Now that's efficient.

Remember: eggs, then legs. Eating breakfast before exercising in the morning could boost your mood and your memory, says a new British study.

When 12 men followed that routine in the morning, their measures of information processing, reaction time, mental fatigue, and tension all improved significantly—some by as much as 50 percent—compared to mornings when the guys exercised but skipped breakfast, or ate breakfast and skipped exercise.

Working out in the morning isn’t for everyone. Studies have shown some night owls are better off hitting the gym in the afternoon or evening. But if you prefer to get sweaty before tackling the day, preworkout grub increases your stores of glucose and glycogen—two forms of dietary energy your brain needs to stay upbeat and focused after exercise, says study coauthor Rachel Veasey, Ph.D., of Northumbria University.

While the guys in Veasey’s study ate 1/3 cup of carb-heavy oatmeal and 12 ounces of low-fat milk, studies show a wide range of foods can power your brain in the morning. Protein sources like eggs, Greek yogurt, and polyphenol-rich nuts are particularly effective brain boosters.

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[via menshealth]

Fried cicadas (Getty Images)

“Spice Up Your Spring Soiree With a Timely, Tasty Treat.” Scotch on the rocks? Why not Scotch on the cicadas? And so on. 

Over the next few weeks, as Brood II cicadas blankets the mid-Atlantic United States by the shovel-full, including media/gastronomy hubs like New York City and Washington, D.C., expect to hear more and more about eating them. Magazines will at least mention cocktail recipes, if not run features about how culturally important eating bugs is in certain corners, or how eating them could cure world hunger. Entemophagy in general is fascinating, thriving, and promising. 

The notion of eating cicadas in the U.S., though, is more precious. “See that abhorrent little monster there on the ground? Well, sir, I find it marvelous, and I’m going to put it inside of me. I find beauty in all things.” Just another boring, ordinary dinner party? Not anymore, because we’ll be serving big screaming bugs. At least it’s something to talk about.

Time-lapse molting cicada (Wikimedia Commons)

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Last week National Geographic pointed out that cicadas are gluten-free and low-carb. Which is true. Six years ago, the same magazine sold them as low-fat, which is also true. They are also soon to be enormously abundant, and eating them will not likely kill you. The same things can be said of wood chips, though, and pebbles. In too much of the world, food is too scarce; but abundance alone should not endorse consumption.

One of the most common concerns I hear is that cicadas will molt in our stomachs. Well, I actually don’t hear that a lot, but I do think it. The answer is that they won’t. It’s amid that sort of concern, though, that some see eating cicadas as a manifestation of human dominance over the pestilence. If cicadas could eat us, they probably would, so we should eat them first. That’s only partly true. According to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, “Periodical cicadas can hurt you only if they mistake you for a tree branch and try to feed, something that can happen only if you hold a cicada in your hand for a very long time (eventually this makes the cicada hot and thirsty).”

Some will mention that cicadas are arthropods, like shrimp and lobster. Eating them is just a step away. Just like how cats and cows are both mammals, so it’s okay that you eat cats. Cats that have been living underground for 17 years. And that really is the thing. I’m sure I’ve eaten things that have been underground for 17 years, but not knowingly, not happily.

A 13-year cicada peers menacingly over a ledge in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 2011. (Gerry Broome / AP)

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Cultural differences and social etiquette aside, are they safe to eat? How many chemicals do they absorb underground? Entomologist Jenna Jadin, a fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, wrote a book of cicada recipes, so she’s not impartial, but she says they’re probably fine in small doses. Still the first page of her book reads: “The University of Maryland and the [cicada interest group] Cicadamaniacs do not advocate eating cicadas without first consulting your doctor.” That caveat seems extreme, but, their words, not mine. If you have a shellfish allergy, you should know that cicadas are probably not for you. Meanwhile the site Cicada Mania warns that even dogs should be wary: “Pets can choke on the rigid wings and other hard body parts of the cicadas; pets will gorge themselves on cicadas, and possibly become ill and vomit; pets who consume cicadas sprayed with copious amounts of pesticide can and will die.”

Take it all in context; an opportunity to reevaluate everything. Here is what Americans eating Brood II cicadas so far looks like.

[via theatlantic]

Ever since Karen Straub had her thyroid removed because of cancer in 1999, she has struggled with her weight. She became diabetic and suffered from terrible acid reflux. So when her boss, California State Controller John Chiang, started a worksite wellness program for his staff, Straub decided to give it a try. She joined new Weight Watchers at Work meetings during lunch on Thursdays. She beams activity data from her accelerometer to the Healthrageous website, which allows her to track her activity and interact with her co-workers through a social media platform. She and her colleagues now compete to see who will be the top walker each week. She walks during her work breaks and for 15 minutes at lunch on most days. Since starting the program, Straub has lost 27 pounds. She doesn’t have to take pills for her diabetes anymore. Her acid reflux has disappeared.

A common request has been for flexibility around the scheduling and length of lunch and work breaks to allow employees to attend onsite exercises at lunch or simply walk outside.

Chiang’s job is to make sure California’s tax dollars are well spent — to root out waste, fraud, and abuse of public funds. Recognizing that the healthcare costs of state employees and retirees were among several threats to the state’s fiscal health, Chiang commissioned a study to determine the proportion of costs that were due to modifiable factors such as diet, exercise and smoking. “We all understand that healthcare costs are spiraling out of control,” Chiang said.

The California Public Employee’s Retirement System health program covers nearly 1.3 million active and retired government employees and their families. Of $ 1.6 billion spent on healthcare for state employees in 2008, 22 percent was on high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and kidney disease — much of which could have been prevented through diet and exercise. The Urban Institute, which conducted the study, estimated that if changes in diet and exercise could reduce the prevalence of these diseases by 5 percent to 15 percent, it would save the state $ 18 to $ 54 million per year.

Unlike other worksite wellness programs — CVS Caremark’s, for example, has been lambasted in the media for fining employees $ 600 if they don’t undergo an annual wellness review — Chiang’s program has been very popular among his staff, in part because he seems truly committed to improving their health and morale. Chiang is now working with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local 1000 — California’s largest state employee union representing 95,000 members — and others to pilot a worksite wellness program at the California Department of Public Health and the department of Health Care Services.

According to Sarah Zimmerman, deputy chief of staff for SEIU local 1000, “It’s not Big Brother because they’re designing something that is meaningful to them.” The union’s involvement has helped identify important obstacles to worksite wellness. A common request has been for flexibility around the scheduling and length of lunch and work breaks to allow employees to attend onsite exercises at lunch or simply walk outside. “A lot of times, managers don’t know what is allowed or encouraged,” said Zimmerman. “Sometimes it is simply clarifying what the policy is.”

Blue Shield of California, which partnered with Chiang in developing the wellness program for his office, has also been experimenting with Wellvolution, a worksite wellness program for its own employees. According to Bryce Williams, Vice President for Wellbeing at Blue Shield CA, “the mantra of going to the gym for 20 to 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, and changing your diet such that it is low salt and low sugar and low fat and fun free — that model hasn’t worked.” His strategy has been to “make the environment such that the healthy choice is an easy choice.” Making healthy choices easy choices has included thought to food placement in cafeterias: placing salad bars in the flow of traffic, healthy items at the cash register, soft drinks behind glass at the back, etc. Food is also labeled with Weight Watchers points to help those enrolled in the program.

Now she sleeps well and feels “like a human in the morning.”

Lisa Krieger, an employee of Blue Shield of CA, joined Weight Watchers at Work through the Wellvolution program. Krieger, like most working moms, finds it hard to make time for herself. At least at work she can count on breaks and her lunch hour; there are no such breaks at home with the family. After starting Weight Watchers at Work “the weight just started falling off,” said Krieger. And once she’d made some inroads through her diet, she had the energy to start exercising. Krieger used to weigh 100 pounds more, the equivalent of strapping three toddlers the size of Krieger’s daughter to her frame. She used to get hot and sweaty with the slightest exertion; now she spends her evenings playing with her kids in the backyard. She used to snore and wake up in the middle of the night; now she sleeps well and feels “like a human in the morning.”

“I recently got promoted at Blue Shield. I think the confidence and self esteem [that came with the weight loss] had a lot to do with me getting that promotion,” said Krieger.

One common refrain I’ve heard is that losing weight initially through diet made it possible to exercise and lose even more. Linsey Webb, another Blue Shield of CA employee, felt great after losing 47 pounds through the Weight Watchers at Work program, and then wanted to do something more. She started with one boot camp class at work and then signed up for more. Like Krieger, Webb now sleeps better and finds it easier to keep up with her kids at home. “I had a lot of back pain when I was heavier,” said Webb. “My back is perfectly fine now.” Healthy habits have the potential to ripple through the rest of the family too. “We all go on walks. We try to make healthy choices when we shop or eat out. We go for hikes or find active things to do together,” said Webb.

In addition to providing employees with a gym that has cardio equipment and weights as well as various exercise classes at no charge, Blue Shield of CA is bringing exercise into the office itself with treadmill desks, which max out at 2 mph, and stand-up workstations. Employees of Blue Shield of CA can sign up for up to three one hour shifts at the treadmill desk per week. According to Webb, who processes claims while on the treadmill, “at first it was kind of weird,” but the treadmill desk has proved popular and is now constantly booked for use. As these new desks and workstations catch on, Blue Shield of CA is partnering with researchers at Stanford University to study their impact and how best to offer them to their employees.

Four out of five Blue Shield of CA employees have participated in at least one aspect of the Wellvolution program, including biometric screening, Weight Watchers at Work, fitness classes and events and quit smoking classes. Between 2008 and 2012 smoking rates dropped by 48 percent, regular physical activity increased by 32 percent, and rates of high blood pressure declined by 66 percent. Williams is now marketing the Wellvolution program to other businesses.

About two-thirds of employers offer worksite wellness programs, and with the Affordable Care Act authorizing grants to small businesses to set up such programs, that proportion is likely to increase over the next couple years. But not all worksite wellness programs have been successful in making their employees healthier or reigning in healthcare costs. The success of Safeway’s much touted wellness program in reducing healthcare costs — which inspired worksite wellness provisions in the Affordable Care Act — turned out to be false. Safeway, too, offered employees onsite gyms with classes and subsidized cafeterias with healthier foods. Safeway’s health care costs dropped by 12.5 percent after the company overhauled its benefits plans in 2006, three years before its Healthy Measures program started, but then resumed climbing. Only 11,000 of Safeway’s 200,000 employees participated in Healthy Measures. The produce managers, deli counter workers and cashiers that make up the majority of Safeway’s workforce didn’t have access to the gym, cafeterias and other amenities at company headquarters.

My family’s experience with worksite wellness programs is typical of many. We were given a small incentive to complete an online baseline health risk assessment, and then given recommendations on how we could be healthier. We each got calls from a nurse to discuss these recommendations, but neither of us had the time for that in the midst of our busy workdays. Worksite wellness programs won’t save employers money — and may in fact further drive up costs — if they aren’t designed to help employees actually change their habits.

[via theatlantic]

Breathe easy.

Spice up your food, save your lungs. Ginger can help ease asthma symptoms, finds new research presented at the American Thoracic Society 2013 International Conference.

Researchers found certain chemicals in ginger (gingerol, shogaol) are able to work hand-in-hand with bronchodilating medications (commonly used to treat asthma) to help relax airway muscle tissues.

The study was done on human tissues and cells and on animals, so, for now, consider this preliminary—but promising—research. Though it’s unclear if cooking with more ginger may impact asthma, “some people have found that eating ginger or drinking ginger tea helps relieve their symptoms,” says lead study author Elizabeth Townsend, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 18 million adults have asthma, a lung disease where airways are inflamed, causing coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. Attacks can be triggered by exercise, says the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

That said, you’re not about to stop working out. And if you have asthma, ginger won’t replace your meds. However, eating more of the spice, whether fresh or ground, will at the very least boost your health. Studies show that ginger can relieve pain, control diabetes, and reduce appetite. One study in the Journal of Pain found that consuming a half-teaspoon daily reduced exercise-induced muscle soreness.

If you liked this story, you’ll love these:

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[via menshealth]

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Frenchie is the heart and soul of his gym in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The 72-year-old bodybuilder has been running the place for 36 years, with loads of weathered snapshots on the wall to prove it — Speedos, oily muscles, the whole deal. “Wow! This place is old!” is a typical comment for a new visitor, Frenchie says. “Some people today, they want to go to [a] fancy place. There’s plenty of places around, but — people like the way it is. It got character!” Frenchie’s Gym isn’t 24 Hour Fitness, that’s for sure. “The neighborhood keeps changing,” the filmmakers write on Vimeo, “but Frenchie’s not going anywhere.” 

This Must Be the Place is a documentary series about home, belonging, and loving what you do. Combining intimate interviews with lovely cinematography, David Usui and Ben Wu of Lost & Found Films craft unique portraits of individuals and the places that mean the most to them. The directors talk about the project in an interview with the Atlantic Video channel here, and don’t miss the rest of the series here. 

For more from Lost & Found Films, visit http://www.lostfoundfilms.com/.

[via theatlantic]

PROBLEM: The pre-societal, animal model of conflict resolution is simple, brutal, and effective. Leaving aside political gambles, moral considerations, and the like, the strong are more willing to fight for their self-interest, while the weak find it more advantageous not to assert themselves. Extrapolated to a fairly simple conflict of interest — wealth redistribution — do modern humans operate under the same logic?

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METHODOLOGY: Researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark and UC Santa Barbara collected from several hundred men and women in Argentina, the U.S., and Denmark. They categorized the subjects by socioeconomic class, their upper-body strength, or “fighting ability” (as measured by the “circumference of the flexed bicep of the dominant arm”), and their responses to a questionnaire gauging their support for economic redistribution.

RESULTS: Rich men, who would benefit least from redistribution, were more likely to be opposed to it — but only when they also had large biceps. There was a negative correlation between the two, so that rich men with less muscle strength were more open to redistribution. In men of lower socioeconomic status, the correlation was reversed: stronger men were more in favor of redistribution, while men with smaller muscles were less likely to support it.

These associations remained significant even once the researchers controlled for political party. No relationship between strength and ideology, however, was seen in women.

IMPLICATIONS: Evolutionarily speaking, write the authors, “it is a fitness error for weaker contestants to attempt to seize resources when they cannot prevail and for stronger ones to cede what they can cost-effectively defend,” at least in men. For women (again, in terms of evolution), physical conflict is rarely worth it. Regardless of the high-minded ideas we may have about how our ideologies are formed, their findings suggest, whether we argue in favor of the common good or our own self-interest is to some degree influenced by who would win should it come down to an arm wrestle.

[via theatlantic]

Pick your playlist carefully.

Cue the James Taylor. When a relationship has you down and troubled, you’ve got a friend in music, finds a new study from the Journal of Consumer Research.

Compared to people grappling with situational problems like failing a test or screwing up at work, those dealing with depressing relationship issues—say, losing a buddy or breaking up with a girlfriend—are nearly 40 percent more likely to listen to somber music that reflects their mood, the study shows. Researchers discovered a similar preference for angry music when people deal with rage-inducing relationship dust-ups.

Why? Listening to tunes that fit your foul mood is a lot like having a close friend to lean on, explains study coauthor Chan Jean Lee, Ph.D., of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. By reminding you that plenty of other people have felt as crappy or pissed as you do, music that matches your sad or angry emotions makes you feel “understood, cared for, supported, and validated,” Lee and his colleagues say.

Music may also help brighten your outlook, finds a separate new study from the University of Missouri. Just 15 minutes of upbeat songs spread over 2 weeks provided a roughly 15 percent boost in mood, the research shows.

Whether you’re down in the dumps or looking to buck up, find the right mood music at Songza. This free music service offers thousands of song selections based on how you’re feeling—from “trippy” to “trashy.” You can also search through playlists designed to fit your environment or activity, whether you’re barbecuing or trying to mellow out at work.

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[via menshealth]