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Athletic heart Atrial fibrillation Cycling Stuff Cycling Wed Cyclocross Exercise inflammation

The cardiac dangers of excess exercise

Regular exercise is essential for health. I’ve taken to prescribing daily exercise as a drug. I’ve even written it on a prescription pad for effect. I see exercise as medicine, a safe medicine, an effective medicine. That means, like all drugs, exercise can be overdosed. The challenge is knowing the upper limit. How much is […]

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Cycling Stuff Cycling Wed Cyclocross inflammation

Can a song be anti-inflammatory?

I do not speak nor understand French. (I wish I did.) But it is not necessary to enjoy this song. I think it is as close to anti-inflammatory as a tune can get. I discovered this beautiful voice from a blog–a cycling blog at that. I have written often that success in social media comes […]

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Cycling Stuff Cycling Wed Cyclocross Reflection

My Concussion Story…

Concussions are serious. This I know from personal experience. My concussions changed my view of life. Thumps on the head are like that. My first concussion happened in a cyclocross race. The track had 2 grassy mounds, both about 3-feet high and in close succession. You approached them at speed. Physics dictate that going over […]

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Cycling Stuff Cycling Wed Cyclocross Exercise General Medicine Health Care Healthy Living

Will wearables and other gadgets make us healthier?

Is good health really all that digital? I am not so sure. I am a skeptic. I realize this is a risky thing to say these days. It’s hard to bet against Apple. And It was only seconds after Tweeting such doubt that John Nosta, an expert in digital health technology, tweeted back: @drjohnm Health […]

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Atrial fibrillation Cycling Wed Cyclocross Exercise General Medicine Health Care Healthy Living inflammation Nutrition

Public health is on the ballot this Election Day

The election I am going to watch today is in San Francisco. On the ballot there is Proposition E, an initiative to add a 2-cent tax for every once of sugary beverage. Choose Health SF, a group supporting the tax, estimates it would raise $54 million, which would go towards, get this: “funding active recreation […]

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Cycling Stuff Cycling Wed Doctoring Exercise General Medicine

Transforming the human heart with the best medicine

This is a short intro to my latest column over at Trials and Fibrillations on theHeart.org Medscape|Cardiology. —- I am not sure why doctors so often look past the best medicine. It’s right there before our eyes. Yet somehow we get sidetracked by the culture of pills and procedures. Modern-day caregivers fail to master the […]

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Cycling Stuff Cycling Wed Doctoring Healthy Living Hospice/Palliative Care Knowledge

Guest post — 10 observations from a 49 year-old falls risk.

It finally happened. After years of sitting at John’s bedside through multiple serious bike crashes, I had one of my own. I’ve had plenty of time to build up a ridiculous amount of smugness about why he crashes and I don’t. “John is reckless; Staci is cautious. John rides like an airplane engine on a […]

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Cycling Stuff Cycling Wed Cyclocross General Medicine Reflection

Observations from being “the family.”

It’s been a trying week for our family. You learn things when your people need healthcare. It’s an entirely different perspective. I am doctor; I’ve been a patient, but this was the first time being “the family.” Without going into details, (see her guest post), my wife Staci came to need the best that American […]

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Cycling Stuff Cycling Wed Healthy Living

Is this the bike of the future?

One of the things that I notice every time I return home from a trip to Europe is our lack of bike infrastructure. There are many reasons for this, obviously, but one is surely the lack of bike commuters. Americans mostly use bikes for recreation and exercise, not transportation. This wheel may change that. Oh […]

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Cycling Stuff Cycling Wed Social Media/Writing/Blogging

A cycling adventure in France: Riding the giant of Provence, Mont Ventoux

(This blog was born from writing race reports for a masters bike racing team. What follows is of that form. It’s a little longer than I like, and, therefore, as an antidote, no more than a few hundred words occur without an image.) It’s intriguing how experiences get burned into the brain’s memory center. I […]

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Cycling Stuff Cycling Wed Reflection

Dear Motorist: We are you

The thing about people who ride bikes is… …we are people. Human beings. The life of a person on a bike depends on the humanity and compassion of motorists. Here is a poignant 4:42 second video that I hope you will watch, and then share with others. (After the video is a post I wrote […]