Pandemic Makes You Flaccid? Turn off the TV and exercise, urging experts
“[I’ve] seen large numbers of people gain 10 to 15 pounds, “said a doctor from Kaiser Permanente in San Jose. In other public health news: prediabetes, zoom fatigue, addiction, food insecurity, and more. Also: Golf grandmaster Tiger Woods is “reactive and recovering” after a car accident and emergency surgery.
San Francisco Chronicle: The Other Pandemic Health Threat: Bay Area Experts Say It’s Time To Get Up And Exercise
After nearly a year near their home, people are feeling not only the psychological toll of the pandemic, but the physical toll as well. Without hectic dropouts, morning commutes, or post-work basketball games to keep our bodies moving, many of us lead increasingly sedentary lives. “We’re seeing a lot of eye strain, headaches, and spine problems,” said Dr. Wayne Smith, director of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Kaiser Permanente’s San Jose Medical Center. While working from home provides more time for healthy habits like sleep and exercise for some, others struggle to get out from behind their laptops. (Vaziri, 2/23)
The New York Times: How Good Does Prediabetes Make For Older Adults?
A few years ago, routine laboratory tests showed that Susan Glickman Weinberg, then a 65-year-old clinical social worker in Los Angeles, had a hemoglobin A1C value of 5.8 percent, barely above normal. “This is considered to be prediabetes,” her internist told her. A1C measures how much sugar has circulated in the bloodstream over time. When her results hit 6 percent – still below the number that defines diabetes, which is 6.5 – her doctor said he would recommend the commonly prescribed drug metformin. (Range, 2/23)
Bay Area News Group: Stanford Study Shows Why Zoom Fatigue Is Real
The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted our lives into a virtual space. Why is it so exhausting? The tiredness doesn’t feel deserved. We don’t fly airplanes, teach toddlers, or rescue people trapped in burning buildings. But at the end of the day, the feeling is so universal that it has its own name: Zoom Fatigue. Stanford University professor Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab, has some answers. In a study published Tuesday in the journal Technology, Mind and Behavior, he describes the psychological effects of spending hours every day using Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, FaceTime, or other video call interfaces. It is the first peer-reviewed article to analyze zoom fatigue from a psychological perspective. (Warrior, 2/23)
In other public health news –
The Washington Post: No officials charged in the death of Daniel Prude, a black man pinned and hooded during a mental crisis
Police officers are not charged in connection with the death of Daniel Prude, a black man who was handcuffed, hooded and in a mental crisis on the ground last year. New York attorney general Letitia James announced Tuesday that a grand jury had dismissed an indictment and said she was disappointed with the outcome of the case, which brought Rochester, NY into the national spotlight last fall after Prude’s family had graphic footage His arrest published had months of litigation over the publication of important records. (Knowles and Iati, 2/23)
Appeal: “Do it now. Ask For Help Now “: Presenter Madeleine Dean and her son reflect on his addiction
Before her son came back from treatment, Madeleine Dean went downstairs and covered every bottle in the house with saran wrap. When he saw it he had to laugh. Alcohol wasn’t his drug of choice, and he’d ransacked those bottles many times in high school, replacing the liquor with water. (Saksa, 2/24)
ABC News: How an Ordinary Household Item Was a Lifeline for Undocumented Immigrants Amid the Pandemic
Every day, millions of people in the United States wake up to a harsh reality compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic: food insecurity. In a year marked by high unemployment rates and long lines in front of the billboards, a grassroots movement was born to help people struggling with hunger. “Community refrigerators” have appeared on sidewalks across the country in neighborhoods hit hard by the coronavirus. (Florence, February 23)
Bloomberg: As women drop out of the job market, mothers are asking for more help
As women drove out of the US workforce in what some economists are calling the first female recession, calls for structural changes to help them grow louder. More than 2 million women have left working life since the outbreak of the pandemic. According to Reshma Saujani, founder and managing director of Girls Who Code, the crisis has exposed the burdens on working women, but has also offered an opportunity for substantial change. “The childcare infrastructure is broken,” Saujani said Tuesday at the Aspen Institute’s RE $ ET conference with Bloomberg Economics. “Nobody can afford it and it is not seen as something that we simply need in our society – and that has to change.” (Fanzer, 2/23)
USA Today: LGBTQ Survey: How Many People Identify as LGBTQ in the US? 5.6%, per gallup
A record number of US adults – 5.6% – identify as LGBTQ, a surge being driven by a younger generation exploring their presence in the world, according to a poll released Wednesday. Gallup’s survey marks a jump of more than 1 percentage point from the last survey in 2017, which identified 4.5% of adults as LGBTQ. The estimated 18 million adults who identify as LGBTQ have been on a steady upward trend since Gallup began tracking identification in 2012, said Jeff Jones, Gallup Managing Editor. “It reflects what we see in society and how society is changing,” he said. (Müller, 2/24)
In celebrity news –
CNBC: Tiger Woods is “awake, responsive and recovering” after car accident and emergency surgery
A luxury SUV driven by Tiger Woods crashed Tuesday morning in southern California and overturned, seriously injuring the golf superstar, authorities and his agent said. Woods is “awake, responsive and recovering in his hospital room” after undergoing emergency surgery, according to a statement posted on his Twitter account. Dr. Anish Mahajan, chief medical officer and interim CEO of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, said Woods suffered “significant orthopedic injuries” to his right lower leg. A rod was introduced to stabilize his tibial and femoral bones, while a “combination of screws and pins” was used to stabilize injuries to the bones of the foot and ankle, said the posted on Woods’ Twitter account Explanation.
