A study by Canadian researchers has deflated the hopes of lifetime bachelors every where. 4400 subjects; some single, some married, some widowed; participated in the study, so it is seems pretty legit. The researchers determined that the married men are officially healthier than single men. Why?
When asked why, male participants in the study gave credit to their wives. Wives are really good at reminding us about doctor appointments, making sure we take medicine, resting when we are exhausted, getting medical help when we are hurt, and don’t forget that sex is a major anti-stress technique.
Faster Emergency Medical Treatment
On average, married men who are victims of a sudden heart attack, arrive at the hospital 30 minutes quicker than their single counterparts. Not only can that fact explain why men are healthier, it could explain why married men have a longer lifespan than bachelors. A 30 minute delay in treatment for a heart attack, quite often means the difference between life and death.
Interestingly, the wives don’t even have to be present to elicit this caregiving effect. Some study participants noted that even if their wives were not present, they would hear the female voice of reason telling them to seek medical attention immediately.
It is unfortunate to note that there is no difference in the time it takes women to get to the hospital, whether they are married or not. Come on guys! Pick up the slack!
Women Will Find the Answers
Wives also ask lots of questions. You would know this if you ever got ‘lost’ on a road trip with a female. Married women reportedly ask their own doctors for advice on behalf of their husbands. After all, isn’t pretty much every wife also a nurse? You kind of have to be a nurse when you have a pack of young children and one really big really hairy ‘kid’ to take care of on a daily basis.
This post is an excuse to post a picture of a super sexy wedding dress (yes, obviously it is the dress that is sexy), which you can see at the top of the page. But I also want to take a moment to say, “Thanks!” to all the wives out there who remind us that good health is sometimes more than benching and squatting triple bodyweight.
Allow me to direct your attention to the Project Swole Forums. Build muscle and lose fat by sharing your training secrets, diet strategies, progress updates, and supplement reviews; or discuss anything remotely related to health and fitness.
This will be a great way for me and all you Swole readers to talk about health and fitness topics that I just don’t have time to write individual posts about. There is also an area for posting progress pics, workout routines, or anything else you can come up with to show off your goods. My only request is this: let’s not make it a sausage fest on the pics forum… if you guys are going to post progress pics, can we please get some ladies to pose and post once a in while?
Down with the Swole Contact Form!
I want to transition from using the Swole contact form to the Swole Forums, for asking questions about health and fitness. Lord knows I get way too many e-mails on a daily basis, and I just can’t keep up with them.
The Swole contact form can still be used to ask questions about advertising, guest posts, or anything extremely private, but again I can’t guarantee a timely response.
Forum Moderators Needed
Months ago I posted about the upcoming forums and had several volunteers to help moderate. Well, now that the forums are actually up and running, I will need some moderators. So, anyone who has a couple hours a week to help answer questions and/or keep the forums clean of spam and trolls, I need YOU!
Unfortunately this is 100% volunteer work. I won’t be able to pay you for your help, but you will get a ton of kudos and I’ll help promote any projects you have going on. Leave a comment on this post to volunteer, and let me know if you have any relevant experience with moderating forums, developing websites, personal training, health topics, or nutrition advice.
That’s it! Let’s get the forums rockin’ ASAP and we’ll really have a sweet community going on at Project Swole.
I’m also going to link to the forums up on the top menu, so you don’t have to bookmark it if you don’t want. 😉
By the way, even if you registered with the blog, you’ll still have to re-register at the forums. I’m not about to try to code a bridge between phpBB and WordPress, sorry.
Today we’re going to depart a little bit from perfect health and spot-on nutrition. I’d like to take a minute to discuss beer.
Beer is good. It is a man’s drink. Arnold reportedly devoured several pints of beer and whole chickens after grueling squat workouts. I’m not saying that’s how he won any of his trophies or awards, because it’s not. I can almost guarantee you Arnold didn’t touch alcohol during his contest prep.
However if you are not competing or scheduled to compete, then I have to ask you: What is the harm in having a beer or two with dinner a couple times a week?
Everything in moderation. Here are my favorite low carb, low calorie, “diet” beers.
If you have been told you have high blood pressure, with the top number (systolic) of 140 or above, or the bottom number (diastolic) of 90 or above, you might be worried, and for good reason. High blood pressure means you have a higher risk of heart attack or stroke.
Your doctor may have talked to you about taking medication to bring your numbers down. I’m here to tell you that might not necessarily be the best solution. If your numbers are low enough, you might be able to control your blood pressure by adjusting your lifestyle. If you successfully control your blood pressure with a healthy lifestyle, you may avoid, delay or reduce the need for medication.
That being said, do not stop taking, or make any adjustments to your medication unless you talk to your doctor first. In fact, you should probably talk to your doctor before making drastic changes to your diet.
Here are 10 lifestyle changes you can make to lower your blood pressure and keep it down:
Monitor your blood pressure at home and make regular doctor’s appointments
Get support from family and friends
You are what you eat-or so they say. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables can be particularly important when it comes to controlling your blood pressure. What you choose to eat-and just as importantly, what you choose not to eat-may allow you to keep your blood pressure within safe limits.
Today you will learn about a proven diet for blood pressure control: The DASH diet.
It feels terrible and amazing at the same time. There isn’t much else in the world that’s as necessary and as good for you. It pumps you up, builds positive energy (not to mention muscles), and keeps you alert. Working out is nearly perfect. Nearly.
There are risks associated with exercising that can ruin the experience of staying in shape and looking your best. Let’s take a look at 5 of them.
Josie Maurer of YumYucky.com writes today’s guest post. Josie is a woman who eats and then talks about it. She and her “Greedy Taste Testers” tell us all about the different kinds of foods they eat in an attempt to find a way of life that balances fitness and a taste for great cuisine.
Josie wants you to ditch the weight loss gimmicks, deprivation of so-called “forbidden foods”, and severe calorie deprivation, in favor of Moderation, Discipline, Portion Control, and Commitment to exercising and eating healthy.
So you’ve been cruising along smooth with your food-eating under control. You’re losing weight and building muscle, and when you glance in the mirror you can’t help but to notice your sexy swagger. But then it happens. A sugary avalanche starts rolling your way and it’s camouflaged real pretty as holiday eating.
How do you escape that office party complete with cookies, cakes and dainty candies? What happens when your neighbor shoves a 5-pound gift can of chocolates into your claws? All this holiday fanfare can obviously threaten to undo your good fitness deeds, so check out these warning signs:
Your heart rate begins to escalate. Sweat droplets of temptation bead across the forehead as your top lip begins to quiver. Your breathing becomes labored and your taste buds salivate with sugary desire…
How are you going to weasel your way out of this one? Do you just cave and eat the damn food, or do you squirm under pressure and tell yourself “no way!” before you eat the damn food anyway? (more…)
I want to tell you about a pretty cool new website today. If you’ve been hanging around the health and fitness website industry for a while now, you might remember HealthRanker, a health news social voting site, where popular articles are voted to prominence and end up on page 1. Well, HealthRanker was bought and destroyed a year or so ago, my attempts to make a clone called FitWire failed miserable, and now there is a new player on the scene.
Today’s guest post was written by Matt Paley, the founder and CEO of Share It Fitness, which provides us with a revolutionary new approach to health and fitness. The old model of paying a trainer, or yoga instructor, or golf pro, or you name it, 50, 60, 70 dollars an hour to simply count or re-use a generic workout routine on you isn’t effective nor cost-efficient. What if you could have a dedicated professional with you, not just a few hours a week, but EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE. Motivating, guiding, advising, and supporting you in all your fitness needs. The time has come for a change in the way fitness, health, and sport instruction is delivered.
ShareItFitness.com is the answer. The ShareItFitness blog, has a wide range of health and fitness news. The information found on the blog is only going to be the tip of the iceberg in terms of what ShareItFitness will be able to offer. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook for additional fitness tips. Thanks for checking us out and keep on living well.
Breaking Down the American Diet
While not a “diet” in the sense you may be thinking, the American Diet is one that millions of people follow, mostly unaware, for the majority of their lives. The bad part is, this easily followed “diet” isn’t doing us any good. If anything, it’s contribution to the high rates of obesity and mortality that we are experiencing in this country.
The American Diet has large amounts of sodium, sugar, simple carbs, and bad fats, which include the worst offender, trans fat. We consume these by the plateful almost every time we go out to eat. Unfortunately as Americans, we eat out a lot.
These four things are the major barriers that stand between us and a long, healthy life. If we can learn how to eat less of these bad nutrients, and more of the healthy ones, we will unlock the largest component to a healthy lifestyle. This section is going to break down the health consequences of each of the above offenders so you may have a more practical idea of what’ s going on inside your body. (more…)
72 million adults are considered obese (defined by the BMI being over 30)
84.8 million adults have no leisure-time physical activity
total obesity-related health care costs are estimated at $147 billion
Those are some frustrating numbers.
Given those ridiculous health care costs, and all the other money that you have to shell out food, clothing, fad weight loss gimmicks, etc… just how much does it cost annually for the average person to be obese?
A recent study conducted by George Washington University researchers found that the annual cost of being overweight is $8,365 for men and $6,518 for women with an obesity-related shortened life span factored in.
File this next report under the extremely-interesting-but-dangerous-to-publish category.
Parents of fat kids unite! You now have another reason to sit back and let your child get fatter rather than teaching him how to exercise and eat properly.
Apparently a study has turned up the adenovirus 36 (AD36) as a possible cause of childhood obesity. Adenovirus 36 (AD36) is also responsible for passing on the common cold. Supposedly that means we can now blame the common cold for the reason our children are fat!
After reading the results of the study, I’ve determined that AD36 could contribute to obesity in a small portion of obese children, but there’s no way that it is a leading cause of obesity in America. Read the post then let me know if you agree or disagree.
In a disgusting development, the Corn Refiners Association plans to ask the FDA to allow high-fructose corn syrup to be called simple “corn sugar”. Check it out at LiveScience.
They plan to claim that corn sugar is no different from cane sugar, and that fact means corn sugar is not that bad for you.
What?!
Since when has cane sugar been considered “not that bad for you”? It is linked directly to the onset of Type II Diabetes, for crying out loud!
Regarding the claim that corn sugar is the same as cane sugar, an attempt to butcher the concept that cane sugar is “all-natural”, let me show you a quote from someone who knows exactly how high fructose corn syrup is made (in the lab):
Today I would like to show you some current news articles about healthy topics like Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids, the high antioxidant concentration of Black Rice, and a fun little slideshow about the Mediterranean Diet.
We just can’t take old news for granted, because studies are confirming and rejecting some of what we think we know. Myths are created and dispelled on a daily basis. Check it out.
I know some of you out there work 60, 70, 80 hour weeks. I know some of you also work 14,16,18 hour days. Hell, I’ve put in 36 hours straight writing computer code day and night to meet a deadline before. We all do it: we work too much!
Experts are finding out now that the best way to increase productivity, is to work less. That’s right, people who work 35-40 hours a week get the most out of their time. After the first 40 hours efficiency, speed, and quality all begin to deteriorate.
Companies that limit their employees’ working hours to 35 a week, typically have to employ less Quality Assurance (QA) testers, because their employees make far fewer mistakes. That is a multi-directional savings plan – save your employees health and save money by getting rid of half your QA staff (or just don’t hire them to begin with).
You might think it’s kookie or wacky if you’ve never put any time into learning about the benefits of meditation. I am here to tell you now, that judging or making assumptions about things before you really understand them, is totally ignorant. I implore you now to open your mind and be introspective.
Today I want you to read an article posted on ESPN about meditating with Ricky Williams – the running back for the Miami Dolphins.
Check out this very interesting article about how the deluge of information in our lives is actually rewiring your brain. Guys, now you have another excuse when your girlfriend/wife accuses you of being distracted and forgetful: “the Internet is stressing me out!”
So I read a study in Consumer Reports today about the content of heavy metals in protein drinks. The metals of concern are deadly when humans are exposed to them, even is small concentrations, over many years: arsenic, mercury, lead, and cadmium.
I wouldn’t exactly call the results of the study tragic, but I definitely think Project Swole readers should be aware and should avoid certain products.
I’m having a bad day. I missed my Crossfit workout this morning for an emergency meeting with the dentist, now I have dental surgery coming up on Wednesday, and I barely have enough money to cover my bills and expenses this month. Since I really have to work right now, I don’t have time to write a good post today, so I’m going to leave you with some health and sports news.
Apparently we should become addicted to eating high-fat meals for breakfast. I don’t know. I just don’t see it. I would choose a bowl of Total Raisin Bran with skim milk or a bowl of oatmeal, over bacon or sausage any day of the week.
And finally, McNabb goes to the Redskins. I don’t much care about that either, but it will be interesting to see if McNabb improves the Skins, or if playing for the Skins forces McNabb into retirement. I suppose the latter is more likely.
I found this article today that talks about a lack of ‘blue light’, which we get from early morning exposure to sunlight. When teenagers are not properly exposed to ‘blue light’ for one week, their bodies release melatonin 30 minutes later in the day, which causes them to stay up later and fall asleep in class the next day. The release of melatonin is often also responsible for lack of sleep due to insomnia.
Here’s another reason never to drink soda or anything else containing high-fructose corn syrup ever again.
A recent study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, links sugary soft drink consumption to an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
Noel T. Mueller, MPH, the author of the study and a research associate at the Cancer Control Program at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. notes:
“People who drank two or more soft drinks a week had an 87% increased risk — or nearly twice the risk — of pancreatic cancer compared to individuals consuming no soft drinks.”
