It’s the holiday season, which means those New Years resolutions are coming up fast. For those of you who are considering exercising more this upcoming year, here is a workout specially designed for the geek in you.
The Problem with Traditional Workouts
The number one problem with most workout plans for the life hacker is that they are boring. You go to the gym, lift some weights, run on the treadmill, and go home. Maybe next time you’ll run a little faster or lift a little more weight, but you’re pretty much going to do the same thing over and over. What’s the fun in that?
As a life hacker, you are creative and adventurous in everything you do, including your exercise. You should be constantly challenged both physically and mentally. Traditional workouts push you physically, while your mind remains idle. No wonder you reject them.
How to Hack Your Workout
Remember that hackers discover unconventional methods to push the boundaries of both themselves and their environment. A great tool that I’ve been using in my workouts is the aerobics step platforms. It’s like playing with giant sized legos, where I can build my own workout scenarios to explore.
Here are a couple methods that I already use:
Hopping the Hurdles: This one is based off a gymnastics exercise I saw and is the one pictured above. I place a series of platforms at different lengths and heights and consecutively jump over them. It’s pretty fun because after the first jump, your feet act as springs, so it’s almost like being on a pogo stick. I kind of feel like Mario as I go through my level.
The Parkour Track: The second method I use is laying out the long platforms on the floor in an oval shape and usually have one or two high obstacles that I need to either jump or climb over. I run atop the platforms, which means I need to be conscious of where I put my feet, when I speed up to jump, and even the speed taking corners (I’ve fallen over a few times as the platform slid out from going too fast).
The benefit of using these aerobics platforms is that it easily enables you to dynamically adjust the difficulty of the workout, according to your own beliefs about your abilities. It also provides great variability between workouts, so that your body is physically challenged, your cognitive awareness of your environment is enhanced, your creativity is expressed, and you get to have fun while everyone else is bored. ;)
Remember, these are only a couple methods of the vast possibilities. Unleash your creative side and see how else you can use them to be challenged.
I experiment, explore, create, and just try to figure out new ways to enjoy my life. You can read about my thoughts and adventures on my blog: WhiteHatBlackBox
Do you sometimes wish you were fitter? And maybe slimmer? I do. In fact, I’m determined to lose 7 kg in four weeks and get really fit. But how to get fit in a hurry – without spending hours at the gym?
One of the fastest ways to get fit is to start running.
It can be daunting if you’ve never run before. Especially if you have friends, colleagues or family members who talk casually about how they run 7 miles each morning before breakfast. (Don’t you sometimes want to throttle them?)
I just spent three weeks with my family and two of them, my brother and my niece, thought nothing of running for an hour-and-a-half after spending an exhausting day stumbling through thick rain forest. It made me feel like a fitness failure…
In the end, I started to run too. Because running is great for getting fit fast. There are some important advantages of running as a fitness strategy:
It boosts cardiovascular fitness.
It tones your whole body because so many muscle groups are involved when you run.
Weight-bearing exercise, such as running, is especially good in promoting bone density and protecting against osteoporosis, which affects men as well as women.
Running is a natural movement. The body is designed to be able to run.
As one of the most vigorous exercises out there, running is an efficient way to burn calories and drop pounds.
Here are some tips that will help you develop running:
1. Buy good shoes
It’s worth going to a specialty shop to buy a pair of running shoes. Make sure that the salesperson looks at the shape and arch of your foot to figure out the best shoes for you. The reason good shoes are important is because it will soften the impact and protect your joints.
2. Take it slow
When you start running, it doesn’t matter how slow you go. Remember that your body needs to get used to new movement.
3. Ease into running with interval training.
The best way to get fit fast is through interval training. This means short burst of high intensity exercise alternating with recovery periods. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, more calories are burned in short, high intensity exercise.
Try alternating 5 minutes of walking and one minute of running for twenty minutes. As you get fitter, you can lengthen the periods of running. Once you get used to running, you can alternate slow jogging with fast sprints.
4. Warm up first
It’s important to warm up your body before running. Otherwise running will feel very hard and your body will moan and groan. Walking is a great way to warm up the body. Stride out and pump your arms. Start with a medium paced walk and then speed up until you start to sweat. Once your body is warm, you are ready to run.
5. Use correct running technique
Beginners like me find it difficult to relax while running. Keep your head up and your lower arms in hip height, and run without bouncing. It all helps to work your body more efficiently. Check out this video about correct running technique.
6. Run with others
A great way to keep up your motivation is to run with others. See if a colleague or a friend is willing to come running with you. Set an interval schedule for your run and stick to it.
7. Keep an exercise diary
Keep a record of your new exercise routine. Write down each day what kind of exercise you have done. A great way to track your growing fitness is by measuring your resting pulse before you get up in the morning. As you get fitter, your resting pulse will get lower.
8. Add strength exercises to the mix
Building strength in your legs will help you to run. A simple way to build your leg muscles is by doing squats. Stand with feet a little more than shoulder width apart. As you squat, keep your feet on the ground and swing your arms to the front in order to keep your balance. Start with 3 sets of 10 squats but don’t get carried away. If you do too many at one time, you might have difficulty walking the next day! As you get fitter, you can add more sets to your squat routine.
9. Add a cool-down period after exercise
It’s important for the body to cool down after running. The best way is to walk at a medium pace until your heart-rate returns to normal.
10. Stretch after running
It’s a good practice to stretch after running because it keeps your body flexible. Watch this short video on which stretches to do after running.
If you follow the ten points above, you will become a runner – without feeling like a failure. Remember that you can start running at any age. Bob Hayes took up running when he was 60. After a little while, he decided to enter a 5km fun-run and his son gave him his first pair of trainers. He said afterwards, “I wasn’t feeling as fit as I would have liked to. Perhaps age is catching up on me?” Yeah, right!
Fast forward 20 years… At age 80, Bob completed his tenth 50-mile ultra-marathon in Montana and has made running history. He said afterwards:
“I’m in the best shape of my life.”
If you follow these 10 tips, you will get into the swing of running. Soon you will feel your body tone up and slim down in response to the exercise. Best of all, you’ll begin to feel confident, healthy, and attractive.
Mary Jaksch is an author, Zen Master, and psychotherapist who likes dancing tango in skimpy dresses. Her blogGoodlife Zen focuses on personal growth for intelligent people. Get her FREE eBook Overcome Anything: Finding Light after Darknessclick here.Mary is also Chief Editor of Leo Babauta’s blog Write to Done
Feeling a bit under the weather? Soon you'll be able to cough into your mobile phone for an instant diagnosis. A research firm called STAR Analytical Services is working to develop software that can analyze the sound of a cough and identify it as either associated with a common cold, the flu, or something worse - like pneumonia or another serious respiratory disease. Just as doctors have been doing for years, the software will "listen" to the wetness or dryness of a cough and determine whether all you need is a lozenge or if you need to come in for a doctor's visit instead.
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Turn Your Head...Towards Your Mobile Phone
The American and Australian scientists at STAR have received a $100,000 grant from the Gates Foundation to develop the cough-analyzing software for developing countries where access to health care is more limited than in first world nations. Despite the poor economic conditions of these under-developed countries, there are a plethora of mobile phones which are being used for everything from early warning systems to mobile payments to health alerts. An mobile app that diagnoses disease would fit right in.
The way the diagnostic software works is by comparing the sounds of the mobile user's cough to a database of coughs associated with all the different types of respiratory diseases. There would also be multiple coughs per disease stored in the database to take into account variations by age, gender, weight, and other factors.
While to our untrained ears, many coughs sound just alike, a tuned-in doctor - or in this case, a mobile app - can listen to the entire structure of a cough from the initial intake of air to the final 100-150 milliseconds of a cough that contains the distinctive "wet" or "dry" and "productive" or "unproductive" sounds that help to classify the cough's seriousness, explains an article on Discovery News. Even the loudness of a cough is taken into account - healthy people have coughs that are 2% louder than a sick person's.
At the moment, the software exists as a computer application but the scientists plan to have it re-written, when complete, as an application for mobile phones.
There's no word on when the mobile application will be released, but the scientists will need to collect around 1000 cough samples before the database is ready. If they're able to then design a successful analytical tool for mobile phones, the impacts to people's health would be far-reaching - and not just in developing countries, but everywhere in the world.
We've just been introduced to an interesting company: Doctations. This relatively new site aims to open communication channels and online services to turn any doctor's practice into a web-based community.
The software, an Internet-based healthcare transaction interface, allows doctors to upload and save medical data, to share test results with patients, and to analyze information with their colleagues. Patients in this system can manage their healthcare, schedule appointments, request prescription refills, research medications, access articles, and communicate with doctors - all securely, quickly, and cost-effectively. Our question: Why aren't systems like these in place everywhere right now?
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Unfortunately, a combination of data security concerns and industry regulations such as HIPAA have made doctor-patient online communication - even via email - nearly impossible. Doctations' data transactions are made secure through an encrypted database and a secure login and password. Voice identification processes are available, as well. These data security measures are compliant with all relevant industry regulations.
More than just a task manager, the interface allows physicians to access a messaging system that includes audio and video chats, kind of like Skype. Using this part of the service, physicians could conduct online consultations with their patients via webcam. It's unclear whether the system would also allow homebound patients to send vital statistics such as weight and blood pressure to physicians automatically through the use of monitored devices, another trending topic in "telehealth". Online consultations - and getting insurance companies to pay for them - have also been a subject of great concern to the American Medial Association, which has been lobbying for more modern billing practices for online consults since 2004.
Doctations has also expressed the goal of making physicians' offices entirely paperless by moving source data (such as reports, faxes, and mail) and business processes online. The company has partnered with Sure Scripts and Quest Diagnostics to send prescription requests and order lab results. The company has also partnered with science and health publisher Elsevier to give patients access to important research materials and decision support alerts.
These are just a few noteworthy features we found while browsing around the Doctations website. The service appears to be full-featured for all aspects of a medical practice, from staffing and billing to patient-focused task management. The service is available on a subscription basis for healthcare providers.
Check out this CNBC interview with Doctations founder and neurosurgeon Dr. Louis Cornacchia:
Although many users would love the opportunity to have quicker, simpler, less expensive healthcare as well as greater access to their physicians, others still probably have concerns about the security of putting their most personal information online. On which side of the fence do you find yourself? And for our readers who are also medical doctors, would it make sense to implement such software in your own practice? What are the objections?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments. We're going to switch on the webcam and see if we can get a doctor to look at this troubling mole.
One year ago we reviewed a new health app called Practice Fusion, a free, web-based EMR (electronic medical record) system for physicians. This week Practice Fusion announced an investment, amount not disclosed, by salesforce.com. They also announced the upcoming launch of their patient health record (PHR) application on Force.com, salesforce.com's cloud computing platform. With these announcements, now seems an appropriate time for a check-up of Practice Fusion. How is its own health and what are the implications of partnering with salesforce.com?
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One year after our initial review, the company is still going strong. The product was being promoted in August 2008 as a 'Google Apps for doctors', providing patient management, scheduling, secure email and more. However, as we pointed out in our article last year, Practice Fusion is not a competitor to Google Health. Practice Fusion is a physician-centered tool, whereas Google Health and the other bigco services are patient-centered.
Practice Fusion currently has "over 18,000 users," which would appear to be a big increase on the 1,300 medical professionals they had one year ago. The product originally launched in November of 2007, so it's nearly two years old now.
Is Cloud Computing Suitable for Healthcare?
A post on the Practice Fusion blog today asks the question: is "cloud computing" right for health IT? We reported earlier this week that cloud computing is infiltrating virtually every corner of technology right now, but it still has dangers. We noted the recent hacking of Google Docs to steal internal Twitter documents, as one recent high profile example (high profile because the stolen documents were subsequently emailed to some news outlets, some of whom published the 'hot' docs).
However despite these risks Practice Fusion claims that the cost benefits of cloud computing in healthcare are significant, particularly in its EMR niche:
"Cost and poor usability have been cited as the biggest obstacles to adoption of health IT - especially Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems - and has resulted in problematically-low EHR adoption rates. Eliminating this cost, and the IT maintenance burdens that are often beyond the reach of small medical practices, clearly removes these significant roadblocks to EHR adoption."
Security and safety is of course the big potentially negative issue with cloud computing. But Practice Fusion points to several use cases where it says that cloud computing has advantages over desktop apps: disaster-recovery, hacks (because "SaaS providers are able to devote resources to solving security issues that many customers cannot afford"), and privacy. All of those points come down to the premise that a cloud computing / SaaS specialist, such as Practice Fusion, has more expertise, more resources, and is generally better able to deliver those safety and security requirements.
That all sounds great in theory, however every case like the Twitter stolen documents one serves to undermine that argument. And there are just too many such cases right now.
Nevertheless, we're sure that over time cloud computing will become ever more secure. It's clear that Practice Fusion is a young company that is growing well. With Salesforce.com on its side too now, the future looks secure for them.
This weekend millions of North American children diligently completed their homework, did their chores and stayed on their best behavior in the hopes that they'd attend Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince in theaters. Meanwhile, half way around the world, thousands of children work for the magical protections of mosquito nets and running water. Their Voldemort is malaria. Between 1-3 million malaria deaths happen every year with the majority of the victims being young children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nevertheless, thanks to the work of a Berkeley research team, help may be on its way.
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In so many malaria-endemic countries, the lack of health personnel, equipment and accessible hospitals are a major barrier in ensuring timely diagnosis. But Daniel Fletcher and his team at the University of California in Berkeley have modified a Nokia N73 phone in the hopes that it will alleviate resource issues and aid in early detection of malaria.
With the N73 as the kernel, the team added a battery-powered LED lamp and a series of filters. The result is an extremely inexpensive portable microscope with the potential to detect malaria, sickle-cell anemia and tuberculosis from fluid smears.
Microscopy-based detection of malaria is possible by taking a pinprick from a patient, smearing their blood onto a treated glass slide, and examining it under a microscope. Malaria parasites are detectable when they react to the treatment on the glass (Giemsa stain). According to a New Scientist article published this morning, the modified phone or "CellScope" makes it possible for field doctors to test for the disease as well as send their images to labs via a wireless network.
"Cell counting is the main thing we have done," Says Fletcher. "Additional things could include annotating an image to point out a problem or a question to be answered by a doctor at a central hospital."
If cell images are coupled with patient details and locations, the CellScope can help reduce disease-based death rates by guiding grassroots health workers in deploying resources, treating those affected and stopping the spread of disease across townships.
On July 16, the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland will welcome a handful of Wikimedia Foundation's staff and volunteers. Some of the nation's top health, science, and medical minds will take a one day course on the mechanics and formatting of Wikipedia. Said Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, "With the broad range of experts from the National Institutes of Health, we see a great opportunity for increasing the quality of all health-related information on Wikipedia."
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This is a significant event, not only because the Wikipedia Academy training will be the first of its kind in the US, but also because Wikipedia is often at the top of results when the general public searches for online health information.
According to the Wikipedia blog, the 2009 swine flu pandemic page "got about 16,000 page hits on April 23, and this number increased to a dizzying 2.86 million page hits only a week later." The article began as a mere stub and has since expanded to a 21 page article with multiple iterations and discussions.
The NIH is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' primary agency for conducting and supporting medical research. Contributions from the group will likely help dispel myth from fact and increase awareness for early detection and preventative health.
In the past, a number of media stories from the American Medical News, Reuters Health and Seattle's KOMO TV News have criticized Wikipedia for its lack of credibility. There have also been a number of breakaway efforts to recreate the Wikipedia experience amongst subject experts including Toxipedia, Medpedia and Citizendium. Nevertheless, with Wikipedia's monthly unique traffic of 300 million visitors, it simply makes more sense for medical experts to travel to an information epicenter rather than asking millions to modify their behavior.
While no responsible medical professional would ever suggest Wikipedia as the sole information source for self-diagnosis and treatment, the NIH's recognition of Wikipedia's value might spur on other agencies to consider the site in health outreach strategies.
Old “Doc” Plume, the local hardware store owner, who was known for his miraculous cures for arthritis, had a long line of “patients” waiting outside the door when a little old lady, completely bent over, shuffled in slowly, leaning on her cane. When her turn came, she went into the back room of the store and, amazingly, emerged within half an hour, walking completely erect with her head held high. A woman waiting in the line said, “It’s a miracle! You walked in bent in half and now you’re walking erect. What did Doc do?” She answered, “He gave me a longer cane.”
It’s funny; most of the people with bad posture or pain syndrome I run into want to know a miracle exercise that will cure their dysfunction. Sure, exercise can help and be a big part of a program designed to deal with pain and posture. But more often than not, it is the little things in our everyday lives that could use some adjusting. With that, here is a short list of activities to be mindful of.
Driving: Do you slouch, lean to one side more than the other? Maybe you keep one hand high on the steering wheel and the other low, causing you to shrug one shoulder more than the other. The point: try to shift and change positions often if you spend lots of time in the car. The best position will always be hands at 10 and 2. And holding your back tall and flat against the seat.
Desk: You should know by now that posture at the desk is important. You’re in this position for several hours at a time and it can have BIG repercussions on your health. Get up often and be aware of any favoritism to any particular positions you might find yourself in. Reaching and twisting from a seated position is a big no-no. Try to organize your desk to be more spine friendly by putting often-used folders and materials within arm’s reach.
Sleeping: Our sleep posture is one of the most overlooked aspects of our life. You spend 8 hours (hopefully) a night in either one or various positions that could have a large impact on your posture during the day. Do you pile the pillows high? This leads to excess stretching of the extensors in the neck, possibly contributing to a forward head posture. Do you pull the bed sheets tight over your feet, pulling your toes into a pointed position? This can lead to limited ankle mobility, which then affects your entire body mechanics, from walking to sitting. Do you sleep on your side with one leg bent and across your body? This can lead to an imbalance between your left and right spinal erectors, which then could be contributing to your back pain. This is can be even worse if you’re a woman with generous hips. Paranoid yet? I didn’t even mention how sleeping on your stomach can contribute to an excessive lordodic curve ,which then may lead to extra compressive forces for your lumbar spine to handle. So which is the best position to sleep in? On your side, knees bent, pillow between the knees and your head resting on a single pillow. Or if you prefer, on your back with a pillow under your knees, sheets loose, and again, a single pillow for the head.
The point I’m trying to drive home here is that we need to pay more attention to our bodies when they’re NOT in motion. It’s the little things like these that add up and contribute to a life of constant and nagging pains. Practice a technique known as mindfulness. Every once in awhile turn your attention inwards and ask yourself; have I been in this position for too long? Could I do something to make my current posture or situation more comfortable and back friendly? Before you know it, the pain that once prevented you from doing normal everyday tasks will have disappeared and become a thing of the past.
Jamie Nischan owns and runs a successful fitness coaching business in Stamford CT. Through the use of posture correction and exercise he treats pain often associated with excessive use of computers. More about Jamie can be found at www.thebuffgeek.com.
Feeling a bit under the weather? Soon you'll be able to cough into your mobile phone for an instant diagnosis. A research firm called 
We've just been introduced to an interesting company: 
One year ago 
This weekend millions of North American children diligently completed their homework, did their chores and stayed on their best behavior in the hopes that they'd attend Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince in theaters. Meanwhile, half way around the world, thousands of children work for the magical protections of mosquito nets and running water. Their Voldemort is malaria. Between 1-3 million malaria deaths happen every year with the majority of the victims being young children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nevertheless, thanks to the work of a Berkeley research team, help may be on its way. 
Microscopy-based detection of malaria is possible by taking a pinprick from a patient, smearing their blood onto a treated glass slide, and examining it under a microscope. Malaria parasites are detectable when they react to the treatment on the glass (Giemsa stain). According to a 
On July 16, the United States 
The NIH is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' primary agency for conducting and supporting medical research. Contributions from the group will likely help dispel myth from fact and increase awareness for early detection and preventative health. 
It’s funny; most of the people with bad posture or pain syndrome I run into want to know a miracle exercise that will cure their dysfunction. Sure, exercise can help and be a big part of a program designed to deal with pain and posture. But more often than not, it is the little things in our everyday lives that could use some adjusting. With that, here is a short list of activities to be mindful of.