Health & Medicine: 1)Female family doctors in Ontario spend more time with patients, make less money: study; 2)Strength training is crucial after menopause. How to make the most of your workouts; 3)What is ‘food noise’ and why are we hearing about it amid the rise of GLP-1 meds?; 4) A taste of nature can provide balance and calm during the workday

1)Female family doctors in Ontario spend more time with patients, make less money: study

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Hannah Alberga, January 14, 2026

A new study says female family doctors in Ontario spend more time with patients than their male colleagues and in many cases earn less money as a result.

The research, published in the Canadian Family Physician journal Wednesday, says female family doctors spend 15 to 20 per cent more time with patients than men in their profession, based on self-reported survey results of over 1,050 physicians between August and October 2023.

That’s about four minutes longer per patient for the most common type of examination.

The study says this amounts to a gender pay gap — an estimated $45,500 difference in annual income.

To close the gap, female family physicians would need to work roughly two additional hours per day, the authors said.

Researchers at the Ontario Medical Association and McMaster University probed whether a fee-for-service system, in which payments are based on the type and volume of services provided, puts doctors who spend more time with patients at a disadvantage.

Ontario Medical Association president Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman said the issue with the current system is it rewards volume and leads to less time spent with patients.

“We shouldn’t be penalizing doctors for doing what patients in the system really need,” said Abdurrahman.

Dr. Kim Lazar, a family physician at North York General Hospital, said she frequently blocks offhalf-hour appointments, rather than a more standard 15 minutes, to address her patients’ complex needs.

“Obviously patients who have complex health needs and mental-health concerns, which leads to longer visits and more frequent visits, would prefer that type of care,” Lazar said.

That’s been her own experience, as many of her patients struggle with eating disorders and depression, she said.

“We need to celebrate the fact that female family physicians do provide more patient-centric care and not penalize female family positions for this,” Lazar said.

Research published in 2016 showed the outcomes of patients who see female physicians are more likely to have fewer emergency room visits and hospitalizations. The findings were based on a cross-sectional analysis in Ontario.

“Additional time spent on services may be explained by gendered communication patterns,” the study says. “Research has noted that female physicians tend to hold longer discussions and adopt a more empathetic, partnership-building approach to care.”

The fee-for-service model is just one of several compensation structures for family doctors in Ontario. An updated compensation model, which will be an option beginning in April, will allow family physicians to bill for time spent on direct and indirect patient care and clinical administration.

Abdurrahman said these blended pay models are a pathway to removing structural disadvantages for doctors who practice in a more patient-centric way.

“In this climate where misinformation is increasing at an alarming rate, you need to be able to have those kinds of relationships,” she said.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

2) Strength training is crucial after menopause. How to make the most of your workouts

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Laura Ungar, January 11, 2026

When Sarah Baldassaro turned 50, she took stock of her health and began working with a fitness coach on strength training, a type of exercise that’s crucial for women in midlife.

“Now I would say I’m stronger overall than I ever have been at any age,” said Baldassaro, 52, of Alexandria, Virginia. “My fitness level is much more like when I was in my early 30s.”

Medical experts say strength training keeps bones and muscles healthy after menopause when estrogen loss speeds up a reduction in bone density and contributes to the gradual loss of muscle mass. This type of exercise — which involves working against resistance — also helps women maintain a healthy weight and stay on track with New Year’s resolutions about fitness.

“People underestimate how powerful it is,” said Dr. Christina DeAngelis, an OB-GYN at Penn State Health.

But what should your workout look like and how do you get started?

Strength training with weights

Physical therapist Hilary Granat said bone and muscle health are intertwined: When muscle pulls on bone during resistance training, it stimulates bone-building cells.

Resistance can come from dumbbells, free weights or machines such as rowers. One example of a strength training exercise is the chest press, which involves lying back on a bench or the ground, pressing weights up from chest level and then lowering them.

It’s important to work “close to muscle failure,” said Granat, who owns Core Total Wellness in Washington, D.C. “You really have to push yourself.”

That means lifting weights that are heavy enough to be challenging and doing somewhere between six and 30 repetitions.

You’ll know you’re working hard enough if you start slowing down in tempo or speed or can’t do another repetition in good form, she said. A good rule of thumb for an exercise like a bicep curl is to lift weights somewhere between 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms) and 20 pounds (9.1 kilograms), with novices starting at the lower end.

Baldassaro has worked her way up to 20 pounds (9.1 kilograms) for some exercises, incorporating techniques she learned from Granat.

She said the health coach has helped her expand her workouts beyond mostly cardio.

While she still does aerobic exercises, “the strength training has really been the difference maker for me,” she said.

No weights? No problem

Building up bones and muscles doesn’t necessarily require equipment. You can also do pushups, squats, lunges, situps, crunches or planks. Another good exercise is squatting down with your back against a wall.

Even the simple act of getting into and out of a chair can be helpful, DeAngelis said.

“You have to engage your core going from sitting to standing,” she said. “That also allows you to work on your coordination and balance.”

There’s also what Granat calls “impact training” — exercises like walking, hiking, running, jumping, skipping and climbing stairs. On the high-impact end of the spectrum is a “rebound jump,” which involves jumping up and down from a step 10 to 30 times.

“We’re not talking about jumping hard and fast and a lot,” she said, adding that three times a week is enough.

Don’t forget about balance

Experts say middle-aged women should also perform balance exercises, which play a crucial role in preventing falls that can break or fracture bones.

These include tai chi, yoga or even standing on one leg while brushing your teeth for around 30 seconds.

All of these exercises are great for younger people too, experts say, especially since bone mass peaks at 25 to 30 years old and slowly begins to lessen around age 40.

After seeing how strength training has improved her life, Baldassaro advises others: “Don’t wait. Get started.”

3)What is ‘food noise’ and why are we hearing about it amid the rise of GLP-1 meds?

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Nicole Ireland, January 10, 2026

Before Brenda Rogers started taking Ozempic in the spring of 2023, she didn’t realize how much “food noise” was sapping her mental energy.  

“You’re just constantly thinking about food and not having enough, having too much, ‘what am I gonna eat? Oh, don’t add in the carbs because carbs aren’t good, that’s gonna make me more fat, don’t have fat because that’s going to make you fat,'” said the 52-year-old online business manager in Vancouver. 

“It’s exhausting thinking that way.” 

The term “food noise” has emerged alongside the popularity of glucagon-like peptide-1receptor agonists — known as GLP-1 medications — that treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity, said Dr. Sanjeev Sockalingam, scientific director of Obesity Canada and chief medical officer at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

Those medications include Ozempic and Wegovy — manufactured by Novo Nordisk — and Mounjaro and Zepbound — manufactured by Eli Lilly. 

“Food noise is not a formal diagnosis, but it is a manifestation of people’s relationship with food in the context of someone who might be living with obesity being a chronic disease,” said Sockalingam, who is also a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. 

“It really has emerged from the patients and people we treat.”

WHAT IS FOOD NOISE?

Although there’s no formal definition, Sockalingam said people describe it as a distressing “insatiable, pervasive preoccupation with food or thinking about food.” 

Russell de Souza, a registered dietitian and an associate professor at the Centre for Metabolism, Obesity and Diabetes Research at McMaster University in Hamilton, said the thoughts can be so intrusive they’re “overwhelming” for people. 

“It gets hard for them to think about other things that they have to do. And they just become preoccupied with food to the point where it’s distracting,” de Souza said. 

Sockalingam said people often feel a sense of freedom after treatment, either through GLP-1 medications, psychological interventions, or both.  

“(Treatment) does liberate many patients who’ve been struggling and really preoccupied and almost captive to this kind of thoughts of food,” he said. 

WHY ARE WE HEARING ABOUT FOOD NOISE NOW?

Before GLP-1 medications became available, health-care providers didn’t have effective treatments for obesity that address the interaction between the brain and gut, Sockalingam said. 

As people have become aware of GLP-1 medications, there have been more conversations about obesity and decreased stigma around it, so people are feeling more comfortable talking about their feelings and experiences.

“We have to understand that gaining weight is not a personal failure — it’s a chronic disease,” said de Souza. 

HOW DO MEDICATIONS LIKE OZEMPIC STOP FOOD NOISE?

GLP-1 medications act like the GLP-1 hormone that controls feelings of hunger and fullness. They act on receptors in both the brain and the gut. 

The hypothalamus in the brain regulates hunger and appetite and gets signals about when to stop eating, said de Souza.

“Sometimes that signal is not as strong in some people as others, and it may not last as long,” he said. 

GLP-1 medications work on those receptors in the hypothalamus to decrease hunger and also slow the emptying of the stomach, so people feel full faster.

As people feel more full, they can often focus on other things besides food and quiet the food noise, Sockalingam said. 

Ozempic and other GLP-1 medications also work on the brain’s dopamine-driven reward circuits, which can be hyperactive in some people and cause excessive cravings. 

“As we consume things that bring us pleasure, dopamine then conditions us to really want or crave it. And so we have seen cravings decrease with GLP-1 receptor agonists,” he said. 

IS MEDICATION THE ONLY WAY TO DEAL WITH FOOD NOISE?

No — cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can also help, Sockalingam said. 

CBT works with the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is responsible for decision-making, to change the way people respond to the intense cravings and reduce them. 

It can include coping mechanisms “like how you might distract yourself, how you might introduce new behaviours, how you might change your thinking so that you might not be as preoccupied and focused on food,” he said. 

De Souza said eating high-fibre, high-protein food that keeps people full longer may also help to quiet food noise. 

Oat bran, fruits, vegetables, fish, chickpeas, lentils, beans and peas are all filling foods, he said. 

But not overly restricting food that you like is also important, de Souza said. 

“When you restrict foods that you like a lot, that technique can actually backfire sometimes and you can just crave that food that you’ve been missing so long,” he said. 

“It can create more food noise than it takes away.” 

4) A taste of nature can provide balance and calm during the workday

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Cathy Bussewitz, January 11, 2026

The crisp crinkle of fallen leaves beneath your feet. The swish and trickle of water moving through a stream. A breath of crisp, fresh air.

Spending time in nature can be invigorating or produce feelings of peace and calm. But many professions allow little time or access to the outdoors during the workday.

After a youth spent climbing trees and playing soccer, Anna Rose Smith found it difficult when her first job as a psychotherapist in Utah required working in a windowless office.

So she spent her lunch breaks outside, walking to nearby fountains or gardens. She picked up flower petals or leaves from the ground and brought them back to her desk, where she would listen to recorded bird songs, sometimes incorporating the soothing chirps into sessions with clients.

“It helps to just have that reminder that these things are going on outside,” Smith said. “I can remember, no matter what happens in this room or with my job today, there’s still going to be birds singing.”

Getting to trees or shorelines can be challenging during work hours, especially in cold weather and urban environments. But there are ways to enjoy the outdoors and to bring the natural world into your place of work, even if it’s a windowless cubicle.

Al fresco meetings

Scheduled meetings don’t have to take place indoors. An in-person appointment can happen on a park bench. Smith sometimes suggests a “walk and talk” meeting at a nearby greenway.

Mobile devices mean virtual get-togethers also aren’t limited to conventional work spaces. You can also attend Zoom meetings while walking a woody path.

Smith will ask if she can participate in an online meeting with her smartphone and headphones, allowing her to “still be able to get sunlight on my face or see water and plants and birds,” she said.

“I do definitely feel more calm,” Smith, who grew up in South Dakota but now lives in a more moderate climate in North Carolina, said. “I think it helps with focus as well. I’m just feeling more peaceful and optimistic.”

Atlantic Packaging, a sustainable packaging manufacturer headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, encourages employees to hold meetings in the courtyards of its facilities or while taking a walk, said Becca Schusler, the company’s wellness director.

The company added fig trees and native plants to its Charlotte location. It launched a nature challenge in 2024 in which employees tracked the time they spent outdoors while dog walking, eating meals, attending meetings or watching a sunset. Participants uploaded photos into a group chat from their workstations around the U.S.

“It was just so wonderful because we got sunrises in the mornings, sunsets at night from all different areas, from the beach to the mountains in Nevada,” Schusler said.

Some employees reported they felt like they handled stress better as a result of spending more time outside, she said.

Just walk

Separate from meetings, a group of Atlantic Packaging employees get together for “Walk it out Wednesdays,” a weekly time to take strolls together. “It helps provide a quick break in the day where they can reset and refocus,” Schusler said.

The Ford Motor Company also has encouraged employees to move outdoors. When it redesigned its Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters in 2025, the automaker included native plants, walking paths and outdoor pavilions, and suggested people use the grounds for meetings. The parking lot was put further away from the main building by design so people would walk for a few minutes by tall grasses, rocky outcroppings, bridges and flowers.

“We are very careful about how we are engineering space so that our brains and our bodies react positively,” said Jennifer Kolstad, Ford’s global and brand design director. “Designing for human health is our priority, our responsibility.”

Find the light

When temperatures dip and more time is spent indoors, windows can provide a connection with nature.

The designers who laid out Ford’s new headquarters placed offices in the center of floors so exterior walls with tall windows could be enjoyed by everyone in collaborative spaces, Kolstad said.

During Smith’s windowless office days, she kept a pothos plant in the room. The greenery didn’t need much light and survived with the dose it got when Smith moved it to spend weekends in a colleague’s office that had a window.

“If it’s really ugly weather, extreme, then I think that’s where windows are truly a godsend,” she said.

To catch some sunshine and feel the wind on your face during a commute, consider biking all or part of the way. Many cities and towns have bicycle sharing programs. A warm coat and mittens can keep you from getting too cold while pedaling. Layer up with a neck gaiter, balaclava or hat under your helmet.

Erin Mantz, who works in Washington, D.C., as vice president of marketing for public relations firm Zeno Group, walks to a Pilates class before work four times a week, often before the sun rises. On the days she works from home, she takes breaks to walk her dog on the meandering paths in her neighborhood.

Mantz said that as a child living in Chicago, she often played at the park with neighborhood friends while bundled up in winter gear. She found it difficult to maintain her connection with nature when she had prior jobs that called for working in an office full-time.

“Growing up Gen X, we were always running around outside, and you have that great feeling of freedom and fresh air,” she said.

Now that she has a hybrid work schedule, she’s realized that spending time outdoors helps her feel relaxed and destressed.

“It’s so good for me,” Mantz said. “The fresh air reminds me of that youthfulness of being outside, and I think it’s physical and mental, honestly. I feel reinvigorated.”