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Monthly Archives: May 2012

Math!

May 16, 2012
Behavior Change, Children, Exercise, Scientific Studies
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I knew Mr. Adel was right when he told us back in the 10th grade that math was important.  (One of the best teachers I ever had, along with Mr. Peterson, of course).  I am 40 now, so it only took 24 years for Mr. Adel’s wisdom to sink in.  Let me explain.

Last night as I read a press release regarding some research at UCLA I smiled, showed my partner, and we both smiled again.  “Sugar makes you stupid ” was the title of the release.  More specifically, high fructose corn syrup makes us stupid.  Concrete evidence, I kid you not.  The best part is this is a line from one of the researchers:  ”Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think.”  Really?  And guess what, kids that watch alot of TV have poor eating habits.  Not earth shattering by any means, but good stuff that as I went to bed I thought about.  I’ll come back to these points later this week.  Meanwhile….

This morning while riding the stationary bike at the fitness center I came across this article in the New York Times:  A mathematical challenge to obesity.  Read this article.  Now.  Leave it to the mathematicians to shed light on what exercise physiologists have been trying to figure out for years. (Mr. Adel, I know how to spell Pythagoras now, come back and teach me!).  I finished the article and looked around the fitness center for a mathematician.  Luckily, at 4:00 am, the place was crawling with them, or at least one, who happened to be a friend.  I texted him (he was a few machines away, much too far to walk) and said, “look at this!”  His calm reply, “Yeah, I met Dr. Chow years ago, he does really great work.”  (My parentheticals and paraphrase in full effect here).  My point is people that know the math know how the world works.  And how obesity works, so it seems. And they are so damn calm about it!  I told my friend I will be registering for his fall math courses today.  He told me it  doesn’t matter that I still can’t tell him what Pythagoras was trying to tell me.  I think my friend was lying.

Dr. Carson Chow of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has developed a model of obesity, how we got here, and where we are going.  His model incorporates all the important variables, i.e, height, weight, food intake, etc.  I won’t go into specifics, namely because I can’t.  (Math!).  Some highlights:

“…the conventional wisdom of 3,500 calories less is what it takes to lose a pound of weight is wrong. The body changes as you lose. Interestingly, we also found that the fatter you get, the easier it is to gain weight. An extra 10 calories a day puts more weight onto an obese person than on a thinner one.”

“…there’s a time constant that’s an important factor in weight loss. That’s because if you reduce your caloric intake, after a while, your body reaches equilibrium. It actually takes about three years for a dieter to reach their new “steady state.” Our model predicts that if you eat 100 calories fewer a day, in three years you will, on average, lose 10 pounds — if you don’t cheat.”

“Huge variations in your daily food intake will not cause variations in weight, as long as your average food intake over a year is about the same. This is because a person’s body will respond slowly to the food intake.”

Wow.  Big time stuff here.  I hope all my exercise physiologists are listening to this conversation, and that they paid attention in math class.  A “longitudinal” study on weight loss in my field is considered 12 months.  Darn hard to get people to stick to diet and exercise programs.  Because of math, Dr. Carson can predict three years out.  Take a look again, 3,500 calories is not equal to a pound of weight loss, obese individuals respond to 10 calories differently than lean individuals, it takes three years to reach a new steady state, and the kicker, if you eat 100 calories less each day, in three years you’ve lost 10 pounds.  That sucks.  You can actually use Dr. Carson’s simulator to make your own weight loss predictions and estimate how much you’ll have to change your diet and exercise routine to reach a stated goal (You’ll need Java installed on your computer.  Free download).

What jumps out at me is the three years and ten pounds comment.  Can this be true?  Explains many people’s experiences if it is.  The other fact that jumps out is that we as researchers need to work together.  Math is very powerful stuff (I know, call me Master of the Obvious), however, I am not a mathematician and I need help.  If we put our collective brains together and start to figure out obesity, wow!  And if that isn’t enough, read the NY Times article above and find out what Dr. Carson thinks is causing our obesity epidemic.  The answer may surprise you.  Or not.

I’ll be talking about this for a while.  Yummy.

Motivate me!

May 15, 2012
Behavior Change, Exercise
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Motivation is an interesting thing, and it’s an area I am most definitely not an expert in.  The article I mentioned yesterday discusses the idea of using cash (and other incentives) to get people to make better food choices.  This in turn made me think yesterday (and this morning) about motivation.

We all know that our own motivation ebbs and flows based on factors too many to count.  Being tired, being full of energy, being busy, kids, family, all figure into our motivation.  However, it seems that when I am really motivated to exercise the “busy-ness” of life doesn’t get in the way.  I simply make time for it.  I get out of bed earlier, work more efficiently, etc.  The question then becomes how can I bottle that motivation for future use?

Many of us are externally motivated when it comes to exercise.  Whether it be praise for looking great or losing a few pounds, or running a faster 5k, we enjoy the outward “rewards” of exercise.  There is another kind of motivation, intrinsic, that comes from within.  This is the one that causes struggles.  The little voice from within that says, “just do it, no matter what, not for time, not for weight, just get it done.”  When that voice decides to take a nap, we are in trouble.

My own little voice comes and goes.  Right now the voice is loud and clear, and has been for some time.  As I look back however, there are definitely times when it has taken a vacation.  Why is it that I can go for months, even years, without questioning exercise and then hit a period of time when it becomes so difficult I can’t even think about exercise?  That is the vexing question and I have no good answers.  Motivation will come and go on a daily basis, that is to be expected, however, it is the ability to hear that inner voice no matter what and to listen to it for the long haul that truly matters.

This leads me back to yesterday’s article and the IBM program that it discusses.  I wonder if a smartphone app can provide the motivation we seek to eat well for the duration?  This program is a great example of extrinsic motivation, but I wonder if constant and consistent extrinsic motivation can help us develop intrinsic motivation?

Although not fitness or food related per se, we recently submitted a paper for publication looking at motivation differences between championship caliber and non-championship caliber NCAA Division III football teams.  We found that amongst players on teams that consistently win championships there is a higher degree of intrinsic motivation.  That’s to say the championship team’s athlete’s inner voices spoke more loudly then the non-championship team’s athlete’s voices.  Could one of the reasons be that the championship team’s athletes see the championship banners and trophies every day, thus creating an expectation of success?  I think so.

My hope is that one day something will be developed that provides effective and appropriate extrinsic motivation that leads to the enhancement of intrinsic motivation.  That we can create a culture of expectation and success around our eating and exercise habits which leads us to even more success.  Maybe for every five pounds we lose, or for every 30 seconds we knock off our 5k time, or every time we get out of bed early, we hang a championship banner. We can then revel in our success in the hopes that it stirs in us the drive for more success.

If that little voice inside all of us grows up and gets past taking naps, we will all be better for it.  And maybe going for a walk won’t be that difficult.

Destiny

May 14, 2012
Behavior Change, Children, Food Environment
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Buried deep in a lengthy NY Times Magazine story on psychopathy in children was a comment that rung true.  “Physiology isn’t destiny,” said Dan Waschbusch, from Florida International University.  Mr. Waschbusch was speaking from a psychological perspective in regards to diagnosing young children as psychopaths, however, his quote can be applied to so many situations.  In her article, Jennifer Kahn discusses nature vs. nurture (80% of psychopathic characteristics seem to be genetic vs. the environment in which these people live).  In reading this article my first thought was, “I hope my daughters aren’t psychopaths,” and my second thought went back to Mr. Waschbusch’s quote, “If physiology isn’t destiny, maybe I have some control.  Or not.”  If this weekend past is any indication, I have zero control and eating poorly on the weekends is truly my destiny.  Last week I talked about strategies for change.  Well, throw in a birthday, Mother’s Day (Happy belated Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!), my partner’s parents, and the exact same restaurants as the weekend prior, and you have an eating extravaganza that laughs in the face of strategy.  “In laws in town?  Let the Oreos rain down from heaven!!,” I say.  In some bizarre world the fact that my in laws come for a visit gives me the extra rationalization I need to eat the leftover Oreos from a student barbeque we had.  Weird.  I digress.

Reading about diagnosing psychopathy in children as young as 5 is somewhat disturbing, yet the point is made that if true tendencies exist better to catch them young and create a path to success.  Physiology isn’t destiny.  I often wonder when my challenges with food began.  From an overweight 5th grader (who once wore a solid white shirt with a think horizontal stripe for his first day of school) to a graduate student with an eating disorder, food challenges have always been a part of who I am.  Is this tendency genetic?  Environmental?  Both?  Are food challenges my destiny?  My physiology?

In his opinion piece reviewing several good books on the brain, James Atlas remarks, “Alcoholics can’t stop drinking through willpower alone: they need to alter behavior — going to A.A. meetings instead of bars, for instance — that triggers the impulse to drink.”  This is actually Charles Duhigg’s point in his book (Power of Habit) that was being reviewed.  I connected it back to Mr. Waschbusch and destiny. If physiology isn’t our destiny, then we need to change the environment in order to succeed.  Easy enough.  Surely, you jest.  My issue is that my environment is everywhere.  Food is everywhere.  I needn’t get in my car and drive to a bar to be placed in a challenging environment.

What if we could “diagnose” eating challenges at a young age?  Would this change destiny? Would this limit the issues we see as children mature (obesity, eating disorders, disordered eating, etc.)?  I have no idea. This may be another strategy we can employ, for as Duhigg argues, we cannot change habits, only create new ones.  If that is truly the case, let’s get started early.

Finally, in yesterday’s Times another article appeared on weight loss strategies. This one dealing with a new app that you can earn cash for eating well and lose it for eating poorly.  This idea takes gaming to a new level.  May not work for young children when habits are being formed, but the lure of financial reward at the adult level is something to consider.

I know I am all over the place this morning, but it is Monday and classes ended on Friday.  Physiology isn’t destiny, given the right environment.  There is some connection to all this early on a Monday, I am simply still looking for it.

Last Day

May 11, 2012
Food Rules
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Today is the last day of classes for the semester at SCU. If you have ever been a student, you remember how that feels and if you have ever been a teacher, you really know how that feels.  I will leave all my classes today with a short message, and let’s make it today’s food rule:

Eat less.  Move more.

For many it will be a challenge, yet I sincerely hope that my students remember these words as they graduate, look forward to some down time before returning in the fall, or go on to other things.  My thoughts are short and sweet, but the challenges are great and many.  The average American will gain approximately 1 lb per year after the age of 25.  Eat Less.  Move More.  Let’s add one more piece: ask for help when you need it.

Happy Friday.

C&C Music Factory

May 10, 2012
Behavior Change
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Anyone remember that 80′s band? An MTV and Nick Rocks staple.  Kept me going in high school.  The reason I bring them up is that they once sang a song entitled, “Things that make you go hmmmm.“  Now you remember.  I’ve mentioned this before, there are many things that make me go “Hmm?”  Typically they revolve around food and exercise but often I think of why people do things when I see them in various situations.  Today I would like to introduce a semi-regular segment to my blog.  Borrowing from C&C, here is my first attempt at “Things that make me go hmmm?”:

At the gym, in a locker room full of empty lockers, why is it that certain individuals must always have the same locker, even if that locker is right next to yours?

Why is it that people that who regularly exercise feel the need to do the exact same workout on the exact same piece of equipment day after day after day?

Why is it that on Thursday mornings I think of the weekends and get a smile because I get to eat a bit differently?

In no way am I singling out any individual or group of individuals, these are simply a summary of some of my experiences.  I’ve been thinking alot about what Charles Duhigg has to say in his book, that 45% of the decisions we make today are out of habit.  Look at each of the things above that make me go “hmm.”  At their core they are all habits.  Habits allow us to minimize the effort of thought.  Thinking is hard and can be time consuming and uncomfortable, and if there are things in which an established pattern seem to work, we go with them.  As my saying goes, challenge your habits.

Recently Alec Baldwin became engaged to a young woman, Hilaria Thomas.  “So?” you ask.  Well, Ms. Thomas is the grand-daughter of our dear friends, and former neighbors in Massachusetts.  Her grandfather married my partner and I in their backyard.  “So?”, you remind me.  For no valid reason I have become a follower of Mr. Baldwin and Ms. Thomas on Twitter.  (Trust me, three weeks ago I had no idea of what that even meant).  Twitter is not the domain of philosophers, however, last night Ms. Thomas tweeted something I found somewhat profound.  “‘Everything will be alright’ is not the same as ‘Everything will stay the same.’”  She attributed this quote to Seth Godin.  I don’t know Mr. Godin and have only met Ms. Thomas on a few occasions, however, I love the quote.  We use our habits because we want things to stay the same.  We want to be comfortable.  We have found a routine and want to simply do it.  That can get us in trouble, or at least get us into situations that make me think, “hmmm.”

Why does the person come into an empty locker room and pick the same locker, regardless of the situation.  Habit.  He doesn’t have to think about picking another one and being momentarily uncomfortable.

Why does the person come into the gym and do the same exact workout on the same exact machine every single day?  Habit.  She doesn’t have to think about changing her routine, it works for her, and why would she want to mix it up?  Intervals suck.  And they hurt.  And you breathe hard.  And quite possibly, they might make you sweat.  (See, everything revolves around 80′s music.  C&C Music Factory also sang about making you sweat.)

Why do I think about the weekends and smile when I imagine food?  Habit.  My past is my prologue and I have enjoyed more junk food on the weekends than during my normal weeks.  I like snack food.  Oreos.  Things that make me go “mmmm.”

We think of change in the exercise realm and many of us aren’t sure how to handle it.  We’ve become comfortable with our routines and they seem to work for us.  However, if we challenge ourselves, push ourselves on occasion longer, or harder, or more often, wonderful things happen.  In this sense, the overload principle of exercise is a metaphor for the world around us.  Everything will be alright.  Everything may not be the same, but with 60% obesity and overweight, who wants to remain the same?

Connect the dots

May 9, 2012
Children, Exercise, Food Environment, Scientific Studies
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I loved connecting the dots on drawings when I was younger.  Never knowing what was going to pop up, I always seemed surprised that it was a rabbit amongst flowers nearly every time.  Today’s eating environment is similar to the drawings of my youth.  The dots seem to make no sense, but when you connect them a new picture emerges.  As Dr. Brownell of Yale suggests, we live in an obesogenic environment.  One that wants us to move as little as possible while consuming more and more.

The environment is ever present, influencing us, those around us, and most significantly our children.  Listed below are four articles that have been in the news over the past few days.  Can we connect the dots?  Keep environment in your mind.

Most mothers overlook their toddler’s weight problems (NPR)

Are most people in denial about their weight?  (NY Times)

Bans on school junk food pay of in California (NY Times)

Endurance factors improve hippocampal neurogenesis and spatial memory in mice (Learning and Memory)  

For that last one, say what?  I’ll get to it shortly, but the research is summarized here.

Let’s connect those dots.  As I mentioned yesterday, it seems many mothers don’t want to acknowledge that their toddlers are overweight.  This poses real issues as toddlers who are overweight have a much greater risk of being overweight and obese and of developing Type II diabetes later in life.  Move onto most people being in denial about their weight.  These toddlers are now grown up and have a skewed perception of how much weight they carry (normal weight people perceive themselves, when comparing to silhouettes, correctly 80% of the time.  58% of overweight students describe themselves as normal weight and 75% of obese individuals classified themselves as overeight).  The reasons for this are numerous and not well understood (embarrassment, lack of knowledge, etc).  However, the results are consistent across genders, ages, and cultures.  Perception if off.

The chubby toddlers who grew up to be overweight are in a challenging food environment.  Here comes the next article discussing what California and their ban on junk food.  Five years ago the state cracked down on junk food sales in schools.  They are now reporting that kids in the state are consuming 160 calories per day less than their peers.  That is huge!  More importantly, the kids don’t seem to be compensating for the ban by eating more at home.

Finally, in newly reported research, it seems that learning and cognition improvements begin with exercising muscles.  You read that right.  Through exercise the AMPK enzyme is released by exercising muscles and travels to the brain.  Here it starts a cascade of responses that improve learning and cognition.  Exercise truly makes us smarter.  And if we become smarter maybe we’ll recognize our toddlers as overweight when necessary, develop strategies to help them, lead them to better perceptions of their own weight, create smart policy that lowers the consumption of junk food, and further encourage exercise.  Dots connected.

If we did those things, think of the environment we would create.  I don’t think it would be obesogenic any longer.  Heaven.

“When kids live in an environment in which they see, on a daily basis, parents or school peers who are overweight, they may develop inaccurate perceptions of what constitutes a healthy weight,” says a researcher involved in one of the above studies.  Couldn’t say it better myself.

 

 

 

 

Strategery

May 8, 2012
Behavior Change, Children, Food Environment
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Yesterday I mentioned my weekend of eating and how we need strategies to cope with such re-occurring events as they happen every Friday.  Strategy is a good word, however, I may have to agree with Bush II on this one in that “strategery” may be the better option.  The reason for this is because successful eating strategies are not one size fits all.  What may work for me not work for you, but we do need to start somewhere.

As I mentioned yesterday we eat differently on the weekends.  One of the main reasons for this conspicuous consumption is that our cues have changed.  I look at our family.  Monday through Friday I spend quite a bit of my time at the university.  This creates a routine for me.  My partner is at home with the kids (working much harder than I am) and this creates a routine for them.  On the weekends I am home.  Everyone’s routine is changed.  More importantly, our food cues have changed (I bring a dangerous dose of “let’s eat” to the family dynamic).  Many of us approach food differently from 5:00 pm on Friday to 8:00 am on Monday than we otherwise would.  We need strategeries to cope.

According to Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, 45% of the decisions we make on a daily basis are guided by habit.  That’s both good news and bad news.  Bad news in the sense that habits are difficult to change, good news in the sense that there is room for said change.  In this review, written by Kristen Dold of Women’s Health Magazine, an example of how to identify and deal with a habit around eating is described.  Her example centers around a craving every afternoon at 4:00 pm while in the office.  An important question is asked, “What is it you actually want?”  Here is the strategy:

1.  Identify the craving.  She states (following Duhigg’s premise) that each afternoon for a few days at 4:00 pm try something different.  Go for a walk, eat an apple, gossip with co-workers, etc.  This will help us identify what it is we actually want.  (i.e. getting away from the office for a few minutes, a quick burst of energy, or social time, respectively).

2.  Isolate the trigger.  Or more aptly, what is the cue?  Dold states, “Most fit into one of five categories: location, time, emotional state, other people, or what you were doing immediately before the behavior.”  Write down where you are, what time it is, your emotional state, who is around, and what you were doing right before the urge struck you.

3.  Change the habit.  I like to call this “challenging your routine.”Again, Dold comments, “Once you’ve figured out your habit loop (the reward driving your behavior and the cue triggering it) you can re-engineer it and shift the behavior. It’s much easier to take advantage of an existing habit when building a new routine, so piggyback on something you’re already doing.”  For example, if you are cued everyday at 3:30, tell yourself that everyday at 3:30 you are going for a ten minute walk.  This may be enough to “re-engineer” the cue.

Back to my weekend issue.  Using the above strategery, I feel I know the trigger (the “it’s the weekend” mentality).  However, I need to take a step back because I haven’t figured out the craving.  This weekend I will try different things when I feel my self lured to the kitchen (play with the little one, take the older daughter around the block on a bike ride, fold laundry).  Then I may be able to move onto #3 and create a concrete plan to approach future weekends.  This may take a bit of work, I will report back.

And just a quick final note, remember that habits start young and if 45% of our daily decision making revolves around habit, let’s set good ones for our children.  This story on NPR’s website describes how a majority of mothers overlook their toddlers weight problems.  “The concern is that perceptions are likely to drive behavior,” states the author of the study presented.  Powerful words, perception drives behavior. Repeated behavior has creates habits.  Then we are back to the beginning. Scroll up to create strategies for breaking those habits we as parents are helping to create.  I’ll talk more about this tomorrow.

Freestyle

May 7, 2012
Food Environment
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The weekend has come and gone and with it, lots of food has come and gone.  At least it did in our household.  A food weekend it was.  Let me explain.

Friday night brought us to Mendoberri, a cafe and wine bar in Mendota Heights.  “Local.  Fresh Organic” is their tagline.  Wonderful food and good for kids (we sat next to the “kids area” which was surprisingly quiet and entertaining to our daughter.  My partner and I almost had a semi-date, save the 3 month old on her lap.  She didn’t interrupt conversation too much.)  The hostess was charming and even held our daughter for a bit.  I am sure all this wonderfulness led us to eating more food.  We were comfortable, being paid attention to, and we sat our table longer because of it.  And we all know what happens when we linger.

Upon concluding our dinner we decided to stop by the new yogurt shop near our home, Freestyle.  Let me describe it this way:  Heaven.  Simple, clean, bright, and again kid friendly.  The gentleman behind the counter (who it seems was the owner) was welcoming, asked us if we had been in before, and offered samples.  Again, his customer service skills probably led us to eat more than we typically would.  At Freestyle you pick up your cup and serve yourself yogurt (14 flavors with many others as seasonal), add from a host of toppings, and then head to the register for your “weigh in.”  The moment of truth, Freestyle charges by weight.  From a research perspective, Freestyle does things right.  Bright lights, friendly service, big cups with plenty of room for yogurt and toppings, and most importantly, self service.  (“That’s not quite enough, just a touch more.”  And it’s fun to watch the yogurt swirl into your cup).  Each of these by themselves will increase consumption, together, watch out!  From an obesity prevention standpoint, I need to remember moderation.

Saturday brought a dinner of grilled salmon, eaten with dear friends.  A few bottles of wine, good conversation.  Need I say anything else?

Sunday brought a return to the grill (can you tell we just bought a new one?) and barbequed chicken.  Mmmmm.  My partner can cook.  And I can do a really good job of saying, “Mmmm.  This is amazing.”

My point to mentioning my weekend is this:  Many of the factors that increase our consumption came to fruition this weekend past, for both myself and my family.  Weekends have a way of doing that for they bring about downtime, a sense of relaxation, gatherings with friends, and sense of “it’s the weekend, I’ve earned this.”  We all eat differently on the weekends compared to weekdays.  Add in some excellent customer service and enhanced portion sizes at wonderful local establishments and our consumption is further increased.  We need to be aware of these influences and be determined to not let them become habits.  You will never hear me say “Stop that” or “Don’t eat that” when it comes to food.  Moderation is key.  There are subtle influences lurking everywhere to beat up on our moderation.  The environment can be a bully.  I was scared of the neighborhood bully in 3rd grade and I still am afraid of bullies today.

This morning I am wondering about strategies.  How can we approach weekends and effectively say, “I will not overdo it this this time.”  I will see what I can come up with.

Dosing

May 4, 2012
Exercise, Food Rules
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Yesterday I wrote about the month of May being “Exercise is Medicine” month.  When it comes to medicine, ever get confused on how much you are supposed to take?  (I always underestimate my weight, “Take two if you weigh between 25-50 lbs.”  That’s me!)  A good friend wrote about parent’s math skills and dosing errors of medicine for children on his blog the other day.  This is only a guess, but I feel that parents may be mis-dosing their children when it comes to exercise.  We are obviously not on the right prescription for ourselves either.  35% of us are obese.

How much should we exercise?  I get this question more than any other.  If I quote the American College of Sports Medicine Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription I would tell you 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity exercise in order to maintain health.  300 minutes per week if you want to become fit and control your weight.  (You can cut those times in half if you exercise vigorously).  The glazed eyes have already come out.

“What does it mean to be ‘healthy’.”  That’s difficult because it is defined by absence.  Absence of disease, condition (high blood pressure, cholesterol, etc).  The term means different things to different people.  “What does it mean to be fit?”  “How hard is “moderate” exercise?”  “Do I really have to wear a heart rate monitor?  (People that do are so self righteous).”  A few operational definitions:

Healthy:  Absence of disease.  Normal blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc.

Fit:  Strong lungs and heart.  Sometimes we use the term “cardiorespiratory fitness” to indicate your ability to deliver oxygen to your muscles.

Moderate intensity:  Breathing hard but still able to hold a conversation.

Vigorous intensity:  Difficult to engage in conversation because you are breathing too hard.

Ok, but this is still confusing.  Let’s make it more so.  When people ask how much, how often, how hard they should exercise we have tended to come up with a one size fits all approach (see ACSM recommendations above).  However, exercise is like medicine, everyone responds differently and we have to play with your medicine to get it right.  (The upside here is that as we play around with the dose of exercise you aren’t at risk of winding up in the hospital.  Unless you fall off that stationary bike as you are completing your last interval).

I respond to the questions of how much, how often, etc with another question of my own:  What is your goal?  If someone responds they simply want to be healthy, we define that and create a prescription.  If they say they want to be fit, we define that and create a different prescription. And if someone says “I want to run a 5k,” that’s yet another prescription.  Three different goals (health, fitness, and performance) with each requiring different doses and timing of the “medicine.”

Think of general exercise as ibuprofen: a good general drug that helps us with myriad issues.  However, depending on what we want to achieve (health, fitness, performance), we may need to get more specific with our medicine to get the results we seek.

I know this is still confusing and for that I apologize.  We need to reduce barriers to exercise so that more people do so.  One of the best ways to get through all this is to seek out a fitness professional.  If you do so, remember that not all fitness professionals are created the same (just like doctors).  Look for credentials:  ACSM Certified, NSCA Certified, or NASM Certified.  These are a few of the best,

On a final note, Gretchen Reynolds of the New York Times has just published a wonderful new book entitled, “The First 20 Minutes:  Surprising Science Reveals How We Can: Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer.”  She does a wonderful job of bringing clarity to many questions we always ask, including “How much should I exercise?  I recommend the book to all of you.

Well, it’s Friday and that means new food rule.  I’m going more general this week and borrowing from United States Olympian Carrie Tollefson.  As she told our students this past week, and I will repeat to you as this week’s rule, “Don’t float.”  Just don’t do it.  If you want to exercise, get up and move.  Start with that and then keep moving forward.  Challenge your habits.  Challenge your routine.  There is no need to float.

Happy Friday.

Exercise is Medicine

May 3, 2012
Exercise
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May represents “Exercise is Medicine” (EIM) month, a campaign started several years ago by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).  The stated goals of EIM are:

Exercise and physical activity are important to health and the prevention and treatment of many chronic diseases.

More should be done to address physical activity and exercise in healthcare settings.

ACSM and AMA (American Medical Association) are making efforts to bring a greater focus on physical activity and exercise in healthcare settings.

The tagline for EIM is this:  “Calling on all healthcare providers to assess and review every patient’s physical activity program at every visit.”  Take that.  When is the last time your doctor or other healthcare provider asked you about your physical activity program?  Not a simple “Exercise is good for you,” quip, but truly asked you about what your activity habits are?  I’m not sure I’ve ever had a physician ask me this.  Hopefully the tide is turning.  Much like teachers, we ask doctors to know and do so much.  However, we cannot argue that physical activity truly IS medicine.  Think about what exercise does for you:

May prevent cancer.

Makes you smarter.

Allows for weight control.

Helps prevent cardiovascular disease.

Makes you happy.

Allows you to carry a bit of extra weight but be fit.

Each day brings more data saying we need to move.  Don’t sit.  Simply by standing you can add years to your life.  By not sitting and watching TV, it has recently been shown, men average 1.8 more years on this earth.  Women, about 1.5.  I’ll take and extra 1.8 years.  Consider this:  watching an hour of television can zap 22 minutes off your life. Just stand up.  Take a break from sitting, you are killing yourself.

What if all healthcare providers (I’m thinking physicians, community health workers, physical therapists, personal trainer, occupational therapists, nurse practitioners, physicians’ assistants) asked you about your physical activity each time you had a visit?  I can only imagine such a world.  Would we need less prescription drugs?  Less therapy?  Who knows.  Let’s start our own campaign, starting today ask three people, “How much are you going to move today?”  When they give you a quizzical gaze in return, just smile and say, “I’m standing.  And I want to stay that way.”

The other night United States Olympian Carrie Tollefson spoke to all our undergraduate Exercise and Sport Science majors at St. Catherine University.  Truly an inspiring woman, one thing stood out in her chat:  “Don’t float,” she said.  I love that.  Don’t float.  Move, be active, engage.  She was talking about finding your talents and going for it.  (The other thing that stood out was that she ran an 8:00 mile when 9 months pregnant.  I will never be pregnant and I will never run an 8:00 minute mile.)

One of my students, in context of a presentation on health in yesterday’s class, stated “We are not plants.  We don’t need to sit.”  Yes!  Don’t float and don’t be a plant.  Exercise is Medicine.

 

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