Rest For The Restless (Legs)

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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

❝Any tips for dealing with restless legs syndrome?❞

As a neurological disorder (Willis-Ekbom Disease, as it is also called by almost nobody outside of academia), there’s a lot that’s not known about its pathology, but we do know that looking after one’s nerves can help a lot.

This means:

You can also take into account the measures recommended for dealing with peripheral neuropathy, e.g:

Peripheral Neuropathy: How To Avoid It, Manage It, Treat It

There are also medication options for RLS; most of them are dopamine agonists, so if you want to try something yourself before going the pharmaceutical route, then things that improve your dopamine levels will probably be a worth checking out. In the category of supplements, you might enjoy:

NALT: The Dopamine Precursor And More

Take care! And… Want something answered here? Send us your questions!

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  • The Sweet Truth About Glycine

    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.

    Make Your Collagen Work Better

    This is Dr. James Nicolantonio. He’s a doctor of pharmacy, and a research scientist. He has a passion for evidence-based nutrition, and has written numerous books on the subject.

    Controversy! Dr. DiNicolatonio’s work has included cardiovascular research, in which field he has made the case for increasing (rather than decreasing) the recommended amount of salt in our diet. This, of course, goes very much against the popular status quo.

    We haven’t reviewed that research so we won’t comment on it here, but we thought it worth a mention as a point of interest. We’ll investigate his claims in that regard another time, though!

    Today, however, we’ll be looking at his incisive, yet not controversial, work pertaining to collagen and glycine.

    A quick recap on collagen

    We’ve written about collagen before, and its importance for maintaining… Well, pretty much most of our body, really, buta deficiency in collagen can particularly weaken bones and joints.

    On a more surface level, collagen’s also important for healthy elastic skin, and many people take it for that reason alone,

    Since collagen is found only in animals, even collagen supplements are animal-based (often marine collagen or bovine collagen). However, if we don’t want to consume those, we can (like most animals) synthesize it ourselves from the relevant amino acids, which we can get from plants (and also laboratories, in some cases).

    You can read our previous article about this, here:

    We Are Such Stuff As Fish Are Made Of

    What does he want us to know about collagen?

    We’ll save time and space here: first, he’d like us to know the same as what we said in our article above

    However, there is also more:

    Let’s assume that your body has collagen to process. You either consumed it, or your body has synthesized it. We’ll skip describing the many steps of collagen synthesis, fascinating as that is, and get to the point:

    When our body weaves together collagen fibrils out of the (triple-helical) collagen molecules…

    • the cross-linking of the collagen requires lysyl oxidase
    • the lysyl oxidase (which we make inside us) deanimates some other amino acids yielding aldehydes that allow the stable cross-links important for the high tensile strength of collagen, but to do that, it requires copper
    • in order to use the copper it needs to be in its reduced cuprous form and that requires vitamin C
    • but moving it around the body requires vitamin A

    So in other words: if you are taking (or synthesizing) collagen, you also need copper and vitamins A and C.

    However! Just to make things harder, if you take copper and vitamin C together, it’ll reduce the copper too soon in the wrong place.

    Dr. DiNicolantonio therefore advises taking vitamin C after copper, with a 75 minutes gap between them.

    What does he want us to know about glycine?

    Glycine is one of the amino acids that makes up collagen. Specifically, it makes up every third amino acid in collagen, and even more specifically, it’s also the rate-limiting factor in the formation of glutathione, which is a potent endogenous (i.e., we make it inside us) antioxidant that works hard to fight inflammation inside the body.

    What this means: if your joints are prone to inflammation, being glycine-deficient means a double-whammy of woe.

    As well as being one of the amino acids most key to collagen production, glycine has another collagen-related role:

    First, the problem: as we age, glycated collagen accumulates in the skin and cartilage (that’s bad; there is supposed to be collagen there, but not glycated).

    More on glycation and what it is and why it is so bad:

    Are You Eating Advanced Glycation End-Products? The Trouble Of The AGEs

    Now, the solution: glycine suppresses advanced glycation end products, including the glycation of collagen.

    See for example:

    Glycine Suppresses AGE/RAGE Signaling Pathway and Subsequent Oxidative Stress by Restoring Glo1 Function

    With these three important functions of glycine in mind…

    Dr. DiNicolantonio therefore advises getting glycine at a dose of 100mg/kg/day. So, if you’re the same size as this rather medium-sized writer, that means 7.2g/day.

    Where can I get it?

    Glycine is found in many foods, including gelatin for those who eat that, eggs for the vegetarians, and spinach for vegans.

    However, if you’d like to simply take it as a supplement, here’s an example product on Amazon

    (the above product is not clear whether it’s animal-derived or not, so if that’s important to you, shop around. This writer got some locally that is certified vegan, but is in Europe rather than N. America, which won’t help most of our subscribers)

    Note: pure glycine is a white crystalline powder that has the same sweetness as glucose. Indeed, that is how it got its name, from the Greek “γλυκύς”, pronounced /ɡly.kýs/, meaning “sweet”. Yes, same etymology as glucose.

    So don’t worry that you’ve been conned if you order it and think “this is sugar!”; it just looks and tastes the same.

    That does mean you should buy from a reputable source though, as a con would be very easy!

    this does also mean that if you like a little sugar/sweetener in your tea or coffee, glycine can be used as a healthy substitute.

    If you don’t like sweet tastes, then, condolences. This writer pours two espresso coffees (love this decaffeinated coffee that actually tastes good), puts the glycine in the first, and then uses the second to get rid of the sweet taste of the first. So that’s one way to do it.

    Enjoy (if you can!)

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  • Lower Your Cortisol! (Here’s Why & How)

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    Cortisol, or “the stress hormone” to its friends, is produced by your adrenal glands, and is generally considered “not fun”.

    It does serve a purpose, of course, just like almost everything else our body does. It serves as part of the “fight or flight” response, for example, and helps you to wake up in the morning.

    While you do need some cortisol (and a small percentage of people have too little), most of us have too much.

    Why? Simply put, modern life is not what 200,000* years of human evolution prepared us for:

    *the 200,000 years figure is conservative and doesn’t take into account the 200,000,000 years of pre-hominid mammalian evolution. Doing so, on the basis of the mammalian brain & physiology being what’s important here, means our modern stressors have been around for <0.0001% of the time we have.

    So guess what, our bodies haven’t caught up. As far as our bodies are concerned, we are supposed to be enjoying the sunshine of grassy plains and the shade of woodland while eating fruit.

    • When the alarm clock goes off, our body panics and prepares us to either flee or help fight the predator, because why else would we have been woken so?
    • When we have a pressing deadline for work, our brain processes this as “if we don’t do this, we will literally starve and die”.
    • When people are upset or angry with us, there’s a part of our brain that fears exile from the tribe and resultant death.

    …and so on.

    Health Risks of High Cortisol

    The long-term stressors are the biggest issue for health. Unless you have a heart condition or other relevant health problem, almost anyone can weather a brief unpleasant surprise. But if something persists? That prompts the body to try to protect you, bless it. The body’s attempts backfire, because…

    • One way it does this by making sure to save as much food as possible in the form of body fat
    • It’ll also increase your appetite, to make sure you eat anything you can while you still can
    • It additionally tries to protect you by keeping you on the brink of fight-or-flight readiness, e.g:
      • High blood pressure
      • High blood sugar levels
      • Rapid mood changes—gotta be able to do those heel-turns as necessary and react quickly to any possible threat!

    Suffice it to say, these things are not good for your long-term health.

    That’s the “Why”—now here’s the “How”:

    Lowering your cortisol levels mostly means lowering your stress and/or lowering your stress response. We previously gave some powerful tools for lowering anxiety, which for these purposes amounts to the same thing.

    However, we can also make nutritional and lifestyle changes that will reduce our cortisol levels, for example:

    • Reduce (ideally: eliminate from your lifestyle) caffeine
    • Reduce (ideally: eliminate from your lifestyle) alcohol
      • Yes, really. While many understandably turn to alcohol specifically to help manage stress, it only makes it worse long-term.
      • Additionally, alcohol directly stimulates cortisol production, counterintuitive as that may be.

    Read: Alcohol, Aging, and the Stress Response ← full article (with 37 sources of its own) from the NYMC covering how alcohol stimulates cortisol production and what that means for us

    As well as reductions/eliminations, are some things you can add into your lifestyle that will help!

    We’ve written previously about some:

    Read: Ashwagandha / Read: L-Theanine / Read: CBD Oil

    Other things include, no surprises here:

    Progressive Relaxation

    We’ll give this one its own section because we’ve not talked about it before. Maybe you’re familiar. If not, then in a nutshell: progressive relaxation means progressively tensing and then relaxing each part of your body in turn.

    Why does this work? Part of it is just a physical trick involving biofeedback and the natural function of muscles to contract and relax in turn, but the other part is even cleverer:

    It basically tricks the most primitive part of your brain, the limbic system, into thinking you had a fight and won, telling it “thank you very much for the cortisol but we don’t need it anymore”.

    Take a Hike! Or a Stroll… You Do You!

    Last but not least: go connect with your roots. Spend time in the park, or at least the garden. Have a picnic, if the weather suits. Go somewhere you can spend time around leafy green things under a blue sky (we realize the blue sky may be subject to availability in some locations, but do what you can!).

    Remember also: just as your body’s responses will be tricked by the alarm clock or the housework, they will also be easily tricked by blue and green stuff around you. If a sunny garden isn’t available in your location, a picture of one as your desktop background is the next best thing.

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  • Almonds vs Macadamias – Which is Healthier?

    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.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing almonds to macadamias, we picked the almonds.

    Why?

    It’s not just our pro-almonds bias:

    In terms of macros, almonds have 3x the protein and as well as more fiber and carbs, the ratio of which latter two give almonds the lower glycemic index, while macadamias have more total fat, and 4x the saturated fat percentage. All in all, we say this is a win for almonds in this category.

    In the category of vitamins, almonds have more of vitamins B2, B3, B9, E, and choline, while macadamias have more of vitamins B1, B5, B6, and C. A modest 5:4 win for almonds, unless we consider that almonds have more than 47x as much vitamin E (almonds are an exceptionally good source of vitamin E), in which case, a stronger win for almonds.

    When it comes to minerals, almonds have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while macadamias have more manganese. A very clear win for almonds.

    Adding up the sections makes for a convincing overall win for almonds, but by all means enjoy either or both; diversity is good!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like:

    Why You Should Diversify Your Nuts!

    Enjoy!

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  • Peanuts vs Walnuts – Which is Healthier?

    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.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing peanuts to walnuts, we picked the peanuts.

    Why?

    What heresy is this?!

    “But walnuts are more expensive!”, we hear you cry. “They have omega-3s! They look like little brains!”

    And, we must confess, all of these things are true. However…

    In terms of macros, peanuts have much more protein, and a little more fiber, while walnuts have more fat. And yes, those fats are healthy, and yes, the omega-3 content of walnuts is worth noting. However, while walnuts are higher in total and polyunsaturated fats, peanuts are higher in monounsaturated fats, which are also beneficial. All in all, we’re calling it either a tie on macros, or a win for peanuts, as it really is a lot more protein, and we always consider fiber of top importance.

    In the category of vitamins, peanuts have (a lot) more of vitamins B1, B3, B5, B9, E, and choline, while walnuts have a (very) little more of vitamins B2 and B6. So, a clear win for peanuts here, and that’s without considering that in terms of margins of difference, peanuts have 11x the vitamin E, for example.

    Looking at minerals, peanuts have more iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while walnuts have more calcium, copper, and manganese. Another clear win for peanuts.

    When it comes to polyphenols, peanuts have more diverse polyphenols, while walnuts have a greater total mass of polyphenols. A tie here, or possibly a subjective win for walnuts.

    In short, both are great and both have their merits, but by the numbers, and adding up the sections, peanuts take the win today. Still (assuming no allergy), by all means enjoy either or both; diversity is good!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like:

    Why You Should Diversify Your Nuts

    Enjoy!

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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  • Little Treatments, Big Effects – by Dr. Jessica Schleider

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The author, a clinical psychologist, discusses how mental healthcare has come a very long way, yet still has a long way to go. While advocating for top-down reforms, she does have a stopgap solution:

    Find ways to significantly improve people’s mental health in a single-session intervention.

    This seems like a tall order, but her method is based on good science, and also, most people will agree from experience that big changes can happen to someone in the space of moments, at pivotal turning points in life—they just have to be the right moments.

    Dr. Schleider recommends that therapists train in (and then offer) this method, but she does also give comprehensive advice for self-therapy of this kind too.

    These self-therapy directions, ways to induce those life-pivoting moments for the better, are perhaps the greatest value that the book gives us.

    Bottom line: if you’d like a lot of the benefits of therapy without getting therapy, this book can definitely point you in the right direction, in a manner that won’t be a drain on your time or your wallet.

    Click here to check out Little Treatments, Big Effects, and see what a difference you can make for yourself!

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  • Own Your Past Change Your Future – by Dr. John Delony

    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.

    This one is exactly what it says on the cover. It’s reminiscent in its premise of the more clinically-presented Tell Yourself A Better Lie (an excellent book, which we reviewed previously) but this time presented in a much more casual fashion.

    Dr. Delony favors focusing on telling stories, and indeed this book contains many anecdotes. But also he bids the reader to examine our own stories—those we tell ourselves about ourselves, our past, people around us, and so forth.

    To call those things “stories” may create a knee-jerk response of feeling like it is an accusation of dishonesty, but rather, it is acknowledging that experiences are subjective, and our framing of narratives can vary.

    As for reframing things and taking control, his five-step-plan for doing such is:

    1. Acknowledge reality
    2. Get connected
    3. Change your thoughts
    4. Change your actions
    5. Seek redemption

    …which each get a chapter devoted to them in the book.

    You may notice that these are very similar to some of the steps in 12-step programs, and also some religious groups and/or self-improvement groups. In other words, this may not be the most original approach, but it is a tried-and-tested one.

    Bottom line: if you feel like your life needs an overhaul, but don’t want to wade through a bunch of psychology to do it, then this book could be it for you.

    Click here to check out Own Your Past To Change Your Future, and do just that!

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