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You know about antioxidants and you know that they fight free radicals. And free radicals always = bad, right?

Actually, its not that simple.

If you bought a new antioxidant face serum or started eating kale daily after reading an article only to think wait what the heck are free radicals, exactly? were here for you.

Heres a little chemistry lesson for you. Free radicals are oxygen-containing molecules that are highly reactive and unstable. Theyre formed when molecules or atoms gain or lose electrons.

This results in an unpaired electron that can easily react with other molecules.

These unpaired electrons dont like being alone, so they search the body for an electron to pair with. This is what can sometimes cause the damage that free radicals are often associated with.

Antioxidants are very generous and can give up an electron without making themselves unstable. This then stabilizes the free radical and makes it stop its potentially damaging search.

Think of antioxidants as the bodys donation center for free electrons.

Well get to more of all that below. But for now, lets hash out some fast facts:

If you take away anything from this article, remember this: no chemical acts alone and the goal of free radicals should never be to completely eliminate or prevent them!

Our body has adapted to coexist with free radicals, so going V for Vendetta on them might actually do more harm to your body than good.

Free radicals are formed naturally in the body as a byproduct of metabolism (oxidation). They can also be formed through external factors like smoking and pollutants.

Lets break down the causes of free radicals from natural processes within the body to outside factors.

Free radicals may sound like a bad player in the health game but theyre also a natural part of your bodys function. For example, exercise creates free radicals but in general the mental and physical benefits of exercising will most likely outweigh the downsides of free radicals.

So why are people freaking out over free radicals and trying to control them? Its because when you have too many free radicals that your body cant regulate, a condition known as oxidative stress happens.

Oxidative stress means that free radicals are triggering chain reactions in your body where proteins, lipids, and DNA are being altered. These alterations can increase your risk for a number of diseases.

You may have heard how inflammation is the root cause of many diseases. Well, oxidative stress is behind inflammation, and thats why its frequently linked to the development of different disease, including:

This may sound intense but if youre worried about inflammation and oxidative stress, know that the advice for tackling them is pretty similar.

Note: This does not mean oxidative stress and diseases have a direct cause-and-effect relationship.

Much of oxidative stress and disease development is a theory on a cellular level (like how what happens in a petri dish doesnt mean itll always work that way in your body) and research has shown that antioxidants mostly help people who already have increased oxidative stress, rather than the average healthy person.

Actually, yes. Sometimes.

The body can uses free radicals for good. This includes killing pathogens and regulating cell growth.

The immune system, for example, takes advantage of free radicals cell-damaging qualities and uses them to destroy pathogens. Pathogens are disease-causing organisms such as bacteria and viruses.

Additionally, free radicals are crucial to many other bodily functions including cell growth and death, stress responses, and metabolism.

As noted above, the problem with free radicals is when they overwhelm the body. However, our body naturally has defense mechanisms in place.

These defense mechanisms include antioxidants and detoxifying enzymes.

Antioxidants protect both the inside and outside of cells by blocking free radicals from stealing electrons. Detoxifying enzymes protect the insides of cells from free radical damage.

Below are some of the antioxidants and enzymes that help defend against free radicals:

Depending on your overall health, minimizing free radical production may be as simple as lifestyle and diet choices. For example, antioxidants are one of the best defenders of free radicals and can easily be achieved through whole foods.

This isnt 100 percent foolproof, however, and can also vary widely based on your genetics as well as pre-existing conditions. Keep in mind theres also no specific antioxidant that targets free radicals. Its more about incorporating more holistic health choices and managing stress.

Dont rely on antioxidant supplements

You may have read research about how supplements can help disease symptoms, but dont get that confused with reducing risk! Most studies have not been able to link supplements to reduction of disease development.

Since antioxidant supplements may also affect your medications, its best to get your fix from whole foods.

Studies have shown that whole fruits and vegetables may effectively help reduce your risk and symptoms related to a wide variety of chronic diseases linked to free radicals.

Since no single substance does the work of a collection of antioxidants, relying on antioxidant-rich whole foods that provide multiple nutritional benefits is key.

Below are the best antioxidant-high foods to include your diet:

Since free radicals are natural and unavoidable, youll drive yourself crazy trying to eliminate them (without success). We cannot actually fine tune the process of oxidative stress yet.

We also understand that marketing has exploited our fear of free radicals (hey, they gotta sell those antioxidant products somehow), so if you have a condition and/or disease, its best to talk to a doctor about how to manage and treat your symptoms first rather than focusing on free radicals.

And since free radicals can be produced through environmental and mental factors, there are some holistic health tips that can help with your stress levels.

While some external factors of free radical creation are unavoidable (like pollution and stress), developing a routine that can help manage your exposure will help. Thankfully these tips are also beneficial for other aspects of your health!

Small, manageable changes will result in healthier long-term decisions.

The best first step to take? Start by including these 13 foods in your weekly grocery haul.

The rest is here:
Free Radicals: Where They Come from and How They Affect the Body - Greatist

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As the holiday season ramps up, daily schedules can easily fill with the demands of the season, like shopping, cooking, wrapping and planning. To avoid overload, its all too easy to shift self-care priorities like regular exercise to the bottom of the list. Skipping workouts, however, can actually make it more difficult for our bodies and minds to deal with added holiday stressors.

Instead of letting exercise slide, taking a less-is-more approach to working out will enable you to avoid schedule overload without sacrificing your health. By training smarter, not longer, you can increase time available for holiday to-dos while still decreasing the impact of seasonal treats on the waistline. This plan will also help reduce stress and safeguard your overall well-being.

Below, I outline four strategies to help you stay fit during the holiday season.

Important note: If you experience pain while performing any of the exercises, stop immediately. Check with your doctor before beginning any new exercise program.

One of the best ways to train smarter, not harder, in this busy time of year is to ensure youre exercising consistently at least a few minutes every day by making it a habit. And one of the most effective ways to create a daily habit that sticks is to stack it on an existing one.

Consider some of common everyday habits that are so ingrained in your routine, you automatically do them, such as brushing your teeth, showering and making your bed. By adding an exercise right before, during or directly after one of those habits, its easier to make it stick in your daily routine. For example, for nearly eight years now, Ive been doing 50 body-weight squats or two-minute wall sits while I brush my teeth.

It wasnt until a couple years ago when I read James Clears book Atomic Habits that I realized what Id been doing was called habit stacking.

In a blog post on Clears website, he explains why synaptic pruning in our brains supports habit stacking. Connections (synapses) between neurons in our brains, he wrote, decrease when not used and strengthen when used frequently. Consequently, existing habits have stronger synaptic connections that we can leverage through habit stacking to create new habits.

Thats why my squat habit while toothbrushing was so easy to start and maintain. After reading Clears blog, I also added 10 push-ups before showering to my daily routine and I formed that habit easily as well!

What daily habits could you stack with different forms of exercise?

Feel free to use mine or come up with your own. Maybe 30 jumping jacks before morning coffee? Or 20 alternating step-back lunges right after putting on your shoes? Choose what feels right for you to slot into your routine.

Although spending time on your smartphone might seem like a habit, its usually more of a time waster that happens sporadically throughout the day rather than a natural part of a daily routine. And leading up to the holidays, many people experience an increase in mobile screen time. Whether people are online shopping, answering texts or scrolling social media to keep up with friends holiday plans, many folks inevitably spend a significant chunk of the day looking down at their phones.

What if you could make even a fraction of that time better for your health? And maybe even dissuade yourself from spending so much time looking at your phone? You can by incorporating posture-improving, core and leg-strengthening wall sits in your smartphone time.

By design, wall sits are challenging. So, even though theyre good for you, you arent going to want to hold them for very long or do very many sets. So if you pair them with your smartphone time, youll likely reduce your scrolling minutes just to avoid them which isnt a bad thing for your mental health.

How to do a wall sit:

Stand with your head and back flat against a wall and your feet hip-distance apart.

Step your feet forward about 18 to 24 inches as you slide down the wall into a squat position where your knees align with your hips and thighs are parallel to the floor (see top photo).

If keeping your thighs parallel to the floor is too tough to maintain, only slide down the wall until you feel a challenging muscular effort you can sustain for at least 30 seconds. As you get stronger, youll be able to go deeper.

Engage your core as you continue pressing your back into the wall.

Try to hold this position for at least 30 seconds at a time or as long as you can comfortably while continuing your mobile tasks.

Dont bend your neck to look down at your phone! Give your text neck a break and your posture a boost by keeping the back of your head against the wall while holding your phone up to meet your gaze.

In between wall sits, stand upright, take a few deep breaths and repeat.

Even at the height of the holiday bustle, strive to find four minutes to exercise a few times per week. And less really is more with high-intensity interval training, or HIIT. Studies have shown that HIIT can burn 25% to 30% more calories in a shorter amount of time than other forms of exercise while also being effective at decreasing visceral (or belly) fat without dietary changes.

So, if youre up to the challenge of maintaining periods of elevated heart rate alternated with short recovery periods, four-minute Tabata-style HIIT workouts could be your time-efficient recipe for staying fit over the holidays.

Tabata drills, created by Japanese scientist Izumi Tabata, consist of the same exercise performed through eight rounds of 20 seconds of activity and 10 seconds of rest for a total of four minutes. You can use almost any body-weight exercise, but I recommend selecting one that requires a total-body effort and fits your current fitness level and preference.

For instance, mountain climbers and jumping jacks are two very different, yet effective, total-body exercises. Because I prefer a more intense, core-oriented challenge with this drill, I use mountain climbers.

How to perform mountain climbers Tabata style:

Set your phones timer for four minutes.

Begin in a plank position with your core engaged and back flat.

Place your phone on the floor in front of you, so you can easily see and reach it.

Hit start on your time and begin doing mountain climbers, by alternating bringing each knee up to your chest, then back to plank position, at a pace you can sustain throughout the drill.

When the timer hits the 3:40 mark, rest for 10 seconds and restart at the 3:30 mark.

Rest again at 3:10 and begin again at 3:00.

Repeat through all four minutes.

Despite all their splendor, the holidays take a toll on both our mental and physical health. Family demands like shopping and cooking and indulgences such as increased intake of high-fat, high-sugar treats and alcohol consumption deliver stressors of all types. And the shorter, darker days of winter make it even harder on some.

To recover from this onslaught of stress, its important to get adequate sleep and take intentional mental and physical energy breaks. Prioritizing recovery is important all the time but especially during the holidays. Consequently, this is one area where less is not more more is more.

Get all the sleep you need: Your body needs sleep to repair and replenish itself, so dont skimp on it in your schedule. If youre having trouble falling or staying asleep, try my pre-bedtime six-minute routine based on programs I use with pro-athlete clients.

Feel like you need a nap? You probably do! A 15- or 25-minute nap can provide a much-needed energy boost.

Take breaks to recharge: Its important to unplug at least once a day. That means taking at least a few minutes away from all your tasks and yes, your phone to revitalize your mind and body. You can do this by practicing a mindfulness meditation or breathing exercise, taking a walk or simply relaxing in a comfortable position, like this legs-up-the-wall pose.

Staying fit over the holidays doesnt have to mean depriving yourself of all the seasons treats; it just requires a more strategic approach to fitness. And following the tips above will create healthy lifestyle changes that will continue to serve you long after the holidays pass.

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4 ways to stay fit and stress less during the holidays - kuna noticias y kuna radio

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Physical activity may have an important role in the prevention of osteoporosis among individuals aged at least 65 years, according to results of systematic review published in International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

As limited data are available on the association between physical activity and osteoporosis prevention in the elderly, the objective of the current review was to explore the role of physical activity in the primary prevention of osteoporosis among individuals aged at least 65 years. With this review, the study authors aimed to inform the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior.

The analysis included reviews and studies published in PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and SPORTDiscus. Eligibility criteria were records that included individuals aged at least 65 years; a greater volume, duration, frequency, or intensity of physical activity; control participants; and outcome-related measures, such as bone mineral density (BMD). The primary outcome of the current review was osteoporosis, as defined by the WHO on the basis of BMD measurement relative to reference values of young adults of the same sex.

A total of 59 studies, including 12 observational studies and 47 trials, were included in the analysis. Included study results reported on a range of different outcomes, including measures of BMD and bone mineral content; however, none of them reported diagnosis of osteoporosis as an outcome measure.

Review findings indicated moderate-quality evidence that physical activity may have a significant effect on bone health, especially lumbar BMD (standardized effect size, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.04-0.30; 11 trials), while there was low-certainty evidence for femoral neck BMD, from which a small and nonsignificant effect was observed (standardized effect size, 0.09; 95% CI, -0.03 to 0.21; 14 trials).

The optimal exercise intervention to prevent osteoporosis was not clear; however, according to available data, the effect of physical exercise programs that included multiple exercise types and resistance exercises was greater. Study authors noted a dose-response relationship between physical exercise and bone protective effect. Typical programs for which significant intervention impact were detected in trials were undertaken for at least 60 minutes, twice or thrice a week for at least 7 months.

The study had several limitations, including low overall quality of the eligible studies, the small sample size of trials, and the relatively short follow-up period. Furthermore, as most studies did not use the absence of osteoporosis at baseline as an inclusion criterion, it was likely that the studies included data of individuals with mixed bone health status.

The studies included in this review suggest that physical activity is likely to play a role in the prevention of osteoporosis in older people, the study authors concluded.

Pinheiro MB, Oliveira J, Bauman A, Fairhall N, Kwok W, Sherrington C. Evidence on physical activity and osteoporosis prevention for people aged 65+ years: a systematic review to inform the WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. Published online November 26, 2020. doi:10.1186/s12966-020-01040-4

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Physical Activity May Be Important in the Prevention of Osteoporosis - Rheumatology Advisor

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We review Apple's AirPods Max headphones, Apple Fitness+ launches, plus an update on ProRaw format, and Facebook is attacking Apple over its iOS 14 ad privacy program.

Apple has launched AirPods Max, its high-end noise cancelling over-the-ear headphones. At the price of $549 many are comparing these to other noise cancelling headphones that cost hundreds of dollars less, but now that we've been using them, there are features that set AirPods Max apart.

We discuss the overall hardware design and build quality, but then go truly in-depth on sound quality in various styles of music from classical to jazz fusion. You can check out some of our test tracks in the links below, on your AirPods Max, or any headphones.

In addition to music quality, the AirPods Max also brings Spatial Audio, previously only available on AirPods Pro, to a new level. We discuss what this adds to the experience of watching movies and TV shows, plus how the noise cancelling feature performs in loud environments.

Then Apple's Fitness+ service launched earlier this week, and we've being doing many workouts in the strength training and core categories. What we perhaps like the most is how the integration between Apple Watch and Apple TV allows a user's heart rate and Activity rings to display on screen.

What we like the least, though, is how Fitness+ is for one person at a time. We would really like to see the ability for multiple users to workout simultaneously. Plus Apple could add progressive exercise programs, and it would be good to make the background styles of music available across all workouts.

As we listen to music and do our workouts, Facebook is going in to battle against Apple. The social media giant says iOS 14's privacy program will be "devastating" for small businesses.

Users are going be able to opt-out of sharing their personal information with in-app ad-tracking, and Facebook says this will change the internet as we know it, "for the worse." Apple, on the other hand, believes users should be made aware of how an app is tracking and using their information and recently launched privacy "nutrition" labels in the App Store as well.

We'd love to interact with you on Twitter. If you have questions or comments on the show, tweet at @stephenrobles and @Hillitech, or email us here. Find us in your favorite podcast player by searching for "AppleInsider" and support the show by leaving a 5-Star rating and comment in Apple Podcasts .

Tune in to our HomeKit Insider podcast covering the latest news, products, apps and everything HomeKit related. Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Overcast, or just search for HomeKit Insider wherever you get your podcasts.

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AirPods Max, Fitness+, Facebook vs. Apple on the AppleInsider podcast - AppleInsider

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No one will ever accuse President Trump of being overly careful in his exercise of his pardon power.

So, it makes sense that advocates of Edward Snowden, the man responsible for the most damaging classified leak in U.S. history, are mounting a last-minute push to get the president who pardoned Sheriff Joe and Roger Stone to issue his most outrageous and indefensible pardon yet.

Its a transpartisan alliance. Glenn Greenwald, Snowdens journalistic partner and foremost advocate, has, of course, been banging the drum. Rose McGowan has urged Trump on Twitter to be punk as (expletive)- and pardon Snowden. Renegade Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is on board, as are Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Matt Gaetz.

As Trumps presidency winds down, his power to grant clemency will be even more alluring to him, and he said over the summer that hes considering a Snowden pardon.

Working for a National Security Agency contractor, Snowden stole massive amounts of classified material and began sharing it with journalists in 2013. When the Justice Department filed criminal charges, he fled to Russia, which kindly provided him asylum and recently permanent residency.Snowden is a self-styled whistleblower. He says he was motivated by his constitutional qualms about an NSA bulk data collection program and his disgust with official deceptions about the program.

None of this holds up. If Snowden wanted to be a genuine whistleblower, he could have pursued concerns about the NSA program through lawful avenues instead of fleeing the country and purloining so many documents that authorities still cant be sure how much he stole.

The Snowden disclosures were much more wide-ranging than the NSA program, in fact so wide-ranging that its almost impossible to keep track. As Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith has asked, why did Snowdens devotion to the Constitution require him to disclose details of how we spy on other countries, how we cooperate with Sweden and Norway to spy on Russia, or an NSA program called MasterMind to respond to cyberattacks?

None of these programs or actions raise any constitutional issues whatsoever. Exposing them makes sense only as sheer nihilism i.e., Snowden was in a position to steal the information, so why not take it and disclose it? or as a calculated act of hostility to U.S. national security policy as such.

Snowdens defenders say not to worry, that Snowden and the journalists reporting on his documents have been careful not to disclose anything needlessly damaging to the U.S. and its allies. But there is no reason that the responsibility for protecting sensitive information involving no crimes or government misconduct should, via Snowdens theft, have been transferred from U.S. officials to assorted reporters and editors.

Its also naive to believe that Snowden was allowed to make a home in Vladimir Putins Russia without the government exploiting his trove of secrets.

The presidents pardon power is plenary, but that doesnt mean it should be wielded with no standards whatsoever. Traditionally, the Justice Department looks for contrition when reviewing possible exercises of clemency.

Not only does Snowden exhibit none, we dont even know the full scope of his offense, and he remains a fugitive through the good offices of an enemy of the United States.

Surely, Trump will be bombarded with bad ideas in the final days of his presidency, but pardoning Edward Snowden has to rank among the worst.

Rich Lowry is editor of the National Review.

Read this article:
Trump shouldnt give pardon to Snowden - Boston Herald

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeons report a spike in injuries as many people resort to at-home exercises.

Rosemont, Ill., Dec. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeons report a spike in injuries as many people resort to at-home exercises. Follow these tips to stay active and avoid foot and ankle pain while at home during this difficult time.

The most common injuries were seeing are ankle fractures, sprains, and toe fractures, said foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeon, Sudheer C. Reddy, MD, from Shady Grove Orthopaedics in Maryland. I typically recommend sticking to low-impact strengthening exercises or cardiac programs such as running in place or doing jumping jacks.

Raymond J. Walls, MD, a foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeon from Yale Orthopaedics and Rehab in Connecticut, suggests patients participate in fitness classes over Zoom or other social media platforms with friends for motivation and safe social interaction.

Drs. Reddy and Walls encourage patients to stay active while at home, and offer these five tips to keep your feet and ankles injury free:

If you do injure your foot or ankle, Drs. Reddy and Walls recommend applying ice to the area, consider taking anti-inflammatory medications such as aspirin, and resting for a few days to allow the injury to heal. If you notice swelling, bumps, bruises, or discoloration around the injury, see a foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeon for an examination and treatment.

For more ways to keep your feet and ankles healthy at home, visit FootCareMD.

About Foot and Ankle Orthopaedic Surgeons

Foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeons are medical doctors (MD and DO) who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders and injuries of the foot and ankle. Their education and training consist of four years of medical school, five years of postgraduate residency, and a fellowship year of specialized surgical training. These specialists care for patients of all ages, performing reconstructive surgery for deformities and arthritis, treating sports injuries, and managing foot and ankle trauma.

About the AOFAS

The American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) mobilizes our dynamic community of foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeons to improve patient care through education, research, and advocacy. As the premier global organization for foot and ankle care, AOFAS delivers exceptional events and resources for continuous education, funds and promotes innovative research, and broadens patient understanding of foot and ankle conditions and treatments. By emphasizing collaboration and excellence, AOFAS inspires ever-increasing levels of professional performance leading to improved patient outcomes. For more information visit the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society online at aofas.org.

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5 Ways to Prevent Foot and Ankle Injuries at Home - GlobeNewswire

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In the summer of 2001, I made my first attempt at self-improvement. One of the teen magazines I begged my mom to buy me had a section of ab workouts that promised to turn my nearly 11-year-old body into something akin to Britney Spears's. Every night, I spent 20 minutes doing what amounted to neck crunches. They did not turn me into an early aughts pop star, but they did birth a longstanding addiction to molding myself into someone better.

In 2004, I started running. In the summer of 2005, I read "He's Just Not That Into You" to better understand why all the boys in school rejected me. In 2015, I started doing yoga. In 2017, I read pop psychology books on codependency and picked up Pilates. In 2018, I watched YouTube tutorials so I could put on eye makeup without looking like I got punched in the face.

I bought free weights. I bought a planner. I read articles on how not to be single. I tried feng shui and meditation. I went to networking events and parties that might as well have been networking events. I deep-conditioned my hair.

The goal was to make myself better, thinner, prettier, smarter, more emotionally grounded, more appealing to men, more successful in my career. The endeavors were tiring, but they were necessary. Without constantly bettering myself, I would sink, like a shark. Worse, I'd be worthless.

Then the pandemic hit, and I gave up.

I didn't sleep. I didn't eat. I didn't exercise. I didn't get dressed. I didn't wear makeup. I didn't read. I ignored my planner. Ordinarily a workaholic freelance journalist, I stopped pitching and writing. I was depressed and terrified and lonely and terribly sad, and the only thing my body wanted to do was sit on the couch and let other people's stories wash over me. I don't even remember what I watched. I gave up on letting any of it penetrate.

A few stars of "Real Housewives: Salt Lake City," which I watch religiously. Bravo/Contributor/Getty

Now that the initial shock of all this has passed, I've become marginally more functional. (Sometimes, I actually leave the house.) But the urge to make myself better has not yet returned.

I don't care about learning a language or pitching an ambitious story or mastering an alluring cat-eye. I gave up on running and forward folds. I gave up on moving forward at all. March turned into April turned into May turned into June, and all I learned to do was stop crying.

The quest for self-improvement has long propelled people. In recent years it has felt inescapable, like we all live inside a Silicon Valley startup that prizes optimization at the expense of everything else. The economy runs on pop psychology books and diet fads and increasingly expensive exercise programs. People buy new clothes and take personality quizzes and hand over rent money to Sephora. Be prettier, we're told. Be thinner, smarter, younger, more desirable, more accomplished, richer, and all-around better.

Friends and strangers alike say they can't finish a book, get their work done, or put on pants. With a federal government that gave up trying to fight a deadly pandemic that has now killed hundreds of thousands, the economy faltering in fits and starts, a looming eviction crisis, a likely future depression, and an extended period of isolation and crippling social distance, just getting out of bed is an accomplishment.

New York City, where I live, became a ghost town in March. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon

We are focused on staying healthy. We are focused on staying employed, if possible. We are focused on feeding ourselves. We are focused on not panicking. That's a lot more work than learning a perfect cat-eye. Even the things people picked up in quarantine cooking, baking, biking feel more like an act of survival than self-improvement. As my friend Molly put it, "We are keeping ourselves alive. Everything else is fluff."

Another friend has been working at two bars in Brooklyn throughout the pandemic. Between overstretching herself to make ends meet, dealing with customers who refuse to follow rules, and fearing constantly she'll lose her job, she is burnt out and overwhelmed.

"My therapist recently asked me what I was doing to take care of myself and have self-care, and my reaction was to laugh out loud," she told me. "She was like, 'Well, what are you doing to take care of yourself?' I did not have an answer for her." For fun, she says, she watches reality TV.

In many ways, it's been freeing. It is easier to care less, to do less, to want to be less instead of more. I have more time to watch TV now that I'm not watching YouTube makeup tutorials. I save money by not buying pop psychology books. No one's breaking my heart because I'm not looking for love. I don't get disappointed in myself because I'm never falling short of the self-improving expectations I haven't set.

At the same time, I miss the drive. There is promise in self-improvement. There is hope. There is the belief, wrong or right, that when you are better, things will be better, and right now, it doesn't feel like things will be better anytime soon. More than 300,000 Americans are dead, and more will follow. Jobs are lost, and more will follow. The world as we knew it has changed significantly, and we don't know what we'll be left with when the dust clears. It would be nice to have some of that drive back, mostly because I miss the hope.

Dr. Leslie Becker-Phelps, a psychologist and author of "Bouncing Back From Rejection," told me I wasn't the only one failing to function optimally in the Year of Our Dark Lord 2020. "People are really struggling deeply," she said. "If you're having more profound struggles emotionally, some of the other stuff that's not as essential falls off the plate."

"Part of what allows people to feel OK is they have some kind of routine, some kind of structure in their days," she said. "People have lost structure, they've lost regular contact with people, they've lost things they did before that gave them value. That heightens stress, it forces people to deal with things that create more distress. So you don't have as much bandwidth to be dealing with things that are not as essential."

Pandemic fatigue looms over America as new daily coronavirus cases skyrocket. Elva Etienne/Getty Images

So was it OK to just stay in bed and watch TV all day? I asked, as a professional, but also in part because I wanted someone to tell me it was OK.

"It's OK to take a break, as long as it's not inherently unhealthy and moving you in a direction you want," Becker-Phelps said, which I guess works when the direction you want is to complete all 12 seasons of "Murder, She Wrote."

A vaccine is here and help is finally on the horizon, and maybe in 2021, I'll go back to washing my face and going to Serious Talks and learning why my brain and body spent a whole year shutting down. Or maybe this is how things are now. Maybe the best thing is to just be, even if being means doing nothing more than letting yourself fuse to the couch.

Rebecca Fishbein is the author of "Good Things Happen To People You Hate" and a contributor to Jezebel. Her work has been published in Gothamist, Baltimore City Paper, Time Out New York, Vice, Splinter, Adweek, The Cut, Lifehacker, and Curbed NY. She lives in Brooklyn.

Read more:

In quarantine, self-optimization is out. Now I'm just pasting trash into elaborate collages while the world caves in.

What months of lockdown does to your body and brain

The US coronavirus response has finally shattered the myth of American exceptionalism

Originally posted here:
I gave up this year and so can you - Insider - INSIDER

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Just as it seemed Congress might finally reach a deal on a new stimulus package, there was a new and unexpected wrinkle: Some Republicans have suddenly discovered theyre really worried about a handful of emergency lending programs from the Federal Reserve that most Americans have probably never even heard of. And they have told Democrats that unless these programs are wound down, therell be no deal.

The hitch comes after months of back-and-forth, and amid great time pressure. Republicans and Democrats this week have been inching toward a $900 billion agreement to help boost the economy as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, and they made plans to attach the deal to government spending legislation that must be passed by Sunday night to avoid a government shutdown.

Both sides made some concessions in the bill Democrats let go of aid for state and local governments, and Republicans dropped their ask for liability shields for corporations (which would ensure companies couldnt be sued for coronavirus-related issues). But while there were still some issues to be ironed out what to do on unemployment aid and stimulus checks, for example it seemed like there might finally be a breakthrough. And yet.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) is leading a push by Republicans to try to rein in some of the Feds capabilities to intervene in the economy through lending programs aimed at small businesses and state and local governments. Specifically, Toomey says he wants to wind down emergency lending programs that were created by the CARES Act back in March; and, on top of that, include provisions in this new legislation that would stop the Fed from being able to restart those programs or create similar ones.

Toomeys argument is that the Fed, which has taken extraordinary actions to try to boost the economy during the pandemic, risks becoming a lender of first resort instead of last resort, as it is meant to be, if its powers are extended.

Democrats, on the other hand, are crying foul and argue that this has nothing to do with when businesses and governments turn to the Fed, and that the effort actually represents an effort from Republicans to limit the economic tools available to President-elect Joe Biden before he even takes office.

After weeks of refusing to acknowledge Bidens victory, some Republicans have now decided that sabotaging his presidency is more important than helping our economy recover, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said in a statement on Friday. Proposals to sabotage President Biden and our nations economy are reckless, theyre wrong, and they have no place in this legislation.

And Democrats are also concerned that if the language on new Fed limits is too broad in the final legislation, this would severely weaken the Feds ability to do emergency lending in times of economic stress. Toomey insists that the language is targeted and that concerns about its broader impact both with respect to future crises and Bidens presidency are overblown.

The situation is a bit of an odd one. Republicans have been dead set against support for state and local governments throughout the pandemic, and this appears, in part, to be a way to make sure the Biden administration doesnt find a workaround to get them money through the Fed.

At the same time, the CARES Act programs in question havent worked very well so far localities werent really picking up what the Fed was putting down. Democrats say that the programs could be improved to work better under a Biden administration and therefore be used by more potential borrowers: Essentially that they may not be a panacea, but theyre not not worth trying.

Still, according to former Federal Reserve economist Claudia Sahm, Democrats may be overly optimistic about how effective the programs might be in the future.

Those programs had the potential to at least work better in a Biden administration than Trump, Sahm told me, but they were never going to do, without more Congressional authority, what Democrats wanted.

In the midst of the Great Depression in 1932, Congress authorized the Federal Reserve to make direct loans in emergencies. That basically means that in big moments of economic crisis, you want the central bank to be there to make sure markets dont go too haywire.

The Fed makes those loans under section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act. In the wake of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, Congress put some restrictions around the Feds emergency lending powers in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which, among other things, required the central bank to go through Treasury to make loans.

So when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Congress, through the CARES Act, directed $454 billion toward the Treasury Department to backstop emergency lending programs, including one aimed at mid-sized businesses and another aimed at municipalities.

A lot of that money wasnt used, and in November, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asked the Fed to return it at the end of the year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell agreed to return the money, albeit begrudgingly.

As Politicos Victoria Guida laid out on Twitter, Toomey, a longtime skeptic of the Feds power, wants to make sure the CARES Act-related lending programs are permanently ended, because he and other Republicans worry Democrats will give overly generous loans to businesses, cities, and states. Republicans want to make sure the programs are ended now to block incoming Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (assuming shes confirmed) from using other funds to restart the programs.

The rub here is exactly what the language Toomey is describing would do. If it blocks new emergency lending programs for small businesses and municipalities, thats bad for those potential loan recipients, but would just leave them in a fairly similar position to where they are now. The terms of the loans havent been generous enough that many states and businesses were willing to try to take them on, though Democrats argue that under Biden that could be fixed.

Still, the larger concern is that it might hamstring the Feds ability to exercise its broad emergency powers and do real, lasting damage to the central bank and its role in fighting economic downturns.

Former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke issued a statement over the weekend warning about the potential implications of the GOPs proposal. He stressed that it is vital that the Fed be able to respond promptly to damaging disruptions in credit markets and that such ability not be curtailed. The relief act should ensure, at least, that the Federal Reserves emergency lending authorities, as they stood before the CARES Act, remain fully intact and available to respond to future crises.

The concern is that if Toomeys proposals are too sweeping, the Fed might have to ask Congress every time it wants to act on emergency lending during times of crisis.

A spokesperson for Toomey said in an email that the senator doesnt want to change how the Fed operates generally but that what he is seeking is to ensure that lending facilities set up under the CARES Act are wound down at the end of 2020, and that no copycat facilities can be created. The spokesperson said that a speech the Pennsylvania Republican delivered on the Senate floor on Saturday makes clear that the intent of this language is narrow and is not a sweeping rewrite of section 13(3), as some have suggested.

As Jordan Weissmann at Slate points out, however, Republicans want to block the Fed from restarting lending programs that are similar to the ones from the CARES Act. What exactly similar means is where the problem is.

If your language is very squishy, that can either mean you have a very expansive interpretation of it, or you have a very narrow interpretation of it, Sahm said. And if the definition of similiar is too expansive, that could dangerously kneecap the Fed.

These emergency facilities, that power to do emergency lending, that is more important than monetary policy, than bank regulations. This is the thing that the Fed does, its the thing we absolutely have to have, she said. These are core powers of the Fed, and so if youre taking this away, youre really crippling the Fed.

The risk is that it greatly diminishes the ability of the Fed to exercise its emergency powers and support the economy in the next crisis, Roberto Perli a partner at Cornerstone Macro, told Bloomberg. If I were the Fed, I would strenuously oppose this.

The American people need help, and they need help now. Millions are at risk of eviction in January, millions are out of work, and millions are hungry. Congress has the power to change this, and it needs to do it. Its not clear what the really good-faith argument is for why curbing the Feds emergency lending programs mid-pandemic is worth mass homelessness or stopping people from accessing basic necessities.

But on its face, this is an effort by Republicans to limit what Biden can do on the economy when he takes office. Especially in the event where Congress wont take action which its failed to do, basically, since March you want the Fed to have all the tools in the toolbox available. And its reasonable to assume congressional inaction will continue into the Biden administration, making the Fed an even important part of recovery.

It is true that a lot of states and businesses werent falling over themselves to get loans from the Fed, but theres an argument to be made that thats not really the point: Just the knowledge that the Fed is there as a last-resort lender is meaningful in shoring up confidence in the economy and keeping financial markets moving. The Fed just saying it would buy corporate bonds kept the corporate bond market moving in the spring.

The fear that the Fed would help Biden get money to state and local governments is weird. Many in the GOP seem to believe that budget shortfalls are only a blue state problem and therefore have little desire to do anything to help, or, in this case, seem hell bent on blocking any potential aid. States run by Democrats are absolutely not the only ones facing tax revenue declines, but also, the point of lawmakers is to care about all Americans, not just the ones who align with them politically.

It is clear that Republicans in Congress and the administration do not want to give money to state and local governments, Sahm said. Why Republicans would be willing to hurt their own states in order to also hurt Democratic ones is far less clear.

The argument that the Fed should need to rely more on Congress to get the go-ahead on emergency lending programs is tough to swallow, given the events of this year. It was good back in March that Treasury and the Fed could quickly work together to really turn on emergency facilities and enact other market-stabilizing measures. Imagine them having to go through Congress, which is right now getting by on a two-day bill to fund the government, because it couldnt meet a deadline that comes at the same time every year.

And if Republicans really do want to reform 13(3) powers, like lawmakers did for Dodd-Frank, doing so hastily seems not ideal. To rewrite 13(3) lending law like that on the fly seems pretty disturbing, Bharat Ramamurti, a member of the Congressional Oversight Commission that oversees the CARES Act funds, told Slate. He pointed out on Twitter that the GOPs current position seems like a radical evolution of their earlier stance: In stimulus negotiations in the fall, Republicans were trying to end the current the CARES Acts current lending programs, not permanently strip the Fed of those powers.

Of course, theres no way to know intentions here. Maybe this is another GOP-led effort to tank stimulus. Maybe Republicans just cannot stand the idea of states getting help. Maybe they really want to tie Bidens hands. Or maybe Toomey really thinks this is his one shot at getting reforms at the Fed and hes taking it.

But time is running out a deal (or an extension) has to be passed before midnight Sunday to avoid a government shutdown and a haphazard fix to supposed problem that a couple of weeks ago wasnt even on the radar is a roadblock the American people dont need.

Original post:
Covid-19 stimulus: The Feds role in stimulus talks in Congress, explained - Vox.com

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In fact, if anything, intermittent fasting may actually inadvertently sabotage your attempts at weight loss: Weiss study also found that the weight the time-restricted eaters shed was mainly lean mass, including muscle, not body fat. This is more worrisome for people over 50, since maintaining muscle mass as you age gets harder, he explains. Preserving muscle is key in this age group, not only to keep your metabolism percolating (which in turn helps keep weight off) but also because it helps improve balance and reduces risk of falls. Before recommending to my older patients, I would want to see more research on the effects on lean mass, adds Weiss, who had been following time-restricted eating himself since 2014.

One problem his patients run up against with intermittent fasting, says Aronne, is that it's difficult to stick to long term. A 2017 study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine found that almost 40 percent of people fall off the fasting wagon within six months. Some people find themselves so ravenously hungry after 16 hours of not eating, or a day of fasting, that they end up consuming thousands of calories, which defeats the purpose, he explains. If you have diabetes, you should know that the combination of fasting and the medications you may take could cause your blood glucose levels to get dangerously low.

That's not to say this kind of restricted eating can't have value. Intermittent fasting may in fact work for certain people, Aronne adds, especially if they don't want to be bothered with calorie tracking and food records. It's not my first choice for weight loss, he says, but I have found that in a select group of patients struggling to lose weight, having them eat all their food in an eight-hour period works for them, because it's easy and they don't have to think about it: They just do it.

For everyone, it still makes sense more generally to eat to maximize your circadian rhythms your body's inner clock that guides you to wake and sleep as much as possible, advises Michael Roizen, M.D., chief wellness officer of the Cleveland Clinic and author ofWhat to Eat When. Our bodies evolved to be primed for food during the day, so that we have plenty of energy for survival, he says. As a result, your body is most sensitive to insulin, a hormone that moves glucose from your blood into cells for energy and storage, during the day, and most resistant to it at night. Ignoring these rhythms and eating at the wrong times say, late at night can raise blood sugar, a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, according to a study led by researchers at Harvard University as well as Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Take an approach instead where you make breakfast (or, if you can't stomach eating a lot that early, lunch) the main meal of the day, and make your last meal a light one after the sun goes down. This carries many of the same benefits of intermittent fasting, since you're generally not eating within a 12-hour window, but it's much easier, explains Roizen.

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What Are the Pros and Cons of Intermittent Fasting? - AARP

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Though the low carb, high fat keto diet was originally devised to help treat epilepsy, many people are turning to it to lose weight.

According to some research, it provides several advantages over other diets, including making it easier to burn your stored body fat, maintain your metabolic rate (the calories you burn at rest), and feel more full on fewer calories (1, 2, 3).

That said, you may wonder how much weight you can expect to lose in your first week on keto. Many people report extreme weight loss when first starting the diet. However, much of this can be attributed to water losses.

This article reviews how much weight you can expect to lose on your first week of keto.

On keto, you strictly limit your carb intake, typically to 50 grams or fewer per day of total carbs, or 25 grams or fewer of net carbs, which are total carbs minus fiber.

For most people, carbs are the bodys primary source of energy. When you limit carbs, your body burns through the carb stores in your muscles and liver called glycogen typically within a few days (4, 5).

After this, your body switches to a metabolic state called ketosis, in which it uses ketones that are broken down from dietary fat or stored body fat, as its primary source of fuel (4, 5).

This shift, during which you burn through your glycogen stores and switch to using ketones, usually takes less than a week. However, for some people, it may take longer (4, 5).

Many people notice dramatic weight loss during this transition period after first starting the keto diet, but most of this is due to changes in water weight (6).

When you restrict carbs on keto, your body rapidly burns through glycogen, the stored carbs in your liver and muscles. After your glycogen stores are depleted, you shift to burning fat. Many people notice dramatic weight loss during this transition.

The glycogen stored in your muscles and liver is bound with water, typically at a ratio of 3 grams of water for each gram of glycogen (6).

When you burn through these stored carbs, this water is excreted in your urine or sweat (6).

As such, after starting keto, you may notice that you have to urinate more often and feel much thirstier than normal. You may also notice large weight losses, which are mostly water-weight losses (6, 7).

Depending on your size and how much water weight youre carrying, this weight loss can vary. Anecdotally, people report losses within the first week of anywhere from 1 pound (0.5 kg) to 10 or more pounds (5 kg).

The larger you are, the more water weight youre likely to lose after starting keto. Although, its unlikely that much of this initial weight loss is fat loss.

However, once you enter ketosis, its much easier to utilize your own stored fat for energy, which is one reason why the keto diet may be advantageous for weight loss (3).

When you burn through glycogen, your body releases the water that was bound to it. Much of your early weight loss is probably due to these water losses. Still, youll burn more stored body fat once youre fully in ketosis.

Many people use the keto diet for weight loss, and there are several reports online of dramatic weight loss shortly after starting the diet.

This is likely mostly water weight because as you burn through your carb stores, your body releases the water that was bound to those carbs.

Once youre fully in ketosis, your weight loss will probably slow down, but its likely to be more fat than water.

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Keto Weight Loss: What to Expect After 1 Week - Healthline

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