Stanford Lifestyle Medicine Blog

Read the latest blog posts from lifestyle medicine experts at Stanford University covering health topics across our 7 pillars.

 

An Interview with Barbara Waxman: The Leading Authority on Middlescence

An Interview with Barbara Waxman: The Leading Authority on Middlescence

Barbara Waxman is the leading authority on Middlescence and a passionate advocate for aging, wisdom, and thriving in midlife. Her mission is to shift cultural norms around aging by establishing Middlescence as a unique life stage. Barbara is the founder of Odyssey Group Coaching, which aims to help middlescents thrive personally and professionally. She is one of the only Gerontologist-coaches in the United States. Here are her thoughts on the field of Lifestyle Medicine: What made you interested in Lifestyle Medicine?...

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Why We Need Exercise: An Evolutionary Perspective

By Maya Shetty By now, we have all heard that exercise is good for us. But why is this true? And if it's so good for us, why is it so hard to get up and do it? The Center for Disease Control (CDC) claims we need 150 minutes of moderate exercise and 2 days of muscle strengthening exercise a week to reduce our risk of chronic disease and other adverse health outcomes. However, nearly 80% of US adults are...

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Computer Science x Human Performance

By Brigid Reidy Artificial intelligence and machine learning have taken the world around us to new heights. We find these systems operating in the background of some of our most loved and appreciated products such as at home smart-speakers, ride-booking apps, social media, and even google translate. In the past year these branches of computer science have begun to enter our world in another way as well, namely in the area of at home fitness.  Last year, Peloton launched the...

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Whole Food Plant-Based Diet

By Julia Pangalangan The Standard American diet contributes significantly to risk of disease, mortality, and morbidity in the United States. In contrast, dietary patterns emphasizing a whole food, plant-based approach to eating promotes health and longevity. A whole food, plant-based (WFPB) dietary pattern involves consuming a variety of vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, fruits, mushrooms, herbs, and grains. A plant-based approach can be difficult to implement, but even small, incremental changes can be extremely impactful. Increasing intake of minimally processed foods...

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Navigating the Difficult World of Supplements

By Matthew Kaufman When you think about nutritional supplements for athletic performance, you may imagine an advertised “get fit quick!” and a promise to change your whole life. I remember when friends, teammates or a coach would tell me about a supplement, I would often tune it out for a couple of different reasons. First, we must be aware that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Second, the supplement industry does not follow the same...