June 2023
Hey all,
The Fourth of July has been my favorite holiday since I started spending summers down the shore with friends. It’s reminiscent of the beach, fireworks, grilled food, cheap beer, and a kind of nonchalance that’s so correlated with youth.
While I will forever look forward to this holiday, the older I get the more I appreciate it for what it is, a day to celebrate what so many people in our world don’t have. A day to reflect on the freedoms and privileges we often take for granted: liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness.
So, as I look forward to the Fourth of July each year, I do so with a renewed appreciation for the significance it holds and a deep appreciation for the privileges we enjoy (cheap beer included).
Happy Independence Day,
Brian
May Blog Posts
Mind
Body
Dad
Things I’ve Learned
Mind
Every Self-Help Book In 11 Steps
The advice of best self-help books comes down to 11 points, according to this article:
1. Take one small step.
2. Change your mental maps.
3. Struggle is good. Scary is good.
4. Instant judgment is bad.
5. Remember the end of your life.
6. Be playful.
7. Be useful to others.
8. Perfectionism = procrastination.
9. Sleep, exercise, eat, chill out. Repeat.
10. Write it all down.
11. You can't get it all from reading.
Food Disgust Results
I’m not grossed out by many things but, after taking the Food Disgust Test, it turns out that hygiene is the thing that gets me the most. (P.S. lots of other interesting tests on that page that range from autism to Marvel to narcissism to if you should break up with your partner to a test of how annoying you are)
Well-being > Money
A survey found that well-being is more important measure of wealth than money.
“Of the 1,000 adults surveyed, about 48% say they already feel wealthy. Yet their average net worth is $560,000 — about a quarter of what they think others need to be rich…..When asked to characterize what being wealthy means to them, respondents overall mentioned their well-being (40%) more often than money (32%) and assets (26%). In 2017, the top response to what wealth means was money (27%).”
“You Might Be Right”
“The best response is often, ‘You might be right.’
The next time someone disagrees with you or criticizes you, just shrug your shoulders and say, 'you might be right,' and watch the energy change.
If you care about the outcome, focus on what's right, not who is right.
Keep the goal in mind.”
Body
Social Jet Lag
Interesting article on the effects of social jet lag on heatlh. Social jet lag refers to the misalignment between an individual's internal biological clock and their social schedule, which can result in fatigue and disrupted sleep patterns.
“The many epidemiological studies investigating social jetlag suggest that the higher its accumulation, the higher the prevalence and the earlier the onset of clinical symptoms for many different pathologies beyond metabolic dysfunction. This effect is similar to the accumulating effects of sleep loss on health. A reduction of enforced social jetlag should therefore be central to strategies to prevent disease. Candidates for such a prevention could be more flexible work schedules, later school start times for adolescents or eliminating daylight saving time.”
Low Carb Diet > DASH Diet
A study found that a very low carb (20-35g of carbs/day) is a better than the DASH diet for adults with hypertension, type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes, and being overweight or obesity. While both showed improvements in HbA1c, body weight, and systolic blood pressure, it was the very low carb group (44%) that had better outcomes than the AHA's recommended DASH diet (5%). And speaking of the AHA…..
The AHA’s Foundation?
This is mind-boggling to me. The AHA diet is based on one single, outdated study.
"So our conclusion is, sadly, that the 2019 ACC/AHA Lifestyle Guideline, which (again) is the last time these two well-respected groups engaged in a serious review of the scientific literature on diet and health, came up with extremely meagre results. This is not at all what one might expect from the AHA, a 75-year-old organization that has been dispensing dietary advice for more than 60 years now. The moral of the story is that if you’re following this group’s advice, dedicating yourself to a diet of fruits, whole grains, nuts, and fish while restricting saturated fat and red meat, you are resting your hopes on a single, once-retracted medical trial that didn’t even test the diet you’re following. Diet-wise, you’re wandering in the dark."
Type Of Exercise & Longevity
How does exercise volume and intensity affect longevity?
“So, what are the takeaways here?
If you don’t have much time to exercise, vigorous-intensity exercise is probably your best bet. 2-3 hours per week of vigorous-intensity exercise is associated with larger reductions in mortality than 2-3 hours of moderate-intensity exercise.
If you do a moderate amount of exercise each week (around 5 hours), it doesn’t really seem to matter how you allocate it. 5 hours of vigorous-intensity exercise is great. 5 hours of moderate-intensity exercise is great. 2.5 hours of each is great. You really can’t go wrong.
If you exercise a lot, and you’re specifically trying to minimize mortality risk, it probably makes the most sense to focus on doing more moderate-intensity exercise after knocking out 2-3 hours of vigorous-intensity exercise per week.
More exercise is generally a good thing. I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir when I say that, but it always bears repeating.
For reducing your risk for specific cardiovascular diseases, it’s probably worth making a point of doing at least 2-3 hours of vigorous-intensity exercise per week.”
Junk Food = Worse Sleep
A recent study revealed that the quality of our sleep is deeply influenced by the quality of our diet. In this study, fifteen participants with normal sleep patterns were randomly assigned to either a "healthy" or an "unhealthy" diet for one week. While sleep duration remained consistent between the two diets, the junk food diet resulted in significantly less restorative slow-wave sleep activity compared to the healthy diet. This disruption in sleep patterns caused by junk food consumption may contribute to long-term health risks, including increased inflammation and susceptibility to diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer, as the immune system functions actively during nighttime.
Tomato + Lycopene = Skin protection
A systematic review and meta-analysis found that “supplementation with tomato and lycopene could reduce skin erythema formation and improve the appearance and pigmentation of the skin, thereby preventing light-induced skin photodamage and skin photoaging. Lycopene-rich products could be used as endogenous sun protection and may be a potential nutraceutical for sun protection."
At the very least, eat more tomatoes when you’re exposed to the sun longer.
Dad
Baby -> Resentment -> Dissatisfaction
Resentment: The Silent Relationship Killer: “Why do 67% of couples “become very unhappy” during the first three years of their child’s life? Gottman’s research identifies a few reasons:
The frequency and intensity of relationship conflicts increases significantly
The fatigue makes it impossible to have an emotional connection
A baby does not emotionally “retreat” from an unhappy parent (and mom, in particular)
Though both parents work much harder after the birth of their child, they both feel unappreciated”
Indigenous Parenting
A thought-provoking article on indigenous Amazonian Childcare.
"....Runa children, while affectionately cared for, are not the main focus of their parents’ attention. In fact, nothing is adjusted to suit a child’s needs. No canoe trip under a merciless sun is modified to meet the needs of a baby, let alone of an older child. No meal is organised around the needs of a young child. Parents do not play with their children and do not engage in dialogical, turn-taking conversations with them from an early age. They do not praise their children’s efforts, nor are they concerned with the expression of their most intimate needs. Adults certainly do not consider them as equal conversational partners. The world, in other words, does not revolve around children."
Source: Chartr
Carrying Kids
Our ancestors were innovative and tough. Michael Easter on Carrying Kids: The Incredible Science and Benefits, Part I
“Carrying children is one of the original forms of rucking. It changed our species and still benefits us and kids today.
Why it matters: Carrying children played a vital role in human evolution, development, and fitness. Even if you don’t have a kid, you can learn something from it.”
Slacker Dads
Uh oh. In a survey of dads of infants, researchers found that we’ve got some work to do.
“Only 16% of fathers implemented all 3 recommended infant sleep practices (using the back sleep position, an approved sleep surface, and avoiding soft bedding) and two-thirds received advice on all 3 practices from a healthcare provider.”
Best Of The Month
Here are a few of my favorite things I’ve listened to, read, and used this month.
Podcast
Book
The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
Product
Nested Naturals Super Greens Organic Powder. My near-daily green powder.
Quote
"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." - John Wayne
