Like changing your diet, when it comes to exercising, it’s all about getting started by doing something.
As with many things in life, we have a tendency to overthink exercise. You don’t need to run a 10K or complete a triathlon to be healthy. You just need to move. Every day you have opportunities to be a little more active than you are. You can park farther from your destination. You can take the stairs instead of the escalator. You can get up and go for a walk instead of eating lunch at your desk.
It’s easy to talk yourself out of exercising for all the wrong reasons. You might think you need to exercise at a certain time of the day for it to really “count.” You might think you need to exercise for a certain amount of time to get benefit. You’re tired. You’re hungry. The list goes on.
As much as you might be tempted to take the lazy route, don’t. Physical activity is one of the most important things you can do to keep healthy. It’s one of the best ways to lower your risk of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and even some types of cancers. It helps control high blood pressure and high cholesterol and is critical for maintaining and losing weight. Physical activity also builds muscle, which burns more calories and also prevents fractures as you age. It gives you more energy and less stress. It can even help you sleep better and improve your sex life. What’s not to like?
If you are a people person, join a group activity to keep you motivated, or engage a nearby exercise buddy to keep you accountable. If you enjoy more solitary time, download a book or some music on your iPod and off you go.
Luckily, being active doesn’t mean you’ll have to spend a lot of money or a lot of time, as you will learn. You don’t need to join a fancy gym to work out. There are exercise videos and online programs that cost virtually nothing. I love to hop on my bike and go for a ride with my kids whenever the weather cooperates. My wife goes for power walks with her friends or jogs in the neighborhood to save the time she would spend traveling to the gym. A friend of mine swears by her subscription to YogaGlo, which streams yoga classes. When she’s out of town or short on time, she follows a class on her iPad.
Here’s the truth. No matter how you do it, just do something. Make it a way of life. You and a pair of sneakers—the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
In 2006 I made a trip to Jackson, Mississippi, to speak at a public health summit on preparing for a bird flu pandemic. However, my memories of that trip have nothing to do with flu; they have to do with what I had for lunch.
Let me explain. Mississippi is the fattest state in the country. More than a third of all Mississippians are obese; another third are overweight. The governor at the time, Haley Barbour, looked the part: big-jowled and big-bellied. Governor Barbour spoke at the summit, exhorting people to prepare for the flu, and then invited me and a few other health leaders up to his office for lunch. In his conference room we sat down to quite a spread: Each plate was loaded with a big heap of mashed potatoes smothered in gravy, a couple of pork chops, and a side salad. We passed around a large gravy boat full of ranch salad dressing. Governor Barbour was one of the first to receive it, sitting at the head of the table with his wife, Marsha, at his side. He started to ladle the dressing onto his salad. I could see Marsha watching him closely, a bit of a concerned look on her face. After about the third spoonful, Marsha grabbed his hand and said something like, “Haley, that’s enough!” The governor gave us a big smile and said, “You know, have you seen Governor Huckabee? Did you see how much weight he lost? I don’t like that at all! I like Governor Richardson. He and I like to eat. We’re what you call fat but fit.” We all gave a big chuckle and carried on with our meal but the image has stuck with me all these years. The governor of the fattest state in America sitting down to discuss public health problems while chowing down on pork chops. It was like something out of Dickens.
Surprisingly, this is a question I’ve been asked a lot: Can you be fat and fit? Was the governor on to something? Could he justify those extra pounds by implying he had athletic ability or was still otherwise healthy?
First, let’s talk a bit about what it means to be fat. You can’t just measure it in numbers of pounds, since that weight can be distributed on a short frame, a tall frame, or anything in between. There is always debate about what is the best measurement of “fatness,” but physicians commonly use something called the body mass index (BMI). It is by no means perfect, but as long as you understand the limitations, it works quite well. It is calculated from your height and weight, and there are many calculators available online to help you compute your own. A normal adult BMI is 18.5–24.9; overweight is 25.0–29.9; and obese is 30.0 and above. For most people, your goal should be a BMI less than 25.
Let’s get back to the governor’s comment. Can fat people be fit? It depends somewhat on how you define fit. Fitness and health are not synonymous. When medical people talk about fitness, we are really talking about your heart: How well does it work to meet your body’s needs? How much exercise can you handle? When the general public talks about being fit, it is often meant to encompass more: Being healthy and leading an active life.
Clearly you can be obese and not have medical problems. While obesity raises your risk for developing heart disease, diabetes, and orthopedic issues, not all people develop them. But it is kind of like asking: If you smoke cigarettes will you get lung cancer and emphysema? The answer is not necessarily—but your risk goes way up.
Numerous studies have also shown that there are obese people who have great exercise tolerance and strong hearts. There is good news for them. Obese people who are fit are at lower risk of numerous health problems than obese people who are not fit. Exercise, even if it doesn’t lead to weight loss, does lead to health improvements.
Hopefully this will encourage everyone to exercise. Oh, and those of you who are at the right weight for your height but don’t exercise? You aren’t off the hook. Fitness matters for you, too.
While it is possible to be fat and fit, most people who are fat aren’t fit (and most people who are fit, aren’t fat). The exercising you do to achieve fitness is good for your health and weight. If you are not at your ideal BMI, the efforts you make to move in the right direction can have big payoffs in terms of the quality and length of your life.
Have you ever taken a Spinning class? I have taken a total of two. That’s it. And I only took the second one because I had to as part of a story I was doing for Good Morning America called “Doc at the Gym.” I remember my first one like it was yesterday, standing up on this little bicycle, music pounding in my ears, the instructor forcing me to turn up the resistance and pedal faster and faster. I wondered whether my heart could actually burst through my chest wall. While my wife loved it, Spinning was way too intense for me. I quickly went back to a stationary exercise bike where I could control my own level of resistance and work hard, but still be able to read the newspaper.
Exercise has gone type A. Over the last few decades, workouts have been pushed to extremes. If you are from my generation, you’ll remember the advent of the aerobic video, compliments of Jane Fonda and some others. While doing her donkey kicks, Fonda would purr in encouragement, “Feel the burn,” fostering the “no pain, no gain” mentality. Today, rather than daily mile runs and aerobics classes, everyone seems to be running marathons and doing power yoga. We’ve established an exercise culture that implies physical activity doesn’t count unless you push yourself beyond normal levels of exertion.
But does exercise really have to be a form of self-imposed torture? Regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health, but you need to remember you are asking your body to deliver more than usual. Your heart is working harder, beating faster as it pumps blood to your muscles. Your breath quickens as your lungs fill with air, oxygenating your blood. Your muscles and joints are working against increased resistance. The higher the intensity of the exercise, the harder your body has to work.
When it comes to pain, there are different sensations you can experience when exercising. Some are warning signs that must be heeded immediately; others are just a normal part of challenging your body. Never exercise through chest pain or pain that radiates from your chest to your arms. This could be a sign that your heart is being overstressed. Stop what you are doing and call your doctor. While it is normal to feel a little uncomfortable and fatigued during exercise and after, it is another thing to feel extreme discomfort. If you feel sharp pain or light-headedness, you are asking too much of your body and you should immediately ease off. Either stop completely or back off and see if the pain resolves. This applies to any exercise: Weight lifting, aerobics, and even stretching. Acute pain means that something is wrong and could result in damage to your muscles, ligaments, or joints. Never try to just push through this kind of pain. Most trainers and instructors will give modifications during classes or sessions to lessen the intensity. There is no shame in adapting your practice to keep your body safe.
You may also feel burning in your muscles during intense exercise. This is due to a buildup of lactic acid, which is how your muscles respond to increased demand. It isn’t dangerous, but you will find that it’s harder to exercise for long periods of time once that “burn” sets in. Typically, the more fit you are, the longer you can work out without feeling this sensation.
In addition to feeling fatigue during exercise, it is normal to have a little discomfort for the next day or so when you have increased the intensity or used a new muscle group during your workout. Everyone knows what it’s like on that first spring day when you hop on your bike, do yard work, or hit the tennis courts after months off. Ouch! As hard as it may be to go slow, it’s best to try to ease into new activities gradually. Every summer I head to the beach where a good friend teaches step aerobics. For that one week I’m a “stepper” and boy, do I feel it the next few days. This is known as delayed onset muscle soreness, and it is thought to be a result of your body working to heal microscopic damage or tears to muscle fibers. As your body adapts to the new workout, your muscles will become stronger. In the meantime, anti-inflammatory pain relievers (like ibuprofen) or gentle massage can ease the symptoms. If possible, try to continue with light activity while your body recovers.
There are a number of ways to measure the intensity of your exercise routine. You can do it based on your heart rate, calculating how close you are to your maximal heart rate during exercise. A simple way to calculate your maximal heart rate is to subtract your age from 220. For moderate levels of exercise, shoot for a heart rate that is 50–70 percent of your maximal heart rate. For high-intensity activity, shoot for a target heart rate that is 70–85 percent of your maximal rate. You can also determine what is called your “perceived rate of exertion,” using one of the available scales. What I think works best is even simpler. It is the simple talk test: If you can sing while you are exercising, you are working at a light level; if you can talk easily but can’t sing, you are working at a moderate level; and if you can only say a few words before needing to take a breath, you are exercising at high intensity.
When it comes to exercise, think “use it or lose it” rather than “no pain, no gain.” Listen to your body. You can get all of the benefits of exercise if you get your heart rate up. There’s no need to go for the burn or overdo it. If you experience sharp or continual pain during exercise, stop. Pushing through intense discomfort can do long-term or permanent damage.
Be honest, aren’t the sports drink ads great? Muscles flexing, bodies sweating, teams winning, athletes gritting their teeth and raising their arms in victory. If you want to play like the pros and look like the pros, drink the stuff they do, right? Actually, wrong. Of course, with about $3.9 billion in sales, it’s no wonder you’d think otherwise. Unless you are exerting yourself as hard and as long as the pros do, you don’t need sports drinks. Water works perfectly.
Sports drinks aggressively market themselves as being designed to provide rehydration and energy with a combination of water, carbohydrates (essentially sugar or high-fructose corn syrup), and electrolytes (essentially salts), intended to replenish what is lost through perspiration during exercise. But for most people, you get plenty of carbohydrates and salt through what you eat, making little need for replacement through what you drink. You have enough energy stored up in your body that can fuel your workouts. All you need is water and your body provides the rest.
So what’s the downside with these beverages? Sports drinks taste better than water and are what the serious athletes use, right? Well, plenty is wrong with them. A typical twenty-ounce sports drink contains around 8 teaspoons of sugar, 275 mg of sodium, and 125 calories. If you are exercising to help control your weight or blood pressure, the last thing you need is unnecessary calories and salt. For every bottle of sports drink you consume, you need to run an extra mile just to stay in calorie balance.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no sports drinks for children unless they are exercising vigorously (rarely seen in baseball!) for prolonged periods of time. The National Federation of State High School Associations recommends water as the best form of hydration, except for athletes undergoing intense activity for more than forty-five minutes or in settings of heat stress. For adults the same rules should apply. If you are playing like the pros, by all means, hydrate like them. For the rest of us, go for the water.
Hydration before, during, and after exercise is crucially important. Your body, especially in warm weather, needs to replace lost fluids. The experts are in agreement here. The best way to prevent dehydration is to drink before you are thirsty and continue to drink while exercising. So before heading out for a run or to the gym, drink water and then be sure to bring a container of it with you.
Oh, and make sure not to confuse sports drinks with energy drinks. They are two completely different things. Energy drinks contain substances that act as stimulants, such as caffeine or guarana. These are not to be used as exercise drinks.
The obsession with sports drinks is a classic case of advertising trying to convince you to buy something you probably don’t need. Water has done an amazing job providing rehydration for centuries. There is no evidence that for normal exercise any other supplement is needed. Save your money and the calories you just tried so hard to work off.
If you read the recommendations, it’s so easy to get discouraged. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends you get at least thirty minutes of exercise, five days a week, to see substantial health benefits. But let’s get real. How many people can really commit to that? Not many. Well, there’s some good news. Recent research shows that just half that amount of time can make a big difference to your health. That’s really good news for those who find it hard to snag a half hour a day to work out and figure the bar is too high to even bother trying.
Here’s the new finding. Researchers in Taiwan followed more than four hundred thousand adults over a twelve-year period. They were placed into one of five categories based on self-reported weekly exercise activity: Inactive, low, medium, high, or very high. The researchers calculated mortality risks and life expectancy for each group who exercised at all and compared them to those who admitted to doing absolutely nothing. The findings were very encouraging for people who don’t exercise as much as is recommended. Just fifteen minutes of moderate exercise a day (or ninety-two minutes per week) was associated with a three-year increase in life expectancy and a 14 percent reduction in risk of death, compared with a sedentary lifestyle. With every additional fifteen minutes of exercise per day, participants further increased their life expectancy by 4 percent and reduced their risk of death during the study period. Does this definitively answer the question? Unfortunately not. They didn’t randomly assign people to their level of exercise, people chose this on their own, so it’s possible that people who chose to exercise more also made other decisions that contributed to the participants’ improved health. But for me, I’m convinced that even small amounts of exercise can make a big difference to your health and longevity.
According to the CDC’s most recent survey data, 33 percent of American adults never exercise and 55 percent don’t consider themselves highly active. Inactivity increases with age, most likely due to increasing medical conditions that interfere with activity.
If you have a regular exercise regime of more than fifteen minutes, don’t interpret this study as a message to cut back. Every additional increment showed benefit. But for those who don’t do anything—try to work in fifteen minutes. It’s not difficult. I promise! Just look to be more active in any way you can.
Even fifteen minutes of exercise a day will improve your health and could possibly prolong your life. Don’t be put off on the recommendations that tell you to do more. The most important thing is that you do something.
We were having dinner with a good friend last week. I’ll call him Dave. He was clearly annoyed. He had recently started a new exercise program with a trainer and hadn’t lost a single pound. As he was talking, he scooped a second serving of french fries onto his plate. In that moment it all became a little clearer why his scale wasn’t budging.
If you are trying to lose weight and it isn’t working, there are usually two problems: You’re eating more than you need and you are exercising less than you should. Weight loss is really pretty simple mathematics.
Everything you do burns calories, even watching television, sleeping, and reading this book. The more vigorous the activity, whether that be gardening, house cleaning, jogging, or playing sports, the more calories you will expend. If Dave kept working out and ate the same or less, he would lose weight. However, many studies show that when it comes to weight loss, what you put in your mouth matters a lot more than what you do at the gym.
To lose one pound you need to expend 3,500 more calories than you consume. In general, a safe, sustainable weight loss goal is no more than one to two pounds a week. If you divide that by seven days, you are looking at shifting your daily balance by 500 to 1,000 calories. However, you don’t have to burn up that many calories per day, nor do you have to reduce what you eat by that many. Think about doing a combination of the two. For example, if you reduce your caloric intake by three hundred calories a day (basically a bit more than one large soda) and increase your activities to burn two hundred extra calories per day, you can expect a steady weight loss of approximately one pound per week.
So why isn’t Dave losing weight? Let’s examine some of the pitfalls that might be plaguing him. As a relatively new exerciser, his regimen is still building. Let’s say over the course of an hour he is getting moderate exercise by lifting weights and using a treadmill. Over the course of an hour, he will burn three hundred to four hundred calories. However, since this is a big increase in activity, he may be tired and sit around more than usual during the rest of the day burning fewer calories than usual. So over the course of the day his total increase in energy isn’t quite so high.
While some exercisers find their appetites decrease after working out, for others the opposite is true. For those looking to lose weight, there’s nothing more sabotaging than feeling intense hunger after working out, especially when you are programmed to be rewarded with food for your efforts. Sometimes it’s just thirst that gets the better of you. After a workout, instead of hydrating with a big glass of water, some exercisers will go for a calorie-laden drink from the club’s snack bar and chow down on protein bars, forgetting they may contain more calories than what they just worked so hard to burn off. I know—it’s discouraging. And guess what a lot of people do when they are frustrated: They eat! Talk about a catch-22!
Dave clearly felt that by signing up with a trainer, he’d earned the right to eat a bit more, even though the reason he started exercising was to help him lose weight. However, if he stops by the coffee shop and grabs a piece of coffee cake (440 calories) or a latte (190 calories), the weight loss value of his workout would be gone. He doesn’t lose the benefits in terms of cardiovascular health, but he will be sorely disappointed when he steps on the scale.
Before you give up on adding aerobic exercise to your life purely for weight loss, remember that there are a lot of reasons to exercise in addition to losing pounds. It gets your heart pumping, which decreases your risk of cardiovascular diseases. It boosts your good cholesterol and decreases unhealthy fats called triglycerides. It makes you feel better mentally and emotionally by stimulating endorphins and other brain chemicals. It also releases stress and boosts your energy. Strength training builds muscle and muscle burns more calories than fat—so even when resting, you will burn more calories.
Remember, everything burns calories. You don’t need to go to the gym to get fit. Every little thing adds up.
The most important factor in losing weight is cutting back on how much you eat. It really is pretty hard to lose weight just by exercising, but that doesn’t mean that exercise isn’t important. Lifestyle changes that incorporate exercise with dietary changes are more successful than diet changes alone. Even more importantly, exercise has so many health benefits that have nothing to do with your waistline.
People ask me all the time: When is the best time of day to exercise? Behind this question lies a belief that there is an optimal time to work out, one in which the body gets better results with the same amount of effort. However, I don’t buy into that. My answer is simple. The best time to exercise is the one that works best in your life so that you can stick to it. While there are some data to show that your strength and endurance are best later in the afternoon, the differences are not significant and shouldn’t drive your exercise decisions. What really matters is that you incorporate physical activity into your day.
I am a morning person. Much to the chagrin of those in my family who like to ease into their day, I roll out of bed ready to go. That’s why exercising first thing in the morning, before going to work, is best for me. It gives me energy and clears my head, so that once I hit my office I’m ready to go. I feel great during the day knowing that I’ve got my workout under my belt and don’t have it hanging over me when things get crazy. Once I’m at my desk, I never know when I’ll be able to slow down or finish the day, so postponing exercising would be very risky for me. Additionally, by the time I leave the office, I’m exhausted and ready for dinner and time with my family. Having to hit the gym in that condition is impossible. But that’s just me. Many people I work with view their noon Spinning classes as a way to break up their day and burn pent-up energy. Others make a nighttime gym visit their evening social event because they don’t like working out under time constraints. Most consistent exercisers have found their time and honor that commitment.
If you are new to exercise, don’t overthink it. Pick a time to exercise that fits best with your lifestyle and schedule, the time that is hardest for you to make excuses for skipping. Start small and experience success first. A fifteen-minute power walk is a wonderful thing for your health and is so much easier to stick to than training for a marathon. Often if you are overly ambitious you can quickly burn out. Every January I see the same phenomenon: The gym I belong to gets crowded. Sometimes I have to wait to get on my favorite exercise bicycle or to use certain machines. The floor mats where I stretch out are wall-to-wall people. But I keep my calm; I know that by the first week in February things will be back to normal.
A survey by the Gallup organization found that only a quarter of all Americans get thirty minutes of exercise at least five times a week; slightly more than that don’t exercise at all. Anything you can do to keep yourself out of the group that doesn’t exercise at all is a really good thing. Don’t get hung up on when the best time is for your body. Exercising in some way, at any time of day, is critical for good health.
Find a time to exercise that works for you. You will be more likely to stay with it if it becomes a habit—whenever that time of day may be.
How many times have you driven by a park and seen runners in deep lunges, rhythmically bouncing as they stretch out before they take off around the track? Stretching has long been touted as the best way to prevent injuries and post-exercise soreness, but my wife swears in all her years of running, the only time she’s been injured is during her pre-run stretching. It turns out she’s not the only one. While it makes sense to warm up muscles before working out, stretching is not the best way to do it. Research shows that stretching does little to prevent injury during exercise and could actually cause muscle pulls or strains.
Now let me be clear: I’m not saying you shouldn’t warm up before taking on intense exercise. A few years ago I did a nice job tearing my calf muscle by playing tennis without warming up. It took me out of the game for almost six months. I am now much more attentive to gently moving my muscles before I go all out. Here is the typical drill when I play tennis. My partner and I begin by lightly hitting the ball from the service line with a very soft half swing. We gradually work our way back to the baseline with first a soft and then a full swing. Those balls not hit right back to me, I let go at first. Then I’ll do some gentle jogging to pick up stray balls. Slowly and gently my muscles warm up.
Whether it’s tennis, running, or cycling, the safest way to warm up your muscles is to mimic the movements you will be doing, but at decreased intensity. Gradually increase your heart rate and get blood flowing to your muscles. As you start to feel warmed up you can increase your movements and build speed and intensity.
Numerous studies have looked at the issue of stretching and have found injury rates to be the same in those who did and did not stretch. A recent study involving the USA Track and Field Association looked at 2,700 runners. They found no difference in the injury rates of those who stretched before running and those who didn’t. They did find that injuries were more common for heavier runners and those who had recently recovered from an injury. They also found that runners who were asked to switch their stretching routines as part of the study were more likely to get injured, implying the body adapts to routines. So if you are someone who swears by stretching before exercising, it may make sense to stay with it.
While stretching might not be recommended as a warm-up, it is important to work stretching into your daily life and exercise routine to build flexibility and balance, which are especially important as you age. Before you get out of bed, give yourself a few minutes to warm up, with very gentle movements, to get blood flowing. Gently pull your knees, one at a time, into your chest and give them a light hug to stretch your hamstrings. Slowly windshield-wiper your legs from side to side to loosen up your back. Tense your shoulders up and then shrug to relax them. Try to work a yoga or stretch class into your exercise regime. I took up yoga five years ago and find that the stretching I do helps with my posture and has reduced the strain on my back—but even in a class focused on stretching, we warm up first.
Science strongly suggests that stretching before a workout does not prevent injuries or reduce post-exercise muscle soreness. A gentle and gradual warm-up is much better for your muscles.
When my son, Jack, joined his travel baseball club he got a package of “team gear.” Included was a bag with his team’s logo, sunglasses, batting gloves, and surprisingly, an ion necklace. While all the kids whipped that necklace on with dreams of future major-league glory, Jack just put it back in the bag. I guess after living with me for so long, he was savvy enough to know that there was no connection between wearing that piece of jewelry and improving his baseball skills.
These manufacturers’ websites make grandiose claims. According to one website, ionic necklaces “maximize performance by neutralizing the effects of positive ions in our environment.” Doing so, they claim, can result in healing properties that promote well-being and balance, improve your immune system, even increase energy, power, focus, and sleep. Unfortunately, there’s no scientific proof that this is true. Bracelets and necklaces do not generate negative ions. And even if they did, there is no science to suggest health or athletic benefits.
Use of these necklaces and bracelets isn’t limited to baseball. They are also worn by star athletes who play basketball, golf, and football. They are seen on action heroes in the movies. Sadly, these endorsements encourage children and adults to spend a lot of money on something with no proven value.
Now, I have no problem with the player who carries a rabbit’s foot or has an at-bat ritual of patting his head, pulling at his shirt, and kicking the plate four times. This kind of superstitious behavior may relax a player and clearly doesn’t encourage people to waste their money mimicking it. But when you are paid to endorse a product that is worthless and is being marketed to the public, that bothers me. A lot.
In fact, for the last decade, the Federal Trade Commission, which regulates consumer fraud, has been going after makers of ionized jewelry for making false claims about their ability to relieve pain from arthritis and other chronic conditions. This happened in 2003 against the company that made Q-Ray bracelets when their advertising claimed that ion bracelets provided immediate pain relief through “enhancing the flow of bioenergy.” The judge in the case said the defendants might as well have said: “Beneficent creatures from the 17th Dimension use this bracelet as a beacon to locate people who need pain relief, and whisk them off to their homeworld every night to provide help in ways unknown to our science.” In a final ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the initial court finding. The company returned almost $12 million to more than 248,000 consumers.
Magnet therapy is equally unfounded. Promoters claim wearing magnetic jewelry, or placing magnets around areas of the body, can relieve arthritis, headaches, and stress. Some go as far as saying it can heal broken bones, reverse degenerative diseases, and even cure cancer. However, the FDA’s stance on magnets is clear. To date, the FDA has not approved of any magnets promoted to treat a medical condition or to affect the structure or function of the body. Because these devices do not have this clearance, they are in violation of the law, and are subject to regulatory action if they represent themselves as being approved for treatment of medical conditions.
If you are using these to treat a medical condition, be very careful. It might be tempting to try alternative therapies as a quick fix, or in the hope they will help what ails you, even if in only a metaphysical way. But there is the potential danger of delaying seeking traditional medical attention that is scientifically proven to be more valuable. If you want to supplement your medical care with an alternative approach, do so with open eyes and involve your doctor. I will often work with patients who want to try an alternative approach as long as it is safe. The problem I have is when a treatment supported solely by anecdote is held in the same regard as one that has been rigorously tested through clinical trials.
Ionic and magnetic jewelry are great examples of unproven pseudoscience being used to make a lot of money for manufacturers who don’t have your well-being at heart. Whenever you see medical claims for nontraditional therapies, talk to your doctor about them before spending your hard-earned dollars. It’s one thing if you want to buy them just to have them. It’s another if you are using them to replace proven remedies that might truly help you.