November 24, 2023 — What is the difference between exercise and physical activity? Does it really matter? A recent review in Current Nutrition Reports suggests that this is a distinction that makes a difference. Oxford tells us that exercise is “activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness.” But physical activity is “any form […]
November 10, 2023 — The pandemic has wrought a stark change in how Americans get around – 36% less walking and 37% more cycling. Meanwhile, pedestrian deaths hit a 40-year high last year. Active transportation in the U.S. has both risks and rewards. A Universal Decline The drop in walking trips was uniform across the country. Emily Adler, the […]
November 30, 2022 — Some of the questions we encounter here come with a lot of ambiguity, but this is not one of them. The U.S. is killing more people who are physically active – pedestrians and cyclists – than any other wealthy country. Clearly, this is not good. Without a doubt, this gives the U.S. a failing grade […]
May 28, 2022 — Worldwide sales of fitness trackers increased from US$14 billion in 2017 to over $36 billion in 2020. The skyrocketing success of these gadgets suggests that more people than ever see some value in keeping tabs on the number of steps they take, flights of stairs they climb, time they spend sitting, and calories they burn. […]
November 13, 2021 — Jeff Colgan and Miriam Hinthorn have a provocative new paper suggesting that cheap gas drives obesity prevalence higher. At first glance, the title of their paper borders on sensational: “Is cheap gasoline killing us?” It worked. They made us look, even though (or perhaps because) the implicit claim of cause and effect is so absurd. […]
