Browse the evidence

Females bear a disproportionately higher burden of malnutrition-related mortality and DALYs compared to males, while males experience higher obesity-related DALYs, indicating sex-specific vulnerabilities in the double burden of disease.

Nutrition and health policies must be sex-specific. Women face higher risks of malnutrition due to biological needs and social inequities in food access, while men face higher risks of obesity. Interventions should address these distinct vulnerabilities rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.

Increasing the price of specific foods like edible vegetable oil and pork can effectively reduce fat intake in the population, particularly among the poor.

Policymakers can use food pricing strategies to reduce fat intake. Increasing the price of edible oils and pork can lower fat consumption without harming protein intake for low-income groups.

Physical inactivity is significantly higher among women and girls in Arab countries compared to men and boys, a disparity driven by specific socio-cultural factors.

If you are a woman in an Arab country, you may face unique cultural barriers to exercise. Seek out gender-segregated facilities or female-only fitness programs to overcome these obstacles. Recognize that your inactivity levels may be higher than men's due to social factors, not just personal choice.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) significantly improves sleep outcomes and psychosocial functioning in patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) compared to waitlist controls, with effects maintained at 6-month follow-up.

If you have PTSD and chronic insomnia, standard CBT-I (8 weekly sessions) is a highly effective, evidence-based treatment that improves sleep and daily functioning. It is superior to waiting or using medication alone for long-term results. Key components include stimulus control (using the bed only for sleep) and sleep restriction (temporarily limiting time in bed to increase sleep drive). This approach is durable, with benefits lasting at least 6 months after treatment ends.

Exercise induces WAT browning via the myokine Irisin, leading to increased energy expenditure and improved insulin sensitivity.

Regular exercise not only burns calories but also transforms white fat into beige fat, which burns energy more efficiently. This process, driven by proteins like Irisin, improves insulin sensitivity and helps manage body weight.

Acute psychological stress increases energy intake of sweet and total snack foods in the absence of hunger, with the magnitude of intake strongly correlated with the degree of state anxiety induced by the stressor.

If you find yourself snacking when you are not hungry after a stressful event, recognize this as a stress response, not hunger. The more anxious you feel, the more you are likely to eat, especially sweet foods. To counter this, focus on stress-reduction techniques (like the control task used in the study) rather than willpower alone, as the drive is linked to the anxiety level itself.

Structured diabetes education significantly improves metabolic control, quality of life, and self-management, yet uptake remains critically low (often <5% attendance) due to logistical, financial, and psychological barriers.

If you are offered diabetes education, recognize that logistical barriers (time, cost) and psychological barriers (denial, feeling knowledgeable) are common reasons for non-attendance. To benefit, you must actively address these barriers by seeking flexible program options or reframing education as essential self-management rather than optional homework.

Measured temporal discount rates for monetary or appetitive rewards (but not hypothetical health outcomes) consistently predict unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, alcohol misuse, and obesity, with higher discount rates correlating with greater severity of these behaviors.

If you struggle with unhealthy habits like smoking, overeating, or excessive drinking, your tendency to devalue future rewards (temporal discounting) is likely a key driver. Standard health education focusing on future consequences often fails because it ignores this psychological bias. Instead, focus on reducing immediate environmental triggers for these behaviors and breaking the habitual loop, as these factors are more strongly linked to the behavior than your abstract valuation of future health.

Food insecurity in diabetic patients significantly increases the risk of hypoglycemia and poor glycemic control (higher A1c) due to the trade-off between purchasing food and purchasing diabetes medications/supplies.

If you have diabetes and struggle to afford food, do not simply 'try harder' to follow your diet. The cost of food often forces you to skip medications, causing dangerous blood sugar swings. Talk to your doctor about switching to medications with a lower risk of hypoglycemia (like Metformin or DPP-4 inhibitors) or adjusting your insulin regimen to be more flexible, so you don't have to choose between eating and staying safe.

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) significantly declines from childhood to adolescence and continues to decline, albeit at a lower rate, into young adulthood, while sedentary time increases substantially during the transition to adolescence.

Physical activity naturally drops as kids grow up, and they sit more, especially during adolescence. To combat this, focus on maintaining activity levels through childhood and early adolescence, as these habits are critical for preventing long-term health risks. In young adulthood, be aware that activity levels may continue to drop, so intentional effort is needed to stay active.

Postdiagnosis physical activity provides greater protection against cancer mortality than prediagnosis physical activity.

If you are a cancer survivor, starting or increasing physical activity after your diagnosis is highly beneficial. Aim for 15 MET-h/week, which is associated with a 35% lower risk of cancer mortality. This benefit is greater than activity undertaken before diagnosis.

First-year university students gain an average of 1.36 kg (3 lbs) during their first year, with 60.9% of students gaining weight and weight gainers averaging 3.38 kg (7.5 lbs).

You are likely to gain about 3 pounds (1.4 kg) in your first year of university, not 15. This gain is statistically significant but manageable. Focus on the first few months, as most of this gain happens early. If you are one of the 60% who gain weight, you might gain closer to 7.5 lbs, but this is still far less than the 'Freshman 15' myth suggests. Prioritize healthy habits early to prevent this from becoming a long-term trend.

The majority of weight gain in the first year occurs during the first term (first 4 months), with students gaining 1.24 kg in the first term versus 1.76 kg by the end of the year.

If you can maintain healthy habits during your first 4 months (the first term), you will prevent the majority of your annual weight gain. The average gain in the first term is 1.24 kg, while the total annual gain is 1.76 kg. Focus your efforts on the start of the year.

The Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale Version 2.0 (mYFAS 2.0) is a psychometrically valid, 13-item screening tool that performs similarly to the full 35-item YFAS 2.0 in assessing addictive-like eating behaviors, making it suitable for large-scale studies where participant burden is a concern.

If you are designing a study or assessment on eating behaviors and need to minimize participant burden, use the mYFAS 2.0. It is a 13-item questionnaire that has been validated to perform similarly to the longer 35-item version, providing reliable data on addictive-like eating patterns without requiring excessive time from participants.

An 8% tax on nonessential energy-dense foods and a peso-per-liter tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in Mexico resulted in a statistically significant decline in the volume of purchased taxed foods compared to pre-tax trends, with the largest reductions observed in low socioeconomic status (SES) households.

If you are a policymaker or public health advocate, this evidence supports the implementation of taxes on energy-dense, non-essential foods and sugar-sweetened beverages. The intervention is effective at reducing purchase volumes, particularly among lower-income populations who benefit most from the reduction. However, the tax definition must be carefully crafted to avoid loopholes like product reformulation to fall under the threshold.

Exercise and caloric restriction can downregulate TLR2 and TLR4 expression and signaling, thereby reducing inflammation in obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Engage in regular, strenuous exercise and aim for weight loss through caloric restriction. These actions directly reduce the expression of inflammatory receptors (TLRs) on immune cells, helping to improve insulin sensitivity.

A diabetes risk score based on non-laboratory variables (age, sex, BMI, waist circumference, hypertension, family history) effectively identifies high-risk individuals for early intervention, performing nearly as well as models including laboratory tests.

You can estimate your risk of developing type 2 diabetes using simple, non-invasive measurements: your age, sex, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, whether you have high blood pressure, and if your parents or siblings have diabetes. If your calculated risk score is high (e.g., 6 or higher on this specific scale), it is a strong indicator to consult a healthcare provider for further testing and to adopt healthier lifestyle habits, such as improved diet and exercise, to potentially delay or prevent the onset of diabetes.

Mindfulness experienced during work promotes psychological detachment from work in the evening, which mediates the relationship with subsequent sleep quality.

To improve your sleep, focus on being fully present and non-judgmental during your work tasks. This 'mindfulness at work' helps you mentally disconnect from work issues in the evening (psychological detachment), which directly leads to better sleep quality. You do not need a formal meditation session; simply paying attention to the present moment while working can facilitate this recovery process.

High trait mindfulness stabilizes psychological detachment levels across the work week, preventing the systematic decline seen in low-mindfulness individuals.

If you find your ability to mentally disconnect from work gets worse as the week progresses, cultivating mindfulness during work hours can help stabilize your detachment levels. High mindfulness prevents the typical weekly decline in detachment, keeping your recovery capacity more consistent from Monday to Friday.

Telephone counseling is a cost-efficient alternative to face-to-face counseling for long-term weight management, with similar efficacy but lower program and participant costs.

If you are choosing between telephone and in-person counseling for weight maintenance, consider that telephone counseling offers similar weight loss maintenance benefits at a lower cost. This is particularly beneficial if travel costs or time are barriers. The key is consistent contact and adherence to behavioral strategies, which can be achieved effectively via phone.

Self-reported energy intake significantly underestimates actual energy expenditure, with the magnitude of under-reporting increasing with body weight and adiposity.

Do not rely on self-reported food logs to determine your actual calorie intake, especially if you are overweight. These logs systematically underestimate intake by 20-50% in obese individuals. Use objective measures like body weight trends or doubly labelled water (if available) instead of self-reports for research or precise clinical assessment.

Sedentary time exceeding 10 hours per day is associated with a statistically significant increase in cardiovascular disease risk, whereas intermediate levels of sedentary time (up to ~7.5 hours) show no apparent increased risk compared to low sedentary time.

If you sit for more than 10 hours a day, your cardiovascular risk increases significantly, even if you exercise. However, sitting for moderate amounts (up to ~7.5 hours) does not appear to carry this same elevated risk. Focus your efforts on reducing extreme sitting durations (>10h) rather than stressing over moderate sitting, as the risk is nonlinear and threshold-based.

Current smoking is the primary modifiable risk factor for hip fracture burden, contributing to 7.5% of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) lost, followed by physical inactivity (5.5%) and type 2 diabetes (2.8%).

To reduce your risk of hip fracture and the associated loss of healthy life, prioritize quitting smoking and maintaining regular vigorous physical activity. These two behaviors account for the majority of preventable hip fracture burden in older adults. While maintaining a healthy weight is important, note that this study suggests higher BMI (up to obesity levels) may mechanically protect against hip fractures, though this comes with other health risks.

Physical inactivity (abstaining from vigorous activity) is the second largest modifiable risk factor for hip fracture burden, accounting for 5.5% of DALYs lost.

Engage in vigorous physical activity regularly. This study identifies physical inactivity as a major contributor to hip fracture risk. While specific exercise prescriptions are not detailed here, the association is strong enough to warrant prioritizing vigorous activity as a primary prevention strategy for hip health.