Fitness In Our Fifties

Today’s almonds have been activated by:

⏰ 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:

• Our 50s are a great time for planning ahead, healthwise. Check out today’s main feature for the science of how…

  • We can set fitness goals, like running a marathon (and yes, for most people this is a very attainable and healthy goal)

  • We can commit to habits, that will furnish us well with good health in the decades to come

• Coffee is great for the brain, but not always ideal for the gut.

  • Today’s sponsor Fabula is offering low-acid, toxin-free coffee that gives all the benefits while skipping the parts you don’t want, all without sacrificing bold flavor with no bitter aftertaste. Check them out!

Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive

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TED-Ed | What causes dandruff, and how do you get rid of it? (5:04)

Dr. Thomas Dawson explains:

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Hint: today’s mystery item is shockingly good at helping alleviate chronic pain

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❓ MAIN FEATURE

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 😎

❝What’s a worthwhile fitness goal for people in their 50s... And what's a healthy sex drive for someone in their 50s?❞

Let’s take those one by one, starting with the latter because it’s easiest to answer:

Q: What’s a healthy sex drive for someone in their 50s?

A: If you’re happy with it, it’s healthy! If you’re not, it’s not.

This means… If you’re not (happy) and thus it’s not (healthy), you have two main options:

1. Find a way to be happier without changing it (i.e., change your perspective)

2. Find a way to change your sex drive (presumably: “increase it”, but we don’t like to assume)

There are hormonal and pharmaceutical remedies that may help (whatever your sex), so do speak with your doctor/pharmacist.

Additionally, if a boost to sex drive is what’s wanted, then almost anything that is good for your heart will help.

We wrote about heart health yesterday:

What Matters Most For Your Heart?

That was specifically about dietary considerations, so you might also want to check out:

The Knowledge That Harvard Medical School’s Clinical Instructor Dr. Monique Tello Thinks Everyone Should Have About Heart Health

And now for the other question:

Q: What’s a worthwhile fitness goal for people in their 50s?

A: At 10almonds, we think that goals are great but habits are better.

If your goal is to run a marathon, that’s a fine goal, and can be very motivating, but then after the marathon, then what? You’ll look back on it as a great achievement, but what will it do for your future health?

PS, yes, marathon-running in one’s middle age is a fine and good activity for most people. Maybe skip it if you have osteoporosis or some other relevant problem (check with your doctor), but…

Marathons in Mid- and Later-Life ← we wrote about the science of it here

👆 PS, we also explored some science that may be applicable to your other question, on the same page as that about marathons!

The thing about habits vs goals is that habits give ongoing cumulative (often even: compounding) benefits:

How To Really Pick Up (And Keep!) Those Habits

If you pressingly want advice on goals though, our advice is this:

Make it your goal to be prepared for the health challenges of later life. It may seem gloomy to say that old age is coming for us all if something else doesn’t get us first, but the fact is, old age does not have to come with age-related decline, and the very least, we can increase our healthspan (so we’re hitting 90 with most of the good health we enjoyed in our 70s, for example, or hitting 80 with most of the good health we enjoyed in our 60s).

If that goal seems a little wishy-washy, here are some very specific and practical ideas to get you started:

Train For The Event Of Your Life!

As for the limits and/or extents of how much we can do in that regard? Here are what two aging experts have to say:

• The Five Key Trains Of Healthy Aging

• Dr. Greger’s Anti-Aging Eight

And here’s what we at 10almonds had to say:

Age & Aging: What Can (And Can’t) We Do About It?

Take care!

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📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

A Statin-Free Life: A revolutionary life plan for tackling heart disease—without the use of statins – by Dr. Aseem Malhotra

Here at 10almonds, we’ve written before about the complexities of statins, and their different levels of risk/benefit for men and women, respectively. It’s a fascinating topic, and merits more than an article of the size we write here!

So, in the spirit of giving pointers of where to find a lot more information, this book is a fine choice.

Dr. Malhotra, a consultant cardiologist and professor of evidence-based medicine, talks genes and lifestyle, drugs and blood. He takes us on a tour of the very many risk factors for heart disease, and how cholesterol levels may be at best an indicator, but less likely a cause, of heart disease, especially for women. Further and even better, he discusses various more reliable indicators and potential causes, too.

Rather than be all doom and gloom, he does offer guidance on how to reduce each of one’s personal risk factors and—which is important—keep on top of the various relevant measures of heart health (including some less commonly tested ones, like the coronary calcium score).

The style is light reading and yet with a lot of reference to hard science, so it’s really the best of both worlds in that regard.

Bottom line: if you’re considering statins, or are on statins and are reconsidering that choice, then this book will (notwithstanding its own bias in its conclusion) help you make a more-informed decision.

Click here to check out A Statin-Free Life, and make the best choice for you!

May you enjoy every kind of health at every age,

The 10almonds Team

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