How To Rest More Efficiently (Yes, Really)

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How To Rest More Efficiently (Yes, Really)

We’ve talked before about how to recover more quickly after a workout, especially if you overdid it. There are a lot of tips in that article, so by all means check it out if you didn’t catch it at the time!

That was very specific to recovering from exercise, though. Today we’re looking at something a little different, a little more holistic.

You’re busier than you think

Maybe your life is an obvious blur of busy-ness. Maybe it’s not. But either way, you’re almost certainly busier than you think. Especially on a cellular level.

Your resting metabolic rate (RMR), or how many calories you burn while at rest (i.e., calories used just to keep you alive) will depend on various factors including age, sex, weight, body composition, and other things.

That said, it’ll probably be between 1000 and 2000 calories per day. You can get a rough idea of what it might be for you, using this calculator:

How Many Calories Do You Burn a Day at Rest (Doing Nothing)?

So if ever you wonder why you feel so exhausted, despite having done nothing, it could be that your body was busy:

  • Metabolizing, generally (did you have a big meal?)
  • Fighting an illness (bacterial or viral infection, for example)
  • Fighting an imaginary illness and creating a real one in the process (stress, inflammation, etc)
  • Recovering/rebuilding from something you did yesterday or even before that
  • Thinking (your brain is your largest organ by mass, and consumes the most calories by far)

Your brain does not get a free pass on being part of your body! Just like if a certain muscle group were working out constantly for 16 hours you’d be feeling pretty tired, the same goes for the organ that is your brain, if it’s been working out constantly.

Your body is a composite organism—take advantage of that

Dolphins can shut down half of their brain at once, to let each hemisphere of the brain sleep independently in shifts. We (except in the case of split brain patients, where the corpus callosum has been severed) can’t do that, but we can let different parts of the organism that is our body work in shifts.

This is the real meaning of “a change is as a good as a rest”:

If you’ve been doing cognitive work (at your desk perhaps, maybe managing a spreadsheet, say), then taking a break to do crosswords will not, actually, give you break. Because you’re still sitting manipulating letters and numbers. As far as your brain (still having to do work!) is concerned, it’s basically the same. Nor will checking out social media; you’re still sitting examining a screen.

Instead, time to get physically active. Literally just doing the washing up would be a better break! Some yoga or Pilates would be perfect.

In contrast, if you’ve been doing a vigorous bit of gardening, then for example taking a break to lift weights isn’t going to be a break, because again you just switched to a similar task.

Better to pick up that book you’ve been meaning to read, or the crosswords we mentioned earlier. Or just lounge in your nicely-gardened garden.

The important thing is: to not require the same resources from the body (including the brain, it’s still part of the body) that you have been.

For more specific tips than we have room for here today, check out:

How to Take Better Breaks at Work, According to Research

Give your metabolism a break too

Not completely—you don’t need to be put into cryostasis or anything.

But, give your metabolism a rest, in relative terms. Intermittent fasting is great for precisely this; it lets your body rest and reset.

See: Intermittent Fasting: we sort the science from the hype!

So does the practice of meditation, by the way. You don’t have to get fancy with it, either:

Check out: No Frills, Evidence-Based Mindfulness

Enjoy, and rest well!

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  • Three-Bean Chili & Cashew Cream

    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.

    A hearty classic with a twist! Delicious and filling and full of protein, fiber, and powerful phytonutrients (including heavy-hitters ergothioneine and lycopene), this recipe is also quite flexible, so you can always add in extra seasonal vegetables if you like (to get you started: cherry tomatoes in summer and sweet potato in fall are fine options)!

    You will need

    • 1 cup low-sodium vegetable stock (ideally you made it yourself from vegetable offcuts you kept in the freezer for this purpose, but if not, you should be able to find low-sodium stock cubes)
    • 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
    • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
    • 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
    • 2 cans chopped tomatoes
    • 1 onion, finely chopped
    • 1 carrot, diced
    • 2 celery sticks, chopped
    • 4 oz mushrooms, chopped
    • ½ bulb garlic, crushed
    • 2 tbsp tomato purée
    • 1 red chili pepper, finely chopped (multiply per your heat preferences)
    • 1 tbsp ground paprika
    • 1 tbsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • 2 tsp fresh rosemary (or 1 tbsp dried)
    • 2 tsp fresh thyme (or 1 tbsp dried)
    • 1 tsp ground cumin
    • ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
    • Extra virgin olive oil

    For the cashew cream:

    • 6 oz cashews, soaked in kettle-hot water for at least 15 minutes
    • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
    • 1 tsp lemon juice

    To serve:

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Heat some olive oil in a skillet and fry the onion for about 5 minutes, stirring as necessary.

    2) Add the garlic and chili and cook for a further 1 minute.

    3) Add the celery, carrot, and mushrooms and continue cooking for 1–2 minutes.

    4) Add everything else from the main section, taking care to stir well to distribute the seasonings evenly. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for around 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    5) While you are waiting, drain the cashews, and add them to a high-speed blender with ½ cup (fresh) cold water, as well as the nutritional yeast and lemon juice. Blend on full power until smooth; this may take about 3 minutes, so we recommend doing it in 30-second bursts to avoid overheating the motor. You’ll also probably need to scrape it down the sides at least once. You can add a little more water if you want the cream to be thinner than it is appearing, but go slowly if you do.

    6) Serve with rice, adding a dollop of the cream and garnishing with parsley, with bread on the side if you like.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • Huperzine A: A Natural Nootropic

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    Huperzine A: A Natural Nootropic

    Huperzine A is a compound, specifically a naturally occurring sesquiterpene alkaloid, that functions as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. If that seems like a bunch of big words, don’t worry, we’ll translate in a moment.

    First, a nod to its origins: it is found in certain kinds of firmoss, especially the “toothed clubmoss”, Huperzia serrata, which grows in many Asian countries.

    What’s an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor?

    Let’s do this step-by-step:

    • An acetylcholinesterase inhibitor is a compound that inhibits acetylcholinesterase.
    • Acetylcholinesterase is an enzyme that catalyzes (speeds up) the breakdown of acetylcholine.
    • Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter; it’s an ester of acetic acid and choline.
      • This is the main neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system, and is also heavily involved in cognitive functions including memory and creative thinking.

    What this means: if you take an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor like huperzine A, it will inhibit acetylcholinesterase, meaning you will have more acetylcholine to work with. That’s good.

    What can I expect from it?

    Huperzine A has been well-studied for a while, mostly for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease:

    However, research has suggested that huperzine A is much better as a prevention than a treatment:

    ❝A central event in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the accumulation of senile plaques composed of aggregated amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides.

    Ex vivo electrophysiological experiments showed that 10 μM of Aβ1-40 significantly decreased the effect of the AChE inhibitor huperzine A on the synaptic potential parameters. ❞

    ~ Dr. Irina Zueva

    Source: Can Activation of Acetylcholinesterase by β-Amyloid Peptide Decrease the Effectiveness of Cholinesterase Inhibitors?

    In other words: the answer to the titular question is “Yes, yes it can”

    And, to translate Dr. Zueva’s words into simple English:

    • People with Alzheimer’s have amyloid-β plaque in their brains
    • That plaque reduces the effectiveness of huperzine A

    So, what if we take it in advance? That works much better:

    ❝Pre-treatment with [huperzine A] at concentrations of 50, 100, and 150 µg/mL completely inhibited the secretion of PGE2, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β compared to post-treatment with [huperzine A].

    This suggests that prophylactic treatment is better than post-inflammation treatment. ❞

    ~ Dr. Thu Kim Dang

    Source: Anti-neuroinflammatory effects of alkaloid-enriched extract from Huperzia serrata

    As you may know, neuroinflammation is a big part of Alzheimer’s pathology, so we want to keep that down. The above research suggests we should do that sooner rather than later.

    Aside from holding off dementia, can it improve memory now, too?

    There’s been a lot less research done into this (medicine is generally more concerned with preventing/treating disease, than improving the health of healthy people), but there is some:

    Huperzine-A capsules enhance memory and learning performance in 34 pairs of matched adolescent students

    ^This is a small (n=68) old (1999) study for which the full paper has mysteriously disappeared and we only get to see the abstract. It gave favorable results, though.

    The effects of huperzine A and IDRA 21 on visual recognition memory in young macaques

    ^This, like most non-dementia research into HupA, is an animal study. But we chose to spotlight this one because, unlike most of the studies, it did not chemically lobotomize the animals first; they were and remained healthy. That said, huperzine A improved the memory scores most for the monkeys that performed worst without it initially.

    Where can I get it?

    As ever, we don’t sell it, but here’s an example product on Amazon for your convenience

    Enjoy!

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  • Peaceful Kitchen – by Catherine Perez

    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 keen cook and Registered Dietician with a Master’s in same, covers the basics of the science of nutrition as relevant to her recipes, but first and foremost this is not a science textbook—it’s a cookbook, and its pages contain more love for the art than citations for the (perfectly respectable) science.

    Mexican and Dominican cuisine are the main influences in this book, but there are dishes from around the world too.

    The recipes themselves are… Comparable in difficulty to the things we often feature in our recipes section here at 10almonds. They’re probably not winning any restaurants Michelin stars, but they’re not exactly student survival recipes either. They’re made from mostly non-obscure whole foods, nutritionally-dense ingredients at that, with minimal processed foods involved.

    That said, she does take a “add, don’t subtract” approach to nutrition, i.e. focussing more on adding in diversity of plants than on “don’t eat this; don’t eat that” mandates.

    If there’s any criticism to be levelled at the book, it’s that in most cases we’d multiply the spices severalfold, but that’s not a big problem as readers can always judge that individually; she’s given the basic information of which spices in which proportions, which is the key knowledge.

    Bottom line: if you’re looking to expand your plant-based cooking repertoire, this one is a fine choice.

    Click here to check out Peaceful Kitchen, and try some new things!

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  • No, beetroot isn’t vegetable Viagra. But here’s what else it can do

    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.

    Beetroot has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Supply issues in recent months have seen a shortage of tinned beetroot on Australian supermarket shelves. At one point, a tin was reportedly selling on eBay for more than A$65.

    But as supplies increase, we turn our attention to beetroot’s apparent health benefits.

    Is beetroot really vegetable Viagra, as UK TV doctor Michael Mosley suggests? What about beetroot’s other apparent health benefits – from reducing your blood pressure to improving your daily workout? Here’s what the science says.

    What’s so special about beetroot?

    Beetroot – alongside foods such as berries, nuts and leafy greens – is a “superfood”. It contains above-average levels per gram of certain vitamins and minerals.

    Beetroot is particularly rich in vitamin B and C, minerals, fibre and antioxidants.

    Most cooking methods don’t significantly alter its antioxidant levels. Pressure cooking does, however, lower levels of carotenoid (a type of antioxidant) compared to raw beetroot.

    Processing into capsules, powders, chips or juice may affect beetroot’s ability to act as an antioxidant. However, this can vary between products, including between different brands of beetroot juice.

    Is beetroot really vegetable Viagra?

    The Romans are said to have used beetroot and its juice as an aphrodisiac.

    But there’s limited scientific evidence to say beetroot improves your sex life. This does not mean it doesn’t. Rather, the vast number of scientific studies looking at the effect of beetroot have not measured libido or other aspects of sexual health.

    How could it work?

    When we eat beetroot, chemical reactions involving bacteria and enzymes transform the nitrate in beetroot into nitrite, then to nitric oxide. Nitric oxide helps dilate (widen) blood vessels, potentially improving circulation.

    The richest sources of dietary nitric oxide that have been tested in clinical studies are beetroot, rocket and spinach.

    Nitric oxide is also thought to support testosterone in its role in controlling blood flow before and during sex in men.

    Beetroot’s ability to improve blood flow can benefit the circulatory system of the heart and blood vessels. This may positively impact sexual function, theoretically in men and women.

    Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest there could be a modest link between beetroot and preparedness for sex, but don’t expect it to transform your sex life.

    What else could it do?

    Beetroot has received increasing attention over recent years due to its antioxidant and anti-tumour effect in humans.

    Clinical trials have not verified all beetroot’s active ingredients and their effects. However, beetroot may be a potentially helpful treatment for various health issues related to oxidative stress and inflammation, such as cancer and diabetes. The idea is that you can take beetroot supplements or eat extra beetroot alongside your regular medicines (rather than replace them).

    There is evidence beetroot juice can help lower systolic blood pressure (the first number in your blood pressure reading) by 2.73-4.81 mmHg (millimetres of mercury, the standard unit of measuring blood pressure) in people with high blood pressure. Some researchers say this reduction is comparable to the effects seen with certain medications and dietary interventions.

    Other research finds even people without high blood pressure (but at risk of it) could benefit.

    Beetroot may also improve athletic performance. Some studies show small benefits for endurance athletes (who run, swim or cycle long distances). These studies looked at various forms of the food, such as beetroot juice as well as beetroot-based supplements.

    How to get more beetroot in your diet

    There is scientific evidence to support positive impacts of consuming beetroot in whole, juice and supplement forms. So even if you can’t get hold of tinned beetroot, there are plenty of other ways you can get more beetroot into your diet. You can try:

    • raw beetroot – grate raw beetroot and add it to salads or coleslaw, or slice beetroot to use as a crunchy topping for sandwiches or wraps
    • cooked beetroot – roast beetroot with olive oil, salt and pepper for a flavour packed side dish. Alternatively, steam beetroot and serve it as a standalone dish or mixed into other dishes
    • beetroot juice – make fresh beetroot juice using a juicer. You can combine it with other fruits and vegetables for added flavour. You can also blend raw or cooked beetroot with water and strain to make a juice
    • smoothies – add beetroot to your favourite smoothie. It pairs well with fruits such as berries, apples and oranges
    • soups – use beetroot in soups for both flavour and colour. Borscht is a classic beetroot soup, but you can also experiment with other recipes
    • pickled beetroot – make pickled beetroot at home, or buy it from the supermarket. This can be a tasty addition to salads or sandwiches
    • beetroot hummus – blend cooked beetroot into your homemade hummus for a vibrant and nutritious dip. You can also buy beetroot hummus from the supermarket
    • grilled beetroot – slice beetroot and grill it for a smoky flavour
    • beetroot chips – slice raw beetroot thinly, toss the slices with olive oil and your favourite seasonings, then bake or dehydrate them to make crispy beetroot chips
    • cakes and baked goods – add grated beetroot to muffins, cakes, or brownies for a moist and colourful twist.
    Three squares of beetroot/chocolate cake with white icing and nuts sprinkled on top
    You can add beetroot to baked goods. Ekaterina Khoroshilova/Shutterstock

    Are there any downsides?

    Compared to the large number of studies on the beneficial effects of beetroot, there is very little evidence of negative side effects.

    If you eat large amounts of beetroot, your urine may turn red or purple (called beeturia). But this is generally harmless.

    There have been reports in some countries of beetroot-based dietary supplements contaminated with harmful substances, yet we have not seen this reported in Australia.

    What’s the take-home message?

    Beetroot may give some modest boost to sex for men and women, likely by helping your circulation. But it’s unlikely to transform your sex life or act as vegetable Viagra. We know there are many contributing factors to sexual wellbeing. Diet is only one.

    For individually tailored support talk to your GP or an accredited practising dietitian.

    Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland and Emily Burch, Lecturer, Southern Cross University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • How To Reduce Knee Pain After Sitting

    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.

    Sitting is bad for the health, and doubly so if you have arthritis, as a lack of regular movement can cause joints to “seize up”. So, what to do about it if you have to sit for an extended time?

    Dr. Alyssa Kuhn, arthritis specialist, explains:

    Movement remains key

    The trick is to continue periodically moving, notwithstanding that you may need to remain seated. So…

    1. Heel slides
      • Straighten and bend your leg by sliding or lifting your heel.
      • Promotes blood flow and reduces fluid buildup in the knee.
      • Helps lubricate the joint, making standing up easier.
    2. Heel lifts
      • Lift your heels up and down while keeping feet on the ground.
      • This one’s ideal for tight spaces, such as when riding in a car or airplane.
      • Improves blood circulation and can reduce ankle swelling and leg heaviness.

    Do 20–30 repetitions every now and again, to keep your joints moving.

    Note: if you are a wheelchair user whose legs lack the strength and/or motor function to do this, in this case it’s the movement of the leg that counts, not where that movement originated from. So, if you use one hand to lift your leg slightly and the other to push it like a swing, that will also be sufficient to give the joint the periodic movement it needs.

    For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Stand Up For Your Health (Or Don’t) ← our main feature on this also includes more things you can do if you must sit, to make sitting less bad!

    Take care!

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  • Water Water Everywhere, But Which Is Best To Drink?

    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.

    Well Well Well…

    In Tuesday’s newsletter, we asked you for your (health-related) opinion on drinking water—with the understanding that this may vary from place to place. We got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:

    • About 65% said “Filtered is best”
    • About 20% said “From the mains is best”
    • About 8% said “Bottled is best”
    • About 3% said “Distilled is best”
    • About 3% said “Some other source is best”

    Of those who said “some other source is best”, one clarified that their preferred source was well water.

    So what does the science say?

    Fluoridated water is bad for you: True or False?

    False, assuming a normal level of consumption. Rather than take up more space today though, we’ll link to what we previously wrote on this topic:

    Q&A: Water Fluoridation

    You may be wondering: but what if my level of consumption is higher than normal?

    Let’s quickly look at some stats:

    • The maximum permitted safety level varies from place to place, but is (for example) 2mg/l in the US, 1.5mg/l in Canada & the UK.
    • The minimum recommended amount also varies from place to place, but is (for example) 0.7mg/l in Canada and the US, and 1mg/l in the UK.

    It doesn’t take grabbing a calculator to realize that if you drink twice as much water as someone else, then depending on where you are, water fluoridated to the minimum may give you more than the recommended maximum.

    However… Those safety margins are set so much lower than the actual toxicity levels of fluoride, that it doesn’t make a difference.

    For example: your writer here takes a medication that has the side effect of causing dryness of the mouth, and consequently she drinks at least 3l of water per day in a climate that could not be described as hot (except perhaps for about 2 weeks of the year). She weighs 72kg (that’s about 158 pounds), and the toxicity of fluoride (for ill symptoms, not death) is 0.2mg/kg. So, she’d need 14.4mg of fluoride, which even if the water fluoridation here were 2mg/l (it’s not; it’s lower here, but let’s go with the highest figure to make a point), would require drinking more than 7l of water faster than the body can process it.

    For more about the numbers, check out:

    Acute Fluoride Poisoning from a Public Water System

    Bottled water is the best: True or False?

    False, if we consider “best” to be “healthiest”, which in turn we consider to be “most nutrients, with highest safety”.

    Bottled water generally does have higher levels of minerals than most local mains supply water does. That’s good!

    But you know what else is generally has? Microplastics and nanoplastics. That’s bad!

    We don’t like to be alarmist in tone; it’s not what we’re about here, but the stats on bottled water are simply not good; see:

    We Are Such Stuff As Bottles Are Made Of

    You may be wondering: “but what about bottled water that comes in glass bottles?”

    Indeed, water that comes in glass bottles can be expected to have lower levels of plastic than water that comes in plastic bottles, for obvious reasons.

    However, we invite you to consider how likely you believe it to be that the water wasn’t stored in plastic while being processed, shipped and stored, before being portioned into its final store-ready glass bottles for end-consumer use.

    Distilled water is the best: True or False?

    False, generally, with caveats:

    Distilled water is surely the safest water anywhere, because you know that you’ve removed any nasties.

    However, it’s also devoid of nutrients, because you also removed any minerals it contained. Indeed, if you use a still, you’ll be accustomed to the build-up of these minerals (generally simplified and referenced as “limescale”, but it’s a whole collection of minerals).

    Furthermore, that loss of nutrients can be more than just a “something good is missing”, because having removed certain ions, that water could now potentially strip minerals from your teeth. In practice, however, you’d probably have to swill it excessively to cause this damage.

    Nevertheless, if you have the misfortune of living somewhere like Flint, Michigan, then a water still may be a fair necessity of life. In other places, it can simply be useful to have in case of emergency, of course.

    Here’s an example product on Amazon if you’d like to invest in a water still for such cases.

    PS: distilled water is also tasteless, and is generally considered bad, tastewise, for making tea and coffee. So we really don’t recommend distilling your water unless you have a good reason to do so.

    Filtered water is the best: True or False?

    True for most people in most places.

    Let’s put it this way: it can’t logically be worse than whatever source of water you put into it…

    Provided you change the filter regularly, of course.

    Otherwise, after overusing a filter, at best it won’t be working, and at worst it’ll be adding in bacteria that have multiplied in the filter over however long you left it there.

    You may be wondering: can water filters remove microplastics, and can they remove minerals?

    The answer in both cases is: sometimes.

    • For microplastics it depends on the filter size and the microplastic size (see our previous article for details on that).
    • For minerals, it depends on the filter type. Check out:

    The H2O Chronicles | 5 Water Filters That Remove Minerals

    One other thing to think about: while most water filtration jugs are made of PFAS-free BPA-free plastics for obvious reasons, for greater peace of mind, you might consider investing in a glass filtration jug, like this one ← this is just one example product on Amazon; by all means shop around and find one you like

    Take care!

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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