Risk & Medical Information Notice

1. Nature and Purpose of the Publication

1.1 The Scientist's Notebook (the "Publication") is an educational publication about endurance-sport science, published by Gradescale Mortelmans (the "Publisher").

1.2 The Publication reports what published research and professional guidelines have found, explains the physiology behind those findings, and describes where the evidence is uncertain or contested.

1.3 The Publication is written for a general audience of endurance athletes and coaches. It is not written for, and cannot account for, the individual medical history, current health status, medication, injuries or circumstances of a person who reads, views or uses it (the "Reader").

2. Matters the Publication Does Not Provide

2.1 Nothing published in the Publication is:

(a) a medical diagnosis, or an assessment of whether the Reader has any condition;

(b) a treatment plan, or medical, nutritional, physiotherapy or psychological care;

(c) emergency or urgent-care advice;

(d) individualized coaching, nutrition or training prescription;

(e) clearance to train, to race, to return to sport after injury, or to lose weight; or

(f) a substitute for advice from a qualified professional who knows the situation of the Reader.

2.2 No article, Calculator, figure or Guest Contribution creates a clinical or coaching relationship between the Reader and The Scientist's Notebook, ESQ Coaching or Thomas Mortelmans.

3. Reported Study Protocols

3.1 Articles frequently report specific numbers, including supplement doses, training intensities, fluid and sodium intakes, heat-acclimation durations and insulin adjustments described in the clinical literature.

3.2 Those numbers describe what was studied, in whom and under what conditions, and they are reported so that the evidence can be understood, not so that the Reader can apply them.

3.3 A protocol that was safe and effective in a supervised study population may not transfer to the Reader, and each of the following can change the decision: (a) tolerance; (b) medication use; (c) pregnancy; (d) cardiovascular and metabolic history; (e) age; (f) training status; (g) environmental conditions; (h) anti-doping rules; and (i) product formulation.

3.4 Where an article reports a number, that number stays attributed to its source.

4. Calculators and Model Outputs

4.1 The interactive estimation tools made available in the Publication (the "Calculators") generate estimates from the values entered by the Reader and a published model.

4.2 Measurement error, model assumptions and normal day-to-day physiological variation can materially change the result produced by a Calculator. An output of a Calculator is not a diagnosis, a medical assessment, an injury-risk clearance or an individualized treatment recommendation.

4.3 A favourable number does not establish that an activity is safe for the Reader, and an unfavourable number does not establish that the Reader is unwell.

5. Medication and Conditions under Medical Management

5.1 Some articles discuss exercise in the context of conditions such as type 1 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disease or pregnancy. Articles of that kind may describe how clinical guidance addresses medication around exercise.

5.2 Passages of that kind report published clinical approaches, and they are not instructions to the Reader.

5.3 Do not start, stop, or change the dose or timing of any medication, insulin, or device setting on the basis of anything read here.

5.4 Decisions of that kind belong with the clinical team that manages the care of the Reader and knows the individual plan of the Reader.

6. Symptoms Requiring Urgent Attention

6.1 The Publication provides no emergency advice, and it must not be read as a reason to delay obtaining help.

6.2 Each of the following is a reason to stop exercising and to obtain urgent medical assessment, regardless of what any article, metric or Calculator suggests: (a) chest pain; (b) fainting or loss of consciousness; (c) severe or unusual breathlessness; (d) new neurological symptoms; or (e) signs of heat stroke.

7. Guest Contributions

7.1 OpenLab features include material contributed by an invited guest (a "Guest Contribution"), and the guest speaks from their own expertise and experience.

7.2 The views expressed in a Guest Contribution are the views of the guest and are presented as such.

7.3 The views of a guest are not clinical advice to the Reader. The quotation of a guest does not make the practice of that guest a recommendation for the situation of the Reader.

8. Commercial Relationships

8.1 Some articles link to products or services, some of those links may earn a commission, and a commission of that kind is disclosed where it arises.

8.2 A commercial link is never the reason a finding is reported, and the presence of an ingredient studied in the literature does not mean that a particular product reproduces the studied effect.

9. Corrections

9.1 The Publication is corrected when it is wrong, and an article may be revised after publication.

9.2 A Reader may report to the Publisher anything in the Publication that the Reader believes to be inaccurate or unsafe, and a report of that kind is acted on.

10. Relationship to Other Documents and Contact

10.1 This notice (the "Risk Notice") describes the nature of the Publication, the contractual terms are set out in the Terms of Use at /terms-of-use/ (the "Terms"), and the handling of personal data is set out in the Privacy Notice at /privacy-notice/ (the "Privacy Notice").

10.2 Questions about anything published in the Publication are addressed to the Publisher at legal@gradescale.fit.