background preloader

Fitness / Exercise

Facebook Twitter

Stairs can get you there faster than elevators. Health Coaching For The Masses - Healthcare - The Patient. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Health Plan will provide coaching, wellness services, and hospital quality ratings to all insured members through WebMD portal. 7 Patient Education Tools (click image for larger view and for slideshow) You don't have to work for a very large corporation anymore to have access to health and wellness coaches.

Health Coaching For The Masses - Healthcare - The Patient

You just have to have a health insurance company that offers the service. "It used to be that the GEs of the world were the only ones who could afford to have a wellness program," said Dave Passavant, senior director of consumer innovation at UPMC Health Plan, the insurance arm of the integrated health system formerly known as the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. UPMC Health Plan this week became the first health insurer in the U.S. to offer WebMD's Digital Health Assistants service, an online health coaching and wellness program.

It hurts so good: the runner’s high. I just came back from an 11 mile run.

It hurts so good: the runner’s high

The wind wasn’t awful like it usually is, the sun was out, and I was at peace with the world, and right now, I still am. How Runners Can Prevent Injuries. Running is one of the most popular forms of cardio because it's inexpensive, you can do it anywhere, and it burns major calories while toning your lower body.

How Runners Can Prevent Injuries

That said, if you run, here are four things you should be doing every week. Vary your workouts: Doing the same running workout all the time can not only be boring, but can also lead to overuse injuries in the muscles. Mix up the surface you run on, change up your pace (don't forget sprinting intervals), incorporate hills, and vary the distance you run. Runners can improve health and performance with less training, study shows. The new 10-20-30 training concept can improve both a person's running performance and health, despite a significant reduction in the total amount of training.

Runners can improve health and performance with less training, study shows

This is the conclusion of a study from University of Copenhagen researchers just published in the scientific Journal of Applied of Physiology. Over the course of seven weeks, runners were able to improve performance on a 1500-metre run by 23 seconds and almost by a minute on a 5-km run -- and this despite a 50 per cent reduction in their total amount of training. These are just some of the results from a research project involving 18 moderately trained runners following the 10-20-30 training concept developed by researchers from the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.

In addition to enhancing running performance, the runners from the project also had a significant decrease in blood pressure and a reduction in cholesterol in the blood. Helping people live healthier lives: the future for public health. Preventing cancer, cutting tooth decay in children and the population weighing less, are just some of the challenges local councils will be able to track their progress against when they take over looking after the health and well-being of their residents, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced today.

Helping people live healthier lives: the future for public health

For the first time, public health will be measured against a framework which sets out 66 health measures so councils and the Government are able to see real improvements being made and take any action needed. From April 2013, councils will be given a ring-fenced budget - a share of around £5.2 billion based on 2012/13 funding - and will be able to choose how they spend it according to the needs of their population. Those who make the most improvements will be rewarded with a cash incentive. Local authorities will be paid a new health premium for the progress they make against the public health indicators.

Improve health of NHS workforce, experts say. The NHS should do more to improve the health and wellbeing of its workforce by following NICE's public health guidance, an independent panel of government advisors has said.

Improve health of NHS workforce, experts say

The NHS Future Forum, headed up by Professor Steve Field, wants the NHS to help its workforce of 1.4 million to live healthily and spread healthy messages with family, friends and patients. Last year, the first ever audit within the NHS of NICE's public health guidance for the workplace revealed that not enough is being done to encourage staff to improve their health. While, a study by the Audit Commission highlighted large variations in levels of sickness absence across the NHS and found that following NICE's workplace advice could make the NHS more productive and contribute to saving £290 million lost through sick days.

They should report annually on their progress against this strategy and hold their Chief Executive, or other senior responsible officer or partner, to account against it. It’s time to ban obesity in NHS employees. Are You Willing to Follow 5 Proven Methods to Burn Belly Fat? By Benjamin Teal At Isnare.com Ezine Articles. When someone has extra stored belly fat, not only can’t they show off a sexy set of six pack abs, but they are at risk for many types of health issues, such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease and even some types of cancer.

Are You Willing to Follow 5 Proven Methods to Burn Belly Fat? By Benjamin Teal At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

There are many folks out there today who are fighting obesity. And worse yet, they are following all of the wrong ways to burn fat. Burning fat is, for the most part, common sense. First Foods Most: After 18-Hour Fast, People Drawn to Starches First and Vegetables Last. Are the Hungry More at Risk for Eating Calorie-Dense Nutrient-Poor Foods?Comment on “First Foods Most: After 18-Hour Fast, People Drawn to Starches First and Vegetables Last”The Hungry Eat Calorie-Dense Nutri. Death by Desk Job: How to Fight It [INFOGRAPHIC]

Your desk job can kill you.

Death by Desk Job: How to Fight It [INFOGRAPHIC]

At the very least, it will likely make you fatter, sicker and more stressed out than a job that doesn't require sitting down and hunching over a keyboard for a third of the day. Studies have shown that the amount of time American's spend sitting increased by 8% between 1980 and 2000, while obesity rates doubled. Reinventing the Office: How to Lose Fat and Increase Productivity at Work. (Photo: watz) If you’re a white-collar worker, hacking your body isn’t limited to the gym.

Reinventing the Office: How to Lose Fat and Increase Productivity at Work

In fact, what you do outside of the gym might be more important that what you do inside the gym. Recent research suggests that those who sit from 9-5 (more than 6 hours daily) and exercise regularly are more likely to have heart disease than those who sit less than 3 hours per day and don’t “exercise” at all. ff Venture Capital, a New York early-stage technology venture capital fund, recently moved into a new NYC location, and they’ve documented their experiments and findings in rethinking the office for physical optimization.

David Teten of ff VC contributed this detailed post, which provides a laundry list of ideas for transforming your office–home-based or otherwise–from a liability into a performance enhancer… If you have any fantastic tricks you’d like to share, please do so in the comments. The More You Sit, the Sooner You'll Die. Sitting All Day? Sitting down, which most of us do for at least eight hours each day, might be the worst thing we do for our health all day.

Sitting All Day?

We've been preaching the benefits of stand-up desks for a while around here — and no one needs this good news more than social media-obsessed web geeks. A recent medical journal study showed that people who sit for most of their day are 54% more likely to die of a heart attack. And our readers are receptive to the idea, too. In fact, in a recent poll, three-fourths of you said you already used a stand-up desk or you'd like to try one.

So if you need more convincing, check out these graphically organized stats from Medical Billing and Coding. Short walk cuts chocolate consumption in half. Public release date: 7-Dec-2011 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Commuting - bad for your health? Public release date: 30-Oct-2011 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Dr Hilary Gloverhilary.glover@biomedcentral.com 44-020-319-22370BioMed Central A mobile workforce can help improve a country's economy but the effects of commuting on the health of commuters and on the costs to industry in terms of sick days is largely unknown. From a commuter's point of view, the advantages of daily travel, such as a better paid job or better housing conditions, need to be weighed against adverse health effects. The barefoot gym workout that cures an arch enemy... flat feet.