Friday Tidbits #2
This short email has 5 interesting bits of information for your weekend
Welcome to Friday Tidbits. This is a very short email with morsels of information to help you tweak your life and health for optimum longevity and healthy ageing.
Stress
Supplementing with 30mg saffron extract lowers depressive symptoms, comparable to some SSRIs (1).
Many of you will know of saffron as a spice that makes your food yellow, often used in Middle Eastern and Indian dishes. Iran produces almost 90% of the worlds saffron flowers, Crocus Sativus. Active compounds include crocin, picrocrocin, safranol and zeaxanthin. Crocins have serotonergic effects, partially blocking the 5-HT2c signalling. When used in conjunction with fluoxetine (SSRI), saffron appears to alleviate the drug-associated sexual dysfunction (2). Study doses vary widely from 15mg twice per day to up to 400mg (3) per day. Similar to other herbs, high doses of saffron can have negative effects.
Read the free Meta-analysis (1).
Breathing
There is no such thing as “diaphragmatic breathing”, you are always using your diaphragm to breathe (4).
A common theme used by some breath coaches is that “you are not using your diaphragm to breathe and need to change”. Fact: if you cannot use your diaphragm to breathe, you will need a machine to help you breathe. It is like saying “today we are going to learn to do some leg-running”.
The phrenic nerve (4) is responsible for the diaphragm muscle contraction. Patients with spinal cord injuries that severely damage the phrenic nerve are placed on mechanical ventilators to stay alive - Christopher Reeve is a well-known case.
Nutrition
Creatine monohydrate supplementation of 4g per day for 6 months reduces symptoms of long-covid (5).
Post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) is also called chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and is a long-term neurological disorder commonly associated with viruses including Epstein-Bar (6) and more recently with Covid-19 infection. PVFS patients report mental fatigue, headaches, inability to concentrate, low-exercise tolerance, un-refreshing sleep and in the case of Covid, breathing difficulties. In a small RCT of 12 patients, half received 4g creatine monohydrate daily for 6 months while the control group received inulin. Supplementation increased the creatine concentration in the brain and body as measured by MRI and muscle biopsy. Patients in the intervention group reported improvement of all symptoms compared to the control group that did not show any improvement.
Creatine facilitates bioenergetics, neurotransmitter modulation, neuroprotection, anti-oxidant activity and inflammation.
Movement
The phase of your menstrual cycle does not influence your strength performance or adaptation to exercise stimuli (7).
There is an assumption that women need to alter their training regimen according to the phase of their menstrual cycle. This review (7) show that there is currently not enough evidence to show that the phase of menstrual cycle influences their training performance and adaptations.
This does not say that you should train regardless of how you feel. Any good coach will adapt your training to how you show up on the day. As a women (or man), if you do not feel your best on a specific day then adapt your program accordingly.
Sleep
Insomnia is associated with lower levels of BDNF and the subsequent increased risk of earlier cognitive decline (8).
More than 10% (9) of the population worldwide reports onset or maintenance insomnia. Insomnia is a risk factor for poor physical and mental health, increasing the chance of developing early dementia. The study by Sanchez-Carcia et al. (8) show that insomnia decrease BDNF concentration. Sleep quality (10) and BDNF (11) levels are improved by social interaction, mental stimulation, exercise and healthy diet.
BDNF is a neurotrophin expressed in the brain and body. It is involved in neuron health and function and is important in learning and memory mechanisms. Too low levels of BDNF increase risk for depression and neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimers diseases. BDNF concentration is reduced by stress and it naturally declines with ageing. BDNF released in sleep
References:
Hausenblas, Heather Ann et al. “Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) and major depressive disorder: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.” Journal of integrative medicine vol. 11,6 (2013): 377-83. doi:10.3736/jintegrmed2013056
Kashani, Ladan et al. “Saffron for treatment of fluoxetine-induced sexual dysfunction in women: randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study.” Human psychopharmacology vol. 28,1 (2013): 54-60. doi:10.1002/hup.2282
Modaghegh, Mohammad-Hadi et al. “Safety evaluation of saffron (Crocus sativus) tablets in healthy volunteers.” Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology vol. 15,12 (2008): 1032-7. doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2008.06.003
Mandoorah S, Mead T. Phrenic Nerve Injury. [Updated 2023 Aug 8]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482227/
Slankamenac, J., Ranisavljev, M., Todorovic, N., Ostojic, J., Stajer, V., & Ostojic, S. M. (2023). Effects of six-month creatine supplementation on patient- and clinician-reported outcomes, and tissue creatine levels in patients with post-COVID-19 fatigue syndrome. Food Science & Nutrition, 11, 6899–6906. httpr://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.3597
Morris, G., Berk, M., Walder, K. et al. The Putative Role of Viruses, Bacteria, and Chronic Fungal Biotoxin Exposure in the Genesis of Intractable Fatigue Accompanied by Cognitive and Physical Disability. Mol Neurobiol 53, 2550–2571 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-015-9262-7
Colenso-Semple, Lauren M et al. “Current evidence shows no influence of women's menstrual cycle phase on acute strength performance or adaptations to resistance exercise training.” Frontiers in sports and active living vol. 5 1054542. 23 Mar. 2023, doi:10.3389/fspor.2023.1054542
Sánchez-García, Sergio et al. “Insomnia Impairs Both the Pro-BDNF and the BDNF Levels Similarly to Older Adults with Cognitive Decline: An Exploratory Study.” International journal of molecular sciences vol. 24,8 7387. 17 Apr. 2023, doi:10.3390/ijms24087387
Bhaskar S., Hemavathy D., Prasad S. Prevalence of Chronic Insomnia in Adult Patients and Its Correlation with Medical Comorbidities. J. Fam. Med. Prim. Care. 2016;5:780–784. doi: 10.4103/2249-4863.201153
Hill R.A., Du X., Wu Y.-W.C. BDNF–TrkB Signaling as a Therapeutic Target in Neuropsychiatric Disorders. J. Recept. Ligand Channel Res. 2014;2014:61–79. doi: 10.2147/JRLCR.S50404
Siuda J., Patalong-Ogiewa M., Żmuda W., Targosz-Gajniak M., Niewiadomska E., Matuszek I., Jędrzejowska-Szypułka H., Rudzińska-Bar M. Cognitive Impairment and BDNF Serum Levels. Neurol. Neurochir. Pol. 2017;51:24–32. doi: 10.1016/j.pjnns.2016.10.001.