We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Physicians are trained to be skeptical. I am, sometimes to a fault.
There is a basket of vague medical complaints which include things sometimes diagnosed as Epstein-Barr, Long Covid, Chronic Lyme Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and so forth.
I don't know what to think about these things. They used to be known as Neurasthenia.
I think that is part of why so many people get satisfaction, if not pleasure, from spending 5 or 6 hours per week maintaining or building physical fitness.
Fitness goals are simple and measurable. Furthermore, the relative mindlessness of it is a relief from the stresses that other life goals give us. For me, workout sessions lift me out of my mind into a pure animal zone of bodily effort. It is my form of meditation (if meditation implies emptying one's mind). Playing sports does something like that, as does sex. Regardless of age, don't underestimate the importance of sex.
I do not mean to say that sports are mindless, but once you get used to a sport, much of it is reflex. That is training: Down the line or cross-court.
Recreation: Hiking, sports, swimming, and general functioning/vitality are rewards for fitness.
Statistics say that 73% of Americans are overweight. Everybody knows the health and functional consequences of being overweight, however defined. Most people do not care. It's a free country, so I don't care if you do not.
If you care about fitness and functionality, staying trim and strong is a good idea. Staying strong is easy: Go to the gym or something daily with weights and cardio and calisthenics. It is rewarding if not exactly fun. Exercise will not keep many people trim.
It's an American thing. I don't know why because many parts of the world are full of cheap, tasty fast foods.
Without wanting to seem obnoxious to any overweight readers, I have to offer the best article I've seen about nutrition and weight. It's a bit of a long read, but entirely reasonable: Behavioral Nutrition.
The authors are correct. For many people, willpower doesn't work. Habits do. A quote:
Modern weight-loss approaches thus constitute an incomplete approach to long-term weight-control and one that must be complimented by a much more comprehensive appreciation of dietary habits, thought patterns and behaviors, and individual differences in consumption, food preferences, and control, as outlined below in a new approach to weight-loss [21]. Indeed, the selection and consumption of food in the modern era of abundance may have little to with nutritional analysis, appropriate macronutrient levels, or sustenance, as educational programs over the past decades have ensured that most the population is aware of what constitutes a healthy diet. Instead it could be argued that food consumption (and thus long-term weight control) is driven by a host of forces including personality, cognitive processes, food history, personal habits, ingrained behaviors, genetics, responses to environmental cues, neurochemistry and biological drivers, and mood states. In such circumstances, the current model of weight loss, with its emphasis on education, caloric restriction, moderation (moderate food intake) and will power, is ill equipped to promote sustainable weight-control and instead may have resulted in high rates of failure. One must question where the scientific evidence for this longstanding and continued approach to weight management lies, or perhaps by focusing on the most obvious factor, calories, and the field has overlooked the most critical, the person consuming those calories...
This is not intended to be about either weight loss or weight gain. It's about feeling good and lively all day without a siesta.
According to the stats, adult Americans are overfed or, more accurately, are overeating. Food is a pleasure, usually. Too much of a good thing makes us slothful, if not foggy or sleepy. The trick is to consume food until the moment that any feeling of hunger disappears. It is a "Stop" signal.
The challenge for many is that the sensation of satiety lags behind food intake by 15 or 20 minutes. If you eat quickly, you can miss that signal especially when the offering is delicious.
My advice (feel free to ignore it) is, unless underweight, to quit eating when a feeling of hunger disappears. It doesn't take much food if you eat slowly and chat with whoever is with you. After all, the reason to sit down with others is to socialize.
Most restaurants have "small plates" these days. They are usually plenty for most people. The point is that there is no law that we must clean our plates anyway.
... the group of people who have done particularly well from the free-marketization of sex are men high in the personality trait that psychologists call “sociosexuality”: the desire for sexual variety.
…Worldwide, there is a significant difference in average sociosexuality between the sexes, with men generally much keener to sow their wild oats than women are. The full WSJ piece is here.
I believe that most humans are highly sexual and sexually-motivated creatures. Many fantasies, if not action. It's about mostly-private thoughts. It is not as if men are always ready to go (although it is true that men are easily interested or seduced). Still, womens' sexual interests and fantasies are underestimated. Women always check out other women's clothing, but they check out men just as often.
Progress is a funny word. There is no doubt that Homo sapiens is remarkable in the ability to change and control the planet to meet its own needs and wants, with a population boom as a result.
Virtually every major medical organization—from the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) to the American Association of Pediatrics—has embraced the idea that medicine is an inequity-producing enterprise. The AMA’s 2021 Organizational Strategic Plan to Embed Racial Justice and Advance Health Equity is virtually indistinguishable from a black studies department’s mission statement. The plan’s anonymous authors seem aware of how radically its rhetoric differs from medicine’s traditional concerns. The preamble notes that “just as the general parlance of a business document varies from that of a physics document, so too is the case for an equity document.” (Such shaky command of usage and grammar characterizes the entire 86-page tome, making the preamble’s boast that “the field of equity has developed a parlance which conveys both [sic] authenticity, precision, and meaning” particularly ironic.)
Creatine appears to be a useful supplement for strength training. It seems to work by helping muscle produce ATP, which can improve intensity of resistance training.
It is the stress and mild damage (and repair) of muscle that builds strength, it is not a bad idea to assist intensity. Without high intensity there is little gain.
Here's the inside scoop: Few people in the field ever believed that depression was caused by a "seratonin imbalance." Far too simplistic. There is no single "depression" anyway.
What is termed "depression" is a grab bag of miserable signs and symptoms which can be associated with some (undiagnosed) cancers and Bipolar Disorder to neurotic and/or personality vulnerabilities.
SSRI meds help some people with depression remarkably well, but probably not most.
I think the now-old-fashioned intense feminists speak as if women lack strong sexual drives. I should say, "sexual and/or romantic" drives and desires.
Those things are strong in most women, young and old. It's biology.
Experts usually discuss "recovery" in relation to heavy lifting. There is good reason for that. An hour of heavy weights (powerlifts) with up to 80% of max gives your body a beating. That is the purpose. Even the youth should not do that daily, but dedicated lifters and body-builders know what they can do and they are not my audience.
We have to bear in mind that Powerlifts/Compound exertions stress most of the body. For example, Deadlifts are not just legs. They engage everything from your neck to the ankles. It can make sense to divide up heavy days into Legs, Upper Body, and Core - but none of those are singular.
So let's go through various things that regular people do to stay fit and functional, and recovery,
- Long walks, hill and mountain hiking (eg 10 miles, more or less). Assuming decent fitness, the only recovery such recreational activities require is cold beer, a good meal, and a good sleep. Such things can be daily, if you have the time (which is usually on trips).
- Jogging: No recovery needed. Same for swimming laps and biking. Re distance (5++ mile) road running: It's a bad idea unless it is once in a while. Not good, long-term, for joints. However, orthopedic surgeons need their vacations and cars...
- Calisthenics. We Maggie's people are big believers in calisthenics (same as the military) and have posted endlessly about their role in fitness and general athleticism. In fact, I have offered the view that 50-60 minutes daily of calisthenics is great for maintaining conditioning and general fitness without anything else other than recreational activity. Done with intensity, it covers HIIT Cardio and makes every muscle work. "Toning", but no real strength-building in 1 hr/day. Calisthenics should require no more recovery than at the above paragraphs unless in poor condition.
- Powerlifts and accessory difficult muscle exercises. These are designed for strength-building, which means some longer fatigue and some muscle damage. It is the repair of the minor muscle injury that builds strength. Without some extreme muscle stress it is just maintenance. Nothing wrong with maintenance though, especially for the over 65- 80 crowd, but most people seek improvement. For regular people, two days away from heavy makes sense. That does not mean 2 days of inactivity, just 2 days without heavy. Cardio or calis can count as good "active recovery."
At fifty, and married, I do not need Perry’s guidance on how to find love and security — or why to avoid selling naked pictures of myself to pay my rent. But as someone who grew up in liberal north London in the 1980s and drank in many of the same ideas as Perry has, I found this book riveting. Like her, I am dismayed by the uncritical embrace of a simplistic credo of anti-repression. I, too, have noticed belatedly the extent to which feminists closed themselves off from evolutionary understandings of human behavior, with even the monumental achievements of scientists like Sarah Blaffer Hrdy mostly ignored in favor of ideas from the humanities and critical theory.
While many physicians might like the idea of independence, for most specialties the need for a large back-office staff requires being part of a group practice. Then, sooner or later, somebody buys the group. The buyer could be a hospital, a giant medical business, or even a venture capital fund.
Things have changed. In many ways, sharing some income and being a part of a larger business makes it easier than being an old-fashioned independent physician. It's not the same thing, though.
I think it's a silly article. Obviously, if you are older and in bad shape, you are more likely to be sick and die. But go ahead and try it. For a better test, do it with eyes closed.
There is a contradiction between the "grief" and "anguish" and "rage" about the reversal of the Roe decision and ordinary feminist, or plain ordinary views about peoples' sex lives.
Yes, sex is a powerful driver in life for men and women. It is biological and psychological. However, at least after adolescence, we are all endowed with a brain too. In my view, women have all the power. They have the power of attraction, and have the modern power of birth control.
Excepting rape (or maybe substance-addled non-decision-making), men and women are in charge of conception. It is not rocket science. Women can not leave it all to the boys and very few do.
While this link is an advertisement directed towards physicians, it makes clear what is going on in medical practices today: