Sleeping and driving. According to a report by the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep and Teens Task Force: “Drowsiness or fatigue has been identified as a principle cause in at least 100,000 police-reported traffic crashes each year, killing more than 1,500 Americans and injuring another 71,000, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 1994). Young drivers age 25 or under cause more than one-half of fall-asleep crashes. A North…
This morning while in the car and listening to the BBC World Service I was reminded of why I like to run. The story was about a study revolving around two questions: At what age do you you consider yourself to be old? At what age do you stop considering yourself to be young? The question was put to people in several countries and the results differed wildly depending upon…
I turned 55 today and celebrated with a 30-minute ab workout. I had to: According to the National Institutes of Health, while 55 is when males generally start dropping weight (sorry gals, it doesn’t happen for you until around 65), I’m now more inclined to hang on to the weight I’m keeping — in the form of fat — around my midsection. Some other interesting bits I learned from the…
A study appearing in this month’s Journal of Physical Activity and Health of 6,000 people found that those who had dogs were 34 percent more likely to achieve the government recommended minimum weekly allotment of 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous exercise. (That’s five days a week of 30 minutes of exercise, or three days a week of 50 minutes of exercise, for example.) “Dogs can be a…
We’ll avoid the obvious suggestion of workers powering office equipment when we report a study at East Carolina University that found sedentary office workers like the idea of having a portable pedaling machine under their desk. Like it, and will use it, in the case of 18 workers who had such a device placed under their desks for a four-week period. On average, the workers (88 percent of whom were…
The latest from the research world as it applies to our world … Chocolate: the new super fruit You’d expect scientific news about chocolate coming out of the Hershey Center for Heath & Nutrition to be favorable toward the brown elixir. And you wouldn’t be disappointed. Chocolate, which recently has been embraced as the ultimate recovery drink by recovering athletes, has been deemed by the Hershey center as a rich…
Senior citizens in the Triad have helped in a key discovery about how they and their peers can retain their mobility: walk and lose weight. A five-year study of 288 seniors (ages 60-79) in Davidson, Forsyth and Guilford counties found that those who walked regularly and lose weight improved their mobility by as much as 20 percent. The Wake Forest University study divided the seniors into three groups: a control…
Back when I was chained to a desk and confined to a cube, I perfected a nifty technique for eluding supervisory detection during frequent absences from my work space. I’d get a hot cup of coffee from the company canteen, place it next to an open folder on my desk, drape a sports coat over the back of my chair and slip away. People would walk by, see the steaming…
Today, a look at a trio of studies on kids’ health, presented in three acts. Act I: Leave it to poor cholesterol The scene: Lunchtime at Grant Avenue Grammar School as Larry and Gilbert sit down to eat. Let’s listen. Gilbert: Lunchables? Larry: Yeah, why? Gilbert: Ya knucklehead! Don’t you realize that the lifestyle choices you make today can have a profound effect on your cholesterol levels as an adult?…
The following originally appeared yesterday in The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer as part of the papers’ series on Fat. It appears today with helpful links to provide you with more information. Move more and eat better in 2011 using these seven simple strategies: 1. Mix it up. The big trend in fitness isn’t one thing, it’s everything. Avoid drudgery, avoid stressing the same muscles and work your entire…