The true value of wearables

It is estimated that about half of the users of wearables stop using them after six months or less.  Despite this, there are still a huge number of users contributing to a flood of data.  This data is highly valuable to third parties, aka observational studies. These studies should yield insights into which human behaviors are the biggest drivers of health.

Below is a good piece which touches on this concept.

How a Fitbit might make you a bit fit

Burning the candle at both ends

I know quite a few people who are burning the candle at both ends.  They feel they have to work harder and harder with each passing day and quite often, do not get adequate sleep.

Some recent research, as outlined in the below Fast Company article, shows that six hours of sleep is no better than zero sleep. Everyone is different, but sleeping for eight hours per night is a good target.

Why Six Hours Of Sleep Is As Bad As None At All

I personally need between 7.5 and 8 hours of sleep per night. I also feel strongly that the quality of sleep matters. A decent activity tracker such as the Oura Ring or mattress-based system such as Eight can help quantify the quality of your sleep.

Enjoy!


Chuck

Want more brain cells?

It would appear that you should skip the gym and head out for a run if you want more brain cells.  At least that is what recent study suggests. Either way, runners should engage in strength training, especially if you want to make sure you are in tip top shape for endurance events.

Exercise Makes You Grow New Brain Cells—But Only The Right Kind Of Exercise

Enjoy!


Chuck

Saturated Fat Is Actually Good For You

There are numerous diets which expound the belief that saturated fats are evil and will certainly lead to heart disease.  Examples are the Dean Ornish Spectrum and Engine 2 diets.  The issue is there is no scientific basis for their arguments that saturated fat are bad.

Below is a fairly recent article which discusses why fat is your friend.

The truth about fat and sugar: Cardiologist explains why FAT is the best medicine - and why it's so crucial to our health

I also highly recommend books such as Nina Teicholz's, The Big Fat Surprise.

As always, it is an experiment of one.  I would recommend that you run frequent blood tests (optimally once every three months) to track how any dietary and/or other lifestyle change effect your health.

Enjoy!


Chuck

The Ins and Outs of Overtraining Syndrome (OTS)

The fine folks at Inside Tracker published the below blog post last summer.  It is a good read on OTS and which biomarkers are key to a proper diagnosis.

How Looking Inside Helps You Deal with Overtraining

Enjoy!


Chuck

Exercising your way out of a bad diet diet

Many believe that you can lose weight by increasing your calorie burn beyond your calorie intake.  Unfortunately, not all calories are created equal and will have vastly different effects on your metabolic system.  Furthermore and as the below article points out, your body will adapt over time to an increased exercise load. And finally, the calorie calculations generated by fitness watches, trackers and gym equipment are very inaccurate.

Why You Can't Exercise Yourself To Weight Loss

Health is based on more than just calories in/calories out. You need to look at the bigger picture.

Diet - Just eat real food.
Recovery - You need to get high quality sleep and not overdo it on the exercise front.
Exercise - This is dose dependent, so determine your dose to avoid over training.
Stress - This, compounded with excessive exercise, can lead to many negative health outcomes. Stress includes environmental influences such as pesticides in food, chemicals contained in body products, and poor air and water quality.
Supplements - No diet is perfect. Get a periodic blood chemistry to determine which vitamins and minerals you need to augment your diet and support your lifestyle.

Enjoy!


Chuck

Are endurance sports bad for your heart health?

There have been numerous articles focused on the potential negative effects endurance sports have on heart health.  This is hard to believe given exercise is believed to be a significant contributor to good health.  

Although there is no conclusive scientific data, I truly believe that exercise is like a drug, in that it is dose dependent and can become highly addictive for some.  Too much exercise
may in fact result in long term negative health outcomes, such as heart disease.

Below is a link to an NPR piece about one cardiologists plan to learn more about the role endurance sports play in heart health. I look forward to keeping up with this long range experiment of one.

Can Extreme Exercise Hurt Your Heart? Swim The Pacific To Find Out

Enjoy!



Chuck