Guest Author • Oct 07, 2021 •
Dawn Skelton, Glasgow Caledonian University Research shows that people’s ability to stand on one leg is an indicator of health and that getting better at standing on one leg can add to fitness and potentially lifespan. Being able to stand on one leg is linked to increased levels of physical activity and decreased risk of falls and is … Read More
Guest Author • Nov 24, 2020 •
Matthew Jenkins, University of Otago and Elaine Hargreaves, University of Otago Periods of lockdown represent a massive disruption to people’s daily routines, but they also offer an opportunity to establish new habits. Our research focus is on what motivates people to change their behaviour, particularly when it comes to physical activity routines. We compared the levels of physical … Read More
Guest Author • Mar 15, 2018 •
Ruben Meerman, UNSW and Andrew Brown, UNSW This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The world is obsessed with fad diets and weight loss, yet few of us know how a kilogram of fat actually vanishes off the scales. Even the 150 doctors, dietitians and personal trainers we surveyed … Read More
Brendan Moyle • Jun 03, 2016 •
My bike has needed a bit of serious maintenance ahead of winter. That’s handicapped the cycling this week. Given how wet it has been, that may have been a good thing. Anyway, it was back to my regular Friday cycling. I pondered whether it was worth wearing leg-warmers as it was getting rather chilly. In the end I just picked … Read More
Brendan Moyle • Mar 18, 2016 •
Once our species used to move. We crossed oceans, rivers and mountains that were an obstacle to many of species. We spread into Asia, Europe and the Americas. In the Pacific Polynesians explored and settled islands as disparate as Hawaii, Easter Island and Aotearoa. We ran. We are such adept runners we can (potentially) run 42 km without stopping, just … Read More
Amanda Johnson • Feb 16, 2010 •
It’s a long-standing debate — can you be fat and healthy as long as you are fit, or is it bad to be fat, full stop? The debate came to New Zealand earlier this month when Professor Steven Blair presented at a conference at the University of Otago on the crucial role of physical activity in the prevention … Read More