In my view, medical research gets a lot right. We have good evidence that, for instance:
ultra-processed foods contribute to health markers that are linked to a variety of serious illnesses (like cardiovascular disease, some cancers, and type 2 diabetes)
developing and maintaining social connections of all sorts helps us maintain wellness and address issues in our own mental and physical health
sleep is a magical elixir that rejuvenates us and prepares us for the daily lives we want to lead (okay, the study didn’t use the words “magical elixir”, but they should have)
Here’s what Unsplash thinks healthy living looks like:
Unsplash endorses eating huge artichokes and hanging upside down more than experts, but hey…
We also know that some health claims are absolute nonsense, like:
sleeping with a bar of lavender soap in your bed will NOT help treat or cure restless leg syndrome ( Dr Mehmet Oz said this)
(fill in the blank) vitamin supplement NOT will cure (Alzheimer’s, cancer, Parkinson, COVID, etc.) medical condition (Oz promoted a bunch of these, too)
Using coffee as anything other than a delightful morning beverage is a BAD IDEA (the Cleveland clinic explains why, if you must know)
Virtually all advertised weight-loss products are BOGUS (trust me on this)
Yeah, no to all these things. Thanks, Markus Spiske for Unsplash.
Let us now return to that magical elixir, sleep. Sleep feels good, does good, is good for us. Check, check, check. But what about its sweet cousin, the nap? Surely that delicious sleep snack must be a positive contributor to our lives, right?
Longer naps, greater intra-individual variability in daytime nap, and higher percentages of naps around noon and in the early afternoon are associated with greater mortality risks.
What?! Nonononononononononono!
Well, Prevention magazine thinks these scientists may be on to something. In this article, it asks the following scary questions:
Whoa. But don’t worry, Imma answer all these, one by one.
First, do some nap patterns increase our risk of death? No, not really.
The study looked mainly at the timing and variability of naps taken by older adults in the UK. It found oh-so-small increased risk for those who took naps at different times of day, for those who took longer naps, and for those who varied the length of their naps (which averaged 24 minutes daily).
BUT (and it’s a big but)…These results varied by gender (men seem more affected than women), by what time people arose in the morning, what time of day they tended to take their naps, how much they slept in general, and how much physical activity they got during the day. See this study for more details. And they failed to show any clinical association, just a small statistical one.
So napping isn’t really associated with death. Okay, one down.
Second: why would napping be associated with death? It’s not, not really.
Some sleep patterns reveal underlying problems rather than cause them; sleep apnea and chronic insomnia, for instance, tend to be symptoms of a variety of health conditions that carry their own mortality risk factors. But we already knew this. One of the study authors conceded this:
“The napping and mortality relationship is complex and may be influenced by adverse or protective lifestyle factors (e.g., nutrition, physical activity, substance use), nighttime sleep patterns, and underlying sleep disorders, medical comorbidities, age, as well as sex and gender-related factors.”
HAH! Told you. Second one done away with.
I told you so. Such sweet words.
We are now in the napping-is-not-deadly-blog-post homestretch. Prevention asked, timidly, how can the napping-death connection be broken? Easy. See below.
Just get some exercise. Any kind will do. Walking, jogging, shuffleboard, bike riding (outdoors or in), swimming, dancing, playing with friends and family, yoga, strength training, etc. Why does this help keep napping from killing us? Because the adverse napping pattern (not napping itself) is often a symptom of known risk factors (like drinking or unprescribed drug use) and known medical conditions.
So, once more with feeling: it’s not the napping, folks. I mean, if you want to optimize your napping patterns, feel free– there are lots of articles (like this,this, and this) offering tips, which may or may not be true.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Now you must excuse me– it’s time for my nap…
My workouts came to a halt the end of October. The scramble down to New Brunswick was quickly followed by a return home. My beloved and I took turns being away for work. Starting today we will both be home TOGETHER. What a novel concept!
So we are back to strength training this morning.
I’m walking the dog again.
Strava sees the unusual gaps in my activities. So does my Apple tracking apps.
I feel a pang of guilt and let it go. I mean. It’s understandable to not make everything work all the time!
Dr Suess in “Oh the Places You’ll Go” has a line about “Except when you don’t. Because, sometimes, you won’t.”
And it reminds me that sometimes you need to not do the workout.
I move my body for my wellbeing. Part of that is having a buffer so when I can’t be as active my body is ok.
Walking is the last activity to fall off my plate and the first thing I pick up. It really helps my back and my brain.
Next is strength training. I love feeling strong and capable. I need a reliable block of time with Michel so we can grunt together.
Then comes the indoor spinning. Whew. Ya. I need time and motivation for that so it is sprinkled sparingly into my calendar.
I’m glad my beloved and I are committed to caring for our bodies. It’s a joint project done in parallel.
Nat and Michel are dressed in cozy winter clothes, dusted in snow, smiling after a walk in a snow squall. It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how!
I’m facing probable heart surgery at some point soonish, and I’m finding it all very complicated.
If I were a “normal” heart patient, maybe this would be easier. I have excellent care at the Ottawa Heart Institute; the issue is with me.
When I was first diagnosed with a severe heart murmur, I was surprised. After all, I’m active and didn’t have symptoms, or so I thought. But then I was sent for a stress test and told what symptoms to look for.
My cardiologist was happy with my stress test results but I was not. As a friend said at the time, I need to learn to distinguish between diagnostic and competitive. Put another way, I should have been told to go as long as I was comfortable, not as long as I could.
I started learning to acknowledge that I get breathless when climbing stairs, that I may not faint but I definitely suffer from “brown-outs”. That constant chest pressure is not normal and cannot be explained by overdoing workouts (at least not for weeks on end). And that I’ll be lucky to hit 1/10 of this year’s modest cycling goal.
At the same time, I am still active and would like to stay that way. So how do I navigate that fine line between advocating for myself and not wasting scarce health resources before I need to? When does advocating turn into drama queen behaviour?
I may still be quite healthy compared to some other heart patients, but I also have a lifeguarding job that requires me to be very fit.
I have settled on being clearer about my symptoms with my doctor while reminding myself that early intervention may actually save the health care system money in the long run.
I feel a bit guilty, but also have an angiogram scheduled for mid-December, and an appointment with a surgeon after that, which indicates that maybe it was wise to be speak up.
Thanks Garmin for telling me my fitness age is 63. When you dig into they’re using to make this judgement, it really just means I’m overweight. My actual age is 61 but I’m a chubby 61, which for Garmin means 63. Fine.
Nicole has blogged about this here. And me too a couple of years ago when they said, right after knee surgery and I wasn’t moving much, that I was 74 in fitness years.
I’ve found this whole “fitness age” puzzling ever since Nicole blogged about it way back when.
Garmin describes it this way, “Fitness age is an estimate of how fit you are compared to your actual age. Consider the fitness age value a helpful reminder that healthy choices and regular physical activity can help you feel fresh and revitalized. And remember, if your fitness age is older than your actual age, even small steps in the right direction can have a substantial impact on how you feel.”
Garmin’s fitness age takes into account activity intensity, resting heart rate and body fat percentage or body mass index (BMI).
I don’t find it particularly motivational. Do you?
I am trapped in the body of a theatre kid and have the work schedule of a swim club kid.
On the left, a swim club kid with sharpie “tattoos” that say “talk to the flippers” “eat my bubbles” and “I kick ⬇️” from a swim club mom blog. On the right, a theatre kid sings in an article from Kazoo Theatre
Almost 60 years ago, Mom put me in morning kindergarten to try and break me of the habit of sleeping late. Early morning classes and a full career of early morning meetings (plus getting kids ready and out the door to school before my workday started) hasn’t entirely broken my of my night-owl ways.
I am really struggling to get enough sleep, especially with sore muscles, arthritis pains and three cats who demand late night or early morning cuddles. I rarely fall asleep before 11 pm, and sometimes have to be in my lifeguarding chair for 5:30 am swim practices.
When I try to go to bed early, it’s not unusual to wake up 4-5 hours later and be unable to return to sleep.
I know some ways to improve my sleep hygiene: I already broke out the winter duvet so my bed is comfy. I’m reading magazines before sleep instead of looking at my phone, though I do need to move my Duolingo practice to earlier in the day. I am trying to remember to hydrate more throughout the day instead of suddenly feeling the need to drink a litre of water out before bed; that one is very much a work in progress.
What are your best tips to get enough good quality sleep at the times you need it?
December’s calendar from Action for Happiness is all about small actions you can take to improve your own happiness levels while offering support and help to those around you.
And while many of us are inclined to be as generous with our time and money as we possibly can at this time of year, that inclination can also be overwhelming. So, it can be really helpful to have some ready-made suggestions available for when we need them. You can even add them to your Google Calendar.
Image description: The December 2025 Action for Happiness Calendar. Each day of the month lists a different December Kindness to try – a small action like “Look for something positive to say to everyone you speak to” or “Say hello to your neighbour and brighten up their day.” Each calendar block is either blue or green and the bottom of the calendar features cartoon images of some of the suggested activities including things like helping someone carry something upstairs, or picking up litter.
So, go ahead, try a few, try them all, or make up your own list of small ways to do good throughout December.
As a sidenote, I’ll be back with daily “Making Space 2025” posts starting on December 1 so you can use this calendar for prompts to be kind to others and my posts as prompts to be kind to yourself all month.
It may not be easy but it will be straightforward.
This video, entitled “Giving is a Gift” features Vanessa King from Action for Happiness. In this still image, she is sitting on the left hand side and the title of the video is in red on the right hand side. Ms. King has shoulder-length light brown hair, she is wearing a red jacket with a black shirt under it, and she has long earrings that are 3 stacked stars. She is smiling and looks happy. There is a narrow table with vases and other decorative items on it in the background.
I was diagnosed with a mild to moderate hiatal hernia. Since then, as exercise is one of the triggers of my symptoms, I’ve been trying to sort out my fitness life. I am figuring out what I can and can’t do. See here and here.
The biggies are no heavy lifting, crunches, or high-intensity interval training. Many web pages with exercise advice for those with this condition specifically warn against rowing machines. This is because the motion increases intra-abdominal pressure. Bah.
I love rowing, both on the water and on the erg. I’m going to miss it. Sarah and I even bought a Concept Two rowing machine, or erg, during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s now for sale.
Rowing was on my post-retirement list of sports since I love it, but the training and races never seemed to fit with my working life. But not now.
Here’s some more internet advice, collected by Google’s AI, with some of my commentary in blue and italics, or just italics, depending on how you’re viewing this post. Remember AI sometimes gets things wrong, I’m not a doctor, not that kind anyway, and you should see your own doctor for advice.
General principles:
Avoid exercises that involve lying flat on your back, especially right after eating
Keep your head elevated during floor exercises when possible
Exercise on an empty stomach or wait 2-3 hours after meals (Remember the fasted cardio trend?)
Stay upright for at least an hour after eating before any activity
Good exercise options:
Walking or hiking (excellent low-impact cardio)
Swimming (though avoid breaststroke if it causes strain)
Cycling (upright or recumbent bike) Along with “light cycling” this made me cringe. Upright bike?
Elliptical machine Oh no!
Yoga and Pilates with modifications (avoid inversions, deep twists, and poses that compress the abdomen)
Resistance band exercises Yawn! Also, pandemic memories. I still have lots of bands from those days.
Light to moderate weights with good breathing technique (exhale on exertion, don’t hold your breath)
Additional things to avoid:
Inverted positions (headstands, downward dog if it triggers symptoms)
Exercises requiring breath-holding or bearing down (Valsalva maneuver)
Jumping or jarring movements that increase abdominal pressure
Tight clothing or belts during exercise
Breathing matters:
Focus on steady, controlled breathing throughout exercises
Never hold your breath while lifting or straining
(Update: The sale of the erg is currently up for debate as Sarah says she’ll use it when she’s less busy at work. She also thinks I shouldn’t give up so easily on plans to row again as maybe I’ll end up having surgery to correct the hiatal hernia. So stay tuned. Also, make me an offer!)
We are probably all used to getting five-alarm headlines about the perils of some food or other, just to read later on “uh, never mind. It’s all good.” Nutritional research is infamous for big pendulum swings on its pronouncements about the goodness or badness of foods (just search “fit is a feminist issue eggs” for more info).
I’ve written on worries about ultra-processed food a couple of times for the blog:
Two reasons why the picture on ultra-processed foods and health hasn’t been so clear:
The classification system for level of processing in food is a work in progress, and some foods (like grocery store bread) count as ultra-processed even though they have high nutrition value.
Our industrial food system delivers mostly processed and ultra-processed food to most people, leaving them with little access to less processed food; so it’s not reasonable to say “don’t eat these foods” without a new plan in mind.
The food industry’s production of processed foods is changing diets worldwide.
In the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, it’s been consistently high for decades (around 50% of daily energy). Ultra-processed foods are essentially the national diet. The same goes for Australia.
It’s not that the global eating public has become lax or lazy– these products are designed not only to be high in sugar, salt, and fat. Their tastes and textures promote overeating.
Crucially, it’s not just about “too much sugar, salt and fat”. Clinicaltrials show that when adults eat diets heavy in ultra-processed foods, they consume about 500–800 extra calories per day, gain weight and fat mass, and eat more rapidly, when compared with eating a non-ultra-processed diet with the same proportions of macronutrients. This is likely because of higher energy density, tastiness, and soft textures that make overeating ultra-processed foods easy.
Almost a hundred long-term studies show significant health risks associated with a diet high in ultra-processed foods.
92 [studies] reported greater associated risks of one or more chronic diseases. Meta-analyses of these studies confirmed associations for obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, Crohn’s disease, depression, and early death from all causes.
Addressing this global health problem requires big policy solutions, not individual willpower.
Steps recommended by the authors of three papers on this subject in the Lancet medical journal are:
changing the composition of food products
fixing food environments
curbing corporate power
addressing subsidies and supply chains
Yes, these are nutrition policy wonk solutions, with complex details and long-term goals. But we all know that really big changes rarely happen without a lot of people working together, exerting political, scientific and economic influence.
So, what can we do? Keep reading, keep (or start) cooking when we can, keep voting, and keep remembering that change is slow, but change can and does happen. I believe this, and encourage you to believe it, too.
It was 4:45 am on Wednesday as I boarded the de Havilland Dash 8. I always get a hit of nostalgia on that airframe, it’s the same one I flew in during my air navigation training in the mid 1990s.
I sat down and tried to buckle my seatbelt. It was hilariously too short. I was surprised but I also hadn’t flown in a year. My weight and general shape haven’t changed much.
I asked a flight attendant for an extension. They are used in the demonstration before take off so I knew they had them.
I had mixed feelings about needing the extra space but decided my comfort was the most important thing.
In Toronto I switched airframes to head to Winnipeg. It was an Airbus of some type. This time it almost fit but by now I was cavalier and refused to squish myself.
The flight attendant was happy to help. When they arrived with it I exclaimed “oh you have my present!”
It was easy to use. No one cared. I don’t think anyone even noticed.
My trip home on Friday was with another airline in Boeing 747s. I sat down and effortlessly clipped in, no extension required.
3 airframes, 3 very different belt lengths. 1 very tired woman.
I remind myself that commercial flights are uncomfortable. No one feels that the seats are roomy or that they have enough legroom.
People on each flight negotiate to see if they can get an aisle seat (like I did) or sit in the emergency exit row. I saw various strategies to try and fit each person, and their stuff, into a very limited space.
I’m ok asking for a section of fabric for my comfort. It did feel weird though.
Have you ever had complicated feelings when you assert your needs?
An airplane seatbelt, just sitting there being some indeterminate length but it does not measure your value.
