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Inhaled Eucalyptus's Immunomodulatory and Antimicrobial Effects
Plus: treating the causes of chronic musculoskeletal pain
The 10almonds Team
November 10, 2023
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
To avoid slipping when walking on ice, take small, flat-footed steps, like a penguin.
It’s not glamorous, but neither is a broken hip.
(today’s video will look at another ice-related health-and-safety matter)
⏰ IN A RUSH?
Today’s 30-Second Summary
If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:
Nose hairs protect us from microbes and pollutants (yes, we know it’s counterintuitive, because those things are very small, but they are so small that they are easily swayed by static and get stuck on mucous and dealt with there by our immune system)
So, trim if you must, but go easy on it, and don’t pluck! (Plucking not only removes the hairs, but creates extra entrance-points where the hairs used to be rooted)
If you’re doing steam inhalation as a balm for respiratory illnesses, there are several good reasons to consider adding eucalyptus oil
Today’s sponsor—Birdie—is a free lifestyle-and-wellness newsletter that goes out every few days, with seasonal thoughts, tips, and information. Just the thing for a pre-holiday uplift!
Read on to learn about these things and more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
How To Self-Rescue When You Fall Through Ice (1:44)
Even strong healthy people often die because they don’t know this. You might want to share this with your loved ones:
Want to watch it, but not right now? Bookmark it for later 🔖
❓ MAIN FEATURE
It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!
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 😎
❝As a man in his sixties I find I need to trim my nasal hair quite frequently, otherwise it sticks out in an unsightly manner. But I'm never sure how severely I should cut the hairs back, or even how best to do it. Please advise.❞
As you might know, those hairs are really important for our health, so let’s start by mentioning that yes, trimming is the way, not plucking!
In an ideal world, we’d not trim them further back than the entrance to our nostrils, but given the constant nature of hair-growing, that could become a Sisyphean task.
A good compromise, if you’re not up for trimming when you get up and having visible hairs by evening, is to put the scissors away (if you haven’t already) and use a nasal hair trimmer; these are good at a) trimming nasal hairs b) abstaining from trimming them too far back.
By all means shop around, but here’s an example product on Amazon, for your convenience!
Note 1: despite the product description, please do not stick this in your ear (or any other orifice that’s not your nose, for the love of all that is holey)
Note 2: we chose that one for a reason; the shape of the head prevents overtrimming.
In contrast, we do not recommend this cheaper one that has a different shape head for a closer trim, which in this case, is not what we want.
❝What is your opinion about using sport supplements at 62 years of age. I am really concerned about the pre-work out supplements to help you in the morning. Are these dangerous, especially on a daily basis❞
Difficult to answer without knowing what supplements! But if you mean creatine, you might like this:
❝At the first hint of a cough or a cold, I resort to steam inhalation. Some people add herbs or aromatic oils to the boiling water. What do you recommend?❞
First of all, please do be careful:
Western science’s view is predominantly “this is popular and/but evidence for its usefulness is lacking”:
But! Traditional Chinese Medicine indicates shuanghuanglian, yuxingcao and qingkailing, which the China Food and Drug Administration has also approved:
Chinese Medicine in Inhalation Therapy: A Review of Clinical Application and Formulation Development
Indian scientists are also looking at modern scientific applications of certain Ayurvedic herbs:
In terms of what is likely more available to you, there are several reasons to choose eucalyptus over popular alternatives:
For the sake of being methodical, here’s an example product on Amazon, though we’re sure you’d have no trouble finding this in your local pharmacy if you prefer.
Take care!
📊 POLL
We turn the tables and ask you a question…
We’ll then talk about this tomorrow:
What is your opinion of chiropractic medicine? |
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
Wellness For You And Your Family
Birdie is a free lifestyle-and-wellness newsletter that goes out every few days, with seasonal thoughts, tips, and information.
If you're open to small things that can uplift your daily life, this could be one for you!
You can opt in for free below, to give it a try:
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🌎 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
Double-lung transplant, breast implants save life of man who battled vaping-linked illness
AI predicts glaucoma progression in high-risk patients with high accuracy
EPA to push ban of toxic chemical found in US drinking water
Animal-to-human diseases predicted to kill 12 times as many by 2050
County-level structural racism affects mortality rates in people with kidney failure
Magnetic gel heals diabetic wounds three times more quickly
Age acceleration tied to worse memory
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
The Pain Relief Secret: How to Retrain Your Nervous System, Heal Your Body, and Overcome Chronic Pain – by Sarah Warren
This one's a book to not judge by the cover—or the title. The title is actually accurate, but it sounds like a lot of woo, doesn't it?
Instead, what we find is a very clinical, research-led (40 pages of references!) explanation of:
the causes of musculoskeletal pain
how this will tend to drive us to make it worse
what we can do instead to make it better
A lot of this, to give you an idea what to expect, hinges on the fact that bones only go where muscles allow/move them; muscles only behave as instructed by nerves, and with a good development of biofeedback and new habits to leverage neuroplasticity, we can take more charge of that than you might think.
Warning: you may want to jump straight into the part with the solutions, but if you do so without a very good grounding in anatomy and physiology, you may find yourself out of your depth with previously-explained terms and concepts that are now needed to understand (and apply) the solutions.
However, if you read it methodically cover-to-cover, you'll find you need no prior knowledge to take full advantage of this book; the author is a very skilled educator.
Bottom line: while it's not an overnight magic pill, the methodology described in this book is a very sound way to address the causes of musculoskeletal pain.
What did you think of today's newsletter?We always love to hear from you, whether you leave us a comment or even just a click in the poll if you're speeding by! |
Wishing you a happy and healthy day today and every day,
The 10almonds Team