Shaw's Eco-Logic

More Reasons Not To Get Fat

That's the title of my latest HND piece, and it covers recent findings suggesting that if you are overweight in mid-life, you will not age well. Of course, some of this is intuitively obvious as most people do not lose weight as they get older.

The study looked at women who were members of the famous Nurses' Health Study

A fairly shocking finding involves the Body Mass Index, or BMI. This parameter is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters. The NIH provides a convenient online calculator, that works in either conventional or metric units. With some limitations, BMI is a good indicator of total body fat.

The study showed that every one unit increase of BMI was associated with a 12% reduction of the odds of healthy survival—a term applied to members of the cohort who reached age 70 with few health issues.

Women who were overweight (BMI ≥25) at age 18 and gained more than 22 pounds between age 18 and 50, had the worst odds of healthy survival.

36-24-36 (91-61-91 cm)

Many people think that 36-24-36 is the perfect female figure. Evolutionary psychologists tend to look at the WHR (waist/hip ratio) and have found that most men prefer women with a ratio of 0.7.

Of course, many women do not achieve this ideal, and there are some--including anthropologist Elizabeth Cashdan--who argue that not having a perfect figure may have advantages for women in certain situations. Unfortunately, her reasoning is a bit strained.

Check out my HND piece In Search Of The Perfect Figure.

Racing sled dogs: Cardio fitness champs

Veterinarian and PhD physiologist Michael Davis—of Oklahoma State University's Center for Veterinary Health Sciences—has long been interested in how racing sled dogs can perform in such incredible fashion, especially during the grueling Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

He identifies a few factors...

• Rapid adaptation to exercise and endurance
• Enormous aerobic capacity--far better than any human athlete could ever achieve
• Using a high-fat diet to fuel exercise

Check out my recent HND article on the subject.

Obesity, Diabesity, and Orthopedics

That's the title of my newest HND piece.  When I found out that hip and knee replacements were now being done on TEENAGERS, I had to say something!

Every extra pound you carry translates into seven more pounds of force on those joints.  Run the numbers on a person who might be more than 50 pounds overweight.

"Diabesity" is a trademarked word used to highlight the relationship between obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

Fortunately, the technology has improved greatly for knee and hip implants--but it is still better to prevent such degradation to your joints for as long as you can.

Stretching--The right way

Until I found Dr. Steven Stark's book, The Stark Reality of Stretching, I always wondered why those important lower body stretches I was doing seemed ineffective and even harmful.

Stark explains it all, and also shows why much of the conventional wisdom out there on stretching is just plain wrong.  And, he's not just whistling Dixie—the book is quite scientific, and is filled with scholarly references.

HIghly recommended by this aging athlete...