Popular Mechanics (South Africa)
Philips Brilliance 4K monitor
Our man is testing out a lifestyle change on his way back to peak fitness and is trying out every gadget and piece of gear that will help him get there quicker.
Face it: you don’t need a TV. Well you do, but not one with a tuner. If you need a 4K display to connect to your laptop or just to run your PS4 Pro, then you may as well just get a screen. The downside here is the single HDMI port, but there are two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, a VGA, DVI and Display Port 1.2 inputs, as well as audio out.
RTBA, philips.com
THEY NEVER TELL YOU how hard it is. They don’t because you already know. You know that it’s easier to lie in slumber’s sultry embrace rather than reach for the door and head out for a run. It’s easier to tuck into a tasty toasted treat than precisley portion and pre-pack your daily protein. But if it was easy, you wouldn’t need to find motivation. And that’s the key.
The tedious daily routine of going back and forth from home to work and only making time for yourself on some weekends is terrible for your health. Dr K Sreekumaran Nair of Mayo Clinic’s Rochester, Minnesota campus puts it best: “Maximal exercise capacity is a more powerful predictor of mortality than other established risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Studies have shown that mortality in chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and hyperlipidemia, substantially increases in people with a lower maximal exercise capacity.”
Nair and his team’s work has become a cornerstone of the movement against the sedentary lifestyle by giving fresh insight into the physiological effects of not exercising. The research shows how regular aerobic exercise as well as combined aerobic and resistant exercise training programmes not only improve insulin sensitivity but, also prevent age-related decreases in muscle mitochondrial ATP (adenosine triphosphate: the chemical form of energy that cells use) production.
It’s hard to convert to the kind of lifestyle that encourages optimum physiological function because the human brain rewards laziness and overindulgence. Our bodies will favour any action that equips it for future exertion, so resting and stockpiling easily accessible energy (sugars) are deemed as beneficial. You need to find a spark to ignite a change inferno. Why not start with a fitness tracker?