We all know that exercise is good for us, but how much do we need at each stage of life? The U.S. Library of Medicine suggests: Adults should get 30 minutes of aerobic activity each day — in the form of walking, running, biking or swimming. Additionally, they should practice strengthening exercises — such as… read on >
Teens with friends are active teens, a new study suggests. “You can build beautiful parks and facilities; but if children don’t have friends to play with, these facilities won’t be enough to increase their physical activity,” said study lead author Sarah-Jeanne Salvy. “Peers and friends are the catalyst of the physical environment,” Salvy added. She… read on >
Despite a long and illustrious pro baseball career, Tommy John is more famous as the source of the name for a surgical procedure than for the nearly 300 games the left-handed pitcher won. But Dr. Tommy John — who shares his dad’s name and played pro ball himself — is determined to change that. He’s… read on >
Here’s to keeping your health on a tight leash: New research suggests that having a dog might boost a single person’s life span. The study tracked more than 3.4 million Swedes, middle-aged and older, for 12 years. All were free of heart disease at the beginning of the study. The researchers reported that dog owners… read on >
People with desk jobs want to move more, a new study suggests. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate how long desk-based workers actually want to sit, stand, walk and be physically active,” said study lead author Birgit Sperlich. She’s a postdoctoral researcher at German Sport University Cologne. Sperlich and her colleagues… read on >
Simple steps can help keep you from being sidelined by a sports injury. First, make it a rule to bookend every workout with a warm-up and a cool-down. The warm-up is meant to increase your heart rate and blood flow to muscles. Start with some light cardio, like brisk walking, for your warm-up. After 3… read on >
You’ve probably heard of “distracted driving,” but what about “distracted walking?” Largely due to the immense popularity of cell phones, pedestrian deaths reached nearly 6,000 in the United States last year, a 9 percent jump over 2015, the National Safety Council says. Walking remains a great way to get healthy exercise, but you should keep… read on >
If you love to while away a weekend watching a season’s worth of episodes from a favorite TV series, you may inadvertently put yourself at risk for developing a dangerous blood clot. When researchers compared people who reported watching TV more often to those who seldom or never watched TV, the risk of a venous… read on >
Your comfortable recliner and state-of-the-art office chair may be increasing your risk for heart disease. A sedentary lifestyle can raise cholesterol and threaten heart health. If you have a desk job, it’s especially important to counter long bouts of sitting with an hourly 5-minute exercise break, even if you stay within your office. If you… read on >
Cats with diabetes, dogs with cancer, birds with high cholesterol or even rabbits who cannot turn around to clean themselves — what do these animals all have in common? They are either overweight or obese, and it’s serious. “We have a problem — almost all of American pets are overweight or obese,” explained veterinarian Dr.… read on >
