Читать книгу A Great Day at the Office: 10 Simple Strategies for Maximizing Your Energy and Getting the Best Out of Yourself and Your Day - Dr. Briffa John - Страница 13

If you read this book from cover to cover you will find in it many examples of information and advice that run counter to conventional opinion. You’ll discover, for instance, evidence that challenges the ideas that starchy carbohydrates are ideal for ensuring sustained energy, that saturated fat causes heart disease, that sunlight causes melanoma, that controlling cholesterol levels is inherently important, and that the key to losing weight is simply to ‘eat less and exercise more’.

While some of the concepts presented here may come as a surprise or even a shock, I will present the evidence that supports them (the numbers in the text refer to specific scientific studies that are listed at the back of the book). If it’s any consolation, every myth I explode in this book I previously believed myself. Only by taking nothing at face value (however seemingly credible the source) and going back to published research have I discovered that much of what is described as conventional ‘wisdom’ is anything but.

But, how could it be that we have managed to have been so misled about health – something that affects not just our lives, but our livelihoods? How do things so often get stated as fact, even though the facts don’t stack up at all?

A Great Day at the Office is not political or a polemic, but I do think it is worth bearing in mind that health information and advice can be influenced by economic and commercial concerns. Quite simply, there is often money to be made in misinformation (be it deliberate or unwitting). A classic example of this includes low-fat and cholesterol-reducing foods, for which there is not a scrap of evidence that they benefit health (see Chapter 1).

The commercial aspects of health advice can, unfortunately, have another unwanted side effect: they can keep useful and important information from our attention. Just as some erroneous ideas become popularized because there’s money in them, some highly valuable ideas and strategies may not get the attention they deserve because there isn’t.

For example, you’ll see that sunlight exposure, overall, is linked with significant health benefits and relative protection from many conditions including heart disease and several different forms of cancer. However, these facts are often drowned out by relentless stories about the supposed hazards of sunlight with regard to skin cancer. At the risk of sounding unduly cynical, could the explanation for this disparity be due, at least in part, to the fact that while sunlight is free, considerable commercial potential exists in sunlight protection (particularly sunscreens)? In Chapter 5, you can find evidence that suggests this is exactly how it is.

Other aspects of health that have limited potential for commercial exploitation and are therefore perhaps similarly neglected include certain breathing techniques, the impact of music on our mental state and performance, walking as an activity, and many of the tips that will help you get sound, restorative sleep. In fact, the great majority of the strategies contained in this book can be yours for little or no cost, but they have tremendous power to transform your health and efficiency.