Anyone who’s ever had any kind of medical procedure done – or has just watched a medical drama on TV – knows the importance of checking your heart rate. It’s meant to beat somewhere between 70 and 75 times a minute; if it’s too fast, or too slow, or it’s not quite regular, it could […]
All the things we normally say about obesity and fat loss being complicated are especially true with children. It’s even more difficult to establish a definition of what constitutes obesity, it’s even more important to avoid stigmatization, and sometimes all you need to do is wait for puberty and all the fat will disappear by
There are a lot of physiological processes involved in our fight or flight response, and more than one hormone has a part to play. If you ask most people, however, the one they’ll know about is adrenaline. The adrenaline rush is one of the most recognizable parts of our response to stress, and it has
There may be some debate over whether salt or saturated fat is the most maligned part of a regular diet, but what’s not in doubt is that lots of doctors and other experts like to ply us with dire warnings about what could happen if we eat too much of them. But is salt really
If you’re a sufferer of IBS or other digestive problems, you may have encountered the concept of the low-FODMAP diet. What exactly are FODMAPs and why are they important? They’ve been linked to all kinds of digestion-related symptoms, so it may help to know exactly what we mean. FODMAP is an acronym that stands for
Few conditions strike fear into the heart like dementia. Few have such a terrifying set of symptoms, stealing not just your physical and mental health but your whole sense of identity. Increasingly common and with no known cure, understanding dementia better is a key aim of medical science. Many people may think of dementia as
“Sit up straight!” That phrase may bring back bad memories of childhood, but there is something behind it. No, it’s not about showing respect or paying attention in class, but our posture is one of the biggest drivers of whether we develop back pain and has long-term implications for our mobility. Millions of people in
We think of blood sugar problems as being something that belongs exclusively to diabetics. However, that’s not true, and if you don’t know about the various conditions and medications that can cause changes in your blood sugar, you may not be able to spot when something is wrong. One possible cause is an insulinoma. An
If you’re an evolutionary biologist, adaptation probably has a very specific meaning to you. In the exercise context, however, it’s something a little different. It’s about how your body reacts to the stress you put it under during your session. If you want to be effective in your training and recovery, you need to understand
Part of the reason that exercising your muscles and getting them to grow can be complicated is that there are different types of muscle constructed in different ways. Which muscles are you focusing on, and how can you maximize their potential? Broadly speaking, there are three types of muscle. There’s the cardiac muscle, which is
