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Friday Finds: Stress, Evolution, & Fried Zucchini
The best of the best from the past week
Colin Dragon
September 08, 2023
Welcome back to the Daily Dumbbell, the newsletter that is 50% debunking, 40% nonsensical dad jokes, & 10% pop culture references. Surprised it added up to 100%? Us too.
We’re back to daily delivery this week with a slightly different format! We’d love to hear your feedback.
Let’s dive in!
Research Roundup
The Problem:
Picture this: school's back in session, kiddos are back to hitting the books, and the exam season is quickly approaching! Now, not all young soldiers in this battlefield handle the pressure the same way.
Sally is over there sweatin' bullets while Timmy is straight vibin’.
Why the heck is that… the scientists thought? We gotta know! Probably because they want to bottle up and sell that sweet sweet vibe juice…
The Study:
Enter the brainy folks from the University of Basel. They're like, "Let's figure this out!" So, they round up 110 kids, ages 10-13. These lil grass stained lab rats get strapped with some high-tech movement sensors for a week. They then get called into the lab, some for a stressful task, others for a breezy one. The big twist? They're measuring the stress hormone, cortisol, in their saliva.
The Reveal:
Active Kiddos = Chill Kiddos.
Those tiny tots who were breaking a sweat, clocking in that one-hour of daily grind (just as the good ol’ WHO prescribes) were cooler cucumbers under stress. Less cortisol raging in their system compared to the couch potato squad.
The Big Takeaway:
Exercise produces cortisol in the same way that a stressful activity does. When kids exercise, their brains start associating cortisol not as the enemy, but as that buddy they run into at the park!
Moral of the story? Dive into those books but also dive into some extracurriculars, cartwheels, or a good ol' game of tag!
School stress? There's a fun, sweaty fix for that!
Friday Finds
The Evolution of Hunting Weapons as our prey got smaller may have influenced cognitive increases in early humans.
As the prey we hunted got smaller and smaller, we had to develop different weapons to hunt them. This included smaller arrow heads, bow and arrows (easy to hit a mammoth with a slow moving spear, but not a rabbit or bird).
Not many of us can throw a rock like Randy Johnson…
Most importantly, the increased dexterity required to create smaller arrow heads and more creative weapons may have increased the selective pressure on intelligence.
What does this have to do with health and fitness? Not much! But it’s interesting to think about!
Friday Finds: Foodie Friday
This Fried Zucchin Pasta recipe from Stanley Tucci’s Finding Italy.
This is a traditional dish from the Amalfi Coast. We rolled our eyes when he called it life changing but now we’ll be eating a side of crow with this pasta that we’ve made 4 times in the last week.
The only difficult part is that you have to fry the zucchini and then put em in the fridge overnight. Which is really more annoying than it is difficult. But do it. Don’t skip any steps. We promise it’s worth it.
We used Parmesan Reggiano the first time and Pecorino the 2nd. They’re both amazing.
You made it to Friday! We hope you had a fantastic short week and enjoyed our triumphant return to daily posting. Let us know how we did below and make sure to come back on Monday!