Health and Fitness Articles From around the Web - Diary of a Pole Addict

A collection of health and fitness articles from around
the web!

What is this website? We're here to share our fitness funnies, adventures and to
fundraise money for Oxfam - click here for more information!

The articles on this page are shrouded in my own opinion of them. Whilst trying to be fair I'm also trying to workout what it is the article is actually saying.

Comments here are always welcome! So far we've covered the role of porn in the brain, female fertility, red meat, housework and whether mens faces are made for smacking.

If you like this but need a giggle check out my blog for a dose of fitness humour and the occasional existential crisis!

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Monday 30th June - Tut Tut Facebook

30/6/2014

"Facebook emotion experiment sparks criticism" via BBC
news

TL;DR Facebook messed about with some peoples feeds a couple of years ago and now people are pissed.

Sorry. Am I being a wee bit judgemental?

It's easier when you simplify things right down to the very basics, but in reality, it's rarely ever that simple.

Friday 27th June - Why Do Good People Do Bad Things?

27/6/2014

'He saved my life that night' via BBC
news

Sometimes it's all to easy to judge someone.

Take the first case of the delinquent teenager. How easy is it to pass off as just a "bad person"? How easy is it just to label him as a troublemaker for no other reason than boredom?

Don't get me wrong, I don't condone illegal behaviour but I'm keen to explore the reasons behind WHY people indulge in such behaviour.

It's easy to pass psychologists off as

Thursday 26th June - Omnomnom Luis

26/6/2014

"What's eating Luis Suarez: the psychology of biting" via New Scientist

Sorry all, but I had to. The World Cup is pervasive enough, but as a psychologist this is just downright fascinating.

I have to admit, I'm not a huge football fan. I'll watch it if it's on and being a teacher it's usually good to keep relatively up to date so you can keep up with the students, the theatrics are always good to watch but I wouldn't replace another activity with football, nor do I actively seek games.

That being said...

Wednesday 25th June - Your New "Addiction"

25/6/2014

"Sunbathing may have similar effects to drug addiction" via New Scientist

This article has appeared in a few places:
Sun tanning 'addictive' suggests study via NHS news
Sunbathing 'may be addictive' warning via BBC news

Addicitive.

That's a loaded word isn't it.

What IS addiction?

I saw a blog the other day talking about alcoholism and dismissing the claims of people that they're "addicted" to sweets...

Tuesday 17th June - Lose Weight by Being Cold...

17/6/2014

"Lose weight by tricking body into thinking it's cold" via New Scientist

TL;DR - molecules have been found to transition white fat into an intermediary type of brown fat called "beige" fat. If we can get this right for humans we could find the key to losing weight without the hassle of working out etc.

Firsty, lets get the technicalities out of the way. In case you don't know there are two types of adipose tissue (fat) in the mammalian body - white fat cells and brown fat cells...

Monday 16th June - Lets Talk about Sex

16/6/2014

"The healing power of sex work" via The Scavenger

Following the last few stories about fertility and porn I thought I'd continue along the same route.

TL;DR women who work in sex roles - strippers, escorts, tantric practitioners, porn actors and erotic masseurs for example often find that they are looked "down" upon by a society who expects them to be using sex work as a means to an end, rather than something they should enjoy.

It's a classic story of...

Friday 13th June - What Are We - Babymakers? Pffft.

13/6/2014

"Does female fertility 'drop off a cliff'?" Via BBC news

"TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has urged women to put off higher education and a career in favour of having children because their "fertility falls off a cliff"."

Is it just me who gritted their teeth as they read that sentence? And was it just me who noticed the related stories had emotionally-emotive heaped language like "Can women HAVE IT ALL?" or I WISH IVF had never been invented".

This story made me sort...

Thursday 12th June - Red Meat and Breast Cancer

12/6/2014

"Red meat 'linked to breast cancer'" via BBC news

TL;DR young adult females who eat a lot of red meat have been linked to higher rates of breast cancer in later life.

I've been umming and ahhing (yes, they are words THANK YOU) about whether to touch this article or not...

Wednesday 11th June - Walking Saves Lives....No, Really!

11/6/2014

Walking more 'would save thousands' of lives in the UK via BBC news

Well, this is a bit of a no-brainer really.

TL;DR - if people did more exercise (i.e. the recommended 150 minutes per week) it would stop as many people dying per year, prevent cases of breast cancer, prevent us having as many cases of colorectal cancer and would lead to a decrease in type 2 diabetes (which we saw in yesterday's featured article).

The Ramblers and Macmillan Cancer Support suggest...

Thursday 10th June - Diabetes, Pre-diabetes and What To Look For

10/6/2014

One in three adults in England 'on cusp' of diabetes via BBC news

TL;DR we have increasing amounts of people at the higher end of the glucose tolerance range - not realising it but almost at the point of being type two diabetic.

I chose this article today because it holds a lot of personal significance to me.