Generation M – by Dr. Jessica Shepherd
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Menopause is something that very few people are adequately prepared for despite its predictability, and also something that very many people then neglect to take seriously enough.
Dr. Shepherd encourages a more proactive approach throughout all stages of menopause and beyond; she discusses “the preseason, the main event, and the after-party” (perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause), which is important, because typically people take up an interest in perimenopause, are treating it like a marathon by menopause, and when it comes to postmenopause, it’s easy to think “well, that’s behind me now”, and it’s not, because untreated menopause will continue to have (mostly deleterious) cumulative effects until death.
As for HRT, there’s a chapter on that of course, going into quite some detail. There is also plenty of attention given to popular concerns such as managing weight changes and libido changes, as well as oft-neglected topics such as brain changes, as well as things considered more cosmetic but that can have a big impact on mental health, such as skin and hair.
The style throughout is pop-science; friendly without skimping on detail and including plenty of good science.
Bottom line: if you’d like a fairly comprehensive overview of the changes that occur from perimenopause all the way to menopause and well beyond, then this is a great book for that.
Click here to check out Generation M, and live well at every stage of life!
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Psychedelics and Psychotherapy – Edited by Dr. Tim Read & Maria Papaspyrou
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A quick note on authorship, first: this book is edited by the psychiatrist and psychotherapist credited above, but after the introductory section, the rest of the chapters are written by experts on the individual topics.As such, the style will vary somewhat, from chapter to chapter.
What this book isn’t: “try drugs and feel better!”
Rather, the book explores the various ways in which assorted drugs can help people to—even if just briefly—shed things they didn’t know they were carrying, or otherwise couldn’t put down, and access parts of themselves they otherwise couldn’t.
We also get to read a lot about the different roles the facilitator can play in guiding the therapeutic process, and what can be expected out of each kind of experience. This varies a lot from one drug to another, so it makes for very worthwhile reading, if that’s something you might consider pursuing. Knowledge makes for much more informed choices!
Bottom line: if you’re curious about the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, and want a reference that’s more personal than dry clinical studies, but still more “safe and removed” than diving in by yourself, this is the book for you.
Click here to check out Psychedelics and Psychotherapy, and expand your understanding!
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What Menopausal HRT Does To Your Brain
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❝There’s been a controversy over hormone therapy use. There was a study back in 2002 called the Women’s Health Initiative, and its results scared everybody out of using estrogen therapy. For a long time, people stopped prescribing and using those therapies, thinking that it was going to lead to negative outcomes. Since then, there’s been a lot of revisiting of those findings and discovering that there were some problems with them❞
~ Dr. Amber Watts
We at 10almonds previously covered the (deeply flawed) WHI study, discussing its (many) faults, here: Cancer & HRT: What’s Safe?
And followed it up with such news as: New Evidence: HRT Doesn’t Increase Cancer Risk Even If You Have The Genes For It
But that’s all about cancer. What about the brain?
Sooner or later…
Should we put off menopausal HRT for as long as possible?
Or should we hurry to get it as soon as it becomes clinically relevant?
The first thing to understand when it comes to HRT and brain health, is the critical role that sex hormones play in Alzheimer’s pathogenesis and progression.
We wrote about that, here: Alzheimer’s Sex Differences May Not Be What They Appear
But HRT’s effects on the brain are more far-reaching than just that, as explained in our article: Your Brain On (And Off) Estrogen
To answer the “sooner or later” question, researchers (Dr. Robyn Honea et al., wherein the “et al.” includes as second-listed author the Dr. Amber Watts we quoted up top), analyzed 459 women aged 65–80 and found that greater lifetime exposure to female hormones, particularly estrogen, was associated with brain structures generally linked to healthier brain aging.
This was true even from quite small doses: women who had used hormonal birth control had larger gray matter volumes in parts of the temporal, occipital, and frontal lobes compared with those who had never used it.
In particular, women who used both hormonal birth control earlier in life and menopausal hormone therapy later in life showed greater brain volume in parietal and temporal regions, along with thicker cortex in areas including the posterior cingulate, a region often affected early in Alzheimer’s disease.
Not only was it found that women who experienced menopause at a later age, resulting in longer exposure to female hormones, had greater cortical thickness in several brain regions vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease, but also, people who underwent early surgical removal of the ovaries (thus creating a surgically-induced early menopause) definitely benefited from early exposure to hormone therapy, too.
As for why this happens?
❝Estrogen is neuroprotective. It’s beneficial for white matter integrity. It helps protect neurons and strengthens neural connections.
It is also important for vascular function. One of the things we get wrong about estrogen is people think of estrogen as this thing that has to do with reproduction. But really, estrogen is very important for a lot of different body systems. It’s important for the brain, it’s important for the heart, it’s important for bone density, and it’s important for the immune system.❞
~ Dr. Amber Watts again
A refreshing read, in times when even the use of hormonal birth control, let alone menopausal HRT (which involves much higher doses than those needed for contraceptive purposes), is often demonized, including (invariably unsourced) claims of being harmful to the brain.
You can read the paper in full, here: Lifespan exposure to hormone therapies and structural brain morphometry in older women
Want to learn more?
You might like this book we reviewed:
The Menopause Brain – by Dr. Lisa Mosconi
Take care!
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Saunas: Health Benefits (& Caveats)
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The Heat Is On
In Tuesday’s newsletter, we asked you your (health-related) opinion on saunas, and got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:
- About 53% said it is “a healthful activity with many benefits”
- About 25% said it is “best avoided; I feel like I’m dying in there”
- About 12% said “it feels good and therefore can’t be all bad”
So what does the science say?
The heat of saunas carries a health risk: True or False?
False, generally speaking, for any practical purposes. Of course, anything in life comes with a health risk, but statistically speaking, your shower at home is a lot more dangerous than a sauna (risk of slipping with no help at hand).
It took a bit of effort to find a paper on the health risks of saunas, because all the papers on PubMed etc coming up for those keywords were initially papers with “reduces the risk of…”, i.e. ways in which the sauna is healthy.
However, we did find one:
❝Contraindications to sauna bathing include unstable angina pectoris, recent myocardial infarction, and severe aortic stenosis.
Sauna bathing is safe, however, for most people with coronary heart disease with stable angina pectoris or old myocardial infarction.
Very few acute myocardial infarctions and sudden deaths occur in saunas, but alcohol consumption during sauna bathing increases the risk of hypotension, arrhythmia, and sudden death, and should be avoided. ❞
~ Dr. Matti Hannuksela & Dr. Samer Ellahham
Source: Benefits and risks of sauna bathing
So, very safe for most people, safe even for most people with heart disease, but there are exceptions so check with your own doctor of course.
And drinking alcohol anywhere is bad for the health, but in a sauna it’s a truly terrible idea. As an aside, please don’t drink alcohol in the shower, either (risk of slipping with no help at hand, and this time, broken glass too).
On the topic of it being safe for most people’s hearts, see also:
Beneficial effects of sauna bathing for heart failure patients
As an additional note, those who have a particular sensitivity to the heat, may (again please check with your own doctor, as your case may vary) actually benefit from moderate sauna use, to reduce the cardiovascular strain that your body experiences during heatwaves (remember, you can get out of a sauna more easily than you can get out of a heatwave, so for many people it’s a lot easier to do moderation and improve thermoregulatory responses):
Sauna usage can bring many health benefits: True or False?
True! Again, at least for most people. As well as the above-discussed items, here’s one for mortality rates in healthy Finnish men:
Not only that, also…
❝The Finnish saunas have the most consistent and robust evidence regarding health benefits and they have been shown to decrease the risk of health outcomes such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, thromboembolism, dementia, and respiratory conditions; may improve the severity of musculoskeletal disorders, COVID-19, headache and flu, while also improving mental well-being, sleep, and longevity.
Finnish saunas may also augment the beneficial effects of other protective lifestyle factors such as physical activity.
The beneficial effects of passive heat therapies may be linked to their anti-inflammatory, cytoprotective and anti-oxidant properties and synergistic effects on neuroendocrine, circulatory, cardiovascular and immune function.
Passive heat therapies, notably Finnish saunas, are emerging as potentially powerful and holistic strategies to promoting health and extending the healthspan in all populations. ❞
~ Dr. Jari Laukkanen & Dr. Setor Kunutsor
(the repeated clarification of “Finnish sauna” is not a matter of fervent nationalism, by the way, but rather a matter of disambiguating it from Swedish sauna, which has some differences, most notably a lack of steam)
That reminds us: in Scandinavia, it is usual to use a sauna naked, and in Finland in particular, it is a common social activity amongst friends, coworkers, etc. In the US, many people are not so comfortable with nudity, and indeed, many places that provide saunas, may require the wearing of swimwear. But…
Just one problem: if you’re wearing swimwear because you’ve just been swimming in a pool, you now have chlorinated water soaked into your swimwear, which in the sauna, will become steam + chlorine gas. That’s not so good for your health (and is one reason, beyond tradition and simple normalization, for why swimwear is usually not permitted in Finnish saunas).
Want to read more?
You might like our previous main feature,
Turning Up The Heat Against Diabetes & Alzheimer’s ← you guessed it, sauna may be beneficial against these too
Take care!
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Guava vs Pomegranate – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing guava to pomegranate, we picked the guava.
Why?
In terms of macros, the guava has more fiber and protein, while the pomegranate has more carbs; an easy first-round win for guava.
In the category of vitamins, guava has more of vitamins A, B3, B5, B6, B7 B9, C, and E, while pomegranate has more of vitamins B2 and K, yielding an 8:2 win for guava, especially considering that it’s more than 20x the amount of vitamin C.
Looking at minerals, guava has more calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium, while pomegranate has more iron and zinc. Another win for guava, this time 7:2.
In other considerations, pomegranate has some interesting extra phytochemical benefits, but they’re mostly in the peel. So, don’t through that away! Use it to make a tea (herbal infusion style) or dry it, and turn it into a powdered supplement—see the “learn more” section below for details on why.
Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for guava, but by all means do enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Pomegranate’s Health Gifts Are Mostly In Its Peel
Enjoy!
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5 Ways To Beat Cancer (And Other Diseases)
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A Systematic Approach To Healthy Eating
This is Dr. William Li. He’s a physician, cancer researcher, and educator. He also founded the Angiogenesis Foundation back in 1994.
We recently reviewed one of his books, “Eat To Beat Disease”.
He has another book that we haven’t reviewed at time of writing, “Eat To Beat Your Diet“, which you might like to check out.
What does he want us to know?
He wants us to know how to eat to beat cancer and other diseases, by means of five specific angles:
Angiogenesis
This is about replacing blood vessels, which of course happens all the time, but it becomes a problem when it is feeding a cancer in the process.
Here, based on Dr. Li’s work, is what can be done about it:
A List of Anti-Angiogenic Foods for a Cancer-Fighting Diet
Regeneration
Generally speaking, we want to replace healthy cells early, because if we wait until they get damaged, then that damage will be copied forwards. As well as intermittent fasting, there are other things we can do to promote this—even, Dr. Li’s research shows, for stem cells:
Doctor’s Tip: Regeneration (stem cells)—one of your body’s five defense systems
Microbiome health
Healthy gut, healthy rest of the body. We’ve written about this before:
Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later)
DNA protection
DNA gets unravelled and damaged with age, the telomere caps get shorter, and mistakes get copied forward. So there more we can protect our DNA, the longer we can live healthily. There are many ways to do this, but Dr. Li was one of the first to bring to light the DNA-protecting benefits of kiwi fruit:
Immunity
Paradoxically, what’s good for your immune system (making it stronger) also helps to protect against autoimmune diseases (for most people, for the most part).
In short: it’s good to have an immune system that’s powerful not just in its counterattacks, but also in its discerning nature. There are dietary and other lifestyle approaches to both, and they’re mostly the same things:
Beyond Supplements: The Real Immune-Boosters!
and thus see also:
Want to know more?
You might enjoy his blog or podcast, and here’s his TED talk:
Want to watch it, but not right now? Bookmark it for later
Enjoy!
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Beetroot or Brussels Sprouts – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing beetroot to Brussels sprouts, we picked the sprouts.
Why?
Both have their strong benefits, but this was still quite one-sided:
In terms of macros, beetroot has more carbs while the sprouts have more fiber and protein, making this an easy win for sprouts in this category.
In the category of vitamins, beetroot has a little more vitamin B9, while the sprouts have a lot more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, C, E, and K, once again winning by a country mile.
Looking at minerals next, beetroot is higher in copper, while the sprouts have more calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, for a third overwhelming win in a row.
In other considerations, both are abundant sources of polyphenols, and beetroot has betalains while sprouts have sulforaphane, both of which are great (see the “learn more” links below for details), so we’re calling this round a tie.
Adding up the sections makes for a very compelling overall win for Brussels sprouts, but do enjoy either or both, as diversity is great!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
- Beetroot For More Than Just Your Blood Pressure
- Sprouts & Sulforaphane ← this article talks mostly about broccoli sprouts rather than Brussels sprouts, but sprouts of any cultivar of Brassica oleracea (e.g. Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, etc) are great for sulforaphane
Enjoy!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
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