039 - Centenarian Excrement, Creativity, and Cannabinoids - HealthHippieMD Week In Review
How to Make Peace with Your Feelings
How Leaning Into Negative Emotions Can Help Your Mental Health (gift article) is about accepting negative emotions for what they are: part of the human experience. What you do with the experience strongly influences your health and well-being.
Generative AI in Medicine
Wired had a story about ways generative AI will impact medicine, along with several caveats: ChatGPT Can Help Doctors—and Hurt Patients.
The Two Personality Traits that Predict Well-being
If you lack either (I'm strongly introverted, not extroverted), hope is not lost. Study Finds 2 Personality Traits Predict Well-being — But Don't Worry if You Don't Have Them.
The World's Rarest Eye Colors
Do you have one of the six rarest types of eye color? Read What Is the Rarest Eye Color?.
Is Alcohol in Moderation Good for You?
The Great Alcohol Health Flip-Flop Isn't That Hard to Understand—if You Know Who Was Behind It is an interesting article on how the supposed health benefits of a small amount of alcohol have been turned on its head, again.
What You See Is Not Always What You Get
The NY Times had an article about a recent publication in JAMA focused on melatonin gummies: "A team of researchers analyzed 25 melatonin gummy products from different brands and found that 22 contained different amounts of melatonin than what was listed on their labels; one contained only 74 percent of the advertised amount of melatonin, while another had 347 percent of the labeled amount. Yet another product contained no detectable melatonin at all." 22 Out of 25 Melatonin Products Were Mislabeled, Study Finds. (gift article) See also: ConsumerLab: Independent Testing of Supplements and Botanicals.
Hope
The Atlantic had an interesting article, Why Economists Should Study Hope, that discusses why hope is so important and how to cultivate more.
The Quest for Longevity
The Quest for Longevity Is Already Over is an interesting read. One of the points I strongly agree with in the article is that extending healthspan (the length of time one is healthy) is far more important than extending longevity (the length of time one lives).
Oura Partners with Best Buy
I love my Oura smart ring. I've worn mine for years. The hardest part of the purchase process was the sizing. Sizing will be less of an issue as you can soon walk into Best Buy and find a fitting station. The article Oura Is Proof That Smart Rings Are Here to Stay discusses the Oura Ring and some of the upcoming competitors.
Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Delta-8 THC / Delta-10 THC
Cannabis-derived products like delta-8 THC and delta-10 THC have flooded the US market – two immunologists explain the medicinal benefits and potential risks is a quick overview of some of medicinal and side effects of cannabinoids. The article discusses hemp, cannabis, and a few of the cannabinoids.
Creativity / Rick Rubin
I enjoy writing words and music. I'm not good at either, but the process brings me joy. Rick Rubin's new book is about the creative process: The Creative Act: A Way of Being: Rubin, Rick. I've been a big fan of Rubin's Broken Record Podcast. I also enjoyed watching Rick Rubin: The 60 Minutes Interview - CBS News and hearing him interviewed on Rick Rubin on How to Make Something Great. I'm adding the book to my "must-read" list.
Brainstorming with ChatGPT
Wired had an article on how to brainstorm better with the generative AI platform: 6 Tips for Using ChatGPT to Brainstorm Better
What Can We Learn About Aging from Centenarian Excrement?
The longest-living people have a more diverse microbiome than their less healthy peers. A study published this month, Longevity of centenarians is reflected by the gut microbiome with youth-associated signatures looked at the gut microbiomes of centenarians — individuals who've reached or surpassed a century in age — and compared them against old, middle-aged, and young adults. Their results showed, "regardless of health status, the centenarians had a unique enterotype that is a combination of the two found in young adults aged 20 to 44 — Bacteroides — and older adults — Escherichia and/or Shigella." Read the study synopsis here: Centenarians Have Super Healthy Gut Microbiomes — Can This Help Us Live Longer?
Pill Popping Polypharmacy
"Getting people off drugs is unfamiliar terrain for modern health systems, mostly set up to put patients on them. But that is beginning to change. Doctors, pharmacists, and nurses are setting up "deprescribing networks" to try to spread the word." The Economist published an article on the overprescription of medication: Too many people take too many pills.
FDA-Approved Video Games
Much of my research at Duke focused on using video game technology in healthcare and healthcare education. It was fantastic to read this synopsis of Akili [^1] and EndeavorRX, an FDA-approved video game for treating ADHD. I can think of many more uses of the platform. The story behind an FDA-Approved Video Game Treatment for ADHD
[^1]: I am an Akili Interactive shareholder.