Sports drinks claiming to contain electrolytes have innundated stores in recent years. So what are electrolytes? Are they good? How can we best get them?
Obesity researchers have been in a tug of war about obesity for decades now. So what does the evidence show about the latest offensive in the obesity wars?
Most of us know that obesity is a growing problem across the globe but would you call it a disease? While it may seem like a semantic debate, it is actually a serious issue with major implications.
The link between exercise, diet and ill health has been recognised for a considerable length of time. The ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates (460-370BC), wrote: Eating alone will not keep a man well…
Sport is fundamental to Australia’s society, culture and economy. But how would we cope when the rising heat threatens some of our most beloved pastimes? A new report from the Climate Institute urges sports…
At a staff away day a few months ago we discussed well-being, both physical and psychological, in the workplace. I suggested, half tongue-in-cheek that we get a departmental dog – not practical on many…
Carbohydrate-rich diets are often recommended as part of exercise regimes to promote recovery and maximise performance. But recent research suggesting such foods may not help exercise recovery and their…
In 1954, the first director-general of the World Health Organisation, Dr Brock Chisholm, famously stated: “Without mental health there can be no true physical health.” More than half a century later, we…
You might have heard about Darek Fidyka, the paralysed man from Poland who recently walked again after an experimental cell transplant. It made headlines around the world and raised the hopes of many people…
We all know that exercise is good for our bodies, but current research is revealing that it is also good for our brains. Exercise has been shown to boost executive functions such as planning, working memory…
The mere sight of a slice of gooey chocolate cake, a cheesy pizza, or a sizzling burger can drive us to eat these foods. In terms of evolution we show preference for high calorie foods as they are an important…
Non-communicable diseases that you can’t catch from someone else such as stroke, high blood pressure and cancer, account for 36.1m deaths worldwide. Put it another way, this is about 63% of all deaths…
Take a moment to think of a task you wish to accomplish in the next three months. It should be something specific like clearing out your backyard, or completing an online course, so that you could judge…
We have a remarkable ability to detect the motion of other living things. If someone in our periphery moves, for example, our brains have evolved to detect that movement quickly and efficiently. This biological…
When it comes to physical exercise, we don’t tend to take into account how important our brain is for keeping our whole body going. But our ability to control our muscles – to keep them contracting and…