Today is the youngest that you'll ever be.

Get a little smarter about health and wellness every week! Your guide to staying fit, active, and looking great throughout your prime years!

Author

Dr. J.A.
November 12, 2023

Greens Powder Mix

Greens powders are rich in beneficial ingredients such as algae, seaweed, probiotics, and digestive enzymes. However, not all greens powders are created equally. Fortunately, some research shows that greens powders can help bridge the nutrient gap for folks who don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables daily. When choosing a greens powder, consider your nutritional goals and budget. Choose a product that you like and add it to your daily routine and see how it goes. While greens powders seem to be beneficial, they obviously don’t replace a balanced diet. Click the title above to see what the hype's about. Action step: Try a low cost greens powder and see for yourself.

Shea butter has been used for over 2000 years as a primary cooking oil. It is also used as skin protection from the sun and the elements. Anthropologists recently discovered evidence of shea nut tree farms planted and cared for over generations. Shea butter is rich in vitamins A and E, essential fatty acids, cinnamic acid, oleic acid, and stearic acid, all of which are good for your skin. Our ancestors knew that this natural sunscreen was essential to keeping them looking youthful and feeling energetic. If you're not using shea butter in your daily skin care routine, you definitely should be. Click the title above to read a brief history of shea tree farming in West Africa. Action step: Use shea butter for protection from the elements this winter and verify that it's sustainable and fairly traded from Africa.

Push Up Season 6 GIF by The Office

Gif by The Office on Giphy

A Harvard study looked at the health of 1,100 male firefighters over 10 years. They counted how many push-ups they could properly complete and how long they could run on a treadmill before failure. They found that men who could do more than 40 push-ups had a much lower chance of having serious heart issues compared to those who could do less than 10 push-ups. It turns out that how well you can do push-ups is a much better way of predicting heart disease than a treadmill stress test. This means that you can do this simple test at home. The majority of men who had heart problems could not do more than 40 push-ups. Ask yourself, how many push-ups can you do? If it’s below 40, make a plan to get stronger! Imagine what you could gain by doing as few as 10 to 20 push-ups daily. Click the title above to read about the research surrounding this life-saving self-diagnostic. Action step: See how many you can grind out in two minutes.

Allow us to introduce you to your new wellness ally: the practice of yoga nidra. What exactly goes on during a yoga nidra session? Yoga nidra significantly enhances your overall well-being in a variety of unexpected ways boosting dopamine levels. People who try it report feeling completely rejuvenated after as little as a 20 minute session, much less than eight hours of sleep and with supposedly similar results. Click the article link above to read a review about the practice. After reading, we recommend trying this guided 20 minute YouTube meditation to get you started today. Action Step: Find a warm, quiet, place that you can lie down and won’t be disturbed for about 20 minutes or so.

COGNITIVE HEALTH
Brain Teaser:
A man pushes his car to a hotel and tells the owner he’s bankrupt. Why?

See answer below.

Scientists are developing a cocktail of anti-aging drugs that may extend your life by a decade. Currently, they're studying if combining Metformin (a diabetes drug) and rapamycin (an anti-fungal substance) along with some other drugs could put a double whammy on aging. Some experts are optimistic about the combination of these compounds and their impact on longevity. It’s hard to tell if they can make people live longer since there aren't a lot of studies on their effectiveness over a long period of time. The growing interest in these drugs online and in the news will eventually lead to their wider acceptance amongst doctors and scientists, benefiting all people. Click the link above to read more about these "wonder" drugs.

Brainteaser Answer: He was playing monopoly…