A weight vest worn round the house. A heel raise at your desk. A two-minute wall sit. None of these look like health advice, and some have surprisingly good evidence. Others are interesting ideas with one small study behind them. In this series I’ve gone through each one and graded it honestly: strong, mixed, observational, mechanistic, or none.
A note on the title. British readers of a certain age will remember the Zanussi advertising campaign from the 1980s and 90s — “The Appliance of Science.” It was a washing machine advertisement. The phrase still fits: science applied to everyday life. This series asks how well each idea has actually been tested.
The grades in this series: Strong means good randomised trials agree. Mixed means the trials are few, small, short or unblinded, or disagree. Observational means studies show a link, not proof of cause. Mechanistic means the biology or animal work makes sense but it hasn’t been shown to change outcomes in people. None means there’s no usable evidence in people.
Who they help, who they harm, and what the evidence actually shows. Cold Plunges: Who They Help, Who They Harm →
Saunas, red light and contrast therapy, graded. Heat, Cold and Infrared: What the Evidence Shows →
Mixed Evening light clearly suppresses melatonin in lab studies (Gooley 2011). Light boxes help seasonal depression in small trials (Chen 2024); NICE calls the evidence uncertain. Read Part 3 →
Mixed Slow, paced breathing reduces stress and anxiety in small trials (Goessl 2017). One good trial supports a daily five-minute “cyclic sigh” (Balban 2023). Breath-hold scores and mouth taping don’t hold up. Read Part 4 →
Mixed In a lab study of 15 people, a seated heel raise during a three-hour glucose test cut the blood-sugar rise by about half at the harder of two effort levels (Hamilton 2022). A 10-person follow-up found about a third (Elek 2025). No long-term trials yet. Read Part 5 →
Mixed Wall sits and handgrip holds lower resting blood pressure by roughly 4–8 mmHg on average in pooled trials, more than other exercise types in mostly indirect comparisons (Edwards 2023; Liu 2026). Estimates vary. Not a replacement for medication. Read Part 6 →
Mechanistic Mixed Strong animal work (Jansson 2018). One three-week human trial: a heavy vest led to 1.4% more weight loss than a light one (Ohlsson 2020). Not yet replicated, and a year-long trial in older adults found no added benefit (Beavers 2025). Read Part 7 →
Including whether meal timing matters, graded. Fasting: Who It Helps, Who It Harms →
Strength training. Across 16 cohort studies, people who did muscle-strengthening exercise had 10–17% lower risk of early death, heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The biggest benefit came at around 30–60 minutes a week (Momma 2022). That’s observational, so it can’t prove cause, but it’s consistent. Observational
Grip strength. In nearly 140,000 adults, weaker grip predicted death better than systolic blood pressure did (Leong 2015). It’s a useful marker. Whether training grip itself lowers risk hasn’t been tested. Observational
Nasal breathing. Your sinuses make nitric oxide, which turns up in the air you breathe through your nose (Weitzberg 2002). The health benefits of that are plausible but untested. Mechanistic Mouth taping at night has thin evidence and real safety concerns (Rhee 2025). Mixed
What these have in common
Most of these cost nothing. A few have decent trial evidence; several rest on one or two small studies; one rests mainly on animal work. That’s fine, as long as we say so. The mistake is treating an interesting mechanism as proof that something works. The point of this series is to tell you which is which.
How strong is the evidence?
| Claim | Grade | Main source |
|---|---|---|
| Weighted vest for weight loss | Mixed one short trial | Ohlsson 2020 |
| Soleus push-up lowers the glucose rise | Mixed two small, short studies | Hamilton 2022; Elek 2025 |
| Strength training and lower death rates | Observational | Momma 2022 |
| Nasal nitric oxide benefits health | Mechanistic untested | Weitzberg 2002 |
| Mouth taping at night | Mixed safety concern | Rhee 2025 |
| Grip strength predicts death | Observational | Leong 2015 |
| Cyclic sigh for mood | Mixed one randomised trial | Balban 2023 |
Sources
- Balban MY et al. Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Rep Med 2023;4:100895. PMID 36630953. doi:10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100895
- Beavers KM et al. Weighted vest use or resistance exercise to offset weight loss-associated bone loss in older adults: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open 2025;8:e2516772. PMID 40540267. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.16772
- Chen ZW et al. Treatment measures for seasonal affective disorder: a network meta-analysis. J Affect Disord 2024;350:531–6. PMID 38220102. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.028
- Edwards JJ et al. Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Br J Sports Med 2023;57:1317–26. PMID 37491419. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2022-106503
- Elek D et al. The efficacy of soleus push-up in individuals with prediabetes: a pilot study. Sports (Basel) 2025;13:81. PMID 40137805. doi:10.3390/sports13030081
- Goessl VC et al. The effect of heart rate variability biofeedback training on stress and anxiety: a meta-analysis. Psychol Med 2017;47:2578–86. PMID 28478782. doi:10.1017/S0033291717001003
- Gooley JJ et al. Exposure to room light before bedtime suppresses melatonin onset and shortens melatonin duration in humans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2011;96:E463–72. PMID 21193540. doi:10.1210/jc.2010-2098
- Hamilton MT, Hamilton DG, Zderic TW A potent physiological method to magnify and sustain soleus oxidative metabolism improves glucose and lipid regulation. iScience 2022;25:104869. PMID 36034224. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104869
- Jansson JO et al. Body weight homeostat that regulates fat mass independently of leptin in rats and mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018;115:427–32. PMID 29279372. doi:10.1073/pnas.1715687114
- Leong DP et al. Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. Lancet 2015;386:266–73. PMID 25982160. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62000-6
- Liu R et al. Isometric hand grip training on populations with different baseline resting blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health 2026;26. PMID 42289678. doi:10.1186/s12889-026-27002-2
- Momma H et al. Muscle-strengthening activities are associated with lower risk and mortality in major non-communicable diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. Br J Sports Med 2022;56:755–63. PMID 35228201. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2021-105061
- Ohlsson C et al. Increased weight loading reduces body weight and body fat in obese subjects: a proof of concept randomized clinical trial. EClinicalMedicine 2020;22:100338. PMID 32510046. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100338
- Rhee J et al. Breaking social media fads and uncovering the safety and efficacy of mouth taping in patients with mouth breathing, sleep disordered breathing, or obstructive sleep apnea: a systematic review. PLoS One 2025;20:e0323643. PMID 40397877. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0323643
- Weitzberg E, Lundberg JO Humming greatly increases nasal nitric oxide. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2002;166:144–5. PMID 12119224. doi:10.1164/rccm.200202-138BC
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Depression in adults: treatment and management (NG222). 2022. Recommendation 1.4.39 (first made in 2009). nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222
Want to know which of these makes sense for you?
Book a call, or ask the Concierge.
Book a free 20-minute call Ask the ConciergeI sell testing, consultations and personal training, so I declare an interest: the article’s grades apply to them too.