Among American cities, the highest rates of walking and cycling to work were in Boston, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Minneapolis and Seattle.
With an adult obesity rate of 26 percent, Washington now ranks as the 28th most obese state and is one of the 38 that have an adult obesity rate above 25 percent.
Remaining physically fit and sticking to a regular exercise routine could lower your risk of taking a tumble, finds a new research study.
Choosing a neighborhood that has places to walk to and safe routes to get there can help your child maintain a healthy weight during adolescence.
Goal: End the epidemic of childhood obesity in the U.S. within a generation.
A wellness program at Johnson & Johnson has improved employee health and cut health costs.
Consumers should stop using any body building products that are sold with claims they contain steroids or steroid-like substances, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said today.
Many of these products are marketed as dietary supplements but, in fact, contain synthetic substances that can cause serious liver injury, kidney failure, blood clots in the lung [...]
A growing number of employers give discounts to workers who take steps to improve their health, such as losing weight or lowering their cholesterol.
Proponents says such programs cut the cost of healthcare and health insurance.
But critics argue the programs are unfair to workers who might not be able to meet the targets set [...]
Hospitals lobby against proposed charity care rules
The American Hospital Association has sent out a bulletin urging its members to press Congress not to pass legislation that would require hospitals to provide a minimal level of charitable care as a condition for keeping their tax-exempt status, New York Times reporter Robert Pear writes.
“A formulaic, one-size-fits-all charity [...]
The Seattle-base Cascade Bicycle Club has created a “map mashup” Web site where cyclists can pinpoint bicycle accidents, thefts and hazards on a map of the Seattle area.
The Club says that 75 percent of bike crashes go unreported.
The new Web site, www.bikewise.org will help identify crash “hotspots” that pose a danger to cyclists.
The location of [...]
Staying sharp as you age
Benedict Carey writes in the New York Times about the work of researchers who are trying to figure out why some people are able to stay mentally sharp well into their 90s.
Carey writes:
“The evidence suggests that people who spend long stretches of their days, three hours and more, engrossed in some [...]
Smoking just got a lot more expensive in Washington state. The a new federal tax that went into affect April 1 added 62 cents to the cost of a pack making the total federal tax on a pack to $1.01.
With the new federal taxes plus state taxes, the pack of brand name cigarettes at our [...]
New bicycle guide maps showing bike paths, trails and routes throughout King County are now available online.
The downloadable maps are posted on King County’s Bicycling Resource page, which, in addition to the maps. provides links to dozens of additional resources including information about Metro Transit’s services for cyclists, bicycle skills and safety courses, and state [...]
Should you try to lose weight with a low-fat diet? A high-protein diet?
Or is avoiding carbs the answer?
Well, according to a new study in this week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, it doesn’t seem matter—as long as you cut calories.
In the study, 811 overweight men and women were randomly divided into four diet groups.
One [...]
Even modest weight loss can make a big difference in your health and how you feel: a loss of just 5 to 7 percent of your body weight can reduce your blood pressure, lower your risk of diabetes, and improve your cholesterol levels.
But how to get started?
In today’s column, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. [...]
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention has produced an animated video series to encourage Native American children to be active and eat right to reduce their risk of developing diabetes.
The series of four videos are based on the four Eagle Books written by Georgia Peres of Nambe Pueblo and illustrated by Partick [...]
Researchers at the University of Washington and Intel Research Seattle have developed two cell phone application that keep track of your activity and encourage you to keep at it.
One application, called UbiFit, uses a device that monitors your physical activity and then translates it into images that appear on your cell phone as flowers in [...]
UWTV has a nice documentary on Seattle Children’s Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Department.
The video follows a teen and a young girl as they go through surgery and rehabilitation and includes interesting footage of how MRI images are used to study injuries and how new techniques make surgeries quicker and less invasive.
The documentary can be viewed [...]
The US Government has released new physical activity guidelines that officials are calling the “most comprehensive of their kind.”
A review of scientific evidence conducted by an expert panel found that regular physical activity can reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer and other diseases and improve mood and the quality of life.
The new guidelines [...]
US News & World Report has placed Issaquah on its list of the 10 “Best Healthy Places to Retire” in the USA.
The magazine’s profile calls Issaquah a “gem of a city” and gives much of the credit for the ranking to the amenities available in the Issaquah Highlands development.
Among those amenities, the magazine lists [...]
The website Walkscore has ranked 77 Seattle neighborhoods by how walkable they are. The score is based on such factors as the availability of stores, restaurants, parks and schools within walking distance of a particular address.
The ranking tell you how suitable a particular address would suit a “car-lite” lifestyle–not necessarily how scenic the nearby walks would [...]
Seattle was just edged out by San Francisco as the most “fit” city in the US in a 16-city study, conducted by the American College of Sports Medicine.
The study ranked the city using an index that reflects such health indicators as the health behaviors of city residents, levels of chronic disease, access to health care, number [...]
The US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has teamed up with AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, to create a checklist to help men over age 50 stay healthy.
The checklist provides a list of the steps men over age 50 can take to prevent disease. These include eating well, keeping active and being [...]
Invisible Families: The homeless you don't see
They squeeze in with relatives, couch surf with friends or camp out in cars. More families are quietly becoming homeless, driven to the edge by a lack of jobs and affordable housing. The Seattle Times and its local news partners tackle the topic together. Project home
E-Health Records: Seattle is ahead of the curve
Health News from the Seattle Times
