Weekend Roundup: Hyper Puppy Edition

A few months ago I talked about potential gifts that made sense from a healthy perspective. One of the options I mentioned was a dog. What I should have made clearer in the article (and thank you to those of you who made it very clear in the comments) is that a dog is not a responsibility to be undertaken lightly. They demand a huge amount of attention and resources. Please think very carefully about getting a dog before you go ahead and start looking for one. Make sure you’re ready for the time commitment and the frustration that a puppy brings. A puppy is not just about playing fetch and looking cute. That’s about 5% of the puppy experience. The rest is cleaning up messes, teaching them how to behave, taking them for walks and cleaning up behind them.

I say this because my wife and I recently got a puppy, who we love, but boy is she a lot of work. We’re both experienced dog owners but it’s been a while since we had a puppy and we’re learning all over again how much work it is. So before you get a dog, make sure you’re ready for one and please consider adopting an adult dog from your local shelter or rescue society. They’re less work and they need your love just as much.

And with that little public service announcement (which I think I have made once before), here are some articles from this week that I thought you might find useful:

From Consumer Reports, we get this article about the benefits of Vitamin D and how to balance the risk of being outdoors with your body’s need for sunshine. I’m fair skinned myself which means anything more than 30 minutes in direct sunlight with a sunscreen means a sunburn. So I try to take a few quick walks outside every day and spend the rest of my time indoors or slathered in sunscreen. As with many healthy things, sunlight is good for you, but only in strict moderation.
@Consumer Reports

Here’s an interesting health article from the Seattle Post Intelligencer. It reviews a study that was done on three groups of men. The study’s intent was to measure the effectiveness of various treatments for lowering blood pressure. Turns out that the men who got the most attention, support and information did the best. Not very surprising for most of us, and yet many people still choose to work on their health and fitness alone and with no support. I don’t understand this. If you’re lucky enough to have a network of family and friends eager to support and help you, don’t ignore them.
@Seattle Post Intelligencer

And keeping on topic of social help, here’s a neat article from the Detroit Free Press. It’s a bunch of tips from readers on how they stay healthy. These aren’t health or fitness professionals, they’re just ordinary people like you and me struggling to stay healthy in addition to leading their lives. Take a quick look, maybe you’ll find some useful tips.

The Free Press also put out another similar article which can be found here.
@Detroit Free Press

And now that you’ve heard some tips from ordinary folks, how about some tips from an expert? The UK’s Daily Mirror put out a very useful article that goes over 25 health tips from doctor, nutritionists and other professionals. Some of them are oldies but goodies and a few others are repetitions of things we’ve talked about here on 60 in 3, but there’s useful information here if you’re interested. I found the nutrition section especially enlightening.
@The Daily Mirror

And from the Diet Blog we have this article proving that not all gym exercises are healthy. If you doubt this, wait until the day when I relive my experience with a back exercise called Good Mornings. Trust me, just because it involves weights does not mean it’s a healthy workout. Poor form and poorly thought out exercise can cause injuries that will set you back far more than not exercising at all.
@The Diet Blog

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.