I noticed an interesting article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) recently. It sought to determine the explanation for the “paradox” seen in Masai tribesmen in Kenya can consume relatively large quantities of animal fat (especially in the form of milk, meat and blood), and have stunningly low rates of heart disease. We [...]

As someone who is passionately interested in health, it perhaps is not too much of a surprise that I generally advocate regular activity, and engage in some in my own life too. My core exercise is brisk walking, though I’ve traditionally supplemented this with some swimming. This sort of activity I believe keeps my [...]

I am a supporter of the notion that maintaining hydration in the body is important for wellbeing and health, and recommend that the prime fluid for this should be water. However, as with most things in life, drinking water is not entirely without risk. Drink too much of it and it can lower sodium levels [...]

I see a lot of different health issues in practice, and these can broadly be divided into what you might call ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ concerns. I see primary concerns as the sort of things that cause individuals to make appointments to see me. Common example include fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma and eczema. On the [...]

I was in a meeting today, and the subject of weight loss came up. As some of you may know, I have previously written about how exercise tends not to be particularly effective for those wishing to shed pounds.
I made the point that those wanting to lose weight would do better to, among other [...]

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a big advocate of walking, and have attempted to highlight the evidence which suggests that this most natural and relatively gentle form of exercise can bring significant benefits for health. I was therefore interested this week to read about the results of a study [...]

Whilst I am an advocate of activity and exercise, I generally encourage ‘doable’ forms and levels of exercise that are relatively easily sustainable. For me, the often-quoted ‘get 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week’ passes this test, especially when one considers that brisk walking can push the heart rate up [...]

Regular readers of this site will know that I’m a relative fan of activity, and in particular relatively ‘doable’ and sustainable forms of activity such as walking. Just last week, for instance, I reported on a study which found that regular walking was associated with a significantly reduced risk of cardiovascular disease in diabetics. Walking [...]

While exercise is pretty much universally recommended as positive factor in health and disease-preventer, there’s a surprising dearth of studies which support this notion. Most of the recommendations regarding exercise have come from ‘epidemiological’ studies which may find associations between, say, activity and better health, but do not prove that it’s the activity is causing [...]

Today in the UK, the news is awash with a story about how we appear to be sleep-walking into an obesity epidemic. The recently-completed largest ever study into the obesity in the UK, compiled by 250 experts in the field, has concluded that obesity is not rooted in individual gluttony and laziness, but in our [...]

Many of you will be familiar with the concept of the ‘diabetes timebomb’ – an explosion of diabetes we are seeing as a result of our supposedly increasingly unhealthy lifestyle habits. Health professionals often advise us, if we want to reduce our risk of diabetes, to moderate our weight with a low-fat diet. However, this [...]

Aerobic exercise (such as brisk walking and swimming) has long been recommended as part of a ‘healthy’ lifestyle, particularly with regard to heart and ‘cardiovascular’ health and weight control. However, in recent times there has been a little more focus on the role of ‘resistance’ exercise (such as weight-training) as a means to improve health, [...]

Last Friday I was having breakfast with colleagues in hotel in the southwest of England. We were half way through teaching a wellness and work-life balance course to some delegates from Central and Eastern Europe. A newspaper was in evidence, and its front page warned us that, according to new recommendations, we need to exercise [...]

While the practice of yoga goes back donkey’s years, it has in more recent times enjoyed quite an upsurge in popularity. I have dabbled in yoga myself, and will often recommend it to individuals who are looking for a generally safe way of enhancing physical and mental wellbeing either as part of a class, or [...]

When occasion arises, I use this site as an opportunity to advocate regular activity for its benefits on health and wellbeing. While exercise and activity comes in many forms, I have for some time been a big believer in walking. This form of exercise is available to almost all of us, is free, and is [...]