You’ve probably heard of gum disease (also referred to as periodontal disease), but what causes it, how is it treated, and how do you prevent it? Gum Health Healthy You can tell gums are healthy when they are nicely fitted around your teeth and the gums are a light shade of pink and are without […]
The blaring sound of the alarm yanked Kasey from her deep sleep. Today was gym day. She slowly turned and saw the time being brightly illuminated by her digital clock. 4:00 AM She raised her hand and smashed the snooze button. Minutes later, the alarm blared again. 4:05 AM She smashed it again. 4:10 AM Kasey […]
“Billy. Here is one marshmallow for you. I’m going to leave the room and come back in 15 minutes. You can eat the one marshmallow while I’m gone, but if you don’t, and you wait the 15 minutes, I’ll give you a second marshmallow when I return.” This is the famous Stanford Marshmallow Experiment which […]
Staff Sergeant Kopp’s army reserve unit got the call. They will be heading to Iraq. SSgt Kopp was ready to go. This guy was a physical specimen. He passed his annual physical fitness tests without breaking a sweat. He spent hours at the gym. He ate a super clean diet. And he didn’t drink or smoke. For everyone who knew him, he […]
The other day I was listening to a comedy podcast and heard a pretty uncomfortable story. I don’t remember which podcast it was. I listen to a lot of comedy podcasts, so it’s easy to forget the source of these stories. This particular podcast episode had 3 or 4 stand-up comedians discussing random topics. The conversation eventually came […]
Don’t take flossing advice from mainstream media A few years ago, the news was abuzz with stories about the lack of scientific evidence to support the claim that daily flossing is beneficial. Here are a few of those headlines. U.S. News and World Report “Health Buzz: Flossing Doesn’t Actually Work, Report Says” (1) The Telegraph “Flossing […]
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was a big proponent of something called virtue ethics. It was an ethical theory primarily focused on how to develop human virtues (e.g. courage, ambition, patience, etc.), as opposed to creating ethical rules or measuring ethical outcomes. In other words, the question for him was, “What would an ethical person do?” And […]
I could not believe I was in second place. There was no one else around me. I was having visions of the podium and I was on it! Two more miles of this and the pain would be over. I had this! But then… I hit the “wall”. I “bonked”. That’s what endurance athletes call “running out of sugar”. My legs shut […]
Ben was listening to his favorite “Running Coach” podcast and heard something all too familiar. “Long distance runners need at least 8 hours of quality sleep to maximize their performance.” The hosts then rattled off a list of reasons why. “You will have better release of growth hormone and better regulation of cortisol.” “You will […]
Tim was awakened at 2 AM by a familiar sound. Running water. But Tim assumed it was just his toilet acting up again. So he pressed the pillow against his ears and tried to ignore it. But the sound only got louder. Tim flung the covers off himself and jumped out of bed. But the second his feet hit the […]