Never Too Old?

Plus: learn the 8 warning signs of a blood clot that shouldn't be ignored

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The 10almonds Team
June 14, 2024

Today’s almonds have been activated by:

When it comes to good health, do you have a leg to stand on? If so, stand on it (yes, just one leg)! This is great not only for honing your balance (many hospital stays after a certain age started with a fall), but also for strengthening your stabilizing muscles (which also helps with the above) and your core.

Have more than one leg? That’s great; alternate legs.

Sincerely, your writer here who is almost always standing on one leg while writing.

Want a standing desk? Same writer recommends this desk-converter (it’s what she has; it’s adjustable but very solid and sturdy), but by all means shop around 😎

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:

  • Does there come a point when we are “too old for it”? And if so, can we change that?

    • Today’s main feature looks at the science of exercising at older ages, including endurance running and strength training

    • The short answer is that not only can we perform the same as much younger people, assuming we don’t have some specific health condition that precludes such (though that would be true of younger people, too), but also, we can gain longevity benefits by doing so. See the main feature for the science and details!

  • 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

  • Today’s featured recipe is for super-delicious gut-healthy tacos that’ll have you coming back for more!

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

A Word To The Wise

Nicotine Pouches

Nicotine pouches are being marketed to young people on social media. But are they safe, or even legal?

Watch and Learn

8 Critical Signs Of Blood Clots That You Shouldn’t Ignore

Prefer text? The above video will take you to a 10almonds page with a text-overview, as well as the video!

Mythbusting Friday

Age Limits On Exercise?

In Tuesday’s newsletter, we asked you your opinion on whether we should exercise less as we get older, and got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:

  • About 42% said “No, we must keep pushing ourselves, to keep our youth“

  • About 29% said “Only to the extent necessary due to chronic conditions etc”

  • About 29% said “Yes, we should keep gently moving but otherwise take it easier”

One subscriber who voted for “No, we must keep pushing ourselves, to keep our youth“ wrote to add:

❝I'm 71 and I push myself. I'm not as fast or strong as I used to be but, I feel great when I push myself instead of going through the motions. I listen to my body!❞

~ 10almonds subscriber

One subscriber who voted for “Only to the extent necessary due to chronic conditions etc” wrote to add:

❝It’s never too late to get stronger. Important to keep your strength and balance. I am a Silver Sneakers instructor and I see first hand how helpful regular exercise is for seniors.❞

~ 10almonds subscriber

One subscriber who voted to say “Yes, we should keep gently moving but otherwise take it easier” wrote to add:

❝Keep moving but be considerate and respectful of your aging body. It's a time to find balance in life and not put yourself into a positon to damage youself by competing with decades younger folks (unless you want to) - it will take much longer to bounce back.❞

~ 10almonds subscriber

These will be important, because we’ll come back to them at the end.

So what does the science say?

Endurance exercise is for young people only: True or False?

False! With proper training, age is no barrier to serious endurance exercise.

Here’s a study that looked at marathon-runners of various ages, and found that…

  • the majority of middle-aged and elderly athletes have training histories of less than seven years of running

  • there are virtually no relevant running time differences (p<0.01) per age in marathon finishers from 20 to 55 years

  • after 55 years, running times did increase on average, but not consistently (i.e. there were still older runners with comparable times to the younger age bracket)

The researchers took this as evidence of aging being indeed a biological process that can be sped up or slowed down by various lifestyle factors.

See also:

👆 this covers the many aspects of biological aging (it’s not one number, but many!) and how our various different biological ages are often not in sync with each other, and how we can optimize each of them that can be optimized

Resistance training is for young people only: True or False?

False! In fact, it’s not only possible for older people, but is also associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality.

Specifically, those who reported strength-training at least once per week enjoyed longer lives than those who did not.

You may be thinking “is this just the horse-riding thing again, where correlation is not causation and it’s just that healthier people (for other reasons) were able to do strength-training more, rather than the other way around?“

…which is a good think to think of, so well-spotted if you were thinking that!

But in this case no; the benefits remained when other things were controlled for:

❝Adjusted for demographic variables, health behaviors and health conditions, a statistically significant effect on mortality remained.

Although the effects on cardiac and cancer mortality were no longer statistically significant, the data still pointed to a benefit.

Importantly, after the physical activity level was controlled for, people who reported strength exercises appeared to see a greater mortality benefit than those who reported physical activity alone.❞

And a pop-sci article about it: Strength training helps older adults live longer

Closing thoughts

As it happens… All three of the subscribers we quoted all had excellent points!

Because in this case it’s less a matter of “should”, and more a selection of options:

  • We (most of us, at least) can gain/regain/maintain the kind of strength and fitness associated with much younger people, and we need not be afraid of exercising accordingly (assuming having worked up to such, not just going straight from couch to marathon, say).

  • We must nevertheless be mindful of chronic conditions or even passing illnesses/injuries, but that goes for people of any age

  • We also can’t argue against a “safety first” cautious approach to exercise. After all, sure, maybe we can run marathons at any age, but that doesn’t mean we have to. And sure, maybe we can train to lift heavy weights, but if we’re content to be able to carry the groceries or perhaps take our partner’s weight in the salsa hall (or the bedroom!), then (if we’re also at least maintaining our bones and muscles at a healthy level) that’s good enough already.

Which prompts the question, what do you want to be able to do, now and years from now? What’s important to you?

For inspiration, check out: Train For The Event Of Your Life!

Take care!

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Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free

You May Have Missed
This Or That?

Vote on Which is Healthier

Yesterday we asked you to choose between butter and ghee—we picked the butter (click here to read about why), as did 54% of you!

Now for today’s choice:

Click on whichever you think is better for you!

You (Also) May Have Missed
Recipes Worth Sharing

Gut-Healthy Tacos

Full of prebiotics and probiotics, healthy fats, colorful salad boasting vitamins and minerals aplenty, and of course satisfying protein too, these tacos are also boasting generous flavors to keep you coming back for more…

Click below for our full recipe, and learn its secrets:

One-Minute Book Review

The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now! – by Dr. Mark Hyman

The main purpose of this book is combating metabolic disease, the amalgam of what’s often prediabetes (sometimes fully-fledged diabetes) and cardiovascular disease (sometimes fully-fledged heart disease).

To achieve this (after an introductory section explaining what the sociomedical problems are and why the sociomedical problems are happening), he offers a seven-step program; we’ll not keep those steps a mystery; they are:

  1. Boost your nutrition

  2. Regulate your hormones

  3. Reduce inflammation

  4. Improve your digestion

  5. Maximize detoxification

  6. Enhance energy metabolism

  7. Soothe your mind

Thereafter, it’s all about leading the reader by the hand through the steps; he also offers a six-week action plan, and a six-week meal plan with recipes.

The style is very sensationalist (too sensationalist for this reviewer’s personal taste) but nevertheless backed up with hard science when it comes to hard claims. So, if you don’t mind wading through (or skipping) some early chapters that are a bit “used car salesman” in feel, there’s actually a lot of good information, especially in the middle of the book, and useful practical guides in the middle and end.

Bottom line: if you want a good comprehensive science-based practical guide to addressing the risk of metabolic disease, this is that.

Penny For Your Thoughts?

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May today see you well-prepared for the coming weekend,

The 10almonds Team