Dr. Max Gomez: How Your Home Could Impact Your Health
NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- If you want to lose weight the answer may lie in making changes to your house.
A new study is being conducted to determine whether the places that you store your food have an affect on your health.
"My running is probably someone's fast walking, but we're still out there, generally three miles every night," Monique Payne told CBS 2's Dr. Max Gomez.
Payne said she tries to lead a healthy lifestyle and generally relies on homemade snacks like popcorn, to control her oil and salt intake. But she may be overlooking a vital piece of the puzzle, her home.
Researches are working to find out if the way that things are arranged in a home have an affect on its inhabitants' health issues.
"How do people set up their homes, how do they respond to their homes and what effect, in turn, does that arrangement in the home have on their health and their well being," explained Charles Emery, Ph.D., of Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center.
Researchers at Ohio State begin the research by itemizing the foods in a refrigerator, and what type are sitting out. They also investigated which foods are at eye level or are within arms-reach.
"We're also interested in what those distances are between where the individual spends most of their time in the home and where the food sources are," Emery said.
Researchers are measuring distance from household hangout spots to food, plus factors like height, weight, and cholesterol.
Monique said she is already learning a lot.
"It was funny to see it through her eyes versus just my eyes. She would observe things differently than I did," she said. "So it's more than just what you have in the house, but how do you get to it."
Those observations could help researchers figure out if your house impacts your health.
Researchers plan to analyze 100 houses for the study, analyze stress levels in subjects, and will check to see if subjects own exercise equipment and if they use it.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
