Good afternoon Nikkola Newsletterers!
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Also, if you know anyone who could use VIGOR Training (or you've been sitting on the fence about joining), you've got less than four weeks to get in while the membership rate is only $49 per month. After that, it goes up to $147 per month.
Enjoy today’s carefully curated newsletter!
📖 Deep Dives
Visceral Fat: How to Lower Belly Fat with Diet, Lifestyle, and Supplements. The chances are good that when you think about body fat, you don’t think about visceral fat, which accumulates over your organs and under your abdominal muscles. Instead, you probably think about your love handles, saddlebags, or other fat that accumulates under your skin. That’s the fat we can see. While any excess fat isn’t good for your health, visceral fat is terrible. Fortunately, you’re not stuck with it if you’re willing to make some nutrition and lifestyle changes. Keep reading (or listen)...
🩺 Health
Remember to sleep before you start to forget. Improving deep sleep could be key to preventing dementia, according to a new study from Monash University. For people 60 years of age and older, a mere 1% reduction in deep sleep per year could increase the risk of dementia by 27%. Deep sleep, also known as slow wave sleep, plays a crucial role in supporting the aging brain. It aids in the clearance of metabolic waste from the brain, including proteins that aggregate in Alzheimer's disease.
Mobile phones could be killing sperm. Researchers discovered that frequent mobile phone users had a lower sperm concentration and total sperm count compared to those who used their phones less frequently. This could be a contributing factor to the observed decline in semen quality over the past fifty years, alongside other environmental and lifestyle factors. Years ago, those on the leading edge of nutrition and health said this could happen, but mainstream media often labeled them as quacks, which is another example of why you can't trust mainstream media with your health.
Infant mortality rose last year, the first time in two decades. The US experienced its largest increase in infant mortality rates in two decades, with a 3% rise in 2022, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Significant increases were observed in white and Native American infants, infant boys, and babies born at 37 weeks or earlier. The CDC also noted that maternal complications and bacterial meningitis, two of the leading causes of infant deaths, saw larger increases. This concerning trend is opposite to the generally declining infant mortality rates observed in previous decades. Some experts speculate that the rebound of RSV and flu infections last fall, which filled pediatric emergency rooms across the country, could account for some of the increase. Could there be something else that most of the public has been exposed to in the past couple of years to lead to this? 🤔
Would you join a class action lawsuit? According to a recent poll by Rasmussen Reports, a staggering 42% of Americans would likely join a class-action lawsuit against COVID vaccine makers if it were legal. This data is a clear indication that the COVID vaccine has become one of the largest healthcare disasters in US history. Nearly half of the people surveyed knew someone who died from the COVID virus, while 24% knew someone who died as a result of the vaccine. These numbers are alarming and suggest that the public's trust in the vaccine is waning.
🏋️♂️ Exercise
If you believe exercise is good, it'll do good things. A new study from Iowa State University reveals that having a positive outlook on physical activity may be related to lower anxiety about aging. Researchers analyzed results from a multi-state survey and found that gender, age, marital status, and income affect perspectives on exercise and aging. However, they also noted that reframing messages about both can lead to healthier behaviors. The bottom line: If you whine about needing to exercise, you'll shortchange the benefits you get from it, and probably won't stick with it. It's a necessary part of a healthy life, so don't complain about it.
🧠 Mental Health
Insoluble fiber might be good for your mental health, not just your digestive health. Insoluble fiber, present in various plant foods, has been praised for its benefits concerning bowel regularity and overall health. New research has revealed that different sources of insoluble fiber contain unique bioactives, which have been associated with lower incidences of several chronic diseases. This discovery emphasizes the importance of a fiber-rich diet for maintaining good health and potentially influencing mental well-being.
🌎 Other News
The Ukraine War’s ‘Cronkite Moment’. If you haven’t read it yet, this week’s TIME magazine cover story on Zelensky is extraordinary. It confirms almost everything that critics of the war have been saying, starting with the fact that it is unwinnable for Ukraine. Moreover, it goes further in describing Zelensky as “delusional” for his failure to recognize battlefield realities and his unwillingness to consider peace negotiations with Russia. Most remarkably, the sources for the article are Zelensky’s own aides and advisers. In other words, the “Putin talking points” are coming from inside the house. Keep reading...
Five Dutch Cyclists Died or Suffered Serious Heart Problems this Year. In the early hours of Monday, October 23rd, the 20-year-old Dutch cyclist Mark Groeneveld passed away, apparently of a heart attack, after having dropped out of a race in Hong Kong earlier in the day. Several reports (here, for instance, in Dutch) claim that he dropped out of the race for mechanical reasons and that his subsequent collapse was “unrelated”. Keep reading...