Sunday Newsletter — 3/29/2020

Originally published on my primary website: sundaynewsletter.com

Great podcast episode: Eric Weinstein interviews Ben Greenfield on The Portal

Notes:

• If you’d like to hear a mathematician/physicist interview one of the most sought after personal trainers/health experts in the world, this one is for you.

Excerpt:

• “We live in an era now where the type of self-quantification that would’ve been prohibitively expensive 10 years ago is now readily affordable and available”

Key takeaways:

• If you want to see what foods your body might be intolerant of, take this Cyrex test. In particular, it might show you foods who’s effects have been too subtle for you to connect with their consumption, but that are nonetheless having a tangible negative impact on your energy levels and health. I haven’t taken a Cyrex test yet but am considering it. The price is high, but it could definitely be a worthwhile investment if the results illuminate a way of eating that boosts one’s energy and therefore productivity. For a more information on food intolerances and Cyrex tests, click here. If you’d like to see a sample report from a Cyrex test, click here.
• The fact that the Ketogenic diet can lead to rapid weight loss does not necessarily mean that it is the healthiest diet for everyone. It all depends on your personal biology.
• If you want to improve your sleep, try cooling your room. Additionally, you could try wearing socks to bed, as doing so will actually lower your core temperature when you sleep. Lower core temperatures lead to increases in sleep quality.

Three critical indicators of overall health are:

• Heart rate variability
• Glycemic variability
• Inflammation

For more in depth notes on this podcast episode, click here.

Recommended Reading

Lost Connections (Book by Johann Hari about the real causes of depression)

Excerpts:

• “After twenty years researching this (depression) at the highest level, Irving has come to believe that the notion depression is caused by a chemical imbalance is just “an accident of history,” produced by scientists initially misreading what they were seeing, and then drug companies selling that misperception to the world to cash in.”
• “He (Irving) explained: the evidence from the clinical trials suggests that the antidepressant effects are a largely a placebo, but the (negative) side effects are mostly the result of the chemicals themselves, and they can be very severe.”

Notes:

• The scientists mentioned in the experts is Irving Kirsch, Associate Director of the Program in Placebo Studies and a lecturer in medicine at the Harvard Medical School.
• The author feels that chemical antidepressants are massively overprescribed, but that they are also appropriate in some instances.

A few more thoughts from the author:

The Body Keeps the Score (Book on the imprints of trauma that I wrote about in this post. I’ve already recommended it, but it’s honestly so good that I felt compelled to re-recommend it.)

Excerpts:

• “In order to regain control over your self, you need to revisit the trauma: Sooner or later you need to confront what has happened to you, but only after you feel safe and will not be retraumatized by it. The first order of business is to find ways to cope with feeling overwhelmed by the sensations and emotions associated with the past.”
• “His first family portrait, drawn before treatment started, was at the developmental level of a three-year-old. Less than five weeks later, after twenty sessions of neurofeedback, his tantrums had decreased and his drawing showed a marked improvement in complexity. Ten weeks and another twenty sessions later, his drawing took another leap in complexity and his behavior normalized. (Description of the effects that neurofeedback training had on a traumatized child)”

Notes:

• If you’d like to read my favorite chapter from the book, which is available for free on the internet, click here. (The site on which it is posted has a lot of adds, but the actual text exactly matches that of the book)

Key takeaway from the book:

• Phobias, disabilities, learning disabilities, trouble connecting, and personality issues often stem from trauma. I think this truth should motivate as all to be a little more empathic to those who bother us when they display behavior that is annoying and or seemingly inexplicable.

Artist Whose Work I’ve Been Enjoying: Jax Mildner (Website: fineartjax.com, Instagram: fineartjax)

Excerpt from Dune by Frank Herbert

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

Photo of the Week