To Your Health Columns by Brian Cole

In 1961, Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22, a paradoxical situation is the focus, and in our culture, the phrase has become synonymous with no-win situations. It’s my intention to write encouraging — not discouraging Health columns as long as they’re based on facts, not on my opinions. This column is going to be about the hottest new drug… Read more »

A few years ago I learned a great new word. I even had it as my license plate for a while. PRAXIS. Praxis is the practical application of knowledge. That’s obviously relevant in many areas of our lives, but it seems especially so regarding our health. I’m going to write/explore that… Read more »

Our lean muscle tissue naturally decreases starting by age 30, so our strength drops. We don’t move as much as we used to so our joints don’t move freely, as joints stiffen. Our flexibility is reduced and our reaction time slows; as a result our balance suffers which makes falls… Read more »

Well, here we are again. I can’t believe another year has flown by (more about that later). I know the column I’m writing is under the listing of “To Your Health” but I’m changing it this month. “To Your Fitness” will be what I’m writing about. What’s the difference? Health is being… Read more »

Back in January, when I reviewed my previous year’s columns, I thought I’d focused on aging a bit too often. So, I decided to not mention it in 2025. Well, here we are in December and based on comments I’ve heard this year, quite a few readers liked my aging… Read more »

Without our health, we become focused just on ourselves and on getting back to normal. So how can anything be more important than our health? I admit this doesn’t apply to all, but most parents would unhesitatingly switch places when their child is suffering from an illness. So, the answer… Read more »

I read the following quote decades ago and it has stuck in the back of my mind:  “If your life is boring, risk it.” While a bit extreme for most of us, that surely would require a focus of purpose and stimulation to address the apathy and diminished motivation, which are… Read more »

More than 30 years ago, when I started making my lifelong hobby an actual business, my first brochure (this was before our ubiquitous home computers with online websites, so we still had brochures and the “yellow pages” to promote our businesses) stated something that was not yet recognized by our… Read more »

We’ve all been there. Something that was once new and exciting has become just routine. Ho-hum. Same old, same old. But that word has another side to it. A positive side. For instance, if we want to add a consistent, healthy habit into our life, making it part of a regular routine is… Read more »

Longevity: living longer than the average life expectancy. Shortsighted: lacking foresight, not thinking through the long-term consequences. A little background before I make my point about the headline. In the days of the Roman Empire more than 2,000 years ago, the average life expectancy was 39. In the USA in 1900, the average life… Read more »

Definitions: a “diet” (noun) is an eating plan which is what I’ll be talking about. In our grossly overweight culture, the word has become synonymous with trying to lose weight (specifically to lose fat) because so many folks are “dieting” (verb). OK, that’s enough grammar. All my trainers and I… Read more »

Well, here we are in 2025. I’m going to start with a familiar January statement of mine that last year flew by, is in the past, involved many changes. Now most of us are looking ahead with some thoughts of changes and/or improvements we can bring into our lives in… Read more »

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 »

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 »

…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 »

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 »

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 »