Are you reading this sitting down? Don’t!

April 29, 2012July 20, 2013 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 11 Comments

A recent study of over 200,000 Australians suggests that you might want to stand up if you happen to be sitting down right now. This study*, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that prolonged sitting is a health risk independent of physical activity, and adds to the growing body of evidence that people who sit the most die the soonest – and, worse, you may not be able to exercise this effect away.

I don’t know about you, but I thought that last finding was disturbing.

In fact, Aussie researchers reported that not even getting regular physical exercise can outweigh the higher mortality risks associated with sitting more than 11 hours a day. Healthy or sick, active or inactive, the more people sat, the more likely they were to die sooner than non-sedentary people. Continue reading “Are you reading this sitting down? Don’t!” →

When your mother dies

February 21, 2012February 17, 2022 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 23 Comments

Joan Zaruk ♥ May 7, 1928 – February 21, 2012

At 5 a.m. this morning, after hearing the news on the phone, I reread the chapter called When Your Mother Dies, in Rona Maynard’s wonderful book, My Mother’s Daughter:

“Baby showers herald the transition to motherhood. Roses, greeting cards and invitations to lunch celebrate mothers every May. Yet, despite our culture’s motherhood mystique, no rituals mark the psychological journey we daughters begin when our mothers die. Continue reading “When your mother dies” →

Women live longer – but not healthier – lives than men

February 5, 2012January 22, 2013 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

Audiences for my women’s heart health presentations are mostly female, but sometimes women will bring along their hubbies, too. One such man came up to speak to me following one of my recent public talks. He told me in quite a stern tone that he thought all this focus on women and heart disease was “far too negative!” What I should concentrate on instead, he advised me, was the more positive fact that women live longer than men do.

Setting aside his patronizing petulance at learning the actual grim reality about women’s heart health, it turns out that he’s quite correct. But although women do generally live longer, our waning years may be far less healthy than men experience in their old age. Continue reading “Women live longer – but not healthier – lives than men” →

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