April 30, 2024 • 43 mins
Welcome to an illuminating episode of Finding Time podcast, dedicated to exploring exciting aspects of immune health.
This episode sheds light on how knowledge of health and hygiene can be instilled in children in an engaging, fun, yet thoroughly educative manner. Additionally, we bring to you the latest trends in immune health, covering exciting topics like cold plunges and saunas.
Learn some fun buzzwords like "exercise mimicry", Cytokines, & Immune Memory.
We also discuss the very controversial topic of how often you should bath your children.
Our lively discussions also encompass the impact of daily lifestyle habits on immune health. We share personal anecdotes, research insights, and a bouquet of tips from highlighting the vital role of sleep and immunity linkages to discussing natural immune-boosting foods, our conversation touches upon many facets of immune health.
So tune in, learn, debunk myths, and embrace the simplicity of staying healthy!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:06):
All right, welcome back to the Finding Time podcast.
This is kind of our first live episode. We have a creepy audience member in
the background that hopefully nobody can see or hear.
Or maybe you want to, depending how entertaining this one gets. Yeah, we'll see.
So today we're talking about immune health. Yes, immune health, healthy.
(00:28):
Everybody's on the healthy train lately. Or actually, maybe we're not.
We're like the opposite of on the healthy train.
Yeah, we were just, well, I guess we weren't sick. Our son was just sick for
a couple of days, but we've been decent. We weathered this winter pretty well, I think.
We did, but we like, ever since having the babies in the NICU,
we like really hunker down in the winter.
(00:50):
Yeah, we did. We try to keep them safe. Their immune systems are kind of garbage,
ear infections and all that kind of stuff, but we have to be extra cautious.
So we figured this was good timing coming out of the winter and like cold and
flu season. We're not quite out of the woods yet, but it's almost the end of it.
So it's a good time for some healthy reminders heading into the spring and summer.
(01:12):
But fortunately, today, we're not going to talk about like boring health topics.
You know, we don't want to bore people to death with, I don't know,
germs and flu and wash your hands and hygiene and stuff. That's not very exciting.
So we'll talk about a couple of the more fun and entertaining topics around immune health.
(01:32):
Although I would like to eventually have another mom guest on the show just
talking about how weird sicknesses have gotten.
Dan just said this, but our son had strep throat and his throat did not hurt at all.
Please explain that to me. When I was little, I got strep throat. My throat hurt.
Hey, mom, my throat hurts and I have strep throat. His throat was painless. Yeah, completely.
(01:57):
He was fine. The only reason we even knew is because he had a fever and somebody
from school said they had strep throat with, again, no throat pain whatsoever, just a fever.
So, yeah, that was a fun little adventure to go through with him.
We would have had no idea.
So, again, another mom would say, why do we have it so hard?
(02:17):
We have to like play the guessing game on even sicknesses. Yeah,
I think in some of the past episodes, I was a little bit critical.
I think in the NICU episode, I was a little bit critical about doctors.
And we talked about some older school nurses and doctors who gave us really
good advice where some modern methods and tests are a little flawed.
At urgent care, we had a much, much, much older doctor. I've had her before.
(02:41):
She's really nice, really caring.
I can definitely tell like a little bit more old school of a doctor.
And the first quick analysis showed no strep.
But she heard what I said when I was like, he was with someone at school who
had strep and he has this fever.
And she also looked in his throat and immediately said, oh, that's strep.
(03:03):
She checked his ears, which are all red and said he definitely has an infection.
And her gut just did not trust those quick test results.
But they send that culture swab out to a real lab for analysis.
And that came back positive. So I forget her name, but I appreciate her kind
of trust in her gut, you know, being Being a good doctor, because I think there
are a lot of younger doctors now, according to some of the nurses and what people
(03:24):
have told us, that would have been like, oh, it's not strep.
We're not going to give you an antibiotic, which could have been a bigger problem.
That's true. I mean, and there's some like amazing young doctors,
but a lot of them might go just for these quick tests and the results from that.
Whereas I do think maybe the older school doctors dive deeper into it because
they had to maybe get the answers not by these quick fixes and they had to look more into things.
(03:50):
Yeah. One recommendation for any younger listeners out there thinking of your
friend groups as you get older, Ray Romano.
You remember Everybody Loves Raymond, the show?
I do, but I didn't really watch it like you. So he was a comedian and he had
a stand-up special come out like a few years ago, way after his TV career.
But anyways, he has a funny joke about how you need You need friends in your
(04:12):
20s who have like a car and can get concert tickets and can get drugs.
And then your 30s, you need like a lawyer friend because you're getting divorced
and you need a realtor friend.
You need an accountant friend. He's a funny bit about that.
But he says, as you get into your 40s, you need a pharmacist friend.
So anyways, our best friend is or was a pharmacist.
(04:32):
He's moved on to bigger and better things, but he knows all things pharmaceutical.
And so luckily we could not get the prescription because this was kind of late at night.
I don't know if you should be saying this. Why? It's fine.
Our son was going to be probably like 16 hours without antibiotics.
He had a high fever, like all this stuff, but our younger son had an ear infection a month ago.
(04:55):
So we called up our buddy. I said, hey, here it is. Here's the dosage.
Here's the date on the amoxicillin. It's been in the fridge.
Is it good? And he explained to me it It wasn't great, but it's not going to
hurt him. It's the first dose. It helped him get through that night and the morning.
And then we got the fresh material, you know, a few hours later.
So first of all, it was annoying that the pharmacy wasn't open for that long
(05:16):
because of the Sunday night or Saturday night. But anyways, get a pharmacist friend.
They can help you out. There's been so many times that I've gone to them.
With stupid questions like, hey, can I drink if I'm taking this?
And he'll tell me if that's safe or not. And then other times,
like with the kids, can we do that? Can they have this together?
Having a pharmacist friend is great. And luckily, he's been both of our best
(05:38):
friends like our whole lives. So he's a great resource.
So true. And I guess to our point, why didn't we ever throw that medicine out?
I don't know, but it worked that we had it. It pays to keep as long as it's in the fridge.
It holds for not more than like a month or two, but we bumped up right against
that. So anyways, like I said, not boring topics with immune health.
We're going to talk about some fun things today, like some new trends that you've
(06:02):
been wanting to talk about, like saunas and cold plunges.
We'll talk a little bit about hygiene, showering, bathing.
We talked a lot about sunshine and outdoor health in the last episode.
So if you haven't listened to that yet, that is about the thousand hour outdoor challenge.
And we talk about some health benefits of that and also some sleep benefits.
So everybody knows like the basics, which are good.
(06:25):
I mean, eat a healthy, balanced diet, stay hydrated, exercise regularly.
But we're going to talk more today about getting sick and fighting off illnesses.
I kind of already touched on this with like illnesses seeming a little odd these days.
So something a little different than then the basics is asking ourselves the
(06:45):
question, do people really get sick more often in the winter?
I was curious about this because it feels like obviously yes,
but then it also seems like maybe it's one of those sort of myths that's not
really as true as people may think.
And speaking of like the old school doctors, I feel like the old school people
or like your parents or grandparents are like.
(07:06):
Don't keep your coat on in the house. Make sure you're always covering your feet.
Like make sure you have socks on. There's all these like old school sayings
that if you do look up are kind of not true. Like they're just myths.
So is it true that people really get sick more often in the winter? It actually is.
That's not surprising, I guess. I don't think it's as dramatic as people may think, though.
(07:31):
No. And we kind of learned this over the course of COVID. But the biggest reason
is because people are congregating indoors.
So they're in tighter spaces. And obviously, in tighter spaces,
germs are simply spread more.
Whereas in the summer, you might not have a party inside. You might be barbecuing outside.
(07:51):
So even if someone has a cold, you're less likely to get those germs. Yeah, that makes sense.
It's not as much the weather, although the weather has a factor in it.
But the point is, you're just crammed together.
And also think about the holiday season, Thanksgiving, you're crammed together.
Christmas, you're crammed together.
New Year's, you know, there's even those huge, what, you know,
(08:13):
one of our favorite terms during COVID was super spreaders.
Like, there's all those times and school is just a seven month long super spreader situation.
But there's all these events where you're just crammed together and germs are
spreading. So some viruses, such as like the rhino viruses, which cause colds,
survive better in colder environments than in warmer ones.
(08:34):
I think the same was for COVID when that was happening.
It was like COVID was going to be spread more inside.
And so I think when we started getting a little more lenient,
they were saying like, have an outdoor party or meet someone outside.
Don't do things indoors. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Everyone was different, but in a lot of places, that's why they opened up like
(08:57):
outdoor restaurants, outdoor areas.
In the very beginning, parks were closed, which was pretty stupid.
I mean, I get it, there's surfaces, but it was like one of the safest places
to be is outside, you know, where things don't impact you as much because in
the cold, those viruses survive better.
So the whole winter thing kind of has an impact, right, because they can survive better in the cold.
(09:20):
And a lot of this comes back to dry air and the lack of humidity.
So this is everyone's science lesson, kind of like meteorology,
immunology, biology all splashed together.
But if everyone remembers their, I don't know, eighth and ninth grade science
in humid environments, you have more moisture in the air and those droplets,
(09:42):
let's call it, you know, moisture in the air actually attract.
You know, spit and germs and things like that.
And they push them to the ground. You have heavy air pushing all of those things
to the ground and it keeps it out of your face.
So if you sneeze in theory in like a hot, humid park, all those germs eventually
(10:03):
make it to the ground faster than if you sneeze in a 40 degree environment with
no humidity or anything like that.
Those germs kind of float in the air.
If you remember all those like depictions during COVID and everything where
someone sneezes and that things like the blue highlighted stuff kind of spreads out and everything.
That's how this works. So in drier air with no humidity, these viruses actually float around.
(10:29):
And that is how they can be picked up more easily. In humid settings,
they fall to the ground. So that's a good thing.
So there you go. That's your science lesson for today.
And it's funny because as our oldest is just getting into kindergarten,
they make science like all about fun things.
I mean, I liked science at one point. Then once it turned into chemistry, I did not.
(10:51):
But we've been trying to, you know, drive from that. And science is fun.
So we're telling him like germs and viruses are not magic. They're science.
So then he's like intrigued to learn about this, which is actually great because
this is his first year in school.
And me and Dan were immediately like, oh, no, we're going to be sick all the
(11:13):
time. The babies are going to be sick all the time.
Our oldest, everyone is just going to be sick.
So we really wanted to just, you know, tell him the basics, like,
let's wash our hands. Let's try not to put our fingers in our mouth.
I even went as far as like, don't put your mouth on the water fountain thing.
I was just trying to think of things that are preventative, like tried and true,
(11:35):
that will at least help him not bring every illness back to the house.
We tried to explain it to him in a way where it's less like magical and,
you know, germs Germs are obviously these things you can't see,
but to try to understand that they are there, it's not magic.
They're just microscopic.
So we try to teach them like, how do germs get out? They get out in your spit.
(11:58):
They get out through, you know, any kind of liquid coming after your body,
coughing, like anything leaving your body in that way.
Germs can get out through when we say is how do they get into your body?
He kind of says he knows, well, they can get in, you know, through your mouth,
through your nose, through your eyes.
He always says through blood, which we're like, yes, but let's keep blood in
(12:18):
your body and away from other people.
And if someone else is bleeding, don't touch it. But his favorite one to go
to is that germs can spread through blood, which is true.
He knows you can get an infection very fast, but we tell him those are the things to avoid.
Like if you're, if someone is sick, make sure they stay away,
but also keep your hands out of your mouth because germs can get from them to
(12:40):
the desk or to your shirt or to your hand.
And then even if it's on your hand, you still have a chance to clean it off.
But if you go and put that hand in your mouth, that germ is now in your mouth.
So breaking it down in like a more realistic, digestible way sort of works,
but he's still a kid at the end of the day.
Right. I mean, we play doctor. Our kids are really into that stuff.
(13:03):
So it's kind of given us more opportunities to like pick up on that and maybe
make like the germ more tangible is how you can explain it better to them.
Especially again, this was his first time even away from us.
So he doesn't have mom over his shoulder saying, you know, wash your hands,
keep your hands out of your mouth, even like don't touch the bottom of your shoes. Yeah.
(13:27):
We try to stay on top of them and all you can do is try to teach them good things.
You can be as clean as you want when you're with them, but they're still going
to be out of your sight doing who knows what you're just hoping they're not
licking doors and picking up crap off the ground and stuff like that.
So hopefully we're doing a good enough job.
So anyways, onto the more fun things, because there's some like newer trends
(13:48):
about just overall bodily health and how your body stays healthy.
I feel like the whole science behind immune health and taking care of of yourself
has really taken off the last like 10 or so years, there's just a better understanding of it.
So the next couple of things are two things that you've always talked about
that I think someday we'll wind up getting, but I don't know if we'll make the investment.
(14:08):
The first one is cold plunges. This is a fun little trend that,
you know, has kind of taken the internet by storm.
I'm trying to think if we know anyone that's gotten one. We've definitely seen
some around, but cold plunges have become very popular just as a daily routine
now. And they are intense.
I don't know that I could do it. If I did, it'd be like five seconds and I would jump right out.
(14:31):
But the whole goal was to stay in for a certain period.
And there are a lot of scientific benefits.
In our last episode, we talked about the outdoor health trends in some of the
Nordic and Scandinavian countries.
And I had a lot of fun with those places. But again, they're ahead of the trend
on these. This is very common in those places.
And there've been a lot of really big health benefit studies with people who
(14:53):
do cold plunges every day because it improves your circulation.
It helps out your blood vessels. I think it makes them stronger.
It reduces inflammation. You're basically just sitting in an ice bath.
So that one's obvious, but it also shows that it's, it's good for mental health.
It reduces the effects of depression and anxiety. Again, it doesn't cure them or stop them.
Nothing's ever shown that, but it does show that it reduces stress levels.
(15:16):
If you have those two things, the brain scans are actually better and healthier
in people who have depression and anxiety and do a daily cold plunge.
So there's something there.
And it also improves sleep. It helps your body regulate naturally.
And we'll talk about sleep health in a little bit. So cold plunges,
I am not ready for, but it seems like it's got some health benefits.
We definitely could not get a cold plunge because I hate the cold water.
(15:40):
I don't know why you said we might invest in that, but. I thought you wanted
one of those, but maybe it's the sauna that you wanted. That's what I'm thinking of.
So I did want a sauna maybe like a year ago, but then we took the family and
we stayed at an Airbnb and they had a sauna and I couldn't stand it.
Yeah, I think we had it cranked up high too, but also sitting still with nothing
(16:05):
is just like not your strong suit.
So also that does not bode well for you either, but I don't know.
I think there's a lot of benefits.
So a sauna on the other end of the spectrum has similar benefits,
you know, to the cold plunge, both don't kind of operate on a biological level
where they're just stressing your body out alone.
So it's almost like exercise mimicry. Your body thinks you're going through
(16:27):
a intense workout. out. It works your heart.
It works your cardiovascular system because you have to pump blood.
So it's, you know, it's not the same as running a mile, but it's the same as
doing some type of cardio exercise.
I'm sure there's some relationship and it all depends on how hot and how long you stay in there.
But that exercise mimicry is something you'll see if you're looking up health benefits of saunas.
(16:50):
It also benefits your respiratory health because it opens up your airways,
which if you've ever been in one, you kind of feel that actually makes you feel
a little bit tighter, like it's harder to breathe.
But I think that is because your airways are opening up and they're sucking
in all that hot, dry air. So it's a little bit harder to breathe in there, but that is the benefit.
It opens up your airways. It reduces the risk of respiratory illness.
(17:12):
Because of that, it helps your oxygen levels get through your body,
which is important for blood circulation to flow through your body.
Saunas are also good for weight loss and detoxing. That's essentially just through
the sweat and temperature regulation.
So it kind of benefits you that way. And the big one, this is more of the newer
trendy research maybe around it, kind of proving why saunas are healthy.
(17:34):
People have known, I think, for a very long time that saunas are healthy.
But this was kind of more of a recent release is that it releases heat shock proteins in your body.
So these heat shock proteins essentially make you healthier at like a cellular level.
They trigger a response in your cells to maintain their structure and function.
(17:54):
So under stress, your cells would typically break down at a certain point and
then hopefully regenerate and whatever. That's the normal stress cycle.
But when you release these heat shock proteins, your cells actually break down
less easily. They're more strong.
You know, you're kind of invigorating them at a cellular level,
which then feeds all the way out through your circular system,
(18:15):
your cardiovascular system, your muscles and everything.
So that is why saunas are healthy. If you take anything away,
there's your buzzword of the day.
It's heat shock proteins. I think they are just such a trend right now.
Like, I don't know anyone who has these things, but it's a trend.
I know there always have been good, but I think that's making it obviously more
(18:36):
popular for people to try it.
I mean, in our case, like we don't have time to work out.
So if it would help that way, like, I guess we could, you know,
do like two minutes in a sauna if that's equivalent to 30 minutes of exercise.
Yeah. I don't think that's the exact trade-off, but I could more easily do five
(18:57):
or 10 minutes in a sauna than I could do 30 minutes or an hour of exercise.
So I'm more likely to do it. If that's, if that's a benefit,
our gym, when we were what in high school, you know, at the gym that I went
to, like after school, they had a hot tub, a sauna and a steam room.
And that was just awesome.
I just thought that was so much fun. I still got like good workouts in.
(19:19):
I was a heck of a lot healthier back then than I am now.
But I always liked the steam room over the sauna because it was more comfortable.
But I definitely did the sauna at least once or twice a week probably back then.
And then I really let myself go.
It's been all downhill since high school. Did you?
No, I mean, I never really got into a routine with a sauna or a cold plunge
(19:41):
except for that ALS challenge.
But I would try it. I just don't think I want to make that investment.
No, they're a little pricey. And if you do it, read up on it, use caution.
Again, the exercise mimicry is because it is stressing out your body,
your blood circulation, your cardiovascular, meaning your heart health.
So talk to like a doctor, talk to experts.
(20:02):
Don't just think you can hop in a sauna for 15 minutes. Don't just jump in an
ice plunge or anything like that and be careful of combining the two.
Sometimes you can really stress your system out going from extremes.
And I know, you know, athletic trainers will warn against that.
If you do an excessive workout, give yourself a little bit of recovery time
(20:23):
before even going into something like that.
I think I passed out in the sauna once and it was just too, it was too much.
I forget, you know, somebody there told me, but I did maybe a hard workout or
I just done like a 30 minute run.
My heart rate was up, whatever it was. And then I stepped in there and just shocked my system.
Or maybe I went from the sauna to the hot tub, something like that.
(20:44):
But it's just with too much at once.
So you really have to be careful and know your body and not push it until you're
at least a little bit accustomed to it.
You learn something new about your spouse every day. I did not know that.
So let's just get a hot tub. That works for me. All right.
So speaking of tubs, do you think showers or baths help immune health?
(21:06):
I don't know. I would think so. The answer is not really. Oh, interesting.
So they can help cleaning off your skin. Obviously, you remove anything that
may be on you with soap and water.
So this prevents infections like within yourself or if you have a wound or an opening.
So obviously we know showers and
(21:26):
baths overall support good hygiene they
also indirectly help reduce stress which benefits
your immune system overall but they don't specifically help your immune system
it's just kind of an added benefit which obviously practicing good hygiene is
an added benefit i know like even with our sons we'll put them like in the shower
(21:50):
if they seem to be like starting to clog up.
And I'm sure a lot of you have already done that.
You kind of steam up the shower and this helps with congestions by clearing
out the nose with the steam and a hot shower, depending how hot you can handle.
Our second son can handle almost like as hot water as I can.
(22:11):
And I can handle hotter water than you. It's so strange.
He's perfectly fine with water that I would not want to be in.
So he definitely, I don't know what that is, but he's got your skin sensitivity and not mine.
Sometimes I think like he might get to like a hotter level than me even.
But then our oldest son, he can barely handle like lukewarm.
(22:34):
Yes, he is much more sensitive. I won't say anything mean, but he is way too
sensitive with water temperature.
So again, that steam kind of depends on what you can handle.
But that is like super helpful.
And I think this is a newer thing too, not a trend, but just maybe like our
(22:54):
generation opens up about this.
I feel like when we were young, it was like you, oh, I shower every day and I wash my hair every day.
But now people are saying like, don't wash your hair every day.
Maybe don't even shower every day. Just kind of, you know, make yourself smell
nice overall because there's obviously even a balance with this.
There's such a thing as excessive showering and bathing.
(23:17):
This actually reduces the impact of some of the benefits because it strips away
your skin's natural oils,
which weakens your skin over time and makes you more vulnerable to catching
something through that skin-to-skin contact. intact.
That does make sense. If you're washing like everything off too often,
you know, your skin is your main barrier.
(23:41):
People kind of forget about that. Your skin is an organ, right?
It's part of you is a biological substance.
There's a bunch of layers to it and all that kind of stuff. I don't remember
all of them, maybe seven, nine.
There's a bunch of layers to your skin, but it's your biggest organ and it acts
as your shield, but you have to take care of it.
So if If you're scrubbing it down constantly, you're breaking down layers,
(24:02):
you're breaking down natural oils and defenses anyways, and then it's easy for
things to get into it. So you do want to be cautious of that.
I did look into some of this info, and I think this will be great for the parents out there.
If washing too much breaks down some oils and can hurt your skin health to some
degree, why don't we play a little game and have you guess the right amount
(24:26):
of times you should be bathing your kids every week?
You ready for this? I don't like quizzes. All right.
So how often weekly should you bathe a zero to three-month-old, like a newborn?
Okay. So their kind of bathing is like padding with a washcloth kind of thing.
I'm going to say it's not every day because their skin is super sensitive.
(24:50):
So let's say twice a week. That is right.
Two to three times per week is what they recommend with a soft cloth,
warm water, and actually to avoid most soap altogether.
The fragrances can sometimes irritate their skin. You can wipe away more than you want to.
I remember this is really weird. So if someone wants to fact check me, that's perfectly fine.
(25:13):
But I remember one of the nurses, I think maybe when our oldest was born and
diapers were super new to us, we were changing him like in the hospital,
like every time he peed and we were wiping him down, like all this stuff.
And she actually said, if they're just peeing and they're this young,
you actually don't even need to wipe them down.
Their urine is mostly water, but it actually helps recycle some of those oils.
(25:36):
And as long as they're not soaking wet and anyone with a five day old nose,
like just there's nothing in that diaper anyways.
But she said to just, you know, take it off, change it, whatever.
But you don't have to wipe them down because the that white,
that baby white can actually be a little bit more irritating than just the pee itself.
And I forget what age you're supposed to stop. But, you know,
for at least the first month or two, I think you're OK not wasting a ton of baby wipes.
(26:01):
I don't remember that nurse saying it with our oldest, but I do know there was
something to be said. And this was the extreme.
But when the twins were in the NICU, we had to be super careful about like wiping them.
And we didn't even use real wipes. It was like some kind of cloth almost.
And you were just padding. You weren't wiping anything. So I could definitely
(26:22):
see that with like a five day old baby that you shouldn't wipe too much either.
Yeah, that was we touched on that in the NICU episode, but that was the worst.
And I was like rubbing their skin.
And then they had to tell me you actually can't rub their skin this young because
it's not even fully developed. And you're basically just like sandpaper on them.
So I felt like a terrible dad two days after they were born or one day after they were born.
(26:45):
So anyways, how about for a three to 12 month old?
How often should you be bathing them? OK, I want to say a little bit more because
they're getting a little bit more dirty and their skin is a little bit more tough.
But let's just keep it if the infants were two to three, then I would say maybe
(27:05):
they're like three to four. That is spot on.
They recommend three to four times per week, again, with a soft cloth.
And you can start to introduce minimal fragrance-free soap. You know,
again, natural stuff, soft stuff, nothing too harsh, I'll say.
But yeah, three to four times per week for a three-month-old up until a one-year-old.
(27:26):
So for one to three-year-olds, now they're starting to get dirty.
How often should you bathe them?
I'm just going to keep going in my chronological guessing. passing four to five times a week.
Nope. That actually stays three to four times per week.
The only change there is that you can introduce a little bit more scrubbing
for, you know, obviously they'll have like visible dirt on them.
(27:48):
You can look for things like irritation, diaper rash, all that kind of stuff.
So still the same amount of bathing, but you can get a little more thorough
in how you clean them because they're starting to get a little bit dirtier.
Definitely. And like their hair is growing, especially in our case,
we don't cut our kids hair for a while so that
needs like more bathing time too yep that's
(28:09):
true how about for a three and up four to
five times that you are right they
actually say daily to every other day so you could kind of plan
around that but it's essentially at this point just to keep up
with cleanliness now they can tolerate soap shampoos
you know they can kind of wash themselves and whatever but at
this point it's just about keeping them clean and again not overdoing
(28:31):
it you want them to have some you know healthy skin you
don't want to use you know harsh soaps or anything that cause
irritation I was sensitive to something we
could ask my mom there's some soap that would like give me rashes as a kid so
we always got the nicer one that was nice and soft and when we first got married
not to throw you under the bus but like the first time we moved in you bought
(28:52):
some cheap soap and I immediately was like nope get this out of here I can't
shower with it it's gonna give me a of rash.
It's not comfortable. I'm not tolerating this cheap crap.
And since then, that is one thing we've always splurged for the,
I don't know, $1.50 soap instead of the 99 cents soap, whatever it is.
We all know who has the tougher skin here. That is true.
(29:15):
All right. So how about as adults?
I would say every other day.
This one they actually said it varies based on your activity
level but the actual recommendation is only
one to two times per week so this really gets into like skin sensitive your
environment if you if you're getting dirty every day working out running sweating
(29:35):
you know if you have a job outside or you know where you're physically getting
dirty then obviously you want to bathe more often if you don't deal with that
kind of stuff there's no benefit to showering more than then twice per week,
assuming you're not getting stinky and crusty and greasy and nasty or whatever.
I remember when I used to work at the Waffle House growing up in high school,
(29:56):
I was a chef or a cook there standing over the meat grill for eight hours with
grease just kicking up on me.
And I felt disgusting all the time. I love their food.
I will not say anything bad about Waffle House. No, I love the pecan waffle.
I know, but I felt disgusting. My face was greasy.
(30:17):
I just felt disgusting after every shift. So at that time, I would think I was showering more.
And we were dating too. So there were times I like probably just came over and
smelled like bacon grease and you were fine with it.
I guess, but I was just actually going to say what was so funny about you is
you took like the longest showers. You'd be like texting me.
(30:37):
Did we text then or call or whatever we had then?
And you'd be like, all right, like I'm going to shower and then I'll be over.
And it would be like an hour later.
And I was thinking like at that time that guys took like 10 minute showers because
I was used to like, I don't know, the guys showering like after sports in high school or something.
No, no. The after sports shower, even that I took a little bit longer,
(30:59):
but that was always quick.
But no, I generally like to enjoy my time in a shower. I got sensitive skin.
I like to be comfortable.
It's the one time I can just kind of get it hot and steamy, open up my airways.
It's good for my immune health. That's what we're talking about today.
This is why your skin is so sensitive then. I don't think so.
So one of the last things we'll cover then is sleep and immune health.
(31:20):
Some of the stuff we talked about in the last episode with getting outdoors,
we said how it kind of regulates your body and you can get better sleep by just
regular outdoor exposure with the ice plunge and the sauna. Yeah.
We also said there's benefits there that they regulate your sleep cycle and help you sleep better.
So the question is, why is sleep so good for your immune health and getting healthy?
(31:43):
This is not one of those old wives tales where if we're feeling a little rundown
or a little sick and our parents wanted us to get extra rest,
there is some real science behind it, which, you know, obviously you're not told as a kid.
We fight with our kids when they're a little sick and maybe we give them medicine
and they feel a little bit better, but they don't want to rest or take it easy.
So other parents can can appreciate that.
(32:04):
It's like the worst cycle of having a sick kid is when they're feeling a little
better because of the medicine and then they overdo it.
But there are benefits to your sleep health.
And we kind of talked about like the trends like sauna, cold plunges,
and not to say that sleep is a trend because sleep is so important.
But I do think we're like discussing more how sleep is so important.
(32:28):
In, like I'll listen to different podcasts from different people and they'll
cover like about sleep, like a mom podcast or a health podcast will say,
you know, if you didn't get the adequate amount of sleep, then you shouldn't work out.
Or if you didn't get the adequate amount of sleep, then prioritize some kind
(32:50):
of healthier eating choices that day.
And just things of like how how it's so impactful to your overall body,
I think people are really harping on.
And I think that might be because they know as a society, we're not prioritizing
sleep. Yeah, probably. It is kind of newer.
You know, what you heard of a lot, I think when we were growing up is like,
(33:11):
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
Like, don't waste your life, you know, sleeping 10 hours a night.
You should be out enjoying yourself or you should be up working or whatever it is.
When in reality, sleep is healthy. feed. The one thing I do know is that there's
different types of sleep health for people, and you can kind of go look this up for yourself.
I don't know if there's any way to find out where you fall other than,
(33:34):
you know, maybe testing it yourself,
but some people are perfectly fine on five hours of sleep a night.
Some people need 10 hours, you know, on the extreme, some people need seven,
some need sick, whatever, but there is no one true answer for everybody,
which I think a lot, we were always told like eight hours and that's not necessarily
true for some people. You need eight hours.
(33:55):
Some people are perfectly fine with less and other people get eight hours and
they'll feel, you know, like they overslept, they're exhausted.
So your body type is different from everyone else's. And, and,
you know, I don't know if there's a way to test this with a doctor.
It's not that important for you to know, but just understand there is no one
answer and try to figure it out for yourself. How many hours is your ideal state?
(34:17):
OK, so I will give you a quiz question. Who needs the most sleep?
Like what age and gender need the most sleep?
They said this. They said it was like scientifically proven.
And I was actually a little surprised.
It was just very specific. specific need the most i would
say is children under 12 need
(34:40):
the most if i don't get it after that i would
think maybe maybe middle-aged women elderly women would be where i would go
next they need sleep to i don't know have their body function whatever i want
to kind of just say men but i don't know that's probably wrong you're wrong
because i do always tell you that technically I need more sleep than you.
(35:00):
And that's proven that women need more sleep than men. But anyway.
This podcast, the answer is actually teenage girls.
Oh, interesting. Okay. They were saying, you know, because of their hormones
are really working at that time and changing almost that teenage girls need
the most sleep, even more than teenage boys,
(35:21):
just because like our systems are more complex.
And you were in the right direction, like with saying younger kids,
but then you changed when you said elderly, it's actually teenage girls need
the most sleep, like no matter what.
But then the way it kind of works is that younger children need a lot of sleep.
(35:41):
Like the younger you are, obviously you're for brain development and then it
goes, goes, goes, goes up until your teenage years.
And that's actually where it peaks.
And then the older you get, you need less or you're able to function on less
because your brain's elasticity, I think they were saying. Oh, right.
(36:02):
So, yeah, I thought that was pretty interesting. That is interesting.
I was thinking along the right lines, like who needs the benefits of sleep?
Who needs to regulate? I should have guessed teenage girls, but we think of
teenagers as being a little more resilient than they really are.
I got a ton of sleep, I think, when I was a teenager.
I didn't stay up too late, but I got up kind of early. but I never was like
big sleeping in college.
(36:23):
I slept in a little bit more. I think last night I got like four and a half hours, maybe five.
So that's my new normal is somewhere in that ballpark.
And that would be like a whole nother topic. And again, I'm going off this podcast
because it really was like a lot about sleep.
But they were saying like when you're a teenager, if you want to like party
till 2 a.m. and you have to get up at 7, you're like, oh, the next day I'll
(36:45):
make it up and sleep till noon.
But when you're a parent and you get three hours of sleep, you can never make it up.
Your kids still get up at 6 a.m. and you're kind of doomed.
So you are sleepier than said teenage girl.
Yeah, that's a major penalty if you're a parent and you'll pay the price the next day.
So we said this about how we teach our son that this stuff is science. It's not magic.
(37:11):
So So let's talk about some of the real benefits of why you need sleep and how
it helps your immune system.
So there are kind of three big things your body produces while you sleep.
The first one is cytokines, cytokines, cytokines, I think, and that's a protein
and it helps your body respond to infections, right?
So when your body notices a pathogen, this is one of those things that kicks
(37:34):
on, I think, and tells your body it's time to fight and responds quickly.
T-cells are produced while you sleep and they should be familiar.
They're a type of white blood cell that fight off infections,
right? So that's important to keep you healthy.
And then also antibodies in your body, they are produced while you sleep and
they help neutralize pathogens.
(37:55):
So that's kind of the whole cycle of a sickness is you want your body to respond to it.
You want the T-cells to go and fight it off.
And then you want to have the antibodies in your system to neutralize whatever
it is, assuming it's there.
So the way antibodies work, sleep also improves immune memory.
Which is how your body, how your immune system remembers what it beat the last time.
(38:18):
That's kind of the basis of, you know, a lot of the original vaccines, right?
You get a little taste of it. Your body learns how to fight it,
regular colds, flu and stuff like that.
You know, sometimes why teachers have good immune systems to some degree,
people who are exposed to this stuff a lot, they, their bodies have good immune
memory, but this is something you need to kind of nurture and take care of.
(38:39):
And one of the ways you improve your immune memory is through sleep.
So I thought that was really interesting.
And regular sleep and having your body be in a healthy regulated state,
it also manages the immune response.
And so that's also important. Something you probably overlook is if you have
a pathogen, does your body respond to it correctly?
(39:00):
If it over responds to it, you actually can kind of make yourself like a little
bit sicker. You have too much going on.
And if your body under responds to it, obviously you won't get healthy.
I kind of have this weird weird conspiracy theory about myself with Zycam.
I know you like it, I think, but you don't really take it much.
But I feel like every time I try to take it, I have a worse response than if
(39:22):
I just did nothing. But I still take it sometimes.
Is Zycam the one you take like when you first feel the cold?
Yeah. Yeah. See, I always, that's like, I am like kind of anti-pill. We won't go into that.
But I will take that. I swear that works. I know.
And I'm always reluctant, but I'll do it. And then I'll feel really weird about it. I don't know.
I just, I never fond of it. And one of the DayQuil, I feel like it's one of
(39:46):
the store brand DayQuil actually.
I feel like I will get more sick when I take it versus like pill or the real DayQuil brand.
So I don't know. But anyways, the point is having an appropriate regulated response,
not overdoing it, not underdoing it is really important for your immune health as well.
So we already have a podcast topic on foods, but just to kind of wrap it up,
(40:09):
what foods do you think might keep you healthy and your immune health healthier?
I guess I should say. Well, I'll start with the obvious ones that everyone knows.
And those are the mainly the citrus ones, you know, healthy fruits and things
like that, oranges and whatever.
They're high in vitamin C. And that's kind of the basis of what everyone learns about immune health.
And I don't know, second grade, third grade. When you're a kid, it's like you're sick.
(40:32):
Oranges, vitamin C, that's what you need. For sure. And for some reason,
why do I think bananas is in that too?
Yeah. Potassium is good for you when you're sick. It doesn't help you fight
it, but the potassium does something that supports your immune system.
You are right about that.
All right. And then the random one that you might not know, I definitely didn't,
but people try this once you get sick, is red bell peppers. No, thanks.
(40:58):
So they contain even more vitamin C than most of those fruits.
Nobody would ever think that, but it's like, oh, I'm getting a cold or I have a cold.
Eat a red bell pepper. And if you're a little stuffy, it's probably good for
that too. Try it. All right. Another one listed here was garlic and ginger.
They both boost immune health.
They have good antioxidant principles and also anti-inflammatory principles.
(41:21):
I knew that about garlic.
We cook with a lot of garlic. That's like a big Italian, Greek,
like Mediterranean staple, I think.
And they always talk about how it has good natural anti-inflammatory properties.
So that's just good for your overall health.
One snack that I love is sunflower seeds.
And I did not know that they were healthy for you. They're really high in vitamin
(41:44):
B, but most importantly in selenium, which helps you fight off infections.
I did not know that. I wonder if like baseball players are super healthy because
as soon as I think of sunflower seeds, I just think of baseball players.
Well, they eat a lot of sunflower seeds.
They get a lot of outdoor sunshine and they are physically fit.
Now, they travel a lot. So their sleep schedules are probably crap.
(42:05):
But yeah, I bet they're pretty healthy. I wonder. We got to ask one.
And then the last one is something I really like. But I do think it's weird.
Like you have to have a taste for this is dark chocolate.
Yeah, I like dark chocolate. It's not my favorite. I would like probably white
chocolate more and then milk chocolate and then dark chocolate.
So it's my least favorite chocolate now that I think about it.
(42:27):
Yeah, I guess it's mine, too.
So dark chocolate is healthy. It contains theobromine, which protects your body
cells from being hijacked.
It makes it harder for like a virus to break into them, I think is what that
does. So there you go. Dark chocolate is healthy.
And that's one of those weird things I remember seeing, like,
you know, we'll talk about like people who live to 100 have a disproportionate
(42:49):
rate of eating dark chocolate.
Like they'll talk about these little things, red wine, dark chocolate,
things like, oh, they're so healthy for you without giving you the real background.
There is backing why I'm sure you can't eat a pound of dark chocolate every
day, but a little bit of dark chocolate every day or every week has some health benefits.
So there's your excuse to get some more chocolate in your life.
But overall, staying healthy is easy.
(43:11):
Just, you know, be active, get outside, have a good diet, sleep well,
get plenty of sunshine, take care of your body, don't have children.
Yeah, I was going to say it sounds a lot more complicated. And then we didn't
even touch on this. If you have multiple children, you are basically doomed for three to four weeks.
(43:33):
Yeah, you're screwed. But anyways, hopefully we got some helpful tips out of this.
We try to give you some of the background for some things we did know and maybe
teach you a couple of things you didn't know. So get out there and stay healthy.
And have some dark chocolate later. That's right.
Music.
(00:06):
All right, welcome back to the Finding Time podcast.
This is kind of our first live episode. We have a creepy audience member in
the background that hopefully nobody can see or hear.
Or maybe you want to, depending how entertaining this one gets. Yeah, we'll see.
So today we're talking about immune health. Yes, immune health, healthy.
(00:28):
Everybody's on the healthy train lately. Or actually, maybe we're not.
We're like the opposite of on the healthy train.
Yeah, we were just, well, I guess we weren't sick. Our son was just sick for
a couple of days, but we've been decent. We weathered this winter pretty well, I think.
We did, but we like, ever since having the babies in the NICU,
we like really hunker down in the winter.
(00:50):
Yeah, we did. We try to keep them safe. Their immune systems are kind of garbage,
ear infections and all that kind of stuff, but we have to be extra cautious.
So we figured this was good timing coming out of the winter and like cold and
flu season. We're not quite out of the woods yet, but it's almost the end of it.
So it's a good time for some healthy reminders heading into the spring and summer.
(01:12):
But fortunately, today, we're not going to talk about like boring health topics.
You know, we don't want to bore people to death with, I don't know,
germs and flu and wash your hands and hygiene and stuff. That's not very exciting.
So we'll talk about a couple of the more fun and entertaining topics around immune health.
(01:32):
Although I would like to eventually have another mom guest on the show just
talking about how weird sicknesses have gotten.
Dan just said this, but our son had strep throat and his throat did not hurt at all.
Please explain that to me. When I was little, I got strep throat. My throat hurt.
Hey, mom, my throat hurts and I have strep throat. His throat was painless. Yeah, completely.
(01:57):
He was fine. The only reason we even knew is because he had a fever and somebody
from school said they had strep throat with, again, no throat pain whatsoever, just a fever.
So, yeah, that was a fun little adventure to go through with him.
We would have had no idea.
So, again, another mom would say, why do we have it so hard?
(02:17):
We have to like play the guessing game on even sicknesses. Yeah,
I think in some of the past episodes, I was a little bit critical.
I think in the NICU episode, I was a little bit critical about doctors.
And we talked about some older school nurses and doctors who gave us really
good advice where some modern methods and tests are a little flawed.
At urgent care, we had a much, much, much older doctor. I've had her before.
(02:41):
She's really nice, really caring.
I can definitely tell like a little bit more old school of a doctor.
And the first quick analysis showed no strep.
But she heard what I said when I was like, he was with someone at school who
had strep and he has this fever.
And she also looked in his throat and immediately said, oh, that's strep.
(03:03):
She checked his ears, which are all red and said he definitely has an infection.
And her gut just did not trust those quick test results.
But they send that culture swab out to a real lab for analysis.
And that came back positive. So I forget her name, but I appreciate her kind
of trust in her gut, you know, being Being a good doctor, because I think there
are a lot of younger doctors now, according to some of the nurses and what people
(03:24):
have told us, that would have been like, oh, it's not strep.
We're not going to give you an antibiotic, which could have been a bigger problem.
That's true. I mean, and there's some like amazing young doctors,
but a lot of them might go just for these quick tests and the results from that.
Whereas I do think maybe the older school doctors dive deeper into it because
they had to maybe get the answers not by these quick fixes and they had to look more into things.
(03:50):
Yeah. One recommendation for any younger listeners out there thinking of your
friend groups as you get older, Ray Romano.
You remember Everybody Loves Raymond, the show?
I do, but I didn't really watch it like you. So he was a comedian and he had
a stand-up special come out like a few years ago, way after his TV career.
But anyways, he has a funny joke about how you need You need friends in your
(04:12):
20s who have like a car and can get concert tickets and can get drugs.
And then your 30s, you need like a lawyer friend because you're getting divorced
and you need a realtor friend.
You need an accountant friend. He's a funny bit about that.
But he says, as you get into your 40s, you need a pharmacist friend.
So anyways, our best friend is or was a pharmacist.
(04:32):
He's moved on to bigger and better things, but he knows all things pharmaceutical.
And so luckily we could not get the prescription because this was kind of late at night.
I don't know if you should be saying this. Why? It's fine.
Our son was going to be probably like 16 hours without antibiotics.
He had a high fever, like all this stuff, but our younger son had an ear infection a month ago.
(04:55):
So we called up our buddy. I said, hey, here it is. Here's the dosage.
Here's the date on the amoxicillin. It's been in the fridge.
Is it good? And he explained to me it It wasn't great, but it's not going to
hurt him. It's the first dose. It helped him get through that night and the morning.
And then we got the fresh material, you know, a few hours later.
So first of all, it was annoying that the pharmacy wasn't open for that long
(05:16):
because of the Sunday night or Saturday night. But anyways, get a pharmacist friend.
They can help you out. There's been so many times that I've gone to them.
With stupid questions like, hey, can I drink if I'm taking this?
And he'll tell me if that's safe or not. And then other times,
like with the kids, can we do that? Can they have this together?
Having a pharmacist friend is great. And luckily, he's been both of our best
(05:38):
friends like our whole lives. So he's a great resource.
So true. And I guess to our point, why didn't we ever throw that medicine out?
I don't know, but it worked that we had it. It pays to keep as long as it's in the fridge.
It holds for not more than like a month or two, but we bumped up right against
that. So anyways, like I said, not boring topics with immune health.
We're going to talk about some fun things today, like some new trends that you've
(06:02):
been wanting to talk about, like saunas and cold plunges.
We'll talk a little bit about hygiene, showering, bathing.
We talked a lot about sunshine and outdoor health in the last episode.
So if you haven't listened to that yet, that is about the thousand hour outdoor challenge.
And we talk about some health benefits of that and also some sleep benefits.
So everybody knows like the basics, which are good.
(06:25):
I mean, eat a healthy, balanced diet, stay hydrated, exercise regularly.
But we're going to talk more today about getting sick and fighting off illnesses.
I kind of already touched on this with like illnesses seeming a little odd these days.
So something a little different than then the basics is asking ourselves the
(06:45):
question, do people really get sick more often in the winter?
I was curious about this because it feels like obviously yes,
but then it also seems like maybe it's one of those sort of myths that's not
really as true as people may think.
And speaking of like the old school doctors, I feel like the old school people
or like your parents or grandparents are like.
(07:06):
Don't keep your coat on in the house. Make sure you're always covering your feet.
Like make sure you have socks on. There's all these like old school sayings
that if you do look up are kind of not true. Like they're just myths.
So is it true that people really get sick more often in the winter? It actually is.
That's not surprising, I guess. I don't think it's as dramatic as people may think, though.
(07:31):
No. And we kind of learned this over the course of COVID. But the biggest reason
is because people are congregating indoors.
So they're in tighter spaces. And obviously, in tighter spaces,
germs are simply spread more.
Whereas in the summer, you might not have a party inside. You might be barbecuing outside.
(07:51):
So even if someone has a cold, you're less likely to get those germs. Yeah, that makes sense.
It's not as much the weather, although the weather has a factor in it.
But the point is, you're just crammed together.
And also think about the holiday season, Thanksgiving, you're crammed together.
Christmas, you're crammed together.
New Year's, you know, there's even those huge, what, you know,
(08:13):
one of our favorite terms during COVID was super spreaders.
Like, there's all those times and school is just a seven month long super spreader situation.
But there's all these events where you're just crammed together and germs are
spreading. So some viruses, such as like the rhino viruses, which cause colds,
survive better in colder environments than in warmer ones.
(08:34):
I think the same was for COVID when that was happening.
It was like COVID was going to be spread more inside.
And so I think when we started getting a little more lenient,
they were saying like, have an outdoor party or meet someone outside.
Don't do things indoors. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Everyone was different, but in a lot of places, that's why they opened up like
(08:57):
outdoor restaurants, outdoor areas.
In the very beginning, parks were closed, which was pretty stupid.
I mean, I get it, there's surfaces, but it was like one of the safest places
to be is outside, you know, where things don't impact you as much because in
the cold, those viruses survive better.
So the whole winter thing kind of has an impact, right, because they can survive better in the cold.
(09:20):
And a lot of this comes back to dry air and the lack of humidity.
So this is everyone's science lesson, kind of like meteorology,
immunology, biology all splashed together.
But if everyone remembers their, I don't know, eighth and ninth grade science
in humid environments, you have more moisture in the air and those droplets,
(09:42):
let's call it, you know, moisture in the air actually attract.
You know, spit and germs and things like that.
And they push them to the ground. You have heavy air pushing all of those things
to the ground and it keeps it out of your face.
So if you sneeze in theory in like a hot, humid park, all those germs eventually
(10:03):
make it to the ground faster than if you sneeze in a 40 degree environment with
no humidity or anything like that.
Those germs kind of float in the air.
If you remember all those like depictions during COVID and everything where
someone sneezes and that things like the blue highlighted stuff kind of spreads out and everything.
That's how this works. So in drier air with no humidity, these viruses actually float around.
(10:29):
And that is how they can be picked up more easily. In humid settings,
they fall to the ground. So that's a good thing.
So there you go. That's your science lesson for today.
And it's funny because as our oldest is just getting into kindergarten,
they make science like all about fun things.
I mean, I liked science at one point. Then once it turned into chemistry, I did not.
(10:51):
But we've been trying to, you know, drive from that. And science is fun.
So we're telling him like germs and viruses are not magic. They're science.
So then he's like intrigued to learn about this, which is actually great because
this is his first year in school.
And me and Dan were immediately like, oh, no, we're going to be sick all the
(11:13):
time. The babies are going to be sick all the time.
Our oldest, everyone is just going to be sick.
So we really wanted to just, you know, tell him the basics, like,
let's wash our hands. Let's try not to put our fingers in our mouth.
I even went as far as like, don't put your mouth on the water fountain thing.
I was just trying to think of things that are preventative, like tried and true,
(11:35):
that will at least help him not bring every illness back to the house.
We tried to explain it to him in a way where it's less like magical and,
you know, germs Germs are obviously these things you can't see,
but to try to understand that they are there, it's not magic.
They're just microscopic.
So we try to teach them like, how do germs get out? They get out in your spit.
(11:58):
They get out through, you know, any kind of liquid coming after your body,
coughing, like anything leaving your body in that way.
Germs can get out through when we say is how do they get into your body?
He kind of says he knows, well, they can get in, you know, through your mouth,
through your nose, through your eyes.
He always says through blood, which we're like, yes, but let's keep blood in
(12:18):
your body and away from other people.
And if someone else is bleeding, don't touch it. But his favorite one to go
to is that germs can spread through blood, which is true.
He knows you can get an infection very fast, but we tell him those are the things to avoid.
Like if you're, if someone is sick, make sure they stay away,
but also keep your hands out of your mouth because germs can get from them to
(12:40):
the desk or to your shirt or to your hand.
And then even if it's on your hand, you still have a chance to clean it off.
But if you go and put that hand in your mouth, that germ is now in your mouth.
So breaking it down in like a more realistic, digestible way sort of works,
but he's still a kid at the end of the day.
Right. I mean, we play doctor. Our kids are really into that stuff.
(13:03):
So it's kind of given us more opportunities to like pick up on that and maybe
make like the germ more tangible is how you can explain it better to them.
Especially again, this was his first time even away from us.
So he doesn't have mom over his shoulder saying, you know, wash your hands,
keep your hands out of your mouth, even like don't touch the bottom of your shoes. Yeah.
(13:27):
We try to stay on top of them and all you can do is try to teach them good things.
You can be as clean as you want when you're with them, but they're still going
to be out of your sight doing who knows what you're just hoping they're not
licking doors and picking up crap off the ground and stuff like that.
So hopefully we're doing a good enough job.
So anyways, onto the more fun things, because there's some like newer trends
(13:48):
about just overall bodily health and how your body stays healthy.
I feel like the whole science behind immune health and taking care of of yourself
has really taken off the last like 10 or so years, there's just a better understanding of it.
So the next couple of things are two things that you've always talked about
that I think someday we'll wind up getting, but I don't know if we'll make the investment.
(14:08):
The first one is cold plunges. This is a fun little trend that,
you know, has kind of taken the internet by storm.
I'm trying to think if we know anyone that's gotten one. We've definitely seen
some around, but cold plunges have become very popular just as a daily routine
now. And they are intense.
I don't know that I could do it. If I did, it'd be like five seconds and I would jump right out.
(14:31):
But the whole goal was to stay in for a certain period.
And there are a lot of scientific benefits.
In our last episode, we talked about the outdoor health trends in some of the
Nordic and Scandinavian countries.
And I had a lot of fun with those places. But again, they're ahead of the trend
on these. This is very common in those places.
And there've been a lot of really big health benefit studies with people who
(14:53):
do cold plunges every day because it improves your circulation.
It helps out your blood vessels. I think it makes them stronger.
It reduces inflammation. You're basically just sitting in an ice bath.
So that one's obvious, but it also shows that it's, it's good for mental health.
It reduces the effects of depression and anxiety. Again, it doesn't cure them or stop them.
Nothing's ever shown that, but it does show that it reduces stress levels.
(15:16):
If you have those two things, the brain scans are actually better and healthier
in people who have depression and anxiety and do a daily cold plunge.
So there's something there.
And it also improves sleep. It helps your body regulate naturally.
And we'll talk about sleep health in a little bit. So cold plunges,
I am not ready for, but it seems like it's got some health benefits.
We definitely could not get a cold plunge because I hate the cold water.
(15:40):
I don't know why you said we might invest in that, but. I thought you wanted
one of those, but maybe it's the sauna that you wanted. That's what I'm thinking of.
So I did want a sauna maybe like a year ago, but then we took the family and
we stayed at an Airbnb and they had a sauna and I couldn't stand it.
Yeah, I think we had it cranked up high too, but also sitting still with nothing
(16:05):
is just like not your strong suit.
So also that does not bode well for you either, but I don't know.
I think there's a lot of benefits.
So a sauna on the other end of the spectrum has similar benefits,
you know, to the cold plunge, both don't kind of operate on a biological level
where they're just stressing your body out alone.
So it's almost like exercise mimicry. Your body thinks you're going through
(16:27):
a intense workout. out. It works your heart.
It works your cardiovascular system because you have to pump blood.
So it's, you know, it's not the same as running a mile, but it's the same as
doing some type of cardio exercise.
I'm sure there's some relationship and it all depends on how hot and how long you stay in there.
But that exercise mimicry is something you'll see if you're looking up health benefits of saunas.
(16:50):
It also benefits your respiratory health because it opens up your airways,
which if you've ever been in one, you kind of feel that actually makes you feel
a little bit tighter, like it's harder to breathe.
But I think that is because your airways are opening up and they're sucking
in all that hot, dry air. So it's a little bit harder to breathe in there, but that is the benefit.
It opens up your airways. It reduces the risk of respiratory illness.
(17:12):
Because of that, it helps your oxygen levels get through your body,
which is important for blood circulation to flow through your body.
Saunas are also good for weight loss and detoxing. That's essentially just through
the sweat and temperature regulation.
So it kind of benefits you that way. And the big one, this is more of the newer
trendy research maybe around it, kind of proving why saunas are healthy.
(17:34):
People have known, I think, for a very long time that saunas are healthy.
But this was kind of more of a recent release is that it releases heat shock proteins in your body.
So these heat shock proteins essentially make you healthier at like a cellular level.
They trigger a response in your cells to maintain their structure and function.
(17:54):
So under stress, your cells would typically break down at a certain point and
then hopefully regenerate and whatever. That's the normal stress cycle.
But when you release these heat shock proteins, your cells actually break down
less easily. They're more strong.
You know, you're kind of invigorating them at a cellular level,
which then feeds all the way out through your circular system,
(18:15):
your cardiovascular system, your muscles and everything.
So that is why saunas are healthy. If you take anything away,
there's your buzzword of the day.
It's heat shock proteins. I think they are just such a trend right now.
Like, I don't know anyone who has these things, but it's a trend.
I know there always have been good, but I think that's making it obviously more
(18:36):
popular for people to try it.
I mean, in our case, like we don't have time to work out.
So if it would help that way, like, I guess we could, you know,
do like two minutes in a sauna if that's equivalent to 30 minutes of exercise.
Yeah. I don't think that's the exact trade-off, but I could more easily do five
(18:57):
or 10 minutes in a sauna than I could do 30 minutes or an hour of exercise.
So I'm more likely to do it. If that's, if that's a benefit,
our gym, when we were what in high school, you know, at the gym that I went
to, like after school, they had a hot tub, a sauna and a steam room.
And that was just awesome.
I just thought that was so much fun. I still got like good workouts in.
(19:19):
I was a heck of a lot healthier back then than I am now.
But I always liked the steam room over the sauna because it was more comfortable.
But I definitely did the sauna at least once or twice a week probably back then.
And then I really let myself go.
It's been all downhill since high school. Did you?
No, I mean, I never really got into a routine with a sauna or a cold plunge
(19:41):
except for that ALS challenge.
But I would try it. I just don't think I want to make that investment.
No, they're a little pricey. And if you do it, read up on it, use caution.
Again, the exercise mimicry is because it is stressing out your body,
your blood circulation, your cardiovascular, meaning your heart health.
So talk to like a doctor, talk to experts.
(20:02):
Don't just think you can hop in a sauna for 15 minutes. Don't just jump in an
ice plunge or anything like that and be careful of combining the two.
Sometimes you can really stress your system out going from extremes.
And I know, you know, athletic trainers will warn against that.
If you do an excessive workout, give yourself a little bit of recovery time
(20:23):
before even going into something like that.
I think I passed out in the sauna once and it was just too, it was too much.
I forget, you know, somebody there told me, but I did maybe a hard workout or
I just done like a 30 minute run.
My heart rate was up, whatever it was. And then I stepped in there and just shocked my system.
Or maybe I went from the sauna to the hot tub, something like that.
(20:44):
But it's just with too much at once.
So you really have to be careful and know your body and not push it until you're
at least a little bit accustomed to it.
You learn something new about your spouse every day. I did not know that.
So let's just get a hot tub. That works for me. All right.
So speaking of tubs, do you think showers or baths help immune health?
(21:06):
I don't know. I would think so. The answer is not really. Oh, interesting.
So they can help cleaning off your skin. Obviously, you remove anything that
may be on you with soap and water.
So this prevents infections like within yourself or if you have a wound or an opening.
So obviously we know showers and
(21:26):
baths overall support good hygiene they
also indirectly help reduce stress which benefits
your immune system overall but they don't specifically help your immune system
it's just kind of an added benefit which obviously practicing good hygiene is
an added benefit i know like even with our sons we'll put them like in the shower
(21:50):
if they seem to be like starting to clog up.
And I'm sure a lot of you have already done that.
You kind of steam up the shower and this helps with congestions by clearing
out the nose with the steam and a hot shower, depending how hot you can handle.
Our second son can handle almost like as hot water as I can.
(22:11):
And I can handle hotter water than you. It's so strange.
He's perfectly fine with water that I would not want to be in.
So he definitely, I don't know what that is, but he's got your skin sensitivity and not mine.
Sometimes I think like he might get to like a hotter level than me even.
But then our oldest son, he can barely handle like lukewarm.
(22:34):
Yes, he is much more sensitive. I won't say anything mean, but he is way too
sensitive with water temperature.
So again, that steam kind of depends on what you can handle.
But that is like super helpful.
And I think this is a newer thing too, not a trend, but just maybe like our
(22:54):
generation opens up about this.
I feel like when we were young, it was like you, oh, I shower every day and I wash my hair every day.
But now people are saying like, don't wash your hair every day.
Maybe don't even shower every day. Just kind of, you know, make yourself smell
nice overall because there's obviously even a balance with this.
There's such a thing as excessive showering and bathing.
(23:17):
This actually reduces the impact of some of the benefits because it strips away
your skin's natural oils,
which weakens your skin over time and makes you more vulnerable to catching
something through that skin-to-skin contact. intact.
That does make sense. If you're washing like everything off too often,
you know, your skin is your main barrier.
(23:41):
People kind of forget about that. Your skin is an organ, right?
It's part of you is a biological substance.
There's a bunch of layers to it and all that kind of stuff. I don't remember
all of them, maybe seven, nine.
There's a bunch of layers to your skin, but it's your biggest organ and it acts
as your shield, but you have to take care of it.
So if If you're scrubbing it down constantly, you're breaking down layers,
(24:02):
you're breaking down natural oils and defenses anyways, and then it's easy for
things to get into it. So you do want to be cautious of that.
I did look into some of this info, and I think this will be great for the parents out there.
If washing too much breaks down some oils and can hurt your skin health to some
degree, why don't we play a little game and have you guess the right amount
(24:26):
of times you should be bathing your kids every week?
You ready for this? I don't like quizzes. All right.
So how often weekly should you bathe a zero to three-month-old, like a newborn?
Okay. So their kind of bathing is like padding with a washcloth kind of thing.
I'm going to say it's not every day because their skin is super sensitive.
(24:50):
So let's say twice a week. That is right.
Two to three times per week is what they recommend with a soft cloth,
warm water, and actually to avoid most soap altogether.
The fragrances can sometimes irritate their skin. You can wipe away more than you want to.
I remember this is really weird. So if someone wants to fact check me, that's perfectly fine.
(25:13):
But I remember one of the nurses, I think maybe when our oldest was born and
diapers were super new to us, we were changing him like in the hospital,
like every time he peed and we were wiping him down, like all this stuff.
And she actually said, if they're just peeing and they're this young,
you actually don't even need to wipe them down.
Their urine is mostly water, but it actually helps recycle some of those oils.
(25:36):
And as long as they're not soaking wet and anyone with a five day old nose,
like just there's nothing in that diaper anyways.
But she said to just, you know, take it off, change it, whatever.
But you don't have to wipe them down because the that white,
that baby white can actually be a little bit more irritating than just the pee itself.
And I forget what age you're supposed to stop. But, you know,
for at least the first month or two, I think you're OK not wasting a ton of baby wipes.
(26:01):
I don't remember that nurse saying it with our oldest, but I do know there was
something to be said. And this was the extreme.
But when the twins were in the NICU, we had to be super careful about like wiping them.
And we didn't even use real wipes. It was like some kind of cloth almost.
And you were just padding. You weren't wiping anything. So I could definitely
(26:22):
see that with like a five day old baby that you shouldn't wipe too much either.
Yeah, that was we touched on that in the NICU episode, but that was the worst.
And I was like rubbing their skin.
And then they had to tell me you actually can't rub their skin this young because
it's not even fully developed. And you're basically just like sandpaper on them.
So I felt like a terrible dad two days after they were born or one day after they were born.
(26:45):
So anyways, how about for a three to 12 month old?
How often should you be bathing them? OK, I want to say a little bit more because
they're getting a little bit more dirty and their skin is a little bit more tough.
But let's just keep it if the infants were two to three, then I would say maybe
(27:05):
they're like three to four. That is spot on.
They recommend three to four times per week, again, with a soft cloth.
And you can start to introduce minimal fragrance-free soap. You know,
again, natural stuff, soft stuff, nothing too harsh, I'll say.
But yeah, three to four times per week for a three-month-old up until a one-year-old.
(27:26):
So for one to three-year-olds, now they're starting to get dirty.
How often should you bathe them?
I'm just going to keep going in my chronological guessing. passing four to five times a week.
Nope. That actually stays three to four times per week.
The only change there is that you can introduce a little bit more scrubbing
for, you know, obviously they'll have like visible dirt on them.
(27:48):
You can look for things like irritation, diaper rash, all that kind of stuff.
So still the same amount of bathing, but you can get a little more thorough
in how you clean them because they're starting to get a little bit dirtier.
Definitely. And like their hair is growing, especially in our case,
we don't cut our kids hair for a while so that
needs like more bathing time too yep that's
(28:09):
true how about for a three and up four to
five times that you are right they
actually say daily to every other day so you could kind of plan
around that but it's essentially at this point just to keep up
with cleanliness now they can tolerate soap shampoos
you know they can kind of wash themselves and whatever but at
this point it's just about keeping them clean and again not overdoing
(28:31):
it you want them to have some you know healthy skin you
don't want to use you know harsh soaps or anything that cause
irritation I was sensitive to something we
could ask my mom there's some soap that would like give me rashes as a kid so
we always got the nicer one that was nice and soft and when we first got married
not to throw you under the bus but like the first time we moved in you bought
(28:52):
some cheap soap and I immediately was like nope get this out of here I can't
shower with it it's gonna give me a of rash.
It's not comfortable. I'm not tolerating this cheap crap.
And since then, that is one thing we've always splurged for the,
I don't know, $1.50 soap instead of the 99 cents soap, whatever it is.
We all know who has the tougher skin here. That is true.
(29:15):
All right. So how about as adults?
I would say every other day.
This one they actually said it varies based on your activity
level but the actual recommendation is only
one to two times per week so this really gets into like skin sensitive your
environment if you if you're getting dirty every day working out running sweating
(29:35):
you know if you have a job outside or you know where you're physically getting
dirty then obviously you want to bathe more often if you don't deal with that
kind of stuff there's no benefit to showering more than then twice per week,
assuming you're not getting stinky and crusty and greasy and nasty or whatever.
I remember when I used to work at the Waffle House growing up in high school,
(29:56):
I was a chef or a cook there standing over the meat grill for eight hours with
grease just kicking up on me.
And I felt disgusting all the time. I love their food.
I will not say anything bad about Waffle House. No, I love the pecan waffle.
I know, but I felt disgusting. My face was greasy.
(30:17):
I just felt disgusting after every shift. So at that time, I would think I was showering more.
And we were dating too. So there were times I like probably just came over and
smelled like bacon grease and you were fine with it.
I guess, but I was just actually going to say what was so funny about you is
you took like the longest showers. You'd be like texting me.
(30:37):
Did we text then or call or whatever we had then?
And you'd be like, all right, like I'm going to shower and then I'll be over.
And it would be like an hour later.
And I was thinking like at that time that guys took like 10 minute showers because
I was used to like, I don't know, the guys showering like after sports in high school or something.
No, no. The after sports shower, even that I took a little bit longer,
(30:59):
but that was always quick.
But no, I generally like to enjoy my time in a shower. I got sensitive skin.
I like to be comfortable.
It's the one time I can just kind of get it hot and steamy, open up my airways.
It's good for my immune health. That's what we're talking about today.
This is why your skin is so sensitive then. I don't think so.
So one of the last things we'll cover then is sleep and immune health.
(31:20):
Some of the stuff we talked about in the last episode with getting outdoors,
we said how it kind of regulates your body and you can get better sleep by just
regular outdoor exposure with the ice plunge and the sauna. Yeah.
We also said there's benefits there that they regulate your sleep cycle and help you sleep better.
So the question is, why is sleep so good for your immune health and getting healthy?
(31:43):
This is not one of those old wives tales where if we're feeling a little rundown
or a little sick and our parents wanted us to get extra rest,
there is some real science behind it, which, you know, obviously you're not told as a kid.
We fight with our kids when they're a little sick and maybe we give them medicine
and they feel a little bit better, but they don't want to rest or take it easy.
So other parents can can appreciate that.
(32:04):
It's like the worst cycle of having a sick kid is when they're feeling a little
better because of the medicine and then they overdo it.
But there are benefits to your sleep health.
And we kind of talked about like the trends like sauna, cold plunges,
and not to say that sleep is a trend because sleep is so important.
But I do think we're like discussing more how sleep is so important.
(32:28):
In, like I'll listen to different podcasts from different people and they'll
cover like about sleep, like a mom podcast or a health podcast will say,
you know, if you didn't get the adequate amount of sleep, then you shouldn't work out.
Or if you didn't get the adequate amount of sleep, then prioritize some kind
(32:50):
of healthier eating choices that day.
And just things of like how how it's so impactful to your overall body,
I think people are really harping on.
And I think that might be because they know as a society, we're not prioritizing
sleep. Yeah, probably. It is kind of newer.
You know, what you heard of a lot, I think when we were growing up is like,
(33:11):
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
Like, don't waste your life, you know, sleeping 10 hours a night.
You should be out enjoying yourself or you should be up working or whatever it is.
When in reality, sleep is healthy. feed. The one thing I do know is that there's
different types of sleep health for people, and you can kind of go look this up for yourself.
I don't know if there's any way to find out where you fall other than,
(33:34):
you know, maybe testing it yourself,
but some people are perfectly fine on five hours of sleep a night.
Some people need 10 hours, you know, on the extreme, some people need seven,
some need sick, whatever, but there is no one true answer for everybody,
which I think a lot, we were always told like eight hours and that's not necessarily
true for some people. You need eight hours.
(33:55):
Some people are perfectly fine with less and other people get eight hours and
they'll feel, you know, like they overslept, they're exhausted.
So your body type is different from everyone else's. And, and,
you know, I don't know if there's a way to test this with a doctor.
It's not that important for you to know, but just understand there is no one
answer and try to figure it out for yourself. How many hours is your ideal state?
(34:17):
OK, so I will give you a quiz question. Who needs the most sleep?
Like what age and gender need the most sleep?
They said this. They said it was like scientifically proven.
And I was actually a little surprised.
It was just very specific. specific need the most i would
say is children under 12 need
(34:40):
the most if i don't get it after that i would
think maybe maybe middle-aged women elderly women would be where i would go
next they need sleep to i don't know have their body function whatever i want
to kind of just say men but i don't know that's probably wrong you're wrong
because i do always tell you that technically I need more sleep than you.
(35:00):
And that's proven that women need more sleep than men. But anyway.
This podcast, the answer is actually teenage girls.
Oh, interesting. Okay. They were saying, you know, because of their hormones
are really working at that time and changing almost that teenage girls need
the most sleep, even more than teenage boys,
(35:21):
just because like our systems are more complex.
And you were in the right direction, like with saying younger kids,
but then you changed when you said elderly, it's actually teenage girls need
the most sleep, like no matter what.
But then the way it kind of works is that younger children need a lot of sleep.
(35:41):
Like the younger you are, obviously you're for brain development and then it
goes, goes, goes, goes up until your teenage years.
And that's actually where it peaks.
And then the older you get, you need less or you're able to function on less
because your brain's elasticity, I think they were saying. Oh, right.
(36:02):
So, yeah, I thought that was pretty interesting. That is interesting.
I was thinking along the right lines, like who needs the benefits of sleep?
Who needs to regulate? I should have guessed teenage girls, but we think of
teenagers as being a little more resilient than they really are.
I got a ton of sleep, I think, when I was a teenager.
I didn't stay up too late, but I got up kind of early. but I never was like
big sleeping in college.
(36:23):
I slept in a little bit more. I think last night I got like four and a half hours, maybe five.
So that's my new normal is somewhere in that ballpark.
And that would be like a whole nother topic. And again, I'm going off this podcast
because it really was like a lot about sleep.
But they were saying like when you're a teenager, if you want to like party
till 2 a.m. and you have to get up at 7, you're like, oh, the next day I'll
(36:45):
make it up and sleep till noon.
But when you're a parent and you get three hours of sleep, you can never make it up.
Your kids still get up at 6 a.m. and you're kind of doomed.
So you are sleepier than said teenage girl.
Yeah, that's a major penalty if you're a parent and you'll pay the price the next day.
So we said this about how we teach our son that this stuff is science. It's not magic.
(37:11):
So So let's talk about some of the real benefits of why you need sleep and how
it helps your immune system.
So there are kind of three big things your body produces while you sleep.
The first one is cytokines, cytokines, cytokines, I think, and that's a protein
and it helps your body respond to infections, right?
So when your body notices a pathogen, this is one of those things that kicks
(37:34):
on, I think, and tells your body it's time to fight and responds quickly.
T-cells are produced while you sleep and they should be familiar.
They're a type of white blood cell that fight off infections,
right? So that's important to keep you healthy.
And then also antibodies in your body, they are produced while you sleep and
they help neutralize pathogens.
(37:55):
So that's kind of the whole cycle of a sickness is you want your body to respond to it.
You want the T-cells to go and fight it off.
And then you want to have the antibodies in your system to neutralize whatever
it is, assuming it's there.
So the way antibodies work, sleep also improves immune memory.
Which is how your body, how your immune system remembers what it beat the last time.
(38:18):
That's kind of the basis of, you know, a lot of the original vaccines, right?
You get a little taste of it. Your body learns how to fight it,
regular colds, flu and stuff like that.
You know, sometimes why teachers have good immune systems to some degree,
people who are exposed to this stuff a lot, they, their bodies have good immune
memory, but this is something you need to kind of nurture and take care of.
(38:39):
And one of the ways you improve your immune memory is through sleep.
So I thought that was really interesting.
And regular sleep and having your body be in a healthy regulated state,
it also manages the immune response.
And so that's also important. Something you probably overlook is if you have
a pathogen, does your body respond to it correctly?
(39:00):
If it over responds to it, you actually can kind of make yourself like a little
bit sicker. You have too much going on.
And if your body under responds to it, obviously you won't get healthy.
I kind of have this weird weird conspiracy theory about myself with Zycam.
I know you like it, I think, but you don't really take it much.
But I feel like every time I try to take it, I have a worse response than if
(39:22):
I just did nothing. But I still take it sometimes.
Is Zycam the one you take like when you first feel the cold?
Yeah. Yeah. See, I always, that's like, I am like kind of anti-pill. We won't go into that.
But I will take that. I swear that works. I know.
And I'm always reluctant, but I'll do it. And then I'll feel really weird about it. I don't know.
I just, I never fond of it. And one of the DayQuil, I feel like it's one of
(39:46):
the store brand DayQuil actually.
I feel like I will get more sick when I take it versus like pill or the real DayQuil brand.
So I don't know. But anyways, the point is having an appropriate regulated response,
not overdoing it, not underdoing it is really important for your immune health as well.
So we already have a podcast topic on foods, but just to kind of wrap it up,
(40:09):
what foods do you think might keep you healthy and your immune health healthier?
I guess I should say. Well, I'll start with the obvious ones that everyone knows.
And those are the mainly the citrus ones, you know, healthy fruits and things
like that, oranges and whatever.
They're high in vitamin C. And that's kind of the basis of what everyone learns about immune health.
And I don't know, second grade, third grade. When you're a kid, it's like you're sick.
(40:32):
Oranges, vitamin C, that's what you need. For sure. And for some reason,
why do I think bananas is in that too?
Yeah. Potassium is good for you when you're sick. It doesn't help you fight
it, but the potassium does something that supports your immune system.
You are right about that.
All right. And then the random one that you might not know, I definitely didn't,
but people try this once you get sick, is red bell peppers. No, thanks.
(40:58):
So they contain even more vitamin C than most of those fruits.
Nobody would ever think that, but it's like, oh, I'm getting a cold or I have a cold.
Eat a red bell pepper. And if you're a little stuffy, it's probably good for
that too. Try it. All right. Another one listed here was garlic and ginger.
They both boost immune health.
They have good antioxidant principles and also anti-inflammatory principles.
(41:21):
I knew that about garlic.
We cook with a lot of garlic. That's like a big Italian, Greek,
like Mediterranean staple, I think.
And they always talk about how it has good natural anti-inflammatory properties.
So that's just good for your overall health.
One snack that I love is sunflower seeds.
And I did not know that they were healthy for you. They're really high in vitamin
(41:44):
B, but most importantly in selenium, which helps you fight off infections.
I did not know that. I wonder if like baseball players are super healthy because
as soon as I think of sunflower seeds, I just think of baseball players.
Well, they eat a lot of sunflower seeds.
They get a lot of outdoor sunshine and they are physically fit.
Now, they travel a lot. So their sleep schedules are probably crap.
(42:05):
But yeah, I bet they're pretty healthy. I wonder. We got to ask one.
And then the last one is something I really like. But I do think it's weird.
Like you have to have a taste for this is dark chocolate.
Yeah, I like dark chocolate. It's not my favorite. I would like probably white
chocolate more and then milk chocolate and then dark chocolate.
So it's my least favorite chocolate now that I think about it.
(42:27):
Yeah, I guess it's mine, too.
So dark chocolate is healthy. It contains theobromine, which protects your body
cells from being hijacked.
It makes it harder for like a virus to break into them, I think is what that
does. So there you go. Dark chocolate is healthy.
And that's one of those weird things I remember seeing, like,
you know, we'll talk about like people who live to 100 have a disproportionate
(42:49):
rate of eating dark chocolate.
Like they'll talk about these little things, red wine, dark chocolate,
things like, oh, they're so healthy for you without giving you the real background.
There is backing why I'm sure you can't eat a pound of dark chocolate every
day, but a little bit of dark chocolate every day or every week has some health benefits.
So there's your excuse to get some more chocolate in your life.
But overall, staying healthy is easy.
(43:11):
Just, you know, be active, get outside, have a good diet, sleep well,
get plenty of sunshine, take care of your body, don't have children.
Yeah, I was going to say it sounds a lot more complicated. And then we didn't
even touch on this. If you have multiple children, you are basically doomed for three to four weeks.
(43:33):
Yeah, you're screwed. But anyways, hopefully we got some helpful tips out of this.
We try to give you some of the background for some things we did know and maybe
teach you a couple of things you didn't know. So get out there and stay healthy.
And have some dark chocolate later. That's right.
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