The Weekly Dose - Episode 27

The Weekly Dose...

... the latest from Dr Karan

  Here is your weekly dose...  

Hi all!Here is your weekly dose of the Sunday Six! A few things I found interesting this week. If you enjoy this please feel free to forward this to friends. families and enemies alike!**You'll find more in depth analysis of some of these subjects on my social platforms in the links just below, including Dr Karan Investigates! for deep dives into interesting topics on my YouTube channel.**

Hormones 101...

Hormones influence almost every aspect of your existence from sleep to mood to appetite, energy levels and beyond. Hormones are also used with abandon by pseudoscientists trying to sell you something to "optimise" or "balance" your hormone levels.To cover every aspect about hormones I'd need to write you several books and even then we'd probably just scratch the surface. Two highly important hormones - testosterone and oestrogen are worth mentioning because there are the two most prone to abuse by scammers.I mentioned in a video earlier this week that in the majority of cases it isn't physiologically or psychologically ideal for women to chase the "holy grail" of ripped abs and a 6 pack because women on average have a higher essential body fat percentage required for various things - one of them being to maintain oestrogen levels. Oestrogen amongst other things is key to maintaining reproductive health and bone density.A key to maintaining this is avoiding highly restrictive diets resulting in severely low caloric intakes, managing stress and avoiding overtraining. These factors either in combination or individually can result in something known as hypothalamic amenorrhoea or functional amenorrhoea; a cessation of periods.This is particularly important in the post menopausal stage where women already experience a natural drop in oestrogen thus maintaining a higher body fat percentage would be beneficial in reducing the impact of bone density loss and others effects of low oestrogen.Testosterone is another hormone that seems to be spoken about everywhere, from online idiots suggesting putting ice on your meatballs to boost this hormone to sun worshippers touting the un-evidenced benefit of perineal sunning.There are no shortcuts for boosting or maintaining testosterone levels. I'll probably make a more in depth video about this at some point and measure my own Testosterone levels but for now try these low hanging fruits: 1) Maintain Vit D levels (supplement & sunlight). Low vitamin D levels = low testosterone 2) Exercise. Particularly resistance training - more muscle = more Testosterone synthesis. When you exercise however, rest is as important because overtraining can blunt Testosterone production. 3) Sleep. Your NREM/REM phases of sleep is when you get a release of both growth hormone and testosterone production, respectively. These are both required for muscle synthesis and general body anabolic growth. Sleep deprivation ensures that testosterone plummets and increases the rate of muscle breakdown due to higher levels of cortisol.

  Top 10 Worst Health Trends Of 2022... 

Where do I even start. There a lot of very stupid people online. There are a lot of people who just want to take your money and will attempt this using any means necessary. There are people who will do anything for money including endorsing dangerous or at best useless products for financial gain, There are also those who are so deluded and caught up in the grandeur of their own ideologies they genuinely believe in pseudoscience. The latter are the most dangerous.Well, happy new year and here is the bumper list of the dumbest things 2022 has brought us and a reminder of what we should not bring into 2023 and simply exile them into the archives of social media history. 

1. Heroine ChicThe name says it all. Bloody hell. I thought this terminology died an ugly death in the noughties (2000s) but it seemed to have made a resurgence. There is nothing fashionable about drug abuse, addiction or dangerously low body weights. For reasons mentioned in the opening part of this newsletter in addition to ruining the body image and mental health of impressionable adolescents and teenagers and generally promoting body dysmorphia and disordered eating patterns...this one can go in the bin.2. Taping Mouth ShutThere are a few people I've seen on social media, for whom I would whole heartedly recommend this for. Mainly because perhaps it would reduce the volume of garbage emanating from their face holes. For the average person, taping your mouth shut is the equivalent of shit wrapped in sushi roll. The external premise is great- it can reduce mouth breathing and improve sleep quality. Except once you peel back the sushi roll, you find the shit. Mouth taping does not improve sleep, you cannot paper over the cracks of poor sleep hygiene with a piece of tape. It can however exacerbate obstructive sleep apnoea and make snoring worse and lead to breathing problems.3. Eating Raw MeatFrom Liver Kings to shirtless meat zealots online, 2022 saw the rise of modern day meatheads professing their low for an ancestral caveman lifestyle. I saw grown men dunking raw animal testicles into their gullets like they were dipping biscuits into hot tea. You wont gain any superpowers by eating copious volumes of raw meat but you might gain a few extra parasitic and microbial friends that cause havoc in your intestines. Louis Pasteur would be rolling in his grave. 4. Nyquil ChickenAka "Sleep Chicken". Medication should not be added to food, that much is simple. You should also not cook or in any way attempt to change the chemical formulation of pharmaceuticals. Frying paracetamol and chicken is you playing chicken (excuse the pun) with death. There is a good chance of you losing. In the bin...5. Perineal SunningYour butthole can't harvest solar energy nor does it have the capabilities to initiate photosynthesis. Exposing your nether regions to the laser in the sky will provide you with sun fried gooch. The skin on your perineum is thin and fragile and is more prone to sunburns. That's whey they call it the place "where the sun don't shine" because it isn't meant to be exposed.6. Vaginal SteamingPeople really love torturing themselves. This social media trend of masochistic behaviour rears its ugly head again, this time with vaginal steaming. This does nothing except risk the steam burning your private parts and the moisture from the steam disrupting the vaginal microbiome.7. CelebritiesPerhaps slightly unfair but 2022 has seen more celebrities promote more useless products to make your wallet lighter and your house filled with more useless shit you don't need. Unless the celebrity is an expert in whatever it is they are promoting, please don't buy that "gut health supplement" from your favourite vlogger or the "brain vitamin" from your friendly Youtube Make up artist. The chances are likely to be 100%..that is doesn't work.8. Sunscreen contouringI dont wear make up so i don't care for contouring but I do care about people's dermatological health. If you want to contour, you can use some make up, not purposely avoiding using sunscreen on certain areas to give you this effect. At the risk of sounding like a broken record - you need to wear sunscreen every day, even when it's not sunny and even if you don't go to the beach. Even if you have darker skin.Purposefully avoiding sunscreen in certain areas in your face, tanning beds and all that lark can go in the bin.9. Period Face MasksYes. This actually happened.Legend has it that Hungarian noblewoman Elizabeth Bathory supposedly bathed in the blood of virgins and had flawless skin in her bid for immortality. Back to reality however, menstrual blood contains cell debris, blood cell fragments, microbes, mucus and human tissue which acts as irritants on the skin and can lead to infections and breakouts. 10. Wearing CGMs if not diabeticWellness and podcast bros are all the rage right now. Apparently if you watch a podcast, you are 76% more likely to hear fake statistics and facts. Like that one.The biohackers have a new favourite toy and 2022 saw them wearing capillary glucose monitors to get a constant reading of their blood sugar. Another metric to manipulate and help them live forever.If you aren't diabetic you don't need to continuously monitor your blood sugar levels. You see what these wellness bros don't appreciate that we have this underrated organ called the pancreas which acts as your internal glucose monitor and release insulin and glucagon hormone to regular blood sugar levels.Honourable mentions:Back cracking - a perennial favourite of chirosPink sauce - vileDry scooping - dangerousInternal shower - actually a decent trend to be fair but you don't need chia seeds, fibre supplement is cheaperLiquid chlorophyll - nopeVabbing - even more no.  

What I'm Watching...

Knives OutI heard noises about this and finally decided to indulge. I'm usually not a fan of movies with "all-star" casts. But this does not disappoint. Both knives out and the sequel "Glass Onion" are really enjoyable watched. Two excellent murder mysteries. Not quite Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes levels of class but its close!2 movies worth bingeing back to back!

  Two Surprises For You in 2023... 

I had one surprise announcement for you in 2022 but I had delay it slightly as I had a few things to juggle. Fear not, because instead of 1, I now have 2 surprises for you in 2023. Neither involves a baby. As far as I'm aware.  Watch this space!

As always, please give me feedback on Twitter. Which of this weeks Sunday six is your favourite? Is there something you want more, or less of? I'm open to any suggestions so please let me know! Just send a  tweet to @drkaranrajan and use the hashtag #theweeklydose at the end so I can find it!

Have a wonderful week, all.

Much love,

Karan