SUBJ: My website has had half a million visitors in the past year!
SUBtitle: My new essay how to reduce your blood pressure
Cheers from Ory-gone, where we’re literally having a dry January, rain-wise. I say Ory-gone because that’s how most people pronounce it on the east coast. When people say it like that on the phone, I tell them, “No, it’s not Ory-gone, because it didn’t go anywhere. It’s still right here.”
Links for new readers: 1) Instructions for new subscribers to use this newsletter and website 2) One Day in Roc’s Life: 46 resolutions to prolong health span
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SHORT NOTES:
1..My website has had half a million visitors in the past year!
2..My new essay how to reduce your blood pressure without medication.
3..Many scientific papers link obesity and offspring neurological problems.
4..Genes control 50% of your healthspan.
5..The benefits of power naps! 10 to 30 minutes is ideal.
6..Awful outcomes with even mild cases of COVID: cardiovascular and cancer risk up!
7..COVID in Pregnancy Linked to Kids’ Risk of Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
8..Measurable Cognitive Deficits Linked to Long COVID
9..AARP: 25 health mistakes that age you.
10..55% of the variation in human life span is explained by genetics
11.. Swearing can relieve stress and support endurance!
LONG NOTES:
Wow. My website now has had 1,218,167 visitors, half a million in the past year!
Here is a link to a new essay I have just written explaining how to reduce your blood pressure without medication.
There are many valid scientific papers linking obesity and offspring neurological problems
New York Times and Science report that genes control 50% of your healthspan, your behavior (diet, exercise, social actions, attitude) control the other 50%. A new study suggests that those with long-lived families probably have the best prospects of making it to a very old age. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, when these study twin cohorts were born, extrinsic causes played a large role in mortality, but once those are excluded, longevity appears to be about 50% heritable, similar to many other traits.
Economist Jan 31, pg 75-The benefits of power naps! A randomized controlled trial found that nappers woke up with improved moods, had a 37% lower risk of dying from heart disease, and might add years to your life by slowing the rate of brain shrinkage. A 2008 study found power naps more effective than caffeine in improving alertness and memory. Winston Churchill advocated napping. 10 to 30 minutes is ideal. Sleep too long and you wake up feeling groggy and sleepless at night.
Roc might find some of this interesting or useful. While reading that news article (Ref #1), I kept saying out loud, “WOW” at all the awful outcomes connected with even mild cases of Covid. Long-term cost of Covid includes these issues: higher risk of autism and accelerated weight gain in offspring for Covid during pregnancy, UK study showing 3-point IQ drop after mild Covid, 9-point after Covid intensive care; long Covid brain fog; mild Covid cases linked to organ damage, brain inflammation and brain shrinkage; blood clots and arrhythmias and cardiovascular risk; increased risk of major cardiovascular risk up to 3 years post recovery; reactivation of cancer cells and “twofold increase in cancer mortality in those who tested positive compared with those who tested negative.”
COVID in Pregnancy Linked to Kids’ Risk of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Terrence Rudd, MedPage Today, Oct 31, 2025. Neurodevelopmental Outcomes of 3-Year-Old Children Exposed to Maternal Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection in Utero. Shook et al. Obstetrics & Gynecology 147(1):p 11-20, January 2026. Maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy was associated with increased risk of adverse neurodevelopmental diagnoses by age 3 years, with effects most pronounced after third-trimester exposure and in male offspring.
Measurable Cognitive Deficits Linked to Long COVID — Large population study in England shows losses of 6 to 9 IQ points. by Judy George, Deputy Managing Editor, MedPage Today, 2/29/2024.
AARP: 25 health mistakes that age you. 1. Doing cardio without strength training. 2. Skimping on sleep. 3. Not staying organized. 4. Getting stuck in your comfort zone. As we age, our levels of dopamine, the neurochemical that drives teens to take risks, naturally decline, and our tendency to seek out new experiences drops. “We tend to get stuck in our ways,” Levitin says. 5. Being a couch potato. 6. Neglecting the skin on your neck and hands – use sunscreen (I wear a hat). 7. Smoking or vaping. 8. Keeping to yourself. 9. Eating too many processed foods. 10. Avoiding intimacy. 11. Ignoring hearing and vision problems. 12. Being too cynical. 13. Not balance training. 14. Never breaking a sweat. 15. Wearing the wrong footwear. 16. Not sleeping well. 17. Heavy drinking. 18. Taking too many medications. 19. Staying inside all day. 20. Worrying all the time. 21. Using plastic bottles and containers. 22. Relying on a sleep aid. 23. Ignoring your limits. 24. Believing ageist stereotypes. people with positive self-perceptions of aging lived an average of 7.5 years longer than those with negative views. 25. Skipping preventive care.
Science 26 Jan pg 448- 55% of the variation in human life span is explained by genetics. Based on twin studies, your behavior – diet, exercise, environment, psychology – controls 45% of your lifespan. With an average lifespan of 74 years, that means you could live 34 more or less depending on how you behave. Die at 40 or 108? Think of that when you decide whether to drink coke or green tea, steak or fish. Pg 467 – Swearing can relieve stress and support endurance! Exercisers allowed to swear exerted more effort!
