(WGGB/WSHM) – Country tunes singer Naomi Judd’s new dying has introduced to the forefront the issue of mental wellbeing and despair and how it is impacting grown ups.
Dr. Stuart Anfang, chief of adult psychology at Baystate Well being, spoke with us about the signals to glance out for and productive treatment plans.
What are the indicators to seem out for in grownups suffering from depression?
Anfang: “So we glance for what we simply call the neurovegetative signs of melancholy that easily includes slumber disturbance, urge for food disturbance, lessened power, lowered interest in matters, sometimes feelings to harm you or suicidal feelings…All those are amongst the signals that we glimpse for to diagnose despair. Of training course, we want to rule out other things and health-related problems or other psychiatric health problems that could have some of the identical signs or symptoms.”
The Countrywide Institute of Mental Health reviews that an estimated 21 million grownups experienced at minimum a single deprsssive episode. That amount signifies 8.4 {fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of all adults in the U.S. Is adult melancholy escalating?
Anfang: “So what I would say is that definitely or awareness of despair and variety of the manifestations of melancholy have escalated unquestionably more than the very last two years. In the course of COVID, I consider that the isolation, the disruption induced by COVID, absolutely now the financial stressers, and other form of world wide stressers all have enhanced peoples symptom mentology and also in all probability improved peoples recognition of and with any luck , motivation to get some aid, so over-all we are in all probability seeing an icrease in at least persons trying to get out aid.”
What are the most helpful solutions for despair?
Anfang: “So despair signs exsist on the spectrum. Just one can have gentle symptoms that could be not leading to a whole good deal of functional impairment in terms of get the job done or school or every day everyday living to extra serious indications that are actually earning it pretty difficult or difficult to function successfully at function or at college or in your day to day life and may possibly even lead to security fears, problems that might suggest you want a larger level of care. So based on the signs and symptoms, a therapy could possibly consist of psychotherapy, which can incorporate things like cognitive behavioral therapies, or motivational threrapies, or much more intense physco threapies, or medications which may consist of anti-depressent prescription drugs, which are pretty successful and usually the mix of medications in pyschothreapy is often quite effective relying on the severity of signs. Most depressions are managed by primary care physcians, at the very least in the moderate phases, but occasionally, if signs are a lot more critical or if the intial attempts of treatment method are not effective, that might warrant a referral to a behavioral overall health expert.”
At what level would you say somebody should really find out aid?
Anfang: “So ordinarily, you would feel about any person who’s obtaining some functional impairment the place it is actually interferring in their capability to appreciate and be successful in their day to day daily life. You want to be aware of people indications that I talked about – sleep disturbance, hunger disturbance, energy, frustrated temper, irretability, tearfullness. Surely, if any person has views about emotion that they were far better off useless or ideas to damage on their own or have essentially tried out anything to damage themselves, that would be a serious purple flag warning indication to result in achieving out for assist and a good position to start is your main treatment medical doctor. That would be the very best place to start.”
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When most of the world’s professional medical personnel were challenged with comprehension and managing the serious acute consequences of the new coronavirus pandemic, extensive COVID was recognized in Might 2020 by sufferers who were being enduring ongoing debilitating challenges.
In accordance to estimates, as many as 24 million people today in the U.S. may have extended COVID — also acknowledged as “extensive haul COVID” or submit-acute sequelae of COVID-19. This considerable inhabitants of prolonged COVID patients will challenge the well being units, productiveness, and security of society in means we have nonetheless to comprehend. When Omicron and its cousin subvariants infect a more substantial proportion of the population, while appear to bring about considerably less significant acute disorder, it may well existing a in close proximity to catastrophic obstacle if the exact proportion of Omicron clients are troubled with extensive COVID and turn out to be disabled.
As researchers and clinicians hasten to realize the specifics and complexities of this syndrome, it is crucial to understand that some factors of prolonged COVID depict an epistemic complexity. Nevertheless, this is not the very first time drugs has found a situation without the need of an clear actual physical cause or a clear approach to treatment method. Right up until a lot more effective healthcare interventions dependent on pathophysiology are proven, clients suffering the mind fog and tiredness syndromes could gain from exploring the interventions of complementary and alternative medication — as has been carried out with other contested ailments.
There is a prolonged record of contested health conditions this sort of as persistent exhaustion, continual Epstein-Barr an infection, fibromyalgia, numerous chemical sensitivity, chronic Lyme disease, and mold health issues related with tiredness and brain fog without the need of any usually acknowledged abnormal physiologic assessments or signals. Mainstream medicine experienced problems comprehending, diagnosing, and treating these sufferers, often providing a suggestion to see a psychiatrist, with the assumed that these circumstances may possibly be psychogenic alternatively than physiologic. However, neither antidepressants nor anti-stress and anxiety drugs continuously support these ailments. In 2015, the Nationwide Institute of Medication of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Drugs bit the bullet and did an considerable analysis of long-term exhaustion resulting in the perseverance that these individuals have a “actual disorder,” now recognised as myalgic encephalomyelitis. Still, pathophysiology and therapy remained unsure.
Now alongside will come long COVID with a substantial inhabitants complaining of brain fog and exhaustion and owning no abnormal indicators or exams. Initially it was acceptable to lump all people who had prolonged complaints and troubles just after clearly recovering from acute SARS-CoV-2 ailment into 1 group or syndrome — extensive COVID. The Environment Wellbeing Business formulated a consensual systematized definition of very long COVID meant to deal with the whole inhabitants of patients. Most ongoing epidemiology and exploration continues to consolidate all people with extended complaints into a person group. Presented the prior skepticism, rejection, and neglect of “contested conditions,” patients with brain fog and exhaustion need to be separated out for unique notice. Presently, the incidence and demography of these people remains to be defined as several surveys centered on client support groups (comprised mostly of mind fog/tiredness sufferers) consist mostly (90{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} in some reports) of white, educated women. This is identical to the demography of some other contested ailments. The incidence and prevalence of extended COVID in minority populations and males has yet to be defined.
Modern doctors, educated in a culture of specialization based mostly on organ methods and qualified to be dependent on signs, assessments, and proof, are ill-prepared to offer with patients with disabling problems but no goal abnormalities, no demonstrable indications, abnormal tests, nor effectively-outlined pathophysiology. In accordance to Ed Yong, reporting in The Atlantic, “When the National Institutes of Overall health ran a two-working day meeting on lengthy COVID in December, the very long-hauler Angela Meriquez Vázquez was stunned at how number of talks had been suitable to her. ‘It just felt like, Have you talked to any of us?’ suggests Vázquez, who is the vice president of Human body Politic, a wellness organization that hosts a well-liked extended-hauler assist team.” The remedies made available in the constrained variety of specialized clinics, while involved and supportive, could be mainly ineffective for this patient populace, as no productive pharmacologic or other intervention has been recognized.
In the meantime, like individuals with contested health conditions in the past, lengthy COVID clients have turned to complementary and substitute medicine. These approaches, regardless of school, are symptom based and entail extensive chatting and awareness to the lived expertise of the client. Mainstream allopathic drugs and complementary medication are at the moment accommodating every single other’s paradigms in appealing means. On the one hand, option practitioners more and more use their very own objective checks (indicators) these types of as hair minerals, nutritional panels, and non-traditional antibody checks to affirm diagnoses made within just their paradigm. On the other hand, soon after long criticizing naturopathy’s emphasis on food plan purity, diet, nutritional vitamins, and avoidance of antibiotics, allopathic drugs is identifying the wide significance of the intestinal microbiome. There are also advanced academic research and evaluations describing achievable identical pathophysiologic leads to in extensive COVID and specified formerly contested disease syndromes. Very long COVID people are complicated the information of both allopathic and complimentary faculties.
It stays to be found how successful complementary methods will be, but they can present essential guidance to the extensive COVID individual population. At existing, the culture, type, and equipment of up to date allopathic drugs by itself may be insufficient to aid the a lot of patients with common exhaustion and mind fog, apart from with supportive guidance. Until eventually the pathophysiology of lengthy COVID is unraveled, the techniques of complementary and alternative drugs are truly worth exploring even more.
Jeoffry B. Gordon, MD, MPH, is a retired relatives physician and previous community hospital bioethics expert. He is a member of the People’s CDC team.
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New exploration demonstrates that kids with Mexican roots eaten less sugary beverages, French fries, and speedy food and ate additional veggies just after collaborating in Abriendo Caminos, a culturally-tailored schooling application with their family members.
Abriendo Caminos (Opening Roadways), aims to support Hispanic family members guide more healthy life by weaving traditions and private values into classes on nutrition, physical action, and household wellness.
“A expressing promoted all through the workshop series was ‘mas o menos.’ We can do a minimal much more of this and a tiny considerably less of that to stay a more healthy life-style,” states Kimberly Greder, a professor of human improvement and household research at Iowa State University and a Human Sciences State Extension professional.
The scientists say their conclusions insert to a rising entire body of proof that the program is an efficient health and fitness intervention and really should be scaled up.
Approximately 400 Hispanic family members from Iowa, Illinois, California, and Texas participated in the randomized managed demo in between 2015 and 2019. Half were assigned to Abriendo Caminos the other half (the regulate team) obtained handouts about diet and physical exercise in Spanish but no in-particular person instructional programming.
Employing questionnaires accessible in Spanish and English, mother and father documented how typically their young children (ages 6-18) eaten eight merchandise each week: sugar-sweetened beverages 100{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} fruit juice fruit French fries veggies (other than fried potatoes) rapid meals sweets (candy, ice cream, cookies, cake) and salty treats (chips, crackers, pretzels).
“While we uncovered some dietary enhancements with equally groups, the modifications in diminished frequency of sugar-sweetened drinks, French fries, and quickly food stuff and enhanced vegetable usage have been much more substantial for youth who participated in the academic intervention, Abriendo Caminos, in contrast to youth whose households just been given the printed substance,” Greder says.
Nourishment, work out, relatives time
Abriendo Caminos was produced to deal with disproportionately higher costs of being overweight among the Hispanic small children in the US, Greder claims. Expanding proof implies applications that involve mothers and fathers and little ones discovering jointly about healthier lifestyles may perhaps have higher prolonged-phrase impacts.
“Our lifestyles are affected by other persons in our homes. Their behaviors, tastes, pressure, and schedules can all affect what we eat, our snooze and exercise concentrations, and parents most frequently are the gatekeepers to meals and how their kids expend their time,” suggests Greder.
Each individual session of the Abriendo Caminos workshop features a few components: diet, bodily activity, and spouse and children time.
Right after households share a food with each other, the dad and mom and youth break up into two groups to understand how foods and drinks have an effect on the human entire body, limitations to generating more healthy dietary possibilities, and approaches to make real looking variations. The classes for youth also include meals demonstrations and tastings (e.g., trying jicama ready simple, with lime juice, or chili powder and picking which is their favourite).
Moms and dads and youth then reconvene and do physical activities with each other as a family members, which are supposed to be pleasurable and easily replicable at home. These functions include things like dancing with Hula-Hoops, Zumba, skipping, and stretching with TheraBands.
Speaking about wellness
Relatives time focuses on interaction all-around food and overall health. Part of that incorporates mapping out how customers of the domestic commit time each individual working day and seeking to recognize how they can make smaller variations to their routines to do the job towards objectives they determined before in the plan associated to residing healthier existence.
For some households, it may well be identifying duties they can do before they go to bed, so they aren’t as rushed in the morning (e.g., placing out apparel to have on the up coming working day, making ready packed lunches). For other individuals, it may well be pinpointing a consistent time each day for the household to perform a video game or do actual physical activity alongside one another.
“To make actions variations, many moments we have to converse about what’s significant to us and what influences our choices. So, if you can have these conversations collectively, you can fully grasp just about every other a bit greater and make targets collectively as a family,” says Greder.
She gave the example of beans, a staple in many Hispanic homes that’s also nutrient-dense, small in unwanted fat, and superior in fiber. Some little ones may possibly be fatigued of having them and have difficulties comprehension why their dad and mom never get them to McDonald’s every single evening for meal.
“Food is a way to pass on traditions and society in a family members. Talking about foods and the exclusive meanings they have in families will help youngsters recognize why their mother and father benefit some meals and prepare them in sure approaches and may possibly learn to price and get pleasure from them, as well.”
Quite a few moms and dads who participate in Abriendo Caminos do the job several work opportunities or lengthy hrs that slice into consuming jointly as a loved ones, Greder suggests. The weekly workshops are held at a time most convenient for households and generate a house for moms and dads and grandparents who go to to move on their society as a result of food items, shell out time with their young children and learn how to make tiny variations as a family members that can have prolonged-expression well being positive aspects.
Further coauthors are from the College of Illinois, California Condition College, Auburn University, the College of Houston, and the University of Puerto Rico.
MONDAY, May 16, 2022 (HealthDay Information) — Lengthy-distance vacation will likely show a almost insurmountable barrier to some gals trying to get abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned as anticipated, a new review concludes.
Women who want an abortion are extra than 2 times as very likely to delay the course of action or determine to carry on their pregnancy if they reside 50 or more miles from a clinic, when compared with gals who stay within just 5 miles of a clinic, the success confirmed.
“The quite stark, loud implication of this analyze is that a lot of individuals will not be ready to prevail over the length limitations to achieving an abortion facility,” stated senior researcher Ushma Upadhyay. She is an associate professor of reproductive sciences with the University of California, San Francisco College of Drugs.
The conclusions occur on the heels of a College of Utah-led paper that observed that the average journey distance to an abortion clinic will maximize threefold — from practically 40 to much more than 113 miles — if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe and restrictive state legislation kicks in.
“By now, with 89{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of counties not acquiring abortion services, persons are confronted with these driving distances,” mentioned Katie Watson, a law firm and bioethicist with Northwestern University Feinberg Faculty of Drugs, in Chicago.
“If Roe is overturned as we anticipate, and states are permitted to ban or severely prohibit abortion, we will see these vacation occasions go much higher for so numerous pregnant men and women,” she added.
“This review is providing us a preview of our post-Roe entire world,” Watson said.
A draft U.S. Supreme Court docket impression created by Justice Samuel Alito that would strike down Roe v. Wade was leaked to the press before this month. It’s not the last decision, but it reveals that a the greater part of justices took an preliminary vote to do absent with the decades-outdated ruling that provides federal defense for females seeking an abortion.
Upadhyay and her colleagues actually carried out their investigate a long time previously, among August 2017 and May possibly 2018, by achieving out through Google Ads to pregnant girls who’d entered abortion-unique queries with the search motor.
“Most of the experiments that have been completed so much on obstacles to abortion have interviewed people at clinics,” Upadhyay explained. “We identified that by interviewing people today at abortion clinics, we have been not finding up the men and women whose barriers were so insurmountable that they could never arrive at a clinic.”
The researchers wound up surveying virtually 1,500 expecting ladies, and carried out an supplemental adhere to-up study a single month afterwards for much more than 1,000.
By the month-later adhere to-up, effects showed that:
About 52{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of people residing within just 5 miles of a clinic experienced gotten their abortion, when compared with 35{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of these dwelling 50 or a lot more miles from a clinic.
About 30{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of people living near to a clinic were even now trying to get an abortion, in comparison to 41{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of all those far from a clinic.
About 20{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of people shut to a clinic and 24{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of those living significantly absent had made a decision to keep on their being pregnant.
About 9 out of 10 members claimed at least just one length-related barrier to obtaining an abortion, even if they lived in a community with a clinic, the scientists discovered.
For instance, additional than 60{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of individuals at any array from the nearest clinic stated they experienced to gather income for vacation fees.
“This truly underscores the reality that 50 percent of females who receive abortions have incomes beneath the poverty line, which for a single particular person is about $13,000, and yet another quarter have incomes 100{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} to 200{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the poverty line,” Watson mentioned. “These persons have to not only arrive up with income for the procedure — they even have to determine out cash to get there.”
Maintaining their abortion a mystery was one more strong barrier, with extra than 50{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of all individuals and more than 60{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of people dwelling considerably distances from a clinic citing this as a hurdle to vacation.
This is an instance of how abortion’s stigma complicates women’s access to the professional medical process, Watson said. Centered on these findings, guarantees by some corporations to protect vacation costs for abortion probably will verify hollow, she additional.
Additional than a dozen organizations — which include Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Yelp, Citigroup, Lyft, Salesforce, United Expertise Company, and Levi Strauss & Co. — have promised workforce that they will fork out travel expenses for abortions if the procedure is outlawed or severely restricted exactly where they are living.
But many girls won’t treatment to disclose their personal health and fitness matters with firm reps, Watson stated.
“You have to tell your HR man or woman you happen to be having an abortion,” Watson mentioned of the company policies. “I’m sitting down in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah, right now, and one of my health care colleagues listed here pointed out your HR man or woman could possibly be an elder in your Latter-Day Saints church.”
“These are smaller cities. These are limited-knit communities. So if we’re already seeing persons saying I experienced to maintain it a key to friends and loved ones, how probable is it you may go to HR and convey to them you have to have dollars to go get an out-of-point out abortion?” Watson continued.
“I necessarily mean, it is really amazing that these firms are generating that provide, and some workers will take them up on it, but it doesn’t resolve the dilemma,” Watson concluded. “What we need is access that is community and non-public.”
Upadhyay agreed with Watson.
“Businesses would do improved to lobby or charm to their condition legislatures to grow abortion rights,” Upadhyay claimed. “I experience like businesses paying out for travel is quite substantially a band-support approach that also negates basic reproductive legal rights.”
Other travel boundaries cited in the analyze included the require to get time off from function or college location up transportation to the clinic producing numerous visits to the clinic and arranging for childcare and family treatment.
The arrival of medication abortions could aid reduce these travel limitations, but the researchers pointed out that provision of this services is restricted by legal guidelines in 33 states that require it be administered by a physician.
Further more, 19 states effectively ban people today from currently being offered a medicine abortion by way of telehealth, the researchers said.
“The federal authorities not long ago forever lifted the in-man or woman need for the provision of treatment abortion, thus enabling dispensing by means of telehealth and mail, but individuals in those people 19 states are unable to avail of this evolution in entry,” the review authors wrote in the report released on the web Could 13 in JAMA Community Open up.
Sources: Ushma Upadhyay, PhD, MPH, associate professor of reproductive sciences, College of California, San Francisco University of Medication Katie Watson, JD, associate professor, obstetrics and gynecology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago JAMA Network Open up, Might 13, 2022, on the web
The Tompkins County Wellbeing Department states there have now been 21,206 overall good circumstances in Tompkins County, 139 extra than on Friday, and a full of 1,898,630 tests carried out. The Health and fitness Division is also now reporting beneficial self-take a look at effects that have been submitted through their on-line portal. They say there are 33 new beneficial self-check benefits given that Friday for a whole of 2,807 submitted.
Linked: TCHD: If you exam positive on an at-dwelling check
As of Monday at 8:15am, the Health Department states 412 exams were conducted in the former day. The Tompkins County Health Section publishes NYS vaccine monitoring details, demonstrating 84,930 Tompkins County inhabitants have a initially dose and 77,618 have concluded vaccination (which could be one particular or two doses, based on vaccine).
Associated: Numerous are eligible for 2nd booster or added doses, claims Wellbeing Department
The Overall health Division says 5 persons are at this time hospitalized for COVID-19, one far more than in Friday’s update. As of a change in info previous winter, “TCHD is reporting only energetic instances who are hospitalized,” alternatively than such as clients recovered from COVID who continue being hospitalized for other causes.
“Of the new uptick in hospitalizations, a extensive the vast majority have been of vaccinated individuals,” Tompkins County General public Wellbeing Director Frank Kruppa tells us, but “of the people who are vaccinated and have been hospitalized for COVID-19 relevant good reasons, the trend retains that they are mainly more mature adults, age 65+. This knowledge details to the relevance of boosters and 2nd boosters for all those age 65+.”
There have been 62 deaths from COVID-19 recorded among Tompkins County people, such as the demise of two spot residents described in early Could.
On May 13, Cornell College described 38 new good situations for Might 12, 81 lively pupil circumstances, and 49 energetic staff circumstances. Cornell only updates its dashboard on weekdays, and the timing of their updates does not make it possible for a immediate comparison to the county’s data.
As of May well 13, Ithaca College reported 23 energetic scholar scenarios, with 554 recovered, and 6 energetic staff conditions and 237 recovered workers.
The Wellbeing Section suggests its figures contain screening that Cornell University commenced conducting on July 16, 2020. Cornell launched its very own COVID-19 info dashboard on August 25, 2020.
Similar: New Cornell COVID-19 dashboard demonstrates check outcomes and alert degree
The Wellbeing Section suggests the public wants to reduce the spread of COVID-19 not just to guard themselves, but other people in our group who are most susceptible to having quite ill – older grown ups, those people who are immune-compromised, and all those with underlying serious well being disorders.
Relevant: BA.2 variant probably, but not verified, between “ebbs and flows” of Tompkins cases, suggests Overall health Division
TCHD’s Frank Kruppa says, “There is a really significant vaccination price for our neighborhood, specifically with the successes that have been reported by our regional schools. In addition to the arrival and surveillance testing, several of our new scenarios are arising from sustained shut get in touch with with a beneficial particular person, meaning far more than 10 minutes in 6 ft of a optimistic scenario. These close contacts are developing more regularly in huge indoor gatherings that combine diverse teams of people.”
“Over the past couple weeks, our initiatives have concentrated on vaccinating our young men and women and delivering booster doses to those who are suitable,” Kruppa says. “We are distributing self-exams and masks during the county as we obtain shipments and thank our community associates for assisting in this effort.”
The fitness industry is no stranger to misinformation and it continues to thrive through all social media platforms. It might seem harmless, but all it takes is one piece of false information to go viral and it can potentially cause harm (case in point: last year’s dry scooping trend on TikTok). To be fair, not all fitness influencers are out there spreading lies to their followers. There are many accredited exercise experts that are doing their due diligence to combat this type of misinformation, and we’re here to help you separate fact from fiction.
If you’re confused about whether or not you should be doing fasted cardio to lose weight, or whether you’re supposed to be sore after every workout session, you’re not alone. Here are some of the most popular fitness myths, debunked and explained by a personal trainer and scientific studies, so you can stay informed and ahead of the curve.
Myth #1: ‘Toning’ and ‘lengthening’ muscles
For the longest time, strength training typically targeted men who wanted to put on muscle mass. Women avoided it because they were warned that if they lifted heavy weights they would get “bulky”. Instead, women were targeted with marketing terms such as, “toning” and “lengthening” their muscles. But “toning” simply means to build muscle. Hence, why your muscles look more “toned” when they grow and become more defined. To grow your muscles you need to be in a progressive overload, or in other words, add more weight or more reps gradually to your strength training routine.
Meanwhile, you’ve probably heard about “lengthening” your muscles if you’ve been to a pilates, yoga or barre class, because the exercises you’re doing are supposed to help you achieve a “long” and “lean” look. “Lengthening” your muscles is also a bit of a stretch, because you can’t anatomically change the length of your muscle tissue. Appearing “lean” has more to do with your diet and having lower body fat than type of exercise. Although pilates, barre and yoga classes are good options to increase your flexibility, they can’t give you “long” and “lean” muscles.
Myth #2: Spot reduction
Spot reduction is the idea that you can burn fat off a specific part of your body — such as your stomach — by doing exercises for that region. You’ve probably heard this narrative from some fitness influencers claiming that if you do enough crunches, you’ll get six pack abs. When in reality, it’s impossible to solely target a specific area of the body to lose fat or weight. “The only way to reduce fat in any part of your body is to eat in a calorie deficit and focus on full body strength training,” explains Onyx personal trainer, Kim DiLandro.
One other thing to consider is that fat stored in your body, also known as triglycerides, is used for energy. When that fat is used for energy it’s broken down into free fatty acids and glycerol. As a result, the fat that is broken down and used for fuel can come from any part of the body. Hence, why you can’t do body specific exercises to burn fat in that area. Studies have also found that resistance training helps with fat loss, but the areas you work out during those sessions also don’t determine if you lose fat in that area. “Fat loss will look different on everyone and genetics has a huge role in determining where you carry it,” DiLandro emphasizes.
Tony Anderson/Getty Images
Myth #3: No pain, no gain
The phrase “no pain, no gain” is commonly heard in the fitness world as a means to get people to push themselves harder during their workout. While it is good to challenge yourself occasionally, doing it too often can set you up for injury and set back your performance abilities. In fact, repeatedly going too hard can cause overtraining syndrome, which inhibits your muscles’ ability to recover properly, affects your mood, your immune system and more. Furthermore, it can affect your ability to sleep because too much exercise can overstimulate the nervous system.
A student athlete-focused study also found that by rapidly increasing training loads, athletes were more susceptible to soft-tissue injuries. This is in contrast to those athletes who gave themselves time to build up to that point and were able to protect themselves against injuries. The best approach is to slowly build yourself up to your goal, instead of doing too much at once.
Myth #4: Monthly challenges
Monthly challenges tend to flood us at the beginning of the new year. They’re usually in the form of a 30-day challenge that requires you to do 100 squats a day or eliminate food groups, among other examples. The problem with these challenges is that they’re just short-term fixes, and they can put your health at risk.
“Monthly food challenges like detoxes or strict diets promote an unhealthy relationship with food, and oftentimes the weight loss seen is just water weight that comes back quite quickly after,” warns DiLandro. She adds that these challenges promise that if you can just stick with one extreme for a certain amount of time, you will magically see results, which isn’t true. Depending on the challenge, it can also cause more harm than good.
For example, if you haven’t exercised in months and suddenly decide to take on a running challenge, you can put yourself at risk of injury because most of these challenges tend to be intense and lack balance. Instead the best approach would be to set realistic goals for yourself that can extend past that month. Consult with a personal trainer who can do an assessment and create a customized program that works with your fitness level and has a balanced schedule for working out and rest days.
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Myth #5: Muscle confusion
Muscle confusion is a marketing term used to describe changing up your workout frequently in order to prevent your body from hitting a plateau. In some cases the workout changes on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, but there is no truth that switching up your workout regularly is “tricking” your body. DiLandro says much of this myth is attributed to trendy workouts that make claims that by changing up your workout routine, your muscles will need to continue to adapt to prevent complacency. “This banks on the fact that people are struggling with cycling through the same routines, with the same weight, with the same intensity,” she explains.
In reality, it’s the load that muscles adapt to. So, if you aren’t practicing progressive overload in your training, then your body will continue to adapt. DiLandro suggests following the same program for weeks with a focus on progressive overload. This includes increasing the weight you’re lifting, increasing the number of reps or sets, or changing up the tempo or time under tension.
Myth #6: Fasted cardio for weight loss
Fasted cardio, or exercising on an empty stomach, has been part of the great debate when it comes to weight loss. It gained popularity when bodybuilder Bill Phillips put it on the map in his book, Body for Life. The idea behind doing fasted cardio is that you’ll burn more fat because your body is using stored fat as energy instead of glucose.
Although you may initially burn more calories by doing fasted cardio, ultimately it doesn’t make a huge difference when it comes to weight loss because what matters most is your total daily calorie intake. In other words, if weight loss is your goal, being in a caloric deficit is far more important than whether you exercise fasted or not. Studies have also found that there was no significant difference with weight loss between those who did fasted cardio and those who did non-fasted cardio.
Overall if you find you work out better on an empty stomach and have a clean bill of health, there’s nothing wrong with doing fasted cardio. Depending on the type of exercise you’re doing (such as strength training), you may find being fueled beforehand is a better option to prevent you from hitting a wall. If you’re pregnant, or have blood sugar, blood pressure or other medical issues, you should consult with your doctor before attempting fasted cardio or avoid it altogether.
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Myth #7: Exercising to burn off food
If you follow fitness accounts on social media, you’ve probably seen those infographics that tell you the workout equivalent to burning off a chocolate bar or a certain type of food. While in theory this sounds like it would make sense, the truth is you can’t out-exercise your food choices. For one, exercise accounts for about 15 to 30{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of your daily energy expenditure compared to your resting metabolic rate (when you’re at rest), which uses up to 60 to 75{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of energy.
Keep in mind everyone’s body varies when it comes to how they burn calories, because it depends on factors such as your weight, lean muscle mass and your activities, and studies have found that even the time of day can affect how many calories we burn. So it would be hard to even pinpoint how long you would have to work out to burn off a chocolate bar.
This mindset also puts you at risk for disordered eating and creates an unhealthy relationship with exercising, because you’ll start associating exercise with the sole purpose of burning off calories. Applying shame to food further reinforces labeling them as “good” or “bad,” which CNET has previously addressed in our list of outdated health buzzwords.
Myth #8: Muscle can turn into fat
This is one of the common misconceptions I’ve heard over and over again. The truth is muscle cannot turn into fat or vice versa. Fat and muscle are two different tissues with different cellular makeups. Muscle comes in three forms: skeletal, cardiac and smooth. While body fat (or adipose tissue) is made up of triglycerides, a glycerol backbone and three fatty acid chains.
“This myth comes from the idea that when you stop working out, your body composition may change, but the number on the scale will not,” explains DiLandro. She says what ends up happening is you lose muscle mass through muscle atrophy. To simplify this concept, think of when you diligently exercise and put on muscle. Your muscles become more pronounced because you’re burning more calories and as a result your fat cells shrink. Likewise, when you stop exercising and burn less calories, your muscle cells shrink too. This causes the illusion that your muscle has turned into fat, when in reality it’s just your fat cells expanding.
Myth #9: Being sore means you had a good workout
Most people think that being sore after a workout is the best indicator that they had a good session. Generally, we get sore when we’ve tried a new workout or pushed ourselves harder than normal. This is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and it leaves our muscles inflamed, tender, and there can even be stiffness and tightness. This discomfort lasts 24 to 48 hours after your workout and generally resolves on its own, but you can get a massage or foam roll to help with recovery.
DiLandro says a better way to gauge if you had a good workout is to assess if you’re able to lift more or do more reps during your next workout session. And the best part is the more you adapt to a workout, the less sore you’ll become. Studies have found this may be thanks to your immune system’s T-cell’s which help in the process of repairing your muscles.
Myth #10: Eating right after you work out
The anabolic window of opportunity refers to the short time after exercising when you should eat protein and carbs, otherwise you might miss out on muscle growth — or will you? This practice has to do with new cells, tissues and muscles developing as part of your body’s response to exercise. Strength training breaks down muscle, and as those muscles recover and repair, they’re also able to grow bigger and stronger. However, nutrient timing has been found to be less definitive than originally believed.
Some studies show that the idea of the anabolic window stems from the hypothesis that training in a fasted state increases muscle breakdown and continues to do so post-workout. In this case, it would make sense to eat a combination of protein and carbs after your workout to prevent that breakdown and instead generate muscle protein synthesis, leading to muscle growth. However, if you exercise mid-day or in the evening after having a meal a few hours before, it’s less necessary for you to adhere to these rules. What matters most is that you’re eating your daily requirement of protein and carbs regularly to help your muscles grow and recover.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
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