260130notes
SUBJ: Supportive friends lower blood pressure reactivity and heart rate
SUBtitle: Getting vaccinated helps you stay alive
“…the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around…But, I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars…I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter because I have been to the mountaintop…Like anybody, I would like to live a long life…And, I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we – as a people – will get to the promised land.”
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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SHORT NOTES:
1.. “Friendships” are a key factor in boosting physical health.
2..Getting vaccinated helps you stay alive.
3..Supportive friends lower blood pressure.
4..Having close friends is associated with a lower risk of premature death.
5..Loneliness is linked to inflammation.
6..Be a good-enough mother. “If you love your baby, he or she is getting a good start.”
7..How cells survive and regenerate.
8..The new drug approval system will cost below $1 million and take below 9 months.
9..The placebo effect works. Now they know how.
10..Heart rate variability is a new health indicator.
11..A Great Article to help you understand what kind of fats are healthy.
12..Herpes zoster vaccination prevents or delays incident dementia.
13..Vaccines provide immunity to Parkinson’s disease.
14..Getting the shingles vaccination slows biological aging.
LONG NOTES:
As Kevin was preparing to depart for our bucket list trip to Antarctica, he had the opportunity to hear a “day after the 1st” discussion on NPR related to the importance of friendship. In essence, it was stressed that “friendships” are a key factor in boosting physical health.
Getting vaccinated helps you stay alive. Here is a graph of vaccination rate vs death.
Stress Reduction: Supportive friends lower blood pressure reactivity and heart rate during stressful tasks, protecting your cardiovascular system.
Having close friends is associated with a lower risk of premature death from all causes, with some studies suggesting it’s more impactful than diet or exercise.
Loneliness is linked to inflammation, which can lead to serious illnesses; friendships combat this.
The New Yorker, Jan 26 – Until recently, the key rule for good mothering is “Don’t Die!” Now it is suggested it is okay to be a good-enough mother. “If you love your baby, he or she is getting a good start.”
How cells survive and regenerate. (TY TPS) Researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have identified that caspases enzymes allow severely damaged tissue to regenerate after widespread destruction. The findings can help treat burns victims, but could also help stop cancer cells from recovering after chemotherapy.
Economist Jan 24: pg 64-Custom cures: Process approval should speed and cheapen development of custom drugs. At present developing an individualized anti-sense nucleotide to treat a genetic mutation in someone takes several years and costs $2-3 million. The new system will cost below $1 million and take below 9 months.
Pg. 66-The placebo effect works. Now they know how. Part of the brain is activated with optimistic thoughts about getting well which activate the immune system to produce healing antibodies. This has promise for treating chronic inflammation and aiding cancer immunotherapies. Have you heard of Norman Cousins who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and laughed himself to health by watching Marx Brothers comedies on TV from his hospital bed. Pg 67 – Heart rate variability is a new health indicator. It measures how quickly the heart adjusts to stress. A higher HRV is a sign that your body can adjust itself to stress. Increasing Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is best achieved by focusing on enhancing parasympathetic nervous system activity through consistent, healthy lifestyle habits. Key strategies include regular, moderate exercise, maintaining a strict, high-quality sleep schedule, and managing stress via meditation, breathwork (specifically slow breathing with long exhales), and reducing alcohol consumption.
A Great Article to help you understand what kind of fats are healthy: What the new nutrition guidelines get wrong about fats; Only two fats are crucial for us to eat; butter and beef aren’t great sources of them.
Herpes zoster vaccination prevents or delays incident dementia. Herpes zoster vaccination and incident dementia in Canada: an analysis of natural experiments.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41579903/
A study from 2025 about a vaccine and Parkinson’s. Vaccines mimicking conformational epitopes on α-synuclein fibrils provide immunity to Parkinson’s disease.
Association between shingles vaccination and slower biological aging: Evidence from a U.S. population-based cohort study.
