Try This - 4 Shares For The Week

This week I’ve got some really good shares for you.

High level: 

1. This intervention cuts dementia risk by 15%

2. Don’t avoid this! 

3. The difference between a struggle and a challenge

4. Can this experimental treatment reduce nerve damage?

Let’s get into it.

Number 1: Cut Dementia Risk By 15 Percent!

I talk about brain health a lot, and this new study presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress is one of the better pieces of evidence I've seen that blood pressure is a big part of that story.

Researchers followed nearly 34,000 adults across 326 rural villages in China for seven years, and in half the villages, community health workers put people on blood pressure medication with a target of under 130/80.

That group lowered their systolic pressure by 17.6 mmHg (versus 2.4 mmHg with usual care) and ended up with a 15 percent lower risk of dementia and a 13 percent lower risk of cognitive impairment. 

Yes, they got there with medication, but we also have decades of trials showing what lifestyle alone can do. 

The DASH-Sodium trial lowered systolic pressure by 11.5 mmHg in people with hypertension through a fruit-and-vegetable-heavy diet with 1,500 mg of sodium a day (and since most of our excess sodium comes from bread, rolls, and ultra-processed foods rather than the salt shaker, a big part of that is just eating less-processed food).  

The PREMIER trial got a similar 11 mmHg drop with coaching on weight, sodium, exercise, and alcohol, and a 2023 meta-analysis of 270 exercise trials found isometric moves like wall sits lead the pack at roughly 8 mmHg.

The bottom line is that blood pressure is one of the most fixable dementia risk factors we have, and the earlier you catch it drifting, the easier it is to fix.

Also, I'm excited that wearables like the Apple Watch and Whoop now use proxy measures to show your trends over time, and if you have aging parents who wear one, you can keep an eye on their numbers from afar. 

If they don’t have one of those devices, encourage them to do regular home cuff readings.

Number 2: Don’t Avoid the Sun Completely

I have a few friends (mostly women) who avoid the sun like the plague because they've seen firsthand that the sun ages their skin. And the thing is, they are 100 percent right.

As we discussed recently on our podcast with Dr. Teo Soleymani, a skin cancer surgeon, there’s a crazy paradox with the sun. 

Even moderate sun exposure can age your skin, but if you avoid the sun, you’re at a higher risk of a ton of health issues like dementia, high blood pressure, high blood glucose, and even cancer!

Dr. Matthew Zirwas has a great thread (above) with a nice, concise breakdown of all the research that's out there!

If you missed our episode with Dr. Soleymani, I highly recommend checking it out here.

Number 3: Why You Should Understand Struggle vs Challenge

This 🔥post by Joe Hudson (a past podcast guest) reminds me of a little thing I wrote a couple of years ago called "Struggle vs. Challenge: What’s the difference?"

Struggle or Challenge?
What’s the difference?

A struggle is a burden.
A challenge is an opportunity.

A struggle is, “I can’t wait for this to be done.”
A challenge is, “I can’t wait to see where this goes.”

A struggle is being in one place, but needing to be in another.
A challenge is fully being where you are, not needing to be anywhere else.

A struggle is, “How can I get out?”
A challenge is, “What more can I give?”

A struggle is resistance.
A challenge is acceptance.

Think about something important to you that you’re working on improving. A relationship, a project, a goal.

Now think about the energy around the thing you picked. Are you in a struggle? Or are you in a challenge?

On the surface, a struggle and a challenge look like the same thing. They are both tough. The biggest difference, though, is the energy around them. Plain and simple, a struggle is a challenge that is filled with resistance.

Is there something in your life that you’re struggling with? Could that struggle be turned into a challenge?

It can happen; all it takes is a mental shift.

Number 4: Can Psilocybin Protect Cancer Patients from Nerve Damage? (Emerging Science) 

Chemo-induced nerve damage—think burning feet and numb hands—is one of the cruelest side effects in cancer care. 

Up to 60 percent of patients on platinum chemotherapy develop it, and for many it never fully goes away. Right now there is no proven way to prevent it.

This week in Science, a team at MD Anderson reported something very promising. Two doses of psilocybin given before chemotherapy completely prevented the nerve pain from developing. The protection held across six chemo cycles and eight months of follow-up, and the chemo still killed tumors just as well.

How does this all work? Nerve cells ship their power plants, the mitochondria, down a long fiber to the endings in your skin, but chemotherapy strands them halfway. When this happens, the far endings starve and die back. Psilocybin essentially keeps the traffic moving.

So is this an argument for mushrooms? No. A non-hallucinogenic version of the molecule worked exactly as well. Whatever is doing the protecting, it isn't the trip.

What this study did not show was that any of this works in humans. The test was on mice, plus human nerve tissue in a dish, and some groups had as few as four animals. Not one human patient has been treated.

Still, it’s super promising for the future, and hopefully soon, some studies using humans will occur, giving these patients more tools to support their journey. 

That’s it for this week. 

See you next week for more shares.

Much love,
Dhru Purohit

The information in this newsletter is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice; please consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any health-related decisions.