I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues: Eat This For A Happy Brain 🧠
Ladies news, and more clues for all the blues
2 min read
New here? Welcome to All Too Well, where I draw on my 20+ years of expertise in wellness and healthy living to bring you bits and bites of free info you can actually use: low or no-cost tips, light on the preaching, with an extra side order of musical wordplay. 🤗 Let’s dive in.
RUN THE WORLD
GIRLS: In about-damn-time news, wellness tech companies are making headlines for starting to tailor their technology more specifically towards women’s health metrics. Best known for their sleep tracking rings, Oura announced this week that they are introducing improved pregnancy tracking features, as well as their first tools for monitoring perimenopause. And home fitness giant Peloton is expanding its reach from bikes and treads into general wellness, investing in personalized training programs, meditation and sleep features, and thereby creating a more holistic offering to meet the demands of their core audience, women aged 35-44. Put your hands up, and put an Oura ring on it. 🙌🏻
GONNA MAKE U SWEAT
While you’re waving your hands in the air, if you notice that you’re sweating more usual and you take SSRIs for depression or anxiety, your meds might be the culprit. These types of medications directly impact the hypothalamus, aka your system’s thermostat, and can cause the body to run hotter; and unfortunately, this effect doesn’t tend to regulate over time. The best bet to help manage the sitch is to stay as hydrated as possible, sleep in a room set around 67ºF and, at the risk of sounding like an ambassador for a cold plunge company (currently accepting requests 🙋🏻♀️), cool down with a mild 50ish-degree plunge or even better – a cool/cold shower. 🥵🥶
HERE’S A TIP, MAKE THE CHANGE
And now some exciting news from the department of things that are both delicious and beneficial: blueberries top the list of best foods you can eat to improve your cognitive health, stave off dementia, and chase the blues away. Blueberries are high in anthocyanins, compounds known to mitigate neurodegeneration, and a range of studies has shown that middle aged and older adults, even those who already display mild cognitive impairment, improved learning and recall after six months of consuming a daily blueberry beverage. Caveat: the benefits are more specific to wild blueberries, due to the higher and varied concentration of polyphenols in their skin compared to their cousins from the farm. Wild blues are smaller, so their skin-to-pulp ratio is higher, meaning more concentrated nutrients per bit.
But it’s peak blueberry season at farm stands across the USA, so don’t hesitate to grab a pint and stock up on the benefits, even in lower concentration. And if you’re lucky enough to be in the great state of Maine, don’t snooze on those wild blueberries. Ice cream w/benefits is a thing, no? 🍨🫐
This is bananas: while blueberries and bananas are a tasty match made in oatmeal or smoothie heaven, there is some debate about whether they should be hanging out. Some studies suggest that bananas make the flavanols in berries up to 80% less absorbable, thereby canceling out their main benefits, while others suggest this stat is overstated and you’re wasting time worrying about mixing two very healthy foods together. But despite the dispute over HOW you eat them, there’s more consensus on WHEN to eat them.
Pre-workout: banana + blueberries for fast energy. 🍌🫐⚡️
Post-workout: pair with protein (yogurt, milk, or a shake) to improve recovery.
Extra credit: blueberries are not actually blue, though they appear that way to the human eye. Their skin doesn’t contain blue pigments, but the microscopic layers work to scatter blue and UV light, giving us the illusion they are blue when they are actually closer to violet. And we all know how that goes…
FRUIT LOOP
🤗 Fun fact: speaking of fruity info that’s gonna move ya, Juicy Fruit gum was the first item ever to be sold with a scannable bar code, in Ohio in 1974. There are now over 5 billion bar codes in the USA.
Happy weekend, all. Spend it laughing like children, it’s good for the soul.