Blog Archives

Apr 29

I saw it again this past weekend. A big yellow school bus pulled into the parking lot next to the lush green athletic field and 30 or so high-schoolers from New York City piled off. The 35 mile bus ride westward doesn't sound that far really, but most people who've made the trip would probably agree that when starting from the Lincoln tunnel, it's far enough to see the transition from the city to the suburbs.

We have a "friendly-rivalry" with the team that piled off the bus. That is, my daughter's rugby club plays them often enough that (despite everyone on both sides definitely playing to win), it feels like more than that, like we've gotten to know each other beyond athletic attributes (fast, strong, aggressive, etc) and consider it a friendship. As is the culture of the sport, the athletes and parents often mingle after the game and this time, with the combination of a nearly perfect Spring day and in celebration of the graduating seniors, we hosted a barbecue, so most everyone lingered and enjoyed the day.

Open green spaces and room to run. Genuine connections with the people around you. A good meal and something to celebrate. We may not know all the details of how exactly, but we're learning, and it's pretty powerful. In fact, if you go to Google Scholar and search for "Forest Bathing" (the term often used for studying the effects of simply being in nature) there are more than 17,000 references...since 2018. One review suggests a wide variety of validated benefits including "remarkably improving cardiovascular function, hemodynamic indexes, neuroendocrine indexes, metabolic indexes, immunity and inflammatory indexes, antioxidant indexes, and electrophysiological indexes; significantly enhancing people’s emotional state, attitude, and feelings towards things, physical and psychological recovery, and adaptive behaviors; and obvious alleviation of anxiety and depression." Not bad. But it doesn't seem to end there. Earlier this month, from a team in Philadelphia, new research suggests that it may even help us improve our eating habits - nudging us toward healthier choices like "dietary diversity" and "greater fruit and vegetable intake".

It would be a bit of a leap to say that the post-match barbecue would qualify as dietarily diverse, heavy on fruits and veggies or even healthy. However, the smiles on the faces, athletes and supporters alike, are definitely proof-positive that getting "out there" with people you enjoy being with has the power to do good things. Whether it is something formal like a hike of mapped trails of the National Parks Service or some green space near home, it's a great time of year to pack some healthy snacks, get outside and take a little nature in.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

May 6

At around 8 minutes and 50 seconds into a video that is slightly longer than 9 minutes Dr. Mike Evans, a physician who originally practiced in Toronto, asks the viewer a simple (but loaded) question: "do you think you can limit your sleeping and sitting to only 23 1/2 hours per day?". The message seems so clear: if we invest +/- 2% of our day getting out of our chairs and instead do what we're built for (movement), we can get the return of significant health and quality of life gains.

That was 10 years and 6 million views ago. Since that time thousands of studies have taken aim at this and related claims around physical activity. Some of the studies monitored trends in the population, others worked to refine broad messaging that works and a few worked to dial in the proper dose, attempting to answer questions like "is 10,000 steps per day arbitrary or actually enough?" and "what is the actual threshold (step count) of a 'sedentary lifestyle'?". Yet, even with all of that, the central themes - "we likely sit too much" and "more movement would be a good thing for most" have remained.

Which gets us back to the question - was Dr. Evans right? Is 30 minutes per day enough to help us stave off disease? Could it be as simple as "save your health by investing in 30 minutes FOR (and in) your health?"

In short: Yes and No.

Yes - the 30 minutes x 5 days per week (150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week) dose is incredibly well established and reproducible for a variety of diseases and risks.

And No - a moderately intense 30 x 5 is not the only combination that works. More moderate minutes (say that fast!) might be better, especially for men and a combination of a lower number of minutes performed at higher intensity, for example 75 minutes at high intensity, works quite well.

The good news is since the video, the Guidelines for Healthy Americans have explored these updates and adapted accordingly.

The even better news which came out this past week in a very recent randomized controlled trial (considered the pinnacle of research by many) is that getting otherwise sedentary people in their working years who were struggling with cardiometabolic disease (combined heart risks like high blood pressure and high cholesterol with poorly controlled blood sugar) to MOVE worked. 50 minutes per day of light physical activity (gentle walking mostly) slowed the progression of their disease in as little as 90 days.

There's nothing wrong with being still, but even a decade later the fact remains: we probably should limit it to only 23.5 hours per day. If we're getting less than 5,000 steps per day (as referenced in one of the studies linked above) or less than 120 minutes per week of moderate physical activity and more than 10 hours per day of sitting (as referenced in the most recent study), doing so can be especially powerful.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Apr 15

You don't have to be a plumber, pipefitter or water-system engineer to know that flow matters. Any kid who has ever performed the age-old rubber band around the finger "trick" or the once-popular "hold my breath until I get what I want" tactic knows that flow, whether it be something through a pipe, blood to a fingertip or breath to the body, is an important concept in daily life.

Of course, in today's data-centric world where we rely heavily on real-time data to make decisions we have a wide variety of flow sensors that help us out. Maybe you've had that annoying moment when an indicator on your car's dashboard turned out to be an "O2 sensor" or one of my personal favorites, the tripping of the sensor tucked into our fire-alarms that tells us that the flow of back up electricity is not keeping up...you know, the one which seems to know it's the middle of the night and a loud beep will really get your attention. It can't be only me :)

Humans also have flow sensors. In fact, one group of proteins called Piezo1 exists in our lungs, skin and in our capillaries, the tiniest blood vessels in the body. They are sensitive to changes in mechanical load (stretch/strain, etc) and they supply critical information as our bodies try to prepare and react to the challenges of the day. But what if the sensor stops working correctly? Do we have a warning light? Will the "engine" perform less efficiently?

Well, about one month ago, with an important contribution from researchers from the University of Leeds, we learned more. The team limited this protein in mice and then observed their activities and behaviors. What they found was very interesting - the mice couldn't run as long or as fast on their wheel. It wasn't a motivation thing, the mice attempted to run, they just didn't have the same capacity, as if moving was just harder.

According to the authors, the take home message is clear - if it feels harder to exercise after you've been sedentary for a while, it's likely because it IS. Without regular stimulation of these protein flow sensors (such as blood rushing with hard physical exertion and exercise), the blood vessels adapt and ultimately restrict the flow rate, the amount of blood that can easily pass through per minute...think of the slow pipe and/or rubber band trick at a much smaller scale.

Here's the good news - although a bit harder to get started than to keep going - the adaptation does happen in reverse. Moving regularly and hard enough to be slightly out of breath (but probably not gasping for air) can change flow dynamics temporarily, stimulate the sensors in the process and ultimately start the remodeling needed to allow blood to more easily flow on the longer term.

Now is a great time of year to make a MOVE to improve blood flow. It'll be hot before we know it if it's not already getting there. One of the most effective ways to get heat off the system relies on healthy vessels. A few weeks of effort now will go a very long way later. More to come for sure.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Apr 1

Humans are diurnal - the "up and moving" part of the 24 hour day is counterbalanced by a "rest" stage. For most, the sunlight of dawn is the natural cue to get going, while dusk signals our bodies to slow toward sleep. It doesn't always follow this pattern perfectly. For example, "Night owls" do exist; some by nature (genetic predisposition) and others by physiological-training, such as years of working at night and sleeping during the day. For most of us however, it is the rise and fall of the sun that we set our internal clocks by....natural light, in technical terms is our "zeitgeber".

But what if you can't follow the sun? What if your internal clock and the world around you are on different schedules?

This topic has been a source of debate for a long time. Daylight savings time, when the natural rhythm is thrown off to conserve hours of light, has often been referred to as one of largest and longest standing social experiments in US history. It has been linked with a variety of injury and health risks. However the debate has more recently heated up as congress considers making Daylight Savings Time permanent. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine disagrees with some of the approach, citing a variety of concerns and phenomena associated with these changes.

But what is really going on? Why, for one of the most adaptable creatures on the planet (us), is an hour here or there such a big deal? 2 new studies this week give us clues.

The "eyes" have it.

The human eye is amazing. Not only does it provide the large majority of the information we use to make the day to day decisions, it is a window directly into our central nervous system via the "hardwired" optic nerve. This means that when the sensors of the eye are turned "on" (stimulated), the brain revs up to deal with the information pouring in. Of course, it also stands to reason then that all of the systems that support the brain, including the energy management system known as "metabolism" must also be on. Although this may in part explain why sunlight is such a great cue to set our internal clocks by, it also says in places where some level of light is always on, such as more and more of the earth, the eye, brain and therefore entire human system has a hard time shutting down for rest.

In fact, as the first of two independent research papers pointed to this week, stimulating the sensors of the eye with even partial/low light for 1 night revs up the nervous system enough to reduce the body's ability to process blood sugar the next morning. Unfortunately if a pattern of interrupted sleep and subsequent metabolic changes is extended over the course of 2 weeks , as was the case in study 2, we will not only begin to crave significantly more protein and fat (as might be expected to keep the "machine running"), we will store it around the vital organs in the middle (visceral fat), the least healthy place to do so.

Protecting our future health includes but is not limited to eating right and exercising. One of the most straight forward ways to do so might just be to protect our bedtime and buy some blackout shades.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

March 18

Three weeks ago we started down this 5 week journey into aging well by way of the health/happiness connection. In week one we talked about how exercise can work to reinvigorate our muscles and fat cells to improve their efficiency with supplying plenty of energy as we work to accrue the financial and health assets needed to retire well. In week two we talked about the natural ebbs and flows of happiness as they relate to age, a phenomenon that has been seen around the world. In week three we touched on the three different types of happiness and the fact that pursuing overall happiness may require rebalancing our "portfolio" of enjoyment (affective/bliss), contentment (evaluative/quality of life) and purpose (eudaimonic/meaning-making). This week, the 4th of 5 on the subject, we're going to dig deeper into the mindset of those who are successful at using positive well-being to live longer and ward off everything from arthritis to the flu in the process. Dive in to get the rest of the story.

You know them when you see them. The pleasant doers. They are the "walk it like they talk it" types who seem to both have a certain confidence about them as they go through life, and seem to get "it" (whatever "it" is at the moment) done, smiling along the way. There is a person like this at one of the sites I visit now and again. I've spent more than a few trips out into "the field" with him. He's one of the more experienced members of the team and always has amazing insights he is willing to share. His story definitely doesn't end there. He's also an avid gardener, although that term seems a bit underpowered considering he tends to multiple acres and shares the output generously all summer. He's a laugher, always telling a funny story or cracking a joke and keeping the environment relaxed; and he's definitely a success story - someone who is not immune to the effects of aging or the risks of illness, but has achieved a level of contentment that I'd wish on anyone.

What is it about this gentleman or others like him? What exactly powers them, and how do more of us get more of it? These are the questions in front of us as we step into the fourth part of our 5 part series on subjective wellbeing (aka happiness)....and the answer seems simple, which of course is NOT the same as easy.

It starts with mindset.

According to Dr. Alia Crum, one of the foremost experts on how mindsets/beliefs/expectations can influence our health and physiology, mindsets are "core assumptions we make about the things and processes in the world that orient us to a particular set of expectations, explanations, and goals". In plain English, what we believe and expect in any given situation, or as some call it "the stories we tell ourselves", heavily influence how our bodies operate. This is something Dr. Crum has demonstrated in both exercise and nutritional studies, as well as in her extensive work on the placebo effect. Core assumptions drive our actions, which influence whether our experience of the world is generally positive or negative - which then has a significant impact on our health and happiness. Take infections for example.

Imagine being interviewed and asked how well, on a scale of 0 (not at all) to 4 (extremely accurate) the following adjectives describe how you felt in the last 24 hours: Vigor (lively, full of pep), well-being (happy, cheerful), and calm (at ease, calm) on the positive side, as well as depressed (sad, unhappy), anxious (on edge, tense) and hostile (hostile, angry) on the negative side. Now imagine repeating this 14 days in a row.

Could these scores predict how we approach our daily life? Could they tell us about our baseline happiness? Could they even predict our ability to fight infection?

As it turns out, the answer to all three questions is "yes". These six adjectives and how often we feel them have been shown to relate closely to whether a person sees the world in a generally positive (upbeat, happy) or negative (down, etc) light. Then, in the stuff that sounds like weird science perhaps, the researchers exposed the individuals to the influenza virus via a nasal spray. One group's immune system was more likely to fight off the virus and therefore NOT become ill - the more positive/upbeat group, by almost 3 times even after ruling out the effect of: age, race, sex, years of education, baseline antibody level, BMI, season, and virus type (among others).

What's even more wild is that this impact is not just on viruses or infectious diseases. In another study, those who had higher well-being scores had a significantly lower likelihood of developing arthritis - as many as 9 years later. In a final study, subjective well-being scores taken over time in an aging population predicted how long these folks would actually live.

This of course is not to say that health or even happiness are "all in our mind", but rather, to show that whatever IS regularly in our mind, DEFINITELY impacts the safety and health of the "mobile frame" we are walking around in everyday. If we are willing to learn from those who are already succeeding, the ones who often see the silver lining, the opportunity to learn, the fun that can be found in almost any moment, and the value in living each day with purpose, the stresses of life can be challenges that make us better and maybe even more fulfilled.

The world happiness report drops later today. With any luck, by next week we'll have some new insights that we can all leverage. Until then, we hope you'll describe this week as "full of pep", "cheerful" and "at ease"...or if not, find one of the pleasant doers you know and explore something they do that you can too.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Mar 4

Non-linear. That's the official way to describe things that sometimes, but not always, go "hand in hand". Seem confusing? It can be, but we see it everyday - something that gets a little worse before it gets better. If we were to graph it out, it would look like a "U" and health often fits in this pattern. Let's say a "Standard American Dieter" (aka western diet heavy on meat and processed foods but light on fruits and veggies), after the topic is pounded on over and over and over in a weekly blog (let's say every Friday) decides they are ready to try more fruits and veggies to improve health (hypothetically of course). In the first few days, as his/her gut bacteria makeup changes and body begins to adapt, they might feel less than ideal. A little worse. But slowly and steadily they stick with it and after a week or two as their body is getting into the rhythm, they notice they feel less sluggish, less hungry for sweets and when they think about it their joints haven't hurt as much. A little better. This is often how it goes and the same is true for exercise. "DOMS" (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) is so common after someone starts a new exercise regimen (a little worse) that we could probably make Jan. 3rd an unofficial holiday (DOMS Day) for many people who started their New Year's resolution a bit aggressively. Yet, those who brave it out and stick with it for a few weeks will benefit greatly with greater strength, freedom of movement and lessened disease risk (a little better).

The list goes on. If you look closely enough, which is what a Dartmouth College researcher showed the world in 2021, even human happiness makes the list. You'd have to scroll down to the 33rd page of his fairly exhaustive report - but it's there and it's pretty clear - across hundreds of countries and billions of bits of data, humans get a little less happy in our early working years (15-40-ish) and then progressively more happy as we inch toward retirement (50-70-ish years old). Sadly, we don't really know "why" this happens. There are many possibilities.

Some suggest that the pace of life is more exhausting in the first half and that by the second half we are learning to pace ourselves better and might even have something to show for the hard work, which is satisfying. Others think that in those same years we are searching for and maybe settling into who are really "are" in the first half, deciding what our purpose really is while in the second half, we begin putting more resources (time, money, energy) into living out that purpose which is fulfilling. Still others argue (as we are not the only species that seems to experience the "U") that there may even be a genetic encoding that predisposes us to this pattern. Whew! Heavy stuff.

So what do we do about it?

Well, in the moment, a great first step is get good at recognizing and acknowledging how we're feeling. That is, to literally practice labeling how we are feeling in our mind ("I'm feeling _____"), which just like a workout, gets better the more we do it. This of course, is at the heart of "mindfulness", which not only is a meditative practice known to help us organize our thoughts, but also, if getting older is stressing us out, a very specific and impressively powerful technique which relies on the idea that there are only so many nervous-system resources to go around and has proven to reduce stress, even in the workplace. Thinking about very specific and accurate words forces our brain to turn down the emotional part of the brain, and therefore the stress center, by turning up the logical part of the brain (the language center). It's a bit like controlling our breathing to control our heart rate.

Next, find a few minutes to do the fun stuff of envisioning what 70 years old could be like or about. Will there be travel? Perhaps grandkids? Maybe it'll involve doing all those hobbies you haven't had time for. If you're less than 30 years old and this seems like an eternity - don't worry if it's blurry - it gets a whole lot more vivid as time speeds along.

Then, after feeling both relaxed and (hopefully) energized about what "could be", take a look at where things currently stand. Not at the global level like the World Happiness Report will in a few weeks, but at the personal risk assessment level. This could be as simple as rating on a scale of 1-10 where we're at when it comes to the 3 legs of the stool (energy & motivation, health, finance) or it could be going a bit deeper and taking the annual Pro-Activity survey. The concept is pretty simple overall - when we know where we're going and where we're at can we find the best path forward.

It's a great time of year to start thinking about and planning projects. We can almost see home-improvement ads that will be flooding our content feeds any day now. What could possibly be a better than a little "project investment" into ourselves toward a happier healthier future?

Here's to flattening the "U" by strengthening the "you".

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Feb 18

The term "Body Mass Index" or "BMI" as it is often abbreviated, is one of the most universally understood health-markers today. The idea that having a body weight that is not proportional to our height (usually in kilograms per meter-squared) poses a health risk and that many Americans fall into this range has become widespread. It hasn't always been this way.

Although the very first "diet book", a pamphlet which describes the first ever low-carb diet, written by William Banting dates as far back as the 1860s, it really wasn't until much later that elevated body-mass became central to conversations on health risk. There are very few references to BMI in research prior to the 1980s, but in the fifteen years that followed the number of studies which discussed this height-to-weight ratio grew exponentially. By 1995 there were hundreds if not thousands of studies which tried to explain a wide variety of connections between excess body weight and poorer health. Dieting, as both a concept and an industry, exploded with growth. Since that time we've learned a ton about what to do and unfortunately what not to do.

We've learned that it's not just "overweight" that matters for health. Underweight can be just as (and sometimes MORE) risky.

We've learned that body-weight (and therefore BMI) is important but it is not the only and often NOT the most important predictor of future health.

We've learned that just as the topic is not about genetics alone, it's most definitely also NOT about willpower alone either.

And critically, we've learned that dieting - the hope that a temporary approach might give permanent results - is often not as effective as making longer-term changes even if they start small and seem insignificant at first.

But then this week something really cool happened. Someone published a study which explored the topic with first-hand experts; more than 6,000 individuals who have lost weight AND kept it off for an extended period. What they found, using a machine learning approach, was enlightening. Not because it was surprising, but because it paints a clearer picture about the mindset needed to not only make a change, but to help make it stick.

In their words, the three big take-aways were:

Long-game Focus - the "maintainers" (as they were referred to in the study) did not see setbacks as failures, but rather as "temporary interruptions", a part of the journey and a time to reset, which they did as quickly as the next meal or next day.

Good info helps consistency - the maintainers were consistent in trying to understand consumption patterns as fully as possible. They understood how easily extra calories or low quality foods could sneak in and erode success so they tracked their patterns, in one way or another.

Reflect Back and Go Forward - to stay motivated when it got tough, they often reflected on the past, comparing how they felt then to the improvements in energy, mobility and health risk they've experienced since.

None of this makes it easy. We live in a world where low quality foods can be both inexpensive (compared to more wholesome options) and a hyper-palatable sensory experience (see "bliss point"). Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is, however, possible. With any luck we will continue learning exactly how those who pull it off are doing so. More to come for sure.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Feb 4

Everyone has felt it. Maybe it was the energy drag after being called into work when we expected to be sleeping or that phase of parenthood when sleeping-through-the-night is the gold standard. Maybe it was that time we thought it'd be a good idea to pull an "all nighter" in college or the fog in functioning we felt after taking the "red eye" home on a trip. We all know the feeling of fatigue and, whether it be from news headlines or safety talks, personal close calls or tragic stories, we know what a destructive force it can be to our health and a frustrating force for our performance.

But do we ever think about the other side...the upside of rest and the performance enhancing power of a good night's sleep? New research says we probably should.

Here's the summary we feel everyone should know and how we got here:

Disrupted sleep impairs performance: Chronically shortened sleep is a well-documented health risk. 7-9 hours is generally considered adequate, with 7.5 to 8 the usual "sweetspot" for adults. Getting much below 6 hours per night will almost always come with negative health consequences. There are too many studies to list here, but this review is a reasonable starting point.

Exercise can help: Exercise seems to have some ability to counteract the negative effects of poor sleep. In this (non-human) study for example, exercise significantly blunted the negative impacts of sleep deprivation and in this (also non-human) study, memory and other cognitive functions were less impacted in the exercise group. Small human studies like this one have shown similar "protective effects" of exercise, even when subjects are over-tired.

Exercise + Sleep = Best: The latest research used measures of heart stress to determine the impact of hard physical exertion with and without disrupted sleep. In the small study, they subjected otherwise healthy individuals with no history of heart disease to high-intensity exercise after normal sleep conditions and again after disrupted sleep. Troponin, a heart muscle-protein measured in the blood to determine acute heart stress (including diagnosis of heart attack when levels are very high) was, as expected, somewhat elevated after high intensity exercise in both scenarios. However, in the group that got good sleep, it was nearly 40% LESS elevated than after disrupted sleep, a powerful combination.

In regards to this finding, the study's author had the following to say in a press release:

"Today there is no evidence to suggest that it would be harmful to the heart if you exercise regularly when you have slept too little. One can instead turn the argument around: by ensuring that one gets enough sleep, one may further increase the positive impact of physical exercise. While we know that high-intensity training generally has benefits in the long run, our results may be worth considering and exploring in specific groups of individuals. Examples include athletes and the military. These groups may be required to perform at extreme physical levels even under conditions of curtailed sleep. It may be good to further consider the importance of sleep in these contexts, especially as we also know that improving sleep can also improve one's performance, both cognitively and physically."

MOVE + RECOVER = Achieve More.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Jan 21

We like to think of exercise as a pretty simple concept usually - just get moving, hard enough to break a sweat, frequently enough to make the habit stick and long enough to accumulate 150 minutes per week in order to send injury/illness/disease into retreat! The best part is, by and large, this is true. However, the part that doesn't usually make the headlines might be the most fascinating....that exercise instantly changes the state of our body, even deeper than the tissue level.....all the way to each and every one of our approximately 37 trillion individual cells.

With that in mind and since the "state" of our cells is constantly adapting and changing to keep us ready for whatever situation we might enter into, it stands to reason that we can get different responses (output) from the same exercise (input) depending on when we do the work. This is super important, because it opens the door to even greater refinement in exercise dosing and therefore precision use of it; which is exactly what a recent "Atlas of Exercise Metabolism" starts to decode.

A team of experts from around the globe studied how exercise had a differing influence on two of the most obvious "states": activation (e.g. early daytime for humans or the opposite for nocturnal critters), when we burn mostly sugar supplied by our food and used by our muscles to do work and the second "state", rest & recovery (typically night) when we tap into sugar storage (in our liver) and start to convert fat to fuel when our sleep storage runs out......essentially running the daytime process in reverse.

They uncovered two particularly key points worth knowing about:

First - exercise indeed has different impacts at different times: In the morning our bodies are typically getting ready for work and food. Since we rely more on fat metabolism for fuel until we eat, if the goal is to burn body fat, exercise at this time of day may be preferable as was shown in the study. Fat used from sources in/around the liver however, did better when the body was ramping down from activity (such as early evening). On the other hand, if the goal is to normalize the body's ability to efficiently burn blood sugar (such as in cases of pre-diabetes) exercising later in the day (or after a meal) when our muscles are more full can be effective as was shown in this earlier work. We can also catch the muscles on the upswing (early AM) as they are naturally ready for work and get great benefits. This list goes on and on but the take home message is - we can turn a good thing into a great thing if we match our input (exercise) with the natural day/night rhythms already at work.

Second - exercise also seemed to "realign" the circadian rhythm at the cellular level. Although not exactly a "clock", each and every cell has timed functions that follow a roughly 24 hour cycle. In certain diseases these cycles get thrown off. It turns out that exercise, similar to winding an analog wristwatch, helped the body realign these rhythms. This was especially true for exercise during the early active hours, which means exercise early in the day might have the greatest impact here for most people.

What does this mean for us?

Well, maybe nothing at all. The simple rule still holds - exercise is such powerful stuff that doing enough of it is a good thing in most cases no matter what time you do it - so first and foremost "just get it in". But for some, the 30-50% who have the habit already and may want to squeeze even better results from the effort, aligning goals with physiological clocks and rhythms may make it easier to achieve them.

Timing may not be "everything" but it is clearly "something". We hope you can make some time to wind up your cellular clocks!

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Jan 7

The challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to follow these 3 steps to investing 4 minutes into yourself......and spend 10 seconds predicting your health when you get there. Here's how:

1. Meet the team whose research sparked a revolution in exercise and the researcher who became a household name in gyms everywhere:

It started in 1996 when a research team in Japan tested a training protocol being used by the national speed skating team to improve the team's fitness in a fast way. They would use 20 seconds "on" and 10 seconds "off", repeated 8 times (4 minutes in total) and they repeated it 5 days per week. The "on" was high-intensity bicycle pedaling and the "off" was rest. The improvements in fitness were so impressive 6 weeks later that the lead researcher, Izumi Tabata, became something of a celebrity. A google search or "tabata workout" for example, yields millions of results.

2. Understand one of the fastest and most reliable methods known to predict future health catastrophe.

A few years later (2002) on the other side of the globe, a team studying data from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in the US determined that although what was happening "during" the exercise was critical for health improvement, what happened AFTER, specifically in the first minute immediately after stopping, could tell a lot about the trajectory and future health of the exerciser. It has become such an important predictor that many of the new fitness technologies we might wear on our wrists are equipped to calculate this "HRR" (heart rate recovery) value. More recently however (2018), the measure has been refined even further to show that the first 10 seconds of recovery after stopping exercise are likely the most important at predicting future health events like heart attack, stroke, etc. The "10" off portion of the Tabata is far more important than a few seconds to catch our breath.

3. Get started, MOVE.

So, if investing 4 minutes per day and building a 6 week streak can have such a substantial impact on our future health and even how much we spend to manage it, say in retirement, what's stopping us?

Probably not as much as it seems at times, but in fairness, getting started is always the hardest part. Here are a few bits of good news that lower the barriers between where we're at and where we want to be even further.

No stationary bike or a fancy recovery watch? No problem. Stairs and counting your pulse is enough to get an effect for most.

8 rounds (4 minutes) is surprisingly fatiguing and seems like too much at first? Dial it down to what you can do and build from there - as we've mentioned in other places, if adding even 1 minute of stair climbing a few times per day can have an impact - even some air squats, wall push-ups or marching in place will get the ball rolling - something (anything) is exponentially better than nothing.

There's more to come on this topic....it's too important for most people not to nudge it forward when we can.....it just so happens, now is a great time of year to get the ball rolling.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Dec 23

Maybe you've felt it before or have a loved one who struggles with it. In the early stages it might just feel like we need the Tin Man's magical oil can after we've been sedentary too long. As things progress, movement becomes more and more achy and doing "simple things" becomes harder and harder, it is known to negatively impact quality of life. But maybe the trickiest part about the progression of arthritis is that we used to think there wasn't much that could be done.....that it was "degenerative".....but that tide may be turning.

It started with some mythbusting of the old adage that loading the surfaces of the joints (usually running) was somehow "bad" for the knees. For example in 2016, contrary to conventional wisdom, this study showed that runners actually experienced a reduction in the inflammatory substances thought to be related to degenerative joint disease. Then, this past year, a review of more than 40 studies concluded that running has "more advantages than disadvantages to knee cartilage".....one of a few different conclusions which reiterated the point of a 2015 article which suggested inflammation might be at the root of the condition and not mechanical loading that comes with (even high) activity. There were cracks in the logic that to be healthy we had to soften-up on our bodies.

Around the same time, in the nutritional sciences, an unexpected phenomenon was emerging which seemed to support the idea even further. Eating healthy, especially diets rich in foods known to lower inflammation (greens, fiber, etc), was linked to improvements in arthritis pain......even without improvements in the underlying cartilage. For example, we've mentioned the very interesting link between blueberry consumption and improved knee health in people with arthritis and around 2010 there was growing interest in a particular compound (Gallic Acid) which is present in Green Tea for its potential. The shift in thinking was beginning it seemed.....even if we did not have all of the details worked out.

Then, a month or so ago, a research team from the University of Washington found something super interesting. When they combined the two - inflammation lowering food substances (again Gallic Acid which is common in a variety of fruits, nuts/seeds with green tea a particularly good source) AND mechanically stretching/loading of the tissues in a lab setting, they found healthy cartilage actually grew. This is another BIG step.....signifying a major potential to give hope and ultimately help the many many people who struggle with joint related pain, especially at the knee.

It's too early to count on anything but for those of us interested in staying active and healthy for as long as possible maybe the lead author of the study said it best: "This provides some evidence that a good diet and exercise actually work," said Abusharkh. "Even for people who have mild osteoarthritis, it's really good to exercise. It's very bad for our cartilage tissue to just lay down or sit the whole day; we have to have a little bit of activity."

So if you're looking to give your body a gift this weekend, cozy up to a cup of green tea and get out there for a walk......and then next week turn it into a resolution. :)

For those that celebrate, Merry Christmas.

For everyone, have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Dec 10

When we hear the word "innovation" we might be drawn to think of things that drastically change our human experience. In the 15 years since the iPhone was introduced the massive ecosystem of products, services and information we now tote around in our pockets fits this bill. Of course, for those of us who have grown dependent (and possibly even more so for the generation coming along who never actually experienced a pre-"touch screen" world), it's hard to imagine not having "all this" just a few swipes away.

Of course, it's sometimes easy to forget that this massively impactful innovation started with resistance.....it wasn't an instant sensation. After all, as one argument went, we humans might be lost without the sound and feel of clickable buttons. Big time market research was done. All sorts of products were designed to bridge the divide and some big bets were made AGAINST the concept......but then a small group of early adopters raved about it......they told friends and bought into the sleek design and the wheels of progress started turning. Soon enough words like "app" were becoming common language and everyday life began to change.

What if there was a need for another life-altering innovation staring us in the face? Take for example the need to solve the "problem" of mental fatigue.....something many of us experience every single day (and may actually be made worse by the tech behind the touchscreen). It's a big deal relating to performance loss/errors in work tasks, poorer performance in athletes and even motor vehicle crashes. Some innovators are trying to find a way to predict (and ultimately prevent) it by wiring-up and measuring brain activity......which seems to have some potential.

But maybe it doesn't have to be new "tech" to be innovative.....maybe it doesn't have to be new at all. Maybe an old thing applied to a new problem can be just the innovation we're looking for. Maybe, if we buy-in to some new research, we'll know the time for this fundamentally human innovation is now.....and in 10 minutes we can have the result.

Go for a jog.

Yep, that's it.....a leisurely jog....when applied to the problem of mental fatigue, says the latest research, can have an effect in as little as 10 minutes. Brain activity improved and performance followed.....after 10 minutes of moderate intensity (50% max) jogging. Sure there's resistance to it becoming part of our everyday....we don't always have proper footwear handy, we're not always in an environment where it's easy to jog and it can leave us sore when we're getting started.

But if we could lower our risk of a vehicle crash, improve our physical AND mental performance and give ourselves a mood boost all in 10 minutes or less would we tell our friends and family about it? Maybe we should.....it might even catch on!

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Nov 26

For most people the anchor of this, the 47th week of the year, is on giving thanks.....an attitude of gratitude.....which made its annual "pilgrimage" to the front of our lives on Thursday. It may seem to fly by faster and faster these days, but tucked within its tradition is something to be REALLY thankful for; if we can keep that spirit alive long enough, we might just get a glimpse of the elusive "3rd side" of the wellness coin.

Sure a "three sided coin" seems impossible.....but in the strictest sense EVERY coin has three sides.....it's just incredibly rare to actually "land" on the third side, or the "edge" as we might think of it. But here's the great news - with just the right environment and controls, it can be done.

From a physiological standpoint, if one side of the coin is "fight/flight/freeze" (the somewhat negative stress side) and the second side is "rest/digest/relax" (the somewhat positive recover side) then the thin edge which makes up the third side of the wellness coin, rare as it may be to land on, can be thought of as the "flourish/thrive/excel" (the exceedingly positive, growth side).

See, there is this amazing feature we are all carrying around with us in our highly sophisticated, interconnected tissues - the physical response/reaction after the emotional "strings" are pulled:

Side 1: When we experience the emotions of stress or anger we physically tune up (heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension) and our bodies get ready for action.

Side 2: When we emotionally slow down or let go (like the feeling of the couch after the big meal) our muscles relax and we send more resources to our digestive system.

Side 3: But when we land on the elusive 3rd side - such as when we practice gratitude - an entirely different phenomenon occurs. Not only do we get the benefits of slowing down: our stress melts away, our heart-rate slows, our blood pressure lowers and our sleep improves, but we also get actual improvements in our wellbeing (mental health) and even our cardiovascular risk.

Sometimes it's as simple as thinking, despite all of the challenges we face, about how much we have to be thankful for.

On behalf of the Pro-Activity team, please know that we are thankful for the small part we get to play in your health journey and we wish you many days that land on the 3rd side of the coin as we wrap up the year.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Oct 29

I haven't watched 'Squid Game' (the Netflix phenomenon) yet, but if the hundreds of millions of fans are right, it's bound to be good. It is such a hit in fact that Reuters reported this week on the placement of a 13 foot statue commemorating a part of the show that involves a version of "Red Light Green Light" in South Korea where the show was produced.

If you think about it, Red light Green Light is a fascinating game. It's played all over the world in one way or another (although sometimes has different names) and is easily understood by even some of the youngest among us.

Why is that? Is there more to it than a simple & active way to entertain kids?

Well, so says the BBC, some scientists will tell you that the color Red works as a warning because it is more easily seen by the human eye while others will suggest that nature often uses red to warn us because it stands out well against a green background, while still others might suggest it's something we are passed down at an early age and have learned to understand.

Whatever the reason, it seems to work. The Red, Yellow, Green of the traffic light make it very easy to explain "unsafe, caution, safe". You've almost certainly heard our team refer to it when describing how to use our movement inventory - and when to reach out for a consultation.

As it turns out in a study published in early October the approach is effective at guiding food choices too. When foods come with a color-coded warning label, people tend to make healthier choices. When combined with other research that shows particular scoring systems are getting more dialed-in all the time, making sense of the risk associated with our food choices might be getting easier soon.

If "soon" is not "soon enough"......the punchline of the research is that "green" foods (fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts/seeds) tended to be green light......while snacks, sugary beverages, and desserts (high sugar & high process) tend toward red light.

It's never a bad time of year to steer clear of "red light" foods......but with Halloween here and various other holidays on the way, it gets more challenging as we round the final turn of the year. Let us know if we can help.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Oct 15

Never have I seen someone so excited about mushrooms. Our team had just finished up some training and we were out in the fresh air trying to "walk it like we talk it" - literally. Dana, one of our physical therapists who you might know as someone often smiling & laughing, was in her element and intensely focused on the ground around the path (but still smiling and laughing).

Every few minutes we'd hear an "oooh" or an "aaah" followed by "this is a great one"....[pause for a picture]....."it's some kind of [put in species here]" as she pointed out the bright colors, strange textures and other features of these little hidden gems most of us had cruised right past without noticing. By the end of the hike many of us were scanning the ground.....tuned-in to the ecosystem at our feet....and laughing and smiling too.

Of course, since both social atmosphere/connectedness and being out in nature ("forest bathing") have been shown to have positive effects on mood and health, I had just assumed the generally light and relaxed atmosphere was due to the fact that we were together with people we enjoy being around which was bolstered by the fact that we doing so outside, in nature......but, maybe as the punchline of many-a-bad-joke goes, it was because we were surrounded by mushrooms.....which everyone knows are "fun-guys" [snare drum, cymbal!].

But seriously folks.....new research says there might actually be something here. Mushroom intake (which indeed are "fungi") has been strongly associated with lower risk of depression in a large study (24,000 participants) that lasted more than 10 years, adding more support for an effect that smaller studies have shown in the past. Although it's too early to tell which particular mushrooms seem to have the greatest impact, the research team is pointing to a potent antioxidant concentrated in mushrooms.

From the press release by Penn State where the research was conducted:

"Mushrooms are the highest dietary source of the amino acid ergothioneine -- an anti-inflammatory which cannot be synthesized by humans," said lead researcher Djibril Ba, who recently graduated from the epidemiology doctoral program at the College of Medicine. "Having high levels of this may lower the risk of oxidative stress, which could also reduce the symptoms of depression."

Although we can't recommend a "pick-your-own" strategy on this one (there are several lists of poisonous mushrooms which can look very similar to the edible varieties), as we move toward winter and the drain it can have on mood and energy, it might be a good time to work some more mushrooms into your diet. If you cross paths with Dana, ask for a recipe, I'm willing to bet she's got a few really good ones!

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Oct 1

Happy October! The tenth month of the year (even though its name translates to 8), the sixth with 31 days and the month that often reminds us that daylight savings will be coming to an end soon, that "old man winter" is almost at the door and that it's time to revisit techniques to prevent high blood pressure.

OK, it's possible you don't associate October with that last one......it's not nearly as commonly discussed.....but maybe it should be. When we consider that nearly half of US adults suffer with high blood pressure, that it is considered the leading cause of more than 500,000 deaths each year and that this powerful but often "silent" (no symptoms) disease has a well documented seasonal component, it's worth our attention.

The prevailing theory which attempts to make sense of why blood pressure readings tend to be higher in the winter months is that cold weather causes constriction of the blood vessels requiring more force to push blood through the arterial "pipes". Others point out that deeper analysis links particular conditions ("air mass") and day to day weather volatility to these changes. Either way, since these changes often start in October when there is still PLENTY of time to do something about it.....means NOW is the time to get ahead of it.

Here's the good news - as published this week by the American Heart Association, even in the toughest cases, those who do not respond to as many as 3 different medications simultaneously, exercise and improved dietary habits seems to work. Specifically, when individuals exercised 3 times per week at 70-85% of their maximum (as measured by the Karvonen formula) and they ate healthier using the DASH diet as the model, they made significant improvements.

On average, after a few months, they lowered their systolic blood pressure (top number) by 12 points and their diastolic (bottom number) by 7, enough to take a person from high risk (e.g. 140 over 90) to nearly normal. Of course better sleep, stress management and even breathing exercises have also been shown to make an impact.....so there are a lot of ways to get started; let us know if you need a hand.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Sept 17

As we continue our September theme of finding little and/or simple things that can make a difference in health, new research related to metabolic efficiency, insulin sensitivity and risks associated with diabetes type 2 may deserve a standing ovation… Several times a day.

Could it be so simple as spending more time standing than a typical day to lower insulin sensitivity?

Well, additional research will be needed to confirm the findings, but this week at least one study on adults between the ages of 40 and 65 has shown a very clear link between time spent standing per day and insulin sensitivity, one of the major precursors four diabetes. ( https://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(21)00204-8/fulltext )

The short and sweet of it is that after measuring fitness levels and body composition (body fat percentage) researchers had participants wear a device that measured physical activity, standing and sitting time for several days and compared the findings to regular blood sampling.

Although they expected to find a connection between Fitness as well as total physical activity (as measured by steps) they were surprised to find a significant correlation between standing time per day and insulin sensitivity as well. Perhaps even more intriguing, after statistically adjusting for other variables the link remained strong….. meaning the time spent on our feet each day seems to have a link to how well prepared our body is to process blood sugar.

Although engaging the muscles regularly through exercise is a far more well-established strategy, rising up and standing may be a simple and practical tactic that we can incorporate frequently throughout the day….. and improve a key component of our health in the process.

Simple is good. Consistently doable is great. Maybe it’s a good time to get up and stretch those legs.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Sept 3

3 simple principles with the potential to change the trajectory of a person's life. Sounds sensational maybe.....but the exciting part is that they closely follow what we know to be intuitive AND what the research proves out. This week, as part of our September commitment to uncovering and sharing more of these "little big things" (simple and/or time-saving tactics that have shown a significant impact when studied), we will dive a little deeper.

1. For Sweet's Sake - you may have heard us explain the benefits of maintaining a "more or less" diet - which takes the bulk of modern nutritional research and condenses it into a principle which we can build on. It's a pretty simple concept - add "more" items that are known to have a positive impact (plants via fiber, polyphenols and flavonoids) and consume "less" of the foods known to harm us (highly processed foods, added sugars). Well, if this concept makes sense to you, the good news is, more research points to it as a viable approach. Prefer the "more" column? Well, we'd suggest a handful of walnuts per day (shown to lower "bad" [LDL] cholesterol) or adding in more whole-fruits which has a significant positive impact by feeding the healthy bacteria in our digestive tracts (this study showed 2 servings per day lowered blood pressure). If you prefer the "less" column and know it's time to take some sugar out or minimize the processed foods - THIS study lends some strong support. It showed that at the population level, if we were to reduce the sugar in our food by 20% we could save millions of lives (via heart disease and diabetes prevention) and billions of dollars in unnecessary healthcare costs. Of course, this is all inline with the article we flagged last week which got 5,800+ foods down to the minutes of life gained or lost.

2. MOVE is for more than muscles - this is an incredibly important concept, but easy to miss. When we think "movement" and the therapeutic effect it provides, it is natural to think about the muscular portion of the system. But there are so many more benefits to deliberately maintaining or incrementally improving movement. Techniques like Yoga, Tai Chi or even participating in a simple daily dynamic warm-up impacts the entire system. For example - this study from 2020 showed that the "warm-up" effect of daily stretching stimulated lasting blood flow changes in those that maintained the practice for 12 weeks. Specifically, blood flow to the extremities improved and blood pressure decreased. Interestingly, this very recent study showed that making the moving parts work even without "officially" moving them (isometric exercise), can have a blood pressure lowering effect.

3. No strain, no gain? We often think of "strain" as a negative term......the state when we've overworked our tissues to the point of delayed recovery......or even worse yet, true injury. However, in the truest sense strain is the physical/mechanical version of "stress" (or "load" if easier to keep straight) and depending on the duration and the intensity, it's often a good thing. The line between "stimulating" the body enough to stay strong but not so much to create harm can be a fine one. We often talk about the "sweet spot" of training loads and the "goldilocks phenomenon" (not too hot, not too cold, just right) which helps to explain the "nonlinear" threshold on how we respond to physical effort: some is good, more is better.....to a point. This week we saw more evidence that the principle continues to ring true. In the largest study of its kind, researchers showed any movement (e.g. walking) is beneficial to reduce the effects of sedentary time but it was the individuals who "pushed" themselves into moderate or vigorous efforts (exercise level loads) that maintained the critical level of fitness required to fight off injury and disease. If you're one of the many who find it hard to get started, here is some encouraging news - a new version of "muscle memory" has been discovered - so even if it's been a while, you may bounce back faster than you think......and for those who haven't ever had the habit.....some new research says that although you might've missed a little bit of the "compounding interest" that comes with long-term (health) investing.....it's NEVER actually too late to start.

Have a great "unofficial end of summer",

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

August 13

Last Sunday we saw athletes from all over the world put the proverbial "bow" on the long-awaited 2020 Summer Olympics. There were some great performances, some heartbreaking moments and up until the very last day, a question mark as to whether the delegation of athletes from the United States would once again claim the most gold medals, something it has done more than any other nation, 18 times (and now 3 times in a row) since 1896.

Although the preparation and commitment it takes even to qualify is amazing, for the geeks among us (namely, the Pro-Activity team), the real question becomes - when a split second is the difference between gold and silver (such as when Gable Steveson scored a buzzer beating takedown to win the 125 kg wrestling final) or when multiple people break the world record but only one can win, such as in the 400 meter hurdles where NJ's Sydney McLaughlin broke the WR for gold and so did NY's Dalilah Muhammad for silver.....which also happened in the men's 400 m hurdles, what is the difference-maker?

This question is at the very heart of performance.....and it's really complex, which is one of the things that makes it fun to discuss, debate and maybe (when effective) to experiment and learn from.

For example - questions like the following come front to mind:

What sorts of new approaches were coaches and professionals recommending to keep athletes cool in what seemed like unbearable heat? How did the mindset play in - was it harder to perform when there wasn't the roar of the crowd present? How come we didn't see nearly as much cupping and kinesio tape this time?

Some of the hacks & trends we saw on TV have a growing foundation in science (like finding ways to cool the body quickly and effectively), others are still emerging (like blood flow restriction training, something used in rehabilitation and seen a bit this Summer) and still others may have an effect that is hard to quantify/measure (aka "non-specific effect") - maybe something that seems more superstition than new tradition (today IS Friday the 13th after all).

And so the debate as to which of these tactics, tweaks and hacks might actually be worth the effort, rages on.

With that in mind we decided that in September, as part of our monthly content, the team would tackle some of the "biohacks" that we think might have particular benefit for the rest of us - the "working athletes" who may not ever get a medal or a podium to stand on, but rely heavily on our bodies and minds to design, make, study, distribute, maintain and refine to win the day everyday. More to come.

Have one you're interested in? Let us know.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

July 23

It's one of those questions that will get asked a lot as the Summer Olympics (scheduled for this morning at 7A ET ) takes over our attention these next few weeks - "are those at the top of the podium just "born with it"? Or did they scratch and claw their way - cultivating success by adapting and continuing to climb year by year?"

It may seem like a sports-related question, but it has important implications for anyone who is working toward a long term goal - athletic or not. Maybe it is paying off student loans or a mortgage. Maybe it's saving enough for retirement. Maybe it's getting through a full year or more without an injury. Maybe it's helping a child advance education or career. Maybe it's all of these and more - the question remains, can we really predict who will actually cross the finish line successfully and who might give up early and never quite get "there"?

The answer seems to be "yes AND no".

On the one hand, "grit", which is defined as "perseverance and passion for long-term goals" by psychologist Angela Duckworth and colleagues (who published works in 2007 and 2009 on the subject), is believed to be a personality trait, something that is generally considered a stable characteristic which predicts success, especially when effort and stamina to persevere amid setbacks is required. But an interesting new study from NC State may refine this understanding somewhat.

More like a muscle?

In a nutshell, the researchers determined that resilience is dynamic, not static. That is, it ebbs and flows, influenced by the context of a situation, sometimes stronger and other times not as strong......in a sense more like a battery which can run low or a muscle which can get tired depending on what it's trained for. Of course, this only gets more interesting when we consider those who run low on resilience (as defined by scoring low on THIS 6 question survey) also tend to have more negative health impacts from stress.

So how can we make sure our resilience muscles are all charged up and ready to perform at their best?

The short answer (another lesson from the pandemic), seems to be in the combination of "will power" (the ability to get started and stay the course) and "way power" (the ability to see a path forward in challenging situations). In psychology, this combination is called "hope"....and it can be measured (here).

People who are more hopeful tend to be more resilient....and people who are more resilient tend to be more successful and healthier longer.

Need something to spark some hope? Historically speaking, the hottest days are mostly in the rearview, the experts predict "our team" will win the most gold medals and more of us feel like we are "thriving" than any time in the last 13 years.

Have a great weekend.....and share some hope with your loved ones!

Mike E.

July 9

It can be a great time of the year to get things done. Daylight that starts early and ends late puts project season in full swing.....if only we could bypass the fatiguing heat, late-day thunderstorms and risk of injury. Since the good comes with the not-as-good, making sure we are staying on the right side of the injury/illness risks that we face is critical - here are 3 simple tactics that can help:

1. Cool things down - July is the hottest month of the year. Temperatures tend to peak around the third week, so controlling body temperature is critical for staying below the risk threshold. Although this is especially true for those working in the heat, almost everyone experiences an uptick in fatigue as the temperatures soar. This is why one of the most effective strategies this time of year is to keep cool - before, during and after any outdoor work. Cooling our systems before, during and after hard work can make a difference. For example, exercise performance in the heat improves by as much as 2-6% when temps are lowered prior to the event and muscle soreness is reduced if we apply ice/cold to bodies that have been worked hard immediately following activity.

2. Protect your sleep - since we are fatiguing faster (or more fully) in the heat, the more hours we have to recover via sleep can play a big role in whether we can safely climb July's "peak" or get bogged down along the way. Since extra sleep is a strong performance enhancer, going to bed early is high on the list of available tactics. Other tactics like naps or improving deep sleep by making sure the bedroom is dark, quiet, cool and free from other sensory cues (like strong scents) can help. Although (thankfully) there doesn't seem to be a compounding effect of reduced sleep quality and heat, we know that each has the potential to impair work capacity, and since some people find it more difficult to sleep in the summer, doing our best to make sure sleep is a priority is critically important this time of year.

3. Kidney Kindness - it probably goes without saying that hydration is our best cooling mechanism, which makes cool fluids a critical lever as we work through the heat. However, one detail that is easy to miss is that in addition to keeping us cool, staying hydrated is critically important for filtering organs like our kidneys. Unfortunately, in extremely hot environments the risk of kidney injury and kidney stones both increase. What does this mean for those who are working in the heat? Backpain from working hard and kidney pain from being dehydrated can easily mimic each other. Keep an eye on urine color and volume. Aim for pale yellow. If output seems low, consider increasing your volume to normalize it. If you are a healthy eater and are not on medications that interact with salt, consider adding a bit to your food if you are sweating profusely. If you are unsure, we are happy to troubleshoot with you over a consult.

What's the bottom line?

The risks are real but the human body can handle almost everything we throw at it, including hard work in hot environments. Simple tactics to stay cool, make sure we are hydrated and fully recovered as we step into it can help make sure.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

June 25

He was a fantastic person. A firm believer in our mission at Pro-Activity and one of the first people to invest money, time and energy.....he was always near the front of the pack whenever we needed someone to lend a hand, and he didn't care whether he was in a position of authority or the guy sweeping up after the day was done, he was just happy to be a part of it, to see the great work that could be done when people choose to invest in their health and community. Tom was both a biological father (to a few) and a father figure (for others) during our nearly 24 years as a team. He was a founding partner, our number one fan and someone we could never be quite ready to lose. So it was under the weight of deep sadness that, in person or in our hearts, the team said good-bye this week.

As one of the first sentences of M. Scott Peck's book The Road Less Traveled captures it so accurately, "Life is difficult." - it most certainly is... but since Tom was the ultimate teacher, finding the lesson or teachable moment in every situation, we figured a great way to honor him would be to learn what we can in this moment; one which we all must face at some point.

Although we all experience it differently, what doesn't get talked about much is the physical impact that grief has... the toll it can take... As the authors of THIS 2020 review showed, grief can impact a variety of our psychological and physiological processes. From temporary changes in our cardiac and nervous systems that go hand in hand with stress, to ramping up (at first) and eventual suppression of our immune responses (when prolonged), grief impacts our defenses including our ability to maintain healthy actions (eating well, sleeping, etc.).

It's not just the impact of grief but how we handle it that matters too. There is a predictive power in how we grieve, whether we accept the support of others as we process through the stages, can actually tell us a lot about how lasting the impact will be physiologically. Not the kind of thing that is easy or comfortable to think about, but something that absolutely impacts our well-being and therefore worth exploring. In this particular case, the exploration leads past the immediate sadness to many reasons to celebrate - because this member of our team had learned his unique answer to the ultimate human question ("why are we here?") long long ago... and he lived his life fully and struggled-well in line with his principles and according to that purpose, something we know sits at the very heart of happiness. It doesn't make it easy, but maybe easier.

Life IS difficult. Grief is difficult; but with faith in something bigger than ourselves, hope in the dawn of every new day and love in our work, for our friends, our family, our country and our world, never impossible.

___________

Whether your tradition is prayer or thoughts & energy or something entirely different - if the words in this blog or the actions of our team have ever made an impact on you or someone you love, send something positive in Tom E's name... we've never talked about it and he'd never take the credit, but many of the principles and concepts track back in one way or another to him.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

June 11

"If we can predict it, we can prevent it." - When it comes to the world of prevention (accidents, incidents, injuries, etc.), this is one of our most tried and true principles. It sounds so simple.....and it is on paper......but in order to actually pull it off, we have to dive a little deeper, which, as the latest research tells us, is mostly about 3 critical things. Whether you call them bases of they pyramid or legs in a stool, these three concepts, when they come together, can keep us healthy and injury free.

First - consider "load": The idea of measuring the amount of total exertional stress we are under is a great concept. It's primarily used in elite sports, but is starting to be more common in specialized work settings and the military. Perhaps the best part is that it can be done using low-tech or high-tech methods to determine the total load and the rate at which it is changing which, with a little math, allows us to predict what a body can reasonably absorb before overdoing it. When load is well-managed, we have 1 strong leg of the stool in place.

Next - to really predict soft tissue discomfort, we have to consider any history and or symptoms a person is experiencing. As we've discussed in previous posts, there are almost too many components to consider here. The good news is there are efforts in the research community, such as in the development of this tool from England, which makes this prediction easier and more streamlined by understanding the nature and behavior of any discomfort, how it is impacting a person's ability to move and even their worries associated with it.

Last - and ALWAYS critical, we have to consider baseline health. There was a time when it was easier to separate these in our mind, that sprain/strain/pain was only a factor of the external forces placed on the body. Now we know the external conditions can never be fully separated from the internal conditions. Simply put, younger and/or healthier bodies (and minds) tend to absorb more before reaching a point of harm. This was reiterated in a very recent review of injuries within military personnel which showed that age, overweight, a history of injury and poorer fitness (running test) were the strongest injury risk factors.

Now is the time of year to lean on a strong foundation. If one of the sides of your pyramid is not as strong as it should be, let us know.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

May 28

We've all got them. The days that go sideways. Maybe it's something at work. Maybe it's something at home. Maybe it's someone who just has an uncanny knack for rubbing us the wrong way. Maybe it's all of the above and more. Whatever "it" is.....the irritants in life exist and sometimes they find a way to occupy more space in our lives than they should, causing us stress, displeasure or, if it goes on for a while, unhappiness. These are the opposites of well-being...and they are the kind of thing that can take a toll on our health and quality of life. With that in mind, the questions become - what can we do about it? What are the tactics & personal "experiments" (structured attempts) that have proven to be effective.....because if we can determine what works for us....we can continue to progress.

Brain Physiology

One of the critical underlying concepts in this arena is neural plasticity - that is, the adaptability of the nervous system (including the brain) to changing stimuli. Said another way, the brain is not a muscle.....but in a sense it can be trained like one. where reps are practice... and practice builds habits; so whatever we ask the brain to do regularly, is what we ultimately get "good" (efficient) at.....and whatever we withhold from our routines, like any old habit, gets rusty and weaker. Take for example this AMAZING 2015 STUDY which showed that there were structural differences in the brain of optimists AND that these folks had some level of protection against anxiety... literally their brains were different.

Of course it might be tempting to conclude that they were just "born" that way....the lucky few. Although possible, other studies, like those conducted and described HERE by one of the experts in the field suggest otherwise....that optimism can be learned, practiced and therefore, made stronger.

Optimism Exercises? Replace PPP with TIE

One key to cultivating optimism is to reframe the situations we are in - that is, to listen to how we are explaining a given situation ("the story we tell ourselves") and explore alternatives replacing the "3 Ps" of pessimism: permanence, pervasiveness and personalization with something less harmful. Specifically, when something doesn't go our way, if we slip into the trap of thinking it is permanent (unfixable), pervasive (crosses into many/all aspects of our life) and personal (a part of who we are, something we "own"), we are much less likely to be happy. On the other hand if we conclude that it is temporary ("this too shall pass"), isolated (a bad experience at home doesn't HAVE to cross into work life and visa versa) and that with effort we can work out of it, we are much more likely to be resilient in the challenging times and notice and appreciate the good times more fully. This video breaks the concept down further.

Of course, these aren't the only ways to exercise these parts of the brain. Working on attention by focusing on neutral or otherwise non-emotional context in a given situation (Focused Attention) as well finding silver linings (Cognitive Reappraisal) showed promise to improve well-being AND brain structure.

Boiling it all down

So, after 4 weeks of information on well-being, what can we say we know?

(1) Well-being (happiness) can be both measured and impacted.

(2) The life stressors known to impact it (work, health, finance, relationships, community) are surprisingly universal and interconnected (therefore compoundable)

(3) Physical Health is an excellent starting point since it impacts nearly all domains and the entire system (brain & body) which controls stress. It is well proven in this regard.

(4) If prioritizing physical health is not possible at the moment or we are ready to level-up, mind-based exercises - that is, working on the internal conversations we have and the way we explain things to ourselves - can be very powerful in not only shaping our thoughts... but even our brain!

And with any luck, you've got a long weekend to give it a try!

Special gratitude for anyone who is remembering someone specific this Memorial Day.

Have a great long weekend,

Mike E.

May 14

I don't know much about the sport of rowing....but it seems simple enough right? While keeping yourself perfectly balanced in a boat that is just barely big enough not to tip over, use a stroke technique that "grabs" the water without digging in too much (but remains as aerodynamic as possible), while keeping the boat on a straight line against wind & current, at a pace that is both fast enough to win but physically sustainable, all while ignoring the burning and pain associated with oxygen depleted muscles.....oh, and if you're in a boat with multiple people (a crew)....this all needs to be perfectly synchronized across 2 or 4 or even 8 people doing the exact same things.....

Fair enough, it's actually really complex.....which is why (along with the cost almost certainly) so few people are successful.....but if you've ever read the book "The Boys in the Boat", which tells the story of the US Crew that went to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, at another time of stress and strife in the US, it's clear that even complexity can be overcome with simple strategies applied in a dedicated and caring way.....and that hurdle by hurdle (or perhaps in this case stroke by stroke), when we pull together, we can get through the challenges and emerge even stronger.

So where do we start? Could it be as simple as 2 questions?

Not unlike the C.A.T. (calm, assess, test) method to determine if an injury was present (described a few weeks back), one of the very best strategies for any scenario as complex as subjective well-being ("happiness") is to understand where we are currently and the driving forces that have put us there so we can decide if a course correction is needed.

The Gallup Organization who has surveyed millions of people across the globe to understand well-being uses a simple, 2 question survey to do this. Based on the Cantril Ladder we talked about last week (developed in 1965 by H. Cantril), they use the image of a ladder with the lowest rung as "0" (worst life) and the top as "10" (best life) they ask people to rank:

(1) Where they see themselves today

(2) Where they think they'll be in 5 years

Seems simple enough right? Sort of like - "just get in and row.....and try to pull together".....but just like there is hidden complexity on the crew, our past and the conditions we developed in, our present and the environments we spend the most time in (live/work/learn/play/pray) and our future opportunities all add up to our ultimate "satisfaction".

If after we rate ourselves we reflect on the scores given and why we can be holding the keys to climbing. For anyone who didn't rate themselves a "10" on both, asking ourselves what currently stands in our way and what sorts of things we can do to remove those barriers is a strong place to start. Gallup says there are 5 key areas (which they too call "elements" and have a lot of overlap with Pro-Activity's 5) that drive the overall score:

Career (work & purpose; ENDURE), Social (love & relationships; CONNECT), Financial (economic stability; ENDURE), Physical (health and energy; MOVE, FUEL, RECOVER) and Community (engagement where you live; CONNECT).

Anything that improves one without limiting another improves the overall score and drives happiness. Nearly 2 of every 3 people rank at least 1 of the five areas high. Sadly, only 7 of every hundred rank all 5 high.

Take a minute to ask yourself where you stand - it might be the first step toward an upward climb.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Apr 30

Maybe you grew up hating tests - if so you're not alone. There's a reason why more than 35,000 academic articles carry the terms "test-taking anxiety" when we searched Google scholar....and that only included items published since 2020! But depending on the circumstances, most people would likely agree that tests are not a bad thing. They're how we measure progress and how we know something (or someone) is what it (they) claims. And in the situation when we are trying to differentiate between something that hurts and something that is harmed..."testing" is how we pinpoint.

In terms of aches/pains, there are a few tests that, when performed at the right time and with the right intensity, are particularly important... something we feel everyone should know about. They are the last bit of info in our Calm, Assess, Test (C.A.T.) method we've been covering these last weeks as we wrap up April and, if the area has already calmed a bit, and the self-check came up mostly clean, putting things to the test is all that's left to do. Here are 3 of my favorite:

(1) The body heat test - this test is exactly as it sounds... it's about generating a little body heat... that is, priming the body to MOVE and getting the blood pumping a little. The best part about this test is that it is indirect - we don't actively stress the achy area beyond "natural movement" but rather see what that area tells us after we stress some other area. For example, if the shoulder is the sore area we might say go out for a good walk, enough to get out of breath some or break a sweat....let your arms swing naturally as able, but nothing more specific than that. After 10-15 minutes, how does the achy area feel? If it has improved (or even stayed the same but didn't get irritated), you've passed the test - this is great news.

(2) The RECOVER Rate - after test 1, this is one of the most important tests as it tells us if the area is still sensitive. We go a bit more directly at it this time trying to "stress" the area a little (but not fully) and see how fast it returns to baseline. For example, if the back is the achy area and the self-check has come up clean, it's a great time to do something that will stress (but not strain the back), like perform a series of light exercise tests such as the first 45 seconds of this video where Ali describes the "90 90 hold" and the "deadbug" exercise. If you get through the activity and (even if it creates some discomfort initially) you return to your baseline within a few minutes (but definitely less than 10), you would have passed and know you are ready to "level up" to the 3rd and final test.

(3) Resistance Test - if we've gotten this far things are looking pretty positive.....which means it's time to put some final tests in place. For this test we are going right at the achy area and are going to make it work.....in our world we call this "loading" the area. Now, to be clear, the goal here is not to overload or even fully-load (after discomfort it's best to build up to that), but rather put some stress directly on the body area and see how it responds. This usually looks a lot like the exercise you might do in the gym, whether with weights or a medicine ball or something else, but the idea is to put some resistance on the area as a test. We might start with a light number of repetitions (3-5) at a low level of resistance and then add repetitions or additional resistance. The RECOVER rate is important after this test too, but typically it will be a day or two (similar to the soreness after going to the gym for the first time in a while).

If you pass all three tests - you are ready to proceed with confidence as there is a very low likelihood of injury. Of course, this doesn't mean that all's well and the ache can be ignored but rather more activity or training is probably needed to increase the resilience of that body area and lower the likelihood it will be irritated again in the future.

With any luck if you've been following along you've gotten past the "T" in C.A.T. Let us know if you need some additional support or something more specific.

Mike E.

Apr 16

A few months ago I had one of those moments. The kind where I only remember stepping a little "funny" when out for a run but, after waking up and putting my feet on the ground the next day, realized something wasn't right. My right knee was really stiff... painful even... and for the next several weeks (and a little now and again) it barked at me when I stressed it (especially squatting or kneeling for longer periods). For someone like me who tends to be "on the go" a lot, this was really tedious.....I had to slow down, think about, and even prepare for activities and movements I normally wouldn't give a second thought. I had to decide whether doing something a certain way was likely to irritate my knee and if so, explore options for a less stressful way to minimize my risk of setting things off. Ultimately I had to decide whether this "hurt" (pain) was going to resolve or whether these were the signs of "harm" (actual injury).

Not only is this limiting (and tedious), but it can even get worrisome. Somewhere in the back of our minds a little voice might ask "is this going to be a lasting problem?". We wonder if maybe we are just "getting old" and might even begin to worry that if we don't "do something" we could make the situation worse. Even for someone with a good, working understanding of the healing process, determining how best to proceed can get complicated really quickly.

All that glitters is gold?

The more we learn about the human body and how miraculous it is at healing, the more we realize how much more there is to learn. Even things that seem obvious like soft-tissue injury found on MRI isn't always what it seems. For example, in a 2017 study which evaluated episodes of knee pain like mine (as well as shoulder pain) using the gold-standard MRI, came up short in people over the age of 40. As it turned out, in more than half of cases studied (159 out of 294 people) even though the scan "found something", in side-by-side comparison, the MRI was worse on the non-painful (uninvolved) side than the painful side. Said another way.....the risk of a "false-positive" for knee and shoulder pain goes up dramatically after the age of 40. Another team arrived at a similar conclusion around the same time for lower back pain, replicating a common enough finding for groups like ChoosingWisely.org (which rates the effectiveness of health care services) to warn against MRI for lower back pain.

So how do we actually know what to do?

The short (and often best) answer to this question is: C.A.T. (Calm-it, Assess-it, Test-it) and so, with that in mind, we will dive into each of these components over the next couple weeks. Let's start with "C".

C, "Calm-it". Pain (alone) is not injury. It can go hand in hand with injury, but strictly speaking, they are not the same. Anyone who has ever stubbed their toe, hit their shin, or felt the burn in their muscles when they've done something really hard knows that pain can be incredibly intense, but after it subsides there's not much to worry about. On the other hand, pain IS a warning system....the brain's way of forcing us to press pause on whatever we are doing and direct us away from what appears to be a potentially harmful situation..... If it's unclear if something is harmful, pain acts as a strong motivator to fight, flight or freeze. With this in mind, step one at getting to the other side is calming that response down a bit, allowing the body to turn off the fight/flight/freeze instinct so we can get a good assessment of the situation.

Sometimes this involves first-aid tactics like rest/ice, sometimes it involves something to reduce the chemical irritation in the area (over the counter anti-inflammatory and adding in healthy foods and water for example) and although not exercise per se, it often it involves gentle movement to prevent stiffness and promote circulation. This usually takes a few days with age, health status, fear, fatigue and more all potentially speeding or slowing the timeline.

More to come. Next week we will dive into the "A" in C.A.T.; "assess it"..... of course, in the meantime if this hits close to home and you've got a 40+ year old knee (or shoulder or back, etc.) that's barking back.....don't hesitate to give us a call or schedule a consult with one of the professionals on our team who can provide more specific guidance.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Apr 2

Every once in a while I have to "go to the videotape" to give my kids a little view into history. Thankfully we have YouTube for occasions like this. Recently, in trying to explain the phrase "I yam what I yam", I searched some old clips of Popeye the Sailor because they didn't know who he was. After the disbelief (and grief for my youth) wore off, I explained the saying, the basic storyline and (of course) the role of spinach in Popeye's arsenal in fending off Brutus (or Bluto if you're REALLY a connoisseur). They were only marginally impressed.

This week however a couple of studies emerged which might prove that ol' Popeye who, unlike "Wimpy" of course, was never reaching for burgers to get strong, might have been more evidence-based than we ever knew.

Here's why:

(1) When a team from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tested previously untrained 50-ish year old adults to see how strength training combined with high protein (1.6 grams of beef-based protein per kilogram body mass) compared with strength training combined with the average/recommended protein (1.1 grams per kilogram) they found that both groups increased their strength significantly.......at an almost identical level.....showing that the strength training worked but the bump in protein really didn't add much.

HOWEVER

(2) When a different team, this time from Australia, looked at the strength and functional balance of individuals at around the same age, those who regularly consumed high amounts of dietary nitrate (which was about 80% from plant sources like spinach [and other leafy greens], beets, veggies, etc) had significantly higher scores than those with the lowest consumption.

This is a fantastic time of year to increase your strength.....and even though the yams aren't typically ready for harvest until the end of summer, the Popeye FUEL starts early!

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Mar 19

Over the last few weeks we've tried to consolidate a variety of themes: (1) movement matters across the lifespan, and relates to viral susceptibility. (2) Viral susceptibility can also be impacted by food choices, sleep, stress and social connections. (3) Common inflammatory conditions (especially high blood pressure, heart failure, diabetes and obesity) have been closely linked to severe COVID19 reactions and surprisingly simple things, like (4) eating 3 veggies and 2 fruit servings daily can help reverse the risks.

Again this week, the case got even tighter on the fronts of viral susceptibility and severity, using the way we move to predict health and longevity and how food choices today are driving health problems of tomorrow... and it comes down to a triple "S".

Speed: Want to know if you're at a higher risk of serious COVID19 reaction? Assess your walking speed.

With now a year of connecting dots related to resilience in the face of COVID19 under our belt....1 simple question rose to the surface this week: How would you describe your usual walking pace? (i) Slow pace, (ii) Steady/average pace, and (iii) Brisk pace’

This question, asked 10-15 years ago was found to predict health across hundreds of thousands of individuals in 2017. Now it has also been related to severe COVID19 reactions (including hospitalizations and mortality) in several of the same individuals. People whose self-rated walking speed was a "slow pace", had the highest risk of a severe reaction, more than triple the odds in some cases. If you have an iPhone you can find your average pace in the "mobility" portion of the Health App.

Stability: Want to improve your odds of a long/full life? Work on your balance.

Info this week confirmed again that movement today (or stabilizing to be precise), predicts health tomorrow. The ability to balance ourselves under varying conditions at or around the age of 40 predicted longevity more than a decade later in a study of nearly 6,000 people. It may seem surprising that something simple like brushing your teeth on one foot or standing heel-toe while washing your hands can make a difference in how long we will live... but they can.

Sugar: If changes in metabolism drive change in weight... what drives changes in metabolism? The answer is - sugary beverages and the effect lasts for a WHILE.

Maybe you've heard us recommend a "more or less" eating plan for health. That is, more fiber by adding fruits/veggies, less sugar by eliminating processed foods/beverages. Last week we focused on the "more" side of the equation, this week the case for "less" became even more clear. It started in Canada where a "which came first?" riddle about altered-metabolism and weight change came into better view. Metabolic changes drove weight gain.....not the other way around. But in order to answer the question of "what drives altered metabolism?" a team in Switzerland went to sugary beverages. They found that under tightly-controlled conditions the equivalent of 2 sodas per day for otherwise healthy folks was enough to spike the production of fat in the liver and keep that production spiked for as long as 12 hours even without changes in total calorie intake. Added sugar hits us hard....and lasts for a while.

We hope you can put these findings to use and share them with friends & loved ones to stay on the right side of risk. Be sure to send us health headlines you see and we'll try to dive in and see what the science behind them is telling us!

Have a good weekend,

Mike E.

Mar 5

Welcome to March, the journey-marker that says we are nearing the first official day of Spring. Maybe it was the cold weather or the apparent release of years worth of pent up snowfall that was our test. Or perhaps it was the unique challenge associated with the pandemic which came back strong during the colder months that pushed us the most. Either way, there is good news: with more than 80% of a Winter that clearly delivered on its promise to test us now in the rearview, the times, as one of the great poets once said, are a changin'.

Whether it's already a loud voice spurring you on or just a whisper in the back of your mind that still needs to be amplified a bit, there are many good reasons to use March as the time to start your MOVE toward thriving in 2021. The best news is that the benefits hold for every age across the lifespan. With that in mind, here are some of the headlines worth knowing about:

Early Life - starting with the little little ones in our life, HERE is a great reason to run, jump, climb and play - as published last month, preschoolers with greater fitness had better cognitive and academic scores.

In adolescents - it is clear from THIS STUDY that physical activity between 12 years and 18 years of age is linked with markers of health. It is also (unfortunately) clear that the COVID19 effect in this age group has been generally negative with a particular impact on mental health. Given that physical activity is associated with better well-being in this age group, it's a great lever if your teen is feeling the effects of a long winter. Specific to COVID19, this was also found to be the case for college students.

At midlife the theme continues. A very recent study shows that individuals who have a solid physical activity habit at midlife have better brain scans (MRI) in later life. This builds on important work from a couple years ago which showed that leisure time physical activity (i.e. not work-related) was directly correlated with better cognitive function and a lower likelihood for dementia as we age. Couple those with the many benefits for our cardiovascular, metabolic and other systems and a few minutes per day of MOVE can go a long way.

Still not convinced? How about taking the word of one of the world's top researchers on immune function and the likelihood to get infected with viruses that we are exposed to. Yep, after 35 years of work in the space (including running "The Common Cold Project"), the senior researcher wrote a paper which cautiously (but directly) suggests that physical activity among other things may lower risk of infection with viruses causing COVID19.

Late life - and what about our parents, grandparents and other most seasoned citizens? The story continues along the same line. Even at very low intensities regular movement in women aged 63 to 97 was significantly associated with better health outcomes including preserved mobility and function as we age.

Longer days with warmer sun are on the way. 84% of one of the more challenging winters in recent history is now history too. It's time to get moving. Let us know if you need some ideas.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E

Feb 19

I was talking with a friend from Northeastern Nebraska this week and the topic of winter weather came up. I shuddered as he told me of temperatures reaching 25 degrees BELOW zero without the wind. We agreed that even with snow falling, my 25 degrees ABOVE zero sounded nearly balmy by comparison and that we were both ready for the season to change. This, of course, is one of the funny things about change - as hard as it can be most of the time, when we are ready, we can go from resisting it to seeking it out and even celebrating it.

Late winter is one of the times of year we might really feel the urge, ready to shed the layers and feel the sun. This, of course, is not just a "pandemic life" sensation. As I've touched on in other places, the root of the word February (Februa) relates to a roman purification festival known to happen around this time of year suggesting that even a few thousand years ago people were ready for change right about now. Couple this with other widely celebrated events that have happened in the last week, whether the spring festival commonly referred to as Chinese New Year or the transition from the party mode of Mardi Gras to a period of intense self-reflection between "Fat Tuesday" and Ash Wednesday, and it seems history and tradition support the notion too.

So if the world is beginning a seasonal reset....what are the things we can do now (or at very least prepare for) to make sure we hit the Spring in stride 30-ish days from now when it arrives? After a little time poking around what's new in the health research and keeping in mind the ages old QQS success formula I reintroduced last week (the right quantity of high quality effort combined with a spirit of growth & development), there were 2 that seemed to jump off the page for me:

1. Ramp up the MOVE - most of us feel an urge to get out and do something when the sun starts shining.....start priming now! There are too many good reasons to list, but in the last 30 days alone research has concluded that shaking off the rust and working those skeletal muscles can turn on genes that control how we use and store fat, stimulate 12 times more production of hormones that directly impact the aging process and of course lead to fitness which has been linked with future inflammatory auto-immune conditions.

2. A Long Winter's Nap - it may seem counterintuitive, but if you really want to improve performance, a final bit of hibernation may do the trick. I came across this study earlier in the week. It's not brand-new (2011), but the results are so impressive it's worth knowing about. Stanford University researchers wondered how closely sleep was related to physical performance, so they recruited some basketball athletes and asked them to maximize sleep over a 5-7 week period. The change they saw was impressive - shooting accuracy improved by nearly 10 percent both from the free-throw line AND from 3 point range and the athletes reported greater physical and mental well-being. If you want to be ready to do more in Spring, get your sleep.

It may be hard to believe, but Spring will be here in about 30 days. If we start priming our systems now with the right inputs, our bodies can be ready to embrace the reset in seasons when it arrives.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Feb 5

Predicting the future is a tricky business but this time they got it right... inch after inch and in some places, foot after foot... the snow fell just like the meteorologists said it would. By 9P on Sunday, I was ready to make a first effort at keeping up with the task - it wasn't going to be my last. 10 hours later was round two.....and then every four to six hours until it was time for sleep on Monday night. Thankfully, my 14 year old son was willing to tag team the task. At 6A on Tuesday when I looked out the window, I wondered if it would ever stop... but thankfully by 11A and almost 2 feet of snow later, the Northwest corner of NJ was mostly through it.

Great for the skiers.....rough on the shovelers.

Shoveling is hard work. First, it's a repetitive loading activity concentrated at the upper body which makes it more demanding from a cardiovascular perspective than even the same amount of work when done with the lower body. Second, it relies heavily on the (relatively) small muscles of the arms which are better at positioning and mobility than lifting as compared to the legs. So, muscle fatigue is always a lingering risk. Last, the task is often completed in a "leveraged" position, which mechanically speaking, means the load (end of the shovel) is further away from the fulcrum (hips/back/elbow) than the working tissues (muscles). With all that in mind, it's no surprise that shoveling safely requires a solid base of fitness (roughly equivalent to jogging) AND good technique AND the ability to use exhaustion preventing controls like breaks... and that's on a moderately cool day in reasonably uniform soil.

Add in slippery surfaces, large shovels built for pushing (more than lifting), and air temperatures that tend to cause less than ideal changes in blood flow patterns (vasoconstriction), and the stats that tell us large snow storms bring substantially increased risk of heart-related hospitalization and even death across the lifespan (but especially in men) don't seem all that far-fetched. But the risks don't necessarily end when the storm does.

This massive (276 page) review uncovered a variety of risks worth knowing about. Here are a couple that really jumped out at me:

Soft-tissue (musculoskeletal) injuries during shoveling accounted for about 55% of all injuries, with lower back pain the most common at 1/3rd of the total. Injuries are more common in men, peaking between 35 and 55 years old, and unfortunately, the trend has gotten a bit worse over time.

Fractures were 2.5 times as likely when at least 70% of the sidewalks were covered with snow. Upper extremity fractures were an eye-popping 15 times more likely! And since melting ice is even more slippery (lowest friction) than hard ice, injuries from slips, trips, and falls were not necessarily most common on the day of the storm or even the day after but peaked between 2 and 7 days AFTER the storm.

What's the take-home message this week?

Simply put - a surge in physical demands adds risk, so does a drastic change in our routines and environment. Whether it's a weather related event like a snowstorm or an unplanned surge in work (outage, etc.), ramping up quickly toward our physiological limits is a demand that can bring risk in the moment AND for a surprisingly long time after the event ends (e.g. firefighters show similar responses). So if we can't steer clear of the risks, we should do our best to be prepared with strategies that work - here are a few when workload surges:

1. If it's not an emergency, there's no need to make it one - pace yourself, listen to your body, and look for signs of fatigue in yourself and your coworkers.

2. We humans are not machines, in some ways we're even better... because with rest, we self-repair - Respect your rest and get enough of it.

3. The mental milestone of a finish line is critical. It's best to envision the finish as 7-10 days AFTER the storm ends - the risks linger and so must our focus. Heightened risk requires heightened awareness all the way to through the finish.

Stay safe. Get some rest. Schedule a consult if we can help.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Jan 22

We're in the fourth week of January and so onto our fourth week of micro-resolutions. This week we build on last week's dive into chamomile with some enhancements that can add power to the time spent.

Did you try it? Did you run out to the local store and get some chamomile tea? Well, in case you missed it, last week I touched on some of the impressive medicinal effects of chamomile tea. Known mostly for its calming impact (with evidence that it helps generalized anxiety disorder), I was equally impressed with its impact on blood sugar in folks who struggle to control it.

But that's not all.

If you read closely you may have noticed that I alluded to this week's micro-resolution with a recommendation to carve 15 minutes out for the process of bringing the water to a boil, steeping the tea and enjoying it....but since everyone knows "a watched pot never boils" (as Ben Franklin's alter ego says) it's probably best to do something more valuable with the time. With that in mind, here are 3:

1. Put pen to paper - spending 15 minutes journaling using a technique known as Positive Affect Journaling (PAJ) has been shown to improve mental well-being, counteract distress and, if you can keep up the habit for 2 months, improve resilience (the ability to bounce back from adversity). Not bad for 15 minutes of time. Want to know how to do it? Try answering one these two prompts "What are you thankful for?", "What did someone else do for you?". The authors suggest there are 5 others although we've not been able to find them....yet :)

2. Breathe.....slow - did you ever count how many breaths per minute you average? It's a critical vital sign used all the time in health-practice and it can tell us quite a bit about our current state. Most experts agree that a normal range for most adults sits between 12 and 16. Most experts on breathing exercise agree that practicing a slower rate (like 6 breaths per minute for 6 weeks) can calm our physiology and change a variety of stress parameters. One of the tools we like to help pace yourself can be found here (the default is 4 in + 6 out = 6 breaths per min).

3. Breathe....part 2 - does the 6 breaths per minute seem a bit slow for you? Not to worry - some very interesting research from a team in Belgium showed that even at 12 breaths per minute (the lower end of the normal range), when individuals practiced an extended exhale (for example 3.5 sec exhale for a 1.5 sec inhale) they reported a greater relaxation even than the slower 6 breaths per minute group. There were also notable improvements in a variety of physiological parameters known to relate to stress.

Q: is a 15 minute investment of time worth the effort?

A: Maybe....but as Yerkes Dodson shows us (and this article highlights)....not always.

We wrap up the micro-resolution series next week when we will be marching toward the end of January (already!) and adding to our "Win the Winter" countdown clock (which has moved past 35%).

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.

Jan 8

If you've read along for a while or sat through one of the presentations we've given you've probably heard us talk about the goldilocks phenomenon....you know, the grading system for the perfect bowl of porridge.....not too hot, not too cold, just right. In mathematical terms this could be called "non-linear", that is a situation where more of a good thing doesn't necessarily produce better results (and less doesn't necessarily make things worse) which means there is a "just right" amount, a sweet-spot, which in the case of the Three Bears, was the temperature of baby-bear's morning hot-cereal.

There are so many aspects of life where this concept applies. Even things like water and Oxygen - definitely vital for us - can be problematic or even deadly in the wrong concentration. Certain kinds of Oxygen in fact ("reactive oxygen species") are markers of cellular stress which plays a role in aging and disease. This would generally be thought of as bad but, and this is where it can get really confusing, because even this too has a sweet-spot, short-term and resolving exposure can actually be good for our health such as in the case of exercise while constant or unresolving exposure such as in the case of regular e-cigarette use puts our nervous system on overdrive.

Q: So where does this leave us in terms of a New Year's micro-habit resolution?

A: Circling back to porridge......and oatmeal in particular.

Although oatmeal is not the ONLY type of hot cereal eaten for breakfast, the micro-habit resolution for this week centers on it because it is one of the most well studied. More than 100 years ago physicians started advocating for oatmeal as a way of reducing the impact of diabetes and there are countless other studies which have tested consumption of this whole grain and shown a positive impact on health. Of course it's important to remember that not all oatmeal is the healthy kind. Some pre packaged brands are very high in sugar and lower in fiber than the whole/cooked type, which may negate a lot of the benefit.

If you can make oatmeal for breakfast a 4 week habit you may be able to lower your inflammatory profile significantly as shown here.....but even if you don't get that far, this small study showed that a serving of oatmeal before even a single session of high-intensity exercise blunted the markers of cellular stress.....which means it likely has the same effect before a hard day's work.

We're 20 days into the Winter, which means we've got +/- 70 to go. Keep up the great start.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.