What Happens To Your Body When You Do Squats Every Day-Not Just For Legs!
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Squat Every Day? Yes, Please!
It’s back to basics with this video (below). Passion for Health’s video, “What Happens To Your Body When You Do Squats Every Day-Not Just For Legs!” really brings home how squats aren’t just a one-trick pony for your legs.
The humble bodyweight squat is shown to contribute to everything from bolstering all-around lower body strength to bettering bone density and increasing metabolism.
Indeed, squats are so powerful that we reviewed a whole book that focuses just on the topic of squatting. Other, broader books on exercise also focus on the positive impacts that squatting can make.
A proper squat goes beyond your legs, engaging your core, enhancing joint health, and, some argue, can lead to improved balance and circulation.
(Plus, they’re easy to execute, given they can be done anywhere, without any equipment).
This is probably why Luigi Fontana and Dr Rangan Chatterjee have spoken about the benefits of squatting.
How Should We Start?
The video goes beyond the ‘why’ and delves into the ‘how’, offering step-by-step squatting techniques.
It answers the burning question: should you really be doing squats every day?
(Hint: the answer is most likely “yes”).
Of course, some of us may not be able to squat, and for those, we’ll feature alternatives in a future article.
For beginners, the advice is to start slow, aiming for 10 repetitions. You can gradually increase that count as you feel your muscles strengthen. Experienced gym-goers might push for 20 or more reps, adding variations like jump squats for an extra challenge.
The key takeaway is to listen to your body and ensure rest days for muscle recovery.
At the end of the day, Passion for Health’s video is a treasure trove for squat lovers, from novices to the seasoned, and insists on the importance of form, frequency, and listening to one’s body.
How did you find that video? If you’ve discovered any great videos yourself that you’d like to share with fellow 10almonds readers, then please do email them to us!
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What Really Works For Anti-Aging? Science-Backed Skincare Ingredients
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Dr. Andrea Suarez, dermatologist, goes beyond her pet hate skincare myths (e.g. sunscreen causes cancer, tanning is healthy), and talks about how actually one of her biggest frustrations is people wasting money on ineffective skincare products.
She also details what works, according to the evidence:
Science vs hype
Dr. Suarez explains that the root causes of skin aging are sun exposure, lifestyle habits, and menopause-related hormone decline (as applicable). However, skin aging is not the same for everyone, as for example paler skin tends to show more wrinkling and yellowing while richly melanated skin resists wrinkling but develops more pigmentation and texture issues.
With this in mind, here are the products that she ranks as…
Best:
- Sunscreen is the most effective anti-aging product with strong evidence for reversing and preventing damage in all skin tones.
- Topical retinoids like tretinoin and adapalene improve collagen, reduce wrinkles, and even skin tone.
- Alpha hydroxy acids such as glycolic acid and ammonium lactate exfoliate and hydrate, improving texture and skin thickness.
- Niacinamide is a marvelously multitasking antioxidant that improves moisture, dark spots, redness, and sallowness.
- Vitamin C works best in the form of stable ascorbic acid combined with vitamin E and ferulic acid.
Questionable:
- Topical peptides may hydrate and reduce water loss but lack strong evidence for significant anti-aging effects.
- Topical estrogen may boost collagen in menopausal skin but may also cause pigmentation and vascular changes.
Worthless:
- Growth factors are unlikely to be effective at all and probably act only as moisturisers
- Exosomes and PDRN lack clinical evidence and are mostly marketing hype
In short: an effective anti-aging skincare routine includes cleansing, moisturising, daily sunscreen, and possibly a retinoid. Also important are lifestyle factors like healthy diet, stress reduction, and avoiding smoking and alcohol. Thus, she bids us skip trendy products and stick with simple, proven ingredients used consistently.
For more on all of these, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also enjoy:
The Evidence-Based Skincare That Beats Product-Specific Hype ← in case you’d like a second opinion from another dermatologist
Take care!
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Freekeh Tomato Feast
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Fiber-dense freekeh stars in this traditional Palestinian dish, and the whole recipe is very gut-healthy, not to mention delicious and filling, as well as boasting generous amounts of lycopene and other phytonutrients:
You will need
- 1 cup dried freekeh (if avoiding gluten, substitute a gluten-free grain, or pseudograin such as buckwheat; if making such a substitution, then also add 1 tbsp nutritional yeast—for the flavor as well as the nutrients)
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 1 2oz can anchovies (if vegan/vegetarian, substitute 1 can kimchi)
- 1 14oz can cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes, fresh
- ½ cup black olives, pitted
- 1 5oz jar roasted peppers, chopped
- ½ bulb garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp chili flakes
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- Extra virgin olive oil
Method
(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)
1) Place a heavy-based (cast iron, if you have it) sauté pan over a medium heat. Add some olive oil, then the onion, stirring for about 5 minutes.
2) Add the anchovies, herbs and spices (including the garlic), and stir well to combine. The anchovies will probably soon melt into the onion; that’s fine.
3) Add the canned tomatoes (but not the fresh), followed by the freekeh, stirring well again to combine.
4) Add 2 cups boiling water, and simmer with the lid on for about 40 minutes. Stir occasionally and check the water isn’t getting too low; top it up if it’s getting dry and the freekeh isn’t tender yet.
5) Add the fresh chopped cherry tomatoes and the chopped peppers from the jar, as well as the olives. Stir for just another 2 minutes, enough to let the latest ingredients warm through.
6) Serve, adding a garnish if you wish:
Enjoy!
Want to learn more?
For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:
- Why You’re Probably Not Getting Enough Fiber (And How To Fix It)
- Eat More (Of This) For Lower Blood Pressure
- Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later)
- Lycopene’s Benefits For The Gut, Heart, Brain, & More
- Our Top 5 Spices: How Much Is Enough For Benefits?
Take care!
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Intermittent fasting doesn’t have an edge for weight loss, but might still work for some
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Intermittent fasting has become a buzzword in nutrition circles, with many people looking to it as a way to lose weight or improve their health.
But new research from the Cochrane Collaboration shows intermittent fasting is no more effective for weight loss than receiving traditional dietary advice or even doing nothing at all.
In this international review, researchers assessed 22 studies involving 1,995 adults who were classified as overweight (with a body mass index of 25–29.9 kg/m²) or obese (with a BMI of 30 kg/m² or above) to assess the effectiveness of intermittent fasting for up to 12 months.
The authors found, when compared to energy restricted dieting, intermittent fasting doesn’t seem to work for people who are overweight or obese and are trying to lose weight. However they note intermittent fasting may still be a reasonable option for some people.
fcafotodigital/Getty Images Remind me, what’s intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a tool for weight management, which includes three main strategies:
- alternate day fasting, where every second day is reduced to low or no energy intake
- periodic fasting or the 5:2 diet, where one or two days of the week are spent with low or no energy intake
- time-restricted eating or the 16:8 diet, where daily energy intake is reduced to a shorter window, usually between eight and ten waking hours.
What did previous research show?
Previous reviews have found differences between types of intermittent fasting.
Alternate day fasting, for example, resulted in more weight loss when compared to time-restricted eating.
This is because participants who fasted every second day consumed about 20% less energy than those following time-restricted eating.
What did the Cochrane review find?
Cochrane review use gold-standard techniques to give an objective overview of the evidence. This review looked at 22 individual randomised controlled trials published between 2016 and 2024 from North America, Europe, China, Australia and South America.
The trials compared the outcomes of almost 2,000 adults who were classified as being overweight or obese. These participants either:
- received standard dietary advice, such as restricting calories or eating different types of foods
- practised intermittent fasting
- received either regular dietary advice, no intervention or were on a wait list.
The authors found:
1. Intermittent fasting was no better than getting dietary advice
The researchers found intermittent fasting and receiving dietary advice to restrict energy intake led to similar levels of weight loss.
This finding was based on 21 studies involving 1,713 people, with the researchers measuring the change from the participants’ starting weight.
Dietary advice (from registered dietitians or trained researchers) could include an eating plan focused on fruit, vegetables, whole grains and seafood, restricting calories, or any specific dietary advice for weight loss.
The amount of weight the participants lost ranged from a 10% loss to a 1% gain, with either intermittent fasting or dietary advice.
These findings are similar to several recent meta-analyses which found intermittent fasting is no better than dieting.
Previous research has found most of the alternate day fasting and periodic diet studies leads to about 6% to 7% weight loss. This is compared to very low energy “shake” diets (about 10%), GLP-1 medications (15% to 20%) and surgery (above 20%).
The review also found intermittent fasting likely makes little difference to a person’s quality of life, based on only three studies.
2. Intermittent fasting was no better than doing nothing
The researchers found intermittent fasting and no intervention led to similar levels of weight loss. This finding was based on six studies involving 448 people.
In the intermittent fasting studies, participants experienced about 5% weight loss. The “no intervention” or control group lost about 2% of their original weight.
In research, a 3% difference in weight loss is not considered clinically meaningful. That’s why the authors of this review concluded intermittent fasting is no more effective for weight loss than doing nothing at all.
However, the result for the “no intervention” condition could be due to the Hawthorne effect: the tendency for people to behave differently because they know they are being watched, such as in a clinical trial.
What are the review’s limitations?
There were few large, high-quality randomised controlled trials to draw on.
Only six studies were included in the part of the review which compared intermittent fasting and doing nothing. Two of these focused on time-restricted eating, which is arguably the least effective weight-loss strategy. One looked at the effects of fasting for one day per week. The other three were intermittent fasting studies, each with varying control groups, where some received guidance and others did not.
Also, the review only looked at studies where the interventions lasted between six and 12 months. It’s possible intermittent fasting strategies could be a long-term tool for weight maintenance. So we need to do more research, and ideally studies of longer duration.
What about the other health benefits of fasting?
Studies have found intermittent fasting can lower blood pressure, improve fertility, and reduce the incidence of metabolic syndrome which refers to a group of conditions that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
In one 2024 study, researchers found intermittent fasting may lead to changes in metabolism and the gut that restrict how cancer develops. Another study from 2025 found intermittent fasting could improve the metabolic health of shift workers.
So if you’re practising or considering intermittent fasting, the current evidence suggests it can be a safe and effective way to manage your weight.
But for any weight loss strategy to work, it needs to align with your personal preferences. And it’s best to consult a health-care professional before starting any new diet, especially if you have any underlying health conditions.
Evelyn Parr, Research Fellow in Exercise Metabolism and Nutrition, Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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154 million lives saved in 50 years: 5 charts on the global success of vaccines
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 know vaccines have been a miracle for public health. Now, new research led by the World Health Organization has found vaccines have saved an estimated 154 million lives in the past 50 years from 14 different diseases. Most of these have been children under five, and around two-thirds children under one year old.
In 1974 the World Health Assembly launched the Expanded Programme on Immunization with the goal to vaccinate all children against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), measles, polio, tuberculosis and smallpox by 1990. The program was subsequently expanded to include several other diseases.
The modelling, marking 50 years since this program was established, shows a child aged under ten has about a 40% greater chance of living until their next birthday, compared to if we didn’t have vaccines. And these positive effects can be seen well into adult life. A 50-year-old has a 16% greater chance of celebrating their next birthday thanks to vaccines.
What the study did
The researchers developed mathematical and statistical models which took in vaccine coverage data and population numbers from 194 countries for the years 1974–2024. Not all diseases were included (for example smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980, was left out).
The analysis includes vaccines for 14 diseases, with 11 of these included in the Expanded Programme on Immunization. For some countries, additional vaccines such as Japanese encephalitis, meningitis A and yellow fever were included, as these diseases contribute to major disease burden in certain settings.
The models were used to simulate how diseases would have spread from 1974 to now, as vaccines were introduced, for each country and age group, incorporating data on increasing vaccine coverage over time.
Children are the greatest beneficiaries of vaccines
Since 1974, the rates of deaths in children before their first birthday has more than halved. The researchers calculated almost 40% of this reduction is due to vaccines.
The effects have been greatest for children born in the 1980s because of the intensive efforts made globally to reduce the burden of diseases like measles, polio and whooping cough.
Some 60% of the 154 million lives saved would have been lives lost to measles. This is likely due to its ability to spread rapidly. One person with measles can spread the infection to 12–18 people.
The study also found some variation across different parts of the world. For example, vaccination programs have had a much greater impact on the probability of children living longer across low- and middle-income countries and settings with weaker health systems such as the eastern Mediterranean and African regions. These results highlight the important role vaccines play in promoting health equity.
Vaccine success is not assured
Low or declining vaccine coverage can lead to epidemics which can devastate communities and overwhelm health systems.
Notably, the COVID pandemic saw an overall decline in measles vaccine coverage, with 86% of children having received their first dose in 2019 to 83% in 2022. This is concerning because very high levels of vaccination coverage (more than 95%) are required to achieve herd immunity against measles.
In Australia, the coverage for childhood vaccines, including measles, mumps and rubella, has declined compared to before the pandemic.
This study is a reminder of why we need to continue to vaccinate – not just against measles, but against all diseases we have safe and effective vaccines for.
The results of this research don’t tell us the full story about the impact of vaccines. For example, the authors didn’t include data for some vaccines such as COVID and HPV (human papillomavirus). Also, like with all modelling studies, there are some uncertainties, as data was not available for all time periods and countries.
Nonetheless, the results show the success of global vaccination programs over time. If we want to continue to see lives saved, we need to keep investing in vaccination locally, regionally and globally.
Meru Sheel, Associate Professor and Epidemiologist, Infectious Diseases, Immunisation and Emergencies Group, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney and Alexandra Hogan, Mathematical epidemiologist, UNSW Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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GLP-1 RAs & Muscle Loss
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…and other items from this week’s health news:
Goodbye, fat… Goodbye, muscle?
GLP-1 drugs are famously great for weight loss, but (also famously) muscle weighs more than fat. So, are we sure about what kind of weight we’re losing?
New research has shown that 25–40% of the weight lost on GLP-1 drugs comes from fat-free mass (mostly muscle), compared to only 8% per decade lost naturally with age.
As we wrote about in an older article of ours:
❝Of the four studies that actually looked at the macros (unlike most studies), they found that on average, protein intake decreased by 17.1%. Which is a big deal!
It’s an especially big deal, because while protein’s obviously important for everyone, it’s especially important for anyone trying to lose weight, because muscle mass is a major factor in metabolic base rate—which in turn is much important for fat loss/maintenance than exercise, when it comes to how many calories we burn by simply existing.
A reasonable hypothesis, therefore, is that one of the numerous reasons people who quit GLP-1 agonists immediately put fat back on, is because they probably lost muscle mass in amongst their weight loss, meaning that their metabolic base rate will have decreased, meaning that they end up more disposed to put on fat than before.❞
Back to this week’s news, the researchers concluded that doctors should screen for malnutrition and low muscle mass before starting GLP-1 drugs, encourage protein intake and exercise during treatment, and consider complementary strategies (e.g. nutrition supplements or other medications) to preserve muscle and improve cardiorespiratory fitness.
So, GLP-1 RAs certainly have their place, but diet and exercise must be very carefully managed, to ensure that one still gets proper nutrition while eating less, and exercises adequately despite consuming fewer calories to fuel that exercise.
Read in full: Fat melts away—but so does muscle: What Ozempic users need to know ← the news article
Related: Semaglutide’s Surprisingly Big Research Gap ← our older article that we quoted above
Beef plus
While you’re getting in that protein we talked about, you might not want to get it from ground beef. Not only is red meat woeful for the health in many ways (especially for things such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer), but also, there’s a recall going on presently across the states from California to Michigan, on account of metal pieces being found in packs of ground beef.
This only came to light after a consumer complained (you will remember, FDA food safety testing was suspended earlier this year), and since then, more have been found.
What kind of metal, you ask? It is a mystery; they do not mention.
Read in full: Ground beef shipped to 5 states recalled for possible metal pieces
Related: The Whys and Hows of Cutting Meats Out Of Your Diet
Summer heat? Not a fan.
While it’s common to use a fan to cool down in hot weather, researchers (Dr. Georgia Chaseling et al.) looked at the effects of fan use in extreme heat, specifically for older adults (mean average age 68 years, standard deviation 7 years), and found:
- fan use in humid heat slightly lowered core temperature, increased sweat rate, and improved both thermal sensation and comfort.
- fan use in dry heat raised core temperature, greatly increased sweat rate, and worsened both thermal sensation and comfort.
The researchers concluded that electric fans can be a safe, low-cost cooling method for older adults during hot, humid weather but should be avoided in hot, dry conditions.
Read in full: Using a fan can make older adults hotter in a dry heat
Related: As The Summer Gets Hotter Still…
Take care!
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Air Purifiers & Sleep
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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
❝I’ve read that air pollution has a negative effect on sleep quality and duration. Since I live next to a busy road, I was wondering whether I should invest in an air purifier. What are 10Almonds’s views?❞
Going straight to the science, there are two questions here:
- Does air pollution negatively affect sleep quality and duration?
- Does the use of an air purify actually improve the air quality in the way(s) necessary to make a difference?
We thought we’d have to tackle these questions separately, but we did find one study that addressed your question directly. It was a small study (n=30 if you believe the abstract; n=29 if you read the paper itself—one person dropped out); the results were modest but clear:
❝The purifier filter was associated with increased total sleep time for an average of 12 min per night, and increased total time in bed for an average of 19 min per night relative to the placebo.
There were several sleep and mood outcomes for which no changes were observed, and time awake after sleep onset was higher for the purifier filter. Air quality was better during the high-efficiency particulate air filter condition.
These findings offer positive indications that environmental interventions that improve air quality can have benefits for sleep outcomes in healthy populations who are not exhibiting clinical sleep disturbances.❞
In the above-linked paper’s introduction, it does establish the deleterious effect of air pollution on a wide variety of health metrics, including sleep, this latter evidenced per Caddick et al. (2018): A review of the environmental parameters necessary for an optimal sleep environment
Now, you may be wondering: is an extra 12 minutes per night worth it?
That’s your choice to make, but we would argue that it is. We can make many choices in our lives that affect our health slightly for the better or the worse. If we make a stack of choices in a particular direction, the effects will also stack, if not outright compound.
So in the case of sleep, it might be (arbitrary numbers for the sake of illustration):
- Get good exercise earlier in the day (+3%)
- Get good food earlier in the day (+2.5%)
- Practice mindfulness/meditation before bed (+2.5%)
- Have a nice dark room (+5%)
- Have fresh bedding (+2.5%)
- Have an air purifier running (+3%)
Now, those numbers are, as we said, arbitrary*, but remember that percentages don’t add up; they compound. So that “+3%” starts being a lot more meaningful than if it were just by itself.
*Confession: the figure of 3% for the air purifier wasn’t entirely arbitrary; it was based on 100(12/405) = 80/27 ≈ 3, wherein the 405 figure was an approximation of the average total time (in minutes) spent sleeping with placebo, based on a peep at their results graph. There are several ways the average could be reasonably calculated, but 6h45 (i.e., 405 minutes) was an approximate average of those reasonable approximate averages.
So, 12 minutes is a 3% improvement on that.
Don’t have an air purifier and want one?
We don’t sell them, but here’s an example on Amazon, for your convenience
Take care!
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