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People do not pay much attention to how to strengthen tendons and ligaments, until they suffer a tendon injury. Only then do you realize that training your tendons is just as important as working on muscle strength and endurance.

Our bodies “expect” a lifetime of constant, varied movement. From a very early age, most humans throughout history were constantly active. They weren’t exercising or training, per se, but they were doing all the little movements all the time that prepare the body and prime the tendons to handle heavier, more intense loads and movements: bending and squatting and walking and twisting and climbing and playing and building. It was a mechanical world. The human body was a well-oiled machine, lubed and limber from daily use and well-prepared for occasional herculean efforts.

We don’t have that today. We spend most of our workday sitting, clacking away on keyboards and swiping through touch screens. Yet, we have an ingrained need for physical training written in our DNA. Some of us go from couch potato to budding powerlifter, from desk jockey to CrossFit competitor. But unlike our predecessors, we haven’t applied the lube of daily lifelong movement that makes those intense physical efforts safe. Everyone seems to be lifting weights nowadays, but few have the foundation of healthy, strong, durable connective tissue necessary for safe, effective training.

How to Strengthen Tendons: Training Tendons vs. Muscle

The good news is, if you’re doing resistance training, you’re already training your tendons. Muscle isn’t the only thing you’re impacting when you lift heavy things, though. You’re also imposing stress on your tendons and demanding an adaptive response. They do need a more focus than you’re giving them, though.

Blood carries nutrients and cells used to repair and rebuild damaged tissue. Because tendons receive less blood flow than muscle, they take a lot longer to respond to training than muscle. In one study, it took at least 2 months of training to induce structural changes in the Achilles’ tendon, including increases in collagen synthesis and collagen density. Other studies have found that it takes “weeks to months” of training to increase tendon stiffness. Meanwhile, we see structural changes to muscle tissue with just eight days of training.

This basic physiological fact shouldn’t impede our progress and tissue health, but it does.

What do Tendons Do?

Before we make any decisions, let’s understand exactly what tendons do.

1. Tendons and ligaments attach muscles to bones. It is through tendons that muscles transmit force and make movement possible. Contracting your muscles pulls on the tendons, which yanks on the bone, producing movement.
2. Tendons and ligaments also provide an elastic response, a stretch-shortening recoil effect that helps you jump, run, lift heavy things, and absorb impacts. Think of it like a rubber band.

Tendons have two primary properties that determine how they function:

Tendon Stiffness (Strength)

Tendon stiffness sounds bad, but it refers to the strength of your tendon. Tendon stiffness is the degree to which a tendon can withstand elongation and maintain form and function when placed under stress. Contrary to how we usually think about stiffness, a stiff tendon can help us transmit more force and be more stable in our movements. It takes a lot more force to get a stiff tendon to elongate, but they reward your efforts with a powerful recoil.

Stiff tendons are stiff. More elastic tendons are compliant. We need a mix of compliant and stiff tendons, depending on the tendon’s location and job.

Tendon Hysteresis (How Stretchy Tendons Are)

Tendon hysteresis refers to how well your tendons stretch and resume their original form – the efficiency of the recoil response. If you waste a lot of energy in the rebound, you have high hysteresis. If your recoil is “snappy,” your tendons have low hysteresis. Low is better.

Other things matter, of course, like where the tendon “attaches” to the muscle. The farther it attaches from the axis of rotation, the stronger you’ll be (imagine holding the baseball bat in the center or the handle and trying to swing; which grip position will allow greater force?). Another is length; longer tendons have greater elastic potential than shorter ones, all else being equal. But that’s determined by genetics and out of our control.

Children Have Natural Tendon Strength

Just look at kids. The health of their connective tissue has three main advantages over adults:

They practice constant varied movement. They’re flopping down in distress because you turned the TV off. They’re climbing the bookcase, crawling like a dog, leaping like a frog, dancing to every bit of music they hear, jumping from objects twice their height.

They’re still young. Kids simply haven’t been alive long enough to accumulate the bad habits that characterize sedentary life and ruin our connective tissues. They aren’t broken yet.

Their connective tissue is highly vascular. Early connective tissue has a dense network of capillaries, meaning it receives ample blood flow. It regenerates quickly and has a faster response to stress. Mature tendons are mostly avascular and receive very little blood. To stay healthy and heal and respond to stress, they require diffusion of the synovial fluid filling our joints. Vascular blood flow is passive and subconscious; it’ll happen whether you move or will it to or not. Synovial fluid only diffuses through movement. You have to consciously move your joints to get the synovial fluid flowing.

How to Strengthen Tendons and Ligaments

“Just move constantly like a six year old” is nice and all, but not everyone can crawl through the office, practice broad jumping across the board room, or run the stairwells with a software engineer on their back. Besides, we have a lot of catching up to do. More concerted, targeted efforts are required to overcome a lifetime of linear, limited movement and tons of sitting.

11 Movements to Increase Tendon Strength and Elasticity

There are 11 exercise types that help increase tendon strength and elasticity:

1. Eccentric exercises – the negative movement
2. Partial reps
3. Plyometrics – explosive movement
4. Explosive isometrics – quick forceful movements against an immoveable force
5. Volume-increasing exercises
6. Intensity training
7. Stretching – using full range of motion
8. Seeking mild discomfort while avoiding pain and injury
9. Daily connective tissue training
10. Avoiding rushing
11. Massage and myofascial bodywork

1. Eccentric Exercises – training “the negative”

Many studies indicate that eccentric exercises (lowering the weight) are an effective way to treat tendon injuries. In one trial, ex-runners in their early 40s with chronic Achilles’ tendonitis were split into two groups. One group had conventional therapy (NSAIDs, rest, physical therapy, orthotics), the other did eccentric exercises. Exercisers would do a calf raise (concentric) on the uninjured foot and slowly lower themselves on the injured foot (eccentric heel drop) for 3 sets of 15 reps, twice a day, every day, for 12 weeks. Once this got easy and pain-free, they were told to increase the resistance with weighted backpacks. After 12 weeks, all the ex-runners in the exercise group were able to resume running, while those in the conventional group had a 0% success rate and eventually needed surgery.

If heel dips can heal Achilles’ tendinopathy and single-leg decline eccentric squats can heal patellar tendinopathy, I’d wager that eccentric movements can strengthen already healthy tendons. Any tendon should respond to eccentrics. Downhill walking, slowly lowering oneself to the bottom pushup position, eccentric bicep or wrist curls; anything that places a load on the muscle-tendon complex while lengthening it should improve the involved tendons.

2. Partial reps

Early 20th century strongman George Jowett developed a program for “strengthening the sinews” that involved partial reps of extremely heavy weights. He focused on the final 4-6 inches before lockout of the primary exercises, like bench press, overhead press, squat, and deadlift.

3. Plyometrics

Explosive movements utilizing the recoil response of the tendons can improve that response. In one study, 14 weeks of plyometrics (squat jumps, drop jumps, countermovement jumps, single and double-leg hedge jumps) reduced tendon hysteresis. The trained group had better, more efficient tendon recoil responses than the control group. Tendons didn’t get any bigger or longer; they just got more efficient at transmitting elastic energy. A previous 8-week plyometric study was unable to produce any changes in tendon function or hysteresis, so you need to give it adequate time to adapt.

4. Explosive isometrics

Explosive isometric training involves trying to perform an explosive movement against an immoveable force, like pushing a car with the parking break on, trying to throw a kick with your leg restrained by a belt, or placing your fist against the wall and trying to “punch” forward. In one study, explosive isometric calf training 2-3 times a week for 6 weeks was just as good as plyometric calf training at increasing calf tendon stiffness and jump height while being a lot safer and imposing less impact to the joints.

5. Volume-increasing exercises

Volume clearly matters. Just look at the beefy fingers of free climber Alex Honnold, who relies on them every day to support his bodyweight. Those aren’t big finger muscles. They’re thick cords of connective tissue. Pic not enough? In performance climbers with at least 15 years experience, the finger joints and tendons are 62-76% thicker than those of non-climbers. And a study showed that the extremely common crimp hold—where all five finger tips are used to hold a ledge—exerts incredible forces on the finger connective tissues, spurring adaptation. So if you’re up to the challenge, rock climbing (indoor or outdoor) is a great way to increase tendon volume.

6. Intensity training

You have to actually stress the tendons. We see this in the eccentric decline squat study mentioned earlier, where decline squats (which place more stress on the patellar tendon) were more effective than flat squats (which place less stress on the patellar tendon) for fixing patellar tendinitis. In another study, women were placed on a controlled bodyweight squat program. They got stronger, their musculature improved, and their tendons grew more elastic, but they failed to improve tendon stiffness, increase tendon elastic storage capacity, or stem the age-related decline in tendon hysteresis. The resistance used and speed employed simply weren’t high enough to really target the connective tissue. A recent study confirms that to induce adaptive changes in tendon, you must apply stress that exceeds the habitual value of daily activities. So, while walking, gardening, and general puttering about is great for you, it’s probably not enough to coax an adaptive response out of your ailing tendons. You need to increase the magnitude of the applied stress through tinkering with volume, speed, resistance, range of motion, and the proportion of eccentric vs. concentric movement.

7. Stretching – full range of motion

Deeper, longer stretches are probably best. Some examples:

• Front squat. An ass-to-grass front squat, where the hip crease drops below the knees, will stretch/stress the patellar tendon that attaches the quad to the shin bone to a greater extent than squatting to just above parallel.
• Pectoral stretch. You can use a door frame to take your pec stretch a little further, which will work the connective tissue in your shoulders.
• Calf stretch. Instead of stretching your calves in a basic lunge, you can use stairs or a curb to lift your toes closer to your shins, targeting the achilles tendon.

8. Avoid pain, seek mild discomfort

Tendon discomfort is okay. Stress isn’t comfortable. Tendon pain is not and should be avoided. You want just enough discomfort to provoke a training stimulus, but not outright pain.

9. Daily practice to strengthen tendons

How to train strengthen your tendons and ligaments may not always be top of mind, but it’s best to think about — and train — your connective tissue every day. That could range from random sets of eccentric heel drops and static squat holds done throughout the day. I like Dan John’s “Easy Strength” program, where you basically pick a few movements to do each day—every day—with a fairly manageable weight. Front squat, Romanian deadlift, and pullups, for example. 2 sets of 5 reps each day for each exercise. Only add weight when it feels “too easy.”

10. Don’t rush; take it easy

Pick a load and stick to it until it gets easy. In a pair of incredible appearances on Robb Wolf’s Paleo Solution Podcast, Christopher Sommer of Gymnastic Bodies explains how he puts together a tendon-centric program for an athlete. He has them stick with the same weight for 8-12 weeks. The first few weeks are hard. The weight feels heavy. At 4 weeks, it’s a lot easier but still a challenge. At 8 weeks, you start feeling like it’s too easy. And that’s where the tendon-building magic happens. By 12 weeks, what felt tough when you started is now “baby weight.” Your muscles are stronger and your tendons have had enough time to build collagen density. You’re able to manhandle the weight without a problem.

Like I just mentioned above, another example is Dan John’s “Easy Strength,” which has you lift almost every day using light-moderate loads, only adding weight when 2 sets of 5 reps becomes really easy. You won’t see the rapid progression of Starting Strength, but it’ll also be easier on your body, prepare your tendons for higher loads, and remove the need for a gallon of milk a day.

11. Massage and myofascial bodywork

Massages can increase blood flow to the otherwise avascular tendons. Self myofascial release using foam rollers or lacrosse balls (or even the good ol’ elbow) is worth doing, too. A qualified massage therapist knows exactly how to strengthen tendons, manipulating them in just the right way.

12th way to strengthen tendons and ligaments: collagen

Collagen isn’t a movement. It is a nutrient. Collagen is in every cell throughout the human body, and it is highly concentrated in your connective tissue.  Studies show you need 10 grams of glycine, a component of collagen, every day for collagen maintenance, more if you are recovering from an injury. It’s not easy to get 10 grams of glycine unless you are eating tough cuts of meat or offal every single day. For the rest of us, collagen peptide supplements fill in the gaps. Powdered collagen peptides are easy to use – you can get collagen powders that are flavored or unflavored, and they mix into virtually any liquid. You can read more about collagen here.

Why you should focus on tendon health

Tendon health isn’t just for preventing injuries. It will make you stronger, too. Every person aged 16 to 28 knows about “old man strength.” It’s that phenomenon of otherwise unimpressive looking old guys crushing your hand when shaking it, being immovable statues down low in pickup basketball games, and generally tossing you around like you were a child in any feat of strength. What explains it? It’s not the muscles (yours are bigger). It’s not the speed (you’re younger and faster). It’s gotta be the connective tissue made thick and strong from decades of hard living.

And so in real-world, full-body movements and compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, pullups, and gymnastics work, healthy and strong tendons increase performance. They make you stronger, more explosive, more powerful, and more resilient. They allow your big impressive muscles to actually express themselves and reach their full potential. A healthy tendon is a conduit for your muscle to express its power.

Muscles are cool and all, but don’t neglect tendon strength. Feel the stretch and when you feel some weirdness in a tendon, back off. Throw in some eccentric movements and explosive isometrics. Practice hops and broad jumps. Do a joint mobility drill regularly, and consider adding a morning movement practice. Don’t feel guilty for not going hard all the time. Get really comfortable with the weight and the movements before increasing the intensity. The important thing is to be mindful of how to strengthen tendons while you train.

There’s more to the tendon story, but these are a few easily implementable suggestions for improving your tendons with physical training.

How do you train your tendons? Have you ever considered such a thing?

The post How to Strengthen Tendons and Ligaments for Injury Prevention appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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It’s that time of year when the weather is changing, and so many people are being hit by coughs, colds, and flu. Plus, with a pandemic sweeping the globe, there’s no time like the present to shore up your immune system.  If you’re not feeling 100 percent, it can be tempting to reach for the […]

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There have been plenty of challenges living for the past six years as an American in Japan. First of all, finding shoes my size is a challenge at best and damn near impossible at worst. Finding t-shirts that don’t choke me while not simultaneously being covered in non-sensical (or at least grammatically incorrect) English is another. And let’s not even get into trying to find a decent steak.

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Dalgona coffee, or whipped coffee, is the viral TikTok drink that’s suddenly plastered all over your feeds. To be perfectly honest, it couldn’t have hit the waves at a better time. Staying at home means you are your own barista, and your kitchen becomes your new favorite coffee shop. And the new shelter-in-place lifestyle leaves us with a few extra minutes in the morning to make a fancy coffee drink every now and again.

What is Whipped Coffee, aka Dalgona Coffee?

Dalgona coffee is basically an upside-down iced latte. Instead of coffee on the bottom and frothy milk on top, you have milk on the bottom and fluffy a fluffy coffee whip on top. The contrast looks incredible in a glass, and according to the Internet, it tastes amazing.

The problem with most whipped coffee recipes is that sugar and milk are the star ingredients. For most of us, drinking that much sugar and dairy first thing in the morning would knock us down when we’re trying to wake up.

The solution? Make it Primal. Swap the dairy, and add skin nourishing collagen powder for morning protein to get you going. As a bonus, the collagen adds structure, so that your whipped coffee stays fluffy. Most whipped coffee recipes will fall flat after a few minutes.

How to Make Whipped Coffee: Dairy-free Dalgona Coffee Recipe

Servings: 1

Time in the kitchen: 5-8 minutes (depending on how fast you can whip)

• 3 Tbsp. water
• 3 Tbsp. instant coffee
• 1 scoop unflavored collagen peptides
• 3 Tbsp. granulated monkfruit sweetener
• 1c almond or coconut milk
• Optional: a sprinkle of cinnamon or cocoa powder

Instructions:

Combine the water, instant coffee, collagen, and monkfruit sweetener. Whisk, whisk, and whisk some more until it takes on the appearance of fluffy peanut butter. If you’re not up for an arm workout, use a hand mixer or stick blender for this step.

Fill a glass with ice, then fill the glass halfway with almond or coconut milk. Float your whipped coffee mixture carefully on top of your iced coconut milk. Make sure you snap a pic of your creation before you sip. You didn’t do all of that whisking for nothing!

Nutrition Information (1 glass):

Calories: 120

Total Carbs: 46 grams

Net Carbs: 10 grams

Fat: 4.5 grams

Protein: 11 grams

The post Dairy-free Dalgona Whipped Coffee: the Viral TikTok Drink Recipe Made Primal appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Experts agree, during the coronavirus pandemic, it’s important to clean and disinfect all those surfaces your family touches daily. It’s estimated that COVID-19 can live on surfaces for up to three days. That means that you and your family could be at risk of contracting the virus days after surfaces have been touched. Here are […]

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Research of the Week

Can anti-aging drugs and supplements help against coronavirus?

Hydroxychloroquine shows promise in another small trial.

Sulforaphane may be effective in autistic patients.

Ferrets and cats may be vectors for COVID-19 transmission.

Coronavirus found in Dutch sewage.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 415: Abel James: Host Elle Russ chats with the one and only Fat Burning Man himself.

Media, Schmedia

A smart thermometer company reports fewer fevers nationwide. Good.

Astrophysicist gets magnets stuck up his nose while testing a new coronavirus medical device.

Interesting Blog Posts

Is fake meat approaching the uncanny valley?

Why has California been spared (so far)?

Social Notes

The new normal (for now).

Everything Else

New dental proteome from Homo antecessor, an ancient hominid who lived in Spain 800,000 years ago.

Co-morbidities in the USA.

I bet this becomes more viable in the future.

Potential pandemic effects on food.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Important to keep in mind: Stay fit.

Interesting research: Decontaminating masks without destroying them.

I certainly hope it works (without side effects): Treating COVID-19 patients with plasma from people who recovered from the disease seems to improve recovery.

Article I found interesting: How Stone Age humans unlocked the glucose in plants.

Fascinating line of thought: Can a TB vaccine help fight the coronavirus?

Question I’m Asking

Gym owners, coaches, and personal trainers, how are you handling things? How are you adapting?

Friends of MDA, Thom and Tracey Downing, run a fantastic personal training gym called FIT in Los Altos, CA that’s been shuttered for the time being. They’ve come up with a series of innovative workarounds to keep their clients healthy and their coaches working: loaning out almost all the gym equipment—kettlebells, bands, dumbbells, and the like—to clients in the area and setting up online training sessions, cooking classes, and guided meditations via Zoom, running “PE classes” for kids, and posting home workouts and updates on Instagram. This is adaptation in real time. It’s hard, but it’s also cool to see.

Recipe Corner

• Egg foo young, paleo style.
• Greek-style chicken bowls. Pretty accurate.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Mar 29 – Apr 4)

• How I Take My Coffee – What happens in the morning.
• The Definitive Guide to What Breaks a Fast– What actually breaks a fast?

Comment of the Week

“Good information. Thanks for doing articles like this. Right now, with so much fear in the news, it truly helps to have calm, collected posts that just talk about the current science with this thing.

A funny aside, my kids are currently in the kitchen eating grassfed beef burgers and spinach from local farms, and rice covered in butter. I got a kick out of reading that at the same time this was going on in my house.”

– Sounds like you’ve got the right approach, Casey.

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Health coaches play a vital role in public health. Check out this article to find out what that role is, and learn why we need health coaches now more than ever.

The post What Is the Role of Health Coaches in Public Health? appeared first on Chris Kresser.

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Great coaches and trainers don’t steal. They just take something that was already there and name it after themselves. Yoga too pagan-y for you then, how about mobility? Circuit training too YMCA-y for you then how about CrossFit? Dancing too dance-y for you then how about Zumba? CrossFit too CrossFit-y for you then how about F45? We could go on forever because it does go on forever.

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Hi folks, in this edition of Ask a Health Coach, Erin discusses how to roll with the stresses and change in routine that come with life during a global crisis. Keep your questions coming in the MDA Facebook Group or in the comments section below.

We’re all feeling the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in one way or another. In this week’s edition of Ask a Health Coach, I’ll be answering questions from the Mark’s Daily Apple community and sharing strategies I use with my own health coaching clients about everything from maintaining your sanity while stuck at home, to bouncing back after a day of stress-induced snacking, to embracing the potential suck of at-home workouts.

I’m here for you guys, so keep your questions coming in the MDA Facebook Group or post them in the comments section below.

How to cope with the stress of staying at home

“Like many people, we’re staying close to home to avoid spreading the COVID-19 virus. Any advice for families coping with the stress of being cooped up indoors?” -Michelle

This is a question I’m hearing a lot lately. Most people’s routines have been completely turned upside down for the time being, even in areas where there’s not a mandatory shelter-in-place. Schools and businesses are temporarily shut down. Some parks and outside gathering spots are closed, too. So, I get it. It’s really easy to feel a little stir crazy, especially if you’ve got kids at home.

Like Mark Sisson wrote in this post a few weeks ago, avoiding stress is going to be your best bet right now. Not only does stress increase ACE2 expression and hinder your general immunity, it makes it harder to relax and enjoy spending time with your family.

I know that a lot of things can seem out of your control right now. The good news is, there are specific things you can do to help your household feel less anxious and stressed out. Remember, your kids are looking to you to see how you deal with a challenging situation like this — and how you react makes all the difference. This could be an incredible learning and growth opportunity for your kids; the kind they don’t get in school. How did mommy or daddy handle it when things got weird?

1. Talk it out. Self-isolation doesn’t mean keeping your feelings all bottled up. Be present and start a conversation about what’s going on, letting everyone share what feels stressful or different for them right now. Creating a safe space for family members to talk about what’s going on for them can help alleviate extra anxiety.
2. Reframe your situation. It’s easy to think about all the things you can’t do, but what about all the things you can do? Instead of dwelling on the negative or looking at the world through a fear-based lens, appreciate and have gratitude for all the positives in your life. Create a practice of writing down three things you’re grateful for every day.
3. Take easy action. Perhaps you’ve heard of the concept of “messy action,” the notion of just getting out there and doing it even if it’s not perfect. I’ve been trying to popularize the idea of “easy action.” Taking action can provide a much-needed sense of control during uncertain times like these, but I’m also encouraging my clients to be easy on themselves. This is uncharted territory and none of us is hitting it out of the park right now, so manage your expectations. Get outside for an impromptu soccer match even if the kids are technically supposed to be learning geography. Prioritize self-care, now more than ever; even if (especially if) you’ve never practiced self care before. Explore yoga or deep breathing exercises. Plant a garden or learn a new recipe. Get creative: have a drawing contest, or learn to play an instrument and have a family jam session. Fun can often be the antidote to stress.

How to bounce back from stress eating and snack attacks

“Thoughts on getting back on track after a day of binge eating?” – Justin

Every once in a while, a client will email me with a similar question. I can almost hear the guilt, shame, and panic jumping off the page. Should I do fasted sprints? Micro-manage my macros? Lift heavy for a few days? Listen, it doesn’t really work that way — and that’s okay! If you have a day where you indulged more than you intended, you just have to file it away as something that happened.

Maybe watching the morning news induced a day of stress eating. Or you got overly hungry. Or you bought a few too many bags of chips at the grocery store. Whatever the reason, the most effective thing you can do to get back on track is to have self-compassion.

Where compassion is the ability to show love, empathy, and support for others who are suffering, self-compassion is about having that same kindness for yourself, which can be incredibly hard to do. After all, if you have a lifetime of beating yourself up, treating yourself with kindness probably won’t come naturally. Thankfully, it’s a skill anyone can learn.

This is an exercise I have my clients do when they’re having trouble getting in the self-compassion space:

1. Think of what you’d say to a good friend if they were in the same boat. Often times, taking yourself out of the equation can make it easier to be empathetic.
2. Give yourself permission to be imperfect. You’re human, so give yourself room to make a mistake here and there.
3. Practice mindfulness. If you’re caught up in a storm of self-criticism, just be aware of how your inner critic might be trying to protect you — without judgement. Acknowledge your actions and then move on.

What are the best at-home workouts?

“I can’t seem to wrap my head around at-home workouts. Should I just wait until my gym opens back up in a few weeks?” –
Annette

Great question, Anette. For those of us who are used to hitting the gym during lunch hour or after work, not having that as an option can completely disrupt our flow. Right now, there are so many yoga studios and personal trainers sharing at-home workouts (I’ll be sharing one here on Mark’s Daily Apple soon as well!), but there’s a difference in having the ability to work out at home and actually doing it.

For you, home might be a place to relax, eat, and sleep. But just like people who’ve made the transition to working at home, you can adjust your mindset to accommodate at-home workouts too. The simplest way is to stick with a routine. Do you usually take a break at lunch to lift weights? Take that same break at home. Do yoga after work? Get out your mat after shutting your laptop for the day. I’ve been scheduling my home workouts into my day in between my client calls. One of the beautiful opportunities of at-home workouts I’ve found, as opposed to trekking all the way into the gym, is that you can try microworkouts on for size. You can find video demos of two-minute microworkouts here. I’ve enjoyed them a lot more than I thought I would, and I am delightfully sore!

Also, make sure you have a designated space for your workouts. It doesn’t have to be a fancy at-home gym either; you can set up an area in the corner of your bedroom, living room or garage. By setting your environment up this way, you’re setting yourself up for success. Even though your habit of going to the gym is temporarily off the table, your habit of working out doesn’t have to be.

That said, it wouldn’t kill you to take a few weeks off. Overtraining syndrome is one of the most common themes I see in the athletes and fitness lovers I work with, so instead of your daily intense gym session, grab the kids and go for a walk or lace up your hiking boots and hit the trails (if that’s currently allowed in your region of the world). You might be surprised how great a non-gym day can feel. Mark has been touting the benefits of walking for well over a decade now. The man knows what he’s talking about so, give it a try! For every hour you once devoted to crushing it in the gym, redirect that time to taking a walk. Outside. At least six feet away from anyone else around you, and far, far away from the news.

The post Ask a Health Coach: Stress, Self-Compassion, and Strategies for Working Out at Home appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering more COVID-19 (coronavirus) questions. If you’re getting tired of coronavirus content, I understand, but I also owe it to my readers to give them my take on the research—and the questions have been pouring in. Information is coming out at a rapid pace and there are a lot of wild claims and recommendations flying around. With any luck, we’ll all be able to focus on something else in the near future. Thanks for your understanding.

Let’s go:

Is the fever threshold higher in hypothyroid?

I work in the health care field and need to be at work but also must remain healthy. I take my temperature often. There are still no cases reported in my county. Over the years I randomly have taken my temp. It is always low…ranging from 95.5 to rarely over 97. If my temp suddenly approached 98 or over would I be considered to possibly have a fever?

That is a great question. I’ve actually wondered the same thing.

We know that mice with hypothyroidism have delayed “sickness behavior” when challenged with an immune stimulus (in this case, endotoxin). Whereas normal mice with healthy thyroid function display normal reactions and symptoms to the endotoxin, the hypothyroid mice take much longer to show symptoms and change their behavior. That study doesn’t say anything about body temperature or fever, but I can imagine that if other sickness behaviors and symptoms are inhibited, fever might be as well.

Does asthma increase the risk of coronavirus?

So what’s a 62 yo with asthma as general anxiety to do? Gotten lots of sleepless nights. BTW, my wife is a GP and will be continuing to work, oh…and I’m going to be taking care of my autistic teenage daughter.

That’s a lot to handle. Hats off to you.

There (may) be good news. Asthma does not seem to increase the risk of coronavirus severity. In an early study out of Wuhan, China, neither asthma nor other allergic diseases were risk factors for it. Meanwhile, metabolic diseases and conditions were.

This is a preliminary result using a small sample size (140 patients). So it may change.

Can colostrum help against coronavirus? How can you increase nitric oxide?

Mark, thank for the usual thoughtful post. Is there any usefulness in taking supplementing with colostrum at this time? Also, aside from exercise are there other ways to increase nitric oxide?
thanks again

I don’t think colostrum will be much help. It can help with leaky gut, but I haven’t seen anything about that being linked to coronavirus.

As for nitric oxide, which has shown efficacy against SARS (a related virus), there are other ways to increase it. My favorite way is to get sunlight. Even in the absence of vitamin D-giving UVB, sunlight increases nitric oxide synthesis.

Does melatonin help against coronavirus?

Children have up to 10x more melatonin than adults. Melatonin inhibits the NLRP3 inflammasome protein from inciting cytokine storms. Coincidence?

That’s very possible. Melatonin (and circadian rhythm) has its mitts in just about every physiological function of which we’re aware, including innate immunity, so I could see disrupted sleep and poor melatonin status helping. I don’t know this means you should start megadosing melatonin, of course, but it does suggest you should—as always—practice proper sleep hygiene.

Of course, there is no “one factor.” There are probably dozens of factors that predispose a person or a population or a region to coronavirus susceptibility.

Does iron help against coronavirus?

Can coconut oil kill coronavirus?

Also, coronavirus is one of 14 RNA and DNA viruses whose envelopes are lipid coated. It’s been shown that monolaurin (extracted from lauric acid from coconut oil) dissolves these envelopes and the virus loses its protective envelope and dies.

Dietary coconut oil will not kill coronavirus (unless, perhaps, you slathered it in the stuff directly). Monolaurin has proven effective mainly in in vitro studies using isolated cells and viruses. Applying monolaurin directly to coronavirus in a lab setting probably will have an effect. There was a study where they applied vaginal monolaurin in female macaques prior to HIV exposure (a simulation of how infection occurs), and it was effective at preventing infection. But that was direct topical contact. Eating coconut oil or even taking monolaurin supplements probably won’t.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t eat coconut oil. It’s a great fat to eat and cook with, and doing so will probably improve your metabolic health and reduce the tendency of your tissues to oxidize and improve the resilience and function of your mitochondria—all of which will improve your general health and innate immunity. But it’s not a magic bullet and I don’t think the monolaurin has much to do with it.

Are asymptomatic people contagious?

Do aymptomatic people and especially children continue to shed indefinitely or does their body take care of the virus?

I don’t think we know for sure. I’ve seen references to viral shedding that lasts for weeks. We know that nasal swabs of both asymptomatic and symptomatic people show similar levels of viral loads, so the potential for transmission exists regardless of symptoms.

Asymptomatic people will probably be coughing and sneezing less, so that should reduce the amount of viral particles they release. But they’ll also be unaware of their condition, so they may be more likely to mingle with people and less likely to self-isolate. That will increase the number of people they’re exposed to.

This is where universal mask use can really help.

Does NAC help against coronavirus?

What about N-acetyl-cysteine?

NAC is worth a try. I don’t see any indication that it will reduce the chance of infection, but if you are infected and progress to ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome), it shows promise in protecting your lungs from damage.

NAC isn’t the only factor here. A major part of this is nutrition. For instance, a previous paper in elderly folks homes found that just giving each person 8 grams of high quality amino acids lowered the infection rate—not of this latest coronavirus, but in general.

Does sauna kill coronavirus?

Mark, do you think it worth using a sauna every day, ie would that keep the virus from taking hold if one was exposed?
20 minutes above 135f, for example.

Saunas won’t hurt. They’ve been linked to improved resistance to colds and a reduction in the incidence of pneumonia. All good things.

The only angle I can think of for this in an acute sense is that the virus is sensitive to heat. If you’ve only just been exposed to the virus and it’s hanging out in the throat and nose, perhaps breathing in hot air from the sauna can reduce its activity.

According to a new study (pre-print only), the coronavirus initially infects the throat and nasal passage before eventually replicating enough to make it to the lungs. If that’s true, and you can breathe in enough 135 degree sauna air through both nose and mouth, you may be able to reduce the activity of the virus.

That’s very speculative, however, and there are many reasons to think it’s probably not enough.

1. By the time the air gets into your throat and nose, it’s already cooled off.
2. The heat exposure isn’t consistent. Breathing in means a second or two of sufficient heat exposure (assuming the air remains hot enough). Then you’re breathing cooler air out. Then you breathe in again. You’re not holding the temperature at a consistent 135 degrees for the 15 minutes it takes to really reduce activity.
3. The original SARS coronavirus from the 2000s is sensitive to 135 degrees. We don’t know for sure if this latest one has the same sensitivity.

Another reason to be suspicious of relying on the sauna is that getting to the sauna will mean possible exposure, particularly if you’re in an area with high infection rates. If you have one at your house, then have at it! I don’t see it hurting and it could help your overall health.

Does healthy eating prevent coronavirus?

Mark, I’m surprised that you didn’t come right out and suggest the Primal Blueprint as an effective way to fight co-morbidities that are responsible for 99% of covid-19 deaths. In the end, isn’t it all about our metabolic health?

Yes, metabolic health seems to play a huge role in how patients are handling COVID-19. That is, many of the hardest hit people appear to have metabolic co-morbidities like heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension. For example, in Italy And in China, patients with one or more co-morbidities were more likely to progress to severe symptoms.

There’s a study just out in kids showing that a fairly healthy “immune-boosting” (their words) diet consisting of green vegetables, beef, and dairy (whole milk, butter on bread) reduced the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections. Again, this wasn’t COVID-19, but it suggests that diet plays a role in immune health and resistance to infectious disease.

We also know that the really severe consequences seem to operate via pro-inflammatory cytokine storms, specifically IL-6 and IL-1B. The balance between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines rests largely upon the omega-3/omega-6 balance of our tissues, so I think there’s probably a role for improving that O3/O6 ratio in our diets. I’d be curious to see the breakdown of tissue or red blood cell O3/O6 ratio in coronavirus patients and outcomes.

That said, it’s upon us. I don’t want people cutting out grains and eating more meat and thinking they’re all of a sudden immune to the disease. This is something you should be doing as a lifestyle from the very beginning. This is something you should be preparing for, for life. Diet matters in the short term, but it’s most important taken as a long game.

That’s it for today, folks. I’ll definitely be revisiting this topic, as new information is coming out every day. One thing I’m still pondering and researching is the vitamin D issue. Does it increase ACE2 expression and does this result in an increase in susceptibility? Or can it help?

If you have any other questions, ask away.

References:

Silva VC, Giusti-paiva A. Sickness behavior is delayed in hypothyroid mice. Brain Behav Immun. 2015;45:109-17.

Zhang JJ, Dong X, Cao YY, et al. Clinical characteristics of 140 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China. Allergy. 2020;

Anderson RC, Dalziel JE, Haggarty NW, Dunstan KE, Gopal PK, Roy NC. Short communication: Processed bovine colostrum milk protein concentrate increases epithelial barrier integrity of Caco-2 cell layers. J Dairy Sci. 2019;102(12):10772-10778.

Haase AT, Rakasz E, Schultz-darken N, et al. Glycerol Monolaurate Microbicide Protection against Repeat High-Dose SIV Vaginal Challenge. PLoS ONE. 2015;10(6):e0129465.

Zhang Y, Ding S, Li C, Wang Y, Chen Z, Wang Z. Effects of N-acetylcysteine treatment in acute respiratory distress syndrome: A meta-analysis. Exp Ther Med. 2017;14(4):2863-2868.

The post Dear Mark: Coronavirus Edition 2 – COVID-19 Questions, Answered appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.