To Your Health Columns by Brian Cole

It’s November!

Compared to how we lived, children today now live in luxury, they’re disrespectful and prefer chatting to outdoor exercise. Partly because they’ve not yet been humbled by life, many of them often ignore the law, are violent in the streets and tyrannize their teachers. If that sounds true and reason… Read more »

A (living healthy) QUIZ

Pre-Quiz background: Hippocrates was a respected Greek physician who is considered the Father of Medicine. His primary contribution was to separate medical care from the general views of the time which were that the gods were responsible for all disease. He wrote the Hippocratic Oath more than 2,400 years ago,… Read more »

Healthy living vs. …

…ENJOYING PLEASURES during our short time here. I’m asking if it’s worth it to sacrifice full enjoyment of our brief life for the pursuit of a healthy living lifestyle. It’s a question for us all to ponder as individuals. This individual is positing that’s a false dichotomy. While I’ve written about one of… Read more »

Some healthy living updates

Do all we can to avoid pain, maybe even avoid discomfort, for the maximum of our precious time in this short, short life. That’s my step one for Healthy Living. And then add daily physical activity to offset the way-too-cushy conditions we are so fortunate to live our entire lives in.… Read more »

What to do? What to do? To lose weight…

Probably due to a selective memory, even after living a full and admittedly self-indulgent life, when asked recently what regrets I have, I only thought of one. My Dad, who had a very curious mind, was never able to experience Google. All of recorded history and all of known information… Read more »

January 2024: Four parts 

Well, here we are! Y2K wasn’t a disaster (remember those dire predictions?) and now it’s 24 years later. Let’s make it a good one.  This New Year’s column is Four Parts. Please don’t be in a hurry when you read this.  PART ONE Posture. Improving it is the simplest and… Read more »

Stretching is a misnomer

Yes, as some of my regular readers may recall, I’ve previously written about this. But please remember, Oyster Pointer consistently adds new readers — and repetition is a valid way to inform/learn. This is important stuff which can help you avoid unnecessary injury caused by not understanding how our bodies function.  Stretching. What it isn’t: It… Read more »

Time clocks

This is about a potential path to improving your sleep patterns which’ll result in a more rested you. If you or someone you care about is having trouble with getting enough restful sleep, open your (tired) mind and consider this.  I stumbled on this a few years ago, experienced it,… Read more »

I say that’s up to us

While this is kind of old news for me — I mean I often wake up with health and fitness (anatomy, physiology, kinesiology) questions to research — most of my readers aren’t similar geeks. So, I’m going to write about the difference between life spans and health spans. They are two dramatically different things. Life span… Read more »

Living healthy

When I meet someone new and we exchange pleasantries, part of that usually includes what we do. When I say I’m a personal fitness trainer, the most frequent follow-up questions have something to do with what to eat, with diet or nutrition or weight loss or calories. This always puzzles… Read more »

You can do this

It seems everyone wants a quick fix and a simple solution to issues that are complex. Headlines like: ‘Four simple exercises to do at home and in just 30 days you can have that beach body of your dreams!” Or: “Well known cardiologist says to eat this every day and… Read more »

New

LIST 1: Original – familiar – comfortable – safe – predictable – lasting – known – same – traditional – conservative – established – proven – stable… LIST 2: Uncertainty – vulnerability – unknown – different – transition – unconventional – innovative – change – pioneering – risky – dangerous – discovery…

For your age…

…is supposed to be a compliment? Bah!  Let’s start with some facts: All around us are examples of successful, productive individuals who are contributing just as efficiently as ever but are much older than previous generations. Many are being criticized for “holding back” the younger folks from moving up their ladders. Fact is… Read more »

From a fan of self indulgence

Research: “The systematic investigation to establish facts and enable us to accurately reach new conclusions.” On subjects other than health I’ve written that while the knowledge gained from research is often necessary to help us make better decisions, it is not a guarantee we will. Applying my statement to our… Read more »

And his answer was…

It’s March. Many New Year’s resolutions have disappeared. The desired changes didn’t happen. Yet. But they were positive and well meaning, so let’s re-explore.  A brief but connected detour first. One of our trainers, Joey Wallen, and I often trade new info about exercise, techniques, adherence, etc. We’re closing in on… Read more »

How’s your habenula?

For most of us, 2021 was such a different year. Dealing with this pandemic sure changed our daily lives in many ways, but one thing is still the same — and every January I have a similar message when writing this column. For some of my regular readers it may be repetitious… Read more »

BONES

About 10 years ago, a local orthopedic practice ran an ad stating that our skeletons, specifically our spines, have the responsibility of supporting our bodies. In response I wrote a column titled “No, They Don’t” (which if the rest of this interests you, you can find on our website…page 4… Read more »

Planning, problem solving and imagination

Because being physically healthy has been my life-long interest (I grew up with a father who was a physical therapist), that’s the area I naturally gravitate toward in these “To Your Health” columns. During a recent search into self-motivation, self-discipline and focusing, I stumbled into some interesting information I’ll share in a minute. First… Read more »

On aging gracefully

Gracefully: “In an attractively elegant way. In a respectful and dignified way. Polite, kind, pleasant, mannerly, charming…” Those are some of the dictionary definitions and synonyms. While there’s a lot of good to say about them, from this man who’s clearly in his fourth quarter, I say BAH! Sounds too… Read more »

Please forget about increasing your life span

How’re you feeling? Are you tired? Sluggish? Have lots of surplus daily energy? Does your neck feel stiff and its range-of-motion restricted? How about your low back? Do you feel like you need to stretch just about everything and loosen up? Do you have arthritic joints? Too much body fat?… Read more »