August Newsletter
August, 2022
Welcome to the August newsletter. This newsletter aims to provide information and analysis of timely topics from recent articles published in the medical literature. I hope you find this information useful and helpful in your health journey. If you have comments or questions, please let us know!
-----

We live in a time of hacks. This is not referring to our politicians, it is referring to shortcuts. Everyone is looking for a shortcut or a faster way to get things done. This is true whether it is looking at ways to learn faster, accomplish our daily chores more quickly, or how to be healthier. What if I let you in on a secret hack that could improve insulin resistance in 3-5 minutes? Interested? Check out the first article for the details.

People struggle with weight loss and weight maintenance. I have had patients come in and tell me they are doing everything right but still not losing body fat as expected. There may be a reason for this. It has nothing to do with self-control or discipline or body fat percentages. It has to do with your muscles!

We have limited time and energy to reduce our risk of chronic disease. Where should we put our efforts if we want to improve our healthspan? What is healthspan? The third article will explain it!

I hope you enjoy these articles!
-----
Walk After Dinner
I’m always looking for time-effective ways to make a difference in health, in other words, the minimum effective dose to achieve the most health effect so this study caught my eye. We know that prolonged sitting is not healthy. But how much does it take to make a difference physiologically? Do we really need to do 30-minute exercise bouts to make a difference? Do we need to get sweaty to achieve benefits? Is there a way we can “hack” the system? When is the best time to exercise? How much do we have to do to make a difference? This study sheds some light on these questions and provides us with a great potential “hack” for our metabolism. 
 
Are You Diet-Resistant?
You can’t outrun your fork. I’ve often said this to my patients when we discuss weight loss and weight maintenance. I say this to remind people that nutrition is generally more important than exercise for weight loss. But are there exceptions? Are there some people who actually need to outrun their forks? Should this group prioritize exercise? Why is this so? How do I know if I’m one of these people? 
‌
Fit Is It!
As we try to determine where to concentrate our efforts at being more healthy, how can we predict our risk for disease? There are certainly several scales but what is the strongest predictor of mortality? What is the difference between lifespan and healthspan? How can I improve my healthspan? How much of this predictor do we need? 
To Your Health...
Thank you for taking the time to read through this newsletter. We hope you have found this information useful. Feel free to pass this on to anyone you think would benefit from this newsletter.

Mark Niedfeldt, M.D.


Old-fashioned medicine with 21st Century convenience and technology