The best medicine...by Dr. Mike Evans

1-9-12: Saw this on someone's FB page and loved it! It's in that "new" format of drawing on a whiteboard while giving a talk, though this one is the first one I've seen sped up and the artist is very good! Enjoy!

"23 and 1/2 hours: Single best thing to do for your health" by Dr. Mike Evans

Promoting PA @ a health fair

5-11-11: I rec'd this e-mail request from a nursing student who was putting together a booth about physical activity for a health fair. I thought I'd save my response to him here, in case anyone else was wanting to do the same thing for their school, church, workplace, etc. Here it is!

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I would go to the website, Execise is Medicine, because they have a lot of resources for the healthcare provider, health educator, lay person, etc. There are things you can print off there or maybe even order if you have time.

I personally don't have a lot of "give away" stuff here, due to lack of storage space, so your best bet would be to go to EIM. I'm also going to cc this to a contact at the county health dept., Pam Sampson. She's my physical activity evangelist at the county and she may have some resources there you can pick up as well. She was instrumental in putting together the "Be Active Directory" for the tri-county area, a listing of free and low-cost options for PA. You can either print those out or give out a flyer with the link on it (http://tinyurl.com/Beactivedirectory).

Finally, for your booth, I would maybe have some kind of activity, like a game of some sort (we usually do the Xavix jackie chan Dash as a 10-sec. contest for fair goers to try and see if they can break the top scores--you can see if you can borrow that from Claudio at the XRtainment Zone in the Drayson Center. They may be able to spare a unit for your fair).

Also, some visiual, to catch their attention, like have a picture of a big couch potato on the couch, a smoker, and someone who is overweight, and ask the question: Which is the most deadly risk factor of the 3? (Answer: couch potato!) Something to get people thinking.

One last resource would be the "Be Active Your Way" blog, put out by the Dept. of HHS. They may have some handouts you can print out, at least the federal guidelines and how to get started articles, that kind of thing.

3-9-11: Rec'd this from a recent Exercise is medicine e-letter...

World Physical Activity Day

Exercise is Medicine and Agita Mundo are pleased to announce that April 6th 2011 is World Physical Activty Day.

This year's theme is "Together for an Active and Happy Life!" Exercise is Medicine and Agita Mundo are encouraging partners around the world to participate by planning a physical activity event for their community.

If you are unable to plan an event, be a part of the Virtual Walking Parade. At 10am on April 6th, send a message to your friends, family and colleagues about World Physical Activity Day through email, Facebook, Twitter or any means you like. Messages are encouraged to include the importance of physical activty and that only 30 minutes a day can make a siginificant improvement in health and wellness. For more information visit the Agita Mundo homepage.

PCPs Lifestyle Impacts Patient's Lifestyle Choices

7-22-10 This just came out from the AMA Journal of Ethics, Virtual Mentor, talking about the importance of whether a PCP preaches healthy lifestyles, and if they do, how effective they are with their patients.

It found that PCPs who "practice what they preach" are much more effective in getting their patients to do likewise. Those who don't, and are also overweight, have very low credibility when it comes to lifestyle interventions.

To read more, go to: http://www.informz.net/acsm/archives/archive_1040435.html

May is Exercise is Medicine month!

4-27-10: May is Exercise is Medicine month, and we need your help to promote it and get people more active during the month of May. Check out this website and help spread the good news about exercise!

http://www.exerciseismedicine.org/EMailCampaignPublic.htm

Time Mag's error on exercise!

The Aug. 17 issue of Time Magazine had a cover story on exercise and how it doesn't help you lose weight.

Then read the American College of Sports Medicine reply to this article.

See what even some of the researchers who were quoted in the Time piece say! I ended my subscription to Time in protest, given the situation our healthcare situation is in, and the importance on how exercise can be one of the most powerful medicines to fix things!

For more about the benefits of exercise, go to the website, Exercise is Medicine, and see how we need to get those other 49% of Americans meeting the minimum recommended amount of physical activity ASAP!!!