A study led by Melissa Napolitano, a psychologist at Temple's Center for Obesity Research and Education and professor of kinesiology, has found that personalized text messages as well as social media can help students lose weight. The study followed the weight loss of students broken into three groups: those who visited a Facebook page, those who visited the page and received text messages and those who received no additional support. The second group lost the most weight.
For the second day in a row, a study led by Temple doctoral candidate Clare Lenhart has received notable media attention. The study analyzed data collected from more than 44,000 Philadelphia high schoolers and found that while the majority said they were trying to lose weight, they were engaging in counter-productive behavior such as smoking, drinking sodas and playing video games. "If they're demonstrating interest in changing, it's a good first step," said Lenhart. "It's a matter of helping them and taking the following steps from there."
An exhibit which spotlights the role of New Jersey troops in the Civil War opens Sunday in Morristown, New Jersey, in honor of the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Gettysburg. "The whole point of displaying these artifacts and mementos is to recall the service of those veterans and evoke the passion for their deeds so they won't be forgotten and we can learn from the past," said Anthony Waskie, a Civil War historian and assistant professor of languages at Temple.
Nine new diet centers around Philadelphia are promising rapid weight loss with the Medifast weight loss plan. It's not a fast, but it's extreme, allowing only 800 to one thousand calories a day. Stephanie Vander Veur, a weight loss researcher at Temple's Center for Obesity Research, says the rapid weight loss, over several weeks, can be dangerous. "I think that is concerning. They're probably making some pretty drastic changes to their lifestyle that aren’t going to be maintained over a long period of time," she said.
A study led by Melissa Napolitano, a psychologist at Temple's Center for Obesity Research and Education and professor of kinesiology, has found that personalized text messages as well as social media can help students lose weight. The study followed the weight loss of students broken into three groups: those who visited a Facebook page, those who visited the page and received text messages and those who received no additional support. The second group lost the most weight.
For the second day in a row, a study led by Temple doctoral candidate Clare Lenhart has received notable media attention. The study analyzed data collected from more than 44,000 Philadelphia high schoolers and found that while the majority said they were trying to lose weight, they were engaging in counter-productive behavior such as smoking, drinking sodas and playing video games. "If they're demonstrating interest in changing, it's a good first step," said Lenhart. "It's a matter of helping them and taking the following steps from there."
What causes extreme sports athletes to want to parachute off mountains or jump motorcycles over buildings? Genetics, upbringing and personality all play role, says Frank Farley, a professor in Temple's College of Education who studies risk taking. "One key ingredient in these people is their self-confidence, a belief that they control their own destiny or fate," said Farley. "They don't have a death wish; if anything, they have a 'life wish.'"
