I turned 53 last week. I am still holding up pretty good physically, knock on wood. I am still doing distance running, sprinting, playing ultimate frisbee, and playing competitive soccer.

I had plantar fasciitis for a few months last year (which really sucked), but I’m back to full capabilities.

I really enjoy all the physical activity and hope to continue for many more years.

We’ll be there!

There have been a number of studies that show it’s important to keep cool when you sleep. The evolutionary logic here is pretty. If you slept outside at night, as humans did for millions of years, you would notice the temperature naturally drops during the nighttime hours.

There are many new products that can help recreate this, like cooling beds, etc. The easiest approach is simply to lower the thermostat at night a few degrees. Most people have programmable thermostats, and so this can be set very easily.

Had fun at the Chalk Walk in Greensboro!

We’ll be there!

From the new book:

“Discovering the truth in any area of science is like assembling a jigsaw. In the case of obesity, the completed jigsaw will show that inactivity is not a significant contributor, and that the primary cause is ultra-processed food and drink.”

I agree.

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.