Probably better to make a note of it. "annotation" is marginal or footnote entries in a book that go into detail on a highlighted subject. "Notation" is a noun that means the act of taking notes. "Making a note" is writing down a concept once to be reviewed later. "Notate" is not a word. A person doesn't "Notate" something. They "note" it or "note it down."
Dr. C is one of those people that could say "I'm going to talk about random shit for an hour." and I'd sit down and listen. Perfect voice and charisma for being a speaker.
LDL carries the cholesterol towards tissues, HDL carries it away. Therefore, LDL is 'bad', HDL is 'good'. LDL has more cholesterol, while HDL has more lipoproteins. Anyway, as I said in the comments the first video of your channel, I think this channel (especially this video) is a must for every medical student in the world.
As much as I love the usual HT for making its points really solidly, many of us trust this channel for good info by now and this Q&A format covers a lot more ground in a more entertaining style. More of these or a Healthcare Triage podcast every so often would be really cool.
Alan Gebhardt Good idea!!! HCT Podcast! I'd have it in my daily subscription along with Planet Money, Freakonomics, Intelligence Swuared, and 99% Invisible.
***** Ah, but what exactly is being warmed up? Our internal body temperature doesn't change all that much, and when it does that's usually a bad thing (ie fever). Not to mention, what is the difference between stretching in advance and muscles being used during exercise? How does doing it in advance change anything? When you think about it, stretching doesn't really make that much sense.
Taking things with a grain of salt here; just because there is no (statistical) data that shows both to be beneficial, it doesn't mean it always isn't. I like to think of "warming up" and stretching as two separate things. Warming up can be anything like running or doing some exercises, which can exert the body just as much as whatever activity is performed afterwards. Stretching however, so long as you don't go overboard to stretch until you feel pain; WILL benefit you from straining muscles too hard later, especially before swimming. Don't want to get a leg cramps and drown in the ocean? Stretch. What happens to clothes of certain fabrics after they're washed and hung to dry? Unless you lightly stretch them out while damp/wet, over time they shrink, and shrink, to the point you feel like it's a size smaller. The same can apply to muscles. Long story short: everything in moderation.
Jake Hayes But I have noticed that if I don't stretch before martial arts practice, I can't kick as high, punch as fast, or run as fast. I don't believe it's a coincidence.
As a personal fitness trainer I always told my clients that they should skip the supplements until they reach a point where they are sleeping good every night, eating very healthy every day, and training intensely 5-6 days a week without compromise, and they feel they need to aid their body in coping with their intense training. Not as some kind of magic pill, so they can skip workouts, not put forth the effort, eat like unsupervised children, and still swell like Arnold.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This show is wonderful. I know the information is out there, but a google search often returns a whole bunch of websites selling something, not the good research. And without the time (or priority, really) to read the studies and figure out which ones are more valid, it's so hard to get this information. I have completely changed many of my actions because of what y'all explained on this show (drinking milk, buying organic, talking about vaccines). And I thank you for doing this.
I am generally an unhealthy person and both the fields in which I work are conducive to sitting for many, many hours per day. I also live on junk food. After almost twenty years of smoking I quit about five years ago. It was the best thing I have ever done for my health. I feel significantly better ad a result.
Absolutely yes to the nutritional supplement answer- expensive pee. To the stretching- dynamic stretching before exercise prevents injury. Static stretching would not. Please be sure to specify the difference! Such a huge fan of this channel! :)
John, for the love of god, don't get botox. You don't need it, it's not you, and as a father you're basically telling your kids that physical appearance is important to social status and success. I will continue to watch your videos because they're good videos no matter how old and wrinkly you (perceive yourself to) get.
Direct feedback! I really liked this format. Aaron is much more engaging/lovable when he's interacting with a person right next to him. Also, I continually appreciate your "the sky isn't falling" approach: helps us focus on the real things, e.g. regular exercise.
A friend smokes; however, he also exercises regularly and he believes that by continuing to be active; exercising the organs prone to carcinogens (heart, lungs, etc.) that he might be offsetting some of the damage caused by smoking? I have to admit; the guy works out hard; heavy cardio / Vo2-Max training /Road Cycling (20miles/day); and seems to be in good shape; even dives for abalone and can stay under water a lot longer than I can. But, this just seems like something a smoker tells himself to continue smoking - a professional opinion would be helpful to educate him (or myself?). Thanks - love the shows!!
On the stretching thing: it's important to note that he is talking about stretching before physical activity. In all honesty the best way to look at stretching is as another form of physical exertion. Obviously not an aerobic form. But stretching can be beneficial if done in a separate "work out" so that your muscles lengthen. Which is definitely good if your muscles are overly tight, pulling when you don't want them to.
I absolutely love this channel! I'm always the one telling people to look up the studies. I hate hearin, "They say you should do X, or Y." My first question is, "who says that?" I always push people to look at the studies, the evidence, see what they say. And I love that this channel dives fully into that. If I could cuddle up with this channel, I would.
Some pretty mindblowing info in here! Thanks. I shared it on facebook. My fitness buff brother will probably dispute some of the facts. Let me ask so that I know when he brings it up: when you say nutritional supplements don't make a difference, does that mean drinking protein shakes or eating protein bars doesn't help build muscle? Is that what was implied in the conversation about John's guns? Thanks in advance!
This is probably one of my favorite HealthCare Triage videos yet. Dont' get me wrong, I love all these videos, but this one had a lot of good information packed into a single segment. Keep it going, we're listening.
Very informative! I watched it straight through to the end. I'm so glad this channel exists because it's nearly impossible to get unbiased and accurate information from someone who truly knows what they're talking about. Keep doing what you do! :) it's great.
I only have one wish for this show. Whenever you mention a study/studies show, I kinda want them sourced, like links to those studies (hopefully somewhere on the screen) so I can look at them myself. I understand that this might logistically difficult. You are an expert I trust, I need that trust to be verified. Great show.
I like Aaron's casual style here better than the accusative style of most other videos. _Having said that_, I do find these video's very interesting and informing. Keep up the good work!
My confidence in everything you said went out the window when you got HDL and LDL mixed up.... Guess I'm going to have to go back to webMD to quench my need for medical advice/information.
Yes because off the cuff guesses are just as reliable as when they spend a week writing and researching a episode. It's not like one doctor can have everything in medical science in his brain and on speed dial.
First, just ran across this channel, and I like it a lot. Second, I have one specific point of difference from what I thought you said in the video. Specifically, I think there is a much stronger link - than admitted by conventional(?) advice - between protein intake and the body's response to exercise. Many years ago, in high school. I was in athletics (cross country and track), and did fairly well. At the start of high school, I was a 90 lb kid (with no thought I could end up in athletics). Once in athletics, I spent near an hour in the weight room every weekday, trying to build upper body strength, with very limited result. By the end of high school I was a 120 lb kid. My diet consisted mainly of massive carbohydrates. (For a nutrition class I estimated my intake was 11,000 calories per day. Also, our cross-country coach scheduled some pretty intense workouts - and ran with us. Hard to complain about the workouts when the coach runs with you - and ahead. Also our cross country team did very well.) I do recall looking up the then-current dietary recommendations for protein intake (in the early 1970's). My (very) hazy recall is that 10-20g (or less?) was all that was then thought that the body could use. Rather a lot of effort, and very little result. A several years back, I started going to the gym regularly. Of course, for the first few months my workouts were fairly pathetic, but improved somewhat - if not a lot. Then I thought to look up advice on protein intake. The science in this area is more than woolly, but the advice offered suggested more protein might be effective. Well, protein is cheap, so ... why not? I boosted my protein intake above 100g/day. The frequency of visiting the gym, and time spent in the gym stayed about the same. Oh. My. God. My upper body strength increased rapidly. My subjective level of effort was the same. My daily workouts at the gym are under 10 minutes. My upper body strength - geez, I do not really know - quadrupled? More? Maybe a lot more. (If I knew this was going to happen, I would have made more of a record.) I exceeded my goals years ago. (Got harder to find clothes that fit my upper body.) I backed off and was content to maintain my current level. But ... I am still(!) gaining. To be clear, this is only from adding more protein to my diet - nothing else. My blood chemistry numbers also changed, very much for the better. I am currently a 59 year old male, and all but one of my immediate ancestors died of heart problems near my age, or earlier. Also ... and this is more speculative ... the muscular soreness after hard exercise seems much reduced in duration, and effect. No assertions here, just a question.
So nutrition, exercise, stopping smoking if you smoke are the three things I got out of this talk. Whenever I hear or read of a new supplement or chemical that is touted to prevent disease, the first thing I do is to see if any scientific studies articles from professional journals are available online, at least abstracts. Then I research what foods these chemicals are in. Then I go to my *farmacy* and get foods that have them. Blueberries and grapes; cantaloupe; apples and dark green leafy vegetables; bell peppers and Brussels sprouts; rutabaga; and many other fruits and veggies I like. In fact, often I will go to the produce section and follow my cravings. I can't really go wrong with that. Then, for myself, I let myself eat eggs in any amount. Additionally, I let myself eat red meat at least once in a while. Not because I'm trying to cut it out-I love red meat and sometimes binge on a slow - cooker barbecued pork roast -but I have it often enough to calm my brain down. (I have bipolar.) Chicken and turkey don't do it, nor does fish. Beef, pork, mutton or lamb, ox tail, bison, and even emu do. And beef tongue. (I most often get pork.)
this has been the most entertaining interview, Q&A (or what ever you call this) on youtube. i've learned a lot and laughed a lot. you guys are awesome!
It's a great thing John has a pediatrician who keeps up with current medical studies. A lot of doctors don't continuing studying the science of medicine once they start practicing it.
Any chance you could elaborate on the bodybuilding stuff? Because other people seem pretty sure that protein + working out = muscles. I'd really like to hear your thoughts on it.
I *think* what he was talking about there were nutritional supplements, mostly. Like, getting more of various vitamins and stuff doesn't help with building muscle. I could be wrong though.
UnqualifiedAdvice Think so too but on the other hand he said protein shakes... And in short even bodybuilders don't need protein supps and especialy if they are not on juice. Why they exist? Well they help. A general rule of thumb is 2g of protein for 1kg of lean body mass per day. And that's the top end, some say it's less and some say it's more. you probably can ignore the ones who say it's more and test out if less is enough for you. You need protein for muscle development and IF you don't eat enough, than supplements might help. That's the same with supps in every part of the life. They only make sense if you are deficient in something, you should allways try to get your macro- and micro nutrions in through "real" food.
I think that the kind of protein (like creatin) you take doesn't really matter because your gastric acid contains pepsin that breaks apart any protein into amino acids. I imagine it could be beneficial to take proteins with amino acids that your body can't synthesize but if that isn't really significant i'd say eating any source of protein is about as good as the other and you don't really need creatin powder.
Teun van den Brand creatin works. That's one of millions supps that is actually tested in 100. of studies but it'll give you maybe 5% to 10% more strengh, not more. It's not any magic (also not protein).
Coming from being an athlete in college working out 30+ hours per week working out = muscles; protein = muscles get repaired at quickly as possible. Not having enough protein slows muscle repair. That being said, a balanced diet will provide all of the protein you need. Just don't eat a crappy diet.
I've heard the thing about stretching before, but I'm always hesitant to bring it up because I balk at the idea of having to defend that against my entire cross country team and coach all without having an internet connection at practice.
Really great video! I hope you'll continue making them! :) I'd love to hear more about the vitamin supplements. (yeah, I know, a simple "NO!" is great, but, atleast here in germany, there are so much contradicting statements)
Hello Dr. Carroll, I am a 18 year old student from Dallas that is very appreciative of all your videos. I have been a subscriber of your channel since your video on Randomized controlled Trials. I am a curious person and I like to be informed about health. I plan to study medicine when I grow up. Nevertheless, I believe knowing about the health before I get to med school will help me in the long run. A year ago I watched a documentary called Plastic Planet released in 2008. Since, then I've been very cautious about buying plastics unless I absolutely needed them. I started drifting away from putting plastics in the microwave and stopped drinking from plastic bottles. My questions are the following: Is there any proof that plastic is harmful to humans? Am I doing the right thing by trying to reduce my interaction with plastics? Thank you for your time, Liam Alec Stenson
From a professional sports career (climbing) and a heavy training (gymnastics) what I can tell in favor of stretching after the effort is that it increses flexibility which is important since heavy exercise WITHOUT stretching decreases it pretty fast. Yet, I have but 10+ years of experience witnessing that so I don't know to what extent this is exact or only applying to me.
In regards to the satisfaction question, I find that very true. My sister was going through a stressful time in her life but was not suffering from any mental illness like anxiety, but her doctor still gave her anxiety medication so she left there happy.
Clarification on a couple things please! First, on the topic of supplements, does the same hold true for prenatal vitamins? Second, I was taught in A&P that LDL is the bad, and to remember this by thinking of the L as standing for lousy. Was I taught wrong? *edited later, I read the "about" section and saw the mix up. Forget I asked! =-) Love the videos, think I like the Q&A format even better. Definitely love how much data you have to back you up. Keep it up!
As a nutrition student, I found the mix up between HDL and LDL disturbing, especially since the correction was in the description at the bottom. HDL is the so called "good" cholesterol and LDL the "bad" cholesterol. Although you are right, food consumption does not alter either (but exercise does!). Also, many people at many geographical locations would benefit from a vitamin D supplement in the winter.
I glad you made the distinction between multivitamins and supplements. Some people act like it's crazy to take multivitamins as well, whereas it seems kind of obvious that if your body is a little low on something it can get it from the multivitamin whereas taking huge amounts of individual vitamins is just going to cause you to pee them out.
LDL is bad and HDL is good! LDL is what causes hardening of the arteries, much more than HDL levels. Most medications and treatments today focus on lowering LDL levels.
My understanding of the stretching thing is this: When you stretch, it does more to separate the muscle fibers. Kinda like "ripping" though muscles don't actually "rip". But in either case, when you go to exercise, if 10% of your muscle is "ripped", then the force is focused on the remaining 90% and thus you perform worse, gain less, and are at more of a risk for injury. The main benefit I can think of is avoiding tendon damage due to lack of flexibility. But in that case, you can do something like yoga at any time to get the same benefit.
Hey Aaron, could you elaborate more on the questions of vitamins and supplements impacting health? I am aware of a meta analysis in BMJ that showed considerable benefits to having sufficient levels of Vitamin D, and most patients (especially us high latitude folk) have insufficient levels so supplementation would be beneficial. What about Vitamin C prior to an operation or during cold/flu season? What about essential oils like Omega 3? I think there are a lot of misconceptions, but potentially some benefits as well to this topic. Love your talks, always good for sparking conversation. Thanks.
Thanks very much for sharing the insight and professional recommendation. Small matter to clear up though: HDL stands for high density lipoprotein and REMOVES cholesterol from tissues, transporting them back to the liver for metabolic processes (HDL="Good"). LDL stand for low density lipoprotein and is an endogenous molecule with the function of depositing cholesterol INTO tissues arround the body ("LDL="bad"). Big caveat here though. As with most things, this is no black-and-white issue. Both LDL and HDL are critical for good health, so long as they're in their normal and healthy ranges. LDL simply gets a bad rap because in the modern archetypical picture of "poor health" (obesity, heart disease, etc.), LDL level tend to be much higher than normal, while HDL much lower than normal. Thus LDL being called bad, and what we typically want less of, while HDL being good and desired in greater amount.
I appreciate his comments at 13:00. I was always curious about vitamins. He's saying supplements are of no help, but vitamins can be if you're deficient. If you have a balanced diet (which most have) multi-vitamins won't help you as you'll pass them through. However, if you're deficient and have an imbalanced diet, a multi-vitamin will help to fill in the gap. Sounds like there's a ceiling whereby supplements won't help further.
On the topic of stretching, I'd like to share my personal experience. Mind you, I'm one person, not a study group, but I've noticed the effects can be complex. Primarily I am a martial artist, and while stretching wont prevent me from twisting an ankle or breaking a bone, it does seem to have some effect on my ability to resist submission holds and other sorts of intentional attacks on my joints. It also seems to reduce my chance of pulling a muscle when I'm doing things like sprinting or swimming. Also, while stretching before a work out seems to reduce performance, and as such I have stopped doing this, stretching between work outs has vastly increased my range of motion, allowing me to gain more power, and a higher rate of acceleration, in fencing, sprinting, and in fighting. I think there is still a lot of good reason to stretch, even if the idea of it preventing lactic acid build up or common sports injuries is somewhat of a myth.
I learned from my doctor that HDL is good and you want it to be high (they both start with "H"). LDL is bad and you want it to be low (both start with "L").
Aaron I don't understand your hoodie. Why are there so many zippers? Why are they all vertical? Why is one silver and the others black? Why does healthcare make more sense then that hoodie?
I would love to see an episode putting the potential side effects of vaccination in perspective. I have a medically fragile child and have spent a fair amount of time in pediatric ICUs, where babies with whooping cough were dying so I am an even bigger advocate of immunization than I was before. Fear of side effects is one of the major oppositions I have had thrown up. Also the skewed data "showing" that the fatality rates from these illnesses were reducing before immunisation was introduced - I would like to be able to show that this was because of improved medical care, NOT reduced rate of infection.
How did the the highschool/college students get the cocaine? I mean there's the obvious drug dealer path, but how would they get that published? And who knew the guy who has a drug dealer? And if they got it legally somehow, who was monitoring everything? SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!
If you're researching addictive behavior, you can legally get addictive agents. As for who monitors it (besides their research supervisor, of course), I would assume the FDA and possibly the DEA.
Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals can legally make cocaine in the United States, but I'm not sure if they're alone. I mean Pharmaceutical companies usually have access to many illicit drugs. They likely buy from Peru, where it is semi-legal to farm coca plants (although I'm sure other countries have fields for medical/research purposes). So my guess is that Universities gain access through Pharmaceutical companies for research purposes.
As far as stretching in the gym is concerned, I suggest light-weight warm ups, and not stretching. You never want to go into a lift cold, but to stretch is simply to stress the muscle without getting blood to it. Where as a warm up (for example, squatting the bar alone before adding weight) targets the proper muscles and gets blood into them.
hurray for chocolate milk! My soccer coach in hs use to tell us to drink it after practice for this reason haha. That was a fun Q&A. More of these please! Have you seen Fathead? I thought that was a fun documentary, I especially like the end where he eats bacon cooked in butter and eggs every day yet his weight and cholesterol all stayed healthy.
You talked in previous episodes about healthcare in the us and canada. Which country do you think has the best healthcare system? Also how would New Zealand rate? On another note an episode on stretching would be nice
Could you please do an episode where you expand on the stretching/warm up thing? and could you add in information about stretching for flexibility and muscles shortening from certain exercises?
Hi, this was a great video, would it be okay if you made one on the efficacy of some different anti-depressants and/or whether they're the best method for treating mental disorders/if we're overmedicated? I read a lot of conflicting information about this, so your take on this would be really helpful.
Stretching is GOOD for you. GOOD the study focused on people who did a stretching routine as their warm up and then did strength exercises. It concluded that if you are doing strength exercises then you'll be less likely to lift as much weight as if you did not stretch and instead did a warm up. YOU should STRETCH because you will not think that simply stretching is your warm up. This means pair stretching after a 30 seconds of jumping jacks or continuous lunges. I couldn't believe it when he said this so this is what I've come up with from 10 minutes of googling. If I've got this wrong please let me know, but before you do, please also do at least 10 minutes of googling. *not a doctor
I don't know about anyone else, but I've found that if I exercise and *don't* stretch afterwards that I'm super sore the next day. One time I did a scavenger hunt around Melbourne (with Nerdfighters, it was swell) and we were running around for hours. The next day I thought I'd strained/sprained/broken both of my ankles, I was in that much pain. I stretched my achilles, and things started feeling better.
Maybe that means that stretching is good for sore muscles. I was actually wondering about this when the subject was brought up. I often stretch when I am sore and it seems to help a great deal. Perhaps that is where the myth comes from.
derkaderkajihadderka As the good doctor has said before, "the plural of anecdote is not data." If stretching afterwards makes you feel better (literally or figuratively) then by all means do so - there are just as many studies that indicate stretching does neither harm nor foul - but the actual research evidence indicates that the stretching isn't what's leading you to feel better, no matter what connections you've made in your everyday life
I went for a 19km bike ride today at 27.5km/m without stretching. I feel fine. LOAF 2013 scavenger hunt, covered about 16km without stretching and felt really bad after. It's weird...
scharfy It probably depends on whether or not your muscles are extending their full range of motion while you are doing activities. You are stretching the whole time you are riding a (properly adjusted) bike, so there isn't a need to stretch afterwards?
I have taken a contortionist class, which essentially involves 1.5 hours of straight stretching. I was in a beginner class where no one could do the splits and was essentially just trying to improve flexibility for the other circus classes I take, nothing crazy like what first crosses your mind when you hear contortion. I've never taken a yoga class, but from what I gather my contortion class is quite similar. Anyways, after doing some hard stretches for that long of time I definitely saw an increase in my range of motion, but I also had really sore muscles the next day too, very much like having a hard day at the gym. Does that (anecdotal) evidence mean that stretching causes sore muscles. Nope. Just means that I put strain on my muscles and now need to recover.
I'd really love to see a video on pregnancy do's and don't's. There's a lot of hearsay about things you should or shouldn't eat or be around. What is actually beneficial? What is actually detrimental? Does folic acid work? Should I as an artist not be around my oil paints or solvents?
Oh! You were doing so good until 6:46 when you fell into the trap of associating body size with diet. It is a commonly held misconception that you can tell a person's diet by looking at them. Turns out, looking at somebody doesn't provide that information.
The things we say, even conversationally, inform and impact our thinking and beliefs. In this context: an expert speaking in an informational video, it is especially important that casual phrasing not support bad thinking and unsupported but common beliefs. I think Dr. Carroll agrees that you can't tell a person's diet by looking at them, so that is why I suggested he not say it, even conversationally. Because that belief is actually held by many people and can be quite hurtful when expressed.
My English teacher brought up the study about Oreos and cocaine in class and was totally invested in the idea that Oreos were as addictive than cocaine.
you messed up the HDL and LDL thing. Make an anotation to correct it
This guy is correct! Please upvote him.
Done. They now have an annotation at that time point 9:21
Happy Dancing Lance, Lay Down Larry
Probably better to make a note of it. "annotation" is marginal or footnote entries in a book that go into detail on a highlighted subject. "Notation" is a noun that means the act of taking notes. "Making a note" is writing down a concept once to be reviewed later. "Notate" is not a word. A person doesn't "Notate" something. They "note" it or "note it down."
Dr. C is one of those people that could say "I'm going to talk about random shit for an hour." and I'd sit down and listen. Perfect voice and charisma for being a speaker.
LDL carries the cholesterol towards tissues, HDL carries it away. Therefore, LDL is 'bad', HDL is 'good'. LDL has more cholesterol, while HDL has more lipoproteins.
Anyway, as I said in the comments the first video of your channel, I think this channel (especially this video) is a must for every medical student in the world.
As much as I love the usual HT for making its points really solidly, many of us trust this channel for good info by now and this Q&A format covers a lot more ground in a more entertaining style.
More of these or a Healthcare Triage podcast every so often would be really cool.
I would love a Healthcare Triage podcast!
Alan Gebhardt Good idea!!! HCT Podcast! I'd have it in my daily subscription along with Planet Money, Freakonomics, Intelligence Swuared, and 99% Invisible.
a Podcast would be awesome!!
Wow, so many experts in the comments. All this guy is doing is relaying the outcomes of actual studies. Actual studies > your personal experience.
the stretching thing is really surprising to me
***** Ah, but what exactly is being warmed up? Our internal body temperature doesn't change all that much, and when it does that's usually a bad thing (ie fever). Not to mention, what is the difference between stretching in advance and muscles being used during exercise? How does doing it in advance change anything?
When you think about it, stretching doesn't really make that much sense.
Taking things with a grain of salt here; just because there is no (statistical) data that shows both to be beneficial, it doesn't mean it always isn't.
I like to think of "warming up" and stretching as two separate things. Warming up can be anything like running or doing some exercises, which can exert the body just as much as whatever activity is performed afterwards. Stretching however, so long as you don't go overboard to stretch until you feel pain; WILL benefit you from straining muscles too hard later, especially before swimming. Don't want to get a leg cramps and drown in the ocean? Stretch.
What happens to clothes of certain fabrics after they're washed and hung to dry? Unless you lightly stretch them out while damp/wet, over time they shrink, and shrink, to the point you feel like it's a size smaller. The same can apply to muscles.
Long story short: everything in moderation.
GCyclone ....
Jake Hayes But I have noticed that if I don't stretch before martial arts practice, I can't kick as high, punch as fast, or run as fast. I don't believe it's a coincidence.
Vin Sad you could be more relaxed?
Love this guy. The only thing he can do better is make more videos - the internet needs this kind of education!
Thanks!
As a personal fitness trainer I always told my clients that they should skip the supplements until they reach a point where they are sleeping good every night, eating very healthy every day, and training intensely 5-6 days a week without compromise, and they feel they need to aid their body in coping with their intense training. Not as some kind of magic pill, so they can skip workouts, not put forth the effort, eat like unsupervised children, and still swell like Arnold.
Straight forward, common sense, what's not to like about this guy?
"WHO'S THE DOCTOR NOW?!"
Not you John, not you.
I just realized how much more I enjoy watching Healthcare Triage videos without the constant jump cuts.
The world is in desperate need of this kind of evidence based approach to medicine and health. Thanks for your work!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This show is wonderful. I know the information is out there, but a google search often returns a whole bunch of websites selling something, not the good research. And without the time (or priority, really) to read the studies and figure out which ones are more valid, it's so hard to get this information. I have completely changed many of my actions because of what y'all explained on this show (drinking milk, buying organic, talking about vaccines). And I thank you for doing this.
I am generally an unhealthy person and both the fields in which I work are conducive to sitting for many, many hours per day. I also live on junk food. After almost twenty years of smoking I quit about five years ago. It was the best thing I have ever done for my health. I feel significantly better ad a result.
Absolutely yes to the nutritional supplement answer- expensive pee. To the stretching- dynamic stretching before exercise prevents injury. Static stretching would not. Please be sure to specify the difference!
Such a huge fan of this channel! :)
John, for the love of god, don't get botox. You don't need it, it's not you, and as a father you're basically telling your kids that physical appearance is important to social status and success. I will continue to watch your videos because they're good videos no matter how old and wrinkly you (perceive yourself to) get.
I LOVED THIS! I loved how conversational it was, and how informed Aaron is. You guys (and for once, I mostly mean NOT John Green) are awesome.
Direct feedback! I really liked this format. Aaron is much more engaging/lovable when he's interacting with a person right next to him. Also, I continually appreciate your "the sky isn't falling" approach: helps us focus on the real things, e.g. regular exercise.
This was actually a really informative and diverse video; I hope you get to do more of these Q&A videos. :)
wow you just cleared up so many misconceptions for me. You should do more of these
A friend smokes; however, he also exercises regularly and he believes that by continuing to be active; exercising the organs prone to carcinogens (heart, lungs, etc.) that he might be offsetting some of the damage caused by smoking?
I have to admit; the guy works out hard; heavy cardio / Vo2-Max training /Road Cycling (20miles/day); and seems to be in good shape; even dives for abalone and can stay under water a lot longer than I can.
But, this just seems like something a smoker tells himself to continue smoking - a professional opinion would be helpful to educate him (or myself?). Thanks - love the shows!!
On the stretching thing: it's important to note that he is talking about stretching before physical activity. In all honesty the best way to look at stretching is as another form of physical exertion. Obviously not an aerobic form. But stretching can be beneficial if done in a separate "work out" so that your muscles lengthen. Which is definitely good if your muscles are overly tight, pulling when you don't want them to.
I absolutely love this channel! I'm always the one telling people to look up the studies. I hate hearin, "They say you should do X, or Y." My first question is, "who says that?" I always push people to look at the studies, the evidence, see what they say. And I love that this channel dives fully into that. If I could cuddle up with this channel, I would.
I really enjoyed this segment. I'm excited to see more of these videos.
Some pretty mindblowing info in here! Thanks. I shared it on facebook. My fitness buff brother will probably dispute some of the facts. Let me ask so that I know when he brings it up: when you say nutritional supplements don't make a difference, does that mean drinking protein shakes or eating protein bars doesn't help build muscle? Is that what was implied in the conversation about John's guns? Thanks in advance!
This is probably one of my favorite HealthCare Triage videos yet. Dont' get me wrong, I love all these videos, but this one had a lot of good information packed into a single segment. Keep it going, we're listening.
I've been watching vlog brother for agess but I've only just discovered this gem of a channel. Fabulous.
Very informative! I watched it straight through to the end. I'm so glad this channel exists because it's nearly impossible to get unbiased and accurate information from someone who truly knows what they're talking about. Keep doing what you do! :) it's great.
I'm so happy, you just removed the guilt I felt for never, ever stretching before strength training. Hurray!
I only have one wish for this show. Whenever you mention a study/studies show, I kinda want them sourced, like links to those studies (hopefully somewhere on the screen) so I can look at them myself. I understand that this might logistically difficult. You are an expert I trust, I need that trust to be verified.
Great show.
This was a real fun watch. Thank you, gentlemen. Now I want to meet Aaron real-live even more. He has a style of thinking that I really like.
Stop looking at Stan off camera!
But he's so handsome!
This is a great video. Keep up the good work, Triage has quickly became one of my all time favorite video libraries.
LDLs are bad - it helps me to think that the L is for Lethal
HDLs are good - H stands for Harmless
thats a great way to think about it.. gonna need this for my final thanks HAHA :D
LDL is bad cholesterol!
***** I never get this wrong because I simply remember that LDL should be LOW, and HDL should be HIGH.
Would be great to see the study on stretching/warming up. Really hard to believe it's not working!
I like Aaron's casual style here better than the accusative style of most other videos. _Having said that_, I do find these video's very interesting and informing. Keep up the good work!
My confidence in everything you said went out the window when you got HDL and LDL mixed up.... Guess I'm going to have to go back to webMD to quench my need for medical advice/information.
Yes because off the cuff guesses are just as reliable as when they spend a week writing and researching a episode. It's not like one doctor can have everything in medical science in his brain and on speed dial.
I was clearly joking.
Isn't he a pediatrician? I can't imagine cholesterol comes up very often at work.
First, just ran across this channel, and I like it a lot.
Second, I have one specific point of difference from what I thought you said in the video.
Specifically, I think there is a much stronger link - than admitted by conventional(?) advice - between protein intake and the body's response to exercise.
Many years ago, in high school. I was in athletics (cross country and track), and did fairly well. At the start of high school, I was a 90 lb kid (with no thought I could end up in athletics). Once in athletics, I spent near an hour in the weight room every weekday, trying to build upper body strength, with very limited result. By the end of high school I was a 120 lb kid. My diet consisted mainly of massive carbohydrates. (For a nutrition class I estimated my intake was 11,000 calories per day. Also, our cross-country coach scheduled some pretty intense workouts - and ran with us. Hard to complain about the workouts when the coach runs with you - and ahead. Also our cross country team did very well.) I do recall looking up the then-current dietary recommendations for protein intake (in the early 1970's). My (very) hazy recall is that 10-20g (or less?) was all that was then thought that the body could use. Rather a lot of effort, and very little result.
A several years back, I started going to the gym regularly. Of course, for the first few months my workouts were fairly pathetic, but improved somewhat - if not a lot.
Then I thought to look up advice on protein intake. The science in this area is more than woolly, but the advice offered suggested more protein might be effective. Well, protein is cheap, so ... why not? I boosted my protein intake above 100g/day. The frequency of visiting the gym, and time spent in the gym stayed about the same.
Oh. My. God.
My upper body strength increased rapidly. My subjective level of effort was the same. My daily workouts at the gym are under 10 minutes. My upper body strength - geez, I do not really know - quadrupled? More? Maybe a lot more. (If I knew this was going to happen, I would have made more of a record.)
I exceeded my goals years ago. (Got harder to find clothes that fit my upper body.) I backed off and was content to maintain my current level. But ... I am still(!) gaining.
To be clear, this is only from adding more protein to my diet - nothing else.
My blood chemistry numbers also changed, very much for the better. I am currently a 59 year old male, and all but one of my immediate ancestors died of heart problems near my age, or earlier.
Also ... and this is more speculative ... the muscular soreness after hard exercise seems much reduced in duration, and effect. No assertions here, just a question.
So nutrition, exercise, stopping smoking if you smoke are the three things I got out of this talk.
Whenever I hear or read of a new supplement or chemical that is touted to prevent disease, the first thing I do is to see if any scientific studies articles from professional journals are available online, at least abstracts. Then I research what foods these chemicals are in. Then I go to my *farmacy* and get foods that have them. Blueberries and grapes; cantaloupe; apples and dark green leafy vegetables; bell peppers and Brussels sprouts; rutabaga; and many other fruits and veggies I like. In fact, often I will go to the produce section and follow my cravings. I can't really go wrong with that.
Then, for myself, I let myself eat eggs in any amount. Additionally, I let myself eat red meat at least once in a while. Not because I'm trying to cut it out-I love red meat and sometimes binge on a slow - cooker barbecued pork roast -but I have it often enough to calm my brain down. (I have bipolar.) Chicken and turkey don't do it, nor does fish. Beef, pork, mutton or lamb, ox tail, bison, and even emu do. And beef tongue. (I most often get pork.)
this has been the most entertaining interview, Q&A (or what ever you call this) on youtube.
i've learned a lot and laughed a lot. you guys are awesome!
It's a great thing John has a pediatrician who keeps up with current medical studies. A lot of doctors don't continuing studying the science of medicine once they start practicing it.
Oh this is a great segment! I hope you guys will do these every now and then!
Also, John, you looked so sad when you said Henry already hates you!
I freaking love this channel. This was great, we need more of this type of video.
Damn, totally missed out on the call for questions. Can't wait for the next one!
Any chance you could elaborate on the bodybuilding stuff? Because other people seem pretty sure that protein + working out = muscles.
I'd really like to hear your thoughts on it.
I *think* what he was talking about there were nutritional supplements, mostly. Like, getting more of various vitamins and stuff doesn't help with building muscle. I could be wrong though.
UnqualifiedAdvice
Think so too but on the other hand he said protein shakes... And in short even bodybuilders don't need protein supps and especialy if they are not on juice. Why they exist? Well they help. A general rule of thumb is 2g of protein for 1kg of lean body mass per day. And that's the top end, some say it's less and some say it's more. you probably can ignore the ones who say it's more and test out if less is enough for you. You need protein for muscle development and IF you don't eat enough, than supplements might help. That's the same with supps in every part of the life. They only make sense if you are deficient in something, you should allways try to get your macro- and micro nutrions in through "real" food.
I think that the kind of protein (like creatin) you take doesn't really matter because your gastric acid contains pepsin that breaks apart any protein into amino acids. I imagine it could be beneficial to take proteins with amino acids that your body can't synthesize but if that isn't really significant i'd say eating any source of protein is about as good as the other and you don't really need creatin powder.
Teun van den Brand
creatin works. That's one of millions supps that is actually tested in 100. of studies but it'll give you maybe 5% to 10% more strengh, not more. It's not any magic (also not protein).
Coming from being an athlete in college working out 30+ hours per week working out = muscles; protein = muscles get repaired at quickly as possible. Not having enough protein slows muscle repair.
That being said, a balanced diet will provide all of the protein you need. Just don't eat a crappy diet.
This was an awesome video! I love the health myth busting you're doing and I wish everyone I know would watch this
I've heard the thing about stretching before, but I'm always hesitant to bring it up because I balk at the idea of having to defend that against my entire cross country team and coach all without having an internet connection at practice.
Really great video! I hope you'll continue making them! :)
I'd love to hear more about the vitamin supplements. (yeah, I know, a simple "NO!" is great, but, atleast here in germany, there are so much contradicting statements)
the number one thing to do to live longer is not die
30 sec. Workouts is all I need? Got it
This is great news about stretching. I teach a walking class and the thing that really bogs people down is the amount of time we spend stretching.
Continues to be the best show on You Tube. Everyone should watch it!
Hello Dr. Carroll,
I am a 18 year old student from Dallas that is very appreciative of all your videos. I have been a subscriber of your channel since your video on Randomized controlled Trials. I am a curious person and I like to be informed about health. I plan to study medicine when I grow up. Nevertheless, I believe knowing about the health before I get to med school will help me in the long run. A year ago I watched a documentary called Plastic Planet released in 2008. Since, then I've been very cautious about buying plastics unless I absolutely needed them. I started drifting away from putting plastics in the microwave and stopped drinking from plastic bottles. My questions are the following:
Is there any proof that plastic is harmful to humans?
Am I doing the right thing by trying to reduce my interaction with plastics?
Thank you for your time,
Liam Alec Stenson
From a professional sports career (climbing) and a heavy training (gymnastics) what I can tell in favor of stretching after the effort is that it increses flexibility which is important since heavy exercise WITHOUT stretching decreases it pretty fast.
Yet, I have but 10+ years of experience witnessing that so I don't know to what extent this is exact or only applying to me.
I find flexibility by itself is really useful and nice to have, even if for no other reason than to be able to tie your own shoelaces.
I also agree. I really like being able to touch my toes, and kick above my head.
Really liked the Q&A! Would totally watch more of these!
In regards to the satisfaction question, I find that very true. My sister was going through a stressful time in her life but was not suffering from any mental illness like anxiety, but her doctor still gave her anxiety medication so she left there happy.
As always, another great video from Healthcare Triage.
Clarification on a couple things please!
First, on the topic of supplements, does the same hold true for prenatal vitamins?
Second, I was taught in A&P that LDL is the bad, and to remember this by thinking of the L as standing for lousy. Was I taught wrong? *edited later, I read the "about" section and saw the mix up. Forget I asked! =-)
Love the videos, think I like the Q&A format even better. Definitely love how much data you have to back you up. Keep it up!
As a nutrition student, I found the mix up between HDL and LDL disturbing, especially since the correction was in the description at the bottom. HDL is the so called "good" cholesterol and LDL the "bad" cholesterol. Although you are right, food consumption does not alter either (but exercise does!).
Also, many people at many geographical locations would benefit from a vitamin D supplement in the winter.
it was fun to see the discourse b/w John and Aaron... made me smile :D
I glad you made the distinction between multivitamins and supplements. Some people act like it's crazy to take multivitamins as well, whereas it seems kind of obvious that if your body is a little low on something it can get it from the multivitamin whereas taking huge amounts of individual vitamins is just going to cause you to pee them out.
LDL is bad and HDL is good! LDL is what causes hardening of the arteries, much more than HDL levels. Most medications and treatments today focus on lowering LDL levels.
My understanding of the stretching thing is this: When you stretch, it does more to separate the muscle fibers. Kinda like "ripping" though muscles don't actually "rip".
But in either case, when you go to exercise, if 10% of your muscle is "ripped", then the force is focused on the remaining 90% and thus you perform worse, gain less, and are at more of a risk for injury.
The main benefit I can think of is avoiding tendon damage due to lack of flexibility. But in that case, you can do something like yoga at any time to get the same benefit.
Excellent episode! Thanks John and Aaron.
Hey Aaron, could you elaborate more on the questions of vitamins and supplements impacting health? I am aware of a meta analysis in BMJ that showed considerable benefits to having sufficient levels of Vitamin D, and most patients (especially us high latitude folk) have insufficient levels so supplementation would be beneficial. What about Vitamin C prior to an operation or during cold/flu season? What about essential oils like Omega 3? I think there are a lot of misconceptions, but potentially some benefits as well to this topic.
Love your talks, always good for sparking conversation.
Thanks.
Thanks very much for sharing the insight and professional recommendation.
Small matter to clear up though: HDL stands for high density lipoprotein and REMOVES cholesterol from tissues, transporting them back to the liver for metabolic processes (HDL="Good"). LDL stand for low density lipoprotein and is an endogenous molecule with the function of depositing cholesterol INTO tissues arround the body ("LDL="bad").
Big caveat here though. As with most things, this is no black-and-white issue. Both LDL and HDL are critical for good health, so long as they're in their normal and healthy ranges. LDL simply gets a bad rap because in the modern archetypical picture of "poor health" (obesity, heart disease, etc.), LDL level tend to be much higher than normal, while HDL much lower than normal. Thus LDL being called bad, and what we typically want less of, while HDL being good and desired in greater amount.
I appreciate his comments at 13:00. I was always curious about vitamins. He's saying supplements are of no help, but vitamins can be if you're deficient. If you have a balanced diet (which most have) multi-vitamins won't help you as you'll pass them through. However, if you're deficient and have an imbalanced diet, a multi-vitamin will help to fill in the gap. Sounds like there's a ceiling whereby supplements won't help further.
This video looked like it was a lot of fun to make. I think that is why I enjoyed it so much :)
On the topic of stretching, I'd like to share my personal experience. Mind you, I'm one person, not a study group, but I've noticed the effects can be complex. Primarily I am a martial artist, and while stretching wont prevent me from twisting an ankle or breaking a bone, it does seem to have some effect on my ability to resist submission holds and other sorts of intentional attacks on my joints. It also seems to reduce my chance of pulling a muscle when I'm doing things like sprinting or swimming. Also, while stretching before a work out seems to reduce performance, and as such I have stopped doing this, stretching between work outs has vastly increased my range of motion, allowing me to gain more power, and a higher rate of acceleration, in fencing, sprinting, and in fighting. I think there is still a lot of good reason to stretch, even if the idea of it preventing lactic acid build up or common sports injuries is somewhat of a myth.
IS this really the first Questions video? I swear there was another. also YAY a questions video.
I learned from my doctor that HDL is good and you want it to be high (they both start with "H"). LDL is bad and you want it to be low (both start with "L").
Aaron I don't understand your hoodie. Why are there so many zippers? Why are they all vertical? Why is one silver and the others black? Why does healthcare make more sense then that hoodie?
I would love to see an episode putting the potential side effects of vaccination in perspective. I have a medically fragile child and have spent a fair amount of time in pediatric ICUs, where babies with whooping cough were dying so I am an even bigger advocate of immunization than I was before. Fear of side effects is one of the major oppositions I have had thrown up. Also the skewed data "showing" that the fatality rates from these illnesses were reducing before immunisation was introduced - I would like to be able to show that this was because of improved medical care, NOT reduced rate of infection.
How did the the highschool/college students get the cocaine? I mean there's the obvious drug dealer path, but how would they get that published? And who knew the guy who has a drug dealer? And if they got it legally somehow, who was monitoring everything? SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!
well in the UK there is medical use of heroine, so maybe there is a way to legally use cocaine?
You can get access to a lot of things for study purposes - you just have to apply for it.
If you're researching addictive behavior, you can legally get addictive agents. As for who monitors it (besides their research supervisor, of course), I would assume the FDA and possibly the DEA.
Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals can legally make cocaine in the United States, but I'm not sure if they're alone. I mean Pharmaceutical companies usually have access to many illicit drugs. They likely buy from Peru, where it is semi-legal to farm coca plants (although I'm sure other countries have fields for medical/research purposes). So my guess is that Universities gain access through Pharmaceutical companies for research purposes.
***** So that's why there are so many studies on addictive drugs. A hit for the rats, a hit for the techs...
Do an episode on circumcision!!! And do one stretching.
DEFINITELY.
As far as stretching in the gym is concerned, I suggest light-weight warm ups, and not stretching. You never want to go into a lift cold, but to stretch is simply to stress the muscle without getting blood to it. Where as a warm up (for example, squatting the bar alone before adding weight) targets the proper muscles and gets blood into them.
Please do an episode on the science of medicinal cannabis, as well as your expert opinion on it. Please!
hurray for chocolate milk! My soccer coach in hs use to tell us to drink it after practice for this reason haha. That was a fun Q&A. More of these please! Have you seen Fathead? I thought that was a fun documentary, I especially like the end where he eats bacon cooked in butter and eggs every day yet his weight and cholesterol all stayed healthy.
This was fantastic, more of these please!
You guys rock! Keep the light of evidence based medicine shining! :D
You talked in previous episodes about healthcare in the us and canada. Which country do you think has the best healthcare system? Also how would New Zealand rate?
On another note an episode on stretching would be nice
I loved this video! You should do more Q&As. Keep it up!
Could you please do an episode where you expand on the stretching/warm up thing? and could you add in information about stretching for flexibility and muscles shortening from certain exercises?
Also stretching for pulled muscles?
Hi, this was a great video, would it be okay if you made one on the efficacy of some different anti-depressants and/or whether they're the best method for treating mental disorders/if we're overmedicated? I read a lot of conflicting information about this, so your take on this would be really helpful.
Stretching is GOOD for you. GOOD the study focused on people who did a stretching routine as their warm up and then did strength exercises. It concluded that if you are doing strength exercises then you'll be less likely to lift as much weight as if you did not stretch and instead did a warm up.
YOU should STRETCH because you will not think that simply stretching is your warm up. This means pair stretching after a 30 seconds of jumping jacks or continuous lunges.
I couldn't believe it when he said this so this is what I've come up with from 10 minutes of googling. If I've got this wrong please let me know, but before you do, please also do at least 10 minutes of googling.
*not a doctor
Can you do a full episodes on dietary supplements, esp. protein shakes, bars and if they have a significant effect on muscle build
I don't know about anyone else, but I've found that if I exercise and *don't* stretch afterwards that I'm super sore the next day. One time I did a scavenger hunt around Melbourne (with Nerdfighters, it was swell) and we were running around for hours. The next day I thought I'd strained/sprained/broken both of my ankles, I was in that much pain. I stretched my achilles, and things started feeling better.
Maybe that means that stretching is good for sore muscles. I was actually wondering about this when the subject was brought up. I often stretch when I am sore and it seems to help a great deal. Perhaps that is where the myth comes from.
derkaderkajihadderka As the good doctor has said before, "the plural of anecdote is not data." If stretching afterwards makes you feel better (literally or figuratively) then by all means do so - there are just as many studies that indicate stretching does neither harm nor foul - but the actual research evidence indicates that the stretching isn't what's leading you to feel better, no matter what connections you've made in your everyday life
I went for a 19km bike ride today at 27.5km/m without stretching. I feel fine. LOAF 2013 scavenger hunt, covered about 16km without stretching and felt really bad after. It's weird...
scharfy It probably depends on whether or not your muscles are extending their full range of motion while you are doing activities. You are stretching the whole time you are riding a (properly adjusted) bike, so there isn't a need to stretch afterwards?
I have taken a contortionist class, which essentially involves 1.5 hours of straight stretching. I was in a beginner class where no one could do the splits and was essentially just trying to improve flexibility for the other circus classes I take, nothing crazy like what first crosses your mind when you hear contortion. I've never taken a yoga class, but from what I gather my contortion class is quite similar.
Anyways, after doing some hard stretches for that long of time I definitely saw an increase in my range of motion, but I also had really sore muscles the next day too, very much like having a hard day at the gym. Does that (anecdotal) evidence mean that stretching causes sore muscles. Nope. Just means that I put strain on my muscles and now need to recover.
Definitely do more. Free healthcare advice is nice.
I love this style of video! do more of them please!
Yay for Q&A!
I'd really love to see a video on pregnancy do's and don't's. There's a lot of hearsay about things you should or shouldn't eat or be around. What is actually beneficial? What is actually detrimental? Does folic acid work? Should I as an artist not be around my oil paints or solvents?
Oh! You were doing so good until 6:46 when you fell into the trap of associating body size with diet. It is a commonly held misconception that you can tell a person's diet by looking at them. Turns out, looking at somebody doesn't provide that information.
But I actually know John. It's not just based on a glance...
Healthcare Triage I realize that, you did say "looking at you and knowing you", I was only taking issue with the first clause, not the second.
vlogerhood It's just conversational language, I don't hold it against anyone. The point he was making was clear enough to me.
The things we say, even conversationally, inform and impact our thinking and beliefs. In this context: an expert speaking in an informational video, it is especially important that casual phrasing not support bad thinking and unsupported but common beliefs.
I think Dr. Carroll agrees that you can't tell a person's diet by looking at them, so that is why I suggested he not say it, even conversationally. Because that belief is actually held by many people and can be quite hurtful when expressed.
vlogerhood Ah, point well taken.
My English teacher brought up the study about Oreos and cocaine in class and was totally invested in the idea that Oreos were as addictive than cocaine.
ʕ•͡.•ʔ *facepalm*
I can not go to nearly any place in UA-cam with out goddamn John green showing up
Oh god, the milk bit at the end was hilarious.
LDLs are the cholesterols your GP gets upset over. It's generally accepted that they are more harmful than HDLs.
I really really loved this episode! Keep them coming!
That was a very enjoyable video, as well as informative (although as a skeptic, none of this really surprises me). Please make more. :)