HEALTH NOTES
PUBERTY IN GIRLS IS GETTING EARLIER
THERE’S been a 50-year-old trend for girls to start puberty earlier but now it’s been brought forward by about a year. Puberty generally begins between eight and 13 years in girls and nine and 14 years for boys.
A new The age of puberty study by a in girls is falling Danish team took the development of breast tissue (thelarche) as their marker for puberty rather than the start of periods because that can happen later on.
Having examined data from 30 studies for which girls had their breast tissue expertly assessed, they worked out that since 1977, girls have, on average, been reaching this milestone about three months earlier with every passing decade.
The study didn’t set out to explain why puberty is creeping forward, but the authors suggest that since higher body mass index has been linked to the earlier development of glandular breast tissue, the ongoing global obesity epidemic could be a partial explanation for this change in pubertal age.
GUT INSTINCT FIGHTING FLAB
SCIENTISTS are trying to create a probiotic that can be given to obese people instead of gastric bypass operations.
It follows a study of bypass patients at Arizona State University which found overweight people have fewer microbes in their gut.
They were examining the role of gut bacteria on weight.
TAKE A HIKE TO SHED POUNDS
LEAVING the house once a day for exercise is permitted during the lockdown – but how many calories will you shed?
Depending on size, you can expect to burn 148 to 558 calories in an hour’s walk.
If you weigh 9st and walk on the flat at 2.5mph, you will burn about 224 – rising to
354.
IF YOU’RE struggling to adapt to life in lockdown, there’s no better person to look to for motivation than Mr Motivator himself. Real name Derrick Evans, the 67-year-old made his name broadcasting uplifting workouts in colourful Lycra on breakfast TV show GMTV in the Nineties. Now he’s back helping us stay healthy in our homes, with a daily live-streamed workout, called the Daily Dozen (12pm), on Twitter and YouTube.
In what is a scary time for everyone, Mr Motivator says: “We’re creatures of habit, and they say for something to become a habit we have to do it 21 times, so I think after 21 days of this, people may start easing up and feeling better about everything.”
So what’s his advice for staying positive and healthy amid the pandemic?
PRACTISE GRATITUDE
THE first thing is recognising and admitting where we are – for a long time we tried to ignore it, but I think we now need a way of relieving the stress brought on by our situation.
You have to focus on the good things in your life. Start every day by looking around or in the mirror and thinking of five or six reasons why you should be grateful – simple things like having a choice: what am I going to have for breakfast? Will I walk out into the garden or not?
Lots of people don’t have that choice, so that’s a blessing.
And the other things we should think about more are: you can see, you can hear, you’ve got someone who loves you.
FIND YOUR OWN ESCAPE
IF you’ve not spent time at home during the day, and now you’ve got everybody around you, your own space becomes an issue. So you need to find a place you can escape to.
It could be reading a book or it could be doing something you’ve actually always wanted to do, but never got around to.
That gives you time out, because with the pressure of all being in this box together, it’s important that you do think about moments like that.
PLAY UPLIFTING MUSIC
PUT music on in every single room of the house. Either the same music, or if the old man likes his head banging music, he can put his music on in one room and you can put Barry White on in your room.
The faster the music is, the better. Music is a great leveller – if it’s dance music, you automatically want to dance.
RESIST THE URGE TO SPEND ALL DAY IN SLIPPERS
PUT trainers on and walk around the house. Don’t walk around barefoot, or in slippers or socks.
And because you’ve got your trainers on, psychologically you’re starting to think about movement – you’ve got your music on, you’ve got your trainers on, and it makes you want to move.
CHECK YOUR POSTURE
BECAUSE we’re all going to be sitting down a lot more; at the computer, watching TV, on the couch or chair...
Your reflection in the mirror is your friend! If there’s a mirror nearby, check your posture, and you’ll probably find you’re rounding your shoulders, or you’re lounging really badly. So set your alarm clock, your Fitbit, your phone to go off every 45 minutes, or 20 or 30 minutes – that is a reminder to check your posture.
What you do is imagine there’s an orange between your shoulder blades, and you gently squeeze out the juice of that orange, and you hold that for four seconds. And then you release it, and then you do it again. Automatically what that’s doing is making you look at life very differently, it’s making you sit up straighter.
MOVE – IN ANY WAY YOU CAN
WHEN it comes to being active, you can do so much from sitting down. You can march on the spot, you can pretend you’re shooting a basketball into a hoop, you can work your pelvic floor muscles.
You can get the kids involved by doing all kinds of crazy things with their arms.
You can get them to sit down in front of you and say, ‘What’s your favourite word?’ and get them to spell it out with their arms. You could have fun with the kids with the alphabet or their date of birth.
Go and kick a football in the garden, go for a walk, the whole family can do it. Just keep away from other people while you’re doing that.
■ Mr Motivator will also be offering tips on the new HealthCheck UK Live where he joins Michelle Ackerley, Dr Xand van Tulleken and Angela Rippon to keep households moving while we stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19. Weekdays, 10am, BBC1.