Which is better, heartrate monitors or Fitbit?

Making Workouts Count

Putting tech to the test.

With the advent wearable technology, tracking and measuring physical expenditure real-time has become a national obsession. On their own, these devices cannot make us healthier, however the key is knowing which tools work best and how to get the most out of them.


Last year A. Marc Gillinov, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic and a group of scientists tested wrist-worn monitors such as Fitbit against chest-strap monitors and found that "in general, accuracy of wrist-worn monitors was best at rest and diminished with exercise." Which meant that wrist-worn monitors are only accurate if you're sitting still. They concluded that "electrode-containing chest monitors should be used when accurate heart rate measurement is imperative."


This is bad news for Fitbit, but great news for anyone looking for tools to help improve their physical fitness levels.

Doctors and professional athletes have used electrode based monitors for decades. Dr. Gillinov explains, "because [they] rely on these monitors to stay within physician-recommended, safe heart rate thresholds during rehabilitation and exercise."

To learn how average person can use the same tools as cardiologists and athletes to take the guesswork out of building endurance and getting fit, listen to our Podcast series here:

Also, we recommend reading about Heart Rate Zone training here:  https://www.polar.com/blog/running-heart-rate-zones-basics/


Cheat sheet:

Zone	% of Heart Rate Maximum	Heart rate beats/minute
Power walk/slow jog	60-70%	139 – 152
Aerobic zone	70-80%	152 – 166
Lactic zone	80-90%	166 – 179
Anaerobic Zone	90-100%	179 – 192

Can where you live make you fat?

According to a recent study, where you live can impact your waist size.

Doctors at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, found that a person is more likely to be overweight they live less than 1/2 mile from a fast-food joint versus their neighbors who live more than a mile away.

At the same time they found that people who live in neighborhoods with gyms nearby are more likely to have a lower than average BMI, body fat percentage, and waist circumference.

These findings suggest that "Designing and planning cities in a way that better facilitates healthy lifestyles may be beneficial and should be considered as part of wider obesity prevention programs."


Read the article here: https://www.medpagetoday.com/endocrinology/obesity/69854

Health Literacy for the 21st Century

If you have metabolic syndrome or any of the components of metabolic syndrome, aggressive lifestyle changes can delay or even prevent the development of serious health problems.

~Mayo Clinic



The path to optimal wellness is a dynamic journey toward an ever moving target. Fortunately, the most common diseases Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, and Hypertension, and Heart Disease, are almost entirely preventable.


While influencing factors such as environment and genetics vary, (lack of) wellness is an accumulation of actions. For the most part, the same equation works for everyone - an improvement in mindset, food choices, and activity levels, will lead to health improvements. Sometimes very drastic ones.

Recovering from metabolic syndrome does not require special diets, equipment, or classes, but like the care of anything precious, does require persistence over time.

Like classic cars, we cannot help getting older, but the better we care for our bodies, the longer and better they will last. Health is more than wealth, it is a an investment in ourselves - the payoff is quality of life.

Do you really need eight glasses a day? Study challenges idea of mandatory water intake

Do you really need eight glasses a day? Study challenges idea of mandatory water intake: For the first time, the mechanism that regulates fluid intake in the human body and stops us from over-drinking has been revealed by researchers. Over-drinking can cause potentially fatal water intoxication. The study challenges the popular idea that we should drink eight glasses of water a day for health.

Sleeping Pills For Insomnia. Choosing Wisely

According to the American Academy of Sleep Study "Sleeping pills are one of the most-prescribed drugs in the US. This
is partly because many patients ask for them. Also, many doctors

prescribe sleeping pills instead of trying other treatments first." The problem is, Sleeping pills may not help as much as you think. Sleep studies show that they only help people fall asleep about 8 to
20 minutes faster. And they add less than 35 minutes to nightly sleep." Not to mention the side effects.



Full Article Here: Sleeping Pills For Insomnia | Choosing Wisely

High Intensity Interval Workout

Calculated Risk? Sitting Shortens Your Life

Overweight with insomnia? Excercise proves effective.

According to a recent study overweight people who participated exercise at least 30 minutes 5 times per week took less time to fall asleep and less often had difficulty falling asleep than a comparison group. Those in the exercise group also reported fewer occasions of waking up in the night, more efficient sleep and better sleep quality based on how they felt in the mornings, as reported in Sleep Medicine. 

Read the full article: @Reuters

Call it Hyper-Local: Food-Growing Appliances

Nanofarm Is The First Appliance That Will Grow Produce For You

Gardening is a lot of work. Farming, perhaps even more so. But Replantable has come up with a product that takes all the work out of growing your own produce.

Nanofarm is a food-growing appliance that claims to make growing your own produce easier and more convenient than it has ever been. It's hard to deny that claim—all you have to do is water it, press a button, and wait until the device tells you your produce is ready to harvest. Boom! Your salad is waiting.

Wellness & Workplaces: An Office That Analyzes Its Workers...

The Well Living Lab is the first scientific research center that uses exclusively human-centered research to understand the interaction between health and well- being and indoor environments. The Well Living Lab is a collaboration of industry leaders, Delos and Mayo Clinic.

Nudge, nudge: Can a weekly text reminder of recommended daily caloric intake help you make healthier food choices?

According to a study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health most people cannot "correctly identify the 2,000 calorie benchmark for daily intake."

Without adequate information, we are more likely to make poor choices. If we overestimate our bank balance we are apt to spend beyond our means. The same goes for energy expenditure. However, unlike a bank account, a surplus results in negative benefit.

Like a wake up call to keep you from oversleeping, intermittent reminder texts could provide a simple tool for helping you navigate your way to wellness. Because at then end of the day, what you don't know is most likely working against you.

Read the Full Article: Here

What is BMI and why does it matter?

Measuring health is more than the reading on a scale. Body composition can provide us with great deal of insight into our overall physical condition.

BMI, or Body Mass Index is a baseline health formula used to determine ones approximate body fat composition. While not perfect, BMI can be a way of predicting longevity.

A recent study of nearly four million people revealed that early death rates are higher in every BMI category above AND below the "Normal range" of 20-25.

This means that being underweight can be just as unhealthy as being overweight.


Find your BMI here: Mayo Clinic BMI calculator


Read the full study: Higher BMI Signals Earlier Death | Medpage Today

37.8044° N, 122.2708° W: Health Literacy and Personal Informatics

“If you don't know where you are going,
you'll end up someplace else.”

― Yogi Berra

We all know that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, but if you don't know exactly where you are beginning you are unlikely to reach your destination and, even on a short journey, easily become lost in unfamiliar territory.

While having the latest gadgets and downloading smartphone apps may not appeal to everyone, health in the modern age means choosing to be in the driver's seat of one's own wellness choices and in the 21st century, understanding health factors is as fundamental as reading and writing. 

Examining nutrition labels, counting calories, measuring portions, and keeping up with trends can seem tedious and overwhelming, but even at its most affordable, the best healthcare is preventing illness in the first place. 

Being Fit & Well means using personal coordinates, such as BMI, blood pressure, a variety and other baseline health measures to help troubleshoot lifestyle issues, find guideposts for creating new habits, and track progress between milestones. 

The aim of Health Literacy development of the deepest and broadest understanding of the Human Operating System, because ultimately health is a self acquired, self administered, and self monitored condition.

Fungus in humans identified for first time as key factor in Crohn's disease

An international team of researchers has identified fungus as a key factor in the development of Crohn's disease for the first time.
"The researchers assessed the mycobiome and bacteriome of patients with Crohn's disease and their Crohn's-free first degree relatives in nine families, and in Crohn's-free individuals from four families living in the same geographic geopraphic area. The researchers found strong fungal-bacterial interactions in those with Crohn's disease: two bacteria (Escherichia coli and Serratia marcescens) and one fungus (Candida tropicalis) moved in lock step. The presence of all three in the sick family members was significantly higher compared to their healthy relatives, suggesting that the bacteria and fungus interact in the intestines."
Read the full article here: <<

Practical Biomechanics: Standing as the Foundation for Motion

For a journey to begin, before even the first step, one must stand. This act, requiring relatively little effort, is by it's very nature NOT sitting. The challenge of modern life is that, with the exception of the bicycle seat, most of life has been adapted to prolonged sitting.

Fundamental to balance and fine motor dexterity, some ways of standing are more effective than others and in 1987 Scientists proposed that variations in foot position could significantly affect standing balance. They were ultimately able to determine the optimal position of and distance between the feet. Based on that same research, another group demonstrated in 2014 a link between "stress exposure and postural control".

Germany based Moticon are bringing biomechanic metrics together with consumer technology to award winning acclaim and are demonstrating what can be learned in the area of personalized gait monitoring and optimization. Applications for recovery from sciatica, bursitis, and knee pain are among the areas of particular interest here @ Fit & Well.

For those considering how to adapt less sedentary work-spaces, we find treadmill desks are ergonomically impractical at best and strongly are strongly discouraged. It is worthwhile to note that simply by standing the body will burn an extra 50 calories per hour which could mean 20+ pounds worth of extra, no-effort, calories burned per year. We suggest starting only with 1 hour at a time progressively working up to 6 total hours per day. Keep a pair of compression socks on hand for the early days and invest in a floor shock absorption pad. As a general practice, the benefit of simply getting up from your seat for a minute every 90 minutes throughout the day cannot be overestimated.

Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3597457 https://www.spandidos-publications.com/mmr/11/3/2135 http://jn.physiology.org/content/85/2/559