Eczema and Gut Health, Quercetin, Cortisol, Melatonin & Kids, Mental Health Stats, and More

Good afternoon Nikkola Newsletterers!

We're on vacation this week in Florida. For the reasons I wrote about in this article, I'm limiting my use of sunglasses. You might want to try doing the same if you're going on vacation this spring.

We're visiting some friends who've had some incredible results from their Amare products, so that's fun to talk about. They're also "bangers" (a new term I learned) in Pickle Ball. We'll play a lot of that while we're here, though Vanessa and I are well below amateurs at the game.

I hope you're having a great week! Enjoy this week's carefully curated newsletter!

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📖 From THE Blog

Eczema and Gut Health: How Your Skin Reflects Your Microbiome. Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis (AD), is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that affects millions of people worldwide. Statistics show that one in ten will develop it at some point. It is characterized by dry, itchy, and red skin that can cause significant discomfort and distress. While the exact cause of eczema is not fully understood, recent research has highlighted the important connection between gut health, the skin microbiome, and the development and severity of eczema symptoms. We’ll cover exactly what it is, how the gut causes eczema, and what you can do to manage it naturally. Keep reading...

Quercetin: Health Benefits, Food Sources, Dosages, and Contraindications. Quercetin has quickly become one of the hottest-selling nutritional supplements in recent history. And rightfully so. It’s a potent immune-supporting compound. However, quercetin offers more health benefits than immune-support alone. Find out why this flavonoid is so fabulous. Keep reading...

🔥 Hot topic: Is cortisol good or bad? 🔥

Cortisol often gets a bad rap in health and fitness circles, but it's a critical hormone for our survival and day-to-day functioning. Let's dive into what makes cortisol both a friend and a foe to our bodies, ensuring we appreciate its role while understanding its potential downsides when it spirals out of control.

The Helpful Side of Cortisol

Boosts Energy: Cortisol plays a pivotal role in regulating your metabolism. It ensures you have the energy you need to face challenges, particularly during stressful situations. By increasing glucose in the bloodstream, cortisol helps fuel your brain and muscles, keeping you alert and ready to tackle whatever comes your way.
Reduces Inflammation: In the short term, cortisol acts as an anti-inflammatory agent. This is crucial for healing and recovery from injuries and illnesses. By suppressing the immune system slightly, cortisol can prevent the overreaction that often leads to swelling and pain.
Regulates Blood Pressure: Cortisol works closely with adrenaline to maintain blood pressure, ensuring that oxygenated blood reaches all parts of your body efficiently. This is essential for all bodily functions and is especially important during exercise and stress.
Aids in Stress Response: As the "stress hormone," cortisol prepares your body to face stressful situations effectively. It heightens your senses, quickens your reflexes, and provides you with the necessary burst of energy to respond to immediate threats or challenges.

The Harmful Side of Cortisol

However, when cortisol levels remain high for extended periods, due to chronic stress or other health issues, its beneficial effects can turn detrimental.

Impairs Immune Function: Chronic high cortisol levels can weaken your immune system over time, making you more susceptible to infections and illnesses.
Leads to Weight Gain: Excess cortisol can increase appetite and cravings for unhealthy foods. It also signals the body to store fat, particularly around the abdomen, which poses risks for heart disease and diabetes.
Disrupts Sleep: High cortisol levels, especially at night, can interfere with your sleep cycles, making it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. Poor sleep quality can then exacerbate stress, creating a vicious cycle.
Affects Mood and Memory: Over time, elevated cortisol can have a detrimental effect on your mood, contributing to anxiety and depression. It can also impair cognitive performance, affecting memory and concentration.

So, while we don't want to block or stop cortisol production, we also want to avoid long-term, chronic exposure to it. Fortunately, certain supplements can help with optimizing cortisol.

🧠 Mental Fitness

Man gets 217 COVID jabs to prove it’s safe. The German guy got 217 vaccine doses of eight different COVID vaccines—including all mRNA versions—over 29 months. He did it to prove they’re safe. That’s like somebody who smokes a pack of day of cigarettes a day his whole life and has no illness telling people cigarettes cause not harm.

Melatonin use in kids hasn't just doubled, tripled, or quadrupled since 2018—it's increased 20 times! That number is absolutely shocking to me. Parents are desperately looking for ways to help their kids fall asleep, but melatonin is not a good option for kids or even for adults. It can lead to hormonal issues during puberty, make them groggy in the morning, and doesn't significantly impact sleep quality anyway. If you need something helpful, and not harmful, try Kid's Calm.

Mental health issues becoming more mainstream. According to a report published this past fall, 23% of US adults, or 59M people, experienced a mental health condition in 2022. The prevalence in young adults was the highest, with 36% of 18–25-year-olds reporting a condition and 19% of adolescents (12–17) suffering a major depressive episode. External or environmental factors certainly play a role, but there's no doubt that internal health, especially the health of the gut-brain axis, plays a major role in these stats. And while it's often difficult to quickly change environmental factors, it's pretty simple to start improving the health of the gut-brain axis.

Physical activity slows memory loss and cognitive decline. In older adults, research shows that physical activity is one of the most powerful medications for avoiding memory loss and preserving executive function, which is necessary for controlling behavior and emotions, planning, paying attention, and even understanding different points of view.

🏋️‍♂️ Physical Fitness

Exercise doesn't offset the effects of sitting too much. Your early morning workout before a day of work, where you spend the day sitting at your desk or in conference rooms, may not reduce the risk of an early death. A new study from the University of California, San Diego, found that moderate-to-vigorous exercise does not offset the effects of being sedentary the rest of the day. However, it was really only looking at the risk of mortality, not quality of life, so don't for a moment think, "Well, there's no need to exercise." They didn't find that at all. The key takeaway is that you need to move throughout the day, not just for an hour during a workout.

England will now ban puberty blockers for those under 18. I can't believe I'm typing this, as it seems insane they ever should have been prescribed to begin with, but at least there's a little common sense affecting legislation there. If only that kind of common sense could find its way across the United States. If you're curious, these are the states that have done so.

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🌎 OTHER STORIES

Biden and Trump Clinch Nominations, Kicking Off General Election. President Joe Biden on March 12 secured the Democratic nomination after an overwhelming win in swing-state Georgia, as his rival, former President Donald Trump, won enough delegates to clinch the Republican nomination when several primaries were called later that evening. “I am honored that the broad coalition of voters representing the rich diversity of the Democratic Party across the country have put their faith in me once again to lead our party—and our country—in a moment when the threat Trump poses is greater than ever,” President Biden said in a statement shared by the White House upon his becoming the presumptive Democratic Party’s nominee. Keep reading...

Feds surveilled Americans' private transactions, flagging terms like 'Trump' or 'MAGA’. The federal government ordered banks to conduct “broad financial surveillance” of American citizens' private transactions related to politics or religion to identify people it deems as potential threats, according to a recent report from a congressional subcommittee. Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal nonprofit specializing in religious freedom cases, was among the organizations listed as “hate groups” by the U.S. Treasury Department, which advised big banks to monitor customers' donations to the nonprofit. Keep reading...

In faith, fitness, and fortitude,
Tom Nikkola, CSCS

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