Obesity is an important topic today because it is both widespread and deadly. While genetics does contribute to the issue, we now know that inactivity is one of the biggest factors contributing to the epidemic, and desk-bound work plays no small part. Researchers are looking for a solution, and for the past year workers at the financial consulting firm Salo have been testing and loving one of them: the treadmill desk.

While users of the treadmill desk do not find themselves walking at a quick pace, but are going more of a modest 1.4 miles per hour, the results have been very positive. From Yahoo! News:

“Remarkable,” Salo director of operations Craig Dexheimer told NPR. “We didn’t even go to a gym. We just went to work!” Dexheimer says he has lost 25 pounds since switching to the treadmill desk.

Though it may be effective, it is important to use the equipment properly:

“There’s a tendency to want to jump on the treadmill and walk for hours and hours a day,” Dr. James Levine told NPR. “Don’t do that. Certainly, at the absolute maximum, do half-hour on, half an hour off, for two to three hours a day.”

The treadmill desk is a compelling alternative to other cardiovascular workouts that are inconvenient or perhaps too strenuous. It is commercially available, and if you would like to know more, read Treadmill desks might be the next office health trend by Eric Pfeiffer in Yahoo! News.

My colleague and friend Robert Ferguson, MS, CN, CEO of Diet Free Life, works tirelessly as a certified nutritionist and coach. He recently appeared on the Ricki Lake Show:

In the video we meet Steve, who has lost 200 pounds and wants advice about how to teach those same lifestyle changes to his daughter Jordan. When asked about what kind of dialogue needs to occur in the family to encourage these changes, he gives excellent advice. The trick is to talk in terms of energy and metabolism, while removing judgement from the equation completely. This way, instead of seeking approval, kids can focus on building a sense of holistic health.

Communication in the home is the most important element in teaching a healthy lifestyle. Kids are information sponges and have the capacity learn good or bad habits — this is why it is so important for parents to explain why yo-yo dieting is not the way, and to show how good habits can not only change the way you look, but also the way you feel.

To learn more, visit Robert Ferguson’s website DietFreeLife.com.

I’ve always felt that, being a physician, it is extremely important to also be an educator. As someone with knowledge and experience, I have the chance to be a positive influence within the community. Featured in an article for Physician’s Money Digest, I discuss how I have managed this and how it has affected my patients:

“[Video] allows me to reach the patient before they come in,” explains Moshe Lewis, MD, MPH, a pain management specialist with SpinalCare Medical Group. “Hopefully, the patient comes to the appointment that much more educated.”

When doing his own online research he found that not only was there an absence of physician authorship of pain information, there was also a tremendous appetite for information on the part of consumers.

With so much misleading information out there, videos have been a great way to encourage safety and wellness in not only my patients but anyone seeking to better themselves. To read the full post, visit the Physician’s Money Digest website.

Late Night Health, the radio show I co-host with Mark Alyn, had its first airing this year and has garnered attention as a result, like a recent Suite101 article that offers details about how the show came to be:

He had the idea for the show several months ago while talking with a friend at a radio station. Alyn told him, “I’d like to do a show on the weekends geared to the boomer and it would be on late at night, maybe at midnight.”

His friend offered him a spot on his station starting the following weekend. Alyn did not accept immediately, opting to take his time and do more pre-production to garner better results. But several weeks later Late Night Health was born.

As more and more people are taking ownership of their health, many are interested in methods of pain relief and health guidance that emphasize alternatives to standard medication. Late Night Health is a great place to hear experts and innovators talk about how to improve well-being without leaving your comfort zone. Often, the solution can be simplicity itself.

While the program offers all kinds of options including pharmaceutical treatments, acupuncture, chiropractics and other alternative ideas, Dr. Lewis had one piece of simple advice that everyone can heed, “Slow down and smell the roses. We are all so busy and often multitasking, myself included. We need to enjoy life more and appreciate the roses.”

To read the full article, visit Suit101.com.

Learn more about LateNightHealth on it’s official website

Listen: Can Yoga Be Bad For You?

Podcast Interview length: 51 minutes

Yoga Journal estimates that Americans spend over $5 billion a year on yoga classes and products. And this should come as no surprise – yoga is credited with lifting moods, revitalizing sex and reducing stress. But a recent New York Times Magazine article focused on how yoga can also cause serious injury. We discuss the safe practice of yoga.

In this interview I talk with:

• Baxter Bell, director of the Piedmont Yoga Studio’s teacher-training program in Oakland and a board-certified family doctor
• Glenn Black, yoga teacher featured in the New York Times Magazine article
• Jason Crandell, yoga teacher and contributing editor of Yoga Journal
• Kaitlin Quistgaard, editor in chief of Yoga Journal

Listen to this podcast on KQED

KGO Radio Interview: Dr. Lewis discusses recent Marathon Video Gamer Death
KGO recently interviewed me to discuss twenty-year-old Chris Staniforth, who reportedly played the game “Halo” on his Xbox for up to 12 hours at a time and died in May from deep vein thrombosis. This a condition triggered by sitting for extremely long periods of time. A coroner said that there was a blood clot that formed in Staniforth’s leg that moved up to his lungs to cause a fatal pulmonary embolism.

Deep vein thrombosis usually occurs among people who have to sit for long periods of time such as on a long-haul flight. With the advent of marathon video gaming, these clots can also form and prove deadly. Symptoms include swelling in the leg where the blood clot originates, followed by shortness of breath, chest pain and dizziness.

“After my research I saw there was no difference to Chris sitting at a desk on his Xbox and someone on a long-haul flight,” Staniforth’s father, David, told BBC News. In a statement, Xbox manufacturer Microsoft said that it encourages gamers to take breaks from playing, BBC News reported.

Listen to Dr. Moshe Lewis and Yvette Scott discuss pain management.

In part 2, we discuss…

• Healing the entire person - cultural, mental, and physical
  • Acupuncture
  • Prioritized Physical Therapy
  • Pain solutions without opioids
  • psychological support
  • Getting people out-and-about
  • Making time for health
  • About addiction to opioid pain drugs
  • Alcohol and drugs - building tolerance
  • Restorative Yoga

Featuring

• Dr. Moshe Lewis, MD
• Yvette Scott, PN

One of my patients, Jim Fitzpatrick, was recently interviewed in the Mercury News on his on going fight with chronic pain and his success despite this disability. He also recently completed an interview with Cheryl Jennings and myself about alternative approaches to chronic pain at ABC. I am really proud of Jim and encouraged by his will to conquer pain.

Excerpt from the Mercury News article "From roller derby to art gallery":

About 10 years ago, the South San Francisco resident was coping with mobility issues and chronic pain after retiring as a firefighter due to a disability.

He went through years of physical therapy until, in recent years, his doctor recommended a treatment known as myofascial release, which decreased his pain and made him more mobile again.

Wanting to help others coping with chronic pain, Fitzpatrick and his doctor recently discussed his successful treatments on an episode of ABC7 TV's "Beyond the Headlines."

Read more at Mercury News: From roller derby to art gallery

Listen to Dr. Moshe Lewis, Yvette Scott, and Dr. John Cuniff discuss heart disease.
Click here to watch part 2 of "Heart Disease - A Silent Killer".

 

Part 1 focuses on:

• Learn about common risk factors for heart attacks.
• Salty foods and their role in heart disease.
• The benefits of Exercise

Featuring:

• Moshe Lewis, MD
• Yvette Scott, PN
• Dr. John Cuniff

Dr. Moshe Lewis will be interviewing Dr. John Cunniff of the Stanford Medical Center for two special segments titled "Heart Diseases: A Silent Killer" and "Managing Your Pain." Both of these specials will be featured on channel 15 (Comcast) at these times:

Heart Disease: A Silent Killer

Thursday, March 17 @ 6:30p.m.
Saturday, March 19 @ 9:30a.m.
Sunday, March 20 @ 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 22 @ 7:30 p.m.

Managing Your Pain

Thursday, March 24 @ 7:30p.m.
Saturday, March 26 @ 9:30a.m.
Sunday, March 27 @ 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 29 @ 7:30p.m.

Both specials will be live-streamed at creatvsj.org

Dr. Moshe Lewis, a physician who specializes in musculoskeletal injuries and diseases at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, explains what rhabdomyolysis is, what causes it and how it is treated.

(via USA Today)