(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — South Carolina’s Supreme Court struck down the state’s six-week abortion ban Thursday, claiming it violates the state’s constitution.
The 2021 so-called “heartbeat act” bans abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, which is typically around six weeks, before most women know they are pregnant. It included exceptions for rape, incest and if the mother’s life is in danger.
The ban had previously been [suspended] by federal courts, but took effect after the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade this summer. The ban was temporarily blocked in August while the state’s Supreme Court heard the case.
In a 3-2 ruling, the court agreed with the plaintiffs — which included Planned Parenthood South Atlantic — and said the ban violated a patient’s right to privacy.
“We hold that the decision to terminate a pregnancy rests upon the utmost personal and private considerations imaginable, and implicates a woman’s right to privacy,” Justice Kaye Hearn wrote in the majority opinion. “While this right is not absolute and must be balanced against the State’s interest in protecting unborn life, this Act, which severely limits — and in many instances completely forecloses — abortion, is an unreasonable restriction upon a woman’s right to privacy.”
The two justices who voted to uphold the ban said the right to privacy in the state’s constitution only applies to searches and seizures.
“The court’s decision means that our patients can continue to come to us, their trusted health care providers, to access abortion and other essential health services in South Carolina,” Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic said in a statement.
Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary commended the decision and wrote in a tweet that the White House is “encouraged by South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruling today on the state’s extreme and dangerous abortion ban. Women should be able to make their own decisions about their bodies.”
However, conservatives, including Governor Henry McMaster — who signed the original ban into law — blasted the justices for their ruling.
“Our State Supreme Court has found a right in our Constitution which was never intended by the people of South Carolina,” he tweeted. “With this opinion, the Court has clearly exceeded its authority. The people have spoken through their elected representatives multiple times on this issue.”
McMaster added, “I look forward to working with the General Assembly to correct this error.”
(NEW YORK) — When the mpox outbreak first struck the United States over the summer, experts said it was mostly affecting minority men.
But new federal data published Thursday shows that among the few hundred cases diagnosed in women — less than 3% of total U.S. cases — Black and Hispanic women were disproportionately affected.
The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, looked at cisgender and pregnant women who were diagnosed with the rare disease between May 11, 2022 and Nov. 7, 2022.
The 2022 outbreak was primarily concentrated in men who have sex with men, a group that includes people who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender and nonbinary, although health officials have said anyone — regardless of sexual orientation — is at risk if they have direct contact with an infected patient.
Over the six-month period, 769 women aged 15 and older were diagnosed with mpox across the country, including 23 who were pregnant or recently pregnant.
Among infections of cisgender women with available data, 44% were among Black women, 25% among white women and 23% among Hispanic women.
This means Black and Hispanic women make up 67% of all mpox cases among women in the United States despite making up a little over 20% of the population, as of 2019.
“This finding is similar to disparities among mpox cases in the United States overall and underscores the continued need for public health efforts to provide education on prevention of mpox and ensure equitable access to mpox vaccination, testing, and treatment,” the authors wrote.
Among the roughly 60% of women with data on their recent sexual behaviors, 73% reported sexual activity or close intimate contact as the likely way they were exposed.
The most common symptom was rash with 93% reporting lesions, particularly on the legs, arms, genitals and chest or stomach.
Other common symptoms included itchy skin at 57%, headache at 54%, malaise at 54%, fever at 49%, and chills at 49% Less than half of the women had data for symptoms.
“Rash location was similar when comparing cisgender women who reported recent sexual exposure with those who did not,” the report read.
Additionally, among the 23 pregnant or recently pregnant women who were diagnosed with mpox, nine reported sexual contact as likely exposure and three reported household contact. The remaining 11 didn’t have exposure data available.
One recently pregnant woman was breastfeeding, and she developed lesions four days after giving birth, under her breast. The newborn subsequently developed lesions on the chest and face six days later, showing how infectious mpox lesions can be.
The CDC said the report also illustrates how more public health efforts needs to be placed on reaching cisgender women at risk for infection.
“Clinicians caring for cisgender women and pregnant persons should become familiar with clinical considerations for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mpox and should provide pre- and postexposure prophylaxis if indicated,” the team wrote. “Vaccination with JYNNEOS should be provided to eligible persons, including those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, and providers should discuss vaccination risks and benefits.”
(NEW YORK) — The World Health Organization is warning that a new omicron subvariant known as XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible strain to date.
As COVID-19 hospitalizations rise in some parts of the Northeast — where the subvariant makes up about 75% of new cases, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — so are concerns about how to mitigate a potential surge following large holiday gatherings.
In the past few years, the post-holiday rise in COVID numbers was typically attributed to large gatherings and the colder weather bringing people indoors. Experts said it remains to be seen how much XBB.1.5 may be contributing to the most recent rise in hospitalizations.
“We don’t fully know what this variant is doing in the population, especially since every time a new variant emerges it’s not happening in a bubble … so it’s very difficult to tease apart what might be driving, for instance, increases in hospitalizations,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an ABC News contributor and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Very little is known about this new subvariant, but some preliminary research indicates that it may be more immune evasive and contagious than previous omicron variants.
“We are concerned about [XBB.1.5’s] growth advantage” in Europe and the U.S. Northeast, said Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 technical lead, in a press conference Wednesday. XBB.1.5 had rapidly replaced other circulating variants in those areas, she added.
Scientists still do not know if the subvariant causes more severe illness or leads to more adverse outcomes like long COVID.
Researchers are also still studying how well vaccines will hold up against XBB.1.5. They say the updated bivalent booster shot remains the best way to protect yourself.
“Towards the end of last year, the CDC came out with data showing that those who got vaccinated and boosted with the bivalent had an almost 20-fold decreased risk of dying and severe illness,” Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told ABC News. “The problem is that was all before XBB.1.5.”
Older adults, immunocompromised people and those with certain medical conditions are still most at-risk for severe illness and death.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration pulled the last remaining monoclonal antibody in end of November, leaving antiviral therapies such as Paxlovid as the preferred treatment for at-risk adults who haven’t been hospitalized. But experts say not enough people are taking advantage of the medication.
“Getting the word out both to individuals, as well as primary care physicians, about the importance of getting Paxlovid is really of great importance,” Hotez said.
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha explained in a thread on Twitter that the federal government was continuing to track XBB.1.5 and other variants closely, while providing support for access to updated vaccines, free tests and treatment and improved ventilation and filtration in buildings.
“I think the jury’s still out. But I think we know how to mitigate these surges with vaccines, with testing, with the practices we’ve engaged in throughout the pandemic. There’s no reason to expect that this is going to completely derail our ability to contain this virus,” Brownstein said.
(NEW YORK) — A new study has identified a possible link between frequently checking social media and brain changes that are associated with having less control of impulsive behaviors among young adolescents.
Using MRI brain scans, researchers at the University of North Carolina found that teens who frequently checked social media were more likely to see increased activation in the regions of the brain that regulate reward centers and those that may play a role in regulating decision-making around social situations.
The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at nearly 200 young people in sixth and seventh grades.
Researchers tracked the students’ self-reported use of social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, and performed functional MRIs on the students, allowing them to monitor activation in the brain.
The results showed that students who used social media more frequently had increased activation in parts of their brain, possibly making them more prone to peer feedback and hypersensitivity and possibly leading to changes in impulse control and regulation, according to ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton.
Although MRIs can measure changes in the brain, it’s often not clear if those changes are temporary or permanent, nor is it clear whether those changes impact a person’s overall well-being.
But Ashton, who was not a researcher on the study, said the study raises questions about whether changes in the brain can impact both short and long-term behavior.
“This is asking the question, if this can change activity in the brain, can it then change behavior,” she said Thursday on Good Morning America.
The study does have limitations, including relying on self-reported accounts of social media use, which can be unreliable. It also did not include TikTok, one of the most popular social media apps among teens.
There are though known negative impacts of social media and screen time on young people’s health.
“It’s the same thing that we see with increased screen use in teens,” Ashton said. “Anyone using a screen a lot, even on social media, obviously can have associated increased rates of obesity, irregular or dysregulated sleep, something that we know is very important, particularly in this age group, an increased risk of depression, and an overall decrease in [physical] activity.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends about one to two hours of screen time or social media use a day for young people.
For children under the age of 2, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time.
For older kids, limits on screen time should be individualized and age-based, according to Ashton.
Both Ashton and the AAP recommend that parents encourage physical activity, set social media and screen time limits for older kids — such as not going on social media while doing homework — and create unplugged spaces, like the dinner table, in the home.
Ashton said parents should also encourage digital literacy in their kids, noting, “This isn’t going away. We want to be able to use it and use it safely.”
(CHICAGO) — A 5-year-old in Chicago has overcome the odds to celebrate her fifth birthday. Now, her family is raising money for her to receive a life-changing surgery.
When Alice Cloe was born on Nov. 22, 2017, she was unable to breathe on her own and later, doctors diagnosed her with a rare disease called congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) and another condition called Hirschsprung disease.
It was a big shock for Alice’s parents, Sabiha Aoudia and Atmane Abbas, who are both from Algeria and had been on vacation in the U.S. when Aoudia had to undergo an emergency C-section.
“They took her right away to the NICU and then they intubated her right away,” Aoudia told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
“They tried a lot of things but they told me that Alice cannot survive,” she recalled, adding that doctors had told her Alice would never be able to talk, walk, or hear and would be “handicapped one hundred percent.”
CCHS is caused by a genetic abnormality that affects the nervous system and can cause respiratory impairment, according to the National Institutes of Health. It affects less than 5,000 people in the U.S. and there is currently no cure for the syndrome. CCHS also can cause Hirschsprung disease, which the NIH defines as a birth defect where nerve cells are missing from the large intestines and cause bowel obstruction.
According to her mom, Alice was treated with multiple surgeries and therapies at three different Chicago hospitals for the first two years of her life, including La Rabida Children’s Hospital, before she could be discharged. Olivia Hayes, a registered nurse at La Rabida, was one of the many who helped care for her.
“The biggest issue with CCHS and what [Alice] requires is the ventilation,” Hayes told GMA. “She just couldn’t maintain and she really still can’t maintain that breathing on her own to get the carbon dioxide out. It kind of builds up within her if she forgets to breathe it out.”
Today, Alice relies on a tracheostomy tube that connects her trachea and lungs to a ventilator that helps her breathe. Aoudia and Abbas have to care for Alice full-time, helping to push her ventilator for her unless she’s at school where a nurse will follow Alice with her vent.
“She’s strong,” Aoudia said. “Sometimes, when she’s healthy at home, like she’s not sick, I’m looking at her like you’re [a] normal baby.”
Hayes too, described Alice, who got to have a special fifth birthday party celebration two weeks ago, as a “wild child” who is “full of life all the time.”
With their fundraiser, Aoudia hopes to raise enough money for another surgery for Alice that isn’t covered by insurance. The surgery would implant a diaphramatic pacemaker so Alice can have the chance to live a life untethered by cords and a ventilator, according to Aoudia.
“This pacemaker will be implanted inside of her diaphragm and then give the order for the brain to breathe [on] her own,” Aoudia explained. “She will [have] the small battery in her backpack and then be free from the vent, from the cord and then she will walk and then run around and then go to school without any issue.”
Despite all the challenges Alice and their family have had to endure, she still feels like “the happiest mom in the world,” Aoudia said.
“I’m really, really happy and proud of her,” she added. “When I see my daughter, she’s giving me assurance to stay positive, stay strong, because she is a big fighter.”
(NEW YORK) — Adele revealed she is suffering from a type of nerve pain while performing at her Las Vegas residency.
In a video shared online, the 34-year-old singer is seen walking across the stage during a recent date of her Weekends with Adele residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
As she walks, Adele is heard telling the audience, “I have a wobble these days because I have really bad sciatica.”
Sciatic pain is an irritation of the sciatic nerve, the largest nerve in the human body, which runs from the lower back to the legs, according to the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
The symptoms generally include a shooting or burning pain from the lower back down one leg, as well as feelings of numbness or a tingling sensation or muscle weakness, according to the Hospital for Special Surgery.
Adele, who is performing her residency through March, has previously spoken about suffering from back pain.
She said in a 2021 magazine interview that she has suffered from two slipped disks in her back.
“I slipped my first disk when I was 15 from sneezing. I was in bed and I sneezed and my fifth one flew out. In January, I slipped my sixth one, my L6,” she told The Face, adding, “I’ve been in pain with my back for, like, half of my life, really. It flares up, normally due to stress or from a stupid bit of posture.”
Adele told the magazine she helped heal her back pain by strengthening her abdominal muscles while losing weight.
“But where I got my tummy strong, down at the bottom, which I never had before, my back don’t play up as much,” said Adele, the mom of a 10-year-old son. “It means I can do more, I can run around with my kid a little bit more.”
Sciatica is fairly common, affecting as many as 40% of people at one point in their lifetimes, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Here is what to know about the painful condition:
What causes sciatica?
Sciatica is caused by a variety of factors, everything from the general wear and tear of aging to sudden pressure on the disks around the lower spine, like a herniated or slipped disk, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
There are also multiple risk factors for the condition, including a previous injury to the lower back or spine, an active job that requires heavy lifting, an inactive lifestyle that involves sitting and limited exercise, diabetes, smoking, osteoarthritis and obesity, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Weak abdominal muscles can also contribute to sciatica, as can improper form while exercising, specifically strength training.
Who is most likely to suffer from sciatica?
Sciatica affects people of all ages, but it is most common between the ages of 30 and 50, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons notes that people under the age of 40 are most likely to experience sciatica due to a herniated disk, while people over the age of 40 typically experience it due to bone spurs and arthritis.
Pregnant women are also more prone to sciatica because of the loosening of ligaments that happens naturally due to hormones in pregnancy, as well as the weight and position of the baby, according to Cleveland Clinic.
What does sciatica feel like?
Sciatica can feel like a shooting pain from the lower back through one leg, as well as a numbness or tingling sensation or a feeling of muscle weakness.
The pain may increase when you “bend over, lift objects, twist, sit down, cough or sneeze,” according to the Hospital for Special Surgery.
The key symptom that diagnoses sciatica, according to the Hospital for Special Surgery, is leg pain associated with back pain.
How is sciatica treated?
If sciatica is mild, it can be resolved using at-home treatments like lower back stretches, resting from activities that cause pain and applying ice to the painful area, according to the hospital.
If at-home treatments do not work, sciatic pain can also be treated through physical therapy, focusing on exercises that reduce pressure on the sciatic nerve, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Prescription medications may also be administered to help with pain, and in some cases spinal injections of anti-inflammatory medicine are used to help reduce the pain and swelling, according to Cleveland Clinic..
In the most severe cases that are not helped by other treatments, spinal surgery may be considered.
How can sciatica be prevented?
While not all cases can be prevented, there are things that can be done to help lessen the risk of sciatica, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Those steps include maintaining good posture, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, exercising regularly, choosing low-impact activities like swimming and walking and protecting yourself from falls.
Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The United States Postal Service can deliver prescribed abortion medication, even in states where abortion access is severely restricted, the Department of Justice announced.
The department’s Office of the Legal Counsel wrote in an opinion that pills being sent through the mail is not in violation of the Comstock Act — an 1873 law that made it illegal to send “obscene” material in the mail — if the sender does not know if the drugs will be used illegally.
It comes on the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration giving pharmacies the green light to fill prescriptions for one of the pills, mifepristone, if a certified health care provider prescribes the drug and if that pharmacy meets certain requirements.
The Comstock Act, which was passed by Congress under the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, criminalized the act of using the U.S. Postal Service to send contraceptives, substances that induce abortion, pornographic content, sex toys and any written material about these items.
The Postal Service had requested the opinion from the office after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 and states began enforcing their own bans.
“We conclude that [the act] does not prohibit the mailing, or the delivery or receipt by mail, of mifepristone or misoprostol where the sender lacks the intent that the recipient of the drugs will use them unlawfully,” Christopher Schroder, assistant attorney general for the OLC, wrote in the opinion.
“Because there are manifold ways in which recipients in every state may lawfully use such drugs, including to produce an abortion, the mere mailing of such drugs to a particular jurisdiction is an insufficient basis for concluding that the sender intends them to be used unlawfully,” the opinion continued.
In a statement to ABC News, USPS said the opinion “confirms that the Comstock Act does not require the Postal Service to change our current practice, which has been to consider packages containing mifepristone and misoprostol to be mailable under federal law in the same manner as other prescription drugs.”
Drugs for medication abortions were first developed in the late 1970s as an alternative, non-surgical, form of abortion in which someone takes two pills to end a pregnancy.
The first pill is mifepristone, which was authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000. It works by blocking the hormone progesterone, which the body needs to continue a pregnancy.
This causes the uterine lining to stop thickening and to break down, detaching the embryo. The second drug, misoprostol, taken 24 to 48 hours later, causes the uterus to contract and dilates the cervix, which will expel the embryo.
In the U.S., the drugs are approved up to 10 weeks’ gestation, although the World Health Organization says they can be taken up until the 12-week mark.
As of 2020, medical abortions account for 54% of abortions performed in the U.S., up from 24% a decade ago, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
In December 2021, the FDA permanently lifted its restrictions on abortion pills, allowing them to be sent by mail than requiring them to be given in person.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — For the past six years, the Mediterranean diet has won the title of best overall diet in U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of best diets.
The diet is endorsed by the American Heart Association for its cardiovascular benefits. The diet was shown to reduce the risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, preterm birth and stillbirth when followed in pregnancy, according to one study.
The Mediterranean diet emphasizes eating fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, nuts, legumes, olive oil and flavorful herbs and spices; fish and seafood at least twice a week; and poultry, eggs, cheese and yogurt in moderation, according to U.S. News and World Report.
“Any plan that cuts out an entire food group or fruit or dairy for non-medical reasons is a red flag and it’s the reason the Mediterranean diet is always such a big winner,” Gretel Schueller, managing editor of U.S. News and World Report, told ABC News. “The Mediterranean diet is healthy, it’s sustainable, it’s a flavorful way to eat and it’s adaptable.”
If you’re looking to start the Mediterranean diet in the new year, here is what you need to know:
What is the Mediterranean diet?
The Mediterranean diet is not one way of eating but a broad term used to describe the eating habits popularized in the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, including Italy, Greece, Morocco, Spain and Lebanon.
The way of eating focuses on the quality of foods consumed rather than focusing on a single nutrient or food group, according to U.S. News and World Report.
There are no specific serving size recommendations or calculations with the diet, meaning the amount of food a person eats on the diet depends on their own needs.
Nutrition experts say there’s no one diet that will work for everyone. Certain diets may be more beneficial depending on your circumstances, and some may be harmful depending on your health conditions. Anyone considering changes to their diet should consult with their doctor.
What types of foods are eaten on the Mediterranean diet?
Overall, the diet is mostly plant-based and focuses on healthy fats.
Healthy fats emphasized in the Mediterranean way of eating include virgin olive oil, avocados, nuts, salmon and sardines, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Red meat consumption is limited to a few times a month.
All types of vegetables and fruits are encouraged on the diet, as are non-meat sources of protein like beans and other legumes.
Fish is encouraged twice weekly and other animal proteins like poultry, eggs, cheese and yogurt are encouraged in smaller portions, according to the Harvard School of Public Health.
The main source of hydration should be water.
Mild to moderate wine consumption, often with meals, is typical of the Mediterranean diet but is considered optional. In this context, moderation in wine consumption is defined as one to two glasses per day for men and as one glass per day for women.
Are any foods prohibited?
No, the diet does not totally eliminate any foods or food groups.
Some foods though are encouraged sparingly on the diet, like desserts, butter, heavily processed foods like frozen meals and candy and refined grains and oils.
U.S. News and World Report describes the diet as leaving “little room for the saturated fat, added sugars and sodium that inundate the standard American diet.”
What are the health benefits?
According to U.S. News and World Report, “People who eat a Mediterranean-style diet have longer lifespans, report a higher quality of life and are less likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.”
The American Heart Association says the Mediterranean diet can “play a big role” in helping to prevent heart disease and stroke and reducing risk factors like diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Consuming virgin olive oil, in particular, may help the body “remove excess cholesterol from arteries and keep blood vessels open,” according to the AHA.
Citing research, the Cleveland Clinic touts the Mediterranean diet as a way to help maintain a healthy weight, slow the decline of brain function, increase longevity, support a healthy gut and lower the risk of certain cancers.
Is the diet adaptable and budget-friendly?
In U.S. News and World Report’s 2023 ranking of best diets, the Mediterranean diet was not only best overall diet but also rated high in the categories of Best Family-Friendly Diets and Easiest Diets to Follow.
Schueller said the foods promoted in the Mediterranean way of eating are not only budget-friendly and easily accessible but also adaptable.
“Olive oil is one of the cores of the of the Mediterranean diet as a primary source of healthy fat, but you can replace that with a similar oil like grapeseed oil or sesame oil or another heart-healthy, fun saturated fat like nuts or avocado,” she said. “And you can take those principles and adapt them to other cuisines by adding the vegetables and whole grains from that country or region, lowering the red meat [intake] and eating more efficient plant proteins.”
She continued, “For example, if you prefer Asian cuisine, you can apply the Mediterranean diet principles and that might mean eating more brown or black rice instead of white rice, and seafood or tofu instead of meat.”
(NEW YORK) — If you have been in a gym recently and spotted a person walking steadily on the treadmill at a very high incline, they could be following a viral workout trend.
The “12-3-30” workout, the brainchild of social media influencer Lauren Giraldo, involves walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes at a 3 mph pace and on a 12% incline.
Giraldo first shared the low-impact cardio workout on YouTube in 2019 in a video about her wellness routine.
She told ABC News’ Good Morning America she figured out the formula through “trial and error” while trying to find a workout that was both motivating and doable.
“I was at a low point and the gym was always an intimidating environment for me. I wanted to find what worked for me and got me excited about remaining consistent,” she said. “Through this, I was able to play with the settings on the treadmill and found that the 12-3-30 combination was challenging, but fun.”
Giraldo said of her workout philosophy, “I think it’s important that when you’re building out your routine it’s one that makes most sense for you. I don’t believe in strict guides because we’re all different.”
Giraldo shared the routine again in 2020, this time on Instagram and TikTok in a video where she credited it with helping her lose 30 pounds. That video received more than two million likes on TikTok alone and made her 12-3-30 workout a viral hit.
The hashtag #12330 now has more than 81 million views on TikTok and the workout is tagged in thousands of posts on Instagram.
“We have cultivated a beautiful community of people that feel inspired,” said Giraldo. “It’s become more about how it makes us feel, and less the workout itself.”
Giraldo added that she believes the simplicity of the workout is what has made it so popular.
“I think we’re always told ‘you need to spend one hour in the gym to see results’ or ‘you need to go X amount of times per week to see results,’ but I think the world is tough enough,” she said. “We’re just looking for a moment with ourselves, and for me that was 30 minutes on the treadmill.”
Here are five questions answered about Giraldo’s “12-3-30” workout:
1. What does 12-3-30 mean on a treadmill?
The workout is an easy-to-follow formula that just involves two settings on a treadmill, done for a time of 30 minutes:
Incline: 12
Speed: 3
Giraldo said in her TikTok video she typically does the workout five days a week.
2. What are the pros of the workout?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, which the “12-3-30” workout can help fulfill.
In addition to being easy to follow, walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes at such a high incline is a solid and efficient workout, according to Dr. Marie Schaefer, a board-certified sports medicine physician at Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic.
“It gives you all the basic benefits of cardiovascular exercise. It increases your heart rate. It builds muscle mass,” Schaefer told Good Morning America. “And by putting you on that 12% incline, it’s actually going to nearly double your calorie burn and it can increase your heart rate a bit more.”
Walking on an incline can also help strengthen a person’s glutes and hamstrings, which is particularly beneficial for women, according to Schaefer.
“As people age they, especially women, lose their glute muscles,” she said. “This is a good exercise to keep that muscle strong and prevent it from atrophying.”
Schaefer noted that both walking and running, as opposed to other cardio exercises like cycling or swimming, are smart ways for women to increase their bone strength overall and lessen the risk of osteoporosis as they age.
“Weight-bearing exercises where you’re pounding your legs on the ground are good feedback to your bones to help keep them strong,” she said. “Walking on a treadmill is a way to do that, as is walking on the ground and as is running.”
3. Are there any cons?
People should check with a healthcare provider before beginning any new exercise routine.
In addition, Schaefer recommends that people know their baseline before starting a new routine.
For instance, before trying the “12-3-30” workout, make sure that you can go on a 30-minute walk on a flat, outdoors surface. Then, make sure you can complete a 30-minute walk on a treadmill.
Then, start adding in the incline and modify as needed, including lowering the incline and using the handrails for safety, according to Schaefer.
“The most biomechanically appropriate way would be to do this without holding on to the rails and having a really good arm swing,” she said. “But honestly, it can be too hard for some people to just start out from like walking on a flat ground to going at a 12% grade, which is pretty high.”
Schaefer added, “Starting with holding the handrails is OK and then as you feel more comfortable and as you feel more balanced and stronger in your posterior chain muscles, letting go of those handrails as much as you can will give you a better workout with good form.”
Schaefer also recommends mixing up the “12-3-30” workout with other physical activity during the week to avoid overuse injuries and to avoid hitting a plateau.
“There will be a time where your muscles kind of equilibrate and get used to this exercise and you do need to change the intensity,” she said. “Ideally you would add in strength training with a cardio type of workout so that you’re working other muscle groups.”
4. Are there ways to modify the workout?
The workout’s intensity could be increased by adding hand weights or adding running intervals, according to Schaefer.
Alternatively, the intensity could be lowered by decreasing the incline or speed.
5. What is a similar workout without a treadmill?
If you do not have access to a treadmill, the simplest way to mimic the workout outdoors is to walk for 30 minutes on a hilly route.
Alternatively, bicycling, tennis, swimming and walking or running outdoors will give you a similar, steady cardio workout, according to Schaefer.
(NEW YORK) — You may already be into Dry January, or you may be deciding to start now.
Either way, the challenges of giving up alcohol for the entire month are real.
Annie Grace, the author of The Alcohol Experiment, knows firsthand. In her mid-30s she was a high-level executive who drank two bottles of wine a night.
She gave up alcohol for 30 days in order to regain control of her life.
Grace, a mom of two, no longer drinks and has gone on to write two books sharing research-driven tips for giving up booze.
“My experience in taking a break from alcohol for 30 days was that it wasn’t always easy because I went into it with a mindset of ‘missing out’ or ‘giving something up’ for 30 days, which created the forbidden fruit syndrome in my mind,” Grace told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “Often, when I would take a break from drinking, I would think about drinking constantly and crave it even more during the time that I wasn’t drinking, which is ironic.”
Based on her own experience, Grace shared her three best tips for making sure giving up alcohol “serves you, rather than creating the forbidden fruit syndrome.”
Here are her tips, written in her own words:
1. Focus on the positive
The way you approach this month will be vital to your success. If you feel like it’s going to be awful, it probably will.
Your inner reality creates your outer reality.
Approach Dry January knowing you will get through it and be successful. There might be hard times, but you’ll be okay.
Make sure your perspective is on all of the positives you can gain from the experience. I suggest you make a list of everything you stand to gain and the positives you notice along the way.
If you’re sleeping better, write it down. Lost weight? Write it down. When you start to question your resolve, consult your list.
2. Stay firm
The firmer your decision, the easier this will be. That means that realizing while it may be hard, you’re committed to staying the course.
Alcohol is addictive and on top of that, we tend to have an emotional attachment to it as well. We associate it with everything from celebrations and relaxation to socialization.
That means almost every day is full of triggers that may cause us to question our decision. Rather than leaving the possibility of drinking on the table, commit to a full 31 days alcohol free and see what changes can take place in your life due to that resolve.
3. Don’t rely on willpower
Willpower is not the answer.
You can white-knuckle it through January and manage to force your way through to the end. The problem is that once Feb. 1 rolls around, nothing has changed.
It’s the forbidden fruit syndrome. We want the exact thing we can’t have. You feel deprived and upset that you can’t have it, so as soon as you lift the ban, you’re right back where you started.
Instead of giving alcohol this pedestal of importance in your life, get out of the willpower game.
What you need to do is change your thinking around drinking.
Examine the reasons that you drink. Make a list of all the reasons that you drink: To relax, network, to deal with anxiety, to socialize, etc. Now take those reasons, one at a time and examine them.
Take them apart, see where the belief originated and if it actually holds water. Does alcohol relax you? Why do you think that? Does drinking eliminate the issue that was causing your stress? Take those issues one by one and see if alcohol really does anything to alleviate them.
This — reshaping your beliefs based upon your experiences — will be more effective than willpower ever could be.
