No Pills, No Pain

Barefoot Running on Grass

Non-sugar sweeteners are also not healthy and have side effects.

The whole business of pain relieving medicine has always seemed suspicious to me. You have some pain, you take medicine, and the pain goes away. But by what process? And what are the side effects?

Now the side effects of one pain reliever, acetaminophen, are becoming clear. A recent meta-analysis shows prenatal exposure to acetaminophen increases the odds of autism and ADHD.

In the most basic sense, pain is a signal. Blocking that signal has consequences.

As the saying goes, there is no free lunch. If you take a medicine to make pain go away, there can be unwanted side effects.

A lot of health indicators gravitate towards performance measures:

• How fast can you run a certain distance?
• How many minutes do you exercise?
• How much weight can you lift?
• How many calories do you consume?

Instead, I think there are much better measures of health you can measure on a day-to-day basis:

• How do you feel when you wake up in the morning?
• How do you feel when performing daily movements (picking up things, etc.)?
• How’s your posture throughout the day?
• How do you feel after exercising?
• How do you feel after eating a meal?

In my view, these are more important measures for sustaining long-term health and performance.

There seems to be a growing trend of former Navy Seals who are now writing books, giving talks, etc.

I’ve read a few of these books this year, and I have to say they have not been good. Here’s what I think is happening:

Navy Seal training is devised to produce the best soldiers. However, being the best soldier does not mean a person has great knowledge that can be applied to other areas. Just as if a person is a great actor or a great chemist - it doesn’t mean their expertise spills over into other areas.

A large part of the Navy Seals training is the ability to absorb physical punishment. What I don’t like is how this gets carried over to exercise philosophy.

Punishing yourself physically is not a great long-term strategy for health. I’m active every day and in no way is this a “punishment”.

In my view, it’s actually the opposite: movement is a gift. With the aging process, you never know how long your physical capabilities will hold up.

I’m looking to move and enjoy the gift of exercise as long as I can.

Hunt, Gather, Parent might be the best book I’ve read this year.

From this study:

“The current study supports the growing body of literature suggesting that using social networking sites to alleviate boredom and socially connect, may place individuals at increased risk for developing pathological tendencies and patterns of behavior towards social networking sites.”

In the short-term, exercise can be a tool to build muscle or reduce fat. But for a person to continue exercising over the long-term, it has to be enjoyable in my view.

Said differently, the goal of any exercise session is that it gets you to come back next time.

I still go out and run 2-3 times a week the same as I did 20 years ago. Yes, I want to be healthy, but I exercise primarily because I enjoy the exercise sessions themselves.

Do whatever you like as long as it is enjoyable. Enjoyment trumps all in the long-run.

Great article about the effects of excessive internet use on adolescents.