Put Your Feet Up! (Against A Wall, For 20 Minutes)
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Feel free to browse our articles while you do
Here are 10 good reasons to give it a try; there are another 10 in the short (3:18) video:
- Improves blood circulation
- Improves blood pressure
- Relaxes the body as a whole
- Alleviates lower back tension
- Eases headaches and migraines
- Reduces knee pain
- Relieves swelling in feet and ankles
- Improves lymphatic flow
- Stretches the hamstrings (and hip flexors, if you do it wide)
- Helps quiet the mind
As for the rest…
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PS: about that circulation… As a general rule of thumb, anything that slightly confuses the heart (anatomically, not romantically) will tend to have a beneficial effect, in moderation. This goes for being upside-down (as is partly the case here), and also for high-intensity interval training (HIIT):
How To Do HIIT (Without Wrecking Your Body)
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Kiwi vs Raspberries – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing kiwi to raspberries, we picked the raspberries.
Why?
This was pretty even in most categories! But…
In terms of macros, kiwi has slightly more carbs while raspberries have more than 2x the fiber. An easy win for raspberries.
In the category of vitamins, kiwi has more of vitamins A, B6, B9, C, E, and K, while raspberries have more of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B7, and choline; a 6:6 tie.
When it comes to minerals, kiwi has more calcium, copper, phosphorus, and potassium, while raspberries have more iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc; a 4:4 tie this time.
In other considerations: kiwi has some anticancer properties that raspberries don’t, while raspberries have a lot more polyphenols; we’re calling this round another tie.
Adding up the sections is not difficult arithmetic today; it’s an overall win for raspberries because of the fiber content, while they’re very balanced in all the other categories!
Want to learn more?
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Long COVID is real—here’s how patients can get treatment and support
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What you need to know
- There is still no single, FDA-approved treatment for long COVID, but doctors can help patients manage individual symptoms.
- Long COVID patients may be eligible for government benefits that can ease financial burdens.
- Getting reinfected with COVID-19 can worsen existing long COVID symptoms, but patients can take steps to stay protected.
On March 15—Long COVID Awareness Day—patients shared their stories and demanded more funding for long COVID research. Nearly one in five U.S. adults who contract COVID-19 suffer from long COVID, and up to 5.8 million children have the disease.
Anyone who contracts COVID-19 is at risk of developing long-term illness. Long COVID has been deemed by some a “mass-disabling event,” as its symptoms can significantly disrupt patients’ lives.
Fortunately, there’s hope. New treatment options are in development, and there are resources available that may ease the physical, mental, and financial burdens that long COVID patients face.
Read on to learn more about resources for long COVID patients and how you can support the long COVID patients in your life.
What is long COVID, and who is at risk?
Long COVID is a cluster of symptoms that can occur after a COVID-19 infection and last for weeks, months, or years, potentially affecting almost every organ. Symptoms range from mild to debilitating and may include fatigue, chest pain, brain fog, dizziness, abdominal pain, joint pain, and changes in taste or smell.
Anyone who gets infected with COVID-19 is at risk of developing long COVID, but some groups are at greater risk, including unvaccinated people, women, people over 40, and people who face health inequities.
What types of support are available for long COVID patients?
Currently, there is still no single, FDA-approved treatment for long COVID, but doctors can help patients manage individual symptoms. Some options for long COVID treatment include therapies to improve lung function and retrain your sense of smell, as well as medications for pain and blood pressure regulation. Staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccines may also improve symptoms and reduce inflammation.
Long COVID patients are eligible for disability benefits under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Pandemic Legal Assistance Network provides pro bono support for long COVID patients applying for these benefits.
Long COVID patients may also be eligible for other forms of government assistance, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, and rental and utility assistance programs.
How can friends and family of long COVID patients provide support?
Getting reinfected with COVID-19 can worsen existing long COVID symptoms. Wearing a high-quality, well-fitting mask will reduce your risk of contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to long COVID patients and others. At indoor gatherings, improving ventilation by opening doors and windows, using high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, and building your own Corsi-Rosenthal box can also reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Long COVID patients may also benefit from emotional and financial support as they manage symptoms, navigate barriers to treatment, and go through the months-long process of applying for and receiving disability benefits.
For more information, talk to your health care provider.
This article first appeared on Public Good News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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12 Signs Of Liver Disease That You Can See
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“Liver spots” are not, in fact, a sign of liver disease. But here are 12 things that are:
Making sure your liver isn’t about to defy its name
Dr. Siobhan Deshauer explains:
- Muehrcke’s lines: horizontal white lines under the fingernail that don’t move as the nail grows; associated with low albumin levels due to liver disease.
- Terry’s nails: pale nails with a reduced or absent lunula (the half-moon shape at the base); also linked to low albumin from liver dysfunction.
- Clubbing: nails curve around enlarged fingertips and lose the diamond-shaped gap when nails are pressed together; associated with various chronic diseases including liver disease.
- Ascites: swelling of the abdomen due to fluid buildup caused by portal hypertension from liver scarring.
- Caput Medusae: enlarged, visible veins around the navel due to blood rerouting from high pressure in the portal vein.
- Varices: dilated veins in the esophagus or stomach that can rupture and bleed dangerously due to portal hypertension.
- Palmar erythema: redness on the palms, especially over the thenar and hypothenar areas, due to dangerously elevated estrogen levels being common in liver disease.
- Spider nevi: small, spider-like blood vessels on the skin that blanch when pressed; common in liver disease due to very high estrogen.
- Muscle wasting: loss of muscle mass, particularly noticeable in the hands and temples, as the body breaks down muscle for energy when the liver fails.
- Dupuytren’s contracture: thickening and tightening of the palm fascia leading to curled fingers, especially in the ring and pinky fingers.
- Hepatic encephalopathy: brain dysfunction from high ammonia levels due to the liver’s inability to get rid of toxins; includes symptoms like confusion and a flapping tremor (asterixis).
- Jaundice & easy bruising: yellowing of skin and eyes from bilirubin buildup, and frequent bruising or bleeding due to reduced clotting factors and platelets from liver dysfunction.
For more on each of these plus visual illustrations as applicable, enjoy:
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Do Essential Oils Really Have Medicinal Properties?
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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 😎
❝Do essential oils really have scientific merit?❞
Great question! Assuming you mean “…for medicinal purposes” then it really depends on the oil in question.
For example, one can probably buy a big book of essential oils from a New Age store, and a lot of claims for different oils will not have any scientific backing whatsoever.
However! Some definitely do. For example, we wrote a little while back about ginger:
Ginger Does A Lot More Than You Think
Now, the active compound that gives ginger those properties and more is gingerol. Which is usually found as pure ginger oil, in other words, ginger essential oil.
Another essential oil that definitely does have benefits is that of Boswellia serrata, commonly known as frankincense. It can be used in various forms, and the essential oil is one of them; see:
- Five Supplements That Actually Work Vs Arthritis
- When Painkillers Aren’t Helping, These Things Might: Science-Based Alternative Pain Relief
Meanwhile, menthol, the essential oil of peppermint, has its pros and cons:
Peppermint For Digestion & Against Nausea: How Useful Is Peppermint, Really?
And lavender essential oil does really have a sedative effect:
Herbs for Evidence-Based Health & Healing
If you have a different, particular essential oil in mind, let us know, and we can do a deep-dive on it for one of our “Research Review” editions!
A note on safety
Essential oils are pure and undiluted extracts of what’s usually a particularly potent chemical from a plant. Two things to bear in mind about this:
- Just because a chemical is potent, does not mean it will necessarily help you in a specific way, or indeed at all. On the contrary, many potent chemicals are simply harmful. So, be careful.
- Essential oils being so strong means that usually only a drop or two is required for effects; consult available literature (or ask us to do that for you!), and employ good safety practices such as:
- Do not use undiluted essential oils on your skin or internally
- If you are going to use it internally (diluted, following instructions from a reputable source, and with your doctor’s blessing, please) then test it on your skin first at the same dilution, in case of any adverse reaction.
- However you are using it, if you have any kind of adverse reaction, stop, and seek medical attention if it’s severe and/or it persists.
Take care!
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What Breakfast Means For Metabolic Syndrome
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To fast or to breakfast? An important health question, with a clear answer, that’s belied by such things as the title of this book: Why Doctors Skip Breakfast – by Dr. Gregory Charlop
The fact is: yes, intermittent fasting is good. No, skipping breakfast isn’t.
Now, of course, by some definitions, whenever we break a fast (which at some point we must, assuming we are to continue living), that meal is breakfast. But by “skipping breakfast” here what we mean is “not eating in the morning”.
So, why is it so important?
More reasons that breakfast really is the most important meal of the day
A recent systematic review with 118,385 participants found that people who regularly skip breakfast have a higher likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome and its key components—including elevated fasting glucose, abdominal adiposity, low HDL cholesterol, high triglycerides, and hypertension—all driven largely by insulin resistance. Which is bad.
In particular, the study associated skipping breakfast with:
- 26% higher risk of hyperglycemia (elevated fasting blood sugar levels, thus, prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, as there were no participants with type 1 diabetes included in the first place, and adult development of type 1 diabetes is incredibly rare)
- 21% increased risk of hypertension (high blood pressure)
- 17% increased risk of excess visceral fat, listed in the paper under the category of abdominal obesity, but we’d like to underline the fact that it’s the least healthy kind of fat to have
- 13% increased risk of hyperlipidemia (high triglycerides)
The paper for this study can be found here: Association of Skipping Breakfast with Metabolic Syndrome and Its Components: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies
So, those are the consequences, but what’s the mechanism?
The study was associative, so didn’t cover this, but we at 10almonds have covered this previously:
Breakfasting For Health? ← in which we cover the science of intermittent fasting in the context of the circadian rhythm.
Short version is: your body cares what time of day it is, and will do metabolically better or worse depending on what you do at different times of day. Eating the largest meal of the day in the morning is best of all, but failing that, having at least some meal in the morning is better than none. If you want to do intermittent fasting, it is better to have an early dinner (and thus begin your fast early in the evening) than a late breakfast (to end your fast late).
See also: What Size Breakfast Is Best, By Science?
Not only that, but there are also other health-related reasons to enjoy a good breakfast, too:
Meal Timings vs Osteoporosis Fracture Risk
Want to learn more?
Check out:
Fasting, eating earlier in the day or eating fewer meals—what works best for weight loss?
Enjoy!
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11 Minutes to Pain-Free Hips – by Melinda Wright
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If hips don’t lie, what are yours saying to you? If what they’re saying to you sounds like a cry for help sometimes, this is the book to get you onto a better track.
The hip is the largest joint in your body, and it bears a lot of weight. So it’s little wonder if sometimes they’d like a word with the boss. The question is: what will you do about it? Melinda Wright has suggestions to keep your hips—and you—happy.
She spends the first couple of chapters introducing key concepts, and some anatomy and physiology that’ll be good to know.
Then we’re into resistance stretching, basic hip exercises, all the way through to more advanced stuff. There are very clear photos for each. One thing that stands out about this book is each exercise is not just explained simply and clearly, but also offers “easing oneself in” exercises. After all, we’re not all at the same starting point.
The book finishes off with some more holistic advice about chronic pain management, based on her personal experience with scoliosis, and some dietary tips to reduce joint pain and inflammation too.
All in all, a very helpful book!
Pick up 11 “Minutes to Pain-Free Hips” at Amazon today!
^You will also see options for pain-free back, and pain-free neck, by the same author
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