HealthTrekker - Health And Wellness Tips

Health & wellness tips + hacks. -Backed by !SCIENCE! and studies, not bros & Voodoo. Why just survive when you can thrive? Become "The Better You", 1% at a time – starting today. If you're already healthy & want to nerd-out on how to get even more rad, HT is the place for you.

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For information only. This content is not medical care, advice, diagnosis, or recommendations.

You Actually Cannot Eat Just One. Ultra-Processed Junk Food Rewires Your Brain To Serve The Borg

Filed Under: Nutrition

You Actually Cannot Eat Just One. Ultra-Processed Junk Food Rewires Your Brain To Serve The Borg
ultraprocessed food addiction radioactive sign German wood door

What If Ultra-Processed Foods Are A Nutritional Neutron-Bomb?:

Nietzsche famously once said, “If you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

Pretty profound stuff, even for “the world’s first psychologist”. (except for Aristotle and a few 1,000 others)

But Ole’ Fred turns out to be right, even when it concerns addicts.

Because the high-powered substances they use do change your brain for a pretty long time.

Weirdly-enough, it may not be just the people engaging in lab-grade neurochemistry who are in trouble.

Because a Nolan Ryan-fastball-grade study out of McGill and Helsinki suggests at least half of us are on the edge of similar trouble…

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Caffeine Vs. Alzheimer’s: Your Daily Cup Of Fear May Have Some Bodacious Brain Benefits

Filed Under: Mind/Brain

Caffeine Vs. Alzheimer’s: Your Daily Cup Of Fear May Have Some Bodacious Brain Benefits
caffeine alzheimers hand throwing coffee near mountain

You Are What You Eat? … Now You Are What You Drink!:

Recently, a news piece came out on the world’s “Blue Zones”.

These were allegedly places where lifespan is unusually high.

But then we found out that it wasn’t some miracle, it was just bad record-keeping and insurance fraud.

As bad as that is, it doesn’t invalidate the basic ideas.

Good social networks and regular physical and mental activity are important to longevity.

The other one it doesn’t change is groups of people with varying health practices give researchers a ton of different experiments to test.

And another one of those is how food & drink can impact memory-function and ultimately brain health…

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That Cocoa Habit Is Something You Might Want To Keep For Life. Because It Just May Save Your Aging Brain!

Filed Under: Mind/Brain

That Cocoa Habit Is Something You Might Want To Keep For Life. Because It Just May Save Your Aging Brain!
cocoa brain health chocolate squares on white table

Everyone’s Favorite Superfood Scores Another Win:

One of the benefits we can all cash-in on with new information is discovering our own blind-spots.

For example, thanks to nutrition scientists we now know that if you’re an adult and you have stress, you’re probably magnesium deficient.

Still further, Dr. Joel Fuhrman opened everyone’s eyes to how little micronutrients they get if they aren’t eating big salads every day.

On that note, it turns out researchers are finding even more dietary blind-spots.

If you’re like me, or any other nut who stops by HealthTrekker, you want to have those bases covered.

And the team at Mass General might help us all out a little…

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Weightlifting’s Brain Benefits Surprise. So If You Lift, You Don’t Have To Be A Meat-Head After All!

Filed Under: Exercise

Weightlifting’s Brain Benefits Surprise. So If You Lift, You Don’t Have To Be A Meat-Head After All!
weightlifting brain benefits man preparing deadlift


The Amazing Biochemistry Of Muscle & Exercise Strikes Again!:
Most of us were raised to believe quicksand and sharks in swimming pools would be daily hazards in adult life.

Similarly, we were also raised to think that we’re born with a certain number of brain-cells and do nothing but lose them thereafter.

That may be true for “Florida Man”, but it’s not so for everyone else.

Dr. Sandrine Thuret showed us all a few years ago that we can grow new brain cells, with cardio and especially running.

The only downside to her results was that it appeared weight-lifting exercise didn’t help.

A team from IU looks like they might have a little light at the end of that tunnel…

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The Dietary Plutonium Of Ultra-Processed Food Might Steal Your Mind & Accelerate Cognitive-Decline

Filed Under: Nutrition

The Dietary Plutonium Of Ultra-Processed Food Might Steal Your Mind & Accelerate Cognitive-Decline
upf dementia old tv wooden case


UPF Junk Food Gives A Whole New Meaning To, “I Don’t Mind”:
Swanson may have had only good intentions when they wanted to make Thanksgiving dinner accessible to all in 1953.

But ever since that first set of turkey & sides were put into an aluminum tray, things have gotten steadily worse.

Because not only have obesity rates gone up a lot since then, but the rate of people consuming ultra-processed foods today is also increasing.

Worst of all, is that !SCIENCE! is finding that UPFs don’t just make you fat, like they did to the Amazon tribesmen who got “gifts” shipped-in from Nestle.

UPFs are like dietary plutonium. Not only are the after-effects weird, they look like they’re occurring in some of the worst ways…

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Your Brain Health Vs. Time. The Wisdom Of Cats, Parents, & Matadors Confirmed In The Magic Of Naps

Filed Under: Aging

Your Brain Health Vs. Time. The Wisdom Of Cats, Parents, & Matadors Confirmed In The Magic Of Naps
brain health naps sleeping cat on brick windowsill


Grandmas & Pre-K Teachers Were Onto Something All Along!:
I guess as long was we all recognize Gary Vaynerchuck as the Fifth Horseman Of The Apocalypse, we’re all going to get along great here.

Because as any non-Elon tech bro can tell you, it is possible to push yourself too hard and burnout is a real thing.

On the other side of the world, they seem to have a bit less caffeine and some older, odder daily traditions called Siesta.

Maybe it was just socialism or recovery from the hottest part of the day in southern Europe. Like a thirst-quencher Sangria for mind & body.

But it was lost on the “Coffee-Achieving” West, until just recently.

And a team from London and Uruguay is finding out there’s a lot more to naps than anyone outside Portugal, Italy, Greece, or Spain might imagine…

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The Benefits Of Stress: Whittling It Down To The Right Type And Amount Might Be Good For Your Brain

Filed Under: Mind/Brain

The Benefits Of Stress: Whittling It Down To The Right Type And Amount Might Be Good For Your Brain
stress brain benefits woman biting pencil work


Stress Benefits For Your Brain. Nietzsche’s Freakonomics Of Small-Dose Poisons:
Most of the time, it’s important to stay on the straight & narrow path.

Balance is an idea that’s been curated for millennia for good reason.

But when anyone really starts exploring something, it involves new territory that’s bizarre and weird before it gets figured-out.

It’s always Freakonomics before it becomes economics.

Just like the animal venoms that can kill a person in full-doses, but are helpful at ones several orders-of-magnitude smaller.

And freakily-enough a UGA team found out that one of the things poisoning many of us today can be helpful, in much smaller doses…

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Omega 3s + Brain Structure: I Think Therefore I Am What I Eat. The Deep Benefits Of EPA, DHA, & Fish Oil

Filed Under: Vitamins/Supplements

Omega 3s + Brain Structure: I Think Therefore I Am What I Eat. The Deep Benefits Of EPA, DHA, & Fish Oil
omega-3 brain structure light bulb blue light traces


Omega 3 & Your Brain’s Structure. Thinking Better From The Ground Up:
A lot of the best behavior we can engage in one way or another is a type of Investment.

Because it’s not just great to enjoy your capabilities for today; you also might like to keep them into the future, right?

Well, you’re not “officially in-shape” at one point and never have to go back to the gym afterward.

So to retain our abilities, we need habits to keep at it with the hope of some accrual and future pay-off.

One of the most powerful routines we have besides exercise is nutrition.

And a UTSA team is finding out some of the nutritional recommendations everyone’s Mom used to hand out are really good for the long term…

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Note: For informational purposes only. Should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, recommendations, or substitute for professional care.