This week, read about how attractive-looking stairs might encourage physical activity, inspiring masters athletes, the truth about light bikes and performance, a surprising way to shave 1-minute off a 40k cycling time trial, a terrific free cookbook featuring inexpensive meals, and more.
Time to Celebrate the Stairs!
Would you take the stairs instead of the elevator more often if stairs were prominently displayed and inviting? This week NPR Health featured New York City’s Take the Stairs Campaign, which calls on architects and designers to make stairs more attractive, and urges New Yorkers to take the stairs for these reasons:
- Walking up the stairs burns almost 700% the number of calories burned standing in an elevator
- 2 minutes of stair-climbing/day burns enough calories to eliminate the 1 pound the average adult gains each year
- In one study, men who climbed at least 20 floors a week (about 3 floors a day) had a 20% lower risk of stroke or death from all causes
- Stair-climbing can raise good cholesterol and improve cardiovascular health
Unfortunately, stair entrances are often hard to find, sometimes behind doors labeled as fire or emergency, and even when discovered can be uninviting concrete structures. Contrast that with the sedentary option (elevators), that have shiny and inviting doors that open with a finger touch to good lighting, carpeting, and music (well, most of us could probably do without the music!). The New York campaign is part of a bigger movement called Active Design, a behaviour change strategy that involves making the healthy choice an attractive and easy one.
Here’s another fun stair design to encourage physical activity (piano stairs), based on the idea that that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour.
Inspiring Masters Athletes
A few stories on impressive masters athletes this week. . .
- Jo Pavey, a 40-year-old mother-of-two (one a 10-month old!), won Commonwealth bronze in the 5,000m track race.
- The 77-Year-Old Fitness Guru. Henry Hawk is 77 and still obsessed with fitness. But lately he’s also been focusing on a new passion project: helping spinal injury patients move again. (Outside Magazine).
Read about more inspiring masters athletes here.
Cycling News – Looking to Ride Faster?
A couple of surprising stories in the cycling world . . . bike weight might not make that much difference, but shaving your legs might (although probably not on uphills . . . )!
- Bike weight and the myth of ‘fast’ bikes. Spending a lot of money to lighten up your bike may not be saving you as much time as you think. Jim Gourley explains the common overestimation of how much bike weight matters for most riding. (Velo News)
- Will Shaving Your Legs Improve Cycling Speed? Ask a cyclist why they shave their legs, and you’ll get answers ranging from “better for massages” to “skin heals better after a crash.” Specialized wind-tunnel testers revealed what might be another important reason: to increase speed. As shown in the video below, they estimate that shaved legs may save up to 70 seconds over a 40 km time trial.
Cookbook Shows How To Eat Well On A Food Stamp Budget
Check out this beautiful cookbook, featured on NPR Food, designed by Canadian Leanne Brown. Brown designed the book to help people in SNAP (a US Government Nutrition Assistance Program) learn to cook inexpensive, nutritious, and flavorful meals. The Cookbook is free and can be downloaded here.
More links of interest this week:
- Planks getting too easy for you? Try a variation (long lever/posterior tilt) that maximizes core muscle activation – video demo and study summary here. (Sports Biomecanics Aug 2014).
- Natural light in office boosts health – aim for a desk near a window! (Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, June 2014)
- The Fishy Origins of the Fish Oil Craze: A widely cited, foundational study does not say what people say it does. Ottawa Heart Institute researchers set the record straight. (Slate Magazine reporting on study in Canadian Journal of Cardiology, August 2014).
- Top 3 Ways the Media Screws Up Reporting Science. Avoid these common traps the next time you see a scientific headline: inflating risk; misleading titles; concluding causation from association. (David Renfrew, Psychology Today).
- The Jargon Trap. David Tuller of UC Berkeley shares his thoughts for scientists writing for the general public (mostly good advice, but I don’t agree about never providing citations/references to studies). (New York Times).
- Exercise and Illness – should you sweat it out? Some good advice. (Precision Nutrition)
- Do women pace marathons better than men? (Gretchen Reynolds, New York Times).
- Complexities of Saturated Fat nicely explained by expert in Lancet editorial. (The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, August 2014)
- Gluten-free diets. McGill’s Joe Schwarcz looks at the lack of science and mythologies surrounding the trend. Interesting note, Djokovic diagnosed his gluten intolerance by holding a piece of bread to his stomach . . . (Montreal Gazette).
- Planning Training Programs? Here’s a great science-based resource by experts in the field. Training Periodization: Deep root cultural heritage and innovative paradigms. Videos from 2013 conference on training periodization- l’INSEP (Institut national du sport, de l’expertise et de la performance).
- Learn faster with messy moves. People whose movements are more variable pick up new motor skills more quickly. (Scientific American)
- Great read: How sports and physical activity build self-esteem in youth & the importance of positive experiences (Richard Bailey, Psychology Today)
- Eating beans and lentils each day increases fullness, may help manage weight (Leslie Beck, Globe & Mail reporting on study in journal Obesity, Aug 2014).
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Photo Credits
- Dali Stairs Photo by rleigh [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]