With the Alberta Government planning to get rid of a long list of provincial parks of various forms, I thought it was worth revisiting the benefits of parks. There are multiple types of parks that vary in the balance between conservation and human recreation. But if the presence of a tree on my street can … Continue reading
I remember when the office I was working in was moving. We were moving from an industrial area with ample free parking to the centre of downtown with no free parking. I was thrilled. The transit access was going to be much better and there were safer bike routes. But not everyone felt the same. … Continue reading
I’m not very good at sitting at my desk at work. I have a sit-stand desk so that helps, but I still fidget a lot. I use a wobble board and I’ve recently added squatting in. I started this because I’m working on a couple figure skating moves that require, basically, a one legged deep … Continue reading
In the final week of Black History Month, I went looking for a Black researcher to profile and, thanks to Twitter and the hashtag BlackSTEM, I found Rita Orji, a Computer Science professor at Dalhousie University. So, today’s post is all about a review of the literature on persuasive technology for health and wellness by … Continue reading
Admittedly, this topic is big, multifaceted, and developing, so today’s post isn’t going to look at the entire field. I’m focusing on one paper by Hannan, Moffitt, Neumann, and Kemps (2018). I was inspired to investigate this because I kept coming up with reasons that I didn’t need to go do the run I planned … Continue reading
Our DNA is located in 23 pairs of chromosomes. These chromosomes have genes located at specific locations that contain the recipes for everything made by our bodies. The ends of the chromosomes have telomeres, which are repeating sequences of specific base pairs (the alphabet of our DNA) that don’t code for anything and act like … Continue reading
This is an extra post this week in recognition of Bell’s Let’s Talk Day in Canada. I’m pretty diligent with my exercise and have been for most of my life. There have been times though when I’ve been criticized for this commitment. I distinctly remember one of my office mates during my PhD questioning me … Continue reading
When I was diagnosed with asthma as a kid, I remember someone saying that it wouldn’t go away unless I stopped skating because of the air quality in rinks. I was wondering what the research on this is. Rundell (2004) found that the pulmonary function, basically how well a person breaths, of a group of … Continue reading
I grew up figure skating, but I am also very comfortable on a pair of hockey skates. (Please don’t call them women’s vs men’s as this perpetuates stereotypes that just aren’t true.) When I taught learn-to skate lessons I was often asked about the differences between the two types of skates and when this question … Continue reading
As a figure skater I was pretty aware of how unreasonable societal and sport pressures can have pretty significant negative effects on the health of female athletes. Amenorrhoea, low bone mineral density, and low energy availability are all concerns due to high energy expenditure and low energy intake due to pressures to be thin and … Continue reading
