Exercise for Better Health
6. Practice Good Dental Hygiene
7. Take Up a Hobby
8. Protect Your Skin
9. Snack the Healthy Way
10. Drink Water and Eat Dairy
11. Drink Tea
12. Take a Daily Walk
13. Plan

SWB

Contrary to popular belief, that doesn't stand for "single white bunny". SWB stands for "subjective well-being".

From the University of Leicester's School of Psychology:

"This underlying state is conceptualised as a sense of satisfaction with one’s life, both in general and in specific areas of one’s life such as relationships, health and work."

I read an article about the study in The Futurist magazine and was able to track down the paper and complete ranking of countries' scores on the Satisfaction With Life Scale here. Denmark and Switzerland tie for 1st place with a 273, followed by Austria, Iceland, Bahamas, Finland, and Sweden. USA is a little bit down the list with a score of 247, but comfortably ahead of the miserable French, at 220. It will come as no great shock that the bottom of the list is comprised of African and former Soviet Bloc countries, where health problems and poverty abound.