The Life Ledger

Fitness is a way of life.

Keeping pace: Do TVs, iPods help or hurt your workout? (@ cnn.com)
Here’s the gist of this article:

“If you want to maintain a high level of intensity, you pretty much have to focus on your body,” he said.

This is related to the belief that noisy gadgets interfere with the intensely focused mental state many athletes refer to as “flow.” For instance, visitors to the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, are encouraged to leave the headphones behind. Jennifer Young, director of healthy living programs, said she wants to keep visitors’ mind-body connections strong.

“Don’t turn out and turn off,” Young said, “because then there’s that underlying signal, ‘Oh, working out is something I don’t want to do. I’m escaping it by doing this.”‘

My personal opinion - isn’t it fascinating what we study?  I wonder who funded this research.  At any rate, I love listening to music or podcasts as I bike ride, walk or otherwise exercise, and I think whatever makes it easier or more fun to exercise is worth doing.  This “be in the flow” stuff is for the people who get a kick out of exercising, and you’re not going to force that enjoyment on people who don’t naturally like running marathons.

Hope over ‘obesity busting gum’ (@ bbc.co.uk)
Still looking for the magic bullet.  Still not going to find it - the more unnatural crap you add to your body, the less healthy you are.  This gum is supposed to work by adding levels of pancreatic polypeptide, a hormone your body naturally makes that induces the feeling of being full.  I say, eat less and move around more instead of messing around with your body’s chemistry.

Cancer Deaths Drop for Second Year (@ cnn.com)
Here’s CNN’s story highlights for this article:

• U.S. cancer deaths dropped by 3,014 in 2003-2004
• Second straight year of declines, Cancer Society says
• Early detection and improved treatment credited for drop

The numbers focus on the amount of people dying of cancer, and are derived by studying death certificates.  Shouldn’t we also be looking at the cancer death rate, and look for correlating trends in the number of elderly people or other groups of people with a higher-than-normal rate of cancer?  Personally, I suspect this number will go back up as the baby boomer generation ages, and can’t help but think this number may be somewhat misleading.  I don’t discount the work being done on cancer research, but I can’t help think the buzz about these numbers is somewhat overstated.  On the other hand, it is nice to see good news about cancer.

Low-stress Life May Be Best Way to Prevent Colds (@ npr.org)
The article talks about an untested product called Airborne that multitudes of people buy to treat the common cold.  There must be some psychological reason people turn to medication rather than make lifestyle changes that actually do help.  Is marketing and advertising really that effective?  It sure has created an entire culture and industry around diamonds.  Whatever it is, it’s unhealthy.

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