For the last twenty years I?ve known that I get injured less, when running, if I run in the thinnest racing flats, even though I?m not a racer. The only thing less harmful is running without shoes at all, on grass or beaches.

Now, I?m happy to see, the latest issue of Nature (www.nature.com…) confirms that running barefoot and landing (the natural way) on your forefoot, on any surface, even the road to hell, produces less shock than running in the most rationally padded stabilized shoes and thenlanding on your heel (the necessary !natural way to land when you have built-up heels and rigid soles).

Maybe I should try throwing away my spectacles (glasses to you) too, I thought, and then I realized that I did read an article the other day that said that giving near-sighted kids bifocals that only corrects their distance vision and not their close-up vision seems to make their nearsightedness progress less rapidly. (www.suntimes.com…)

It makes sense — by giving them a bifocal you’re fixing only what absolutely needs fixing, their distance vision, but still allowing them to see the way they usually do close up.