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News and ideas worth your attention.
Four decades of writing on living long and living well, with 1,000+ posts on functional and longevity medicine.
438 written by Dr. Frank Lipman
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Jan 21, 2022 · SleepEmbrace Your Chronotype
Even though we all have an innate 24-hour rhythm, not all of our rhythms are the same. We all have a sleep chronotype – choosing a sleep-wake schedule that takes your chronotype into account will help you arrive at a rhythm that supports when you’re naturally inclined to sleep, wake up, and perform.
Jan 17, 2022 · Health & WellnessHow BDNF Keeps Your Brain Healthy and How To Boost Yours
Forgetting your car keys or not remembering where you parked the car. Blanking on a name when making introductions. We all experience these forgetful moments. They unnerve us and maybe they even strike fear in our hearts as we wonder if something sinister could be responsible. For most people, these blips are just that. For others, the news may be less reassuring. But the positive message for all of us is that there are things we can do right now to help lower the risk of neurological problems down the road. One of the most important may be to increase our brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
Jan 10, 2022 · Nutrition6 Ways Polyphenols Will Make Your Health Soar
By now, everybody knows that eating veggies and low-sugar fruits is a health no-brainer for many reasons. But you may not appreciate one of the most important – getting your daily dose of mission critical polyphenols. These extra special compounds can supercharge just about every aspect of your health and missing out on them can have serious consequences. And while I always recommend eating the good stuff – as in whole, unprocessed, organic or farmers’ market versions – as we head into the new year, I encourage everyone to redouble their efforts to fill up on foods – particularly those rich in polyphenols – to fortify and protect your body at every meal.
Jan 3, 2022 · Healthy Aging5 Easy and Essential Ways to Stop Your Aging Clock
Looking for the fountain of youth? There are several every-day habits and behaviors you can do, starting now, that can slow down aging at the most basic cellular level. They don’t cost much, or in most cases, anything, and they can, and should, last a lifetime -- in other words, a lot longer than ‘miracle’ potions or jars of skin cream. While absolute lifespan, for instance whether your grandmother lived to 85 or 95, is very much influenced by genetics, your ‘healthspan’ – how long you live well, is very much up to you.
Dec 27, 2021 · Health & WellnessOur Top 11 Most Helpful Tips of 2021
If you don’t know where to start, we have gathered our 11 top helpful (and health-full) tips of 2021 to optimize well-being into the next year! You can find these tips and so much more on our Instagram account - @franklipmanmd - please follow along!
Dec 20, 2021 · Health & WellnessOur Top 11 Most Helpful Blogs of 2021
Now is a wonderful time to reflect and make plans for the New Year. And if 2021 did nothing else good, it did point out the importance of prioritizing our health for the greater good. With new variants revealing themselves, finding ways to incorporate new (or old) healthful habits into the day-to-day is essential.
Dec 13, 2021 · Health & Wellness7 Simple Ways to Shed Pandemic Weight Gain — and Prevent Extra Holiday Pounds!
The holidays will soon be over but by all indications the pandemic won’t be. What that means is that you can’t wait for the all-clear from the CDC to begin getting your life in order. And one of the most obvious, and yes, visible, reminders that COVID has done a number on our well-being is more than a few extra pounds, the end-result of a more stressed-out sedentary lifestyle, heavy on the high-carb comfort foods. If you’ve been back-sliding over the last 18+ months, now’s the time to take (or re-take) control of your diet and your weight and start turning the vicious circle of the pandemic (more pounds, more blues, less physical activity) into the “virtuous circle” of enhanced health and wellness.
Dec 6, 2021 · Gut HealthMake More Butyrate to Protect Gut and Brain Health Today!
Your gut microbiome houses certain types of bacteria which, when properly fed, produce powerful, health-supportive compounds like short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). One of the most well-studied SCFAs is butyrate – and it’s one you won’t want to leave home without. If you want your body to run well from head to toe, here’s the 411 on this essential compound that everyone can use a little more of – and how to get yours.
Nov 29, 2021 · RelaxationVagus Nerve Stimulation: 10 Ways to Quickly Calm Body and Soul
If nothing else, this difficult time has shown us just how important it is to protect and preserve both physical and mental health. One silver lining to emerge from the last 18 months: we’re now more aware of what sends our stress levels into the stratosphere. The tricky part? How to bring them back down to earth fast. The good news is that inside every one of us in an actual nerve whose job it is to do exactly that -- the vagus nerve (VN) – and you have the power to tap into its calming power, with ‘vagus nerve stimulation’ (VNS).
Nov 22, 2021 · Gut Health5 Things to Know About Cultivating Your Gut Diversity to Upgrade Your Health
When feeling well is the goal, it pays to focus on your gut microbiome, the trillions-strong community of bacteria whose job it is to keep you healthy. By now, you may be aware of your microbiome and the need to protect it. But, you may not know that microbial diversity – having lots of different, health-supportive strains of bacteria inside you – is another key element of a healthy gut, and a healthy body. What does microbial diversity do for you? How to protect it and how to enhance yours every day? Here are a few ways to do it.
Nov 15, 2021 · Healthy Aging7 Ways Tracking Your Heart Rate Variability Can Save Your Health
One often overlooked but extremely helpful health marker I encourage everyone to track is their heart rate variability or (HRV). Learning more about your HRV can give you a better picture of your cardiovascular fitness and your over-all resilience, as well as helping to steer you toward more health-supportive daily behaviors and lifestyle tweaks. Think of HRV as a sort of on-demand monitoring and feedback system for doing stuff that keeps you well.
Nov 8, 2021 · Nutrition7 Ways to Let Go of Artificial Sweeteners — and Why You Must!
Millions of people who are hooked on the sweet stuff often turn to non-sugar, ‘non-nutritive’ artificial sweeteners to enable them to have their cake and eat it too, so to speak. Not a wise move. In fact, most, if not all, of the chemical sweeteners out there are as just as rotten for your body as sugar, only in different ways. Swapping one bad habit (sugar) for another (fake stuff) can make cravings worse, mess with your microbiome and even damage your brain. Now, that’s a lousy trade-off! In short, nobody should be using artificial sweeteners and I encourage you to redline them (and sugar, too) without delay.
Nov 1, 2021 · MovementA Simple 3-Month Muscle-Building Plan
Truth be told, just about everyone’s fitness slipped a bit as we all tried to muddle through. Granted, though we aren’t totally out of the woods just yet, now that the ground feels less shaky, it’s time to find our footing and start moving forward once again. In other words, it’s time to pull ourselves – and our fitness acts – back together. Here’s your slow and steady muscle-building roadmap
Oct 25, 2021 · Healthy AgingWhy Genetic Testing is About Much More Than Just Your Ancestry
Here are some reasons why health and wellness genetic testing is a powerful tool that provides insights into how your unique body functions.
Oct 18, 2021 · Nutrition4 Excellent Oils to Embrace – and 7 to Kick to the Curb
For years, I’ve encouraged my patients to cook at home as often as possible so you’re in charge of your healthy eating, the ingredients and most importantly, their quality. Even if you’re not Top Chef material, when you stick to fresh, whole, unprocessed, organic and farmers’ market offerings, it’s hard to go wrong. Unless that is, you’re cooking with the wrong oils. They can damage your health just as the right ones can enhance it, so it’s essential to select the right oil for the job.
Oct 11, 2021 · Health & Wellness10 Natural Ways to Tame Autumnal Allergies
To breathe easier and more naturally this fall – minus the fall-out from airborne ragweed and mold spores – opt for a healthier, holistic approach that combines simple nutritional and lifestyle upgrades. To get your program started before the leaves start to fall, try a few of my autumnal allergy-fighting tips to help you embrace the season with a clearer head – and a lot less sneezing.
Oct 4, 2021 · Gut HealthIf IBS Has Got You Down – an Imbalanced Microbiome May Be the (Very Fixable) Culprit
When it comes to gut troubles that make you feel especially lousy, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) ranks pretty high on the list. IBS is basically a vague catchall phrase that offers no insight into what’s actually causing the symptoms. The struggle, however, is very real – think abdominal pain, cramps, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, etc. So, what lies beneath all this gut misery, that afflicts roughly 25 - 45 million people in the US alone? In my three-plus decades of experience, I’ve found that one of the most common culprits is an imbalanced microbiome.
Oct 1, 2021 · Health & WellnessHow to Know if You Have Hashimoto’s Disease
Allowing Hashimoto’s to run unchecked creates more inflammation in the body. This exacerbates symptoms. It also increases your chances of developing a second or third autoimmune condition.
Sep 27, 2021 · Movement8 Ways to Rebuild Your Muscle Mass – Despite the Pandemic Pause
Chances are, over the past 18 pandemic months, your muscular fitness and mass may have slipped a bit. Unfortunately, all that muscular down time is associated with increased cancer risk, depression, lower cognitive ability, prediabetic blood sugar levels (even if you’re at a healthy weight), sleep disruption and a host of other issues. In short, all the makings of a physiological hot mess – so it’s time to flip the script. With gyms open again, outdoor fitness classes in every park and plenty of virtual classes or in-home classes to tune into, there are more muscle-building options than ever – which makes now a good time to start building your muscles back to pre-pandemic levels. Here’s how to get back in the game.
Sep 20, 2021 · Health & Wellness6 Ways to Drink the Cleanest Water Possible
When it comes to water quality, few of us truly know much beyond what the bottlers and/or local government officials may claim, and we all know how that worked out in Flint, Michigan. So, the most sensible and health-protective approach is to take precautions, minimize your toxin exposure and focus on getting the purest water you can. How to reduce the amount of health-undermining effluvia that lurks in the average cup of tap? Here are a few ideas on how to clean up your water act.
Sep 13, 2021 · Health & WellnessFeel Good Now! 6 Tips for a Happy, Healthy Thyroid
Every day, your thyroid is speaking to you, but if you don’t speak the language, you’ll be hard-pressed to understand what’s going on with it, much less how to keep it healthy. Why does your thyroid matter? Well, for starters, it controls the way your body uses energy, helping to regulate your metabolism and governing your responsiveness to other hormones. It’s the great balancer, working 24/7 to help keep you on a hormonal even keel. So, when it’s not functioning optimally, neither will you. You’ll feel sluggish, even exhausted and you may start piling on the pounds while your doc says your thyroid levels are ‘normal.’ Trouble is, thyroid levels that appear ‘normal’ on paper, in real life may be way too low (or too high) for your particular anatomy.
Sep 6, 2021 · Health & Wellness9 Ways to Bring More Happiness Into Your Life
Though you may never have thought of happiness as something you could work on, take my word for it -- never has finding ways to cultivate happiness been more important. That’s not to say you should focus on happiness to the exclusion of all else, get stuck in the unrealistic, feelings-minimizing ‘stay positive’ mantra when things are going to hell, or toss your meds into the sea. What it does mean is that you can do a lot to buoy mental and physical health simply by applying a few happiness-boosting techniques to your repertoire. Even if you weren’t born with an innate sense of happiness, it’s a learnable skill to start practicing today.
Aug 30, 2021 · Nutrition7 Ways to Shop Like a Chef for Optimal Health
As I often say, the difference between people who eat well every day and those who don’t, is that one group makes shopping a nonnegotiable part of their routine. In other words, your food matters, so grab a cart or tote, and when you shop, be it at the farmers’ market or the supermarket, put your chef’s hat on. The idea is to cook what you buy with care. Even if you’re not an amazing cook, don’t race through the market like your cart’s on fire. Take your time – approach food shopping as a kind of mindfulness exercise rather than a chore.
Aug 23, 2021 · Nutrition6 Ways to Eat and Enjoy More Fats – and Ditch Low, No and Faux Fat – for Good!
If your diet is clean, lean and mean, well, good for you – to a point. But if it’s also this side of fat-free then I urge you to please fatten up your diet! Contrary to what your elders may have told you – and what the medical establishment has been espousing for the past 50 years or so – eating a diet full of low-fat processed Frankenfoods as a fat workaround, is not the ticket to health.