Walking is primarily viewed as a form of low-intensity cardiovascular exercise.It generally does not cause significant changes in either muscle mass or tone.Walking falls under the category of endurance exercises, which are known to build slow-twitch muscle fibers; the fibers predominantly used for periods of sustained activity. People may notice a slight increase in leg size post-walking as the legs ‘swell’ to take in nutrients and remove waste products – such as lactic acid.

Walking Is Endurance Exercise

A 2018 study by <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6240935/">Nagoya University</a> found that muscle quality was improved among 31 participants after 10 weeks of regular 30-minute sets of walking. Walking is predominantly going to be working your lower body, and mainly stimulating your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, calves and hip adductors, as well as your spine and abdominal muscles, which all have a significant role in stabilizing your trunk as you move forwards.

Muscle Building

Cardiovascular exercise, along with the correct diet, is a great recipe for burning fat.The key is to monitor your heart rate and work in what is known as the “Fat Burning Zone,” working at 60%-70% of your maximal heart rate, which in general equates to a 7-12 calorie burn per minute.Another important aspect to consider when looking for fat-burning results from walking is duration.

Burning Fat

<ul><li>There are several ways to maximize your muscle-building potential while walking.</li><li>A popular option is to incorporate intervals by alternating between walking at a steady pace and doing a 'power walk', a light jog or a sprint</li><li>You could also pause during your walk to add in some bodyweight exercises such as lunges, squats, push-ups or planks</li><li>Weighted vests have the added benefit of making you engage and strengthen your back muscles to ensure you are maintaining good posture throughout your walk</li></ul>

Maximizing Muscle Building While Walking

Walking on trails, roads, grass, inclined or uneven surfaces, or unstable ones like sand or gravel will challenge the muscles of your lower leg, ankles and feet more than on pavement, and they will have to work harder to maintain balance and stability.Alternate between working at different inclines and speeds to vary the intensity and muscle recruitment of the workout.

Mixing up The Terrain

podcasts

Podcasts

videos

Videos

sports

Sports

health

Health

exerciseandfitness

Exercise & Fitness

How To Build Muscle

It’s our most regular form of exercise, but does walking build muscle? We look to studies and an expert for the answer

Does walking build muscle?

Research has shown that some sunscreen ingredients can seep through the skin into your bloodstream. Several spray sunscreens were recalled after benzene, a known carcinogen, was detected in them, and Hawaii has banned certain ingredients because of concerns that they may harm ocean reefs. While those issues raise real concerns, the risks are more theoretical than proven. Regular sunscreen use does prevent skin cancers and saves lives. It can lower the risk of melanoma by about 50 per cent.

Sunscreens are potentially harmful

Recent research has raised concerns about chemical sunscreens. The FDA scientists published studies showing that avobenzone, homosalate, octinoxate, octisalate, octocrylene, and oxybenzone get into the bloodstream. Absorption doesn’t mean these ingredients are unsafe, but the amounts absorbed were higher than the level the FDA says would exempt them from safety testing. However, definitive answers may be years away.

Some sunscreens are safer than others

The FDA, the American Academy of Dermatology, and independent researchers say that UV filters have been used for years by millions of people, and there have not been noticeable systemic effects. Research in animals suggests that oxybenzone might interfere with hormone production, which could affect fertility, puberty, and thyroid function. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents not use oxybenzone-containing sunscreens on children.

Only certain chemical sunscreens should be avoided 

Sunscreens with the minerals titanium dioxide and zinc oxide work by creating a physical barrier on your skin and are not absorbed into the skin. However, mineral sunscreens might not be as effective as products with chemical filters because it t takes a lot of titanium or zinc to create a product with a high SPF. The minerals also may clump up in the product, so they don’t get evenly dispersed on the skin. They can also wipe off more easily.

Opting for a Mineral Sunscreen Instead

Both spray and lotion can do a good job if used correctly. Sprays have the highest rated SPF level, but can be tricky to apply because the droplets can disperse into the air and make it easy to miss areas on your skin. Instead, spray sunscreen onto the palm of your hand then rub it in. Ensure you don't inhale the spray as the ingredients may irritate or even harm your lungs.

Sprays work better than lotion

Your Sunscreen Safety Questions, Answered

With the end of the Covid-19 pandemic now plausibly in sight, 70% of Britons say they hope to eat a healthier diet, lose weight and exercise more. But how? Every year, millions of people vow to be more physically active, but the vast majority of these resolutions fail. We all know what happens. After a week or two of sticking to a new exercise regime, we gradually slip back into old habits and then feel bad about ourselves.

Another Failed Resolution

Most adults in high-income countries, such as the UK and US, don’t get the minimum of 150 minutes per week of physical activity recommended by most health professionals. Everyone knows exercise is healthy, but prescribing and selling it rarely works.We all believe we should exercise more. So why is it so hard to keep it up? We list the most common and unhelpful workout myths.

Too Rich To Exercise

Exercise is a voluntary physical activity undertaken for the sake of fitness. You may think exercise is normal, but it’s a very modern behaviour. Instead, for millions of years, humans were physically active for only two reasons: when it was necessary or rewarding. Necessary physical activities included getting food and doing other things to survive. Rewarding activities included playing, dancing or training to have fun or to develop skills.But no one in the stone age ever went for a five-mile jog to stave off decrepitude, or lifted weights whose sole purpose was to be lifted.

Myth 1: It’s Normal to Exercise

When food is limited, every calorie spent on physical activity is a calorie not spent on other critical functions, such as maintaining our bodies, storing energy and reproducing. Because natural selection ultimately cares only about how many offspring we have, our hunter-gatherer ancestors evolved to avoid needless exertion – exercise – unless it was rewarding. So don’t feel bad about the natural instincts that are still with us. Instead, accept that they are normal and hard to overcome.

Myth 2: Avoiding Exertion Means You Are Lazy

Let’s not demonise a behaviour as normal as sitting. People in every culture sit a lot. Even hunter-gatherers who lack furniture sit about 10 hours a day, as much as most westerners. But there are more and less healthy ways to sit. Studies show that people who sit actively by getting up every 10 or 15 minutes wake up their metabolisms and enjoy better long-term health than those who sit inertly for hours on end. If you work all day in a chair, get up regularly, fidget and try not to spend the rest of the day in a chair, too.

Myth 3: Sitting Is the New Smoking

A common myth is that people uncontaminated by civilisation are incredible natural-born athletes who are super-strong, super-fast and able to run marathons easily. Not true. Most hunter-gatherers are reasonably fit, but they are only moderately strong and not especially fast. Their lives aren’t easy, but on average they spend only about two to three hours a day doing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. It is neither normal nor necessary to be ultra-fit and ultra-strong.

Myth 4: Our Ancestors Were Hard-Working, Strong and Fast

Until recently just about every weight-loss programme involved exercise.  The truth is that you can lose more weight much faster through diet rather than exercise, especially moderate exercise such as 150 minutes a week of brisk walking. However, longer durations and higher intensities of exercise have been shown to promote gradual weight loss. Regular exercise also helps prevent weight gain or regain after diet. Every diet benefits from including exercise.

Myth 5: You Can’t Lose Weight Walking

Many people are scared of running because they’re afraid it will ruin their knees. These worries aren’t totally unfounded since knees are indeed the most common location of runners’ injuries. But knees and other joints aren’t like a car’s shock absorbers that wear out with overuse. Instead, running, walking and other activities have been shown to keep knees healthy, and numerous high-quality studies show that runners are, if anything, less likely to develop knee osteoarthritis. The strategy to avoid knee pain is to learn to run properly and train sensibly.

Myth 6: Running Will Wear out Your Knees

Despite rumours that our ancestors’ life was nasty, brutish and short, hunter-gatherers who survive childhood typically live about seven decades, and they continue to work moderately as they age. The truth is we evolved to be grandparents in order to be active in order to provide food for our children and grandchildren. In turn, staying physically active as we age stimulates myriad repair and maintenance processes that keep our bodies humming. Numerous studies find that exercise is healthier the older we get.

Myth 7: It’s Normal to Be Less Active as We Age

Many medical professionals follow the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of at least 150 minutes a week of moderate or 75 minutes a week of vigorous exercise for adults. In truth, this is an arbitrary prescription because how much to exercise depends on dozens of factors, such as your fitness, age, injury history and health concerns. Remember this: no matter how unfit you are, even a little exercise is better than none.

Myth 8: There Is an Optimal Dose/type of Exercise

Most people don’t like exercise and have to overcome natural tendencies to avoid it. For most of us, telling us to “just do it” doesn’t work any better than telling a smoker or a substance abuser to “just say no!” To promote exercise, we typically prescribe it and sell it, but let’s remember that we evolved to be physically active for only two reasons: it was necessary or rewarding. So let’s find ways to do both: make it necessary and rewarding.  For example: if you agree to meet friends to exercise regularly you’ll be obliged to show up, you’ll have fun and you’ll keep each other going.

Myth 9: ‘just Do It’ Works

Let’s not oversell exercise as medicine. Although we never evolved to exercise, we did evolve to be physically active just as we evolved to drink water, breathe air and have friends. Thus, it’s the absence of physical activity that makes us more vulnerable to many illnesses, both physical and mental. In the modern, western world we no longer have to be physically active, so we invented exercise, but it is not a magic bullet that guarantees good health.

Myth 10: Exercise Is a Magic Bullet

We all believe we should exercise more. So why is it so hard to keep it up? Daniel E Lieberman, Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, explodes the most common and unhelpful workout myths

Just don’t do it: 10 exercise myths

The average American woman consumes 48 pounds of added sugar every year.Eating too much sugar significantly raises your risk of life-shortening obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.A study found that people who exceeded the recommended daily limit of 10% of total caloric intake increased their risk of death due to heart disease by 30%.With some smart sugar strategies, you can significantly reduce your sugar cravings and take back your health.

Death By Sugar

<ul><li>We crave sugar for a variety of reasons, from hormones to habits to the psychological impact of simply seeing a decadent donut or a drizzle of caramel</li><li>The preference for sweet-tasting foods is innate.</li><li>That means sugar cravings are drilled into our bodies at an early age.</li><li>Because humans enjoy sweets, it is difficult to cut them out entirely and doing so can sometimes lead to feelings of deprivation.</li></ul>

The Sugar Craving Explained

Cravings are intense, urgent, or abnormal desire or longing.However, just because you're having a craving or want something sweet doesn't mean you have to eat sugar - or even pop a sugar replacement, such as a piece of fruit - on impulse.Buy yourself some time.Drink a glass of water, take five deep breaths, or go for a short walk. If you are truly hungry, it's okay to reach for a snack.

Be Aware Of Your Craving

<ul><li>If you notice a sugar craving at 3 p.m. daily without fail, add a protein-filled snack at this time to power through the day.</li><li>Identify your favourite foods</li><li>Pick two go-to breakfasts, 2-3 lunches, and 2-4 dinners and have those ingredients on hand so you can stay consistent.</li><li>Spice things up with spices that don't contain added sugar, such as cinnamon and red pepper.</li></ul>

Pay Attention to Patterns

While it helps to have enjoyable staples to turn to, getting curious in the kitchen can provide a fun outlet and instill healthy eating habits. Explore recipes, <a href="https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/g28556528/healthiest-vegetables/">eat some new vegetables</a> and fruits you’ve never tried before or combine different ingredients to create new dishes. By switching up what you’re eating from day to day, you might find a new delicious dish that gets you excited about dinner.

Be Adventurous

<ul><li>While most people will support your get-healthy mission, there will be a few who try to derail your efforts.</li><li>You should definitely tell your friends, family, coworkers and significant other what you're trying to accomplish, and actively ask them for their encouragement and cooperation.</li></ul>

Make People Help You Keep Off Sugar

Craving something sweet? Try:<ul><li>Sliced apples with nut butter</li><li>Fresh berries with a handful of nuts</li><li>Whipped ricotta with roasted cherries</li><li>Baked cinnamon apples</li><li>Herbal tea that has a sweet note such as vanilla</li></ul>Craving something salty? Try:<ul><li>Guacamole and cucumber “chips”</li><li>Veggies or crackers (without added sugars or refined flour) and hummus</li><li>Biltong (an air-dried beef jerky) or turkey or salmon jerky</li><li>A handful of nuts or seeds</li><li>Dishes using eggs!</li></ul>

10 Foods that Help Stop Cravings

Here are 8 ways to stop a craving in its tracks and the snacks will help you satisfy a sugar craving. You'll have a trimmer body and a healthier heart.

food

Food

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

Stop Sugar Cravings Now!

Make your eating time a ‘no screentime’. Similarly, make your dining table a ‘no-screen zone’. Instead of looking at your phone, feel the sensation of your food i.e. the taste and smell of your food.Put the phones away and enjoy conversing with your family members.

1. Using Your Phone While Eating

Challenge yourself to go on a walk every day. Do this without music. Observe, feel, smell, and simply be in Nature for this time.Go to a park, lie in the sun and take a nap. Watch a sunrise or sunset. Sit outside and watch the clouds go by.

2. Not Spending Time in Nature

Time to kill your television. Television makes you dumb, and books make you smart.Move your television out of your bedroom. Cancel your Netflix subscription.

3. Watching Too Much Television

Make a sleeping schedule and stick to it. Hang that schedule in your bedroom. If you use your mobile late at night, switch it off when it’s time to sleep.

4. Oversleeping and Undersleeping

Nobody is asking you to wake up at 4 am. But wake up early enough to hear the birds chirping and the sun rising.Pray. Meditate. Plan your day. Take a walk. Fill your lungs with the fresh air of the morning.

5. Not Waking Up Early

Get your heart rate up. Lift weights. Exercise at least 4 times a week, even if it’s just ten minutes. Start small and then gradually increase the intensity.If you can’t afford a gym membership, do home workouts. You can find many tutorials on this topic on YouTube.

6. Not Exercising

Make a budget and stick to it. Cancel any unused gym memberships. Also, cancel online subscriptions to the services you longer use.Pay yourself first. Save 10% of what you earn. Start a side hustle on the weekend.

7. Overspending

Learning doesn't end when you graduate. It is a lifelong process.Read books. Watch videos. Enroll in online courses. Pick up a new hobby.

8. Not Learning Something New

Set screentime limits on your computer and mobile. Install apps that track the amount of time you spend on your devices. At the end of the day look at your total time. See where you could trim back and fill in the time with other activities.I installed a screentime app on my phone and it helped me reduce my screentime from 7–8 hours to 3–4 hours.Reserve 2 hours of ‘no-screen time’ every day. In those 2 hours, go to a peaceful place — in your home, or somewhere outside, and sit silently.

9. Spending Too Much Time In Front Of A screen

Start your day making your bed. By making your bed, you will be completing the first task of the day.For more on this topic read this book by Admiral William H. McRaven: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Bed-Little-Things/dp/1455570249">Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World</a>

10. Not Making Your Bed

For reading about the remaining 10 habits, check out the full article at ;<a href="https://medium.com/@maaz.zulf/habits-to-quit-in-2022-a246502418a0">https://medium.com/@maaz.zulf/habits-to-quit-in-2022-a246502418a0</a>

11. ???

Quit these 20 habits for a better life in 2022

Make your eating time a ‘no screentime’. Similarly, make your dining table a ‘no-screen zone’. Instead of looking at your phone, feel the sensation of your food i.e. the taste and smell of your food…

habits

Habits

timemanagement

Time Management

Habits To Quit In 2022

Dreading the future, or anticipatory fear, is quite common and can be quite debilitating in extreme cases. People struggle with anticipatory fear when they worry about the outcome of a future event they have never experienced before.It can also be linked to the intolerance of uncertainty which leads to indecisiveness and an increased likelihood of constant comparison. Thus, people tend to overthink the possible outcomes of their decisions.

Past negative experiences can make people feel worried that the same series of events will line up allowing the past to recreate itself.

Prior Painful Experiences

When the anticipatory fear is rooted in a past event or experience, it is often associated with dread, which can be physiologically intense and frequently associated with something ominous or traumatic in nature. Some form of trauma is often at the root of a dread response.

A study says that, if you're experiencing high levels of anticipatory fear, protective responses can lead to being unable to think clearly, being afraid to leave the house, or even being afraid of most social interactions.

Protective Responses

1. Practice Mindfulness Research has shown that mindfulness can improve emotion regulation, which is incredibly helpful in reducing stress.2. Repeat MantrasYou can repeat things like:<ul><li>I am safe</li><li>It's gonna be alright </li><li>All is well </li></ul>Saying things like this to yourself can be helpful as your search for a long-term solution.

Ways to Fight Anticipatory Fear

3. Exercise Exercising can help keep you in the present moment. This way you are forced to think about the task at hand rather than worry about the future.4. Keep a journal ﻿Keeping a journal can help you fight off hindsight bias, which is when you get caught up thinking that you had better control of past events.

Whether you have found yourself experiencing anticipatory fear as a result of past traumas or for another reason altogether, it is important to find a therapist who can help you. Specifically, it would be helpful to seek out a therapist who specializes in the treatment of anxiety, trauma, and PTSD.

5. Seeking a therapist 

It is completely normal to fear the future, but definitely take note if your fears are starting to take up a lot of your mental space. It's also important to notice if your actions are being impacted by your concerns. That said, hopefully, you can rest a little easier knowing that there are ways to get help and to move past these fears.

It happens to me..always! But it's normal, yeah. 🥲

If you the future and find yourself feeling fearful or anxious from those thoughts, you may have a fear of the future. Here are some tips to help you address your fears.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

mentalhealth

Mental Health

communication

Communication

Future Fears 

New plan: Think about what makes you specialLots of us have a friend who posts perfect craft projects (“Nailed it!”) or know a fellow parent who never misses a kid’s game, but dwelling on where you fall short isn’t helpful. “By learning to focus on ourselves instead of others, we can decrease our stress and anxiety, increase our happiness and self-esteem, and live a more purposeful and authentic life,” says Renee Exelbert, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist and an adjunct professor at New York University.

1. Comparing yourself with people around you

Shouldering responsibility for everythingNew plan: Delegate—even if it doesn’t seem worth itWhether you’re handling a big project at work or planning a family reunion, it’s easy to fall into the trap of doing most of the work to be sure the end result is perfect. “We go through life as if we’re responsible for every outcome we experience,” says Amy Johnson, Ph.D., author of The Little Book of Big Change. “We fail to recognize just how much happens effortlessly.” Letting other people pick up the slack will lower your stress, and you may be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

2. Shouldering responsibility for everything

New plan: Notice who comes throughIt’s hard to forget friends who didn’t visit when you were laid up or failed to attend an event you hosted. “This ‘injustice collecting’ causes us to see the glass as half empty versus half full,” Exelbert says. “Embrace gratitude for those who do show up. It increases our happiness, improves social relationships and self-esteem, and increases our longevity.” Try starting a gratitude journal: Every day, write a few sentences about something you’re thankful for.

3. Tracking who disappoints you

New plan: Take intentional breaksLeave your phone out of the picture when you’re with friends and family, even if you’re just digging into takeout food on the couch. “We simply can’t focus after so much online time; this practice shortens our attention span,” says Lori Whatley, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and the author of Connected & Engaged. Plus, she adds, “too much social media use has been connected to depression and anxiety.” One thing that will help: practicing mindfulness. If you’re new to the idea, try a meditation guide or an app like Headspace. Stay in the present moment

4. Constantly checking your phone

Shopping for happinessNew plan: Revel in nonmaterial joys and experiences“So much of our energy is spent chasing [physical] things we think will make us happy,” says Johnson. “The next vacation, losing a few pounds—they never lead to lasting happiness.” She says humans evolved to “recalibrate” quickly after events, so the happiness boost triggered by things outside of ourselves fades fast. Teaching a niece how to read, having adventures with friends—intangibles like these give us real warm fuzzies.

5. Shopping for happiness

OverthinkingNew plan: Focus on what you can controlThousands of years ago, the practice of turning stuff over in our minds kept us from repeating dangerous mistakes, says psychiatrist Mimi Winsberg, M.D. These days, overthinking can lead us to agonize over mundane things like the wording of an email or events beyond our control. To prevent spiraling, decide whether you’re obsessing about something you can actually change. If so, allot a certain amount of time to taking action, then distract yourself with an activity like a movie or exercise.

6. Overthinking

New plan: Loosen your grip and let it goEven if you know that your coworker purposely leaves you off happy hour invites or that a neighbor spoke ill of you, revisiting these complaints hurts only you. “Holding on to anger and repressing angry feelings may increase blood pressure and the risk of coronary heart disease,” Exelbert says. “Forgiveness can lead to healthier relationships and improved mental health.” Consider where the other person was coming from (maybe your coworker feels insecure about their work performance or your neighbor has been stressed by caregiving duties).

7. Holding on to a grievance

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

7 Unhelpful Habits Everyone Should Quit

What we think we know is what we believe we know.

Psychologist, B.F. Skinner put a pigeon in a box and gave it food at regular intervals irrespective of what it was doing. He noticed that the pigeons believed that they were given food because of what they are doing; like hopping around etc.This behavior was called as 'superstitious belief' by Skinner.

Skinner box

Here, Michael made a room with checkerboard tiles on the floor and a button in the middle of the room kept at a table. He also made a money outlet (like the food outlet in original skinner box) from which 1 dollar bills would come out. The people (pigeons) were told that their aim is to collect as much bills as they can in 10 minutes. Michael sent them each bill after 30 seconds BUT people thought that they are causing the bills to come. For example, a woman thought that her opening and closing of the door led by pressing of the button was causing the bill to come.

Human Skinner Box

some people thought that dancing would urge the machine to give bills. A lady thought that pushing the button 4 times, then going out and coming in to the room was causing it, some made the producers laugh. But there was this one man who just stood there and didn't push the button at all, in fact, he resisted it. This thought of thinking that your actions are not affecting the money was called 'extinction' by Skinner. When he was asked about it in the interview, he said that he had thought that what would others not do. so he decided to do a different thing- do nothing.

Here they will be trying to feel the person that they have induced a spirit in them. That's why it's reverse exorcism.A clinic with dim lights with religious and scientific symbols here and there. People sat down on the bed, a doctor entered told that they will be facing reverse exorcism. A priest entered, holding Christ entered with his "ancient" book. They attached a brain-activity-checking machine to their head. The doctor, not the priest, started reading the things from the book like 'relax yourself, you may see a cut head or your mouth would start tweaking or fingers tinkling".

Reverse Exorcism

There was lady who said that she saw her deceased mother, she heard an angel say "Come, we can relieve you." She continued to watch wings. She could feel the winds and said that the dream was vivid.

Observation

<ul><li>We are belief-machines. We are patter seekers.</li><li>When confronted with uncertainty, people often behave superstitiously. Under the belief that they do have control.</li><li>To not form a superstition about the word around us makes us powerless.</li><li>Are we all fools?</li></ul>

Conclusions

How can a lie become true? In this episode, Dr. Aaron Blaisdell and I create a game show that is actually a giant “human Skinner Box” to observe the formation of superstitious beliefs. And Dr. Samuel Veissière helps me design and perform a placebo reverse exorcism, harnessing the power of belief in both science and religion to convince normal people that a spirit has possessed their bodies. Available with YouTube Premium - https://www.youtube.com/premium/originals. To see if Premium is available in your country, click here: https://goo.gl/A3HtfP

problemsolving

Problem Solving

How can a lie become true? In this episode, Dr. Aaron Blaisdell and I create a game show that is actually a giant “human Skinner Box” to observe the formation of superstitious beliefs. And Dr. Samuel Veissière helps me design and perform a placebo reverse exorcism, harnessing the power of belief in both science and religion to convince normal people that a spirit has possessed their bodies.

Available with YouTube Premium - https://www.youtube.com/premium/originals. To see if Premium is available in your country, click here: https://goo.gl/A3HtfP

Our World is Amazing. 

Questions? Ideas? Tweet me: http://www.twitter.com/tweetsauce

Vsauce was created by Michael Stevens in the summer of 2010.

Vsauce is...

Michael Stevens: Producer/Host of Vsauce1
Kevin Lieber: Producer/Host of Vsauce2
Jake Roper: Producer/Host of Vsauce3
Eric Langlay: VFX for Vsauce1/2/3
You: Thanks for watching!!!

Vsauce

Behavior and Belief

When we are young, we are more vulnerable to fashion and teen monthlies targeted at women. Their glossy pages offer an escape from our dreary lives. While women's magazines offer celebrity-centred advice, it is never evidence-based. Instead, it has largely frivolous, unhelpful, false and often harmful advice.

Giving your 16 year-old-self advice

You won't achieve a healthy weight through buying a particular product or going on a crash diet. Women's magazines have pages on how to lose weight fast or maintain a healthy body size using some new product or trend. Actual claims on the covers of Women's Health magazines, such as "Hot body express!" "Bikini body now!" "Have the baby, keep the body!" These are lies. There is no magic diet.What really works is watching what you eat every day, over a lifetime. No magic diet or miracle pills are needed.

Achieving a healthy weight

There's no need to aim for perfection in your diet 100 per cent of the time. Restrictive diets are unsustainable and often backfire. Yet women's magazines fixate on strict eating patterns. Whatever the trend, you'll find it in the pages of these magazines. Offering short-term perfection sells better than ideas about grinding along to achieve long-term health.

You don't need to be super strict about your diet

Many women's magazines depict exercise as a daunting task. Exercise often requires fancy gym clothes and lots of time and discipline to give you an "awesome body wherever you go." However, exercise is something that gives you energy, lifts your mood, and makes you feel strong and healthy. Exercise doesn't necessarily require gym clothes or running shoes. You can do it throughout the day, every day.

Exercise doesn't have to be annoying or overly complex

Women's magazines uncritically show faddish health advice from celebrities. Beyonce is held up as the go-to authority on the vegan lifestyle. InStyle states it is the reason behind her "#flawless" looks and "killer curves." Gwyneth Paltrow's popular gimmicks include <a href="http://goop.com/detox/">detox cleanses</a> and <a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/advice/g1523/get-flat-sexy-abs-without-doing-crunches/">special workouts</a>. In reality, almost every celebrity-driven trend falls apart under even modest scrutiny. The fads are often motivated by a celebrity's business interests more than by research about health.

Celebrities aren't good sources of health information

Author <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/05/01/gwyneth_paltrow_is_wrong_about_everything_my_adventure_in_goop_endorsed_cleanses/">Timothy Caulfield</a> spent years researching the science behind celebrity health and beauty tips. He found that most beauty products had either no data behind them or very small and unreliable studies to back up the fantastical claims. Using beauty products in your daily routine is not bad, but the promises they carry on their labels are probably bunk. When they come with heavy price tags, you're probably getting ripped off.

Expensive creams and potions won't make you more beautiful

Women's magazines sell the idea that we can all look better. It usually involves looking like someone famous like Kim Kardashian. However, we look like ourselves. Only Kim Kardashian looks like Kim Kardashian. Her career depends on beautifying her face and body. And even she doesn't look that way without a lot of help.

You shouldn't aspire to look like Kim Kardashian

Women's magazines may give so-called health advice, but they still carry ads from cigarette companies that depict smoking as a glamorous exercise for beautiful people. Given what we know about the harms of smoking,<ul><li>that it is one of the worst things you can do for your health,</li><li> it prematurely ages your skin and body,</li><li>it promotes many terrible illnesses</li><li>and makes you less attractive,</li></ul> it completely undermines all the other so-called health "advice" in these magazines.

Smoking isn't glamorous

The pages of women's magazines are filled with diets and products that supposedly help you "cleanse your body." This includes clarifying shampoo, detoxifying salads and juices, supplements, enemas, and even colon cleanses. Science-based medicine had long rejected the concept of a detox other than when someone was poisoned or is weaned from heroin addiction. Our bodies are quite capable of getting rid of harmful stuff by themselves.

Unless you're a heroin addict, you probably don't need to detox

The advice in their pages is too often insane, aimed at fearmongering, and totally science-free.

fashion

Fashion & Beauty

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

Flat abs fast! Hot body now! Why you should (almost) never believe health advice in women's magazines

When the pandemic first began, many experts feared that even people who managed to avoid the virus would suffer from unprecedented levels of loneliness. What would happen when millions of people were told to stay at home and distance themselves from friends and loved ones? Two years of research later, experts have found that loneliness levels were already dire enough to pose a threat to mental and physical health.

Only The Lonely

Across the U.S. and European populations, the differences in loneliness before and after the Pandemic are small.Researchers found about a 5% increase in loneliness in the period immediately following the outbreak, but these differences do not mean anything clinically at all because the increases were so small.

Pandemic Blues

<ul><li>More people are feeling comfortable talking about mental health and the role that loneliness can play in mental health disorders.</li><li>Researchers who study loneliness say that it hasn't always received the kind of attention it deserves as a major threat to health.</li><li>Primary care doctors and therapists don't regularly screen their patients for signs of loneliness.</li><li>Japan followed the U.K. in appointing its first Minister of Loneliness in 2021.</li><li>WHO is considering creating a high-level commission to address social connection, isolation, and loneliness.</li></ul>

More People Are Now Talking About Mental Health Disorders

<ul><li>Research has found loneliness can significantly increase the risk of early death.</li><li>In part, that's because it's linked to a striking number of disorders.</li><li>Loneliness has also been linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, and other chronic illnesses.</li></ul>

How Loneliness Affects Health

The pandemic made Americans slightly more lonely—but loneliness levels were already dire. Here’s how to address it in your own life.

Loneliness Is a Public Health Emergency. Here's What Helps, According to Experts

Find 100+ Facts about Health - Curated from popular Videos, Podcasts, Books, Guides & Articles - Genuine Insights from like-minded Users like You!