This from "Nature News" - benefits of exercise

Active people could be up to 10 years 'younger' than couch potatoes, at least according to one measure of biological age.

Tim Spector, director of the Twin Research Unit at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, looked at the levels of physical activity of 2,401 twins and assessed the length of their telomeres - the 'caps' on the ends of chromosomes that help to protect the DNA. Telomeres shorten over an individual’s lifetime and are thought to be a marker for ageing. Smokers and obese people are already known to have shorter telomeres than their healthier counterparts.

The team found that, on average, telomeres in the most active group (who took more than 3 hours 20 minutes of exercise a week) were 200 nucleotides longer than that of the least active group (who took less than 16 minutes exercise a week).

“This difference suggests that inactive subjects may be biologically older by 10 years compared with more active subjects,” say Spector and colleagues in their paper in Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researchers also looked at matched pairs of twins and found an average difference of 88 nucleotides between the more and less active siblings.
- - - -

They don't know why. They looked only at exercise in the previous 12 months, not life history. And I don't know what they count as "exercise" -- for example, does walking count?

I'm currently doing about three and a half hours of running a week.

Eleven things to do to lose weight

If you need to lose weight, that is ....

1. Realise it's not a question of "willpower", or "just eating less and exercising more". You need to make changes to the way your life works. If you were going to give up drugs or recover from alcoholism, you wouldn't just "use willpower" and "try hard", you'd ask why it had happened; you'd change your social circles and your routine; you'd maybe get medication; you'd maybe look for support. "Trying" is sh*t and a waste of time.
   
2. Look closely at your alcohol intake. If it's more than about 7 units a week, you can probably make a big difference just by cutting out the alcohol. BUT that will require life changes, changes to leisure and social activities, maybe new friends, . . . . not just "trying to drink less" -- see point 1.
3. Do about an hour of brisk walking every day. Don't do jogging or running unless you enjoy it. Don't do swimming at all.
4. Weight-training helps a lot. I know, maybe you don't have any wish to get muscly, but you won't. That's not how it works. It changes your hormones.
5. Get enough sleep. It changes your hormones.
   
6. Learn to distinguish hunger from cravings for food. If it's a specific food that's you're thinking about, it's probably a craving, rather than hunger. They are usually felt in different places in the body, and feel quite different. If you've ever felt "full" after a meal, but still really wanted to eat the pudding because it looked so nice, then you should be able to understand the difference. Experiment with ways of dealing with cravings, for example by breathing and relaxation and self-talk.
   
7. Cut out all sugary drinks and "empty" carbohydrate foods like potatoes, white bread, pasta, rice, confectionery. Get your carbohydrates from beans, fruit, vegetables, rye bread. Especially cut out sugary drinks like coke, fruit juice, and beer. Coke is the worst (High Fructose Corn Syrup).
   
8. Don't eat anything deep-fried. That also includes crisps and similar snacks, as well as anything out the fryer at the chip-shop. Nuts are OK in moderation.
   
9. Avoid eating alone, if possible.
   
10. Never eat a large meal (what's sometimes called a "blow-out"). That would be more than about 1000 calories. No "saving up" your calories so that you can have a blow-out, that's forbidden.
    
11. Design your new life: imagine what you'd do, what you'd wear, who you'd socialise with, what leisure activities you'd have, if you were a different shape. If you want everything to be the same except be slimmer, that isn't going to work.

Cheap exercise

At the moment, I'm usually walking between Waterloo and Logica Stephenson House.
That's about a 40 minute walk each way.

I think of this as very cheap exercise, because it would take about 25 minutes on the tube, so I am getting 40 minutes exercise each way for only 15 minutes "spent".

Whereas if I (for example) went swimming or playing squash, or running on a treadmill at the gym, it would be more like 40 minutes of exercise for 100 minutes spent (when you add on travelling to and from the gym, changing, showering, and so on).

On a related topic, I guesstimate that at the moment, running accounts for around 15% of my total calorie expenditure. That's significant. If I walk to and from Waterloo three days a week, that would be about 7%. Of course, there's also walking to and from Winchester and New Malden stations....

I don't really know how many calories per hour weight training burns. It's much harder to quantify how "hard" you're doing it (whereas with running, mins/mile provides an easy measurement).

Out Of The Rut

I'm staying in a hotel in Cardiff which has a gym. So of course I gave it a try. I do like trying different gyms, different machines.

This hotel one has the same brand of machines as the gym at home, but a different assortment of types. And this morning, I definitely notice a difference, a few places where muscles are complaining (this is good). It's amazing how much difference a slightly different-angled machine makes, or a slightly different design of machine. The hotel had two machines (hip adduction and abduction) that my usual gym has annoyingly got rid of. Or maybe it's just the effect of working out in a different environment. But whatever it is, it seems to help. The soreness this morning tells me I was in a rut.

The place I used to use in Staines had completely different machines - a different make - they worked in very different ways. It had a chin-up machine that worked by pushing upwards under your feet, which I liked. But I hated their leg curl machine.

I suppose the moral of the story is to avoid getting into a rut of a "usual" workout that you always do. After 4 to 6 weeks, it gets stale. And there are always creative alternatives. (Recently, for my legs, I went back to doing lunges, which I hadn't done for a long time. Ouch! The first time, I could really tell the difference).

I can sort of hear the free weights fans pointing out that, with barbells and dumbells, you can vary it infinitely, and use a different angle every time. This is true, and I am a fan of free weights, but many gyms don't have them, and even with them, it's still easy to fall into a rut and always do the same thing every time. You still have to remember to change it around and do something new.

More Dawk

Time for another quick one about "The God Delusion".

One of the bits I find weakest is Dawkins' argument that belief in God is harmful (as a separate point from arguing that it's not true). He goes on at some length about "religious wars" and conflicts, and suggests that if we didn't have religion, none of those wars would have occurred.

The thing is, the conflict in, for example, Northern Ireland, is about a conflict between two different ethnic/political groups. The fact that they are labelled "protestant" and "catholic" is just convenient labels. They are not arguing about which version of religion is true, any more than they are arguing about which accent is nicer, or whether orange is a nicer colour than green. If there were no religion in the world, they'd still be fighting over that chunk of territory. Same in the former Soviet Union, same with Jews versus Arabs, and probably the same with Islam versus the West, I'd say. The religious labels are just handy labels for different groups in conflict over land or power or resources. If they didn't have those labels, they'd find others.


The question, for me, is about what generates meaning in your life. Dawkins clearly finds a lot, in his commitment to championing evolution and opposing religion... he has a cause. He writes, and rants on telly, like a true fanatic. But he seems nervous of anyone else having the same inclination. He is one of those who'd like to drain things of any meaning. You know, the people who always describe a marriage as "just a piece of paper", or, for that matter, the question of who gets how much of a share of what as being "just about the movements of pieces of paper". (I'm not having a go at Douglas Adams, btw, I don't think he meant that).

People sometimes experience the eruption of meaning into their lives, and it makes them, not necessarily happier, but certainly less docile, less predictable, more human. Some of them (though not all) frame it in terms of religious belief. To me, it looks as if what Dawkins really objects to is not the delusion that there is a God -- it's the way it makes people behave -- rather as he does!

What is the source of meaning in your life, and how do you know that that is so?

Races

In a fit of mad enthusiasm, I've signed up for loads of races.

These are

• a cross-country race next weekend in Winchester (maybe)
  
• one in Epsom on 27th
• one at Karen's club on 10th Feb
• a 19.5 mile very hilly one near Winchester on 17th Feb -- this one actually needs training for
  
• Eastleigh 10k on 16th March - it's not pretty but it's usually fast
  
• Totton 10k on 6th April (in the Hampshire road race league)
  
• and I will be supporting (not running) at the London Marathon on 13th April
  

Oh, yes, and the Dublin Marathon on Monday 27th October!
No, I am not looking for sponsorship. Yes, there will be Guinness afterwards.

American politics

I'm not interested really, but I couldn't help but notice that the Democrats are having a tight contest to decide which big "first" they could have as US President if they win: a woman, or a non-rich person. Apparently Obama comes from a genuine certified non-millionaire background, and his granny lives in Bracknell! It doesn't get any better than that....

(While the Republicans have someone called "Mitt" ?)

Things have been hectic

I haven't posted for a while - - things have been busy.
As most of you will know, my father has been in hospital, having had a fall. I'm not sure yet what the arrangements will be for his care and support, once they discharge him.

I've been to visit, but this part (while he's in hospital) is probably the easy part.

Meanwhile, I've started on a project that involves visiting London, York, and Cardiff.

In the past week, I've

• been to Cambridge to see Fred
  
• had dinner with Annie and Seb in Putney to celebrate their engagement
• been to a party near Kings Cross for Crisis volunteers and danced a lot
• run a 10k race in Stubbington Green (very windy but OK)
  
• been to York for a meeting
• sung in the choir
• been to Cardiff
• and done loads of laundry....

It hardly seems possible. Things I've cut back on include sleeping and guitar practice.
Oh well.

Provisional diary notes for January 08

I don't really know how my weeks are going to shape up when I'm working in York.
I'm supposed to be there about 2 days a week.
Tuesday evenings will still be choir if at all possible.


Tues 8th - visiting York - choir if I get back in time

Fri 11th - dinner with Anne & Seb (tbc)

Sat 12th - party near Kings Cross, but be moderate because the following morning . . . . .

Sun 13th - Stubbington 10k race

Mon 14th - Anne's birthday

Weds 16th - Bass lessons re-start

Fri 18th - RW curry night Covent Garden

Fri 25th - RW last Friday of the month at Doggetts

Fri-Sun 1-3 February -- probably a Mytho weekend

On The Move

I am blogging this from on a train from London to York.

Nothing to say, really, just wanted to play with the free wireless internet on the train.

On The Wagon Again

There is a bunch of us on RW in a thread called "On The Wagon For January". The rest of the year, it's a social chat thread, with us all keeping up with each other's lives, but in January we try to cut down, or give up, alcohol, and we get a big influx of new members who see the thread title and feel like giving it a try.

It ranges from people who more or less are alcoholics (but they have their own more serious thread), people who perhaps aren't alcoholics exactly but who drink what seems to me a frightening amount (e.g. bottle of wine or half a bottle of spirits or seven pints pretty much every night), right through to people like me who consider five pints a major night of excess and can happily go forever without a drink, but want to lose a bit of weight, or save some money.

I tend not to drink all that often, maybe once a week. From time to time (every few months) I drink far too much (for me) and feel ill. I'd like to stop doing the latter and stick to the former.

We each (on the thread) make our own rules and state our own objectives. Mine are: no alcohol except on a few nominated social occasions; no solitary drinking; no excessive drinking on those few social occasions. At the moment, the only occasions I can see are a Runners World curry night, which may or may not happen; a Crisis volunteers' party from which I need to drive home, so must be moderate; and Doggetts. I have only once managed to be moderate at Doggetts, one time when I only stayed till about 8pm.

No, immediately after midnight in the first few minutes of the New Year doesn't count either.

By the way

If you're reading this and you don't know what the whisky cake and candle are for, see

http://www.new-year.co.uk/firstfoot.html

I couldn't find any coal.

I am a spammer

In the opening moments of 2008, as I watched the fireworks and stood about with the required whisky, cake, and, er, candle, I foolishly tried to send a text to my family and friends saying "Happy New Year".

Of course the network was clogged, so the text failed to send ... and my phone kept offering to re-try. I must have let it re-try about 50 times. Each time, it said it failed, and the message stayed in my out-box (and nothing appeared in "sent").

Imagine my horror when I texted someone else, the same happened, but that person received the message! So quite possibly I'd texted all my friends 50 times. I am a spammer.

(The true definition of "spam" is not "advertising" but "mail that you keep getting again and again and again...." as per the Monty Python spam song)

I checked with John the next day, and he said he'd had the text four times. Which is strange. I expected the answer to be 0, 1, or 50... why 4? But quite a relief. I'm hoping nobody got it 50 times, because I texted about a dozen people....

By the way, if you DIDN'T get a text from me, it doesn't mean you're not one of my nearest and dearest friends; it just means the network was clogged up and it didn't get through.

You can see how I can't win either way on this one. . . . .

Happy New Year

to all readers

May 2008 bring you whatever you wish for!

Although "May 2008" looks like a date, but you know what I mean