With Father’s Day right around the corner, Health Talk is putting the focus on dads this week.

With the help of William Roberts, M.D., professor with the University of Minnesota Medical School, Family Medicine and Community Health, Health Talk compiled a list of essential health tips for dad to help keep him healthy for a long time.

Roberts’ health tips for dad are:

A new University of Minnesota School of Nursing partnership with the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage school district is looking into what school nurses can do to help curb obesity in schoolchildren.

Slated to begin in fall 2014, research led by School of Nursing associate professor Martha Kubik, Ph.D., R.N.,  received a $3 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to investigate how school nurses and other community health advocates can help address the childhood obesity epidemic.

The research “has the potential to inform public policy,” said Kubik in a Pioneer Press article on the announcement made at an early-May school board meeting. “If all goes as we hope it goes, it will expand access to obesity prevention programs for children and families.”

Second and fourth-grade students who are currently overweight and who volunteer alongside their families for the research will participate in a nine-month-long program. School nurses will lead the program charge by encouraging healthy food and activity habits through small group work with children and parents, one-on-one coaching sessions and collaboration with other groups that offer active play and healthy eating opportunities.

To read the full Pioneer Press article on the NIH grant award and its potential effects, click here. You can also check out the Burnsville-Eagan Sun Thisweek story here.

The weather is slowly changing and soon many runners who have been cooped up all winter will begin the transition from the treadmill to outdoor running.

For the most part, this transition is not too difficult to make as long as you do not suddenly increase your volume of running.

“Spring can give you renewed energy, so be careful you do not increase your pace too quickly – same as the start of a race giving you a boost in energy or feeling that you can go faster than you are trained to do,” said William Roberts, M.D., professor with the University of Minnesota Medical School, Family Medicine and Community Health.

It’s no secret that by most measures, many Americans are overweight.

Today, an estimated 36 percent of Americans are considered obese according to the CDC, and the condition can bring a number of health issues along with it. But did you know that by losing weight you can dramatically improve your quality of sleep, reducing the risk for sleep apnea?

Eliminating sleep apnea can ultimately decrease your chances of more severe health problems including stroke, cardiovascular failure, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Now that we’re nearly a month into 2013, hopefully you are still enthusiastic about your exercise routine. But for those of you who might have fallen off the wagon so to speak, Health Talk may have some info that could entice you to jump back onboard.

If you haven’t already heard, it seems drinking chocolate milk after exercise could actually be good for you. Say what?!

Yes, it’s true. Drinking chocolate milk after exercise has been shown to help improve recovery time, improve endurance and build muscle. During exercise, your body loses water, carbohydrates and protein. Although drinking water is good for helping to replace water loss, it does not help replace carbohydrates and proteins that are vital for recovery.

We’re now a week into 2013 and many of you are well on your way to success with your New Year’s resolutions. One of, if not the most popular New Year’s resolutions is exercise. If you’re one of the millions of people who vowed to have exercise as part of your recipe for personal improvement in 2013, Health Talk has just the video for you!

William Roberts, M.D., professor of family medicine and community health, recommends you start slowly if making exercise your 2013 New Year’s resolution. Roberts strongly encourages taking up exercise, but says those new to the exercise routine should gradually increase activity over time, building up to 60 minutes of activity almost every day.