How to Health
by Dr. Scott Lear, Christine Henderson
Welcome to How to Health! A podcast about you and your health. From constant sitting, processed foods, interacting with technology to what street you live on, being healthy is harder now than ever. But we're here to help. Join us, Dr. Scott Lear (lifestyle medicine professor at Simon Fraser University) and Christine Henderson (science communication specialist) to learn how modern science can be your guide to healthy living. You'll learn how your body works, why diseases happen, and evidence-based tips to stay healthy.Follow us on Instagram @howtohealthpodcast, or drop us an email: [email protected]
Episodes
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Busting Five Nutrition Myths
Nutrition myths have been around for millenia. Some are harmless while others can be harmful to your health. And with social media, the spread of nutrition myths and misinformation spreads far easier than before. In this episode, we will discuss five common myths and talk about the science that...
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How Old is Your Biological Age?
With every passing year, and passing day for that matter, you get older and age. It's unavoidable, but while everyone gets older at the same rate, not everyone ages at the same rate. In this episode, we discuss why some people age faster than others, what biological age is, and what you can do to...
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How Pets Affect Your Health
Roughly half of households worldwide own a pet. And pet ownership continues to climb. There's a lot written to say pets make you healthier, but is that really the case? In this episode we discuss whether pets make people healthy, what are the down sides of owning a pet and the biology behind how...
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How Exercise Can Improve Your Relationship
What to spice up your sex life? Try exercise. Exercise does more than just strengthen your body, it can also strengthen your connections with others, including that special somone just in time for Valentine's Day. In this episode, we discuss how exercise can make you more attractive to others…
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How Vitamin D can Help You
It's the dark days of winter in the Northern Hemisphere in which the sun shines less and is lower in the sky. That means your body has less of a chance of making vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient, meaning your body can't produce it on its own. In this episode, we...
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How to Stay Healthy During the Holidays
The holiday season is upon us and with it the parties, food and time with family and friends. This can be season of joy, but it also brings with it challenges to your healthy lifestyle and for many, extra stress. Up to 45% of people go on an exercise break during the holidays and 90% report some...
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How do Old Wives' Tales stack up?
Old Wives' Tales are claims or sayings meant to promote a specific behaviour, such as eating carrots to improve eyesight. Many of these Tales started without any facts or science to support them and while following some may be harmless, others are not. In this episode, we've fact-checked four...
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How Scott Stays Healthy
To start off our fourth season, we're doing something a bit different. In this special episode we're talking about how our very own Scott Lear achieves what he preaches to live a healthy life to support his physical and mental health. We'll touch on his physical activity, nutrition and sleep...
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How much is too much activity? The Physical Activity Paradox
Is long been promoted that any activity is good for you. And in fact many people need to be doing more, but recent research indicates that not all types activity are good for you. In this episode, we discuss what types of activity may actually be harmful, what is the physical activity paradox…
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How to Prevent Dementia
Every three seconds someone in the world is diagnosed with dementia- a disease that leads to a decrease in mental function. There's currently no cure for dementia making prevention all the more important. In this episode we discuss what is dementia (and how it's not just a thing of ageing), what...
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How Behavioural Economics Shapes Your Health Decisions
Everyday you make thousands of decisions that affect your health. This includes deciding what to eat, whether to exercise or not, and how much sleep you get. Whether you know or not, you're bombarded with information that influences your decisions. Behavioural economics is a theory that tries to...
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How Pollution Affects Your Health
It's estimated that 99% of the world breathes air that exceeds the recommended limits for pollution. Air pollution increases your chances for heart and other disease. But it's not just air pollution that's a problem, noise pollution also can affect your heart. In this episode, we discuss the…
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Your Weight is Not Your Health
The global weight loss industry will be worth $400 billion by 2030. And while most people who are trying to lose weight will say they're doing it for their health, your weight is not a good indicator of how healthy you are. In this episode we discuss how people started to equate weight with…
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How bad is sodium in your diet?
Sodium (and salt for that matter) has been made out to be the villain when it comes to nutrition. In fact, without sodium, you wouldn't be alive. While high amounts of salt in the diet are related to high blood pressure, the evidence to support a link with heart and other diseases isn't clear. In...
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How important is breakfast? Really.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Or is it? Most people have some sort of breakfast some of the time. There are also plenty of studies linking breakfast to weight loss, health and even school performance. But is the idea of breakfast based on science or what cereal companies tell…
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How Microplastics Affect Your Health
The average person consumes 39 000 to 52 000 microplastic particles per year through food and drink. This number doubles when taking into account how many microplastics we might inhale. Microplastics have been found in blood samples and almost every organ in the human body. In this episode, we...
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How to Counter All that Sitting
The average person sits for more than 6-8 hours. While we can't avoid sitting (and sometimes it's necessary), most of us do too much and continuous sitting can increase your risk for disases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and dementia, and early death. In this episode we discuss the...
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How Processed Foods Affect Your Health
From frozen vegetables to heat-and-serve burritos, processed foods are all around us and make up a large portion of most people's diet. Ultra-processed foods, such soda pop, frozen meals and soup, have been associated with heart disease, cancer, diabetes and early death, but can all these foods…
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How Your Thoughts Affect Your Health
Strong body, strong mind, is a common saying, but the reverse can be true too. How you think can affect your physical health because each and every thought you have is the result of a chemical reaction. In this episode, we discuss how certain thoughts affect performance and health, what happens…
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How healthy are artificial sweeteners?
More than 40% of adults consume artificial sweeteners, with most of this coming from diet pops. But they're also found in yoghurts, chewing gum and cereals, among other foods. Commonly used by people wanting to avoid calories, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended against their use....
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How good (or bad) is alcohol for you?
Over 50% of people consume alcohol in Western countries. Many guidelines indicate having 1-2 drinks per day is acceptable and may even be beneficial. However, recent studies and experts have said no amount of alcohol is safe. In this episode we discuss how common alcohol is, what alcohol use...
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How a Good Night's Sleep is Good for You Part 2
Nearly half of adults report having challenges with sleeping. Getting a good night's sleep is important to maintaining physical and mental health. In this episode we discuss tips to help you get a good night's sleep from setting up your nighttime routine to home remedies to when you might need to...
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How a Good Night's Sleep is Good for You Part 1
Guidelines recommend you get between 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Yet many people don't get enough sleep potentially putting their health at risk. In this episode we discuss how not getting enough sleep, or getting too much, can affect your health, along with the biology of how your body knows...
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Seven Common Exercise Myths Busted!
From exercise is good for weight loss to no pain no gain, there are literally dozens, if not hundreds of exercise myths out there. Some myths are so entrenched in society it can put people off exercise altogether. In this episode, we bust seven of the most common myths around to help you get the...
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How bad is fat?
For over 50 years, dietary fat has got a bad rep from a small number of early studies indicating eating fat led to heart disease. But these early studies may not have shown the full picture. We now know that not all fats are the same and you may not need to fear having fat in your diet. In this...
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How Exercise can Help Your Immune System
Exercise has long been thought to weaken the immune system and make your body more susceptible to infections. However, recent science challenges this belief and suggests exercise may indeed make you more resistant to infections. In this episode we discuss the basics of the immune system, problems...
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How Everyone can Benefit from Strength Training
Strength training isn't just for bodybuilders. It's for everyone. Muscle mass starts to decline in your 30s and by your 60s, one quarter of muscle is lost. Reductions in strength are even greater. In this episode we discuss how strength training can benefit you at any age, how it can prevent…
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How bad is all that sugar?
Sugar. It's all around us. And it's needed to fuel your body and brain. But what happens when you have too much? In this episode we discuss how sugar is used in the body, how much is too much and how you can reduce your sugar intake.
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How Exercise Affects Your DNA
DNA is the blueprint of life. Once thought to go unchanged from birth to death, we now know DNA, and how it's genes are converted to proteins, is far more complex. In this episode we discuss how exercise can affect DNA, and tie that into disease prevention and increased lifespan. Link to article...
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How to Make New Year's Resolutions that Work
Each year up to 80% of people make New Year's resolutions. Most resolutions focus on areas of health such as weight loss, exercising more and improving one's diet. However, by the end of February, nearly 70% of resolutions will be abandoned. In this episode we discuss how to use health behaviour...
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How Lifelong Prevention Can Work for You
Most diseases are only diagnosed at the appearance of symptoms, usually later in one's life. But the disease process begins much earlier, in your 20s, 30s and sometimes teen years. In this podcast we discuss how diseases begin early in life and how lifelong prevention can help you prevent…
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How Exercise can Improve Your Mental Health
In any given year 20% of people will experience a mental illness making it a leading chronic disease. Exercise has been known to have great benefits on physical health but its effect on mental well-being is less known. In this episode we discuss how common mental illness is, the biological...
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How Where You Live Affects Your Health
Whether you live in a downtown core or a sleepy suburb, where you live has a key role in your health. Some features in the environment, such as sidewalks, get people active, while others can be a barrier to healthy living. In this episode, we discuss how things in your community, from…
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How to Take Care of Your Heart
The heart is the only muscle in your body that never rests. And for good reason. Over the course of your life, your heart will beat over 2.5 billion times. But even with such a vital organ, things can go wrong. In this podcast, we discuss the role of the heart in your body, what happens if things...
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How much exercise is enough?
Exercise is a great, low-cost (free!) way to increase happiness, give you more energy and prevent many diseases. But how much do you need to do to get all these benefits. In this podcast, we'll discuss what is the smallest amount of exercise that is needed to improve health, how you can benefit...
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How to Health Trailer
Look for our first episode on July 25, 2022. In the meantime, here's a teaser of what to expect.
About this show
Welcome to How to Health! A podcast about you and your health. From constant sitting, processed foods, interacting with technology to what street you live on, being healthy is harder now than ever. But we're here to help. Join us, Dr. Scott Lear (lifestyle medicine professor at Simon Fraser University) and Christine Henderson (science communication specialist) to learn how modern science can be your guide to healthy living. You'll learn how your body works, why diseases happen, and evidence-based tips to stay healthy.Follow us on Instagram @howtohealthpodcast, or drop us an email: [email protected]
Hosted by
Dr. Scott Lear, Christine Henderson