10almonds Subcribers Take The Wheel!

❓ Q&A With 10almonds Subscribers!

Q: What kind of salt is best for neti pots?

A: Non-iodised salt is usually recommended, but really, any human-safe salt is fine. By this we mean for example:

• Sodium chloride (like most kitchen salts),
• Potassium chloride (as found in “reduced sodium” kitchen salts), or
• Magnesium sulfate (also known as epsom salts).

Q: You talked about spearmint as reducing testosterone levels, what about ginseng for increasing them?

A: Hormones are complicated and often it’s not a simple matter of higher or lower levels! It can also be a matter of…

• how your body converts one thing into another
• how your body responds (or not) to something according to how the relevant hormone’s receptors are doing
• …and whether there’s anything else blocking those receptors.

All this to say: spearmint categorically is an anti-androgen, but the mechanism of action remains uncertain.

Panax ginseng, meanwhile, is one of the most well-established mysteries in herbal medicine.

Paradoxically, it seems to improve both male and female hormonal regulation, despite being more commonly associated with the former.

• It doesn’t necessarily increase or decrease testosterone or estrogen levels (but it can, even if indirectly)
• It does improve sexual function
• …and alleviates symptoms associated with conditions as varied as:
  • Late-onset hypogonadism (common for men during the andropause)
  • Benign prostate hyperplasia (again common for men during the andropause)
  • …and also counteracts unwanted side-effects of finasteride. Finasteride is often taken by men as a hair loss remedy or, less often but critically, in the case of an enlarged prostate.

But it also…

• Alleviates symptoms of PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome, which effects around 20% of women)
• May even be an effective treatment for PCOS (rat model only so far)
• It also may improve female reproductive fertility more generally (the studies are down to fruit flies now though)

Bottom line: Panax ginseng is popularly taken to improve natural hormone function, a task at which it appears to excel.

Scientists are still working out exactly how it does the many things it appears to do.

Progress has been made, and it clearly is science rather than witchcraft, but there are still far more unanswered questions than resolved ones!

Q: I like that the quizzes (I’ve done two so far) give immediate results , with no “give us your email to get your results”. Thanks!

A: You’re welcome! That’s one of the factors that influences what things we include here! Our mission statement is “to make health and productivity crazy simple”, and the unwritten part of that is making sure to save your time and energy wherever we reasonably can!

Q: Do you know if adrafanil is as good as modafinil? It seems to be a lot cheaper for the same result?

A: Adrafinil is the pro-drug of modafinil. What this means is that if you take it, your own liver will use it to make modafinil inside you. So the end result is chemically the same drug.

As to whether it’s as good, it depends what you need. It’s worth noting that anything that taxes liver function can be harmful if you take too much, and/or your liver is already strained for some reason.

If in doubt, consult a doctor! And if it’s something that’s accessible to you, a recent lipids test (a kind of blood test that checks your liver health) is always a good thing to have.

Q: Would love to see your take on polyphasic sleep!

A: Watch this space