- 10almonds
- Posts
- How To Really Look After Your Joints
How To Really Look After Your Joints
Plus: how much fruit is too much?
The 10almonds Team
October 15, 2023
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
❝The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy❞
⏰ 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:
Stretching and supplements can help of course keep our joints healthy and mobile
Less well-known supplements and things to do include cucumber extract, collagen, and cryotherapy
As we age, our collagen levels tend to get depleted more easily
Collagen is important not just for youthful good looks, but also for the health of bones and joints
Today’s sponsor NativePath are offering high-quality collagen without additives or harmful impurities
Read on to learn about these things and more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
How much fruit is too much? (5:56)
Fructose is bad. Fruit isn’t, and it’s quite difficult to get too much fruit:
Fruity menu:
Prefer text? You might like our previous main feature:
(it has a whole section on fructose and fruit)
🦿 MAIN FEATURE
The Other Ways To Look After Your Joints
When it comes to joint health, most people have two quick go-to items:
Stretching
Supplements like omega-3 and glucosamine sulfate
Stretching, and specifically, mobility exercises, are important! We’ll have to do a main feature on these sometime soon. But for today, we’ll just say: yes, gentle daily stretches go a long way, as does just generally moving more.
And, those supplements are not without their merits. For example:
Of those, glucosamine sulfate may have an extra benefit in now just alleviating the symptoms, but also slowing the progression of degenerative joint conditions (like arthritis of various kinds). This is something it shares with chondroitin sulfate:
An unlikely extra use for the humble cucumber…
As it turns out, cucumber extract beats glucosamine and chondroitin by 200%, at 1/135th of the dose.
You read that right, and it’s not a typo. See for yourself:
Reduce inflammation, have happier joints
Joint pain and joint degeneration in general is certainly not just about inflammation; there is physical wear-and-tear too. But combatting inflammation is important, and turmeric, which we’ve done a main feature on before, is a potent helper in this regard:
See also: Keep Inflammation At Bay
(a whole list of tips for, well, keeping inflammation at bay)
About that wear-and-tear…
Your bones and joints are made of stuff, and that stuff needs to be replaced. As we get older, the body typically gets worse at replacing it in a timely and efficient fashion. We can help it do its job, by giving it more of the stuff it needs.
And what stuff is that?
Well, minerals like calcium and phosphorus are important, but a lot is also protein! Specifically, collagen. We did a main feature on this before, which is good, as it’d take us a lot of space to cover all the benefits here:
Short version? People take collagen for their skin, but really, its biggest benefit is for our bones and joints!
Wrap up warmly and… No wait, skip that.
Writer’s anecdote: when I was young, my mother—her body already wracked with arthritis, along with post-polio syndrome—warned me that if I did not dress warmly, I would end up like her. In her mind, the cause of her arthritis was having spent too much time exposed to the elements. This is a popular myth, doubtlessly resulting from the fact that barometric changes can worsen the symptoms of already-extant arthritis, so it’s not a stretch to believe that wind and rain caused it. But, while it’s not a stretch, it’s also not scientific.
If you have arthritis, you may indeed “feel it in your bones” when the weather changes. But the remedy for that is not to try to fight it, but rather, to strengthen your body’s ability to respond to it.
The answer? Cryotherapy, with ice baths ranking top:
Note that this can be just localized, so for example if the problem joints are your wrists, a washing-up bowl with water and ice will do just nicely.
Note also that, per that last study, a single session will only alleviate the pain, not the disease itself. For that (per the other studies) more sessions are required.
We did a main feature about cryotherapy a while back, and it explains how and why it works:
Take care!
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
NativePath: Your New Secret Weapon Against Aging*
*Parts of aging, anyway! We’ve written before about the importance of collagen for far more than just youthful skin—it’s also critical for the health of joints and bones!
Most collagen supplements on the market are made from industrial by-products of animal agriculture, and contain artificial ingredients. What NativePath does differently is focus on keeping things as close to nature as possible, with the highest quality (and purest) ingredients.
As a bonus: with 18 grams of protein per serving, their collagen powder also supports muscle growth and maintenance, keeping you feeling energized and strong throughout the day!
Please do check out our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
🌍 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
What every woman needs to know about breast cancer screening
Solriamfetol may be an effective alternative for managing ADHD in adults, trial shows
Calorie restriction may rejuvenate muscles and activate biological pathways for healthy aging
Is this how antidepressants work, and why they take weeks to kick-in?
How misogyny in medicine impacts us all
SMART alcohol recovery meetings appeal to those with more social, economic stability, lower spiritual leanings: study
What people with heart disease should know about vaccines today
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right – by Dr. Atul Gawande
Dr. Gawande, himself a general surgeon, uses checklists a lot. He is, unequivocally, an expert in his field. He "shouldn't" need a checklist to tell him to do such things as "Check you have the correct patient". But checklists are there as a safety net. And, famously, "safety regulations are written in blood", after all.
And, who amongst us has never made such a "silly" error? From forgetting to turn the oven on, to forgetting to take the handbrake off, it takes only a momentary distraction to think we've done something we haven't.
You may be wondering: why a whole book on this? Is it just many examples of the usefulness of checklists? Because I'm already sold on that, so, what else am I going to get out of it?
Dr. Gawande also explains in clear terms:
How to optimize "all necessary steps" with "as few steps as possible"
The important difference between read-do checklists and do-confirm checklists
To what extent we should try to account for the unexpected
How to improve compliance (i.e., making sure you actually use it, no matter how tempting it will be to go "yeah this is automatic for me now" and gloss over it)
The role of checklists in teams, and in passing on knowledge
...and more.
Bottom line: if you've ever tried to make tea without putting the tea-leaves in the pot, this is the book that will help you avoid making more costly mistakes—whatever your area of activity or interest.
🗞️ OTHER NEWSLETTERS WE LOVE
|
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 wonderfully restorative weekend,
The 10almonds Team