Health
How much time do you spend inside every day—at work, at home, lunch, at the movies, the gym, school? The worse the climate or the more extreme the season, the more time we spend in artificial environments.
6.0 HERE ARE SOME HEALTHY IDEAS FROM THE FITNESS EXPERTS:
Any house with a gas appliance (stove, water heater, clothes dryer, fireplace, space heater) should have a carbon monoxide monitor (maybe several of them).
Possible sources of carbon monoxide:
- Gas appliances that burn hotter than the rated output
- Inadequate combustion air
- Flame interference by moving air or drafts
- Blockage in the flue or heat exchanger
Building standards recommend an inside humidity of 30 to 60 percent to minimize the growth of allergenic or pathogenic organisms. Below 30 percent and you get bacteria, viruses, and respiratory problems. Above 60 percent, you get all those problems, plus mites, fungal diseases, and chemical reactions.
If it’s 94° F outside, an 8 MPH breeze makes it feel like 83° F, thanks to the wind chill factor.
Higher humidity feels so much warmer because there’s less evaporative cooling from the skin. (You don’t have to be covered in sweat for evaporative cooling to be going on.)
The way people dress in a home has a significant impact on the temperature settings they assign to the heating and cooling apparatus.
Elite bicycle athletes put their racing cycles up on a stand in the winter when it’s too cold to train outside. Add a “bicycle generator rig” for resistance, and generate some 12-volt power (store it in a regular old 12-volt battery). Save enough to pay for a new racing jersey!
The temperature comfort range for people is 70° F to 82° F, with a maximum of 70 percent humidity. Below 70° F, you pull on a sweater (or turn on the central heating). Above 82° F, you turn on the AC.
In the full sun with no air movement, you feel the same in 50° F outside as in 74° F shade, thanks to the radiant heating effect. (That’s why a fire in the hearth feels so warm.)
Get an elliptical under-desk exercise cycle (easier on the knees than those with a full-circle bicycle motion, and your knees don’t knock the bottom of the desk) for a fun workout at the office or at home watching TV, and warm yourself up so you can turn the thermostat down in the winter.
Use a handkerchief instead of paper tissues for that runny winter nose and save a few trees.
Don’t buy battery-operated toys for children. You’re only raising them up to a lifetime of conspicuous consumption.
Instead of detouring to a fast-food joint on the way to work every morning, eat a healthy breakfast at home. It’s the easiest meal to prepare (so many options in the cereal aisle at the grocery store), and the most important meal of the day.
Instead of driving to the gym all the time, exercise at home once or twice a week.
Do body-weight exercises (pushups, sit-ups), resistance-band reps, or even dumbbells while watching TV! That’s what I do every day. I do many more reps with each exercise when the TV is on than otherwise. (It helps to keep your mind off what you’re doing. All that pain.)
Donate old cars to charitable organizations.
6.1 GREEN LIVES MATTER.
In the Army, they used to say, “Everybody is green.” Perhaps a shared dedication to saving our planet can build a bridge between people so we can see beyond the color of our Vitamin D-deprived skin color and get on with the business of saving Planet Earth. (Different skin colors evolved because, for example, Caucasians lived in the cloudy, far north and light-colored skin absorbs more sunlight, creating Vitamin D that the body needs.)
6.2 ENJOY A “FOUR-SEASON CLIMATE.”
How can you enjoy the wonders of nature if you live 95 percent of your life inside a climate-controlled bubble? Dress for the weather! “Oh, boy, it’s winter. I get to wear my beautiful sweaters.” Or “I can’t wait until I can put on my loud Hawaiian summer shirts.” Shorts and loose-fitting shirts are ideal for summer; a little sweat never hurt anybody. That’s your body’s HVAC system working. Why can’t employers relax their dress code to match the season?
6.3 THE EXPERTS SAY 105° F BATHWATER IS IDEAL FOR THE HEALTH OF YOUR SKIN.
Doctors now consider the skin biome as a beneficial, protective dynamic. In the present context, the entire point of heating and air conditioning is to satisfy the sensory inputs of your skin. Consequently, it behooves everybody to keep that vital organ in tip-top condition.
6.4 THE HUMAN BODY HAS AN INTRICATE CAPILLARY COOLING AC SYSTEM.
We have an intricate complex of small capillaries at the surface of the skin. In hot air, those capillaries expand so that more blood flows in the outer layers of the skin, where convection (air movement) and evaporation of sweat cool the blood. That’s why it’s important to wear loose clothing in hot weather, to facilitate the cooling process.
6.5 WHEN THE SKIN’S SURFACE CAPILLARIES NARROW, THEY FORM AN INSULATING LAYER.
In cold weather, the capillaries contract in size so that less blood flows. The surface layer of the skin now behaves like a layer of insulation. You lose less body heat. They say “layers” is how you keep warm in winter. Your skin is the first such layer! (There are six more layers of skin.)
6.6 A REGULAR CITRUS FIX KEEPS YOUR SKIN’S CAPILLARIES HEALTHY.
As you get older, the skin’s capillary layer becomes less efficient. The folic acid in citrus fruits rejuvenates those tiny blood vessels so that they function as designed. I was skeptical about the “capillary theory” until I read that some large cities up north contemplated distributing folic acid supplements to the elderly during summer brownouts and extreme heatwaves to help them cope.
6.7 HOW, EXACTLY, DOES THIS CAPILLARY SKIN LAYER COOL OFF YOUR BODY?
On a hot summer day, your body is desperate to purge heat. So, you sweat. That sweat absorbs the heat of vaporization from your skin as it evaporates. The skin cools down. The matrix of tiny blood vessels in the outer layer of the skin transfers “hot blood” to the surface. Evaporating sweat purges that heat. The blood moves back into the core of your body, absorbing more heat – transferring it back to the outermost skin layer.
6.8 WHEN IT’S COLDER OUTSIDE, THE CAPILLARIES TAKE ON A NEW ROLE.
If the skin’s capillaries remain dilatated in the cold winter, flowing blood keeps cooling down your core temperature. That’s bad: hypothermia! Instead, the capillaries dilate and less blood flows to the surface of the skin. There’s now an outer layer of skin with only nominal blood flow, making it more difficult for heat to leave your body. When it gets hot outside in the summer, if the capillaries don’t open wide and allow more blood to flow, that insulation layer traps heat inside your body, and the body overheats: hypothermia (Heat exhaustion)!
6.9 FREE WINTER WARMTH.
In the German TV series, Dark, everybody wears sweaters all the time: at home, at school, at work, sometimes even to sleep. Remember when Jimmy Carter wore sweaters in the White House back in the late seventies and told everybody to turn down the thermostat? Who’s laughing now?
6.10 GERMAN ENGINEERING AT ITS FINEST.
Germany gets less solar insolation than almost anywhere in the continental United States. Yet, they have so many solar panels that, at times, they get 95 percent of their power from the sun!
6.11 FELINE COMFORTER.
My cat Oscar invariably sleeps on top of the bed in the winter, leaning on my legs.
I’ve calculated that I need one less blanket to stay warm when she’s there.
6.12 PEOPLE ADD HEAT TO A BUILDING ENVIRONMENT.
Quantifiable heat! When HVAC engineers calculate the thermal load for a large building, we enter the number of people in each zone. The computer algorithm translates the people loads into both a “real load” and a “latent load.” (The latter resulting from humidity caused by breathing and activity.)
6.13 AIR CONDITIONING IN THE WINTER?
Large buildings with a wide footprint and many internal zones with no outside walls need to cool those inner spaces even during the winter because of people and lighting loads!
6.14 FASHIONABLE CLOTHING IS A WASTE OF ENERGY AND RESOURCES.
Various environmental experts have so stated on several occasions. Personally, my favorite clothes are the oldest, most faded, softest ones. It’s a good thing I’m a guy— and an engineer.
6.15 DO OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE HAVE MORE INSULATION?
If so, is it beneficial in tolerating cold in the winter? Except that excess fat is mostly around the waist, where it only puts an extra burden on the heart.
6.16 IT’S EASIER TO LOSE WEIGHT IN THE WINTER when the body already devotes more energy to staying warm. If you eat a light supper, halfway through the night, your body runs out of energy for temperature control. After that, your biological energy shunts to more vital functions. Even in the summer, you may need an extra cover deep into the night. (Better to turn up the thermostat.)
6.17 TUNING UP YOUR BODY TO OPTIMAL FUNCTIONING is a vi-
able way to save energy. Functioning skin-surface capillaries, for example, allow you to be comfortable in a wider band of temperatures.
6.18 A CONTRIBUTING CAUSE FOR DEMENTIA is a deterioration of the delicate capillaries in the brain. A heart over-burdened by layers of fat around the midsection makes this worse—pumping with extra pressure that damages already fragile capillaries in the brain. Now, about those folic acid tablets.
6.19 HUMIDITY IS GOOD FOR THE SKIN.
A humid Gulf Coast environment is very nourishing to the skin. It’s kinder as you age, causing fewer wrinkles, promoting more flexibility. The ideal indoor humidity is 40 to 60 percent. This isn’t a problem in the summer. However, in the arid western states, it may be a stretch (pun intended).
6.20 EVERYBODY NEEDS EXTRA MOISTURE IN THE AIR IN THE
WINTER because all heating systems (except radiant heaters and radiant floors) dehumidify the air. I have very, very dry eyes and keep a humidifier running all winter.
6.21 PLANTS ADD HUMIDITY TO YOUR HOUSE AIR.
They keep the air fresh, too, breathing in carbon dioxide and exhaling oxygen. Some HVAC systems can be retrofit to humidify the air in the heating season.
6.22 DRY AIR SUCKS THE MOISTURE OUT OF FURNITURE, TOO,
causing cracking and splitting, even to the point of doing irreparable damage. That’s why people keep fine, wooden furniture out of direct sunlight and away from heat sources like a fireplace or space heater. What’s good for furniture is good for people, too!
6.23 PEOPLE NEED OXYGEN TO BREATHE. SO DOES FIRE!
If the gas burner for your clothes washer, water heater, stove, or fireplace doesn’t have “makeup” outside air available, they’ll get the oxygen they need out of the air in your house. (If you live at a high altitude, the oxygen is already feeble.) That’s why you’re supposed to crack a nearby window open when there’s a fire in the hearth.
Many new fireplaces and wood-burning stoves have an integral outside air vent with a direct duct to the outside. That way, the flames consume unconditioned outside air and don’t suck up warm air from the house.
Clothes driers are supposed to have the same thing, but older ones may not.
Gas stovetops don’t use that much oxygen, but the oven sure can.
It’s always safer to crack open a nearby window, just in case, when gas appliances are in operation.
6.24 SLEEPY LIGHT IN THE RED END OF THE SPECTRUM.
Ever wonder why digital alarm clocks have red numerals? Clinical studies show that red lights can help you sleep better. Light from incandescent bulbs is in the red end of the visible spectrum.
A jolt of light from a blue source (in the high-temperature range) can interrupt your sleep rhythms and alter your internal clock, e.g., checking for messages on your smartphone. Bluer light sources are closer to natural daylight. Your body thinks it’s daytime already and gears up for a new day!
I keep one hallway night with a (literally) red bulb so that when Oscar the cat wakes me up for a midnight snack, I can trudge out to the kitchen and back without hardly waking up. (People have a fifteen-fold range of illumination levels, and cats up to three-hundred-fold! Cats are mostly red-green colorblind and more sensitive to blue wavelengths—and, apparently, to hunger pains.)
6.25 BLUE LIGHT CAN HURT YOUR EYES?
Some doctors say light in the blue part of the spectrum damages your eyes, and you should wear glasses to filter out blues when working at a computer monitor for prolonged periods. Sunglasses often have UV filters against sunlight, but UV safe indoor glasses are a new phenomenon.
There’s no real medical consensus. There’s no harm in blue-filter glasses, but not everybody agrees on the danger. Doctors do, however, urge people to blink often when doing steady computer work. Rest your eyes every half an hour (look away, outside, wherever, for a break). Situate the monitor a little below eye level.
6.26 YOU NEED TO HAVE A STAKE IN THE GAME.
When I was at the U.S. Naval Academy, they used to say, “Leadership is like a rope: It’s tough to push, better to pull.” This axiom, no doubt, worked better back in the days of sailing ships when everything was operated by lanyards. However, it’s still an apt analogy, even for landlubbers.
It’s always more effective to lead by example than to have people do something by harsh orders. The implication for heads of household is to “practice what you preach,” to do all the little things that show a commitment to saving energy. Other household members will follow suit.
6.27 ALMOST ALL AMERICANS OD ON PROTEIN.
Americans consume, on average, one hundred grams of protein a day. A healthy male needs fifty-six grams and female forty-six grams each day. Even athletes don’t need more than one hundred grams per day.
What happens to all that extra protein? It’s usually stored as fat, but the kidneys must remove the residuals. Long-term, this can lead to kidney problems. (Drink lots of water with all that protein. Extra fluids help the kidneys flush toxins out of your body.)
Plant-based proteins like peanuts and red beans (or yogurt, eggs, and soy products) represent much less energy (for planting, harvesting, and transportation to the grocery store) than red meat, which can come from as far away as Uruguay.
Just can’t kick that protein habit? Here, let me give you a little help:
Most of the packaged and frozen fish (especially tilapia) comes from China. Fish there are raised in artificial ponds (packed like sardines), fed on a diet of barnyard manure. Ecologically sound, maybe, but really gross.
The red meat you purchase is rarely “range-fed” or free-roaming. Cows are raised from calves inside a six-by-ten foot cage, never seeing the light of day, ankle deep in their own excrement 24/7, breathing nothing but flatulence from the thousands of other cattle in the same dire straits.
Most “domesticated” animals raised for human consumption suffer the same fate: pigs, chickens, turkeys, fishes.
6.28 EYE–ROBICS – EXERCISE FOR BETTER VISION.
Older people need more light on any given task. The finer the work—watch repair or threading a needle versus area vacuuming or cooking—the more light you need.
Nobody should watch TV in total darkness. Older folks need more ambient light than everybody else to watch TV.
6.29 JOIN THE FLIGHT TO QUALITY.
It’s healthy at the office to take the stairs instead of the elevator, even if it’s only for one or two flights. The brain always works better with extra blood flowing.
I always park far out in the grocery store parking lot. You (1) get a little bit of exercise and fresh air, (2) save the gas tooling around the parking lot searching for a spot close to the door, and (3) you can park where there are no cars on either side to open their doors and bang your nice, smooth side panels.
6.30 WALK.
Walk instead of driving to the gym. Walk with friends and family around the neighborhood instead of lounging around the house doing nothing. Walking is good for your brain, your feet, legs, waistline, your everything. There are absolutely no downsides to walking. It’s easy on the joints and burns sugars out of your system before they can be fully digested and cause glucose problems.
Walk in the rain. Walk when it’s snowing. Walk the dog. Walk the cat. Get a fancy watch that counts your footsteps if that’s your thing; it also measures your heart rate.
Plug earbuds in your ears and listen to an audiobook, news, music (not too loud, you don’t want to get tinnitus). Walk with one- or two-pound weights in your hands for even more benefits (not wise to use heavier weights).
6.31 TAKE A CITRUS BREAK AT THE OFFICE.
Businesses have made the coffee break an integral part of the office culture worldwide. Of course they have! What better way to get more work out of your employees than to keep them hyped-up on caffeine, brutally awake even for the most boring, mundane tasks?
If businesses really wanted to help employees, they’d have a citrus break. Citrus fruits and beverages provide the body with the vital nutrient folic acid, which keeps the delicate network of capillaries under the skin working correctly.
6.32 HAVE PUPPY, WILL (NOT) TRAVEL.
My neighbor’s wonderful dog died recently. I asked if they were going to get a puppy. They said, “No, we want to travel.”
I suppose the opposite is true: Adopt a puppy or kitten (for untold years of fun, friendship, and companionship) so you don’t travel so much.
6.33 CLEAN OUT THE ATTIC, THE CLOSETS—THE GARAGE!
I go on a donation binge every few years. Everything that I haven’t used since my last mad-junk purge goes straight to the local charity: clothes, books, computers, old smartphones, appliances, tools.
I get a receipt from them (I ask them to leave the amount blank), inflate the value a reasonable amount, and get a tidy tax break the next April. More energy conservation projects money! (Only kidding. An IRS audit is even worse than an energy audit.)
6.34 TURN THE THERMOSTAT DOWN WITH CONFIDENCE.
Lately, I break out the “pet heating pad” (which heats up when they lie on it) for Oscar in the winter and then turn the house thermostat way down. Everybody’s happy: me in my flannel shirts, and Oscar on the antique bed in the middle of the living room. (If you needed proof that I’m a Hillbilly, well, there it is.)
Full disclosure: Bevo, the other cat in our household, is in and out all day, even in the winter. She loves the cold. Loves the heat (especially the sunshine!) Good for her! A real four-sure feline. (My other cat, Oscar, can’t go outside; she’s disabled.)
Future Tech!
6.35
Let people get a tax deduction for adopting a pet from a local shelter, to defray all veterinary and food expenses for the first year.
6.36
With 33 percent of Americans in the obese BMI range and another 33 percent overweight, that’s a problem. The government should encourage physical fitness by letting people deduct home exercise equipment and a gym membership (you must have proof of going to the gym regularly if the IRS ever audits you).
6.37
High-fashion clothing with a short half-life should be taxed heavily as a luxury item.
6.38
All gas appliances need a built-in carbon monoxide alarm.
6.39
To encourage charitable donations, we should be able to deduct the full market value of things (promising to use the balance on energy-conservation projects around the house).