Slowly people are letting go of their love of NSAIDs (ibuprofen, ADVIL, Naproxen, NAPROSYN, etc). They are far from benign painkillers.
NSAIDs Are Harmful for Athletes and the Rest of Us
HIIT – The Missing Jewel Of Your Exercise Regimen
Few people are aware of the unique benefits and efficiency of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). Whether you are young or old, fit or frail, HIIT should be a key element in your regimen of physical activity.
Use It Or Lose It
The prevailing, common sense, advice in medicine used to be that if some body part was weak, you should rest it. It made sense, that is unless you thought about it a bit more deeply. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. But don’t be foolish either.
Lessons About Community from the Boston Marathon
Endurance athletes can appear to be self-centered narcissists. But from Boston, I realized that, at the most fundamental level, it is all about community. The importance of community for the wellbeing of all of us really shone through.
Resilience is powerful! Community resilience is unstoppable!
Exercise Is Medicine
A recent review of studies comparing exercise as medicine to prescription medication got some attention, but far from enough. Everyone accepts that we should exercise to prevent disease but research and clinical experience teach us that it is more powerful than prescription medications, even for those who are seriously ill.
Telomeres Are Cool
I am fascinated by telomeres. Telomeres aren’t some sort of underwater television or talking mirrors. Telomeres are caps on the ends of your DNA, your genes. They shorten with age. Eventually they are gone and so are we. As they shorten we become more vulnerable to disease and generally poor health. With advancing age, our […]
Healing Each Other
We have become increasingly isolated and fearful, unconcerned about others in our community and often afraid of “them.” Or have we? Like everyone else, I have been thinking a lot about the Boston Marathon terrorist attack. We all have our own take on the event. Many of you know that part of my sports […]
Sports-Related Concussions
Sports-related concussions have been gaining attention lately. Far, far too late in my opinion. It is almost like our thinking about this issue has been as impaired as the post-concussion brains of the afflicted athletes. Our cavalier attitude, so entrenched for so many generations, is truly bizarre. Before I get too self-righteous I need to […]
Strength Training, Health, and Body Image
A large new study of adolescents in the Minneapolis area surprised and excited the study authors and a writer for the New York Times. They found that many of the girls and over 1/3 of the boys were doing things (changing eating patterns, exercising, taking protein drinks or using steroids) to improve their body composition. […]
The Wisdom of Effective Annual Health Screening
A recent article in the NY Times caught my eye. I couldn’t have agreed more, and also less. Titled “Let’s (Not) Get Physicals”, it was a reflection on the problems with conventional routine physical exams. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/sunday-review/lets-not-get-physicals.html?pagewanted=all The time-honored tradition has been for a thoughtful patient to see her/his doctor for an annual exam. The article […]