Does obesity breed obesity? A 2007 study out of Harvard University found that hanging out with fat people increase your chances of being fat. Now, based on the result of that study comes a new study from the Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Division of Health Sciences and Technology predicting obesity rates in the U.S. will slowly climb for another 40 years, at which point 42 percent of the population will be obese. Not just overweight, but obese. That finding contradicts previous predictions that the obesity rate has topped at its current rate of 32 percent of the U.S. population.
Category Archives: Fitness
Arthritis: A pain in the joints or a ‘friendly reminder’?
I’d been referring to this injury that had been dogging me for three weeks a hamstring pull, but I knew that wasn’t right. For one, the pain was at the front of my leg, nearly to my groin; wouldn’t I feel hamstring in the back of my leg? And the more I worked it, the less it hurt. Seemed a hamstring would continue hurting, hurt even more, the more I worked out. So when the physician’s assistant returned to the exam room with the results of an X-ray, I was pretty sure I knew the diagnosis: stress fracture.
Cheap fun: Free fitness
It was the day after Thanksgiving and the 12-year-old asked the question I’d been dreading. “So,” she inquired, “what are we doing today?”
Dreading for two reasons. One, I’d tweaked a nagging leg injury at the Inside Out Turkey Trot the day before and my mobility was limited. (“Limited” meaning I could barely walk. Oddly, I could ride a bike pain free. Trouble was, the weather wasn’t supportive of a body-friendly bike ride.) That left going somewhere inside and likely spending money, a commodity in short supply going into the holidays. After explaining this limitation, Kate resorted to her fallback on such occasions.
Kick ’em out! (Your kids, that is)
The following GGNC story appeared in the November 23 editions of The News & Observer in Raleigh and the Charlotte Observer. It’s rerun here, with links. For additional information about getting kids outside, visit yesterday’s post.
The virtues of kids being outdoors have been touted in a number of studies. But when it comes down to it, the proof is in the playing.
Run from that cold!
Another reason to exercise: You’ll keep from catching cold.
You’ve likely heard that from your friendly, local robo-athlete, the guy or gal who works out with machine-like efficiency pert near every day. Well, he/she now has a study out of the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State’s North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis — quick breath so we can finish this sentence — to back him/her up.