Did walking help Theresa May decide on a snap election? | Daniel Glaser

It was during a walking holiday in Snowdonia, says Theresa May, after ‘long and hard’ reflection that she made the decision to call a June election. So much for walking and creative inspiration. But is there a connection between the two?

Neuroscience would say that depends on the difficulty of the task. Using a mathematical example, you can test this out for yourself. When you start with an easy challenge like counting in fives, fast walking isn’t a problem, but try multiplying 37 and 23 and you’ll find your feet slow down no matter how hard you try and keep up the pace.

We only struggle to walk and problem solve when the task is sufficiently difficult (if deciding on an election was a no-brainer for May, it’s unlikely her walking pace suffered). Various theories have been advanced to explain the finding, but really it’s down to attention being a limited resource in the brain. It’s not as good at multitasking as you’d expect. In May’s case, it could even be that the opposite was happening; the effort required to maintain a steady walking pace distracted her from the everyday preoccupations of running the country, enabling her to hatch a fiendish plot to steal a march on the opposition.

Dr Daniel Glaser is director of Science Gallery at King’s College London

Did walking help Theresa May decide on a snap election? | Daniel Glaser

The Guardian view on public health: walking to happiness | Editorial

Across England and Wales 140,000 miles of tidy and scrappy, rough and smooth and muddy, open, wooded, exposed, sheltered, peaceful and exhilarating rights of way roll and ramble across some of the two nations’ finest landscapes. They meander from pub to hamlet and farm to school, or sometimes just from suburb to suburb by the scenic route. Now, over a little more than a year and helped by more than 3,000 citizen’s surveys, Ramblers (formerly the Ramblers’ Association) has mapped the condition of enough of these sometimes ancient routes to conclude that more than half are in a good condition, treasured, enjoyed, and as well maintained as a vital part of the common interest should be.

But the picture is uneven. Where the landowner is the National Trust, the National Forest or a national park, the story is usually good – streams with stepping stones, fences with working gates. But as many as a tenth are in serious disrepair: unsignposted, overhung by inhospitable brambles and thick with threatening nettles. That is 14,000 miles of rambling that hovers between the difficult and the impassable. No surprise that these paths are often in areas where local councils, responsible for maintaining rights of way, have experienced the worst cuts. How obvious it must seem, when faced with the choice between closing a day centre or maintaining 100 miles of footpaths, to let the axe fall first on what seems inessential.

Yet, as the Ramblers point out, walking is probably the best single way of promoting both physical and mental health yet to be devised. If everyone walked for two and a half hours a week, fewer people would need doctors and the NHS could be nearly £2bn better off. It is something that almost everyone can do. No special equipment is needed – just paths there to walk on, safe, traffic-free and easy to reach. There is even a budget, just not the obvious one. Under the largely destructive Health and Social Care Act of 2012, responsibility for public health was devolved to local councils. There are some obligations they must fill, relating to the provision of access to such things as sexual health services and baby and child health measures. But there is scope for local interpretation too, to chose what form of public healthcare local people will get the most benefit from. Some things – stop-smoking and substance abuse programmes – are usually essential. But walking, along with facilities like green spaces and play areas, could be part of the programme too.

Unfortunately, the Treasury view does not encompass public health; if extra cash for the NHS has to be found, it is invariably the public health budget that is raided. So, after the last election, £200m was taken out mid-year. Earlier this year, it was announced that the budget, now at £3.38bn, would shrink again, by just short of 4% a year until 2020. The sub-budget for promoting physical activity, King’s Fund research found, has now been cut by nearly 15%.

MPs on the communities and local government committee have just launched an inquiry into the state of parks in England. They are hearing bleak messages about play areas closed because councils can no longer afford to maintain them and about park wardens, who kept spaces safe, made redundant. To that toll can now be added thousands of miles of rights of way that, like parks and play areas, should be playing their part in keeping the NHS solvent by making us all healthier.

The Guardian view on public health: walking to happiness | Editorial

Running Or Walking, Which Is Better For Your Health?

While it is common knowledge that running is a great way to stay in shape, walking is also great exercise. Some people often dismiss walking but the truth of the matter is that walking is just as beneficial as a form of exercise. Particularly for the elderly or those who have suffered an injury, walking on a regular basis is a great way to stay in shape.

So which is better, running or walking? While running is a more rigorous exercise, you are also more apt to injure yourself. It might be hard to get your heart rate up while walking but it doesn’t put undue pressure or strain on your body. So how does one decide?

Which exercise is best for someone who is serious about getting into shape?

The Final Verdict

The truth is that both are great exercise routines to follow and for those who are wondering which to choose, the answer is to do both. By alternating between running and walking you give your body a much-needed rest at regular intervals. It can also give you a refreshing change once in a while and for those who are cross training, walking is an excellent work-out option.

First time runners are often encouraged to start off with interval training, which involves both walking and jogging. In this way, beginner runners are able to become familiar with a steady pace before they pick up the speed. If a runner starts feeling winded or fatigued during a run, they always slow down to a steady walk, taking the time to catch their breath without completely losing momentum. By walking, they are able to catch their breath while they exercise. Moderate exercise like walking is also great for boosting your nitric oxide levels and overall health.

Walking Secrets

Many people automatically assume that running burns more calories than walking, simply because you are moving faster. However, when it comes to walking it is a good idea to remember the old story about the Tortoise and the Hare. While runners do tend to burn more calories, a walker who maintains a quick and steady walking pace will also burn just as many calories. In fact, an interesting study at Duke University revealed that the weight loss of runners and walkers was almost identical.

Walking is a very effective option for people who suffer from joint or muscle pain since runners have a greater risk of getting injured than walkers. While runners definitely burn calories quicker, walkers also burn calories and can maintain a healthy and well-toned body.

The final verdict is that both walking and running are needed for good health. For those who can manage both, it is a good idea to incorporate them into your training schedules. Just because walkers seem to be moving slower does not mean they aren’t burning calories or working up a sweat.

Burning fat and blasting calories should be the first on the list of things to do. The best way to do that is to choose a cardiovascular workout that you can do, and commit to doing it every day. Exercise machines have come a long way and can be a great place to start.

Running Or Walking, Which Is Better For Your Health?

The Walking Dead: Renal Denervation In Europe Just Can"t Be Stopped

Earlier this year the only huge, properly-developed trial of renal denervation– the after highly-promising catheter-based mostly technological innovation that was broadly expected to “cure” tough instances of resistant hypertension– failed spectacularly. Numerous hypertension authorities think that ultimately the approach will demonstrate to be beneficial, but soon after the failure of Simplicity HTN-3 it is clear that there’s a fantastic deal of analysis that wants to be performed to find out just how– or if– this novel technology must be utilized.

In the US this does not existing a dilemma. The FDA has not approved renal denervation so it can only be utilized in a investigation setting. But that is not the case in Europe, in which the gadget is offered due to reduce requirements for gadget approval.

Correct now Europe’s largest interventional cardiology meeting, Euro PCR, is underway in Paris. Surprisingly– or probably not– renal denervation is still currently being heavily promoted in Europe. Right here is the evidence: a series of tweets by @Jeddacath, an interventional cardiologist at the Brigham &amp Women’s Hospital in Boston, who is attending the meeting.

This prompted some intriguing feedback:

Walking Dead Girl (Photograph credit: micadew)

The Walking Dead: Renal Denervation In Europe Just Can"t Be Stopped

The CDC Plans For A Walking Dead Zombie Apocalypse

Are you prepared for a Walking Dead-type zombie apocalypse? The CDC hopes so.

No, the Centers for Ailment Handle (CDC) does not see a zombie invasion as a sensible long term situation. But the office of emergency preparedness does want you to be prepared for one.

Fear of zombies (not to mention America’s ever-expanding obsession with The Walking Dead) is an exceptional motivator to get Americans to prepare for an emergency – any emergency, the company has found.

And the social media frenzy surrounding the episode 414 shocker (covered here by Forbes) provides a ideal minute to appear at the good results of the CDC’s uber-clever messaging campaign.

“If you are typically effectively outfitted to deal with a zombie apocalypse, you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack,” says Assistant Surgeon General Ali Khan, MD, director of the Workplace of Public Overall health Preparedness and Response, summing up the campaign’s influence.

Are you prepared for a Walking Dead-design zombie apocalypse? The CDC hopes so. (Photograph: CDC)

Brilliantly conceived by Dave Daigle, associate director of communication, the CDC’s Zombie Apocalypse preparedness campaign features eye-catching posters and other educational resources, and has rapidly become one the agency’s most well-liked and successful public health campaigns but, thanks to the show’s achievement. (The national Bath Salts frenzy didn’t harm both.)

The campaign launched in 2011, inspired by the first season of The Strolling Dead in which survivors descend on the CDC headquarters, only to uncover the government company woefully unprepared to deal with a pandemic of animated corpses.

“What initial started as a tongue in cheek campaign to engage new audiences with preparedness messages has proven to be a quite successful platform,” explains the CDC in a latest message highlighting the campaign’s good results.

The campaign also contains a graphic novella, Zombie Pandemic, designed to appear a lot like the several well-known teenage guide series featuring zombies, vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures but which in fact walks through catastrophe preparedness in child-pleasant language..

There is even a social media webpage with buttons, badges, eCards, and all sorts of widgets developed to appeal to zombie fanatics.

The Zombie Site, which sadly hasn’t been updated because 2012, attributes posts with emergency supply lists and backlinks back to the CDC’s emergency preparedness kit.

The achievement of the campaign – which reportedly value 87 bucks, launched in one particular week, and has created hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost-free media coverage so far – hasn’t gone unnoticed by communications, advertising and public well being professionals, a lot of of whom have analyzed and touted its success.

The USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism even published an influential situation review analyzing the campaign’s affect.

Want to take away some individual rewards from the CDC’s Zombie Apocalypse campaign? Right here are the supplies the CDC suggests for a Zombie-associated or any other catastrophe:

• 
  Water (at least 1 gallon per particular person per day)


• 
  Meals (stick to non-perishable staples that your household will in fact eat ie no spam!)


• 
  Drugs (Which includes each over-the-counter and prescription medication – however keep on top of expiration dates)


• 
  Equipment and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, pliers, can opener for above-mentioned cans)


• Battery-Powered Radio


• 
  Sanitation and Hygiene (Soap, towels, dishwashing supplies, disinfectant, and so forth.)


• 
  Clothing and Bedding (All-season blankets or sleeping bags, sleeping pads and at least one particular modify of clothing for each and every family member)


• Flashlights and Further Batteries


• 
  Copies of essential documents (Passports, driver’s license, birth certificate, and health-related insurance cards for each household member)


• A Supply of Income


• 
  Very first Help Supplies (bandages, rubbing alcohol, antibacterial ointment, and so forth)
  
  

Says the CDC, with uncharacteristic humor: “Although you are a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to deal with standard cuts and lacerations that you may well get for the duration of a tornado or hurricane.”

For much more health news, adhere to me here on Forbes.com, on Twitter, @MelanieHaiken, and subscribe to my posts on Facebook.

The CDC Plans For A Walking Dead Zombie Apocalypse