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Stand up at your desk for two hours a day, new guidelines say GRANT McARTHUR HEALTH EDITOR Herald Sun June 02, 2015 8:30AM DESK jockeys should stand for at least two hours during their working day to stay healthy and productive, new guidelines recommend. Concerned by the impact of a modern sedentary lifestyle and obesity, a panel of international experts have issued a directive for regular physical activity breaks or standing desks to help stave off cardiac diseases and premature death. Including Prof David Dunstan, the head of physical activity research at Melbourne’s Baker IDI institute, the panel’s recommendations in

Or maybe running is already your preferred choice of exercise… Running is a repetitive motion sport that requires your body to undergo wear and tear at a much higher rate than non-weight bearing sports or everyday activities. Running requires that each leg and its associated joints, muscles and ligaments withstand forces equal to seven to ten times more than that of walking. This repetitive action can contribute to increased wear and tear and/or musculoskeletal injury. Running for exercise is not for everyone – but if you currently run, or are thinking of taking up running for exercise, then the following

3-D glasses have become very popular with the proliferation of movies designed for viewing in 3-D. The good news is that 3-D glasses pose no serious danger and they can be considered safe. 3-D glasses are really just presenting an optical illusion to your eyes, similar to a mirage, so they pose no danger of serious damage. How Do They Work? There are a variety of ways to make an image appear in 3-D. The most common way is to create two images that are slightly different to each eye. 3-D glasses work by having each lens block out one

The impact of heavy books and bags on children’s backs places risks to the child’s spine. Prevention can reduce the impacts later in life. The general rule is a maximum of 10% of the student’s body weight in the school bag. That works out to approximately 4-5 kgs for a 40-50 kg student. In a recent survey of 1,000 children, it found almost 50% of students were carrying well over the 10% recommendation of their body weight. There is immediate impact of strain on the spine from lifting a bag that is overloaded and too heavy. The longer a child

It’s not hard to see why eating a lot of meat will make you put on weight – it’s high in energy and in fat, particularly red and processed meats. Our lifestyles are increasingly sedentary – meaning we sit around too much – and when our typical western dietary pattern sees us eat too much meat, saturated fat and refined carbohydrates, and not enough fruit, vegetables and fibre, it’s no wonder we’re getting fatter. We love quick food that’s high in sugar, fat and calories. So many of the modern diets (The Dukan, for example) try to offer a quick