Hamstrings

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how second-hand smoke affects eye development and on how child health affects later risk of many different diseases. We then talk about why our Western hamstrings (the muscles on the backs of our legs) are typically shorter and stiffer, and how we can set children up for better functioning hamstrings to help their back and knee health in adulthood. Finally, we discuss whether hot and cold water temperatures affect skin barrier function in the same way.

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This episode relates to these two articles (and references are here):

Topics covered

* How does second-hand smoke exposure affect a child’s eye growth? [01:05]

* How do seven key factors in childhood reduce an adult’s risk of disease? [05:58]

* What are hamstrings and why should we care? [12:23]

* How can we set children up for longer, more flexible hamstrings? [25:02]

* Do hot and cold water affect the skin in the same way? [28:36]

These other podcast episodes cover overlapping topics:

Notes

Second-hand smoke and myopia: https://bmcophthalmol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12886-025-03890-7

Simple 7 effects on health throughout the lifespan: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.124.038566

How does water temperature affect skin barrier function? https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/11/2/298