As a bike-racing heart doctor who practices in one of America’s least healthy states, it pains me to say anything against exercise. I spend a great deal of my typical office day cajoling Kentuckians to exercise more. Sometimes, I even prescribe daily exercise rather than a medicine! “It’s OK to exercise every day that you […]
Category: Cycling Wed
Wednesday musings on all things cycling-related
Readers of Cycling Wednesdays know that I am often tough on the endurance athlete crowd. Our over-indulged, egocentric lifestyles, and less-than-tranquil temperaments make great fodder for posts on inflammation. Sorry about that. But not this Wednesday, though. Today, I am putting your healthy ways up on a pedestal. I would like to invite you into […]
It was a tough pill to recommend. I prescribe it only in unusual cases. The patient didn’t want it, and I wished there was another option. But in this rare case, a very bitter elixir was a necessity. What therapy could be this bad? Recently, I had to tell a patient—whose life revolved around physical […]
Normally, on Wednesdays, I try to mesh cycling and health. Today, the gumbo includes cycling, politics, irony, and of course, heart-health. I’ve said before that most of the cyclists and endurance athletes I know ride expensive bikes, wear costly clothes and measure their meager power outputs with thousand-dollar, truth-telling strain gauges. Though we may moan […]
This Wednesday, I’d like to talk about how rodents, relationships, and riding relate to intelligence and overall wellness. This idea comes from a nicely written NY Times piece entitled, Does Loneliness Reduce the Benefits of Exercise? Here, Ms Gretchen Reynolds reviews a few intriguing studies about how relationships may affect exercise, stress hormone levels and […]
On Wednesdays I like to mesh cycling, healthy living and medicine. In this regard, the conflicts surrounding drinking alcohol work well. What other organic chemical is more debated? Here goes. Let’s start with the cyclists’ view of alcohol. Mountain-bikers’ love of beer is axiomatic. Cyclocross riders also fancy beer, this, primarily because they worship all […]
Hey Cyclists, I know. You ride a lot. You eat well. You stay thin. So you rightfully call yourself athletic. Congratulations. Now, take the time in the off-season to go get your blood pressure checked. Doing so is free in most grocery stores and pharmacies. Plus, you get to grin at that funny voice that […]
Every morning I rest my coat on a chair in a shared office that has this picture on the wall. My son and I were glued to the TV that day. We cheered loudly and hugged each other after Lance rose up from the pavement and stomped away from his rivals. (Rivals that have subsequently […]
For those who choose athletic training as an avocation there was important medical news released this week. It has to do with which medicines we use to relieve our aches and pains. Sadly there are few good options. The report was a huge (116,000 patient) meta-analysis (a statistical review of previously published trials) published in […]
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Cycling Wed: Life’s too short to…
My topic for cycling Wednesday changed abruptly this afternoon. It was to be a report on yet another scientific publication (and editorial) about the deleterious cardiac effects of long-term endurance athletics. The paper was published recently in the scientifically-rigorous journal, Circulation. (In fact, I went so far as to spend an hour on the phone with […]
Doctor’s Lounge: Thursdays It’s the time of the year when dietary temptations lurk around every corner of the hospital. And since completely abstaining is not always possible, the best antidote for this holiday deluge of inflammation is obvious: exercise. No doubt, within the boundaries of common sense, all exercise is good. But is there a best […]