Category: Wellness
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A Year from Now You’ll Wish You’d Started Today
Maybe. One problem is that we sometimes don’t recognize the future self as “self” — consider the example of the young person who smokes even though they know the health risks. A stronger connection to our future self can help. That doesn’t necessarily mean “visualizing,” which can actually distract us from doing the day-to-day work…
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Comfort Zones and Safety Zones
When you make a new commitment to exercise, you get exposed to a lot of motivational sayings and aphorisms that come out of the competitive sports environment. “Obsessed is how the lazy describe the dedicated.” “You can feel sore tomorrow, or you can feel sorry tomorrow.” “Quitting is unacceptable.” It’s common to hear that you…
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The Best Reason to Exercise: Health and Well-Being
Being obese is a risk factor for bad health outcomes, but it’s far too simple a story. Anyone, whatever their size, can improve their health with exercise. Exercising won’t necessarily cause weight loss, but anyone can improve their heart function, blood sugar, sleep quality, and bone density. Exercise even improves cognition and mood. So why…
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Why Athletes Love to Sleep — and So Should You
You can have a perfect eating pattern, a flawless exercise regimen, and still be unhappy, moody, and struggling with your performance if you’re sleeping too little. (See the whole infographic at Fatigue Science.) And yet many of us make every excuse for not getting enough sleep. OK, so most of us are not Olympic athletes…
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It’s Never Just One Thing
Some say you can’t outrun your fork, or “weight loss happens in the kitchen.” You can outrun your fork — if you love running (or don’t tend to eat a lot), and as long as you don’t get injured (and knocked out of your routine). And you can definitely out-eat your exercise schedule, as many…
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Early Weight-Loss Gimmicks and Plans
A few years ago, NPR’s Scott Hensley attended an event at the Library of Congress about modern attitudes toward obesity and weight-loss. “Annals Of Weight-Loss Gimmicks: From Bile Beans To Obesity Soap” features a slide show and a meal-plan from a 19th century diet book (William Banting’s Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public, which…