5. HEALTH | | Salt and brain health.
Are you eating enough salt? My perception of salt based on the prevailing culture is that some of us are eating far too much salt. But what if we're under-consuming it?
Perhaps you're also an admirer of Dr Andrew Huberman's popular podcast and YouTube channel which is a useful resource for all things neural. I enjoy his dispassionate analysis of brain-related topics, based on the latest scientific findings.
In this episode he explores the research on the importance of sodium and specifically how salt helps make that most readily available in a healthy diet.
The take-home messages for me are that 1) the brain and other organs and their systems need salt, 2) the brain monitors salt intake and levels, 3) ultra-processed foods can mask sodium intake, another great reason to avoid them, and 4) that by listening to our salt hunger (needing more) and thirst (we consumed too much), we should be able to avoid lack and surplus. | | 6. TRAINING | | Inefficient breathing, inefficient running.
Take a deep breath. Did your shoulders rise and tighten? That is exactly the wrong way to breath, creating tension and not fully inflating your lungs.
The way you breathe when you’re reading this passage may be very different from the way you breath when you run.
Even though you've been breathing your whole life, you may be doing it incorrectly. Getting your breathing right is incredibly important for fueling your muscles with oxygen, discovers Heloise Hunter.
Get the details on our website. | | 7. PLANET | | Cringe-worthy greenwashing by detergent companies.
A friend was recently gobsmacked by a television ad from a well-known washing powder (you know the one, O**).
The subject was being green and how buying this brand would help plant trees. A sub-message was that nature needs... wait for it... our help! She nearly fell off her chair when the ad included the sub-text "Because trees can't plant themselves."
Who makes these awful greenwashing ads? And ultimately, who watches them and falls for them?
Have the agency's copywriters ever been outside and noticed that trees have things called flowers, fruits, and seeds... and that trees can indeed plant themselves without any help from chemical companies?
I quipped to my friend that the company needs to re-brand to Oh No!
(And I see good use of a face palm emoji as its logo.)
My advice to you? See through the green-washing, ditch commercial detergents (which are harmful to ecosystems downstream and indeed your health), and use washing products with short, botanical-derived ingredient lists.
The brand I've used for the past five years is Triple Orange, with its active ingredients extracted from orange rinds, and with no synthetic additives. | | 8. NEWS | | Embracing the trail running family.
~ Zoe Merson-Davies (pic left) is an effervescent trail runner from Johannesburg who was diagnosed with three rare blood diseases: Aplastic Anaemia (AA) and Myelosdysplastic Syndrome (MDS) complicated further by a PNH Clone. PNH stands for Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, which causes red blood cells to break apart, a phenomenon known as hemolysis. She received her life-saving bone marrow (aka stem cell) transplant on 16 September 2021 from an anonymous donor and has bounced back. Zoe is training hard to compete in track events at the World Transplant Games in 2025 in Dresden, Germany. She uses her Art With Heart Facebook page to raise awareness for others needing transplants. She asks for you to consider SANBS for donating blood and platelets, and DKMS Africa and SABMR for registering as a stem cell donor.
~ Modern Athlete director and editor Sean Falconer announced on 30 January that Nicole Hayes had agreed to an update of a sub-clause in their boyfriend-girlfriend contract. "I then brought out the ring and told her the proposed new name (pun intended) would be the fiancé-fiancée contract," said. Congrats to this most affable of couples!
~ Grant Cummings, a well-loved and respected Westville Athletics Club member, died after a fall at Macintosh Falls in Giba Gorge, on Monday (pic right). Westville Athletics Club and Shongweni parkrun posted moving tributes to him. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Photo: AfriNUUS.
| | | THAT'S IT... FOR NOW. HAPPY WEEKEND! | | | | | |
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