Running: A Fever

In this episode I review Amazon's new wearable smart speaker, Echo Frames. See the unboxing on the YouTube channel. http://RunningAFEVER.com/260  

Become an expert at your own health! Visit http://RunningAFEVER.com  

It's the first time I've been out and about in an exercising way in a while. I've just been doing walks around the house. I'd do about a mile inside the house, maybe a little dumbbell action. Not the best. Part of being healthy is being mentally healthy, and being outside helps with that. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/258  

Resistance is not futile. I am at the "old stomping grounds" to take a little walk today. Overcoming resistance is the big idea today. It has been a theme in the show. I've talked about habits a lot. This is a big day for me. A while back I overcame the resistance to breaking my good habits and formed some bad ones. And today I am trying to go the other way. It takes one day, or one incident at least, to overcome that. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/257  

A while back I read a fascinating book called The High Frontier about how we can and should build a society in space. Jeff Bezos's company Blue Origin has exactly this as its mission. This got me thinking about a lot of things having to do with the topic, and naturally, I landed on the focus of this podcast, fitness, diet, and medicine. And I was intrigued by the considerations we need in order to make this space society a reality. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com Image by alan9187 from Pixabay 

The DASH diet can save your life, literally. High blood pressure is the leading preventable cause of death. 54% of strokes and 47% of heart attacks are caused by it. And the DASH diet is clinically proven to decrease blood pressure and help keep you alive.   Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com  

Longevity is a key aspect of what we try to do on this show. I can't tell you a whole lot about how to live a good life. But I assume we will find a way to do that, and that life will be so good that we'll want it to last as long as possible. We do that, by loving our lives and taking care of them. Longevity, as an average, generally increases over time, at least in recent times. One way you can see this is to go to the actuarial tables of the social security administration in the U.S. Currently, on the website only the data from 2004 to 2017 are available in an easy to digest table, and there is more if you dig deeper and know something about statistics, going back to 1900. At birth, someone born in 2017 is expected to live 80.96 years. Someone born in 1900 was likely to live only into his or her late 40's. When I was born in 1966 the number was into the late '60s. But that doesn't mean I'm going to die in my 60's, because with each year you live (or more accurately don't die), you increase your life expecta

Each year I list the 10 longest-lived people and talked a little about new ones on the list and how it has changed. The only changes this year were Kane Tanaka moving up to 3rd place, the disqualification of American Lucy Hannah, and the addition of Lucile Randon, known by her religious name Sister Andree. She's 10th all-time in longevity and currently the 2nd oldest living person and the oldest living European. You move up quickly on this list. If she lives another year, she will be 4th, behind Kane Tanaka. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/251  

This is one of my favorite series and one of yours too. Our episodes on the longest-lived people are some of our most popular. What I do is present the list of the longest-lived people of all time. I'll also go into detail on any new additions to the list. We're talking specifically about the people who have lived the longest, with documented proof. I'll give you the whole list, talk about what's changed since last year, and ask some questions. What can we learn from the lives of this list of the royalty of longevity? Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com  

I always liked those commercials with Wilford Brimley about DIE-UH-BEET-US. Kind of funny. But for all those people who suffer from the disease, of course, it is no laughing matter. It can be pronounced DIE-A-BEET-IS or DIE-A-BEET-EASE. The full name is Diabetes Mellitus The name comes from the Greek diabetes meaning siphon, and the Latin mellitus meaning sweet. People who have diabetes have an impaired ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin, which regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates. This causes elevated levels of glucose in the blood and urine. There are several types, and we'll take a look at each of these. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/249

Almost everyone is concerned about how to get the COVID-19 vaccines now that they are becoming more available. Did you know that you may be able to get it even if you are not "eligible"? Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/254   Image by Hakan German from Pixabay

Today I got my first COVID vaccine shot. It was the Moderna vaccine. Two shots are required one month apart. I got my first one today (March 23, 2021), and my next one will be on April 20. I'll let you know how that one goes as well. I went to Springdale Community Clinic, which is a ministry of St. Francis House in Northwest Arkansas. It's the first time I've been there, but I believe it is a clinic for anyone, whether you have insurance or not. I heard about it from someone at work, who gave me a phone number. I texted VACCINE to that number. Later they called me back. They asked what my qualifying characteristic was. In my state, we are in Phase Ic, including IT workers, of which I am one. It also includes people in the food production industry, which is the industry of the company I work for. When I got to the clinic, I had to answer a few questions and sign a consent form. Then I sat down to wait to get the shot. They gave me a five-page fact sheet published by Moderna. You can get it here: https://www.

The Running:A FEVER podcast is now heard in 62 different countries, some of which I have never heard of before. But I am grateful for all of our listeners everywhere around the world. It's been a long time since I dedicated a whole episode to a listener country, but I decided to do that for one of our newer listener locations because even though Norwegians didn't start downloading until 2 years into the show, they have risen to the 3rd most downloads ALL time. And in the last couple of months, they are second only to my home country of the US. And English is not even their primary language. Makes me wonder how I would do if I made episodes in other languages. So anyway, you see that I just had to dedicate this episode to these great people. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/248 Photo by Bit Cloud on Unsplash

I love ibuprofen. Advil in particular. I have been taking this pain-reliever for decades. Pretty much any kind of headache, pop 4 of them, and I'm good to go. And I've always known if something came out about long-term adverse effects, I would be in trouble. So in this episode, we're going to learn a little about this wonder drug, its history, and most importantly, long-term effects on our health. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/247  

I took a little vacation on an out-of-the-way AirBNB property and recorded this episode while walking on a couple of trails there. It was good to be away from all the pandemic tension for a while, and to be outdoors without having to wear a mask. It was a good chance to recharge and work on my mental health, and I got a little exercise in the bargain. This was also one of the few walking episodes I did toward the end of 2020. http://RunningAFEVER.com/246  

Welcome to the 17th and final episode in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable in some cases. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. This is the longest series I've ever done on the show and I hope you've been pleased with the format. I have certainly learned a lot about dementia. How devastating it can be to victims and families, how difficult it is for doctors to diagnose and treat. There is a sense of hopelessness about this disease, but there is hope, as I think I've shown in this series. Well this is the final episode in the series, and the last in the episodes about prevention. Sleep seems like the easiest form of prevention there is. But lack of sleep can have a serious impact on mental health. And getting sleep can be harder for people at risk for dementia if they suffer from chronic illness and have poor lifestyle habits. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.

Welcome to the 16th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable in some cases. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. As promised, this series has focused on prevention of dementia as much as anything else. We want to be informed about the disease, but more than that we want to prevent it. So I'm happy to be able to offer some information on how we can prevent dementia in the course of our journey of learning here. When you think about mental health, physical exercise might not be the first things that comes to mind. But the brain is a physical organ, and it's health depends on a foundation of good overall health. But there are some specific benefits of exercise that apply to dementia and its delay, mitigation, and even revention. Believe it or not, exercise can cause new synapses to form in the brain. According to an article on the Harvard University website, sustained aer

Welcome to the 15th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable in some cases. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. As promised, this series has focused on prevention of dementia as much as anything else. We want to be informed about the disease, but more than that we want to prevent it. Every time I hear that cry of "increasing awareness", as good-intentioned as it may be, it's not really an action-oriented sentiment. So I'm happy to be able to offer some information on how we can prevent dementia in the course of our journey of learning here. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/239  

Welcome to the 14th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable in some cases. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. We've discussed diet quite a bit on the podcast, and usually, it has more to do with maintaining a healthy body fat percentage than anything else. But did you know that diet is also important for mental health? In the last episode, I brought up a fact that was new to me, that obesity is related to brain function, particularly memory. So in what other ways can what we eat impact how healthy our brains are? Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/237  

Welcome to the 13th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. This episode is about improving your memory. When it comes to brain function, there's nothing more important than memory. Memory loss is a symptom of dementia and an effect of the disease. And while improving it may not prevent dementia, it certainly gives you more to work with, so you can have a fighting chance at reducing the overall effects. So here are some tips that can help us sharpen this valuable tool. Read the full post at HTTP://RunningAFEVER.com/236