Is eating fish still safe?
Per your latest episode on micronized plastics in our environment, particularly the ocean, I'm wondering if it's safe anymore to eat fish. You said to avoid salt that comes from the ocean. Since fish also live in the ocean, do we need to avoid them now? And, if so, how do you recommend we get our omega 3's? How many walnuts and how much flax seeds do we need to consume to get enough? I've always heard you need to get your Omega 3's from food; as Omega 3 supplements really don't work (I've heard that from respected sources).
Why are so many younger people getting autoimmune illnesses?
This question is partly inspired by your recent episode on micronized plastics in our environment. I keep running across young people (40's and younger) who have some sort of autoimmune disorder. When I was in those age groups, no-one I knew had them (except for the occasional person with Type 1 diabetes). Now, two nephews (sons of two very healthy parents with no autoimmune disorders or other iillnesses) each have one; and one in particular has been health conscious his whole life, but got a rare autoimmune muscle disorder anyways. And I keep running across others or hearing of others with them. Could micronized plastics be to blame? As you said in your episode, they are now found in newborn infants, and presumably, each year since plastics were invented, infants have been being born with more plastics in them each year. Maybe you could do an episode on the rise of these illnesses on younger people and possible causes.
Feeling exhausted after cold plunge
I’ve been doing cold showers for years before and enjoyed it, mostly for energy and motivation boost. I set up a cold plunge recently and feel very tired and sleepy after 4-5 minutes of cold plunge (~15C/60F). What am I doing wrong? Side note: I’m been fighting a mild virus in parallel, so thinking probably my body was already compromised by the virus and then cold plunge put it in further stress which was too much.
Can caffeine withdrawal cause cognitive decline?
I’m a heavy coffee drinker and typically do 4-5 cups a day (Americano type, espresso based coffee). Recently my coffee machine got broken and after few days I noticed significant decline in my brain’s working memory capacity, very little ability to concentrate, I couldn’t process things in my brain which I would have had no issues processing prior to that. Wondering if this may be related to suddenly reduced caffeine levels which my body got addicted to? I temporarily replaced with take out coffee but probably it doesn’t have the same concentration or caffeine which my espresso machine does.
Suggestions for new topics
Hi Andrew First I have to say that your podcast is my favorite one of all! I love your work and I even started thinking about going back to school of neuroscience! You truly are an inspiration, a real role-model, and I usually don’t have or point role-models.. Anyways, lately I’ve started studying about the “Polyvagal Theory“, I really think this can be a great podcast topic and hope you’ll like it too and make it happen :) Keep doing you! Moriya