Category: health
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Walking review: Burke Museum
No comments on Walking review: Burke MuseumSince the knee has been bothering me lately, I’ve been making more of an effort to go for walks. The University of Washington’s Burke Museum, which focuses on natural history and culture, has a special exhibit on … Coffee. In Seattle. Of course. Cynicism aside, it was an interesting overview of the history of how coffee spread outside of Ethiopia with a focus on the present…
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Thankful Thursday
[A little exercise in gratitude and appreciating my body.] Knee is getting better (I was walking without pain for most of Wednesday! I took no ibuprofen today!) in part due to … Walking, leg lifts, “chair squats”, and other exercises from physical therapy, and … Stretching, and … Having a job and life where I can arrange do all that without having to miss work or re-injure…
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Big and Healthy
As the media frequently points out, people are bigger now. What is often not pointed out is that we’re also taller and longer lived. The Rotund’s post on the definition of health and yesterday’s discussion on redefining illnesses reminded me of this 2006 New York Times article from Gina Kolata. Scientists used to say that the reason people are living so long these days is that medicine is…
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Not Just “Obese” Was Redefined…
As Fillyjonk reminded me, this chart shows how the diagnosis criteria for diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol were also changed in 1997 and 1998. In the case of high cholesterol, this nearly doubled (86% increase) the number of people who officially have “high cholesterol”. I don’t know the science behind these changes. I’d like to think they made a lot more sense than lowering the overweight…
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Walking review: Pike Place Market
Since the knee has been bothering me lately, I’ve been making more of an effort to go for walks. The physical therapist I worked with during my prior knee episode recommended that I walk on a treadmill* at least part of the time because the uniform speed and surface let me walk at a very predictable, steady pace. But, of course, the best place to walk is…
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Ash Wednesday
Today always reminds me of the friend who gave up Catholicism for Lent one year. :) I grew up born-again, in a church that was a megachurch before megachurches were cool, in a small, fairly fundie denomination. I was so “low church” I didn’t know what “low church” was. I was baptized Episcopalian at St Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle when I was 27. I realize it’s not…
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Long time no post
Work was insane for a couple of weeks. The anniversary / Valentine’s / President’s Day weekend that we’d planned to spend out of town? Turned into “Friday the 13th at a local hotel, then rush home Saturday morning to work.” The rest of the weekend was spent tied to the computer. Things did wind down at the end of last week. Unfortunately, I noticed some…
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Breaking out in hives…
Not sure why, but I’ve got itchy red bumps on my chest and the bottom half of my face, and right eye feels swollen. There isn’t much that’s only touched my chest and face, other than my facial moisturizer, which I have stopped using just in case that’s the cause. I’m taking enough Benedryl and Claritin to make me want to fall asleep, and using Benedryl…
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Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)
At the urging of the Lord Peter group, I got Connie Willis’ comedic time-travel novel To Say Nothing of the Dog from the library (and liked it enough to buy it). It starts off confusing (first-person narration by someone who’s time-lagged will do that) but is pretty funny, and full of golden age mystery fiction references. It also contains several homages to the 1889 book Three Men in a…
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Cultivating a Positive Attitude
No one has to be coached to think more negative thoughts. They just come naturally. But positive thoughts require focus, effort, and discipline. The task itself is simple enough. Just take out a piece of paper and write down every single thing you like about your job. Or keep a daily list of five things that were positive at work today. Making that list can be attitude…
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De-stressing
Work was stressful today. I came home feeling out of sorts. Mentally I was punchy; I knew my thinking was a bit slower than usual, but I was still obsessing about work. Physically I was wired – not only was I was busy enough at work that I ‘d forgotten my afternoon walk, but after dinner I’d sampled the candy my coworkers brought in. I wasn’t…
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Importance of Sleep
So far today I have: Woken up with a headache. Repeatedly bumped into the bed while getting dressed. Forgot my yoga bag when leaving for work. Forgot to use my inhaler before going for a walk. I am also feeling generally run down, achey, and lacking in patience/cope. Also in monster need of a nap. Am I sick? No. I didn’t get enough sleep…
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Big Fat Pleasures
“Sex is fun and pleasure is good for you” – I first read this in a book on relationships and thought that was a great idea … well, in theory at least. Or maybe for other people. I was fat, after all, so sex partners are hard to find, right? And I still wasn’t all that sure I really deserve pleasure. That was over 10 years ago. …
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Fat folks more likely to be Vitamin D-deficient?
I got a phone call from my RNP; my screening tests show no problems, but my vitamin D is still a little low. She suggested I continue to take a 1000iu Vitamin D tablet a day. During my checkup RNP also urged me to start taking a multivitamin again. I have, and it has 400iu of vitamin D too. So now I’m actually getting 1400 iu of…
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Being fat is just like carrying a heavy backpack, right?
I mean, everyone assumes it is, so it must be, right? Nobody needs to research this because we know what they’d find, right? Studies that simulate obesity in nonobese people suggest that putting on pounds substantially increases the metabolic cost of walking. When lean women walk with heavy, bulky gear strapped to their legs and bodies, [locomotion researcher Rodger] Kram says, “their energy costs skyrocket.” But in…
Living ~400lbs 