Gretchen Reynolds
Gretchen Reynolds is a health columnist at The Washington Post who focuses on the science of exercise and how everyday movement shapes longevity, disease risk and cognitive health. Her “Your Move” column translates emerging research into clear, practical guidance, often showing how small amounts of activity, well-chosen strength work and simple changes in routine can deliver outsized health gains. She has been reporting on exercise and health science for more than 15 years, building a body of work that treats fitness as a research-driven, accessible tool rather than a lifestyle niche.
Exercise science for everyday decisions
Reynolds’s defining focus is turning exercise physiology and public-health data into specific, usable advice about how people actually move through their days.
She routinely builds columns around a single new study, explaining what scientists did and then drawing out what the findings mean in practical terms, whether that is how long to work out, how hard to go, or how to structure activity in short “snacks.” Her coverage of topics such as comparing 3-minute to 90-minute workouts, or identifying an exercise “sweet spot” linked to greater longevity, emphasizes dose, intensity and timing in plain language.
Reynolds also returns frequently to the idea that even modest activity - brisk walking, easy running, climbing stairs or short bodyweight routines - can produce measurable benefits for fitness, blood sugar control and overall health. She writes in a service-oriented format, offering concrete movements, weekly time targets or simple routines that readers can implement without specialized equipment or gym access.
Aging, brain health and chronic disease risk
A central thread in her recent work is how movement affects aging bodies and brains, with particular attention to muscle loss, falls, dementia and cancer. Reynolds highlights research on age-related declines in muscle power, explaining which muscle abilities are lost fastest and how strength and power training can help preserve independence later in life.
She reports on studies showing that starting to exercise in middle age - even with brisk walks or basic strength routines - can significantly influence brain health, cognitive resilience and dementia risk. Her columns explore concepts such as “super movers,” older adults who walk substantially faster than peers and show lower rates of cognitive decline, using them to illustrate how habitual movement can protect the brain. She also covers work suggesting that very short bursts of vigorous activity may reduce the risk of multiple cancers, and that small amounts of daily exercise can help people with Type 2 diabetes manage blood sugar.
Across this coverage, she links movement patterns to long-term outcomes like heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer and falls, making epidemiological findings understandable and actionable.
Strength training, short workouts and accessible routines
Reynolds is closely associated with high-intensity intervals and streamlined workouts that fit into constrained schedules, a focus that predates her current column and continues at The Washington Post. Earlier in her career she popularized the “scientific 7-minute workout,” a compact hotel-room routine developed by exercise scientists that helped drive broader interest in short, intense workouts; at The Post, she extends that approach through interactive guides and columns that break down simple programs for beginners and older adults.
Her pieces on strength training explain why building and maintaining muscle is critical for longevity, infection risk and metabolic health, and how as little as about an hour of weekly strength work can make a meaningful difference. She details basic machine-based and bodyweight exercises, frequency and progression, showing readers how to start and continue strength training at any age and fitness level. Many of her columns stress that people who have never worked out can still gain large benefits from late-life training, undercutting the idea that only long, intense, youthful exercise counts.
This emphasis on efficiency and accessibility shapes her coverage of everything from home workouts to “exercise snacks,” tying scientific findings to realistic routines.
Tools, data and the way we move
Alongside traditional exercise topics, Reynolds pays close attention to how technology and everyday environments influence physical activity.
She reports on research into smartwatches and other wearables, including findings that popular devices substantially overestimate calories burned during exercise, and explains what those inaccuracies mean for people who track workouts digitally. Her writing differentiates between occupational physical activity and leisure-time exercise, exploring how movement at work and outside it affect dementia risk and overall health in different ways. She also looks at nontraditional forms of movement - such as fidgeting, “awe” walks and easy runs that feel almost effortless - as legitimate tools for improving mood, cognition and well-being.
Through this mix of topics, Reynolds stages exercise within the realities of modern life, where people sit for long periods, rely on devices for feedback and need clear guidance on how to move more and better within those constraints.
Career context and experience in fitness journalism
Reynolds joined The Washington Post after 16 years writing about exercise and health at The New York Times, where she created and wrote the “Phys Ed” column and helped shift mainstream fitness coverage toward evidence-based reporting on movement science. Before and alongside that work, she built experience covering health and fitness for magazines focused on running, cycling, adventure and personal wellness, as well as contributing regularly to general-interest outlets on exercise and well-being. At The Post, she continues that trajectory as the author of “Your Move,” drawing on her long familiarity with sports science, public-health research and practical training advice to shape a consistent, research-led voice on exercise and health.
She has also written a nonfiction book on how people can exercise more effectively and live longer by understanding what science says about duration, intensity and training strategies, reinforcing her role as an interpreter of complex research for a broad audience.
4 more health journalists.
Aislinn Antrim
Aislinn Antrim is an associate editorial director at Pharmacy Times and a journalist who connects clinical advances, regulation, and the changing role of pharmacists. She writes pharmacy-centered health coverage on chronic disease therapeutics, specialty and oncology care, workforce pressures, and advocacy. Her reporting explains FDA actions, policy shifts, drug pipelines, and the real-world effects of new evidence on patient care and pharmacy practice. She often uses interviews and expert conversations to show how pharmacists improve adherence, manage side effects, navigate access and benefits, and coordinate care with prescribers. She also covers burnout, staffing strain, and the future of pharmacy practice, with an eye on how policy and economics shape work at the dispenser.
Alex Cabrero
Alex Cabrero is an Emmy award-winning KSL TV reporter who covers where health, safety and community life meet, always focused on how decisions and events affect everyday people. He has been with KSL since 2004, bringing long experience in breaking news, public service coverage and human-centered features. His beat includes public health, emergency response, technology, local infrastructure, environment and science, framed through community well-being and resilience. He reports on issues like mental health initiatives, law enforcement staffing, environmental hazards, rescues, wildfire detection tools, land-use fights and scientific discoveries, making technical and policy details clear for a general audience. He also produces many positive, everyday-life features on families, veterans, farmers, sports and local traditions. His style is direct and conversational, often built around a central person or family whose experience carries the story across TV, digital and social platforms.
Alexandra Frost
Alexandra Frost is a freelance journalist and content marketing writer who turns expert-backed health and family guidance into clear, practical service stories. She covers consumer health, wellness, nutrition, preventive care, medical research, parenting, kids’ mental health, education, products, and lifestyle. Her reporting explains concerns such as inflammation, urinary symptoms, fiber, lung cancer screening, pain treatment, mobility, family dynamics, children’s technology use, and school readiness. She profiles clinicians and scientists, connects research to everyday decisions, and focuses on what readers should watch for, ask, or change. Frost currently writes across multiple outlets, including Good Housekeeping, Cincinnati Magazine, Wirecutter, Popular Science, Success, Healthline, Parents, Women’s Health, Reader’s Digest, Today’s Parent, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, TIME, Consumer Reports, Business Insider, and National Geographic. She also works as a freelance editor, media consultant, and content strategist.
Alexandra Pattillo
Alexandra Pattillo is a freelance journalist who pairs rigorous health and science reporting with intimate accounts of patients’ lives. She covers health, science and wellness for the BBC and other major outlets, including National Geographic, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Outside, CNN and Inverse. Her beat includes eating disorders, women’s health, perinatal mental health, brain health, youth sports, concussion, long-term Covid symptoms, attention, habits and behavioral science. She reports on emerging treatments such as psychedelic-assisted therapy for anorexia, testing evidence, safety and relapse risk. She explains complex research in plain language and examines how it shapes everyday choices. Her reporting uses in-depth interviews with patients, families, clinicians, researchers and coaches. Through the BBC’s Health Gap column, she also covers stigma, unequal access to care and gaps between lived experience and standard medical pathways.