Sleep is good for your arteries

I know that fitness trackers are very popular, particularly with joggers and althletically minded indivduals.  I think fitness trackers are great for desk bound indivduals as it helps your monitor your physical acitivity.  However, I personally don't have a fitness tracker, I have considered buying one, but I am saving up so I didn't see it as an essential purchase.   However I had always assumed that a fitness tracker would help you lose weight.  But do they? Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh were interested in testing a conventional weight-loss programme against the use of a fitness monitor to determine the latter's effectiveness as part of an anti obesity iniative.  During the randomized control trial they tested weight-loss programmes and fitness trackers on a group of 471 obese volunteers.  During the two year experiement those wearing a fitenss tracker lost 7.7lb (3.5 kg) whereas those who just followed a weight loss programme and didn't use a tracker lost 13lb (6kg).  I was quite surprised by this result as were the researches who couldn't explain it.   It seems that fitness trackesr give feedback and encouragement to lose weight but those wo are better at just sticking to a programme lose the most weight.  So what is really required is persistance. References JM Jakicic, K K Davis, R J Rogers et al, 2016, Effect of Wearable Technology Combined with Lifestyle intervention on Long-term Weight Loss - The IDEA Randomized Clinical Trail, JAMA, Vol 316, No 11, pg 1161-71 See >> http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2553448          

In part 1, I explained the difference between a headache and a migraine.  In this article I want to explore evidence for nutritional fixes to assit migraine sufferers. [...]

Sitting all day is a current health concern.   While I know that sitting all day has been described as "the new smoking" until now this made me uncomfortable - as its not the same.  You can get help to quit smoking.  If you work in an office you are expected to sit and standing desks are rare, so you have no choice but to sit down.  While I am aware that smoking is an addiction, I think it is still more within the individual's control than sitting if you work in an office. I am an optimistic person by nature, so I don't want to be the voice of doom for my readers about sitting.  So I was very interested in some recent research which demonstrates how to limit the impact of sitting. Spending much of the day sitting around increases the risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and ultimately, death - with 50,000 people anually in the UK dying as a result, say researches from Queen's University in Belfast.    Around 30% of adults spend at least six hours a day during the week sitting and this rises to 37% at weekends.  Roughly one-thrid of people who are sedentary will have at least two major health conditions, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.  Researchers from the American Cancer Society estimate that just 30 minutes of some physical activity would halve the death rates from chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer. So 30 minutes of physical activity per day (like walking) is what researchers currently think is required to combat sitting all day. References Journal Epidemiol Community Health. 2019 Jul;73(7):625-629. doi:10.1136/jech-2018-211758 Americal Journal of Preventive Medicine, Mortality Risk Reductions for Replacing Sedentary Time with Physical Activities, Rees-Punia, Erika et al.  Volume 56, Issue 5, 736-741