respublica

As if we don't have enough to obsess about

Along comes this rather unsettling advice and warning about our sleep positions. I honestly believe many science experts are just making stuff up in order to get published and some of this causes us unnecessary worry.

"When you lie down to sleep, the position you take can affect your health and even how you look."

Talk about a come-on which will probably keep us up at night which is worse than sleep position. Let's get to the "how you look" part. "Side sleeping will actually increase the number of wrinkles you have because side sleeping, you push your face against the pillow and that can actually increase the wrinkles, especially if you lay on one side all the time,” said Dr. Ravi Johar, chief medical officer for United Healthcare in the Missouri-Illinois area. It also causes neck and shoulder pain.

I'd say this is pushing the envelope in order to get people to read.

Moving on to the health risks associated with our sleep positions. There are way too many and there is no position listed which is what this guy would consider the safest. You can read them all for yourself if you want to be kept awake all night.

Now they come for my Ibuprofen

First it was the news that aspirin was bad for us for any of number of reasons. I was always an aspirin taker especially for soreness after yard work or headaches. Then all the medical experts recommended Ibuprofen (advil, Motrin, etc) for pain relief.

Now the stories are about the bad effects of Ibuprofen-heart attacks and some other things.

This bothers me no end and it seems that in the rush to publish these new pieces of information, they are not correct. Or at least not essentially right. This is why I take sudden change in medical new with a grain of salt, even though salt is also bad for us.

I guess I will wait to see if my aching knees can get through the day without Advil. If not, I'm taking some even though my first choice and even better for inflammation is aspirin.

The health benefits of washing dishes

There are studies for just about everything, but this one from the American Heart Association gave me pause. I wasn't sure at first if it was satire or really real. The study published this week measured the physical activity of over 5400 women between the ages of 63 and 97.

They found that women who did daily chores like housework, cooking, vacuuming, gardening and even taking a shower had a reduced risk of heart disease. While I do all these things everyday and it sounds like good news, I have to wonder if they ever did a study like this for men. The conclusions sound like a great argument for men to encourage women to keep on doing housework.

If housework and gardening is good heart work for women, should this not apply to men as well?

Sleep Aid News

Monday morning. This must be the day when news reporters are tired because a whole lot of stories showed up this morning on how to get better sleep.Some of these are interesting and maybe helpful, others are kind of far out.

A low protein snack before bed will boost the metabolism in the morning. They advise  eating things like fruit, nuts, seeds and oatmeal before bed. But this snack I would probably never eat: "a sandwich made with banana, lettuce and marmite and is the best way to fix your sleep problem." No sandwich for me that late and I have no idea what marmite is..

Why the snake plant will help you sleep better! It is a natural air purifier that emits oxygen at night, meaning you can sleep better (and for longer). Of all the house plants we have around here, not one is a snake plant. I may go looking for one today,

You need to change the bed sheets more often for better sleep. It turns out that there's a sweet spot for this by changing them every 12 or 13 days for the best chance of sleeping soundly. Actually, 12 or 13 days seems kind of long to me. This article is filled with reasons why clean bed sheets are good, and why not clean sheets are bad for a good sleep. I enjoyed this article

And finally, magnesium supplements are important. They seem to regulate our circadian rhythms, the internal clock that tells the body when to be awake and when to go to bed. magnesium is thought to directly and positively impact relaxation and sleep architecture. I have no idea what sleep architecture is, but magnesium helps it.

I have no idea why this post has such a long empty gap before the post under it.

Best Nuts

We have taken to having a couple bowls of nuts out on the coffee table all the time these days. We have two kinds-regular peanuts (Schnucks roasted and salted extra large Virginia Peanuts) which are very very tasty. The other is the Culinaria Gourmet Blend of mixed nuts. Both are very very good. We grab some as we pass through the room or while watching TV.

At the moment the Collinsville Schnucks is out of the Virginia Peanuts and has been for about a week. Today I am going to (maybe) go over to the Schnucks near the seminary and St. Marys Hospital to see if they have any. That store is not like the others, more items, more selections, more variety. It may be because they get a lot of business from those at the hospital as well as 3 universities all in a row along Big Bend. Wash U especially.

This article on nuts today interested me-Almonds versus Walnuts- which is better for you? The can of Gourmet Nuts we get is just loaded with Almonds, maybe too many for our liking. I kind of laugh because a couple of years ago Almonds were in short supply. The other nuts in this can are about everything but peanuts. The article seems to believe both Almonds and Walnuts have great benefits, just different.

So eat more nuts! What can't they do?

The Worst Cities in Illinois for Covid cases

The reason for these cities being worst in the state may be know by someone, but looking at the list I see a bunch of college towns. Whether that plays into it is just a guess.

 

MSA	Population	Total cases	Cases per 100,000	Total deaths	Deaths per 100,000
Danville, IL	77,563	22,635	29,182.7	247	318.5
Decatur, IL	105,528	24,446	23,165.4	289	273.9
Kankakee, IL	110,637	25,439	22,993.2	310	280.2
Carbondale-Marion, IL	137,573	31,565	22,944.2	353	256.6
Bloomington, IL	172,578	39,398	22,829.1	255	147.8
Champaign-Urbana, IL	226,323	51,648	22,820.5	254	112.2
Peoria, IL	406,883	91,501	22,488.3	1,094	268.9
Rockford, IL	338,356	74,646	22,061.4	792	234.1
Springfield, IL	209,167	46,130	22,054.1	338	161.6
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI	9,508,605	1,800,530	18,935.8	20,767	218.4

 

 

 

 

About masks

We are back again getting strong advice on the importance of wearing masks and N95 or KN95 masks being the most protective. Cloth masks are now said to be less effective.

I guess I'll be getting some of these today even though I am not crazy about the big round blob of their look. Some companies have begun making them in fun colors and designs which help somewhat.

The N95 masks are designed to form a seal around the mouth and nose. It is also said that you can tell if you have a fake one if your glasses fog up while wearing it. The good mask will not allow fog.

Also the KN95 masks, also recommended are made in China while the N95's are not.

Risky places

One of the first things I read this morning was an article on the top ten riskiest places to be during the latest Covid outbreak. Which means places that make the spread much easier. Most include places where lots of people are together indoors.

So a later article from the Edwardsville Intelligencer had me dumbfounded and wondering about all the mixed messages we get from the news. This headline read: "Fishing Catches on for Thousands in Collinsville." This past weekend a fishing show was held at the Gateway Center and that brought in the thousands. The story made this seem like a good thing, fishing is now really popular and those who attended were thrilled.

Frankly, even though I am no expert on contagion, this seems way over the top for safety. I am aware of how many of us are now pretty tired of restrictions and warnings, but the number of rising cases should give us pause.

Best supplements for joint pain

Joint discomfort is what nags me and has become more noticeable since our move back to Collinsville a year ago. I believe this has a lot to do with all the heavy lifting we did as well as all the heavy gardening this year. Dale is a big believer in supplements and vitamins of all sorts and keeps nagging at me to start taking them. I've never been a pill person except for the occasional aspirin, but I've started to come around to his way of thinking. If they help, great.

Here are some recommended supplements for all sorts of joint pain and stiffness. Oddly, at least to me, is the overwhelming advice for fish oil. This seems to be a wonder supplement if you are not eating salmon or sardines each week which I am not. And there are more to consider which I may do as well.

Snacks for better sleep

This is rather helpful if true, especially if you are someone who has trouble sleeping. There are snacking type foods which contain natural sleep promoting properties and are not chemical pills. Frankly we all have nights that sleep just won't come and sometimes we even no ahead of time we won't be able to get to sleep whether from stress,worry or too much physical activity. This may help.

The first item on the list is cherries and this surprises me. We never have cherries around, never give them a thought, maybe knowing they have pits is off-putting. Cherry juice appears to work similarly and is also very beneficial for helping with joint pain or inflammation. Easier than eating cherries.

Also for better rest, dark chocolate, yay, Walnuts, almonds, Hummus, pistachios, watermelon, oatmeal and bananas. Pistachios seem to be the "Holy Grail of Nuts."