The Daily Stoic – by Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman

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What’s this, a philosophy book in a health and productivity newsletter? Well, look at it this way: Aristotle basically wrote the “How To Win Friends And Influence People” of his day, and Plato before him wrote a book about management.

In this (chiefly modern!) book, we see what the later Stoic philosophers had to say about getting the most out of life—which is also what we’re about, here at 10almonds!

We tend to use the word “stoic” in modern English to refer to a person who is resolute in the face of hardship. The traditional meaning does encompass that, but also means a lot more: a whole, rounded, philosophy of life.

Philosophy in general is not an easy thing into which to “dip one’s toe”. No matter where we try to start, it seems, it turns out there were a thousand other things we needed to read first!

This book really gets around that. The format is:

  • There’s a theme for each month
  • Each month has one lesson per day
  • Each daily lesson starts with some words from a renowned stoic philosopher, and then provides commentary on such
  • The commentary provides a jumping-off point and serves as a prompt to actually, genuinely, reflect and apply the ideas.

Unlike a lot of “a year of…” day-by-day books, this is not light reading, by the way, and you are getting a weighty tome for your money.

But, the page-length daily lessons are indeed digestible—which, again, is what we like at 10almonds!

Get your copy of The Daily Stoic at Amazon today!

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    Free births, without medical assistance, are on the rise. Lack of options and past trauma drive women to choose this risky path.

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  • Behind Book Recommendations

    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!

    Each Thursday, we respond to subscriber questions and requests! If it’s something small, we’ll answer it directly; if it’s something bigger, we’ll do a main feature in a follow-up day instead!

    So, no question/request to big or small; they’ll just get sorted accordingly

    Remember, you can always hit reply to any of our emails, or use the handy feedback widget at the bottom. We always look forward to hearing from you!

    Q: What’s the process behind the books you recommend? You seem to have a limitless stream of recommendations

    We do our best!

    The books we recommend are books that…

    • are on Amazon—it makes things tidy, consistent, and accessible. And if you end up buying one of the books, we get a small affiliate commission*.
    • we have read—we would say “obviously”, but you might be surprised how many people write about books without having read them.
    • pertain in at least large part to health and/or productivity.
    • are written by humans—bookish people (and especially Kindle Unlimited users) may have noticed lately that there are a lot of low quality AI-written books flooding the market, sometimes with paid 5-star reviews to bolster them. It’s frustrating, but we can tell the difference and screen those out.
    • are of a certain level of quality. They don’t have to be “top 5 desert-island books”, because well, there’s one every day and the days keep coming. But they do have to genuinely deliver the value that we describe, and merit a sincere recommendation.
    • are varied—we try to not give a run of “samey” books one after another. We will sometimes review a book that covers a topic another previously-reviewed book did, but it must have something about it that makes it different. It may be a different angle or a different writing style, but it needs something to set it apart.

    *this is from Amazon and isn’t product-specific, so this is not affecting our choice of what books to review at all—just that they will be books that are available on Amazon.

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  • Fast Exercise – by Dr. Michael Mosley & Peta Bee

    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.

    We’ve written before about the benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), but there’s more to say than we can fit in a short article!

    Dr. Michael Mosley, who hates exercise but knows his stuff when it comes to the benefits, teamed up with Peta Bee, who loves exercise and is a science journalist with degrees in sports science and nutrition, to bring us this book.

    In it, we learn a lot about:

    • the science of HIIT
    • what makes it so different from most kinds of exercise
    • exactly what benefits one can expect

    …in a very detailed clinical fashion (while still remaining very readable).

    By “very detailed clinical fashion”, here we mean “one minute of this kind of exercise this many times per week over this period of time will give this many extra healthy life-years”, for example, along with lots of research to back numbers, and explanations of the mechanisms of action (e.g. reducing inflammatory biomarkers of aging, increasing cellular apoptosis, improving cardiometabolic stats for reduced CVD risk, and many things)

    There’s also time/space given over to exactly what to do and how to do it, giving enough options to suit personal tastes/circumstances.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to make your exercise work a lot harder for you while you spend a lot less time working out, then this book will help you do just that!

    Click here to check out Fast Exercise, and enjoy the benefits!

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  • Black Tea or Green Tea – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing black tea to green tea, we picked the black tea.

    Why?

    It was close! Ultimately we picked the black tea as the “best all-rounder”.

    Both teas are great for the health, insofar as tea in general is a) a very good way to hydrate (better absorption than plain water) and b) an excellent source of beneficial phytochemicals—mostly antioxidants of various kinds, but there’s a lot in there.

    We did a run-down previously of the relative benefits of each of four kinds of tea (black, white, green, red):

    Which Tea Is Best, By Science?

    Which concluded in its final summary:

    Black, white, green, and red teas all have their benefits, and ultimately the best one for you will probably be the one you enjoy drinking, and thus drink more of.

    If trying to choose though, we offer the following summary:

    • Black tea: best for total beneficial phytochemicals
    • White tea:best for your oral health
    • Green tea: best for your brain
    • ❤️ Red tea: best if you want naturally caffeine-free

    Enjoy!

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Related Posts

  • Grain Brain – by Dr. David Perlmutter
  • People with dementia aren’t currently eligible for voluntary assisted dying. Should they be?

    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.

    Dementia is the second leading cause of death for Australians aged over 65. More than 421,000 Australians currently live with dementia and this figure is expected to almost double in the next 30 years.

    There is ongoing public discussion about whether dementia should be a qualifying illness under Australian voluntary assisted dying laws. Voluntary assisted dying is now lawful in all six states, but is not available for a person living with dementia.

    The Australian Capital Territory has begun debating its voluntary assisted dying bill in parliament but the government has ruled out access for dementia. Its view is that a person should retain decision-making capacity throughout the process. But the bill includes a requirement to revisit the issue in three years.

    The Northern Territory is also considering reform and has invited views on access to voluntary assisted dying for dementia.

    Several public figures have also entered the debate. Most recently, former Australian Chief Scientist, Ian Chubb, called for the law to be widened to allow access.

    Others argue permitting voluntary assisted dying for dementia would present unacceptable risks to this vulnerable group.

    Inside Creative House/Shutterstock

    Australian laws exclude access for dementia

    Current Australian voluntary assisted dying laws exclude access for people who seek to qualify because they have dementia.

    In New South Wales, the law specifically states this.

    In the other states, this occurs through a combination of the eligibility criteria: a person whose dementia is so advanced that they are likely to die within the 12 month timeframe would be highly unlikely to retain the necessary decision-making capacity to request voluntary assisted dying.

    This does not mean people who have dementia cannot access voluntary assisted dying if they also have a terminal illness. For example, a person who retains decision-making capacity in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease with terminal cancer may access voluntary assisted dying.

    What happens internationally?

    Voluntary assisted dying laws in some other countries allow access for people living with dementia.

    One mechanism, used in the Netherlands, is through advance directives or advance requests. This means a person can specify in advance the conditions under which they would want to have voluntary assisted dying when they no longer have decision-making capacity. This approach depends on the person’s family identifying when those conditions have been satisfied, generally in consultation with the person’s doctor.

    Another approach to accessing voluntary assisted dying is to allow a person with dementia to choose to access it while they still have capacity. This involves regularly assessing capacity so that just before the person is predicted to lose the ability to make a decision about voluntary assisted dying, they can seek assistance to die. In Canada, this has been referred to as the “ten minutes to midnight” approach.

    But these approaches have challenges

    International experience reveals these approaches have limitations. For advance directives, it can be difficult to specify the conditions for activating the advance directive accurately. It also requires a family member to initiate this with the doctor. Evidence also shows doctors are reluctant to act on advance directives.

    Particularly challenging are scenarios where a person with dementia who requested voluntary assisted dying in an advance directive later appears happy and content, or no longer expresses a desire to access voluntary assisted dying.

    Older man looks confused
    What if the person changes their mind? Jokiewalker/Shutterstock

    Allowing access for people with dementia who retain decision-making capacity also has practical problems. Despite regular assessments, a person may lose capacity in between them, meaning they miss the window before midnight to choose voluntary assisted dying. These capacity assessments can also be very complex.

    Also, under this approach, a person is required to make such a decision at an early stage in their illness and may lose years of otherwise enjoyable life.

    Some also argue that regardless of the approach taken, allowing access to voluntary assisted dying would involve unacceptable risks to a vulnerable group.

    More thought is needed before changing our laws

    There is public demand to allow access to voluntary assisted dying for dementia in Australia. The mandatory reviews of voluntary assisted dying legislation present an opportunity to consider such reform. These reviews generally happen after three to five years, and in some states they will occur regularly.

    The scope of these reviews can vary and sometimes governments may not wish to consider changes to the legislation. But the Queensland review “must include a review of the eligibility criteria”. And the ACT bill requires the review to consider “advanced care planning”.

    Both reviews would require consideration of who is able to access voluntary assisted dying, which opens the door for people living with dementia. This is particularly so for the ACT review, as advance care planning means allowing people to request voluntary assisted dying in the future when they have lost capacity.

    Holding hands
    The legislation undergoes a mandatory review. Jenny Sturm/Shutterstock

    This is a complex issue, and more thinking is needed about whether this public desire for voluntary assisted dying for dementia should be implemented. And, if so, how the practice could occur safely, and in a way that is acceptable to the health professionals who will be asked to provide it.

    This will require a careful review of existing international models and their practical implementation as well as what would be feasible and appropriate in Australia.

    Any future law reform should be evidence-based and draw on the views of people living with dementia, their family caregivers, and the health professionals who would be relied on to support these decisions.

    Ben White, Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology; Casey Haining, Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology; Lindy Willmott, Professor of Law, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland University of Technology, and Rachel Feeney, Postdoctoral research fellow, Queensland University of Technology

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Somatic Exercises For Nervous System Regulation – by Rose Kilian

    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.

    We’ve written before about the vagus nerve, its importance, and how to make use of it, but it’s easy to let it slip from one’s mind when it comes to exercises. This book fixes that!

    The promised 35 exercises are quite a range, and are organized into sections:

    • Revitalizing through breath
    • Stress and tension release
    • Spinal and postural health
    • Mindfulness and grounding
    • Movements for flexibility
    • Graceful balance and focus

    While it’s not necessary to do all 35 exercises, it’s recommended to do at least some from each section, to “cover one’s bases”, and enjoy the best of all worlds.

    The exercises are drawn from many sources, but tai chi and yoga are certainly the most well-represented. Others, meanwhile, are straight from physiotherapy or are things one might expect to be advised at a neurology consultation.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to take better care of your vagus nerve, the better for it to take care of you, this book can certainly help with that.

    Click here to check out Somatic Exercises For Nervous System Regulation, and take care of yourself!

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  • Why You Probably Need More Sleep

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    Sleep: yes, you really do still need it!

    We asked you how much sleep you usually get, and got the above-pictured, below-described set of responses:

    • A little of a third of all respondents selected the option “< 7 hours”
    • However, because respondents also selected options such as < 6 hours, < 5 hours, and < 4 hours, so if we include those in the tally, the actual total percentage of respondents who reported getting under 7 hours, is actually more like 62%, or just under two thirds of all respondents.
    • Nine respondents, which was about 5% of the total, reported usually getting under 4 hours sleep
    • A little over quarter of respondents reported usually getting between 7 and 8 hours sleep
    • Fifteen respondents, which was a little under 10% of the total, reported usually getting between 8 and 9 hours of sleep
    • Three respondents, which was a little under 2% of the total, reported getting over 9 hours of sleep
    • In terms of the classic “you should get 7–9 hours sleep”, approximately a third of respondents reported getting this amount.

    You need to get 7–9 hours sleep: True or False?

    True! Unless you have a (rare!) mutated ADRB1 gene, which reduces that.

    The way to know whether you have this, without genomic testing to know for sure, is: do you regularly get under 6.5 hours sleep, and yet continue to go through life bright-eyed and bushy-tailed? If so, you probably have that gene. If you experience daytime fatigue, brain fog, and restlessness, you probably don’t.

    About that mutated ADRB1 gene:

    NIH | Gene identified in people who need little sleep

    Quality of sleep matters as much as duration, and a lot of studies use the “RU-Sated” framework, which assesses six key dimensions of sleep that have been consistently associated with better health outcomes. These are:

    • regularity / usual hours
    • satisfaction with sleep
    • alertness during waking hours
    • timing of sleep
    • efficiency of sleep
    • duration of sleep

    But, that doesn’t mean that you can skimp on the last one if the others are in order. In fact, getting a good 7 hours sleep can reduce your risk of getting a cold by three or four times (compared with six or fewer hours):

    Behaviorally Assessed Sleep and Susceptibility to the Common Cold

    ^This study was about the common cold, but you may be aware there are more serious respiratory viruses freely available, and you don’t want those, either.

    Napping is good for the health: True or False?

    True or False, depending on how you’re doing it!

    If you’re trying to do it to sleep less in total (per polyphasic sleep scheduling), then no, this will not work in any sustainable fashion and will be ruinous to the health. We did a Mythbusting Friday special on specifically this, a while back:

    Could Just Two Hours Sleep Per Day Be Enough?

    PS: you might remember Betteridge’s Law of Headlines

    If you’re doing it as a energy-boosting supplement to a reasonable night’s sleep, napping can indeed be beneficial to the health, and can give benefits such as:

    However! There is still a right and a wrong way to go about it, and we wrote about this previously, for a Saturday Life Hacks edition of 10almonds:

    How To Nap Like A Pro (No More “Sleep Hangovers”!)

    As we get older, we need less sleep: True or False

    False, with one small caveat.

    The small caveat: children and adolescents need 9–12 hours sleep because, uncredited as it goes, they are doing some seriously impressive bodybuilding, and that is exhausting to the body. So, an adult (with a normal lifestyle, who is not a bodybuilder) will tend to need less sleep than a child/adolescent.

    But, the statement “As we get older, we need less sleep” is generally taken to mean “People in the 65+ age bracket need less sleep than younger adults”, and this popular myth is based on anecdotal observational evidence: older people tend to sleep less (as our survey above shows! For any who aren’t aware, our readership is heavily weighted towards the 60+ demographic), and still continue functioning, after all.

    Just because we survive something with a degree of resilience doesn’t mean it’s good for us.

    In fact, there can be serious health risks from not getting enough sleep in later years, for example:

    Sleep deficiency promotes Alzheimer’s disease development and progression

    Want to get better sleep?

    What gets measured, gets done. Sleep tracking apps can be a really good tool for getting one’s sleep on a healthier track. We compared and contrasted some popular ones:

    The Head-To-Head Of Google and Apple’s Top Apps For Getting Your Head Down

    Take good care of yourself!

    Don’t Forget…

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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