The rise in hospital admissions for people with eating disorders reported on Thursday is very concerning. It shows that much more must be done to intervene early and provide intensive support in the community.

One of the main problems patients face is that for many, their eating disorders are simply not taken seriously enough. Eating disorders are complex mental illnesses with the potential to be incredibly damaging. They are not a diet gone wrong in fact, anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. They often cause major physical health problems and without the right support people with eating disorders often become isolated: cut off from education, work or a social life.

NHS data shows that hospital admissions for those with eating disorders increased from about 14,000 in 2016-17 to just over 19,000 in 2018-19. This in itself is very worrying hospital admission is typically reserved for the most severely ill patients, which suggests that too often, people with eating disorders are not being identified and supported to access help until they have reached crisis point. Guidelines from Nice recommend that, where possible, outpatient treatment should be offered in the first instance. Getting rapid access to high-quality treatment and support in the community can prevent people with eating disorders from deteriorating to a point where hospital admission is required and provides the best chance of recovery.

Some are quick to blame social media or celebrities, but this is too simplistic. There is a lot to learn about what causes eating disorders, mainly because research in this area has been woefully underfunded. But recent advances in the study of genetics suggest that some people are likely to be at a much greater risk of developing an eating disorder when exposed to various life experiences such as stress, bullying or traumatic events. More research will be key if we are to achieve the ultimate aim of preventing eating disorders from developing in the first place.

But what needs to be done to ensure that everyone with an eating disorder gets the help they need? Since 2016 there has been a big step forward in access to specialist NHS treatment for under-18s in England. This progress was driven by the introduction of an ambitious national standard that evidence-based treatment should start within four weeks and additional investment, staff recruitment and training. However, we know that this progress has not been even, with some areas being left behind. The government and the NHS in England must ensure that the additional funding that they have pledged for these services in the NHS Long Term Plan reaches the front line, and that national standards are met in every area.

Adult eating disorder services are severely underresourced, having been overlooked in the preceding NHS mental health strategy. In 2017 the parliamentary and health service ombudsman published a damning report that highlighted the need for greater investment in these services to prevent further lives being lost. Beats recent research illustrated how adults with eating disorders in England face a postcode lottery to access specialist treatment. We now need to see the government and the NHS apply the same level of ambition for adult eating disorder services as they have for under-18s. This would mean introducing a fully funded access and waiting time standard for adult eating disorder services.

We also need more innovation in care. In much of the country if you do not meet the thresholds to access an inpatient bed, but you need more support than outpatient care, there is nothing available. Intensive day care or home-based treatments can minimise the need for inpatient admissions, reduce length of stay and provide a step down from inpatient care to living back in the community.

Investing in specialist services is crucial but will not be enough on its own. On average it takes three years before seeking help. We need a more comprehensive effort to reduce this gap. Too often an eating disorder is only suspected when the individual has already reached crisis point. GPs, hospital doctors, nurses, education staff, employers and others, if properly trained, are well-placed to spot the early signs of an eating disorder and to support referral to a specialist.

On average UK medical schools provide less than two hours teaching about eating disorders, with one in five providing no teaching at all. Opportunities for junior doctors to benefit from clinical experience are extremely limited. The General Medical Council (GMC), which sets standards for medical training, has committed to work with medical schools and others to ensure that tomorrows doctors are properly trained in how to identify, safely manage and refer patients with eating disorders. In 2019 the GMC acknowledged the need for medical training in this area to improve and took some encouraging steps. We hope that we can support this work further in 2020.

If you are worried about yourself or someone else you can call Beats helpline on 0808 801 0677 12pm 8pm on weekdays and 4pm-8pm on weekends.

Tom Quinn is director of external affairs at Beat, the UKs eating disorder charity

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Anorexia is the deadliest mental illness. Why is the NHS still not taking it seriously? - The Guardian

As much as we would all love to be present for our children there's something we don't often admit aloud: Not only is playing with kids hard work, it can get boring. When we've been running around fulfilling all our grownup responsibilities, even a simple tea party or game of Candyland can feel so hard. One exhausted dad in Colorado recently came up with the perfect solution to this problem.

"I'll keep the kids so you can grocery shop in peace," Michael Weber, a father of four and OR nurse told his wife Monica, according to her viral Facebook post from November.

"I'm pretty sure he's the most brilliant man I've ever known," Monica, a doula in Fort Collins, wrote. "He has them doing 'realism art' while he 'poses' AKA naps. The winner gets a chocolate, but let's be honest, @michael.w.weberjr is the one winning lmao."

Indeed, the photo shows their four kids attentively drawing their dad, as he reclines, eyes closed, on the sofa.

Before you go thinking he devised this clever trick out of laziness or reluctance to play, Monica explained to Motherly that Michael had just finished an overnight shift at work. But since it was cold and snowy outside, and the kids were being rambunctious, he thought they'd be too much for his wife to handle at the grocery store.

"We recently moved from New Jersey, where all our friends and family were, so we have had to think of ingenious ways to balance it all," she told us. "When I arrived back and called my oldest to come help with groceries he informed me that I had to be really quiet because they were doing 'realism art' and if dad moved it would ruin their hard work."

The rules of the contest were that the most complete drawing would get the chocolate prize, thus keeping them glued to the spot for the 20 or so minutes of Monica's trip to the store. The four Weber kids were old enough to realize what their dad was doing (and old enough to rouse him from his light snooze if they needed to) but since they all enjoy art anyway, they played along.

"[Michael] spent the first eight years of our kiddos' lives in the military, and since he was always coming or going, I got stuck being the rule maker and him the fun one," Monica said. "He never really outgrew that role."

Michael's favorite parenting technique is to make contests of things, as he did this time.

"I wouldn't say we have any ingenious hacks, we're just regular parents with four fun and adventurous kids trying to do our best," Monica said when we asked if they had any other brilliant ideas to share. "There are plenty of days the house is a mess and everyone is out of sorts, which is why I thought it was important to celebrate these little parenting victories."

Monica's post has been shared 36,000 times and has 28,000 likes since she posted it a little over a month ago.

We wouldn't be surprised if a few more parents became live models for budding artists before winter break is over!

Original post:
Prioritizing your own health is the greatest gift you can give your kids this year - Motherly Inc.

As much as we would all love to be present for our children there's something we don't often admit aloud: Not only is playing with kids hard work, it can get boring. When we've been running around fulfilling all our grownup responsibilities, even a simple tea party or game of Candyland can feel so hard. One exhausted dad in Colorado recently came up with the perfect solution to this problem.

"I'll keep the kids so you can grocery shop in peace," Michael Weber, a father of four and OR nurse told his wife Monica, according to her viral Facebook post from November.

"I'm pretty sure he's the most brilliant man I've ever known," Monica, a doula in Fort Collins, wrote. "He has them doing 'realism art' while he 'poses' AKA naps. The winner gets a chocolate, but let's be honest, @michael.w.weberjr is the one winning lmao."

Indeed, the photo shows their four kids attentively drawing their dad, as he reclines, eyes closed, on the sofa.

Before you go thinking he devised this clever trick out of laziness or reluctance to play, Monica explained to Motherly that Michael had just finished an overnight shift at work. But since it was cold and snowy outside, and the kids were being rambunctious, he thought they'd be too much for his wife to handle at the grocery store.

"We recently moved from New Jersey, where all our friends and family were, so we have had to think of ingenious ways to balance it all," she told us. "When I arrived back and called my oldest to come help with groceries he informed me that I had to be really quiet because they were doing 'realism art' and if dad moved it would ruin their hard work."

The rules of the contest were that the most complete drawing would get the chocolate prize, thus keeping them glued to the spot for the 20 or so minutes of Monica's trip to the store. The four Weber kids were old enough to realize what their dad was doing (and old enough to rouse him from his light snooze if they needed to) but since they all enjoy art anyway, they played along.

"[Michael] spent the first eight years of our kiddos' lives in the military, and since he was always coming or going, I got stuck being the rule maker and him the fun one," Monica said. "He never really outgrew that role."

Michael's favorite parenting technique is to make contests of things, as he did this time.

"I wouldn't say we have any ingenious hacks, we're just regular parents with four fun and adventurous kids trying to do our best," Monica said when we asked if they had any other brilliant ideas to share. "There are plenty of days the house is a mess and everyone is out of sorts, which is why I thought it was important to celebrate these little parenting victories."

Monica's post has been shared 36,000 times and has 28,000 likes since she posted it a little over a month ago.

We wouldn't be surprised if a few more parents became live models for budding artists before winter break is over!

Read more:
All the celebrity babies born in 2020 (so far) - Motherly Inc.

You can't predict how dogs will react to a new dog. Shutterstock

Allowing dogs to greet nose-to-nose for their first introduction can prove to be dangerous for one of the pets or even their owners, Zacharias told Insider.

"It takes only a second for a bite to the face to occur if one of the dogs decides they are not a fan of the other, and even those of us with the best reflexes cannot stop this blink-of-an-eye injury from happening," she said.

You can prevent dangerous confrontations from happening by first asking the other pet owner from afar if their dog is good with other animals.

"If the owner gives their OK, guide your pet to the new dog's tail end to let them get to know each other before meeting face to face. This is a natural way for dogs to meet, rather than going nose to nose, which can be offensive to pets," said Zacharias.

If your pet is meeting someone new and you see their ears go back or their fur stand on end, you and your animal should calmly move away from the new dog.

Go here to read the rest:
Vets reveal the 10 common mistakes people make with their pets - INSIDER

The experts have spoken and eaten.

U.S. News and World Report this week released its annual ranking from 1 to 35 of the worlds best (and, yes, worst) diets for 2020. A team of 25 panelists of nationally recognized professionals in diet, nutrition, obesity, food psychology, diabetes and heart disease named the Mediterranean diet as the No. 1 diet for 2020 based on seven criteria: short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss, effectiveness for cardiovascular disease prevention, effectiveness for preventing diabetes, ease of compliance, nutritional completeness and health risks.

The Mediterranean diet focuses on olive oil rich in healthy omega-3 fatty acids, fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean protein like fish and chicken, with the occasional piece of red meat.

Its generally accepted that the folks in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea live longer and suffer less than most Americans from cancer and cardiovascular ailments, U.S. News and World Report said. The not-so-surprising secret is an active lifestyle, weight control, and a diet low in red meat, sugar and saturated fat and high in produce, nuts and other healthful foods.

The Mediterranean diet may also help with heart and brain health and cancer prevention, the report added. By following the Mediterranean Diet, you could also keep that weight off while avoiding chronic disease. There isnt a Mediterranean diet. Greeks eat differently from Italians, who eat differently from the French and Spanish. But they share many of the same principles.

The diet also emphasizes beans, nuts, legumes, olive oil, and flavorful herbs and spices, as well as cheese and yogurt in moderation and a glass of red wine in moderation.

Dont miss: This is the most deadly time in your life to put on weight

It narrowly beat out the Dash diet, which recommends fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, poultry, fish and low-fat dairy products, while reducing salt, red meat, sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages. It is very similar to the Mediterranean diet, but recommends cutting out two more things: full cream (in favor of low-fat dairy products) and alcoholic beverages. Dietitians also advise against snacking and takeouts, and 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity exercise per week such was walking, Jazzercise, gardening or Pilates.

Last on the ranking, according to U.S. News and World Report: the Dukan diet, which focuses on protein instead of calorie counting. Its a weight-loss powerhouse its filling, takes time and work to digest, and has very few calories for each gram of food compared to carb-heavy foods. Limiting carbohydrates forces the body to burn stored fat.

By following the Dukan Diet, its claimed you can lose up to 10 pounds within the first week and continue to lose 2 to 4 pounds a week after that until youve reached your goal, the report said. People on the Dukan diet lost, on average, more than 15 pounds after the diets two action-based phases attack (pure protein) and cruise (vegetables on selected days) according to a 2010 online survey.

But the experts also listed downsides: Prepare for lots of rules. All four phases of the Dukan Diet named after French physician Pierre Dukan are heavy on dos and donts, and even the slightest slip-up is considered destructive. The U.S. News & World Report also said this diet could fall short nutritionally.

Dukan was not immediately available for comment.

See the article here:
The No. 1 best diet for 2020, according to a panel of 25 health professionals - MarketWatch

Simple Mills CEO Katlin Smith explains how her company is creating a successful business around healthy eating.

Walk, talk and eat your way to 100.

Thats all it takes to live a healthier life, according to National Geographic author Dan Buettner who has spent decades researching what makes people happy and healthy in places he calls Blue Zones. Those include Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, Calif., where people, he says, have the highest life expectancy.

Centenarians living in Blue Zones have two things in common: thriving social calendars and a healthy diet. Now, U.S. cities are calling on Buettners expertise to help people in places like Fort Worth, Naples and throughout Hawaii live better.

People living in Blue Zones follow a healthy, plant-based diet and lead a social and active lifestyle. (Photo by David Mclain).

In America, we tend to think health and happiness is something that we pursue," Buettner told FOX Business."We get on the program, we get disciplined, but places where people live a long time theyre making good decisions day-to-day because of their environment.

Buettner teamed up with National Geographic in 2004 to globetrot around the world to find the places where people were the healthiest. And he brought his holistic approach into U.S. cities across the country for his Blue Zones Project, a community-led initiative that works to improve the environment and daily routines that mimic how some of the healthiest people in the world live.

In Naples, Fla., 110 people took the Blue Zones challenge last July, where they followed a plant-based diet with meals comprised of ingredients like beans, lentils, chickpeas and whole grains. The group participated in pot lucks that mirrored social traditions in Okinawa, Japan.

The first thing to realize is the happiest people in the world are eating mostly a plant-based diet and living longer. But if you look at every diet in the history of the world, they fail after nine months, Buettner said.

The Blue Zone Diet participants were asked to find three or four friends who share the same values and challenged them to eat plant-based for three months together.

"If youre going to do it on your own, youre going to fail, he said of the strength in numbers approach.

As a result of the experiment, life expectancy has increased an average of 1 year and three months; and 67 percent of participants said they made more friends. There were other benefits:17 percent reported losing weight,6 percent had lower blood pressureand all of the participants are now on a plant-based diet.

Author Dan Buettner (right) has spent decades researching what makes people happy and healthy in places he calls Blue Zones. (Photo byDavid Mclain).

The meals are outlined inThe Blue Zones Kitchen, where Buettner shares recipes from around the world that are easy and affordable to make, like a simple minestrone soup recipe from Sardinia, paired with sourdough bread. Then there are Okinawan sweet potatoes with sesame seed oil and green onionsand Costa Rican gallo pinto, a traditional dish from Central America made with rice and beans.

While eating well is a mainstay for Buettners Blue Zones diet, staying active is also crucial and has proven to show big results. Buettner started his Blue Zones project in Albert Lea, Minn., in 2009 where the city added 10 miles of bike lanes and sidewalks to make it easier for residents to get up and get out. The improvementsalso made it easier to buy healthier food and encouraged more social activity. As a result, people living in the town of nearly 20,000 people dropped 4 tons of weight, which is a little more than 2 pounds per person on average. And smoking went down by 4 percent in the first five years.

You dont need to live in a Blue Zone to live a happy and healthier life in 2020. Here are some tips from Buettner you can implement in daily to live a more active life:

Those who live cities may have no other option than to rely on buses and trains to get around, but for those who dont, Buettner encourages taking public transportation because it forces people to live more active lifestyles by having to walk rather than sit in a car for an extended period of time.

Research suggests that people who dont drive to work, regardless of how much they do or dont exercise, weigh five to seven pounds less on average than someone with a car, according to a study on active commuting published in 2014 by the British Journal of Medicine.

FOOD AND DRINK INNOVATIONS FOR 2020

Rescuing or adopting a dog could have major health benefits on its new owner, Buettner said.

Every time you pet a dog your cortisol levels go up, Buettner said of the positive impact owning a dog has on the major stress hormone.

If youre looking to lead a healthy lifestyle, align yourself with like-minded friends who will encourage you to keep your diet or get active, Buettner said.

Make an effort to find three or four friends whose idea of recreation is something active like bowling or playing tennis, Buettner said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

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How the 'Blue Zones' diet is helping Americans in these cities live longer - Fox Business

The paleo diet is sometimes described as eating like a caveman, based on the idea that our earliest ancestors relied heavily on meat, fruits, and vegetables for nutrients. Its high in protein and low in carbs, eschewing processed foods (cavemen werent microwaving burritos) but also dairy, grains, legumes, processed vegetable oils, salt, and potatoes. These supposedly came later in our dietary development.

New research, though, suggests that humans were eating cooked root vegetables earlier than previously thought. In a cave in southern Africa, researchers have discovered remnants of 170,000-year-old cook fires containing fragments of plant rootsspecifically, a carb-rich veggie similar to modern potatoes.

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The remnants were discovered in 2016, but it took researchers years of comparison to modern roasted plants to find a match. Theyve identified the leftovers as belonging to a plant from the genus Hypoxis, which tastes more like a yam than a potato; though still eaten today, due to overexploitation its much rarer than in the past. While investigators have found root vegetable seeds at other sites even earlier in human development, this is the first clear evidence that cavemen roasted their vegetables.

So why do we imagine our ancestors as voracious meat-eaters? Partly because its easier to find leftover animal bones, and archaeologists arent looking for plant remains. Even if cavemen were eating a more balanced diet than we imagine, though, that doesnt mean the paleo diet cant be useful for modern-day humans. Its value isnt based in historical accuracy, after all, and its worked for many people. Diets, just like cavemen, can evolve.

See original here:
Scientists Just Found Proof That Cavemen Probably Didn't Eat the Paleo Diet - menshealth.com

Does the mere use of the word diet on a brand name beverage deceive consumers into thinking that theyll lose weight because they drink it? A U.S. federal appeals court says no.

On Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court may have put to bed once and for all a plaintiffs complaint alleging that Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. violated various California consumer-fraud laws by branding Diet Dr Pepper using the word diet.

The judicial panel found that the complaint failed to sufficiently allege that reasonable consumers read the word diet in a soft drink's brand name to promise weight loss, healthy weight management, or other health benefits.

The key description there being reasonable consumers. The judges said that just because some consumers may interpret diet Dr. Pepper as something that will cause them to lose weight, using the word diet in the brand name doesnt make the brand name false or misleading.

No reasonable consumer would assume that Diet Dr Peppers use of the term diet promises weight loss or management, Circuit Judge Jay Bybee wrote. The use of diet in a soft drinks brand name is understood as a relative claim about the calorie content of that soft drink compared to the same brands regular (full-caloric) option.

In Dr Peppers case, the company says its regular drink is made up of 250 calories; the diet version delivers zero calories.

In so many words, the judges argued that the Diet Dr Pepper issue is another example of consumers misunderstanding a word in a name, description, or packaging -- something the legal world is likely to see more of.

Of course, these kinds of allegations arent exactly new. In a previous case, Ebner v. Fresh, Inc., a consumer claimed that the net weight on the packaging for a lip balm was deceptive because the design of the dispenser left 25 percent of the product inaccessible.

Now, instead of just alleging that companies are deceiving consumers through the language used in their advertising claims, consumer plaintiffs are expanding their allegations to target visual impressions created by product packaging, Michelle Gillette & Josh Foust wrote in response to the case.

We held that similar dispensers were commonplace in the market, such as a reasonable consumer understands the general mechanics of these dispensers and further understands that some product may be left in the tube, the court held.

A rational consumer would not simply assume that the tube contains no further product when he or she could see the remaining product in the tube. And even if SOME consumers would make that assumption, the packaging was not deceptive just because some consumers could reasonable misunderstand the product.

Link:
Court rules that Diet Dr. Pepper doesnt deceive consumers because of its use of the word diet - ConsumerAffairs

Its a new decade and possibly a new you. Now is the time to reapply yourself at the gym, buy vegetables and actually eat them, only drink on the weekends or whatever self-improvement you have planned for 2020. Or, you could bring in the New Year the same way you left it: drunk.

Yes, I chug La Croix, too, but the difference is I do that to stave off a blackout or pick up my hungover soul, not make my diet palatable. Using bubbly water as a crutch for your vice is like when your Peloton eventually becomes a coat rack.

Go ahead, do your cleanse and your calisthenics for approximately a week. Ill see you at Zanes drunk at 3:30 on a weekday before MLK Day. The only way to live in Aspen is unhealthily inebriated at odd times like the tourists.

So, heres your gateway cocktail to passing out on a ski trail: A Bloody Mary. A friend recently Instagramed my morning drink of choice and called it famous. Im just trying to save some money because I blew my holiday tips on New Years Eve, bouncing around paying covers at bars I refuse to go to when theyre free. Theres enough citrus in this to cure scurvy (but not VD, so you might want to drop by AVH for that), and enough booze to reuse the alcohol still in your system like a hit of resin.

And technically it has been called famous, so from my and a dozen local New York Giants fans bar to yours, heres a hangover cure and a little help to kick that resolution off the wagon.

Read the original here:
Libations: The devil or the diet - Aspen Times

Daytime television talk shows, popular podcasts and diet books on the New York Times best-seller list would have you believe that being healthy is complicated. You need to eat the latest superfood, buy the perfect supplements or join the hippest fitness cult. These theories are particularly popular right now, as people commit to New Years resolutions.

But after practicing family medicine for 16 years, with a focus on nutrition and obesity, Ive learned that the keys to good health are quite simple to describe. In fact, I believe the best health advice can be boiled down to 48 words.

So what are these 48 words? In no particular order:

Dont smoke (2).

Get vaccinated (4).

Avoid trans fats (7).

Replace saturated fats with unsaturated if you can (15).

Cook from whole ingredients and minimize restaurant meals (23).

Minimize ultraprocessed foods (26).

Cultivate relationships (28).

Nurture sleep (30).

Drink alcohol at most moderately (35).

Exercise as often as you can enjoy (42).

Drink only the calories you love (48).

Theres not much that needs to be said here. Smoking remains the leading worldwide cause of preventable death, including 480,000 deaths per year in the United States alone. If youre not a smoker, dont start. If you are a smoker, 1-800-QUIT-NOW will direct you to local resources to help with quitting.

The world is facing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases that had been well on their way to eradication. Take measles, which in 2018 killed 140,000 people worldwide, with most of the fatalities occurring in children under the age of 5. Or influenza, which is responsible for between 290,000 and 650,000 global deaths per year. Ensure your children receive their full vaccination schedules, including the HPV vaccine, and everyone an annual flu shot. And check with your physician that your vaccinations are up to date and that you dont require any boosting or adult vaccines, such as those that prevent shingles and pneumonia.

Nonnaturally occurring trans fats increase your risk of heart disease. Though products often claim to be free from trans fats, labeling laws allow them to make that claim if they contain less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. To be certain, have a peek at the ingredient list, and if you see partially hydrogenated on it, put it back on the shelf.

Though you need not get hung up on the total fat content of your diet, whenever possible, you should substitute unsaturated fats (e.g., olive oil, avocados, nuts, seeds and fish) for saturated fats (e.g., meat and dairy). This is a point of consensus between the staunch low-carbohydrate diet advocate David Ludwig and the whole-grain proponent Walter Willett.

Though you wouldnt know it from reading magazines, nutritional epidemiology isnt capable of providing us with specific best diets. Home cooking however, associates with broadly healthier dietary patterns, including the consumption of fruits and vegetables, as well as with less risky body weights. Additionally, restaurant meals regularly contain staggeringly large amounts of calories and sodium. Youll get bonus marks if you eat the meals you cook at a table, free from distractions, with friends or family. And cooking might also save you a small annual fortune, which in turn might benefit your health. Remember, too, cooking is a life skill. Consider making sure your children learn it before they leave home.

Ultraprocessed foods may well play a large role in our global struggles with obesity, as recently demonstrated by a National Institutes of Health study led by Kevin Hall. The study found that people were eating roughly a meals worth of calories more per day when the food they ate was ultraprocessed. The smallest amount that you need to enjoy your life is your goal.

Whether its with your friends or your family, socializing appears crucial to good health. A 2010 metanalysis involving more than 300,000 people found that the mortality risks associated with loneliness were comparable to those associated with smoking and exceeded those seen with a lack of physical activity or with obesity. Theres no right way to do this, but options may include connecting with long-lost friends, getting active in an online community or with an in-person club, volunteering for a cause you feel strongly about or joining a recreational sports team.

In a systematic review of over five million people, short sleep durations were associated with mortality, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and obesity. Dark, cool and quiet rooms, regular bedtimes, decreased caffeine and more can help to improve your sleep. You might also want to take a quick online STOPBANG quiz, and if you score 3 or higher, get an overnight sleep study to rule out the greatly underdiagnosed and easily treatable condition called obstructive sleep apnea.

Alcohol is thought to lead directly to nearly 90,000 deaths a year in the United States, by way of increasing the risk of injuries, violence, heart disease, liver disease and cancer. As with any indulgence, the goal should be the smallest amount you need to like your life. If thats more than a drink per day for women and two for men, and youre concerned that you may have a dependence on alcohol, consider seeking help from your physician or primary care pro

Though commonly only considered in the name of weight (where its often less helpful than feels fair), the overall health benefits of exercise are difficult to overstate. Exercise increases life span and treats or prevents many, if not most, chronic noncommunicable diseases. My exercise mantra is simple: Some is good, more is better, everything counts. Its also most likely better to do a small amount of exercise consistently than a large amount of exercise temporarily.

Liquid calories dont fill you up, meaning no matter the calories in your meals associated beverages, youll likely eat the same amount of food. There are no beverages with sufficiently proven health benefits to warrant going out of your way to drink them, and beverage calories in large part come from sugar and alcohol. So make sure if you do drink calories, you love the ones youre drinking, and then, again, only in the smallest quantity you need to be happily satisfied.

Though far from sexy, spending your energy and willpower on the actions described by these 48 words is likely to have a far greater impact on your health than jumping on the latest zealots restrictive bandwagon. If youre great at them, they could be the only 48 words of health advice that youll ever need.

Yoni Freedhoff is an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa, the founder and medical director of Ottawas Bariatric Medical Institute, blogger at Weighty Matters and the author of The Diet Fix: Why Diets Fail and How to Make Yours Work.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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How to Be Healthy, in Just 48 Words - The New York Times