health stories

 
Articles about losing weight often cite walking more as a great (and ridiculously easy) way to lose weight. Skip the subway and walk the twenty blocks to work, they say. (And I do.) But most new pedometers these days do more than just count your steps with a built-in accelerometer; some reward you in virtual and real-world ways for each step you take. In addition, all of them allow you to track the data over time and see if you see spot habits or trends. Some of them have so many additional features besides counting steps, that it doesn't even sound right to call them a pedometer — they definitely, and pardon the pun, go the extra mile. For this review, I wore the Striiv, the Fitbit Ultra and the iPod Nano. The first two on my belt just to the side of my pocket; the latter on my non-dominant left arm in a watch band. Keep reading to find out how they stack up.
 
Do you make a point of going to bed early so that you can get eight solid hours of uninterrupted sleep? Well, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG. Human sleep cycles were a lot different just a few hundred years ago, with waking up for a few hours in the middle of the night being the norm. We can likely blame technology for the change, and it may not be for the best.
 
Getting a good amount of exercise is hard work. I mean, that's kind of the point, I guess. But what counts a "good amount?" Twenty minutes a day? Or maybe an hour at the gym, three times as week? Science has spoken, and it turns out that a "good amount" is a lot less than you think. Excuse me, I'll be on the couch.
 
Scientists preserve brains or body parts for various reasons. Sometimes the person had an illness that bears further study with more advanced tools than an age supplies; other times the brain in question powered an extraordinary intellect. The brains we'll be talking about belong more to the former, and scientists have found that studying canned gray matter can provide a history of human mental health.

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