This year the Herald’s award-winning newsroom produced a range of first-class journalism, including investigating the state of our mental health in the Great Minds series, how NZ can rebuild stronger post-Covid with The New New Zealand and how to minimise the impact of living in an Inflation Nation.
We also tackled our literacy crisis in our Reading Block series, while dogged investigative reporting by Kate McNamara resulted in an investigation into the awarding of contracts to businesses associated with family members of Cabinet minister Nanaia Mahuta.
This summer we’re bringing back some of the best-read Premium articles of 2022. Today we take a look at some of the best fitness tips and tricks from the year.
Can you pass the 10-second balance test?
Balance training is an important but often-neglected skill, one that affects both our longevity and our quality of life, beginning around age 40. A study in June by a Brazilian team found that 20 per cent of the 1700 older adults tested couldn’t balance on one leg for 10 seconds or more. And that inability to balance was associated with a twofold risk of death from any cause within 10 years.
If you have tried out the one-legged test (with a wall or chair nearby for safety) and didn’t pass, don’t panic. It’s never too late to start working on balance training, even if you can pass the 10-second test, especially if you’re older than age 50. This doesn’t have to mean handstands and acrobatics. In fact, you can start at home without any equipment.
Is Pilates as good as everyone says?
Pilates first gained widespread attention in the late 1990s, as celebrities like Madonna and Uma Thurman touted its benefits, and aerobics enthusiasts sought a lower impact exercise option.
While no workout can offer us a new body, devotees say the low-weight resistance training can help our current bodies in important ways, strengthening the core muscles around the spine.
But a few years ago, the workout appeared to be on the decline. Doomsayers predicted a “Pilatespocalypse”, as newer and sweatier fitness trends, like spinning and boot camps, exploded.
But thanks in part to the pandemic, many people’s exercise priorities have shifted from intense, calorie-burning workouts to activities that also foster a mind-body connection.
The strength and flexibility workout is having a moment. What can - and can’t - it do for us?
Is 30 minutes of exercise a day enough?
For anyone interested in the relationship between exercise and living longer, one of the most pressing questions is how much we really need to stay healthy. Is 30 minutes a day enough? Can we get by with less? Do we have to exercise all in one session, or can we spread it throughout the day? And when we’re talking about exercise, does it have to be hard to count?
For years, exercise scientists tried to quantify the ideal “dose” of exercise for most people. They finally reached a broad consensus in 2008 with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, which were updated in 2018 after an extensive review of the available science about movement, sitting and health. In both versions, the guidelines advised anyone who was physically able to accumulate 150 minutes of moderate exercise every week, and half as much if it is intense.
But what’s the best way to space out those weekly minutes? And what does “moderate” mean? Here’s what some of the leading researchers in exercise science had to say about step counts, stairwells, weekend warriors, greater longevity and why the healthiest step we can take is the one that gets us off the couch.
Getting back into running is easier than you think
Dusting off your running shoes after a break can be intimidating. If an injury, pregnancy or busy work schedule got in the way of your passion for running, you may wonder if you’re now too out of shape. Will your body even remember how to run a certain pace? Or will your legs feel weak and wobbly? And how many times do you have to pound pavement or hop on a treadmill before it feels fun again?
Whether you’re lacing up your running shoes after a few months or a few years, follow these tips to avoid injury and frustration.
Use it or lose it: The new science of keeping your mind and body healthy
Unlike our closest relatives among the great apes, we can’t get away with spending our days lazing about doing nothing more strenuous than plucking the occasional piece of fruit from a tree.
We may share 99 per cent of our DNA with them, but animals such as gorillas and chimpanzees can spend up to 20 hours a day resting, eating, grooming and sleeping without getting fat or suffering any of the health problems that plague modern humans, such as heart disease and diabetes.
Nor do they experience much in the way of anxiety or depression – at least when they’re living in the wild.
As much as we would like to loll about in a similar fashion – and we have used our superior brains to engineer our lives so that most adults now spend 70 per cent of their time either sitting or lying down – we’re paying the price in terms of poor physical health and an epidemic of mental illness.
Evidence is growing that regular exercise improves not just physical health but brain function and mental wellbeing. And we don’t have to become gym bunnies to benefit.
