6 Exercises That Reverse Joint Aging
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Mobility coach Alisa Zuravskaja (yes, formerly Szyman; maybe she got divorced? We’re not sure what happened, but her name has changed on her socials, so we’re changing it here too!) shows us how:
3 pillars, one focus
The three pillars of anti-aging exercises are cardio, strength, and mobility, with the latter being critical as mobility is often overlooked despite being essential for maintaining function and independence with age.
Here are 6 exercises that make for a very good routine:
- Thoracic rotation: kneel with one foot forward, put your hands behind your head, rotate your opposite elbow towards your raised knee, then return slowly while keeping the movement controlled, to improve your upper and middle spinal mobility.
- Superman: lie face down with your arms extended, lift your arms, chest, and legs together, briefly hold, then lower under control to strengthen your back extensors, glutes, rear deltoids, and deep postural muscles that help keep your spine upright.
- Single-leg balance with head turns: stand on one leg and slowly turn your head left and right while maintaining your balance, to challenge your vestibular system, improve coordination, and help reduce your risk of falls. When you’re ready, you can progress it by standing on a cushion or balance pad, and/or by closing your eyes (please be careful).
- Hip controlled articular rotations (CARs): stand on one leg or kneel, then move your lifted knee through the largest slow, controlled circle possible while keeping your upper body still, to maintain your hip joint’s full range of motion and improve joint control.
- Active deep squat: lower into the deepest squat you can while keeping your heels on the floor, pause briefly, then stand up under control to build leg strength while actively training mobility in your hips, knees, and ankles.
- Active hang: hang from a pull-up bar for as long as you can comfortably manage to strengthen your grip, improve shoulder stability, and decompress your spine, gradually increasing your hang time as your strength improves.
For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:
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Want to learn more?
You might also like:
Age & Aging: What Can (And Can’t) We Do About It? ← for more on the many metrics of biological age, most of which we can do something about
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Grapefruit vs Mango – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing grapefruit to mango, we picked the mango.
Why?
It’s pretty clear-cut today, despite a fairly even start:
In terms of macros, mango has a little more protein and carbs, but the differences are so small as to be negligible, while the two are equal on fiber; in realistic terms we’re calling this first round a tie.
In the category of vitamins, grapefruit has more of vitamins B1 and B5, while mangos have more of vitamins A, B2, B3, B6, B7, B9, C, E, and K, winning easily in this round.
Looking at minerals, grapefruit has more calcium and phosphorus, while mangos have more copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, selenium, and zinc, winning this round by quite a margin too.
One more consideration that’s not shown in the nutritional values, is that grapefruit contains high levels of furanocoumarins, which can inhibit cytochrome P-450 3A4 isoenzyme and P-glycoptrotein transporters in the intestine and liver—slowing down their drug metabolism capabilities, thus effectively increasing the bioavailability of many drugs manifold.
This may sound superficially like a good thing (improving bioavailability of things we want), but in practice it means that in the case of many drugs, if you take them with (or near in time to) grapefruit or grapefruit juice, then congratulations, you just took an overdose. This happens with a lot of meds for blood pressure, cholesterol (including statins), calcium channel-blockers, anti-depressants, benzo-family drugs, beta-blockers, and more. Oh, and Viagra, too. Which latter might sound funny, but remember, Viagra’s mechanism of action is blood pressure modulation, and that is not something you want to mess around with unduly. So, do check with your pharmacist to know if you’re on any meds that would be affected by grapefruit or grapefruit juice!
PS: the same substance is quite available in pummelos and sour oranges (but not meaningfully in sweet oranges); you can see a chart here showing the relative furanocoumarin contents of many citrus fruits, or lack thereof as the case may be, as it is for lemons and most limes).
Adding up the sections makes for an overwhelming overall win for mangos, but by all means do enjoy either or both, unless any of the furanocoumarin contraindications apply, in which case, definitely stick to the mangos!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Watch Out For Furanocoumarins!
Enjoy!
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I Contain Multitudes – by Ed Yong
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A little while back we reviewed a book (Planet of Viruses) about the role of viruses in our lives, beyond the obvious. Today’s book gives the same treatment to microbes in general—mostly bacteria.
We all know about pathogens, and we all know about gut microbiota and that some (hopefully the majority) there are good for our health. This book covers those things too, but also much more.
Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Ed Yong takes a big picture view (albeit, of some very small things) and looks at the many ways microbes keep us alive, directly or indirectly. From the microbes that convert certain proteins in breast milk into a form that babies can digest (yes, this means we produce nutrients in breast milk that have been evolved solely to feed that bacterium), to those without which agriculture would simply not work, we’re brought to realize how much our continued existence is contingent on our trillions of tiny friends.
The style throughout is easy-reading pop-science, very accessible. There’s also plenty in terms of practical take-away value, when it comes to adjusting our modern lives to better optimize the benefits we get from microbes—inside and out.
Bottom line: if you’d like to learn about the role of microbes in our life beyond “these ones are pathogens” and “these ones help our digestion”, this is the book for you.
Click here to check out I Contain Multitudes, and learn more about yours and those around you!
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The Pain Switch Formula – by Noah Collins
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
The author, a physiotherapist, tackles the problem of pain (acute and chronic), with the three-step method:
- Release
- Restore
- Reinforce
In other words, understanding what is going on and addressing it in a way that eases pain immediately, restores normal function, and reinforces it against future recurrence.
Which may sound like a magical fix, and certainly the title leans into that, but the methodology is sound and based in good science, and explained in detail with regard to a long list of things that can (and commonly do) go wrong with the human body.
The style is a little sensationalized for this reviewer’s personal taste, but it doesn’t detract from the large amount of practical information contain within this book.
Bottom line: if you’d like to deal with a pain in a way that isn’t just masking it or otherwise learning to live with it, then this book can help with very many causes of such.
Click here to check out The Pain Switch Formula, and restore pain-free mobility!
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How A Doctor Starts The Day To Make Dopamine Last Long Hours
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Dr. Zeliha Akpinar shares how she deals with her demanding life as a junior doctor in a rural emergency department, with a focus on starting the day in a way that means she doesn’t run out of steam partway through:
Gently does it
One of her core principles is protecting her brain’s dopamine levels, which are essential for motivation and productivity. Instead of reaching for her phone in the morning, she begins her day with simple tasks like brushing her teeth or making her bed—small actions that give her a dopamine boost without sending her along a “hedonic treadmill” in search of further crumbs of dopamine from social media etc.
She emphasizes the importance of using tools and routines that support mental clarity and focus. Her digital planner, “Xyles”, helps manage multiple responsibilities while keeping her grounded and goal-oriented. Including a photo of her younger self in her planner reminds her to stay connected to her inner child’s dreams—a powerful motivator during her long hospital shifts. For those of us who from the thumbnail might not have assumed she was old enough to be doctor, this might seem silly (like when a child says “when I was young”), but the truth is, we all live relative to our own past, however long or short that distance might be. The take-away for us at any age is: do things as though your younger self is watching!
Dr. Akpinar also talks about the significance of mindfulness in a hyper-connected world. She schedules screen-free meals to slow down and reconnect with the present moment, balancing the chaos of emergency medicine with moments of peace. By using tools like the “Opal” app to limit social media, she protects her focus and emotional well-being.
In short, her advice is clear: take purposeful action, design systems that support your brain, and stay aligned with what truly matters to you!
For more on all of this in her own words, enjoy:
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Want to learn more?
You might also like:
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Viruses, Bacteria, Allergens: One Nasal Spray To Stop Them All
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…and in the airways, fight them!
Scientists unveil a “universal vaccine”
Vaccines save millions of lives every year:
- WHO | Global immunization efforts have saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years
- CDC | Fast Facts on Global Immunization: Vaccination benefits
- Lancet | Contribution of vaccination to improved survival and health: modelling 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization
Since vaccines are not without their popular misunderstanders, we have written a little about that, here: Vaccine Mythbusting
However, they have limitations. Most notably, because they work by showing your immune system a recognizable piece of a specific pathogen, such as the spike protein of COVID, this runs into difficulties when viruses mutate, so surface antigens change, which is why COVID boosters, annual flu shots, and similar vaccines sometimes need updating.
Researchers (Dr. Mengyun Hu et al.) found a way to create a broad protection against many respiratory threats.
How it does that, in technical terms: the formulation GLA-3M-052-LS+OVA combines toll-like receptor 4 and 7/8 ligands with ovalbumin to recruit memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells into your lungs and keep alveolar macrophages in a heightened defensive state.
Translating from sciencese: instead of targeting a specific antigen from one pathogen, the nasal spray boosts your lungs’ integrated innate and adaptive immune responses to provide broad protection.
Dr. Hu (what a cool name) and her team will be doing human trials soon, but the results so far from mouse studies are very promising:
- Against viruses: vaccinated mice enjoyed a 700-fold reduction in lung viral levels after SARS-CoV-2 exposure, avoided severe weight loss, and all survived*.
- Broad spectrum antivirus vaccines have been explored already, but they only work against certain kinds of viruses, e.g: The Ultimate Booster: Winning The Biological Arms Race
- Against bacteria: vaccinated mice were also protected for about 3 months against Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii, both common causes of hospital-acquired pneumonia.
- On which note, since that kills many people, do check out: Pneumonia: Prevention Is Better Than Cure
- Against allergies: when exposed to house dust mite allergens, vaccinated mice developed a much weaker Th2 response (which in this context, is good) and maintained clear airways compared with unvaccinated mice.
- This is interesting, especially if we also bear in mind: The Anti-Allergy Nasal Spray That Kills COVID & More
*This is a big difference from what happened in unvaccinated mice, because while the unvaccinated mice had initially healthy immune systems, those unvaccinated immune systems had no instructions about what to do, and thus:
❝The immune system becomes so ready and so alert that it can launch the typical adaptive responses—virus-specific T cells and antibodies—in as little as three days, compared with about 2 weeks in unvaccinated mice❞
~ Dr. Violetta Horton, professor of microbiology and immunology, and colleague of Dr. Hu collaborating on this study
If it’s successful in human trials:
- It’s expected to require just two nasal doses
- It could replace multiple seasonal respiratory vaccines
- It should seriously boost rapid protection during future pandemics
You can find the study itself, here: Mucosal vaccination in mice provides protection from diverse respiratory threats
Want to do more meanwhile?
You might want to check out: Beyond Supplements: The Real Immune-Boosters! ← most people don’t know these things and the huge difference they make
And for that matter: Why Some People Get Sick More (And How To Not Be One Of Them) ← for a very prophylactic approach
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
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Dates vs Grapes – Which is Healthier?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Our Verdict
When comparing dates to grapes, we picked the dates.
Why?
It’s not close:
In terms of macros, dates have 4x the carbs and/but 8x the fiber, making for the lower glycemic index. Also, for what it’s worth, they have nearly 4x the protein, but probably nobody is eating either of these fruits for the protein. In any case, it’s an easy and clear win for dates in the category of macros.
In the category of vitamins, dates have more of vitamins B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, and choline, while grapes have more of vitamins B1, C, E, and K, making for a 6:4 win for dates.
When it comes to minerals, it’s more one-sided: dates have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while grapes have more manganese. An easy win for dates here.
Of course, enjoy either or both (diversity is good), but if you’re looking for nutrient density, dates are where it’s at.
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Can We Drink To Good Health? ← while there are polyphenols such as resveratrol in red wine that per se would boost heart health, there’s so little per glass that you may need 100–1000 glasses per day to get the dosage that provides benefits in mouse studies.
If you’re not a mouse, you might even need more than that!
To this end, many people prefer resveratrol supplementation ← link is to an example product on Amazon, but there are plenty more so feel free to shop around 😎
Enjoy!
Don’t Forget…
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