Stoic Bodywork News Letter - November 2024:
Dear Honorable Fellows of the Human Genome,
Welcome hither on to that in which, is by all reasonable recounts, actually read. Yeah, who would have known you wonderful folks actually decided to read the last one. Which now means I have to do another. Luckily I’m full of words and am versed in typing quickly.
House keeping items to note:
Yes I have holiday hours available, please see the questions section below for details.
I will be starting to add links in these newsletters to products or items when applicable. Those links will sometimes be affiliate links I may make a small commission on (no added charge to you). Those links will always be denotated with an asterisk ‘*’ for full transparency. I will only ever link something that I have personal experience with or have thoroughly researched. Just like everything I sell in house I either take, use, produce or created myself. The link will always be the name of the item for those people who hate affiliate links. Fair is fair, if I had to do the work to find the thing you’ll have to do the work finding it yourself if you don’t want to use the links. This will be added to the disclaimer below.
Finally I present to you this November 2024s newsletter full of stoic knowledge and attenuated information. I help it subtly prickles your neurons as it does mine. Enjoy!
Always remember my ad nauseum disclaimer: I am not a doctor, medical or financial professional, and none of this is medical, financial or professional advice of any kind. Enjoy. (insert new piece about links here).
News:
Stoic Sleep - Hopefully have the scoop size and dose volume issue resolved. Going to be honest, learning the nuances of production has been interesting yet frustrating, learned a lot, still not done. I may end up producing and distributing this myself, which is to say there are some delays.
Postural Assessments - Appointment trials have been going well. We have a few details, mostly how the reports are formatted, to finish up. Look for more info soon. As a note; Stacey is excited to start offering these to the public. It really scratches an itch for our inner health/wellness/fitness geeks.
In regards to the possible rate increases in January 2025: At this time a $5/hr increase on prices is still the most likely outcome. A lot of this is due to rising costs. To give an example and some transparency; Stoic Bodywork will spend just under $3,000 by year end on just credit card processing fees. Some small business have started adding an added service charge for that. As a non-taxed service we prefer a flat fee pricing method. We’re still mulling over a cash discount to help those who might find the increase outside their affordable margin.
Therapeutic Bodywork Classes: I have submitted a course outline to officially start teaching my trade to LMTs. Hopefully one day in the future people will actually know about what I do and there might actually be qualified professionals to help them (other than my wonderful, now graduated, apprentice, Kayla)
Current work / research:
Metabolic Health:
This is one of those topics that ends up being a black hole of research and time. A quick summary and recap of last news letter, plus a few additions:
Get your steps in. Walking at minimum 7,000 steps (3.5 miles or 30-45 min on average) a day makes a huge change in mitochondrial function.
Sun exposure is extremely beneficial. Eating breakfast or lunch outside is a great way to get sun. Getting red light exposure after a meal helps control glucose levels as well. Eat and go for a walk.
Decrease blue light exposure. Either blue blocker glasses, decreasing screen time when possible (especially before bed) etc. This one gets a bit crazy when you go down the rabbit hole, maybe more on this next time.
No seed oils (Canola, Vegetable etc.), stay away from preservatives and protein intake is important. There is evidence that protein in the morning with sunlight and then a small dinner with limited carbs could be the best option. I may test this and report back.
Body Composition (or why the scale doesn’t really matter nor tell any story other than how you and Earth’s magnetic field interact):
Turns out this was the vernacular I was looking for when I ruffled some feathers with my ‘cardio doesn’t equal weight loss’ statement. I still stick by that statement but I think the better conversation is about body composition. This use to be a big part of the health, wellness and fitness industry back in the 80’s. Like those majestically fluorescent, and distinctly denim clad years, it’s time for a comeback.
Your composition is the factor of your physical form. To keep it simple that means Muscle, Fat, Water, Bone. My research set ranging from 1923-1958 (metabolically healthy America before seed oils and all cause mortality factors increased drastically year over year) showed the following:
Female (Adult Average):
Weight - 120-130 lbs.
Muscle - 15-20%
Body Fat - 25-30%
Water 50-55%
Skeletal Weight - 24-26 lbs.
Male (Adult Average):
Weight - 140-155 lbs.
Muscle - 20-35%
Body Fat - 15-20%
Water 60-65%
Skeletal Weight - 28-30 lbs.
Side note: If you need a quick body fat calculation do not use the standard equation for BMI, it is terrible. Instead use the military formula or the age, weight, height, waist, neck calculation. Here is an online Body Fat Calculator.
Take a look at pictures of the beach in that time period and you’ll see generally healthy individuals in those ranges. What has increased from then to now is the body fat percentage and weight of the average individual. This means poor health conditions and poor body compositions. Body fat percentage and muscle mass are the two numbers to pay attention to. For an example… me:
Male mid 30s (2 year averages) - 270-275 lbs, 20-22% muscle, 18-20% body fat, 60-61% water, dense heavier than average bones, 1% beard.
Imagine if I carried the average body fat percentage of modern males which is now 28% (39% for women). That would be a much different composition. In fact, many a year ago I was 315 lbs at 40-45% body fat. Here’s what composition change looks like.
17y 315lbs 45% - 20y 215lbs 18% - 22y 240lbs 16% - 35y 275lbs 20%
Questions of the month:
Holidays - ‘Are you open? What do you do? etc.’
Yes I work holidays, I can’t think of one I’ve ever taken off or closed for. I’ve done this for years, and continue to. This has been the way probably since I was 18, so it’s normal for me. I will typically set picnic hours (10-3) or something along those lines because no one really books the later appointments anyway. I’m fairly private about my personal life but I do understand some people worry about me. I assure you I’m fine and this is my preferred method of holiday events and festivities.
‘Where should I start to become more healthy?’
This is going to vary depending on way too many factors, but wading into that trap of a question, here is what I’d prioritize in order:
- Sleep Quality. If you’re not sleeping you’re not healing.
- Mental Health. If you hate yourself start there. You wont get better until you decide to use that to motivate yourself instead of hinder. I could go off on this and have in the past but I’ll keep it short. Open the f’ing blinds, clean the house, then go for a walk. Rinse and repeat until you start to feel better. (Also, in all seriousness - Seek out a professional if you need it, you deserve to feel better and however you get there is the right answer.)
- Sunlight and or Walking. We have to move, plain and simple. Doing it in the sun is added benefit.
- Gut Biome. There’s just too much to get into here but it’s important
- Diet. Learn to fix it, you’re going to have to a lot in life. Reigning it back in is a good skill to figure out.
- Exercise/Bodywork/Mobility/Flexibility/Sauna/Cold Therapy/etc. Who knew I’d put all of these down here… huh.
(Have a question you want answered? Send it to info@stoicbodywork.com)
Unrelated:
Stoic and Chan/Zen ponderings:
“By going out of your mind, you come to your senses.”
- Alan Watts
Knowledge is knowing the answer to a question. Wisdom is knowing where to find that answer should you not know. I’d rather be wise.
If you walk a mile in someone else’s shoes you should probably have stopped 5,279 feet ago and asked yourself; “For what reason have I taken this persons shoes, and where have mine sauntered off to?”
Smithing of Words:
Shakespeare was an a**hole. Yup, I said it. That bloviant had the audacity to invent words, and then without warning, use them in live plays. Imagine you’re binge watching the newest most exciting piece of Netflix mediocrity and every other sentence there’s a new word you’ve never heard. Beyond that there isn’t even context clues to help decipher what it could mean. That is the reality of Shakespeare. So, no, dare I say, monkeys would not reproduce it.
The most heinous invention of his, according to my extremely inadequate anvil of linguistics… premeditated. A word that literally means to have thought about something ahead of time. Created by an organism that is precognitive by definition. That’s like saying I think there for I am means I might be next Tuesday. If that were to hold up then what, if on the preceding Sunday, I thought I wasn’t?
Could be he paradoxically thought humans should have been meditative. Though meditation is rooted in words that mean to be aware of ones own breathing. Should I give him credit for foreshadowing death of those who are on bated breath? Bastard, I’m never sure if I’ve won or not. I now know, Macbeth, I know.
Thanks for reading. We look forward to seeing you at your next appointment.
