Browse the evidence

Wearable activity trackers effectively increase daily physical activity, resulting in an average increase of 1800 steps per day and 40 minutes of walking per day across diverse populations.

Use a wearable activity tracker (pedometer, smartwatch, or fitness app) to increase your daily movement. The device acts as a tool for self-monitoring and goal setting. Evidence shows this intervention leads to an average increase of 1800 steps and 40 minutes of walking per day, regardless of whether you are healthy or have a chronic condition. The key is consistent wear and using the feedback to set goals.

Dietary caloric restriction and regular exercise are effective interventions to reduce inflammation and metabolic dysfunction in obesity, although dietary weight loss alone may be less effective as a long-term anti-inflammatory intervention compared to exercise.

Combine caloric restriction with regular exercise to manage obesity and its associated inflammation. Prioritize exercise for long-term anti-inflammatory benefits, as diet alone may not sustain these effects as effectively over time.

Aggressive resistance training is the most effective intervention to offset anabolic resistance and improve muscle mass and function in older adults, especially when combined with adequate protein intake.

Engage in regular, aggressive resistance training and ensure you consume enough protein. This is the most effective way to maintain muscle and metabolic health as you age.

Adhering to specific dietary modifications (smaller portions, low-fat, bland foods) and slow eating habits significantly reduces the frequency and severity of gastrointestinal adverse events (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation) in patients initiating GLP-1 receptor agonist therapy.

Start with small, bland, low-fat meals and eat slowly. Stop eating when you feel full, not stuffed. This simple behavioral change is the first line of defense against nausea and vomiting when starting GLP-1 medications.

Accumulating up to 10,000 steps per day is associated with a lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality, as well as reduced incidence of CVD and cancer.

Aim for more steps, but don't obsess over hitting 10,000 if it feels like a chore. The research shows significant mortality and disease risk reductions occur well before that number. Focus on increasing your daily average from your current baseline; every 2,000 steps adds benefit, with the curve flattening around 10,000.

Maintaining higher daily step counts (median 7,731–8,290 steps) is associated with a significantly lower risk of incident chronic diseases, including obesity, sleep apnea, GERD, major depressive disorder, diabetes, and hypertension.

Track your daily steps using a wearable. Aim to consistently exceed 8,200 steps per day to gain protection against common chronic conditions like obesity, sleep apnea, and depression. You do not need to hit 10,000 to see benefits; the risk reduction is linear and starts lower. Consistency over years matters more than hitting a perfect daily number.

Accumulating moderate-to-vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (MV-ILPA) in bouts of 1 to 10 minutes is associated with significantly lower all-cause mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) compared to bouts shorter than 1 minute, independent of total physical activity volume.

If you don't currently exercise, start by breaking up your day with short bursts of moderate-to-vigorous activity. Aim for 1 to 10-minute bouts of brisk walking or similar activity scattered throughout your day. These 'lifestyle' bursts are just as effective for reducing heart disease and mortality risk as longer, structured workouts, and they require no special equipment or time commitment.

SSB intake is inversely correlated with national Socio-demographic Development Index (SDI) by 2018, meaning higher national development is associated with lower national SSB intake, though within lower-SDI nations, higher individual education correlates with higher intake.

If you are in a developing nation, be aware that SSB marketing often targets the educated and urban demographics. High individual education does not protect against high SSB intake in these regions; in fact, it may correlate with higher intake.

SSB intake is significantly higher in urban vs. rural areas globally (57.3% higher), with the largest disparities in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, while being lower in urban areas of the Middle East/North Africa.

Urban dwellers, particularly in Africa and Asia, face higher exposure to SSBs. Focus on reducing availability and marketing in these high-density areas.

Increasing the weekly frequency of plyometric jump training sessions leads to larger hypertrophic gains, whereas total training duration, session duration, and total number of jumps per week do not significantly moderate hypertrophy.

To maximize muscle growth from jumping exercises, focus on how often you train rather than how long or how many jumps you do in one session. Aim for more frequent sessions per week (e.g., 3-4 times) rather than fewer, longer sessions. The total number of jumps or the length of the workout does not appear to significantly change muscle growth outcomes.

Contrave (naltrexone/bupropion) promotes weight loss (~6% TBWL) and may improve fertility by mitigating PCOS and endometriosis effects, though it is less effective than GLP-1 RAs.

Contrave is an oral option for weight loss that targets food cravings and reward pathways. It typically results in about 6% weight loss. It is less potent than GLP-1 injections but may help with emotional eating. You must stop taking it before trying to conceive.

Quitting smoking after a new diagnosis of type 2 diabetes reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality, although the risk remains higher than in those who never smoked.

If you smoke, quit. Even after a diabetes diagnosis, stopping smoking lowers your risk of heart attack and death compared to continuing. While your risk might not drop to the level of someone who never smoked, it is much better than staying a smoker. Combine this with exercise for the best results.

Higher pre-diagnosis physical activity is associated with significantly lower all-cause mortality in postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer, but this benefit does not differ based on the number of cardiometabolic risk factors.

If you have had early-stage breast cancer, staying physically active before and after diagnosis is linked to a lower risk of dying from any cause. This benefit appears to apply whether you have metabolic risk factors (like high blood pressure or diabetes) or not. Aim for regular moderate-to-vigorous activity, such as brisk walking or recreational exercise, as measured in MET-hours per week.

Home-based training (HBT) is an effective alternative to supervised exercise training when SET is not feasible, provided it is monitored.

If you can't go to a supervised clinic, do home-based walking exercises. Start with 20 minutes and build up to 60 minutes, 3 times a week. Use a pedometer, smartwatch, or logbook to track your activity. This is a valid alternative to supervised training.

Lower intertemporal discount rates (higher patience) are associated with the selection of foods with higher nutritional quality, independent of active health consideration.

People who are naturally more patient (low discounters) tend to choose healthier foods. This trait is stable but can be influenced by interventions like episodic future thinking, which asks individuals to imagine detailed future experiences, thereby reducing impulsive choices and promoting healthier diets.

Actively considering health outcomes during food choice leads to longer decision times, increased use of nutrition information, and consideration of healthier product sets, distinguishing it from habitual decision-making.

Healthy choices often require more time and effort than habitual ones. If you find yourself spending more time looking at labels and considering health impacts, this is a sign of active, model-based decision-making that leads to better outcomes. You can facilitate this by using simple visual cues that make health information easy to process, reducing the cognitive load.

Intermittent diet breaks may reduce psychological disinhibition (loss of control over eating) compared to continuous energy restriction, although this comes at the cost of a longer total intervention duration.

If you struggle with losing control over your eating (disinhibition) while dieting, scheduled diet breaks might help you stay more in control psychologically than continuous dieting. However, this strategy requires 8 weeks to achieve what continuous dieting does in 6 weeks, so you must be willing to extend your total dieting time.

The Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EOSS) provides a more comprehensive clinical management framework than BMI alone by categorizing obesity based on health complications.

Ask your doctor to use the Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EOSS) to evaluate your health. This focuses on your specific complications rather than just your weight.

Time-restricted feeding (TRF) and alternative-day fasting (ADF) reduce body weight and improve lipid profiles in NAFLD patients, but TRF offers no additional benefit over daily caloric restriction regarding intrahepatic triglyceride reduction when caloric deficit is matched.

If you have fatty liver, losing weight is the most effective treatment. Time-restricted feeding (eating only between 8am and 4pm) can help you lose weight, but it does not reduce liver fat more than simply counting calories and eating less throughout the day. Choose the method that you can sustain long-term.

Higher baseline physical activity engagement during early pregnancy predicts continued moderate physical activity in the third trimester, regardless of BMI or military status.

If you are pregnant and want to stay active, getting started with moderate physical activity early in pregnancy (before 12 weeks) is the best way to ensure you keep doing it later in pregnancy. Your early habits strongly predict your later habits, more so than your weight or job status.

Athletes who purchase nutritional supplements outside of their athletic department's provided inventory are at significantly higher risk of using non-third-party tested (TPT) supplements compared to those who rely on department-provided products.

If you buy supplements from your school's athletic department, you are statistically much safer regarding contamination risks than if you buy them yourself at a store or online. If you must buy your own, you are at higher risk of using untested products; prioritize finding and ordering from verified third-party tested sources.

Using caffeine supplements is associated with a significantly higher risk of using non-third-party tested supplements compared to other supplement types.

If you use caffeine supplements, you are at the highest risk of using untested products. Be extra vigilant: look for third-party testing logos (NSF, Informed Choice) on caffeine products, especially pre-workouts, as they are frequently adulterated.

Advanced resistance training systems (Rest-Pause and Sarcoplasmic Stimulating Training) induce significantly higher perceived exertion, pain, and displeasure compared to traditional multi-set training, despite producing lower post-exercise lactate concentrations.

If you are an experienced lifter, advanced techniques like Rest-Pause or Sarcoplasmic Stimulating Training can increase your total training load and volume, which are key for muscle growth. However, be aware that these methods will feel significantly more painful and unpleasant than standard training, even if they produce less lactate. Because of this high discomfort, these systems are best reserved for experienced athletes who can tolerate the psychological burden, rather than beginners.

For non-resistance trained women, distributing resistance training volume across four weekly split-body sessions yields equivalent maximal strength, muscle mass, and explosive power gains compared to two weekly full-body sessions, provided total weekly volume is equated.

If you are new to resistance training, you do not need to commit to four gym days a week to get strong or build muscle. You can achieve the same results with just two full-body sessions per week, as long as you perform the same total amount of work (sets and reps). Choose the schedule that fits your life best, as forcing four sessions may lead to dropping out.