From the research world comes more incentive to stay active — or become so — as you age.
From the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University comes “preliminary evidence” that keeping your brain sharp can help you physically. Einstein researchers took a group of 20 “frail” seniors (age 70 or older who walk less than a meter per second) and divided them into two groups. Ten went about their normal routines, 10 participated in the MindFit brain fitness program: For 45 to 60 minutes a day, three days a week for eight weeks, they carried out tasks that honed their cognitive abilities: focusing, planning, organizing, problem solving. After eight weeks, the MindFit folks walked slightly faster, but their ability to walk and talk at the same time improved significantly.read more
Back in the spring, Andy Cole would have been happy to just keep up with his 5-year-old and almost 2-year-old at the local playground, let alone squat-lift 285 pounds and run two miles without stopping.read more
I originally wrote the following story for The News & Observer, where it ran on Tuesday, July 13. Saturday, I’ll post a similar story that ran July 13 in the Charlotte Observer.
It helped Josh Handest train for a half marathon. It was even more instrumental in getting him into shape to keep up with his preschool sons.read more
For the last 20 years or so, childhood obesity has been, almost literally, the 800-pound gorilla in the room. The room in question, unfortunately, has been the pediatrician’s examining room.
Despite the fact childhood obesity has reached almost epidemic proportions in the past quarter century — the percentage of obese kids in the U.S. grew from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 17 percent in 2006, one in three kids born here in 2000 stood a risk of becoming diabetic, the statistics go on — it’s been an issue rarely discussed at the annual well-child exam. According to a 2008 survey of its membership, the American Academy of Pediatrics found that only 52 percent of pediatricians measured patients for their Body Mass Index, an imperfect but general indicator of obesity. Even then, if their BMI indicated they were overweight or obese, 59 percent of pediatricians said they were reluctant to discuss the matter.read more
Imagine being able to improve the health of North Carolina school kids to the tune of $250,000, and all you have to do is log on to your computer every day this month. Details in a moment; first, some quick introductions.
Be Active North Carolina. Be Active NC is a non-profit aimed at getting more North Carolinians off the couch and: a) into the gym, b) onto the trail, c) out on the playground, d) all of the above. Among its various programs is Just Push Play, the goal of which is to go into our schools and revive the notion that a kid who is receptive to learning is a kid who gets at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day. read more