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Our guest, Yunus Barisik, explains exactly what it takes to produce elite-level athletes for ice hockey in this episode.
He particularly highlights the need for increased strength and outlines exactly how he structures his athlete’s training throughout the year to optimize performance and keep them injury-free.
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In part one of this series on improving vagal tone, I explained that the vagus nerve is the information superhighway of your autonomic nervous system. It connects your brain to organs and glands throughout the body and acts as the main conduit of your parasympathetic (“rest-and-digest”) nervous system. Vagal nerve activity touches just about every system in the body, including respiration, immunity, cardiovascular activity, digestion, and the gut microbiome.
The term “vagal tone” refers to how active your parasympathetic nervous system is. Ideally, we want high vagal tone, because that indicates a generally relaxed state where the body can focus on growth and repair. When vagal tone is low, the sympathetic (“fight-flight-freeze”) nervous system is dominant. That’s no good. The sympathetic nervous system should kick in when we need to respond to an acute threat or stressor, but we don’t want it running in the background all the time.
Unfortunately, a chronically stressed, sympathetic-dominant state is the norm for most people nowadays. Scientists are always on the hunt for ways to alleviate that stress and reduce the medical burden associated with it. Some researchers are investigating pharmaceutical means of improving vagal tone, along with protocols for using electrostimulation. You don’t need these high-tech procedures, though. Once you start digging into the science of the vagus nerve, you realize something cool: Most of the things we promote in the Primal community probably improve vagal tone.
Mark wasn’t thinking about the vagus nerve when he formulated the 10 Primal Laws. Yet, I suspect that vagus nerve stimulation is a common underlying thread connecting them. It’s an awesome example of science confirming what we already know: a Primal lifestyle reduces stress, builds resilience, and is an all-around better way to live. Here are some examples of popular Primal practices that are linked empirically to improving vagal tone.
Are you one of those Primal folks, like our own Brad Kearns, who absolutely loves their ice baths? Well, there’s a reason that it “hurts so good.” When you plunge into cold water, blood vessels constrict, and blood is redirected to your core. This triggers an increase in parasympathetic and a decrease in sympathetic activity. If you were measuring, you’d see your HRV rise as you chill (literally) in cold water.1 2 Friends who have managed to incorporate daily ice baths into their routine tell me that they start to crave it. When they skip a day, they feel off somehow. That’s probably because they aren’t getting the parasympathetic stimulation their bodies have come to expect.
Can’t quite bring yourself to immerse yourself in cold water? Try ending your normal shower with a blast of cold water. You’ll even get some of the same benefits from splashing cold water or applying ice packs to your face.3 Whole-body cryotherapy is another option.4
Interacting with other people and building strong social bonds is fundamentally human. We are meant to be in community with other people. Loneliness and social isolation are detrimental to both mental and physical health. Many large-scale research studies show that lonely or socially isolated folks are at greater risk for cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation, suppressed immune function, and death.5
The autonomic nervous system likely plays a significant role in this process.6 Numerous studies have documented lower vagal tone among
Lonely individuals aren’t able to buffer stress as well as their socially connected brethren. They are at greater risk of getting sick due to outside stressors or pathogens. A recent study even found that lonely participants with lower HRV also had shorter telomeres, a marker of cellular aging.11 The researchers concluded that when loneliness leads to decreased parasympathetic activity, we actually age faster!
It doesn’t take a whole village to be healthy, though it’s great if you have one. Psychologists believe that even one close relationship can make a big difference.
In one study, researchers had participants engage in a loving-kindness meditation for one hour each week for six weeks.12 Loving-kindness meditation entails offering messages of love, compassion, and support to yourself and others—for example, the people closest to you, your community, your country, and all humanity. Results showed that the loving-kindness practice increased participants’ positive emotions and perceived social connection, which in turn improved vagal tone.
According to these findings, you don’t need actual social interactions to reap the benefits. Even thinking about meaningful social connections can raise vagal tone. Furthermore, the authors posit that this becomes a self-perpetuating cycle: social connection improves vagal tone, which increases positive emotions, which leads people to feel more connected, further boosting vagal tone, and on and on.
Some limited research also suggests that laughing,13 14 chanting,15 and singing16—all activities that would traditionally be social in nature but which you can also do on your own—promote cardiovascular health, possibly by way of improved vagal tone.
Primal Blueprint Law #3 urges us to avoid being sedentary. Our ancestors would have moved frequently throughout the day by necessity, carrying out the everyday business of staying alive. Heart disease is relatively rare among traditionally living societies in part because they engage in so much consistent, low-level activity.17
One of the reasons exercise improves insulin sensitivity, cardiovascular health, and neurological function is that it increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF.18 BDNF has widespread effects throughout the body, and it just so happens to stimulates the vagus nerve.19
Any type of movement is probably beneficial as long as it doesn’t veer into chronic cardio territory. Small studies have documented HRV improvements with walking, especially in nature,20 Qigong,21 yoga,22 and tai chi.23 Some of the benefits might not be due to the movement per se, though. These practices all involve a breathwork component, and we know that slow and nasal breathing improve vagal tone independent of exercise.
Intermittent fasting yields well-documented health benefits, especially for cardiovascular disease risk factors, insulin sensitivity, inflammation and oxidative stress, and other markers of metabolic health. Many of these benefits are probably mediated at least in part by vagal activity. The vagus nerve communicates information between the brain and the body, facilitating the physiological response to fasting.24
As with exercise, intermittent fasting also stimulates BDNF production. Experts suggest that BDNF increases parasympathetic (vagal) activity in neurons connected to the gut, arteries, and heart.25 26 Alternate day fasting and caloric restriction both raise HRV in rats.27 Fasting also suppresses sympathetic nervous system activity, and fasted rats are less stress reactive.28 29 More research is needed in humans.
Although intermittent fasting does not necessarily imply caloric restriction, in practice, the two often go hand in hand. Caloric restriction by itself can increase HRV and parasympathetic activity.30 31
Primal folks appreciate the myriad benefits of omega-3 fatty acids for reducing inflammation and improving immune function. That’s why we’re all eating plenty of small, oily fish and supplementing as needed, right?
Awesome, because omega-3s also elevate HRV and improve other cardiovascular health markers. Research has linked omega-3 intake to HRV in infants, healthy adults, dialysis patients, elderly individuals, and people with coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes.32
Vagal tone is only one pathway by which omega-3s improve health, but hey, it’s as good a reason as any to whip up a batch of sardine butter, right?
The post Primal Practices that Activate the Vagus Nerve and Improve Vagal Tone appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
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Before we get into details about the two best exercises ever known to mankind to shed excess body fat (sprinting and jumping), I want to put in a little plug for the trending healthy living topic of gratitude.1 The concept is easy to pay lip service to, especially when you’re struggling and not in the best mood to feel it naturally. I’m recently recovered from a minor knee injury lasting six months that prevented me from doing my beloved sprinting and high jumping workouts. While athletics no longer dominates my life as it did when I was a pro triathlete, there was a lingering frustration deep down from being deprived of my favorite fitness endeavors, being unsure of the diagnosis of my injury, testing out the knee and experiencing setbacks, and being forced to be massively patient.
Today, I feel incredibly grateful to be back at the track sprinting and jumping. I’m also grateful for the outstanding physical therapy and chiropractic care that helped me finally obtain an accurate diagnosis and quickly heal from tight hip flexors, quads, and calves that referred pain to the area of what actually always was a perfectly healthy knee. When in doubt, seek out high quality, athletic-minded, hands-on healing practitioners!
Now that I’m back into the groove, I notice that I relish the entire workout experience like never before—hopping the fence to gain access to the track, completing my deliberate warmup routine and exacting technique drills (Basic and Advanced) that I have so much fun sharing on YouTube, and performing an ambitious main set of sprints or a focused high jumping workout.
Interestingly, my most significant source of gratitude comes from the discomfort associated with delivering brief bursts of maximum physical effort. I challenge anyone reading to reflect on your attitude before and during your most difficult workout efforts—those last few reps or last few meters to complete a great set. It’s common to whine and judge these efforts negatively. This mentality is infectious amidst training groups and teams. We whine to our personal trainers during a session, forcing them out of trainer or coach mode and into babysitter mode.
We look at the whiteboard description of a Crossfit WOD or swim workout and predict that the session will be “brutal,” or how a certain sequence will be “torture.” We obtain a perverse sense of camaraderie by commiserating with our training partners.
Enough of all that! Imagine what it’s like to be involuntary sidelined and watching others gettin’ it done on YouTube instead of being out there sweating yourself. Might you be less apt to complain? Also, acknowledge that your cardiovascular system and muscles are incapable of experiencing emotion. You don’t have to judge physical effort, just let your body perform the task at hand and cultivate gratitude for being able to experience all aspects of living a healthy, fit lifestyle—especially the last few meters or reps!
If you are interested in leveraging your fitness pursuits to shed excess body fat, let’s talk about how to do it correctly. As described in detail in the riveting new book, Two Meals A Day, the diet and fitness scene is experiencing a wonderful breakthrough after decades of being mired in the flawed calories in-calories out, struggle and suffer approach to weight loss. Emerging science is conclusively proving that indiscriminately burning exercise calories simply doesn’t contribute to fat reduction goals. Instead, per what is known as the compensation theory of exercise,2 a strenuous exercise program prompts you to consume more calories and economize your energy expenditure in assorted ways outside of your workouts. In order for exercise to make a significant contribution to fat reduction, you have to honor—drum roll please—the Primal Blueprint Fitness philosophy of moving frequently at a slow pace, lifting heavy things and sprinting once in a while.
This two-part article will focus on how to leverage explosive sprinting and jumping workouts to send powerful signals to your genes to shed body fat. Before we get into the details of these super effective high intensity workouts, let’s make sure your other bases are covered as follows:
When you honor these three principles with your fitness pursuits, you steer clear of the compensation theory mechanisms that make you hungry and lazy and start sending the right signals to your genes to become a fat burner. Walking your 10,000 steps a day, keeping your cardio sessions at the MAF heart rate (180 minus age in beats per minute), and taking frequent short breaks from prolonged periods of stillness won’t deplete your glycogen or spike appetite. Instead, it will hone your fat burning abilities around the clock. Chronic exercise is the ultimate driver of carb dependency. Even when you do a stellar job eating the right foods, an overly stressful workout program will push you right back in the direction of carb dependency or worse, promote hormone dysregulation and compromised thyroid and adrenal function.
Elle Russ details in The Paleo Thyroid Solution how she was checking all the right boxes with an active, athletic lifestyle: challenging hot yoga classes, swim workouts, hilly hikes, and low carb eating only to crash and burn her thyroid function due to the excess stress load of the workouts. Finally, you’ve read about the awesome benefits of high intensity workouts, but the vast majority of exercises do them wrong, prompting burnout instead of breakthroughs.
Keep an eye out next week for part two, where, I will take you through step-by-step through an effective sprint workout and an effective jumping workout!
The post Sprinting, Jumping, Losing Body Fat, And Cultivating Gratitude) appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
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My college roommate told me that he thinks of me as a guy who listens to moody, poetic, eclectic music alone in his room. He told me this after I shared my existential crisis during my early twenties with him.
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Have you given up your sugar-laden soda? If so, that is an excellent idea, but if you have replaced it with the sugar-free thing, you may be messing with your brain in a big way. Science says for people over 45, drinking diet soda increases the risk of stroke and dementia by three times and […]
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Have you ever made a grilled salad? You may think of salad as a cold food, but you’ll want to keep an open mind for this sweet, savory, smoky salad that’s just as refreshing as a cool, crisp salad on a hot day.
Hearts of romaine hold up well to the grill and develop a smoky wilt that balances out sweet grilled fruits and a tangy homemade balsamic dressing. This grilled romaine salad makes an excellent side dish that will become the star of any backyard barbecue.
To make it a main dish, grill your favorite chicken, steak, salmon or shrimp to top it with. Feel free to play around with the toppings to fit your diet or preferences. If you don’t have access to a grill, you can “grill” the lettuce, stone fruit and peppers on a hot cast iron grill pan on your stovetop.
Here’s how to make it.
Slice your stone fruit in half or in slices. Carefully cut the romaine hearts vertically down the middle so you have 6 romaine halves. Make sure to keep the core intact. Toss the fruit, peppers, and romaine in avocado oil.
Preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Once hot, place the fruit and peppers on. Allow them to grill for a minute or so on each side before turning or flipping them. Continue until they have slightly softened and are grilled to your liking.
Place the romaine halves on the grill cut side down. Grill for a couple of minutes and then flip them over. They are finished when they wilt just a little and have a bit of char on them.
To make the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, mustard, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Arrange the romaine on a large platter or on individual plates. Stack the grilled fruit, peppers, fruit, onions and goat cheese on top. Sprinkle on the shredded basil and spoon on the dressing.
Prep Time: 5 Cook Time: 10 Total Time: 15 minutes 
Yield: 4-6 servings Smoky-sweet salad made with grilled romaine, grilled vegetables, and grilled stone fruits.
Salad
3 heads romaine hearts
2 peaches, plums or nectarines
1/4 lb. baby bell peppers
1/2 thinly sliced red onion
1/4 lb. halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup halved strawberries
2 oz. crumbled goat cheese
2 tbsp. thinly sliced basil
avocado oil
Dressing
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. thinly sliced basil
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 clove grated garlic
salt and pepper
Slice your stone fruit in half or in slices. Carefully cut the romaine hearts vertically down the middle so you have 6 romaine halves. Make sure to keep the core intact. Toss the fruit, peppers, and romaine in avocado oil.
Preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Once hot, place the fruit and peppers on. Allow them to grill for a minute or so on each side before turning or flipping them. Continue until they have slightly softened and are grilled to your liking.
Place the romaine halves on the grill cut side down. Grill for a couple of minutes and then flip them over. They are finished when they wilt just a little and have a bit of char on them.
To make the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, mustard, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Arrange the romaine on a large platter or on individual plates. Stack the grilled fruit, peppers, fruit, onions and goat cheese on top. Sprinkle on the shredded basil and spoon on the dressing.
Category: Lunch, Dinner
Method: GrillingKeywords: grilled romaine salad, grilled salad, grilled fruit salad, gluten free salad, gluten free grilled
The post Grilled Romaine Salad Recipe appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
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Research of the WeekIn the absence of weight loss, there is no difference in blood glucose whether you’re getting 10% or 30% of dietary energy from carbs. In the study, 10% meant 65 grams of carbs per day or more.
Female chimps prioritize protein. Do you?
A survey of natural sounds, their benefits, and their distribution throughout National Parks.
In obese men, going keto preserves pancreatic beta-cell function and increases testosterone levels.
A genetic variant common among Southeast Asians may explain their low rates of COVID.
Episode 497: Dr. Dale Bredesen: Host Elle Russ chats with Dr. Dale Bredesen about his research into Alzheimer’s.
Health Coach Radio: Erin and Laura chat with Mike Pullano, Chief Experience Officer at ARX (Adaptive Resistance Exercise).
NIH director likes the therapeutic potential of psychedelics.
This is why you must remove yourself from the modern environment and construct an ancestral one around you.
Rangelands cover over half the world’s land surface.
It’s true. It’s all true.
Man who plans on manufacturing worms as a human staple food won’t eat them himself.
What the Oregon Trail pioneers packed.
Computers may be able to read images from brains within the decade.
This is why I walk: A simple walk after a can of coke mitigates the blood sugar spike.
Crazy thread: What kids are learning about nutrition in school.
Good news: If you’ve had COVID, you’ll probably make antibodies for life.
Important article: “The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19’s Origins”
What have I been saying for years?: The tangible health benefits of listening to nature sounds.
What are your health non-negotiables?
One year ago (May 29 – Jun 4)
“re: Sunday with Sisson – One remarkable thing about life is that it seemingly opposes the increase in entropy/disorder that physics would normally associate with increases in heat and the passage of time. By moving and learning our bodies and brains become more ordered, and the efficiency with which they convert heat into work improves. This doesn’t violate the second law of thermodynamics because the total entropy of the universe still increases. The increase in the entropy of the environment exceeds the reduction in entropy associated with a more ordered state of brain or muscle structure and function. When we move, the entropy of the environment surrounding the muscles and nerves increases, so that ordered structures such as fascial adhesions do not form.
But this only happens if multiple systems interact in a complex manner – the logic doesn’t hold up if a joint lacks cartilage or synovial fluid, or if our diet lacks magnesium or something. The conversion of heat (calories) into internal order has its limits as well, because too much movement degrades our bodies. Things like life and optimal performance are only possible for a finite range of movement intensity, specific patterns of movement, and the right balance of dozens of dietary inputs. Bed rest and chronic cardio are both sub-optimal; too much or too little movement in a joint is sub-optimal; too much or too little of an essential nutrient is sub-optimal.
I think consciousness has evolved to detect deviations from optimality in these complex internal states and simultaneously adjust many internal components using comparatively simple behaviors – just move in a way that doesn’t cause too much pain, and eat the foods which appetite dictates (but obviously modern food chemistry, desk jobs, etc., mess this up). We all get the sense that we crave particular foods if we lack a particular nutrient, and this subconsciously drives our eating behavior. Primal folks like to avoid processed foods because they contain many calories and few nutrients, causing us to crave more food to get the nutrients that we need, which results in overeating and weight gain. Scientifically this is speculation, but there is some New and Noteworthy science here. Not sure if I can post links, but a search for ‘Response of the microbiome-gut-brain axis in Drosophila to amino acid deficit’ should produce a new paper that demonstrates the causal connection between a specific nutrient deficiency and an appetite for a specific type of food. Sure it’s drosophila, but presumably the mechanism is similar in humans, and to my knowledge it’s the first such demonstration of the sort in any species. So yeah, you could consider movement the key to everything in life because without it you’d be dead, and stuff breaks if you turn it too hard, but like diet and social interaction, it’s just one key on the chain.”
-Nice comment from Investigator.
The post New and Noteworthy: What I Read This Week — Edition 133 appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
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COVID has left an indelible mark on the fitness industry. Business owners, gym employees, and gym-goers were left scrambling, confused, and in the dark by the ever-changing COVID rules and regulations.
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I’m a huge fan of keeping things simple (I even put it in my business name: eat.simple). I especially feel this way when it comes to food, fitness, and fat loss. If you’re sick of white knuckling it through your day, struggling with non-existent motivation, or the phrase “I’ll just start again on Monday” is on regular rotation in your vocabulary, there’s one life-changing tactic I use with all my clients that’s proven to accelerate results.
I realize life-changing is a fairly dramatic word, but without this one step, you’ll be working harder than you need to. The simplest and most impactful thing you can do to accelerate your results is to set your environment up for success.
Think about the unfavourable snack foods that you keep in your pantry. You know, “just in case.” Or the fact that you have no clue where you put those free weights you bought during the pandemic.
Does that get you closer to your results or further away?
When you remove the foods that tempt you from the house and replace them with ones that support your goal, you have the best possible chance of succeeding. Same goes for exercise. If your workout gear is tucked away in a back closet, how likely are you to use it?
Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behaviour.
This nugget of truth from author and habit expert, James Clear is 100% spot on. People tend to believe that their healthy habits are a product of motivation, willpower, and effort, when in reality, it’s your environment that gives you the biggest bang for your buck. Clear says, “If you want to maximize your odds of success, then you need to operate in an environment that accelerates your results rather than hinders them.”
Examples of how environment impacts you:
Environment plays a big role in your ability to reach your goals. Not just from a conscious perspective (remove the ice cream from the freezer so it’s harder to indulge), but also from a subconscious perspective.
By altering your environment, your subconscious mind starts to adopt behaviours and attitudes that are conducive to your success. Say, you went ahead and purged all the cookies, bagels, muffins, and cereal from your pantry and replaced them with bowls of fresh fruit and veggies. The food you’re surrounded by begins to change the way you think about yourself.
In other words, if your cupboard is filled with processed, sugary foods, you’re more apt to think of yourself as someone who eats those types of foods. You might also believe you’re someone with no willpower or destined to always have cravings. FYI, you might want to look into your limiting beliefs here.
In contrast, if you had fresh produce at arm’s reach (and eye level), you’d likely start to believe you’re someone who enjoys eating real, whole food that supports your body. Someone who likes to get outside for fresh air. Someone who can stay on track more easily and totally crush their goals.
Massachusetts General Hospital physician, Anne Thorndike, was curious if environment could affect people’s eating behaviours at her hospital, so she and her team created an experiment they called, “choice architecture.”1 In the experiment, they arranged the cafeteria’s refrigerators so that water and other healthier drinks were located at eye level, while less healthy options like soda were placed below eye level. They also added five baskets of bottled water throughout the cafeteria near the food stations.
After tracking sales for three months, they discovered that soda purchases had dropped 11.4% and bottled water sales had increased by a whopping 25.8%. And that was with no other external influence or motivational factors. Simply by moving the preferred choice to a different location, people chose it more often than the less-healthy option.
Our daily lives are made up of a lot of the same habits: Wake up, brush teeth, grab a fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt and glass of OJ — or skip breakfast and treat your not-quite-fat-adapted self to a sugar bomb once you get into work. Want to change your programming (and your go-to food choices)? You have to change your environment.
You can’t ignore the fact that your environment influences your decisions, your behaviours, and even your attitude. If you want to accelerate your results — whether it’s losing fat, getting in shape, or preventing procrastination, follow these steps to create an environment that supports your goals, rather than works against them:
Got tips on setting your environment up for success? Share ‘em in the comments below.
The post Want to Accelerate Your Results? Set Up Your Environment for Success appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
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