Friday Tidbits #1
This short email has 5 interesting bits of information for your weekend.
Welcome to the first Friday Tidbits! This is a very short email with morsels of information to help you tweak your life and health.
Stress
Grief is a psychological stressor resulting in increased inflammation markers including IL-6 (1).
There are numerous blood markers that can be used to measure inflammation and these are called pro-inflammatory cytokines. Interleukin06 (IL-6) is a signalling molecule are released by immune cells. A study in 2022 found that IL-6 increased between 19-45% depending on the severity of grief symptoms after the death of a spouse. Grief temporarily dysregulates multiple bodily systems that negatively impact on the stress-response system. Grief and depression have overlapping emotional and physical manifestations.
Breathing
Training your inhale breathing muscles decreases your resting hear rate and blood pressure (2).
Various inspiratory muscle training (IMT) devices are available that restrict the air inflow, making your breathing muscles work harder. Just like using dumbbells to strengthen bicep muscles increasing the workload will increase strength.
Devices:
Nutrition
Supplementation with ~200mg Rhodiola Rosea improve exercise performance and recovery (3).
Rhodiola is a plant extract considered an adaptogen - a substance that promote physiological resilience and increase resistance to stress. It enhances physical and cognitive performance under duress by modulating neurotransmitters like serotonin and adrenaline and endorphins. Research shows Rhodiola also have antioxidant effects.
Movement
High levels of physical activity (PA) lower the risk for major depression by 20% (4).
High PA is considered at >1200 MET-min/ week. Metabolic Equivalents (METs) is used to calculate your body’s energy expenditure. One MET is the energy you spend sitting at rest. An activity with a MET of 5, you are exerting five times more energy compared to sitting. Moderate MET activities (3-6 METs) include lighter weight training (3.5), golf walking and pulling clubs (4.3), brisk walking 6km/hr (5), slow swimming (6). Read more here.
Exercise reduce depressive symptoms by increasing stress resilience by promoting neuroplasticity and altering neuromodulator signalling including serotonin, adrenaline, endorphins and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
Sleep
Not getting enough sleep makes you hungrier and increase snacking (5).
A recent study found that restricting sleep to 5 hours per night for 3 days increase energy, fat and carbohydrate intake. Sweet taste preference increased - you want to snack on unhealthy highly-palatable food.
References:
Brown, Ryan L et al. “Grief Symptoms Promote Inflammation During Acute Stress Among Bereaved Spouses.” Psychological science vol. 33,6 (2022): 859-873. doi:10.1177/09567976211059502
Cipriano, Graziella Fb et al. “Current insights of inspiratory muscle training on the cardiovascular system: a systematic review with meta-analysis.” Integrated blood pressure control vol. 12 1-11. 20 May. 2019, doi:10.2147/IBPC.S159386
Tinsley, Grant M et al. “Rhodiola rosea as an adaptogen to enhance exercise performance: a review of the literature.” The British journal of nutrition, 1-13. 29 Aug. 2023, doi:10.1017/S0007114523001988
Laird, Eamon et al. “Physical Activity Dose and Depression in a Cohort of Older Adults in The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.” JAMA network open vol. 6,7 e2322489. 3 Jul. 2023, doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.22489
Tajiri, Eri et al. “Effects of sleep restriction on food intake and appetite under free-living conditions: A randomized crossover trial.” Appetite vol. 189 (2023): 106998. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2023.106998