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April 23 - November 14, 2023
These results, the researchers concluded, suggest that “even children in a state of mild dehydration, not induced by intentional water deprivation or by heat stress and living in a cold climate, can benefit from drinking more water and improve their cognitive performance.”23
Restriction of fluid intake has been shown to increase sleepiness and fatigue, lower levels of vigor and alertness, and increase feelings of confusion.
In addition to making water more interesting, carbonation may also help relieve gastrointestinal symptoms.
The bottom line, based on all the best studies to date, is that coffee consumption may indeed be associated with a small reduction in mortality,31 on the order of a 3 percent lower risk of premature death for each cup of coffee consumed daily.32
Daily coffee consumption is also associated with a slightly increased risk of bone fractures among women, but, interestingly, a decreased fracture risk among men.35 However, no association was found between coffee and hip fracture risk. Conversely, tea may reduce hip fracture risk36 but appears to have no significant effect on fracture risk in general.37 This is an important distinction, because hip fractures are associated with a shortened life span more than other types of bone fractures.38
If you don’t have optimal cholesterol levels, you should consider sticking to filtered coffee or using instant coffee, which also lacks these compounds.45 If these tweaks don’t help, consider eliminating coffee completely, as even paper-filtered coffee may raise cholesterol levels a small amount.46
Moderate caffeine consumption in healthy, nonpregnant adults is not only safe but has been found to increase energy and alertness and enhance physical, motor, and cognitive performance.51
I cannot recommend drinking coffee, though. Why? Because every cup of coffee is a lost opportunity to drink a potentially even healthier beverage—a cup of green tea.
Drinking tea may protect against gynecological malignancies, such as ovarian cancer59 and endometrial cancer,60 as well as lower your cholesterol,61 blood pressure,62 blood sugar,63 and body fat.64 It may protect the brain from both cognitive decline65 and stroke.66 Tea consumption is also associated with decreased risk of diabetes,67 tooth loss,68 and up to half the risk of dying from pneumonia.69 Those who suffer from seasonal allergies may also benefit from drinking tea. Randomized trials have shown that drinking about three cups of Japanese Benifuuki green tea per day starting six70 to
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Scientists discovered that humans have four main mental states—two while sleeping and two while awake.
Sleeping - delta, theta
Waking - alpha, beta
Both white and green teas are less processed than black tea and are probably preferable.74
Cold-steeping saves prep time and energy, and may even be healthier.
There is one tea beverage I’d stay away from, though. Based on a few cases of serious, life-threatening outcomes linked to kombucha tea, a type of fermented tea, the consumption of kombucha “should be discouraged,” according to one case report of a person who ended up in a coma after drinking the stuff.
Over the years, numerous large-scale studies have found a correlation between artificial-sweetener use and weight gain.103 The most common explanation for this counterintuitive finding is reverse causation: People aren’t fat because they drink diet soda; they drink diet soda because they’re fat.
As mentioned earlier, we may be in the process of raising the first generation of children in America with a shorter predicted life span than their parents.3
in addition to helping you enjoy a healthy body weight, exercise can also ward off and possibly reverse mild cognitive decline, boost your immune system, prevent and treat high blood pressure, and improve your mood and quality of sleep, among many other benefits.
A meta-analysis of forty-three such studies found that excess sitting was associated with a shorter life span,21 and this may be “regardless of physical activity level.” In other words, people who religiously hit the gym after work may still have shortened life spans if they are otherwise sitting throughout the day.
The researchers concluded that functional compounds in fruits and vegetables can “play a key role in the design of new natural and functional products” like beverages, juices, and energy bars.38
Never ones to miss an opportunity, pharmaceutical and supplement companies have investigated ways to block exercise-induced oxidative damage with antioxidant pills, but, ironically, this may lead to a state of pro-oxidation. For example, guys doing arm curls taking about 1,000 mg of vitamin C ended up with more muscle damage and oxidative stress.42
As a review in the Journal of Sports Sciences put it, those who eat plant-based diets may naturally “have an enhanced antioxidant defence system to counter exercise-induced oxidative stress.”44
Art’s passing made me realize that no matter how well we eat or how well we live, we can always get hit by a bus—metaphorically or literally.
A neuroimaging study found that frequent ice cream consumption “is related to a reduction in reward-region [pleasure center] responsivity in humans, paralleling the tolerance observed in drug addiction.”
The vast majority of premature deaths can be prevented with simple changes in what you eat and how you live.
All the other vitamins, minerals, and nutrients should be taken care of by the mountains of nutrition you’ll be getting by centering your diet around whole plant foods. And many of those nutrients are ones Americans normally don’t get in sufficient quantity—namely, vitamins A, C, and E and the minerals magnesium and potassium, along with fiber.51 Ninety-three percent of Americans don’t get enough vitamin E. Ninety-seven percent of American adults don’t get enough fiber.52 Ninety-eight percent of American diets are deficient in potassium.53
