Lifespan vs Healthspan, And The Spice Of Life

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:

• Good posture is essential for good health, and it can make a big difference to our daily comfort and our long-term health too

  • See today’s featured video for the easy way to make sure yours is good!

• Curcumin (turmeric) is a very healthful spice that fights inflammation, cancer, and even aging.

  • It’s highly beneficial to take it with black pepper, which unlocks most of its benefits

• Healthy living can (and usually will) extend lifespan yes, but more importantly, it extends healthspan—the healthy years before serious age-related decline hits us.

  • People who avoid healthy living because being 100 doesn’t look like fun, may just find they encounter the same problems at 70 instead. Even less fun!

• If you’re a new subscriber and you’d like to read our older issues, we do have an archive!

  • Check out the bottom of today’s main feature for details about that 😎

• It’s vitally important to keep our brains sharp as we age

  • Today’s sponsor, Brilliant, are offering 10almonds subscribers 30 days free use of their habit-building daily learning app

Read on to learn about these things and more…

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

How to Finally "Fix" Your Posture

We haven’t featured Hamilton’s excellent videos for a while, and here’s a good one that can make a big difference to your daily comfort and long-term health too:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

You can also check out his recommended fitness routine on his website, here. No sign-in required; it’s right there on the page!

❓ 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 😎

❝Great newsletter. Am taking turmeric for inflammation of hips and feet. Works like magic. Would like to know how it works, and what tumeric is best combined with - also whether there any risks in longterm use.❞

Glad you’re enjoying! As for turmeric, it sure is great, isn’t it? To answer your questions in a brief fashion:

• How it works: it does a lot of things, but perhaps its most key feature is its autoxidative metabolites that mediate its anti-inflammatory effect. This, it slows or inhibits oxidative stress that would otherwise cause inflammation, increase cancer risk, and advance aging.

• Best combined with: black pepper

• Any risks in long-term use: there are no known risks in long-term use ← that’s just one study, but there are lots. Some studies were prompted by reported hepatotoxicity of curcumin supplements, but a) the reports themselves seem to be without evidence b) the reported hepatoxicity was in relation to contaminants in the supplements, not the curcumin itself c) clinical trials were unable to find any hepatotoxicity (or other) risks anyway. Here’s an example of such a study.

You might also like our previous main feature: Why Curcumin (Turmeric) Is Worth Its Weight In Gold

❝This push for longevity is appealing but watching my mother in her nineties is a life I’m not looking forward to. Healthy longevity, yes, but longevity for the sake of a longer life? No thank you.❞

Yes, you’re quite right, that’s exactly the point! Assuming we live to die of age-related conditions (i.e., we do not suffer a fatal accident or incident in our younger years), those unfun last years are coming whether they come at 75 or 95. Or earlier or later, because that can absolutely happen too!

For example: nearly 10% of Americans over 65 have difficulty with self-care

As a rule, and we’ve covered some of the science of this previously, having at least 4 out of 5 of the “big 5” lifestyle factors (diet, exercise, sleep, low-or-zero alcohol, not smoking) not only extends life, but specifically extends the healthspan, i.e. the count of healthy life-years that precedes final age-related decline.

❝First time reader. How do I find out about past articles, specifically the one about nuts?❞

The article you’re looking for is here: Why You Should Diversify Your Nuts!

However, you can find any article you want in our archive, which also has a search feature:

• If you’re on desktop: the search feature is located just below the top three featured articles and to the right

• If you’re on mobile: the search feature is the little blue circle with a “filter” icon on it, in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen

You can find our archive here: https://archive.10almonds.com

Enjoy!

📊 POLL

We turn the tables and ask you a question…

We’ll then talk about this tomorrow:

❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE

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In short, we very highly recommend it!

You don't have to just trust us though, because they offer a 30-day free trial 😎

Click here to visit Brilliant and give it a try!

Please do check out our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free

🌏 AROUND THE WEB

What’s happening in the health world…

• Cognitive rescue in aging through prior training

• New community partnership model boosts inclusion of participants into HIV cure-directed research

• Noninvasive method for vagus nerve stimulation shows promise for enhancing motor rehabilitation after stroke

• Dedicated older people's emergency department found to reduce wait times

• Constipation may be a marker for dementia risk

More to come tomorrow!

📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Gut: The Inside Story of Our Most Underrated Organ - by Dr. Giulia Enders

On account of being an organ (or rather, a system of organs) whose functions are almost entirely autonomic, most of us don't think about our gut much. We usually know there's acid in the stomach, and we usually know there are "good and bad" gut bacteria. But what of the rest of what goes on?

For anyone who has a hazy half-remembered knowledge from school, this will serve as not only a reminder, but a distinct upgrade in knowledge.

Dr. Giuliua Enders talks us through not just the processes of what goes on, but, as a medical doctor, also many instances of what can go wrong, for example:

• Why do some people's bodies mistake nuts for a deadly threat (and consequently, accidentally elevate them to the status of actually becoming a deadly threat)?

• Why are some people lactose-intolerant, and why do food intolerances often pop up later with age?

• Why do constipation and diarrhoea happen?

• Why is it that stress can cause stomach ulcers?

The style of writing is light and easy-reading, and the illustrations are clear too. This is a very accessible book that doesn't assume prior knowledge, and also doesn't skimp on the scientific explanations—there's no dumbing down here.

Bottom line: knowing what goes on in our gut as akin to knowing what goes on under the hood of a car. A lot of the time we don't need to know, but knowing can make a big difference from time to time, and that's when you'll wish you'd learned!

Click here to check out Gut and be prepared!

Wishing you a healthy and happy day,

The 10almonds Team