Well, no event planned, a busy riding partner, and rain, so I did not ride this morning. Instead, I was trying to work on some other pending matters. I did quickly check my favorite online news aggregators/link lists and one led me to this NY Times blog entry discussing a study in Finland comparing the health and bodies/minds of identical twins who had grown up in the same household, but whose exercise patterns had diverged significantly in adulthood.
Not surprisingly, the twin who exercised regularly had much better overall health indicators (and more grey matter in the brain even).
Conclusion: Among healthy adult male twins in their mid-30s, a greater level of physical activity is associated with improved glucose homeostasis and modulation of striatum and prefrontal cortex gray matter volume, independent of genetic background. The findings may contribute to later reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and mobility limitation.
Okay, I will at least get off the sofa and onto the Powercranks, or go for a short ride, later today. And, yes, my turn to walk the dog this afternoon.
And yes, I should turn off my Smartphone. This other research result from the journal Computers in Human Behavior:
"Our research provides support for an association between heavy smartphone use and lowered intelligence," said Pennycook. "Whether smartphones actually decrease intelligence is still an open question that requires future research."
As if we did not already know it -- exercise makes us healthier; smartphones make us dumber.
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