Tag: health

  • Daily Reads: No Comment

    Daily Reads: No Comment

    Today’s Daily Read isn’t the most scintillating article I’ve ever read, but the information it contains is revealing and important, so I believe it is worth the quick read. Cathleen O’Grady of Arstechnica reports on two studies that looked at the influence of online comments on the effectiveness of public service announcements (PSAs). The study created mock PSAs on the safety and efficacy of vaccines – one pro-vaccine and one anti-vaccine – and paired them with anonymous comments that supported or refuted the message of the PSAs. The researchers made sure to attribute each PSA to health organizations that were perceived as credible by the study participants. In the first study, participants were more likely to have their opinions swayed by the PSA if they thought the source was credible; however, if they found the commenters to be credible they were less likely to be swayed by the PSA. In the second study, the participants were provided with general information about the commenters – e.g. one commenter was identified within the comment as a college student, another as a health care lobbyist, and a third as a medical doctor specializing in disease and vaccines. In this study, the participants were more swayed by the commenters they perceived as credible – in this case, the self-identified doctor – than they were by the PSA. This occurred regardless of whether the doctor agreed or disagreed with the PSA. As the article notes, this research is not definitive, but it points out an important weakness in how people perceive information they receive from anonymous comments – which is, how can we know that a self-identified commenter truly is the expert he or she claims to be? I think this is hugely important, and very troubling. It’s one thing to trust the credibility of an anonymous restaurant review on Yelp; it’s quite another to trust anonymous opinions on critical health and social issues.

    Don’t read the comments—they can make you mistrust real experts

  • Daily Reads: Healthy Dirtiness

    Daily Reads: Healthy Dirtiness

    This article I ran across on Vox makes me very happy because it reflects something I’ve been teaching students in my classes for years: that being too clean can make you less healthy. This is especially true for children. The article discusses what is known as the hygiene hypothesis, which proposes that exposure to allergens, viruses, bacteria, etc. – in other words, a less than fully sanitized environment – strengthens children’s immune systems by allowing them to develop defenses from a young age (although I hasten to note, as the article does, that this does not mean children should not be vaccinated. In fact, vaccination operates on the same principle: that exposure to a small amount of inert virus primes the immune system to respond when that virus is encountered in the wild. So this is not an excuse to avoid vaccination in favor of deliberately infecting your kid with a disease like measles). Research is starting to show that children who are kept in environments that are too clean are more likely to develop autoimmune diseases such as asthma. I have long railed against the use of products like antibacterial soaps and household cleaning products, hand sanitizers, and antibacterial wipes partly for this reason. I jokingly recommend to my students that if they ever have children, the kids should be rolled about in a dirt pile every day – but I’m not really joking. Here’s one good takeaway from the article: “In the wealthy world, adults who clean their houses with antibacterial sprays have higher asthma rates, and people who are more often exposed to triclosan  (the active ingredient in antibacterial soap) have higher rates of allergies and hay fever. Kids who grow up on farms or have pets, meanwhile, have lower rates of allergies and asthma.” Read the entire article to learn more about how our obsession with cleanliness may be affecting our health.

    The hygiene hypothesis: How being too clean might be making us sick

  • Daily Reads: Everybody Poops

    Daily Reads: Everybody Poops

    Ok, so maybe an article about poop isn’t the most important or thought-provoking thing in the world, but I thought it was pretty interesting. I definitely learned some things about the process of elimination, so to speak! Joseph Stromberg of Vox talks about 9 different things you may not know about poop. I knew most of these things already, but the list filled in some gaps in my knowledge – for example, although it makes sense in hindsight, I did not realize there were some fairly significant differences in male vs. female colorectal anatomy. So if you are looking for some bathroom reading, this article is the one to read the next time nature calls.

    Everybody poops. But here are 9 surprising facts about feces you may not know.

  • Daily Reads: The Real Cause of Obesity

    Daily Reads: The Real Cause of Obesity

    I do a lot of reading about health and nutrition because I find it to be interesting both anthropologically and personally. I have long come to embrace the conclusion that diet-related health issues such as obesity are linked to social and cultural causes and not (just) to personal decision-making. Thus, today’s Daily Read is about that very topic. James Hamblin of The Atlantic writes about a meeting he attended with policy makers, researchers, and medical professionals where the link between culture and the obesity crisis was the topic. What I found most interesting about the article was a study showing how attitudes towards obesity split along political lines – that is, liberals are more likely to see obesity as a societal problem that requires government intervention than conservatives are. But even more fascinating, to me, is the fact that most people still don’t seem to link social causes with obesity and instead are much more likely to pin it on personal choice, which as Hamblin points out, is an extremely reductionist approach to a complex problem.

    Body Weight, Clash of Ideologies

  • Daily Reads: Go To Sleep!

    Daily Reads: Go To Sleep!

    Do you wish you could get more sleep? Or do you brag about how you can manage on much less than the standard 8 hours a night? Or both? Then this article from Mother Jones by Indre Viskontas is for you. It summarizes nine main reasons why we should get more sleep. The information comes from an interview with sleep researcher Matt Walker conducted by the Inquiring Minds podcast (which I listened to this morning and which I highly recommend if you enjoy podcasts and science). I was surprised to hear some of the information presented in the podcast – especially about things like the effects of sleep deprivation on immune function and on regulation of blood sugar. So read the article, listen to the podcast, and don’t feel guilty for sleeping long nights or taking an afternoon nap. And if you feel like you just don’t have time in your life for more sleep – you have kids, long work hours, a social life to maintain – perhaps it’s worth looking at those obligations and seeing if you can find ways to make your own health a higher priority. I bet your ability to tend to those other obligations will improve!

    9 Reasons You Really Need To Go To Sleep

  • Daily Reads: The Gluten-Free Craze

    Daily Reads: The Gluten-Free Craze

    In my post on the bandwagon fallacy, I used the popularity of certain food fads as my example. One of those fads is the current gluten-free craze. This article from NPR by James S. Fell discusses how this fad has created difficulties for people who have actually been diagnosed with celiac disease. These folks, unlike those who refer to themselves as gluten intolerant, experience severe health consequences from eating gluten – and they comprise only about 1% of the population. Just like with everything else, fads like this must be considered with a critical eye. Anecdotal evidence from people who say they feel better when they cut gluten out of their diets is not the same as the results of rigorous, controlled, peer-reviewed studies of the effects of dietary gluten. It may well be that the so-called and frequently self-diagnosed gluten intolerant feel better because they are eating more healthfully in general – e.g., if you have cut out gluten, then you’ve probably cut out a lot of processed junk foods like pastries, donuts, etc. and substituted with less processed foods. So beware of fads, be compassionate and understanding of those who actually have celiac disease, and don’t be too quick to jump on the bandwagon.

    Gluten-Free Craze is Boon and Bane To Those With Celiac Disease