Meditations for Mortals – by Oliver Burkeman

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We previously reviewed this author’s “Four Thousand Weeks”, but for those who might have used a lot of those four thousand weeks already, and would like to consider things within a smaller timeframe for now, this work is a 28-day daily reader.

Now, daily readers are usually 366 days, but the chapters here are not the single page chapters that 366-page daily readers usually have. So, expect to invest a little more time per day (say, about 6 pages for each daily chapter).

Burkeman does not start the way we might expect, by telling us to take the time to smell the roses. Instead, he starts by examining the mistakes that most of us make most of the time, often due to unexamined assumptions about the world and how it works. Simply put, we’ve often received bad lessons in life (usually not explicitly, but rather, from our environments), and it takes some unpacking first to deal with that.

Nor is the book systems-based, as many books that get filed under “time management” may be, but rather, is simply principles-based. This is a strength, because principles are a lot easier to keep to than systems.

The writing style is direct and conversational, and neither overly familiar nor overly academic. It strikes a very comfortably readable balance.

Bottom line: if you’d like to get the most out of your days, this book can definitely help improve things a lot.

Click here to check out Meditations For Mortals, and live fulfilling days!

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    Neuroscientist Dr. Daniel Levitin reveals the surprising benefits of aging brains, from rewiring through neuroplasticity to promoting neurogenesis. Get the most out of your wizening brain with this practical how-to manual.

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  • Hummus vs Guacamole – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing hummus to guacamole, we picked the guacamole.

    Why?

    First up, let’s assume that the standards are comparable, for example that both have been made with simple whole foods. The hummus is mostly chickpeas with tahini and a little olive oil and some seasoning; the guacamole is mostly avocado with a little lime juice and some seasoning.

    In terms of macronutrients, hummus has slightly more protein and fiber, 2x the carbohydrates (but they are healthy carbs), and usually slightly less fat (but the fats are healthy in both cases).

    In terms of micronutrients, the hummus is rich in iron and B vitamins, and the guacamole is rich in potassium, magnesium, vitamins C, E, and K.

    So far, it’s pretty much tied. What else is there to consider?

    We picked the guacamole because some of its nutrients (especially the potassium, magnesium, and vitamin K) are more common deficiencies in most people’s diets than iron and B vitamins. So, on average, it’s probably the one with the nutrients that you need more of at any given time.

    So, it was very very close, and it came down to the above as the deciding factor.

    However!

    • If you like one and not the other? Eat that one; it’s good.
    • If you like both but feel like eating one of them in particular? Eat that one; your body is probably needing those nutrients more right now.
    • If you are catering for a group of people? Serve both!
    • If you are catering for just yourself and would enjoy both? Serve both! There’s nobody to stop you!

    Want to read more?

    You might like: Avocado Oil vs Olive Oil – Which is Healthier?

    Enjoy!

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  • What to Know About Stillbirths

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    Series: Stillbirths:When Babies Die Before Taking Their First Breath

    The U.S. has not prioritized stillbirth prevention, and American parents are losing babies even as other countries make larger strides to reduce deaths late in pregnancy.

    Every year, more than 20,000 pregnancies in the U.S. end in a stillbirth, the death of an expected child at 20 weeks or more of pregnancy. Research shows as many as 1 in 4 stillbirths may be preventable. We interviewed dozens of parents of stillborn children who said their health care providers did not tell them about risk factors or explain what to watch for while pregnant. They said they felt blindsided by what followed. They did not have the information needed to make critical decisions about what happened with their baby’s body, about what additional testing could have been done to help determine what caused the stillbirth, or about how to navigate the process of requesting important stillbirth documents.

    This guide is meant to help fill the void of information on stillbirths. It’s based on more than 150 conversations with parents, health care providers, researchers and other medical experts.

    Whether you’re trying to better prepare for a pregnancy or grieving a loss, we hope this will help you and your family. This guide does not provide medical advice. We encourage you to seek out other reliable resources and consult with providers you trust.

    We welcome your thoughts and questions at mailto:stillbirth@propublica.org. You can share your experience with stillbirth with us. If you are a health care provider interested in distributing this guide, let us know if we can help.

    Table of contents:

    What Is Stillbirth?

    Many people told us that the first time they heard the term stillbirth was after they delivered their stillborn baby. In many cases, the lack of information and awareness beforehand contributed to their heartache and guilt afterward.

    Stillbirth is defined in the U.S. as the death of a baby in the womb at 20 weeks or more of pregnancy. Depending on when it happens, stillbirth is considered:

    • Early: 20-27 weeks of pregnancy.
    • Late: 28-36 weeks of pregnancy.
    • Term: 37 or more weeks of pregnancy.

    About half of all stillbirths in the U.S. occur at 28 weeks or later.

    What is the difference between a stillbirth and a miscarriage?

    Both terms describe pregnancy loss. The distinction is when the loss occurs. A miscarriage is typically defined as a loss before the 20th week of pregnancy, while stillbirth is after that point.

    How common is stillbirth?

    Each year, about 1 in 175 deliveries in the U.S. are stillbirths — that’s about 60 stillborn babies every day — making it one of the most common adverse pregnancy outcomes, but it is rarely discussed.

    If you are surprised by that fact, you are not alone. Many people we spoke to did not know how common stillbirths are. Leandria Lee of Texas said she spent her 2021 pregnancy unaware that her daughter, Zuri Armoni, could die in the last phase of her pregnancy.

    “If I was prepared to know that something could happen, I don’t think it would have been as bad. But to not know and then it happens, it affects you,” she said of her stillbirth at 35 weeks.

    Some doctors have told us they don’t introduce the possibility of a stillbirth because they don’t want to create additional anxiety for patients.

    Other doctors say withholding information leaves patients unprepared.

    “We have this idea that we can’t scare the patient, which to me is very paternalistic,” said Dr. Heather Florescue, an OB-GYN near Rochester, New York, who works to inform doctors and patients about stillbirth prevention.

    What causes stillbirths?

    There is a lot we don’t know about stillbirths because there hasn’t been enough research. The cause of the stillbirth is unknown in about 1 in 3 cases.

    What we do know is that a number of factors may cause or increase the risk of a stillbirth, including:

    • The baby not growing as expected.
    • Placental abnormalities or problems with the umbilical cord.
    • Genetic or structural disorders that cause developmental issues.
    • High blood pressure before pregnancy or preeclampsia, a potentially fatal complication that usually appears late in pregnancy and causes high blood pressure.
    • Diabetes before or during pregnancy.
    • An infection in the fetus, the placenta or the pregnant person.
    • Smoking.
    • Being 35 or older.
    • Obesity.
    • Being pregnant with more than one baby.

    But not all doctors, hospitals or health departments perform tests to identify the potential cause of a stillbirth or determine if it could have been prevented. Even when a cause is identified, fetal death records are rarely updated. This means data is sometimes inaccurate. Researchers strongly encourage doctors to perform a stillbirth evaluation, which includes an examination of the placenta and umbilical cord, a fetal autopsy and genetic testing.

    If your hospital or doctor does not proactively offer one or more of these exams, you can ask them to conduct the tests. Research shows that placental exams may help establish a cause of death or exclude a suspected one in about 65% of stillbirths, while autopsies were similarly useful in more than 40% of cases.

    Are Stillbirths Preventable?

    Not all stillbirths are preventable, but some are. For pregnancies that last 37 weeks or more, one study found that nearly half of stillbirths are potentially preventable.

    Dr. Joanne Stone, who last year was president of the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, leads the country’s first Rainbow Clinic at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. The clinic is modeled on similar facilities in the United Kingdom that care for people who want to conceive again after a stillbirth. She said many doctors used to think there was nothing they could do to prevent stillbirth.

    “People just looked at it like, ‘Oh, it was an accident, couldn’t have been prevented,’” said Stone, who also is the system chair of the obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science department at the Icahn School of Medicine. “But we know now there are things that we can do to try to prevent that from happening.”

    She said doctors can:

    • More closely monitor patients with certain risk factors, like high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity.
    • Ask about prior infant loss or other obstetrical trauma.
    • Carefully assess whether a baby’s growth is normal.
    • Work to diagnose genetic anomalies.
    • Teach patients how to track their baby’s movements and encourage them to speak up if they notice activity has slowed or stopped.
    • Deliver at or before 39 weeks if there are concerns.

    What are the risks of stillbirth over the course of a pregnancy?

    The risk of a stillbirth increases significantly toward the end of pregnancy, especially after 39 weeks. The risk is higher for people who get pregnant at 35 or older. The risk begins to climb even earlier, around 36 weeks, for people pregnant with twins.

    What you and your doctor can do to reduce the risk of stillbirth.

    While federal agencies in the U.S. have yet to come up with a checklist that may help reduce the risk of stillbirth, the Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence in Australia has adopted a Safer Baby Bundle that lists five recommendations:

    1. Stop smoking.
    2. Regularly monitor growth to reduce the risk of fetal growth restriction, when the fetus is not growing as expected.
    3. Understand the importance of acting quickly if fetal movement decreases.
    4. Sleep on your side after 28 weeks.
    5. Talk to your doctor about when to deliver. Depending on your situation, it may be before your due date.

    The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has compiled a list of tests and techniques doctors can use to try to reduce the risk of a stillbirth. They include:

    • A risk assessment to identify prenatal needs.
    • A nonstresstest, which checks the fetus’s heart rate and how it changes as the fetus moves.
    • A biophysical profile, which is done with an ultrasound to measure body movement, muscle tone and breathing, along with amniotic fluid volume.

    The group stressed that there is no test that can guarantee a stillbirth won’t happen and that individual circumstances should determine what tests are run.

    Are some people at higher risk for stillbirth?

    Black women are more than twice as likely to have a stillbirth as white women. There are a number of possible explanations for that disparity, including institutional bias and structural racism, and a patient’s pre-pregnancy health, socioeconomic status and access to health care. In addition, research shows that Black women are more likely than white women to experience multiple stressful life events while pregnant and have their concerns ignored by their health care provider. Similar racial disparities drive the country’s high rate of maternal mortality.

    How to find a provider you trust.

    Finding a doctor to care for you during your pregnancy can be a daunting process. Medical experts and parents suggest interviewing prospective providers before you decide on the right one.

    Here is a short list of questions you might want to ask a potential OB-GYN:

    • What is the best way to contact you if I have questions or concerns?
    • How do you manage inquiries after hours and on weekends? Do you see walk-ins?
    • How do you manage prenatal risk assessments?
    • What should I know about the risks of a miscarriage or stillbirth?
    • How do you decide when a patient should be induced?

    If a provider doesn’t answer your questions to your satisfaction, don’t be reluctant to move on. Dr. Ashanda Saint Jean, chair of the obstetrics and gynecology department at HealthAlliance Hospitals of the Hudson Valley in New York, said she encourages her patients to find the provider that meets their needs.

    “Seek out someone that is like-minded,” said Saint Jean “It doesn’t have to be that they’re the same ethnicity or the same race, but like-minded in terms of the goals of what that patient desires for their own health and prosperity.”

    What to know in the last trimester.

    The last trimester can be an uncomfortable and challenging time as the fetus grows and you get increasingly tired. During this critical time, your provider should talk to you about the following topics:

    • Whether you need a nonstress test to determine if the fetus is getting enough oxygen.
    • The best way to track fetal movements.
    • What to do if your baby stops moving.
    • Whether you are at risk for preeclampsia or gestational diabetes.

    Rachel Foran’s child, Eoin Francis, was stillborn at 41 weeks and two days. Foran, who lives in New York, said she believes that if her doctor had tracked her placenta, and if she had understood the importance of fetal movement, she and her husband might have decided to deliver sooner.

    She remembers that her son was “very active” until the day before he was stillborn.

    “I would have gone in earlier if someone had told me, ‘You’re doing this because the baby could die,’” she said of tracking fetal movement. “That would have been really helpful to know.”

    Researchers are looking at the best way to measure the health, blood flow and size of the placenta, but studies are still in their early stages.

    “If someone had been doing that with my son’s,” Foran said, “my son would be alive.”

    A placental exam and an autopsy showed that a small placenta contributed to Foran’s stillbirth.

    How often should you feel movement?

    Every baby and each pregnancy are different, so it is important to get to know what levels of activity are normal for you. You might feel movement around 20 weeks. You’re more likely to feel movement when you’re sitting or lying down. Paying attention to movement during the third trimester is particularly important because research shows that changes, including decreased movement or bursts of excessive activity, are associated with an increased risk of stillbirth. Most of the time, it’s nothing. But sometimes it can be a sign that your baby is in distress. If you’re worried, don’t rely on a home fetal doppler to reassure you. Reach out to your doctor.

    Saint Jean offers a tip to track movement: “I still tell patients each day to lay on their left side after dinner and record how many times their baby moves, because then that will give you an idea of what’s normal for your baby,” she said.

    Other groups recommend using the Count the Kicks app as a way of tracking fetal movements and establishing what is normal for that pregnancy. Although there is no scientific consensus that counting kicks can prevent stillbirths, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other groups recommend that patients be aware of fetal movement patterns.

    Dr. Karen Gibbins is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Oregon Health & Science University who in 2018 had stillborn son named Sebastian. She said the idea that babies don’t move as much at the end of pregnancy is a dangerous myth.

    “You might hear that babies slow down at the end,” she said. “They don’t slow down. They just have a little less space. So their movements are a little different, but they should be as strong and as frequent.”

    What to Expect After a Stillbirth

    What might happen at the hospital?

    Parents are often asked to make several important decisions while they are still reeling from the shock and devastation of their loss. It’s completely understandable if you need to take some time to consider them.

    Some other things you can ask for (if medical personnel don’t offer them) are:

    • Blood work, a placental exam, an autopsy and genetic testing.
    • A social worker or counselor, bereavement resources and religious or chaplain support.
    • The option to be isolated from the labor rooms.
    • Someone to take photos of you and your baby, typically either a nurse or an outside group.
    • A small cooling cot that allows parents to spend more time with their babies after a stillbirth. If one is not available, you can ask for ice packs to put in the swaddle or the bassinet.
    • A mold of your baby’s hands and feet.
    • Information about burial or cremation services.
    • Guidance on what to do if your milk comes in.

    Getting an autopsy after a stillbirth.

    Whether to have an autopsy is a personal decision. It may not reveal a cause of death, but it might provide important information about your stillbirth and contribute to broader stillbirth research. Autopsies can be useful if you are considering another pregnancy in the future. Families also told us that an autopsy can help parents feel they did everything they could to try to understand why their baby died.

    But several families told us their health care providers didn’t provide them with the right information to help with that decision. Some aren’t trained in the advantages of conducting an autopsy after a stillbirth, or in when and how to sensitively communicate with parents about it. Some, for example, don’t explain that patients can still have an open-casket funeral or other service after an autopsy because the incisions can easily be covered by clothing. Others may not encourage an autopsy because they think they already know what caused the stillbirth or don’t believe anything could have been done to prevent it. In addition, not all hospitals have the capacity to do an autopsy, but there may be private autopsy providers that can perform one at an additional cost.

    You can read more about autopsies in our reporting.

    Paying for an autopsy after a stillbirth.

    If you decide you want an autopsy, you may wonder whether you need to pay out-of-pocket for it. Several families told us their providers gave them incomplete or incorrect information. Many larger or academic hospitals offer autopsies at no cost to patients. Some insurance companies also cover the cost of an autopsy after a stillbirth.

    When hospitals don’t provide an autopsy, they may give you names of private providers. That was the case for Rachel Foran. The hospital gave her and her husband a list of numbers to call if they wanted to pay for an autopsy themselves. The process, she said, shocked her.

    “I had just delivered and we had to figure out what to do with his body,” Foran said. “It felt totally insane that that was what we had to do and that we had to figure it out on our own.”

    An independent autopsy, records show, cost them $5,000.

    What is a certificate of stillbirth and how do I get one?

    A fetal death certificate is the official legal document that records the death. This is the document used to gather data on and track the number of stillbirths in the country. Many states also issue a certificate of stillbirth or a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth, which acknowledge the baby’s birth. Families told us they appreciated having that document, since typical birth certificates are not issued for stillbirths. You can usually request a certificate from the vital records office.

    Grieving After a Stillbirth

    What are the effects of stillbirths on parents and families?

    Over and over, families told us the effects of losing a baby can reverberate for a lifetime.

    Bereavement support groups may help provide a space to share experiences and resources. Hospitals and birth centers may suggest a local grief group.

    We talked with Anna Calix, a maternal health expert who became active in perinatal loss prevention after her son Liam was stillborn on his due date in 2016. Calix leads grief support groups for people of color in English and Spanish.

    She suggested rededicating the time you would have spent taking care of a new baby to the grief process.

    “You can do that by addressing your own thoughts and feelings and really experiencing those feelings,” Calix said. “We like to push those feelings away or try to do something to distract and avoid, but no matter what we do, the feelings are there.”

    It’s important, she said, to give yourself permission to grow your connection with your child and work through thoughts of guilt or blame.

    What You Might Say and Do After a Loved One Experiences a Stillbirth

    Finding the right words can be difficult. The following are a few suggestions from parents who went through a stillbirth.

    Helpful:

    • Acknowledge the loss and offer condolences.
    • Ask if the baby was named and use the name.
    • Allow space for the family to talk about their baby.

    Unhelpful:

    • Avoid talking about the baby.
    • Minimize the loss or compare experiences.
    • Start statements with “at least.”

    Suggested phrases to avoid:

    • “You’re young. You can have more kids.”
    • “At least you have other children.”
    • “These things just happen.”
    • “Your baby is in a better place now.”

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  • AI: The Doctor That Never Tires?

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    AI: The Doctor That Never Tires?

    We asked you for your opinion on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare, and got the above-depicted, below-described set of results:

    • A little over half of respondents to the poll voted for “It speeds up research, and is more methodical about diagnosis, so it’s at least a good extra tool”
    • A quarter of respondents voted for “I’m on the fence—it seems to make no more nor less mistakes than human doctors do”
    • A little under a fifth of respondents voted for “AI is less prone to fatigue/bias than human doctors, making it an essential new tech”
    • Three respondents voted for “AI is a step too far in medical technology, and we’re not ready for it”

    Writer’s note: I’m a professional writer (you’d never have guessed, right?) and, apparently, I really did write “no more nor less mistakes”, despite the correct grammar being “no more nor fewer mistakes”. Now, I know this, and in fact, people getting less/fewer wrong is a pet hate of mine. Nevertheless, I erred.

    Yet, now that I’m writing this out in my usual software, and not directly into the poll-generation software, my (AI!) grammar/style-checker is highlighting the error for me.

    Now, an AI could not do my job. ChatGPT would try, and fail miserably. But can technology help me do mine better? Absolutely!

    And still, I dismiss a lot of the AI’s suggestions, because I know my field and can make informed choices. I don’t follow it blindly, and I think that’s key.

    AI is less prone to fatigue/bias than human doctors, making it an essential new tech: True or False?

    True—with one caveat.

    First, a quick anecdote from a subscriber who selected this option in the poll:

    ❝As long as it receives the same data inputs as my doctor (ie my entire medical history), I can see it providing a much more personalised service than my human doctor who is always forgetting what I have told him. I’m also concerned that my doctor may be depressed – not an ailment that ought to affect AI! I recently asked my newly qualified doctor goddaughter whether she would prefer to be treated by a human or AI doctor. No contest, she said – she’d go with AI. Her argument was that human doctors leap to conclusions, rather than properly weighing all the evidence – meaning AI, as long as it receives the same inputs, will be much more reliable❞

    Now, an anecdote is not data, so what does the science say?

    Well… It says the same:

    ❝Of 6695 responding physicians in active practice, 6586 provided information on the areas of interest: 3574 (54.3%) reported symptoms of burnout, 2163 (32.8%) reported excessive fatigue, and 427 (6.5%) reported recent suicidal ideation, with 255 of 6563 (3.9%) reporting a poor or failing patient safety grade in their primary work area and 691 of 6586 (10.5%) reporting a major medical error in the prior 3 months. Physicians reporting errors were more likely to have symptoms of burnout (77.6% vs 51.5%; P<.001), fatigue (46.6% vs 31.2%; P<.001), and recent suicidal ideation (12.7% vs 5.8%; P<.001).❞

    See the damning report for yourself: Physician Burnout, Well-being, and Work Unit Safety Grades in Relationship to Reported Medical Errors

    AI, of course, does not suffer from burnout, fatigue, or suicidal ideation.

    So, what was the caveat?

    The caveat is about bias. Humans are biased, and that goes for medical practitioners just the same. AI’s machine learning is based on source data, and the source data comes from humans, who are biased.

    See: Bias and Discrimination in AI: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective

    So, AI can perpetuate human biases and doesn’t have a special extra strength in this regard.

    The lack of burnout, fatigue, and suicidal ideation, however, make a big difference.

    AI speeds up research, and is more methodical about diagnosis: True or False?

    True! AI is getting more and more efficient at this, and as has been pointed out, doesn’t make errors due to fatigue, and often comes to accurate conclusions near-instantaneously. To give just one example:

    ❝Deep learning algorithms achieved better diagnostic performance than a panel of 11 pathologists participating in a simulation exercise designed to mimic routine pathology workflow; algorithm performance was comparable with an expert pathologist interpreting whole-slide images without time constraints. The area under the curve was 0.994 (best algorithm) vs 0.884 (best pathologist).❞

    Read: Diagnostic Assessment of Deep Learning Algorithms for Detection of Lymph Node Metastases in Women With Breast Cancer

    About that “getting more and more efficient at this”; it’s in the nature of machine learning that every new piece of data improves the neural net being used. So long as it is getting fed new data, which it can process at rate far exceeding humans’ abilities, it will always be constantly improving.

    AI makes no more nor less fewer mistakes than humans do: True or False?

    False! AI makes fewer, now. This study is from 2021, and it’s only improved since then:

    ❝Professionals only came to the same conclusions [as each other] approximately 75 per cent of the time. More importantly, machine learning produced fewer decision-making errors than did all the professionals❞

    See: AI can make better clinical decisions than humans: study

    All that said, we’re not quite at Star Trek levels of “AI can do a human’s job entirely” just yet:

    BMJ | Artificial intelligence versus clinicians: pros and cons

    To summarize: medical AI is a powerful tool that:

    • Makes healthcare more accessible
    • Speeds up diagnosis
    • Reduces human error

    …and yet, for now at least, still requires human oversights, checks and balances.

    Essentially: it’s not really about humans vs machines at all. It’s about humans and machines giving each other information, and catching any mistakes made by the other. That way, humans can make more informed decisions, and still keep a “hand on the wheel”.

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  • Are Supplements Worth Taking?

    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.

    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

    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 😎

    ❝There seems to be a lot of suggestions to take supplements for every thing, from your head to your toes. I know it’s up to the individual but what are the facts or stats to support taking them versus not?❞

    Short answer:

    • supplementary vitamins and minerals are probably neither needed nor beneficial for most (more on this later) people, with the exception of vitamin D which most people over a certain age need unless they are white and getting a lot of sun.
    • other kinds of supplement can be very beneficial or useless, depending on what they are, of course, and also your own personal physiology.

    With regard to vitamins and minerals, in most cases they should be covered by a healthy balanced diet, and the bioavailability is usually better from food anyway (bearing in mind, we say vitamin such-and-such, or name an elemental mineral, but there are usually multiple, often many, forms of each—and supplements will usually use whatever is cheapest to produce and most chemically stable).

    However! It is also quite common for food to be grown in whatever way is cheapest and produces the greatest visible yield, rather than for micronutrient coverage.

    This goes for most if not all plants, and it goes extra for animals (because of the greater costs and inefficiencies involved in rearing animals).

    We wrote about this a while back in a mythbusting edition of 10almonds, covering:

    • Food is less nutritious now than it used to be: True or False?
    • Supplements aren’t absorbed properly and thus are a waste of money: True or False?
    • We can get everything we need from our diet: True or False?

    You can read the answers and explanations, and see the science that we presented, here:

    Do We Need Supplements, And Do They Work?

    You may be wondering: what was that about “most (more on this later) people”?

    Sometimes someone will have a nutrient deficiency that can’t be easily remedied with diet. Often this occurs when their body:

    1. has trouble absorbing that nutrient, or
    2. does something inconvenient with it that makes a lot of it unusable when it gets it.

    …which is why calcium, iron, vitamin B12, and vitamin D are quite common supplements to get prescribed by doctors after a certain age.

    Still, it’s best to try getting things from one’s diet first all of all, of course.

    Things we can’t (reasonably) get from food

    This is another category entirely. There are many supplements that are convenient forms of things readily found in a lot of food, such as vitamins and minerals, or phytochemicals like quercetin, fisetin, and lycopene (to name just a few of very many).

    Then there are things not readily found in food, or at least, not in food that’s readily available in supermarkets.

    For example, if you go to your local supermarket and ask where the mimosa is, they’ll try to sell you a cocktail mix instead of the roots, bark, or leaves of a tropical tree. It is also unlikely they’ll stock lion’s mane mushroom, or reishi.

    If perchance you do get the chance to acquire fresh lion’s mane mushroom, by the way, give it a try! It’s delicious shallow-fried in a little olive oil with black pepper and garlic.

    In short, this last category, the things most of us can’t reasonably get from food without going far out of our way, are the kind of thing whereby supplements actually can be helpful.

    And yet, still, not every supplement has evidence to support the claims made by its sellers, so it’s good to do your research beforehand. We do that on Mondays, with our “Research Review Monday” editions, of which you can find in our searchable research review archive ← we also review some drugs that can’t be classified as supplements, but mostly, it’s supplements.

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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  • Anti-Inflammatory Diet 101 (What to Eat to Fight Inflammation)

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    Chronic inflammation is a cause and/or exacerbating factor in very many diseases. Arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease are probably top of the list, but there are lots more where they came from. And, it’s good to avoid those things. So, how to eat to avoid inflammation?

    Let food be thy medicine

    The key things to keep in mind, the “guiding principles” are to prioritize whole, minimally-processed foods, and enjoy foods with plenty of antioxidants. Getting a healthy balance of omega fatty acids is also important, which for most people means getting more omega-3 and less omega-6.

    Shopping list (foods to prioritize) includes:

    • fruits and vegetables in a variety of colors (e.g. berries, leafy greens, beats)
    • whole grains, going for the most fiber-rich options (e.g. quinoa, brown rice, oats)
    • healthy fats (e.g. avocados, nuts, seeds)
    • fatty fish (e.g. salmon, mackerel, sardines) ← don’t worry about this if you’re vegetarian/vegan though, as the previous category can already cover it
    • herbs and spices (e.g. turmeric, garlic, ginger)

    Noping list (foods to avoid) includes:

    • refined carbohydrates
    • highly processed and/or fried foods
    • red meats and/or processed meats (yes, that does mean that organic grass-fed farmers’ pinky-promise-certified holistically-raised beef is also off the menu)
    • dairy products, especially if unfermented

    For more information on each of these, plus advice on transitioning away from an inflammatory diet, enjoy:

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    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    How to Prevent (or Reduce) Inflammation

    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.

    A do not disturb tag hangs on hotel door handle
    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.

    man looks at mobile phone in dark surroundings
    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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