White Noise vs Pink Noise

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:

• Not all supplements are created equal, and today’s main feature contains a basic guide to choosing the best ones for you.

• White noise can help improve sleep—but pink noise may help even more.

  • White noise, which has all frequencies normally audible to the human ear, helps to “mute” other external sounds that may be disturbing your sleep

  • Pink noise has the same frequencies, but is weighted more heavily on the bottom end of the frequency range, and has been shown to help induce deeper more restful sleep

    • There may be other, knock-on benefits too, including improved memory in older people.

• The conditions associated with untreated menopause can range from the inconvenient (e.g. mood swings) to the potentially life-threatening (e.g. heart palpitations)

  • There are at least 30 distinct symptoms that have been identified as being related to the menopause, yet often they get hand-waved away.

    • Today’s sponsor, Wellcore, is offering an at-home test kit to help take your menopausal healthcare into your own hands, and find out what is responsible for what—and then enjoy treatment, if appropriate.

Read on to learn about these things and more…

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

Back bridge for strength and suppleness—basics, progressions, and variations

The iconic back bridge is an excellent exercise for strength and suppleness, but is often too advanced for many people.

This video goes over bridge variations that offer an opportunity to easily progress while enjoying the unique benefits of each:

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

❓ 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 far as specific brands of vitamin…some are good some not. I don’t like being told what buy but I guess I want to know which are effective. Could there be some brands recognized as good given to us?❞

The most reliable brands are generally those with the most transparency:

• They tell you what is in the supplement; not just the active ingredient(s), with doses, but also any buffers etc.

• They tell you, in the case of ingredients that can have various different sources, what the source is.

• They are, ideally, well-certified and independently tested.

Our previous sponsor Ora is a good example of a company that does this.

Additionally, in terms of bioavailability, generally speaking the order of preference goes liquid > capsule/softgel > tablet, so that’s something to look out for, too.

Note: “liquid” includes powders that are ingested when dissolved/suspended in water, and also includes tablets that become a liquid when dissolved/dispersed in water and ingested that way.

❝I live in a large city and even late at night there is always a bit of background noise. While I am pretty used to it by now, I find I don't sleep nearly as well in the city as I do in the country. I have seen some stuff about "white noise" generators. I was wondering whether you have any thoughts about the science behind these, and whether it is something I should try out - or maybe I should be trying something completly different.❞

The science says…

Source: The effects of white noise on sleep and duration in individuals living in a high noise environment in New York City

That said, you might also consider “pink noise”, which is very similar to white noise (having all frequencies normally audible to the human ear), but has greater intensity of lower frequencies, creating a more deep and even sound. While white noise and pink noise are both great at “muting” external sounds like those that have been disturbing your sleep, pink noise may have an advantage in helping to stimulate deep and restful sleep:

Source: Pink noise: effect on complexity synchronization of brain activity and sleep consolidation

There may be extra benefits to pink noise, too:

Acoustic Enhancement of Sleep Slow Oscillations and Concomitant Memory Improvement in Older Adults

Rest well!

📊 POLL

We turn the tables and ask you a question…

We’ll then talk about this tomorrow:

❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE

Wellcore | Personalized Menopausal Healthcare

People tend to know about hot flashes, but did you know there are more than 30 symptoms associated with menopause? Maybe you knew about weight gain and bone density loss, but night sweats and heart palpitations?

The conditions associated with untreated menopause can range from the inconvenient to the potentially life-threatening.

And yet, many people are left to guess at what symptoms might mean, or worse, simply ignore them.

Wellcore believes in doing better. To make diagnosis and treatment much more accessible to everyone, they offer an at-home testing kit. They’ll then analyze the results, and offer appropriate hormone therapy themselves if you want it (there are many benefits).

Click here to check out Wellcore, and get the healthcare you deserve!

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

🌎 AROUND THE WEB

What’s happening in the health world…

• The vaginal microbiome: how to look after it—and what to avoid

• Study could pave the way to new treatments for people with compromised immune systems

• Cognitive Functional Therapy: how it can reduce lower back pain and get you moving

• Surgery soon? Use these 3 tips to manage post-surgical pain

• The strange link between air pollution and suicide

• The Body Mass Index can’t tell us if we’re healthy. Here’s what we should use instead

• Research review focuses on the use of psilocybin for treatment of depression

More to come tomorrow!

📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

End the Insomnia Struggle: A Step-by-Step Guide to Help You Get to Sleep and Stay Asleep – by Dr. Colleen Ehrnstrom and Dr. Alisha Brosse

We've reviewed sleep books before, and we always try to recommend books that have something a little different than the rest, so what makes this one stand out?

While there is the usual quick overview of the basics that we're sure you already know (sleep hygiene etc), most of the attention here is given to cold, hard clinical psychology... in a highly personalized way.

How, you may ask, can they personalize a book, that is the same for everyone?

The answer is, by guiding the reader through examining our own situation. With template logbooks, worksheets, and the like—for this reason we recommend getting a paper copy of the book, rather than the Kindle version, in case you'd like to use/photocopy those.

Essentially, reading this book is much like having your own psychologist (or two) to guide you through finding a path to better sleep.

The therapeutic approach, by the way, is a combination of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance-Commitment Therapy (ACT), which work very well together here.

Bottom line: if you've changed your bedsheets and turned off your electronic devices and need something a little more, this book is the psychological "big guns" for removing the barriers between you and good sleep.

Click here to check out End the Insomnia Struggle, and end yours once and for all!

Wishing you the very best of health in all ways, always,

The 10almonds Team