What’s Lurking In Your Household Air?
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As individuals, we can’t do much about the outside air. We can try to spend more time in green spaces* and away from traffic, and we can wear face-masks—as was popular in Tokyo and other such large cities long before the pandemic struck.
*The well-known mental health benefits aside (and contrary to British politician Amber Rudd’s famous assertion in a televised political debate that “clean air doesn’t grow on trees”), clean air comes mostly from trees—their natural process of respiration scrubs not only carbon dioxide, but also pollutants, from the air before releasing oxygen without the pollutants. Neat!
See also this study: Site new care homes near trees and away from busy roads to protect residents’ lungs
We are fortunate to be living in a world where most of us in industrialized countries can exercise a great degree of control over our home’s climate. But, what to do with all that power?
Temperature
Let’s start with the basics. Outside temperature may vary, but you probably have heating and air conditioning. There’s a simple answer here; the optimal temperature for human comfort and wellbeing is 20℃ / 68℉:
Scientists Identify a Universal Optimal Temperature For Life on Earth
Note: this does not mean that that is the ideal global average temperature, because that would mean the polar caps are completely gone, the methane stored there released, many large cities underwater, currently hot places will be too hot for human life (e.g. outside temperatures above human body temperature), there will be mass extinctions of many kinds of animals and plants, including those we humans require for survival, and a great proliferation of many bugs that will kill us. Basically we need diversity for the planet to survive, arctic through to tropical and yes, even deserts (deserts are important carbon sinks!). The ideal global average temperature is about 14℃ (we currently have about 15℃ and rising).
But, for setting the thermostat in your home, 20℃ / 68℉ is perfect for most people, though down as far as 17℃ / 61℉ is fine too, provided other things such as humidity are in order. In fact, for sleeping, 18℃ / 62℉ is ideal. This is because the cooler temperature is one of the several things that tell our brain it is nighttime now, and thus trigger secretion of melatonin.
If you’re wondering about temperatures and respiratory viruses, by the way, check out:
The Cold Truth About Respiratory Infections: The Pathogens That Came In From The Cold
Humidity
Most people pay more attention to the temperature in their home than the humidity, and the latter is just as important:
❝Conditions that fall outside of the optimal range of 40–60% can have significant impacts on health, including facilitating infectious transmission and exacerbating respiratory diseases.
When humidity is too low, it can cause dryness and irritation of the respiratory tract and skin, making individuals more susceptible to infections.
When humidity is too high, it can create a damp environment that encourages the growth of harmful microorganisms like mould, bacteria, and viruses.❞
~ Dr. Gabriella Guarnieri et al.
So, if your average indoor humidity falls outside of that range, consider getting a humidifier or dehumidifier, to correct it. Example items on Amazon, for your convenience:
Humidity monitor | Humidifier | Dehumidifier
See also, about a seriously underestimated killer:
Pneumonia: Prevention Is Better Than Cure
Now, one last component to deal with, for perfect indoor air:
Pollution
We tend to think of pollution as an outdoors thing, and indeed, the pollution in your home will (hopefully!) be lower than that of a busy traffic intersection. However…
- The air you have inside comes from outside, and that matters if you’re in an urban area
- Even in suburban and rural areas, general atmospheric pollutants will reach you, and if you’ve ever been subject to wildfire smoke, you’ll know that’s no fun either.
- Gas appliances in the home cause indoor pollution, even when carbon monoxide is within levels considered acceptable. This polluting effect is much stronger for open gas flames (such as on gas cookers/stoves, or gas fires), than for closed gas heating systems (such as a gas-powered boiler for central heating).
- Wood stoves/fireplaces are not an improvement, in fact they are worse, and don’t get us started on coal. You should not be breathing these things, and definitely should not be burning them in an enclosed space.
- That air conditioning, humidifier, dehumidifier? They may be great for temperature and humidity, but please clean/change the filter more often than you think is necessary, or things will grow there and then your device will be adding pathogens to the air as it goes.
- Plug-in air-freshening devices? They may smell clean, but they are effectively spraying cleaning fluids into your lungs. So please don’t.
So, what of air purifiers? They can definitely be of benefit. for example:
But watch out! Because if you don’t clean/change the filter regularly, guess what happens! That’s right, it’ll be colonized with bacteria/fungus and then be blowing those at you.
And no, not all of them will be visible to the naked eye:
Is Unnoticed Environmental Mold Harming Your Health?
Taking a holistic approach
The air is a very important factor for the health of your lungs (and thus, for the health of everything that’s fed oxygen by your lungs), but there are more things we can do as well:
Seven Things To Do For Good Lung Health!
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How climate change is fueling tickborne diseases and how to protect yourself
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What you need to know
- Some ticks carry dangerous diseases that can cause long-term health problems or even death.
- As global temperatures rise, ticks are spreading into new regions and putting more communities at risk.
- If a tick bites you, remove it with tweezers right away, then watch for symptoms like a rash, fever, or body aches.
Ticks are tiny parasites that typically feed on the blood of mammals, birds, and other animals. They live in many parts of the world, and some species can spread serious diseases. While most tick bites do not lead to illness, climate change is creating conditions that help ticks thrive—providing more opportunities for risky bites and infections.
Here’s what to know about symptoms and how to protect yourself.
How do ticks spread disease?
A tick latches onto a host—like a deer, bird, or person—and feeds on its blood through the skin. It can stay attached for hours or even days.
Not every tick carries germs. But in those that do, their saliva can contain bacteria, viruses, or parasites that enter the body while they feed.
What types of diseases can ticks spread?
Ticks can spread several illnesses, and most can be treated with medication when caught early. The most common tickborne disease in the U.S. is Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that can cause arthritis, brain swelling, or heart problems. In the U.S., about 476,000 people are treated for it each year. Early symptoms often include a rash that looks like a bullseye, fatigue, fever, headache, joint pain, and swollen lymph nodes.
Some tickborne diseases can be fatal if not treated quickly, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever (a bacterial infection), Powassan virus (which kills one in 10 people who develop severe symptoms), and babesiosis (a parasite that infects red blood cells). Older adults and people with weakened immune systems may face a higher risk of severe illness.
“Most [tickborne] diseases can lead to a variety of long-term health problems if not diagnosed and treated,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, tells Public Good News. “In up to 15 percent of patients with Lyme disease, musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties can persist for months or years, even after treatment (called post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome).”
A tick bite can also trigger other long-term health impacts, too, like alpha-gal syndrome, a lifelong allergy to red meat and some dairy products.
Why are tickborne diseases increasingly common?
Ticks are most active in warm months, typically April through September. But climate change is creating longer warm seasons and fewer hard freezes, allowing ticks to survive in more places and longer each year. As a result, more people are coming into contact with them.
What are the signs of a tickborne disease?
Common early symptoms of a tickborne disease may include:
- Rash
- Fever or chills
- Body aches
- Fatigue
What should I do if a tick bites me?
If you find a tick attached to your skin, remove it as soon as possible. The safest way to remove a tick is to grasp it with fine-tipped tweezers as close to the skin as possible. Then, pull the tick away from the skin without twisting.
Avoid crushing the tick with your fingers. Dispose of it by wrapping it in tape and throwing it away, flushing it down the toilet, or placing it in rubbing alcohol.
Clean the bite area with soap and water and watch for symptoms over the next several weeks.
If symptoms develop after spending time in a wooded or grassy area or after a confirmed or suspected tick bite, talk to a health care provider.
“The next steps may be further testing (e.g., antibody tests) and treatment with antibiotics [for a bacterial infection],” Chin-Hong says.
How can I prevent tickborne diseases?
Preventing tick bites is the best way to protect against tickborne diseases:
- Avoid wooded or grassy areas, and keep your pets out of these areas.
- If you plan to spend time outside, especially in areas with lots of trees and tall grass, wear long sleeves, long pants, tall socks, and a hat.
- Treat your outdoor clothing and shoes with permethrin, a long-lasting tick repellent for fabrics.
- Check yourself and your pets for ticks after outdoor activities. Remember that ticks can be very small and may hide behind knees, in armpits, on the scalp, or on pets’ ears and paws.
- Remove ticks as soon as possible.
For more information about symptoms or prevention, talk to your health care provider.
This article first appeared on Public Good News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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Managing [E-word] Dysfunction Reactions
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It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!
In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!
As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!
So, no question/request too big or small
We had several requests pertaining to veganism, meatless mondays, and substitutions in recipes—so we’re going to cover those on a different day!
As for questions we’re answering today…
Q: Information on [e-word] dysfunction for those who have negative reactions to [the most common medications]?
When it comes to that particular issue, one or more of these three factors are often involved:
- Hormones
- Circulation
- Psychology
The most common drugs (that we can’t name here) work on the circulation side of things—specifically, by increasing the localized blood pressure. The exact mechanism of this drug action is interesting, albeit beyond the scope of a quick answer here today. On the other hand, the way that they work can cause adverse blood-pressure-related side effects for some people; perhaps you’re one of them.
To take matters into your own hands, so to speak, you can address each of those three things we just mentioned:
Hormones
Ask your doctor (or a reputable phlebotomy service) for a hormone test. If your free/serum testosterone levels are low (which becomes increasingly common in men over the age of 45), they may prescribe something—such as testosterone shots—specifically for that.
This way, it treats the underlying cause, rather than offering a workaround like those common pills whose names we can’t mention here.
Circulation
Look after your heart health; eat for your heart health, and exercise regularly!
Cold showers/baths also work wonders for vascular tone—which is precisely what you need in this matter. By rapidly changing temperatures (such as by turning off the hot water for the last couple of minutes of your shower, or by plunging into a cold bath), your blood vessels will get practice at constricting and maintaining that constriction as necessary.
Psychology
[E-word] dysfunction can also have a psychological basis. Unfortunately, this can also then be self-reinforcing, if recalling previous difficulties causes you to get distracted/insecure and lose the moment. One of the best things you can do to get out of this catch-22 situation is to not worry about it in the moment. Depending on what you and your partner(s) like to do in bed, there are plenty of other equally respectable options, so just switch track!
Having a conversation about this in advance will probably be helpful, so that everyone’s on the same page of the script in that eventuality, and it becomes “no big deal”. Without that conversation, misunderstandings and insecurities could arise for your partner(s) as well as yourself (“aren’t I desirable enough?” etc).
So, to recap, we recommend:
- Have your hormones checked
- Look after your circulation
- Make the decision to have fun!
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Sharper Minder & Body In 3 Weeks With 1 Supplement
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We’ve written before about supplements that can boost cognitive performance and often physical performance too, for example:
- Bacopa Monnieri: Bacopa Monnieri: A Well-Evidenced Cognitive Enhancer
- Citicoline: Citicoline: Better Than Dietary Choline?
- Creatine: Creatine: Very Different For Young & Old People
- Lemon Balm: Lemon Balm For Stressful Times And More
- Lion’s Mane: What Does Lion’s Mane Mushroom Actually Do, Anyway?
- L-Theanine: L-Theanine: What’s The Tea?
- Phosphatidylserine: How To Rebuild Your Neurons’ Myelin Sheaths
And those are all great, but today we’ll be looking at something in quite a different category, insofar as it has only one mechanism of action (which should be enough for you to guess what it is):
The pill that’ll please
Researchers (Dr. Diletta Barbiani et al.) researchers tested whether a placebo—either deceptive or openly acknowledged—could improve cognitive, physical, and psychological function in older adults over 3 weeks.
Placebo (which word is Latin for “I will please”) is popularly misunderstood, and understandably so, as it was never conceived with this sort of purpose in mind. Its original purpose was to placate patients who wanted medical attention but for whom the doctor felt sure nothing was really wrong.
Nowadays, people think of the placebo effect as “imagining things”, but it’s not, it’s about the real measurable effect that placebo has on our body and its systems. Of course, placebo will work better for some things than others. It’s typically much better at reducing pain than it is at regrowing limbs, for example. But its effects can go far beyond the subjective—it can cause skin conditions to clear up, and cancers to shrink away. Not by magic, but because of how our own physiology adapted to deliver the expected result.
That said, it can fail too, so please don’t rely on placebo alone, especially if it’s something critical/existential!
Back to Dr. Barbiani’s study: 90 healthy adults aged 65–90 were randomized into three groups (no treatment, deceptive placebo, and open-label placebo) and completed both self-reports and objective tests before and after the intervention.
Those groups were necessary because of otherwise running into a similar problem to: How Does One Test Acupuncture Against Placebo Anyway?
In this case (Dr. Barbiani’s study), for clarity:
- Deceptive placebo = the participants taking this were told it did contain an active ingredient that will improve various metrics of their health
- Open-label placebo = the participants taking this were told that it was placebo, and/but that as such, it can still be beneficial to the health in various ways
And the results?
- Cognitive gains: memory and attention improved by 14.6% in the deceptive placebo group and 21.5% in the open-label placebo group
- Physical gains: physical performance increased by 7% in the deceptive placebo group and 9.2% in the open-label placebo group
- Stress reduction: the open-label placebo group showed a clear reduction in perceived stress compared with both other groups
You can read the paper in full, here: Placebo mechanisms in aging: A randomized controlled trial comparing deceptive and open-label placebos on psychological, cognitive, and physical functioning in older adults
Want to learn more?
For our own main feature on the placebo effect, see:
How To Leverage Placebo Effect For Yourself
Enjoy!
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Don’t Do *This* If You’re Over 50 (And Want Better Sleep)
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Dr. Michael Breus, sleep specialist, explains:
Don’t make these mistakes
Dr. Breus recommends avoiding…
- Misusing magnesium: magnesium is a helpful sleep aid but must be carefully monitored. Recommended doses are 250mg for women and 300–350 mg for men, with slight adjustments for hot climates or active lifestyles. Overdosing can cause stomach issues, diarrhea, and dehydration, disrupting sleep. He recommends starting with magnesium glycinate for fewer stomach issues, and later mix with magnesium citrate. Always check supplements to avoid excessive magnesium intake.
- Misusing melatonin: melatonin production declines after age 55–60, making low-dose supplementation (0.5–1 mg) beneficial. He recommends, however, avoiding high doses (3–10mg), and he recommends to take it 90 minutes before bedtime. Melatonin interacts with some medications (including some meds for blood pressure or depression), so consult a pharmacist before use to avoid risks like serotonin syndrome.
- Going to bed too early: going to bed too early disrupts circadian rhythms and reduces sleep drive, causing earlier waking. Now, being an “early bird” is a generally healthy thing, but if you’re already getting up at 5am, say, you probably want your schedule to not continue to creep further forwards until you become nocturnal. Set a consistent wake-up time and count 7.5 hours backward (plus a set time to fall asleep, e.g. 20 minutes, but you’ll know what it is for you) to determine bedtime.
- Excessive caffeine consumption: from the heading, it may seem like a no-brainer, but older adults metabolize caffeine 33% slower on average, prolonging its effects. Dr. Breus recommends to reduce intake with “caffeine fading,” switching to half-caffeinated coffee for a while and then considering transitioning to decaf. He also suggests enjoying increasingly lower-caffeine teas, like black tea in the morning, matcha in the afternoon, and herbal tea at night to reduce caffeine’s impact on sleep.
- Falling foul of serotonin: avoid taking 5-HTP supplements with SSRI antidepressants like Prozac or Zoloft due to the risk of serotonin syndrome.
- Consider checking for physical problems: if you regularly wake up tired and/or groggy (despite having ostensibly had enough sleep, and there not being a pharmaceutical explanation for your grogginess), consider screening for sleep apnea. Home sleep tests are a convenient way to identify and treat this common but often undiagnosed condition.
For more on each of these, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
How to Fall Asleep Faster: CBT-Insomnia Treatment
Take care!
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‘Sleep tourism’ promises the trip of your dreams. Beyond the hype plus 5 tips for a holiday at home
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Imagine arriving at your hotel after a long flight and being greeted by your own personal sleep butler. They present you with a pillow menu and invite you to a sleep meditation session later that day.
You unpack in a room kitted with an AI-powered smart bed, blackout shades, blue light-blocking glasses and weighted blankets.
Holidays are traditionally for activities or sightseeing – eating Parisian pastry under the Eiffel tower, ice skating at New York City’s Rockefeller Centre, lying by the pool in Bali or sipping limoncello in Sicily. But “sleep tourism” offers vacations for the sole purpose of getting good sleep.
The emerging trend extends out of the global wellness tourism industry – reportedly worth more than US$800 billion globally (A$1.2 trillion) and expected to boom.
Luxurious sleep retreats and sleep suites at hotels are popping up all over the world for tourists to get some much-needed rest, relaxation and recovery. But do you really need to leave home for some shuteye?
RossHelen/Shutterstock Not getting enough
The rise of sleep tourism may be a sign of just how chronically sleep deprived we all are.
In Australia more than one-third of adults are not achieving the recommended 7–9 hours of sleep per night, and the estimated cost of this inadequate sleep is A$45 billion each year.
Inadequate sleep is linked to long-term health problems including poor mental health, heart disease, metabolic disease and deaths from any cause.
Can a fancy hotel give you a better sleep?
Many of the sleep services available in the sleep tourism industry aim to optimise the bedroom for sleep. This is a core component of sleep hygiene – a series of healthy sleep practices that facilitate good sleep including sleeping in a comfortable bedroom with a good mattress and pillow, sleeping in a quiet environment and relaxing before bed.
The more people follow sleep hygiene practices, the better their sleep quality and quantity.
When we are staying in a hotel we are also likely away from any stressors we encounter in everyday life (such as work pressure or caring responsibilities). And we’re away from potential nighttime disruptions to sleep we might experience at home (the construction work next door, restless pets, unsettled children). So regardless of the sleep features hotels offer, it is likely we will experience improved sleep when we are away.
Being away from home also means being away from domestic disruptions. Makistock/Shutterstock What the science says about catching up on sleep
In the short-term, we can catch up on sleep. This can happen, for example, after a short night of sleep when our brain accumulates “sleep pressure”. This term describes how strong the biological drive for sleep is. More sleep pressure makes it easier to sleep the next night and to sleep for longer.
But while a longer sleep the next night can relieve the sleep pressure, it does not reverse the effects of the short sleep on our brain and body. Every night’s sleep is important for our body to recover and for our brain to process the events of that day. Spending a holiday “catching up” on sleep could help you feel more rested, but it is not a substitute for prioritising regular healthy sleep at home.
All good things, including holidays, must come to an end. Unfortunately the perks of sleep tourism may end too.
Our bodies do not like variability in the time of day that we sleep. The most common example of this is called “social jet lag”, where weekday sleep (getting up early to get to work or school) is vastly different to weekend sleep (late nights and sleep ins). This can result in a sleepy, grouchy start to the week on Monday. Sleep tourism may be similar, if you do not come back home with the intention to prioritise sleep.
So we should be mindful that as well as sleeping well on holiday, it is important to optimise conditions at home to get consistent, adequate sleep every night.
Good sleep hygiene doesn’t require a passport. Maridav/Shutterstock 5 tips for having a sleep holiday at home
An AI-powered mattress and a sleep butler at home might be the dream. But these features are not the only way we can optimise our sleep environment and give ourselves the best chance to get a good night’s sleep. Here are five ideas to start the night right:
1. avoid bright artificial light in the evening (such as bright overhead lights, phones, laptops)
2. make your bed as comfortable as possible with fresh pillows and a supportive mattress
3. use black-out window coverings and maintain a cool room temperature for the ideal sleeping environment
4. establish an evening wind-down routine, such as a warm shower and reading a book before bed or even a “sleepy girl mocktail”
5. use consistency as the key to a good sleep routine. Aim for a similar bedtime and wake time – even on weekends.
Charlotte Gupta, Senior postdoctoral research fellow, Appleton Institute, HealthWise research group, CQUniversity Australia and Dean J. Miller, Adjunct Research Fellow, Appleton Institute of Behavioural Science, CQUniversity Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Chickpeas vs Mung Beans – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing chickpeas to mung beans, we picked the chickpeas.
Why?
Both are great! But there’s a clear winner here:
In terms of macros, chickpeas have more protein, carbs, and fiber, as well as the lower glycemic index. The difference is very small, but it’s a nominal win for chickpeas.
When it comes to vitamins, chickpeas have more of vitamins A, B2, B6, B9, C, E, K, and choline, while mung beans have more of vitamins B1, B3, and B5. Again the differences aren’t huge, but by strength of numbers they’re in chickpeas’ favor, so it’s another win for chickpeas here.
In the category of minerals, chickpeas have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while mung beans are not higher in any mineral. An easy win for chickpeas on this one.
Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for chickpeas, but by all means enjoy either or both; diversity is good!
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
Plant vs Animal Protein: Head to Head
Enjoy!
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