And so it has finally happened Borders UK has gone into administration and the options for those of us who like browsing in bookshops will be reduced. I am saddened even though it is odd to be writing this about Borders, who, when they first came to Britain, were seen as part of the problem: a big pile-them-high merchant who would squeeze the life out of the small independents. Now they in turn have been squeezed by a bigger pile-them-high merchant in Amazon … so goes life.
I started to like Borders from 2000 when I realised that Waterstone's had radically changed. This was symbolised by the sacking of Richard Topping, their Manchester manager, for refusing to reduce the number and range of titles he carried. Previously I enjoyed Watersone's and thought it had improved the standard of bookselling in the country (I am old enough to remember when the only place to buy books in some towns was W H Smith and if you ordered a book it took weeks to arrive) but I then started to think of their dark-wood shelves and subdued décor as an affectation: a self-conscious referencing of a gentleman's library, whilst the brasher blond wood fittings of the Border's shops, with books piled everywhere seemed more honest. Yes we sell in bulk, it seemed to say but there is a lot of stuff here and we have chairs and a coffee shop so you can take you time sifting through it.
My lingering affection for Waterstone's was then further frayed in 2005 when they sacked a senior bookseller for some fairly mild comments in his personal blog. So it happened that I preferred using Border's (there are no independents in my area). But over the past few years you could see things were not going well and stock started to reduce. No longer were there piles of stuff, shops were rearranged and shelves disappeared. This has been particularly marked in the last year where there has been more space devoted to the offers ( 3 for 2, buy one get one half price, 2 for £10) and non-book items whilst the stock behind has become thinner and thinner.
But why am I writing about bookshops on a running blog?
The answer is that, as unlikely as it might seem, Borders in Watford is a significant part of my running landscape. From my home, along the canal it is about 10 miles away, a nice distance for a longish run, along a route I never tire off. I have been doing it regularly for 5 years with the affection that can only come from familiarity, especially as it is associated with another institution: the family meeting. I meet my wife at the in-store Starbucks (she goes by car and brings me a change of clothes) and we discuss our joint projects and plans, and check off our progress. A lot of it is mundane such as jobs that need doing so the list could be something like downstairs blind - fixed; treating the garden fence - still outstanding; but sometimes we talk more speculatively about what we should be doing and where we should be going. On these topics we rarely reach conclusions but they need to be discussed because the real topic of these meetings is to try to work out how we can support each other better. And that is very important.
Borders brings three things together: browsing, running and relationship maintenance - a strong combination. However things always change and there are many other good locations (pubs for example). Borders might be soon be no more but the meetings will continue and I still like the idea of running to them.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Shiny, Shiny Things
My bike is nothing exotic as it is neither super fast, feather light nor made from carbon or titanium. The paint scheme is pleasantly retro and the material is old-school steel and as such I think it rather nice. It is designed for hacking about and it suits me fine. There are details that make it interesting, for example you can see that the designer came from mountain biking and the wishbone seat stays make it look like an overgrown mountain bike frame from about 1990. But that is not important - all that matters is that it rides quite well.
The only reason I mention this is that last week it sparked an interesting conversation. I was cycling through the industrial area, near the end of a ride when the driver of an Audi slowed down and indicated that he wanted to ask me something.
“I see you are riding a Plane X bike” he said “How do you find it? Only I am going up to their place at Doncaster today and was thinking of getting one of their bikes”
So I told him about the bike and what I knew of the company and then we started talking more generally. He had recently come back into cycling and wanted the excitement of some new equipment. His existing bike was custom made steel but he thought it a little large and it was old and he was tired of it. Sometimes I think when we go back to a passion after a break we need the stimulus of the new, the sense of a fresh start.
“You know that ever since I decided to get a new bike I am always looking at what people ride and noticing.” I could relate to that because the same thing happens to me: if I am buying a new toy one of the pleasures is the anticipation stage when you look and compare and gather enough information to allow your heart to make the decision.
We then moved moved from equipment to more general things like motivation and objectives. As he had just started back he was full of the enthusiasm that comes with rediscovery but what was keeping him focussed was a challenge. He wanted to cycle, with a friend, from their home near Newcastle to Edinburgh and back in a day; approximately 230 miles, with hills. A serious enterprise that made me realise how limited my own ambitions, or capabilities, are -if I did the trip one way, in a day, I would be extremely happy. But we all have to have our own horizons.
We then parted ways, him to Doncaster me to home but it had been a cheery conversation, all the more enjoyable because it had been unexpected and random. It left thinking that the big difference between running and cycling is the enjoyment of cycleporn, ie an obsessive interest in well designed objects, a hierarchy of desirability and a susceptibility to brand image. There is both good and bad to it. The bad is consumer ism, whilst the good is an aesthetic sensibility: the appreciation of the beauty of something that works both well and elegantly. No matter how hard running magazines and manufacturers try to push the latest developments it is not the same. The kit is still no more than: shoes, shorts, socks and a top. A bike can look stylish all by itself but a runner….Well actually I prefer not to look at my reflection if I happen to be passing a shop window.
No one has ever stopped me and said “I see you run in Asics, how do you find them?” and no one ever will. The manufactures might claim the all sorts of technological advances for their trainers but the main criterion is whether they fit. In other words it is all about the human body and how it moves, not how well the equipment works. In that there is a sort of purity and that is why I run.
But I like shiny things as well - so I also cycle.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
A Feeling of Space
A postscript to my last post about the restorative powers of landscape: you do not need imposing natural grandeur for it to be refreshing, sometimes the domesticated views of the Home Counties can work their magic just as well. The view does not even have to be of natural features, small picturesque villages can also lift the spirits.
Today I went for an meandering cycle ride, with the only plan being to loop around some nearby villages. In every case I found something pleasing, whether it was a pond, a green, a cricket pitch on the green, or just a churchyard. The heart of each village had open space, old buildings, a human scale and felt restful.
The picture comes from the churchyard in Flamstead, a village listed in the Domesday Book. All was quiet and it was hard to believe that only a short distance away was the M1, heavy with traffic. A neat contrast as one space invites you to wander and contemplate and is thus refreshing, whilst the other demands concentration and has constant pressure from people in all the other vehicles.
This started me wondering whether one of the key issues for mental recuperation , as well as the beauty of natural landscapes, is the feeling of space and not being crowded or rushed. Sometimes in urban areas one can be hemmed by all the other people, wrapped-up in their own worlds, not interacting but intruding. One can be deprived of clear sight lines and subconsciously this feels pressurised. In such circumstances it is difficult to clear the mind
Today I had no problem with crowds as it was on small lanes and it always surprises me how it takes only a short step away from the beaten track for crowds to disappear. I find this when I run. Around Ashridge the parking spaces can be full and there can be quite a few people on nearby paths, strolling, walking their dogs or just messing about but a short distance further in people melt away and you feel you have the woods to yourself. Selfishly I'm actually quite pleased that many people do not want to move far from their cars.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Looking at nature
Most of the pictures on this blog are of canals and trees, in other words natural surroundings (even if canals are man made). It is the way I think of my runs - chugging along looking at trees and water, passing people who are outside to enjoy themselves. I think of my standard run as 1 hour along the canal but in reality less than half the time is spent on the towpath as I have to get there and it is 16 minutes away. But the streets on the way tend to pass in a blur and I think of them as a preamble (word chosen carefully to reflect my running speed) that has to be got through. It is a bit odd as it is all running and everything should be of equal value.
Now I find there might be a good reason for this: nature is better for your state of mind.
"Attention restoration theory" is the current rebranding of the idea that a walk in the woods can help refocus your thoughts. Think of the Romantics tramping the Lake District or Thoreau at Walden and know the idea has been around for a long time but to be contemporary it has to have a three letter acronym so it is now ART. ART hypothesises that nature engages our attention and our sense of beauty in a way that places no load on the prefrontal cortex. In other words the mind can freewheel and give our directed-attention faculties a chance to recuperate. In contrast a walk in an urban environment is full of stimuli that require immediate attention and is therefore not so restful.
Last year this was tested in an experiment at the University of Michigan. A group of people were given some backwards number tasks that required a deal of concentration. After the first session they took an hour walk either in an arboretum or along the streets of Ann Arbor, after which they took more tests. Whilst everyone's scores improved those of the nature walkers improved significantly more than those who had gone downtown. A second experiment cut the walking, instead the participants looked at pictures of either nature or urban scenes in their break. Again those who had looked at the nature scenes improved more.
So there you have it. If you want your run to have the maximum restorative effect you should search out routes containing natural beauty. Any run is obviously good but some places just make you feel that little bit better.
Scientifically proved!
Now I find there might be a good reason for this: nature is better for your state of mind.
"Attention restoration theory" is the current rebranding of the idea that a walk in the woods can help refocus your thoughts. Think of the Romantics tramping the Lake District or Thoreau at Walden and know the idea has been around for a long time but to be contemporary it has to have a three letter acronym so it is now ART. ART hypothesises that nature engages our attention and our sense of beauty in a way that places no load on the prefrontal cortex. In other words the mind can freewheel and give our directed-attention faculties a chance to recuperate. In contrast a walk in an urban environment is full of stimuli that require immediate attention and is therefore not so restful.
Last year this was tested in an experiment at the University of Michigan. A group of people were given some backwards number tasks that required a deal of concentration. After the first session they took an hour walk either in an arboretum or along the streets of Ann Arbor, after which they took more tests. Whilst everyone's scores improved those of the nature walkers improved significantly more than those who had gone downtown. A second experiment cut the walking, instead the participants looked at pictures of either nature or urban scenes in their break. Again those who had looked at the nature scenes improved more.
So there you have it. If you want your run to have the maximum restorative effect you should search out routes containing natural beauty. Any run is obviously good but some places just make you feel that little bit better.
Scientifically proved!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
I Used to Enjoy Reading Julie Welch
If you asked me a couple of days ago to name my favourite running books 'Long distance information' by Julie Welch would have been on the list. It starts with her, at the age of 48, discovering she is capable of completing a long distance cycle ride, without much preparation. After that adventure she embraces the idea of a physical challenge and takes up running culminating with a long distance run in France, retracing memories from her childhood. It is mostly a memoir, both amusing and touching, but framed by the run. As such it successfully illustrates the way that running by a mixture of rhythm and steady exertion can liberate the mind and help us see things more clearly and it speaks to me of things I value in running.
But my good will to the author is now shattered and I am totally baffled that someone who wrote so convincingly about the way running could transform the life of a middle aged woman could write so spitefully about middle aged men who jog. Admittedly it is part of the press campaign to ridicule Gordon Brown in every way possible(and she does spend an awful lot of words mocking the way he looks when out for a run) but the conclusion is that middle aged men should not run. They should stick to the traditional, more dignified pursuits of bridge, gardening or a bit of bowls and she describes jogging as a modern plague brought to us by the Americans before delivering this dire health warning.
The implication is that after you have reached a certain age you should fade away to gentle irrelevance and not strain yourself too much because it might be dangerous. I can almost feel the metaphorical pat on the head and the "there, there dear. Now you mustn't overtax yourself" (plus of course concern that you wrap up warmly and wear a vest).
This is so wrong.
Every time I see someone out on the road, man or woman, young or old, struggling with their run but still trying, I want to offer support. Every time someone manages to break a personal barrier and for example manages to run for fifteen minutes without walking, they are right to be proud. Every time anybody makes the effort I think their achievement should be appreciated.
The most important thing is to continue to try. It doesn't matter what at, it just matters that you continue to strive. Running is good, people should be supported and Julie Welch in this one mean spirited article has undone much of the good of her other writings.
It is such a shame.
But my good will to the author is now shattered and I am totally baffled that someone who wrote so convincingly about the way running could transform the life of a middle aged woman could write so spitefully about middle aged men who jog. Admittedly it is part of the press campaign to ridicule Gordon Brown in every way possible(and she does spend an awful lot of words mocking the way he looks when out for a run) but the conclusion is that middle aged men should not run. They should stick to the traditional, more dignified pursuits of bridge, gardening or a bit of bowls and she describes jogging as a modern plague brought to us by the Americans before delivering this dire health warning.
But Gordon Brown is in his late 50s - not an age to hurl yourself into a fitness regime from scratch.
It isn't good for the ageing knees, it will inflame sciatica and it risks bringing forward the date of a hip replacement.
Most worryingly, the sudden strain on ancient heart valves can occasionally be fatal.
The implication is that after you have reached a certain age you should fade away to gentle irrelevance and not strain yourself too much because it might be dangerous. I can almost feel the metaphorical pat on the head and the "there, there dear. Now you mustn't overtax yourself" (plus of course concern that you wrap up warmly and wear a vest).
This is so wrong.
Every time I see someone out on the road, man or woman, young or old, struggling with their run but still trying, I want to offer support. Every time someone manages to break a personal barrier and for example manages to run for fifteen minutes without walking, they are right to be proud. Every time anybody makes the effort I think their achievement should be appreciated.
The most important thing is to continue to try. It doesn't matter what at, it just matters that you continue to strive. Running is good, people should be supported and Julie Welch in this one mean spirited article has undone much of the good of her other writings.
It is such a shame.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sports News is Always About Football
I was going to start this post with: "I am in despair" before I realised I was 'in despair' only two posts ago. Damn, I really am turning into a grumpy old man. I must either try to control this and make a deliberate effort to see the sunny side or take my miserablist self outside for a walk and tell him he will only be allowed back if he is clear eyed and sharp, not at all if he is merely gloomy. As one of my core beliefs is that running lifts the spirits and helps you connect with the world in a more positive way, I cannot constantly be holding my head in my hands.
Anyway back to today's peeve and just like two posts ago it is not about running, or my own experiences; it is to do with the way sport and exercise is talked or written about. In this case the way football dominates the airways and sucks the oxygen away from other, more interesting, topics.
This morning the sports bulletin in the Today programme carried a piece about the UK Sport’s World Class Performance Conference, which brings together top coaches from all disciplines so they can exchange knowledge. Fair play to Today for picking up on this item but the interview with the representative was lamentable. He was allowed to state the purpose of the meeting but after that he was only asked about Rafa Benetiz and how it might help him with his bad string of results or what it would say about his decision to field a weakened team in one competition. It was very, very strange, as if the only purpose of the item was to make back-handed, and unrelated, digs at the Liverpool manager
All the time it was frustrating because I really wanted to hear what they would be talking about, what would be the focus of the presentations, and who would be talking. (It is now even more frustrating because the UK Sport website only provides the marketing blurb and no programme).
I am sure I am not unusual in being a back-pack runner who is interested in how the elite reach their high standards and the latest developments in coaching and sports science. There must be many of us who participate in all types of sport, who know how difficult they are to master and are in awe of the top performers. We are curious about how they became so good and want to know both about their methods and the capabilities of the human body. It is a far more fascinating subject than the endless speculation on the current status of a various football manager.
Anyway back to today's peeve and just like two posts ago it is not about running, or my own experiences; it is to do with the way sport and exercise is talked or written about. In this case the way football dominates the airways and sucks the oxygen away from other, more interesting, topics.
This morning the sports bulletin in the Today programme carried a piece about the UK Sport’s World Class Performance Conference, which brings together top coaches from all disciplines so they can exchange knowledge. Fair play to Today for picking up on this item but the interview with the representative was lamentable. He was allowed to state the purpose of the meeting but after that he was only asked about Rafa Benetiz and how it might help him with his bad string of results or what it would say about his decision to field a weakened team in one competition. It was very, very strange, as if the only purpose of the item was to make back-handed, and unrelated, digs at the Liverpool manager
All the time it was frustrating because I really wanted to hear what they would be talking about, what would be the focus of the presentations, and who would be talking. (It is now even more frustrating because the UK Sport website only provides the marketing blurb and no programme).
I am sure I am not unusual in being a back-pack runner who is interested in how the elite reach their high standards and the latest developments in coaching and sports science. There must be many of us who participate in all types of sport, who know how difficult they are to master and are in awe of the top performers. We are curious about how they became so good and want to know both about their methods and the capabilities of the human body. It is a far more fascinating subject than the endless speculation on the current status of a various football manager.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Official Advice on Exercise Pt 2
Official advice on the amount of exercise needed is quite simple:
■ Children and young people should achieve a total of at least 60 minutes of at least moderate intensity physical activity each day. At least twice a week this should include activities to improve bone health (activities that produce high physical stresses on the bones), muscle strength and flexibility.
■ For general health benefit, adults should achieve a total of at least 30 minutes a day of at least moderate intensity physical activity on 5 or more days of the week.
■ The recommended levels of activity can be achieved either by doing all the daily activity in one session, or through several shorter bouts of activity of 10 minutes or more. The activity can be lifestyle activity or structured exercise or sport, or a combination of these.
■ It is likely that for many people, 45-60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a day is necessary to prevent obesity. For bone health, activities that produce high physical stresses on the bones are necessary.
■ The recommendations for adults are also appropriate for older adults. Older people should take particular care to keep moving and retain their mobility through daily activity. Additionally, specific activities that promote improved strength, co-ordination and balance are particularly beneficial for older people.
That’s all there is.
When I first read them I thought they were very soft. There is no mention of vigorous, nothing about raising the pulse rate or breathing heavily and nothing about being able to gradually do more with practice. As for breaking it up into 10 minutes units I thought it was the slippery slope to counting any slight movement as exercise.
But I was probably being a bit snooty because I run and know the feeling of wellbeing that sweeps through you after a good session. I therefore know in my bones that exercise is good for you. So my viewpoint is distorted especially as I have little understanding of the general level of inactivity in the population as a whole or how hard it is to start from a low base.
Reading the 2004 report by the Chief Medical Officer changed my mind (it can be downloaded here) as it shows the evidence base for the recommendations, which can be summarised by this quote:
This is clear. If more people adopted this regime of moderate exercise there would be dramatic change. However in the back of my mind is the quote from Jerry Morris saying that vigorous activity was necessary and his survey of civil servant showed gardening was not enough. I presume later surveys have different results but is vigorous exercise really unnecessary?
It seems that there is might be some debate. In 2007 the American Heart Association modified its advice by incorporating vigorous exercise and resistance training. The base recommendation was still 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 times a week, but 3 sessions of vigorous exercise could be substituted, if preferred, or moderate and vigorous sessions could be mixed. The Guardian report of this change was exaggerated and had the headline “The era of gentle exercise is over: it’s official you’ve got to work up a sweat”, which is a complete misrepresentation (the NHS Behind the Headlines response is here). Although the American report was merely an enhancement of the existing recommendations, it did acknowledge that there were still some people who believed that only vigorous exercise had a health effect and that recent evidence gives some indication that vigorous exercise is more beneficial for cardiac disease.
However in terms of a public health message the last thing you want is debate. It is important to stand firm with advice and only change it when counter evidence is very clear. Any sign of confusion is an excuse for people to do nothing. You need only look at diet, where there is a perception of scientists always changing their minds (even if this is not the case) to see how that works.
Additionally getting people to move from nothing to something is very difficult and you do not want to make the task seem daunting. (Again diet is the example ‘5 a day’ for fruit and vegetables was chosen as a target that would not be too off-putting; it is not necessarily the optimum).
So I can now see why the current advice is good. It has a the maximum chance of making an impact but it needs to seep into the general consciousness in the same way as '5 a day'. If we walk on average only half a mile a day and 38% of adults have less than 30 minutes of moderate activity a week. There is a long, long way to go.
■ Children and young people should achieve a total of at least 60 minutes of at least moderate intensity physical activity each day. At least twice a week this should include activities to improve bone health (activities that produce high physical stresses on the bones), muscle strength and flexibility.
■ For general health benefit, adults should achieve a total of at least 30 minutes a day of at least moderate intensity physical activity on 5 or more days of the week.
■ The recommended levels of activity can be achieved either by doing all the daily activity in one session, or through several shorter bouts of activity of 10 minutes or more. The activity can be lifestyle activity or structured exercise or sport, or a combination of these.
■ It is likely that for many people, 45-60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a day is necessary to prevent obesity. For bone health, activities that produce high physical stresses on the bones are necessary.
■ The recommendations for adults are also appropriate for older adults. Older people should take particular care to keep moving and retain their mobility through daily activity. Additionally, specific activities that promote improved strength, co-ordination and balance are particularly beneficial for older people.
That’s all there is.
When I first read them I thought they were very soft. There is no mention of vigorous, nothing about raising the pulse rate or breathing heavily and nothing about being able to gradually do more with practice. As for breaking it up into 10 minutes units I thought it was the slippery slope to counting any slight movement as exercise.
But I was probably being a bit snooty because I run and know the feeling of wellbeing that sweeps through you after a good session. I therefore know in my bones that exercise is good for you. So my viewpoint is distorted especially as I have little understanding of the general level of inactivity in the population as a whole or how hard it is to start from a low base.
Reading the 2004 report by the Chief Medical Officer changed my mind (it can be downloaded here) as it shows the evidence base for the recommendations, which can be summarised by this quote:
The World Health Organization has reported that physical inactivity is one of the 10 leading causes of death in developed countries, producing 1.9 million deaths worldwide per year.21 It estimates that physical inactivity is responsible for the following proportions of ‘disability-adjusted life years’ in developed countries:
■ 23% of cardiovascular disease for men and 22% for women
■ 16% of colon cancer for men and 17% for women
■ 15% of type 2 diabetes
■ 12% of stroke for men and 13% for women
■ 11% of breast cancer. Becoming more active can bring substantial benefit.
There is a clear dose-response relationship between physical activity and all-cause mortality, and between physical activity and diseases such as coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes: greater benefits occur with greater activity participation (see Figure 1). From a public health perspective, helping people to move from an inactive level to low to moderately active levels will produce the greatest reduction in risk. A physical activity energy expenditure of 500-1,000kcals per week (about 6-12 miles of walking for an average-weight individual, compatible with the current physical activity recommendations for adults) reduces the risk of premature death by 20-30%. These considerable health benefits hold for both women and men and are evident even up to the age of 80 years.
This is clear. If more people adopted this regime of moderate exercise there would be dramatic change. However in the back of my mind is the quote from Jerry Morris saying that vigorous activity was necessary and his survey of civil servant showed gardening was not enough. I presume later surveys have different results but is vigorous exercise really unnecessary?
It seems that there is might be some debate. In 2007 the American Heart Association modified its advice by incorporating vigorous exercise and resistance training. The base recommendation was still 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 times a week, but 3 sessions of vigorous exercise could be substituted, if preferred, or moderate and vigorous sessions could be mixed. The Guardian report of this change was exaggerated and had the headline “The era of gentle exercise is over: it’s official you’ve got to work up a sweat”, which is a complete misrepresentation (the NHS Behind the Headlines response is here). Although the American report was merely an enhancement of the existing recommendations, it did acknowledge that there were still some people who believed that only vigorous exercise had a health effect and that recent evidence gives some indication that vigorous exercise is more beneficial for cardiac disease.
However in terms of a public health message the last thing you want is debate. It is important to stand firm with advice and only change it when counter evidence is very clear. Any sign of confusion is an excuse for people to do nothing. You need only look at diet, where there is a perception of scientists always changing their minds (even if this is not the case) to see how that works.
Additionally getting people to move from nothing to something is very difficult and you do not want to make the task seem daunting. (Again diet is the example ‘5 a day’ for fruit and vegetables was chosen as a target that would not be too off-putting; it is not necessarily the optimum).
So I can now see why the current advice is good. It has a the maximum chance of making an impact but it needs to seep into the general consciousness in the same way as '5 a day'. If we walk on average only half a mile a day and 38% of adults have less than 30 minutes of moderate activity a week. There is a long, long way to go.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Official Advice on Exercise Pt 1
The example of exercise advice given from the health perspective was randomly chosen: I searched Google, found the recommendations from an NHS website and the job was done. It was the only article I read and as it lived up (or down) to my expectation by advocating a gentle approach that almost suggests you can exercise without any great effort, I looked no further. But this is not good enough because: 1) it goes against the principle of always trying to disprove your own assumptions; 2) it is only fair to look further.
So here is a record of my search for official advice on exercise to see whether it is clearly presented and easy to find. I will do this in two posts. The first will look at the sources of information on the Web; the second will look at the content of the advice and its consistency.
Sources of Information
1) Directgov is designed to be the citizens portal for government information and advice and is the obvious place to start. The front page has a link to a index page on 'health and wellbeing', where there is a section for 'healthy living' but this doesn't have exercise as a subheading so the only option is a click to another index page: 'more about healthy living'. Here again there is nothing about exercise I can go to 'Change4life' but there is also a heading 'sports facilities and events', which seems at first to be unlikely. Strangely it is what is needed as it contains links to:
keeping fit (young peoples section);
staying physically active (pensions and retirement planning section);
fitness advice on NHS Choices.
At last some information!
There was of course no need to go through the linky links, there is a search box. The search term 'exercise' threw up the 'sports facilities and events' page as the first hit but I ignored it because, at the time, I thought the strap line 'Find a local gym or sports facility and look up local and national sporting events' made it seem irrelevant. However I did strike gold because the next hit was a newslink to the 2004 report by the Chief Medical Officer's on exercise, which I was able to download from the DoH site.
(Totally by the way their search engine is a bit weird. The results for 'exercise recommendations' or 'exercise guidelines' offered 'NHS to offer acupuncture for back pain' as the first result)
2) Change4life. Apparently the Government is spending £75m on this campaign to encourage us to eat more healthily and exercise more. So surely this must be the place for good advice. It is aimed at families so presumably it's written to advise parents on what's good for them and their kids, ie its supposed to be read by adults.
Oh the bright colours! Oh the perky language! It makes you feel like you are being talked at by the presenters of Playdays. Here is the introduction to 'Why Change4Life?'
There is so much I could say about this but I will restrict myself to one small question. Why 'unhelpful' when the obvious word is unhealthy? Sometimes a single word can show a rottenness of thought behind the writing. Here is how they explain why we should encourage our kids to be more active:
I am comatose with despair!
3) NHS Choices LiveWell. This fitness section is a proper grown-up site and actually quite good. The information on the why and how of exercise is clearly laid out and there is a good range of side links to supporting information (eg a link to Sustrans to help people get cycling and a video wall of tips from Olympic athletes). This is the place to find the Government's advice but this is not the end of the story because there are always other places to look.
4) More from NHS Choices. Entering the term 'exercise' in the search box brings up many more pages of advice that are not linked-to from the fitness site. A lot of them are plain pages of text and are thus probably excluded for looking a bit dull but they contain good, solid information. This on what type of exercise? is a good example. ( on a side note this page is not only dated it shows when it will next be reviewed. I wish this practice was more common)
5) Department of Health. This has more background information to support the exercise campaigns. From here you can Chief Medical Officers report as well as the NICE guidelines for health professionals on increasing physical activity. There is also the action plan published february this year, which brings together both the advice and plans to increase activity. This has to be done because the shocking statistics found in these documents show that:
Around 65% of men and 76% of women are not physically active enough to meet national guidelines (to be at least moderately active for at least 30 minutes on 5 or more days a week). 30% of boys and 39% of girls aged 2–15 years do not achieve the recommended physical activity levels for their age (at least 60 minutes of at least moderate- intensity physical activity each day).
Between 1995–97 and 2005, the average distance walked had dropped from 200 to 197 miles per person, per year. The average distance cycled fell from 43 to 36 miles per person per year.
6) Behind the Headlines This is a brilliant NHS site that looks at the actual research findings behind health stories in the news and puts them into context and assess how significant they might be. Although this is not the place for the official government advice it is worth checking So far they have analysed 243 stories related to lifestyle and exercise. If searching for articles about exercise it is important to remember that the search engine covers the whole of the NHS Choices site and so the phrase 'behind the headlines' should be included in the search.
7) NICE. As well as the guidelines for health professionals I mentioned earlier, NICE have produced a report on creating physical environments that support increased levels of physical activity. It can be downloaded from this page, where you can also have access to their background information. This is one of the fundamental issues and shows how any attempt to change peoples pattern of behaviour has far reaching ramification that reach into many other areas of government.
8) NHS Evidence In my rather sad way I got quite excited when I found this search portal for health information that covers published, research, grey literature, guidelines and reports. The results page gives the option of refining by type of publication.
9) Other Bodies. There are all sorts of other bodies that have some sort of stake in physical activity from the well known such as Sports England or slightly more esoteric like the Outdoor Health Forum but I feel that I am wandering away from the core subject of official advice into a thicket of bureaucratic bodies and background information and I know that madness lies there. However I must pass-on my favourite line from the website of the Physical Activity Alliance "Currently, the Alliance has no formal status; there is no legal entity; there are no staff, no premises, no agreed strategy or delivery plan/programme." Brilliant!
So here is a record of my search for official advice on exercise to see whether it is clearly presented and easy to find. I will do this in two posts. The first will look at the sources of information on the Web; the second will look at the content of the advice and its consistency.
Sources of Information
1) Directgov is designed to be the citizens portal for government information and advice and is the obvious place to start. The front page has a link to a index page on 'health and wellbeing', where there is a section for 'healthy living' but this doesn't have exercise as a subheading so the only option is a click to another index page: 'more about healthy living'. Here again there is nothing about exercise I can go to 'Change4life' but there is also a heading 'sports facilities and events', which seems at first to be unlikely. Strangely it is what is needed as it contains links to:
keeping fit (young peoples section);
staying physically active (pensions and retirement planning section);
fitness advice on NHS Choices.
At last some information!
There was of course no need to go through the linky links, there is a search box. The search term 'exercise' threw up the 'sports facilities and events' page as the first hit but I ignored it because, at the time, I thought the strap line 'Find a local gym or sports facility and look up local and national sporting events' made it seem irrelevant. However I did strike gold because the next hit was a newslink to the 2004 report by the Chief Medical Officer's on exercise, which I was able to download from the DoH site.
(Totally by the way their search engine is a bit weird. The results for 'exercise recommendations' or 'exercise guidelines' offered 'NHS to offer acupuncture for back pain' as the first result)
2) Change4life. Apparently the Government is spending £75m on this campaign to encourage us to eat more healthily and exercise more. So surely this must be the place for good advice. It is aimed at families so presumably it's written to advise parents on what's good for them and their kids, ie its supposed to be read by adults.
Oh the bright colours! Oh the perky language! It makes you feel like you are being talked at by the presenters of Playdays. Here is the introduction to 'Why Change4Life?'
Well done! Visiting this site is your first step in making a Change4Life, and you're not alone. Lots of people like you are already enjoying making a Change4Life! The way we live nowadays means a lot of us, especially our kids, have fallen into unhelpful habits. This means all of us need to make small changes to eat well, move more, and live longer.
There is so much I could say about this but I will restrict myself to one small question. Why 'unhelpful' when the obvious word is unhealthy? Sometimes a single word can show a rottenness of thought behind the writing. Here is how they explain why we should encourage our kids to be more active:
Activity raises kids’ heartbeats and helps pump blood around their bodies. It’s like a mini workout for their lungs and muscles! It also decreases their chances of getting life-threatening diseases.
I am comatose with despair!
3) NHS Choices LiveWell. This fitness section is a proper grown-up site and actually quite good. The information on the why and how of exercise is clearly laid out and there is a good range of side links to supporting information (eg a link to Sustrans to help people get cycling and a video wall of tips from Olympic athletes). This is the place to find the Government's advice but this is not the end of the story because there are always other places to look.
4) More from NHS Choices. Entering the term 'exercise' in the search box brings up many more pages of advice that are not linked-to from the fitness site. A lot of them are plain pages of text and are thus probably excluded for looking a bit dull but they contain good, solid information. This on what type of exercise? is a good example. ( on a side note this page is not only dated it shows when it will next be reviewed. I wish this practice was more common)
5) Department of Health. This has more background information to support the exercise campaigns. From here you can Chief Medical Officers report as well as the NICE guidelines for health professionals on increasing physical activity. There is also the action plan published february this year, which brings together both the advice and plans to increase activity. This has to be done because the shocking statistics found in these documents show that:
Around 65% of men and 76% of women are not physically active enough to meet national guidelines (to be at least moderately active for at least 30 minutes on 5 or more days a week). 30% of boys and 39% of girls aged 2–15 years do not achieve the recommended physical activity levels for their age (at least 60 minutes of at least moderate- intensity physical activity each day).
Between 1995–97 and 2005, the average distance walked had dropped from 200 to 197 miles per person, per year. The average distance cycled fell from 43 to 36 miles per person per year.
6) Behind the Headlines This is a brilliant NHS site that looks at the actual research findings behind health stories in the news and puts them into context and assess how significant they might be. Although this is not the place for the official government advice it is worth checking So far they have analysed 243 stories related to lifestyle and exercise. If searching for articles about exercise it is important to remember that the search engine covers the whole of the NHS Choices site and so the phrase 'behind the headlines' should be included in the search.
7) NICE. As well as the guidelines for health professionals I mentioned earlier, NICE have produced a report on creating physical environments that support increased levels of physical activity. It can be downloaded from this page, where you can also have access to their background information. This is one of the fundamental issues and shows how any attempt to change peoples pattern of behaviour has far reaching ramification that reach into many other areas of government.
8) NHS Evidence In my rather sad way I got quite excited when I found this search portal for health information that covers published, research, grey literature, guidelines and reports. The results page gives the option of refining by type of publication.
9) Other Bodies. There are all sorts of other bodies that have some sort of stake in physical activity from the well known such as Sports England or slightly more esoteric like the Outdoor Health Forum but I feel that I am wandering away from the core subject of official advice into a thicket of bureaucratic bodies and background information and I know that madness lies there. However I must pass-on my favourite line from the website of the Physical Activity Alliance "Currently, the Alliance has no formal status; there is no legal entity; there are no staff, no premises, no agreed strategy or delivery plan/programme." Brilliant!
Sunday, November 01, 2009
More Jerry Morris
I have been thinking more about the article about Jerry Morris I linked-to recently and realise that I need to explain why I found it both interesting and uplifting.
The main reason is a straightforward admiration for anybody who has spent his life trying to make things better for others. Such people, who try to solve problems practically, based on knowledge and understanding, are the backbone of the country (compared to most of the people in the media who seem to float on clouds of opinion). Jerry Morris was a high level example and, from the evidence of the article, it looks as if he led a virtuous life.
Times Past
Another reason is probably nostalgia. When I read it I could almost imagine a black and white film of the forties with the central character calmly displaying determination in the face of adversity, moral strength, and practical intelligence (he would probably have to be played by John Laurie because I think it was the law at the time that all Scotsmen had to be played by John Laurie). But deeper than an internal cinema is the attraction of looking back at what has changed and what is still the same.
He worked when we were changing from a physically demanding life to the more domesticated, sedentary world we now inhabit. To be able to compare bus drivers to bus conductors was a wonderful opportunity because class, background, lifestyle, diet of both was very similar and it was possible to isolate the differences caused by exercise. This is no longer the case: there are very few conductors; there are far more differences between those who take exercise and those who don't and there are far more confounding factors.
I also found his regret at the passing of the can-do attitude of the 40s to be poignant. i am sure that it is not that we are any less practical or enterprising now but rather we have lost faith in the idea that national plans and initiatives can make things better. Our default position is cynicism and it is a shame that it is so. The post war period, up until the mid 70s, was probably the high point of optimistic thinking, ie a belief that life could be made better, planning could improve the lot of everybody and the application of science would be beneficial. It is not easy to recapture that mood but I still think there is a lot to recommend in the idea of rounding-up all the experts on a subject, sending them away to the Hebrides and not letting them back until they come up with a workable plan.
Applying the Lessons
Although he made is discovery a lifetime ago, there is now a general understanding of the importance of exercise, I am not sure the full message has been accepted. He is very clear that there needs to be vigorous exercise (gardening by itself is not enough) but a lot of the health advice offered today tones that down. We pussyfoot.
I looked at the exercise recommendations on the NHS Choices. Although it contains some sensible advice, nowhere does it mention the need to raise the pulse rate. Vigorous? The word is shunned as we cannot make even the tiniest suggestion of effort in case we scare people off. I understand the motive, and we certainly don’t want to make things seem overly forbidding, but our bodies were evolved for exercise; there is pleasure in breathing heavily. More to the point vigorous exercise is necessary and we are diluting what we know to be true in an effort to make it more palatable. That does nobody any good.
“Exercise normalises the working of the body”. I like that quote. I think it should be at the head of all the health advice.
The Necessity of Exercise
This quote says it all:
The main reason is a straightforward admiration for anybody who has spent his life trying to make things better for others. Such people, who try to solve problems practically, based on knowledge and understanding, are the backbone of the country (compared to most of the people in the media who seem to float on clouds of opinion). Jerry Morris was a high level example and, from the evidence of the article, it looks as if he led a virtuous life.
Times Past
Another reason is probably nostalgia. When I read it I could almost imagine a black and white film of the forties with the central character calmly displaying determination in the face of adversity, moral strength, and practical intelligence (he would probably have to be played by John Laurie because I think it was the law at the time that all Scotsmen had to be played by John Laurie). But deeper than an internal cinema is the attraction of looking back at what has changed and what is still the same.
He worked when we were changing from a physically demanding life to the more domesticated, sedentary world we now inhabit. To be able to compare bus drivers to bus conductors was a wonderful opportunity because class, background, lifestyle, diet of both was very similar and it was possible to isolate the differences caused by exercise. This is no longer the case: there are very few conductors; there are far more differences between those who take exercise and those who don't and there are far more confounding factors.
I also found his regret at the passing of the can-do attitude of the 40s to be poignant. i am sure that it is not that we are any less practical or enterprising now but rather we have lost faith in the idea that national plans and initiatives can make things better. Our default position is cynicism and it is a shame that it is so. The post war period, up until the mid 70s, was probably the high point of optimistic thinking, ie a belief that life could be made better, planning could improve the lot of everybody and the application of science would be beneficial. It is not easy to recapture that mood but I still think there is a lot to recommend in the idea of rounding-up all the experts on a subject, sending them away to the Hebrides and not letting them back until they come up with a workable plan.
Applying the Lessons
Although he made is discovery a lifetime ago, there is now a general understanding of the importance of exercise, I am not sure the full message has been accepted. He is very clear that there needs to be vigorous exercise (gardening by itself is not enough) but a lot of the health advice offered today tones that down. We pussyfoot.
I looked at the exercise recommendations on the NHS Choices. Although it contains some sensible advice, nowhere does it mention the need to raise the pulse rate. Vigorous? The word is shunned as we cannot make even the tiniest suggestion of effort in case we scare people off. I understand the motive, and we certainly don’t want to make things seem overly forbidding, but our bodies were evolved for exercise; there is pleasure in breathing heavily. More to the point vigorous exercise is necessary and we are diluting what we know to be true in an effort to make it more palatable. That does nobody any good.
“Exercise normalises the working of the body”. I like that quote. I think it should be at the head of all the health advice.
The Necessity of Exercise
This quote says it all:
“For the first time in history,” says Morris, “the mass of the population has deliberately got to take exercise. It’s a new phenomenon, which is not appreciated.” For decades he has tried to persuade governments to make exercise easier. He was involved in the pioneering English National Fitness Survey of 1990, which found that half of women aged 55 to 64 could not comfortably walk a mile. These people were in effect disabled. The government ignored the report. Since then, British exercise levels haven’t changed much. His voice becomes high-pitched with outrage: “Just imagine, what historians in the future are going to say about the way we’ve allowed this epidemic of childhood obesity. ‘Disgrace’ is a sort of mild word.”
Embodied
Reading an opinion piece about dictionaries in CIF I found this paragraph:
I need add no more. It is the reason I run.
There's more. We humans are embodied creatures. As philosophers put it, we are extended in space and time. That's no humdrum observation. Our intelligence depends upon it, for we feel our way through the world. Moreover, the same embodiment is intimately linked to our capacity for imagination which, in turn, has much to do with the growth of knowledge. The material world we inhabit nurtures our ability to think, as some of the synonyms used for intelligence themselves suggest: we say, "she's bright", "he's sharp", "they're quick" – metaphors all derived from the physical world.
I need add no more. It is the reason I run.
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