Have you ever begun a diet and religiously followed it only to find out it isn’t working because your source of information about the diet was wrong? You sit there thinking “Wow, I just wasted a months worth of dedication to this diet for nothing.” In my previous blog post, I talked about the many benefits to physical activity and why everyone should engage in it. In order to make that post, I had to sift through overwhelming amounts of information in order to further simplify and present it to you viewers. As someone who is providing you guys pertinent information regarding your health, I would want to make sure that I am providing you guys with accurate and reliable information. As a result, today I will be identifying examples of good and bad sources of information in regards to physical activity in order to help you quickly and dependably obtain factual information to help you achieve your physical activity goals!
GOOD SOURCE OF INFORMATION #1: Medline Plus
Medline Plus would be an example of a good website with accurate information in regards to physical activity in that it is provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine database. If the information on a website is provided by a database, this a huge plus in terms of accuracy because databases are edited and approved by publishers before being posted. The types of information that this website provides is a summary of physical activity, hyperlinks to statistics and research done on physical activity, and even resources to help individuals find an expert to help them begin their fitness journey. Secondly, this website provides related links to other reliable sources like the Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to help further assist your knowledge on physical activity. This website is good for both individuals who are currently engaged in physical activity as well as individuals who are wanting to make the change of beginning physical activity.
GOOD SOURCE OF INFORMATION #2: Heart.org
Heart.org works in conjunction with the American Heart Association which is an organization that for the past 100 years has been fighting heart disease and stroke, striving to save and improve quality of life. When going through this site, the types of information it provides is regarding the ways in which individuals can combat cardiovascular disease as well as stroke. It provides a search bar that allows users to search up topics like “physical activity,” in which it links them to trusty articles on fitness basics, how to get active, and how to stay motivated. This website would be useful for individual at any fitness or skill level to help them learn more about physical activity or remind them the importance of physical activity and why to engage in it.
GOOD SOURCE OF INFORMATION #3: Health.gov
Health.gov is another example of a website that can be heavily trusted and relied upon. Health.gov works with both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as well as the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion to provide individuals the current guidelines of physical activity, how to spread the importance of physical activity, as well as ways to get the youth involved with physical activity. Because this website works with the listed organizations we are able to trust that the information is reliable in that it is peer reviewed and fact checked before being posted. I personally feel like this website is more for individuals are a new to physical activity and want to learn the basics in order to help weigh out the pros and cons of physical activity before engaging in it.
UNRELIABLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION #1: Youtube
Youtube is a platform for content creators to upload videos on this website to talk about whatever topic they would like. As a result, there is no fact checking of the information that people are posting. In regards to physical activity, if you were to search up physical activity on youtube, there would be a multitude of videos on it but no way to know if the person creating the content has accurate information. On youtube, you can expect to find tons of information on literally any topic you want, but how trustworthy it is is all subjective. Overall, Youtube is a good way for any individual at any fitness or skill level to obtain quick summarized information, but viewers would have to keep in mind it can be inaccurate, so it would be wise to refer to a trustworthy secondary source.
UNRELIABLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION #2: Instagram
Similar to Youtube, Instagram is another platform where anyone who has an account is able to post whatever they like on it with very little restrictions. The sort of things that you can expect on Instagram are the post that your friends and family are making, as well as the post of individuals that you may personally follow. However, because lots of famous Instagram influencers heavily rely on the amount of followers and likes they get in order to obtain sponsorships for products…this brings up potential misleading information in that these influencers can be promoting products, types of exercises, or diets that are actually very bad for you. As a result, in order to keep their revenue and sponsorship they continue to promote things that are not accurate or true. Instagram is good for individuals to get ideas on physical activity, but viewers must take all the information they learn with a grain of salt because most of the influencers are being paid to say what they are saying.
UNRELIABLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION #3: Facebook
The last source of unreliable information that I have identified for this blog post is Facebook. This is a social media website that providers users a way for them to keep in touch with their family and friends over an online platform. Much like the two previous social media platforms of Youtube and Instagram, this website allows for users to share whatever information they want without any fact checking or restrictions. The information you can expect to find on these websites are updates about your friends and family, as well as link to random articles that may be tied into physical activity. However, since the person who posted the article may not be posting from a reliable source, it is very hard to trust any of the information from this website. I find that Facebook is good for keeping connection with friends and potentially finding quick bits about physical activity, but is not suited for individuals who truly want to get accurate consistent information about physical activity.
WRAP UP
The purpose of this blog post is to provide you readers with the knowledge that there are good and bad sources of information out there in this world. You need to be able to identify which you can trust and which you should be avoiding. If you are reading an article that makes you question if its valid, it more than likely is not. Fortunately for us, we have google and we can always fact check the information with reliable sources like the ones listed above! All in all, don’t be the one who commits to an unorthodox diet because your favorite influencer told you to…remember…THEY ARE BEING PAID TO SAY THAT!!
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