This N' That II
Still searching for sleep, pining for chocolate, and grasping for mental fortitude.
I rather enjoyed the ‘This N’ That I’ post from Nov.19th. Here’s another group of interesting opinions covering the Kiwifruit as soporific experiment as follow-up from Nov. 19th, appealing ways to bolster your heart, and finally, testimonies from two doctors about how they are personally dealing with illnesses that are a part of their specialties.
Kiwis before bed: Briefly, the ups and the miserable down of my kiwi adventure. A modestly ripe kiwi worked well first pass with great sleep and fabulous dreams, second one, not so ripe, no dreams, but ongoing wonderful sleep, third try with a sturdy little not ripe at all piece of fruit, thumbs up sleep but oh my poor GI tract. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say it was a notable 24 hours of misery the following day. If I ever find a truly ripe kiwi, I’ll give it one more try.
Coffee, chocolate, and wine, for a healthy heart: Professor Thomas Lüscher, a previous editor of the European Heart Journal for over a decade who now continues a full schedule as consultant cardiologist and director of research at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals. Here’s his current take on these three oft-used pleasures that make our day.
“The answer is more complex than a simple yes or no”.
Oh please Prof, tell us more. Don’t, at least, say no to coffee and chocolate.
Large numbers of people worldwide regularly enjoy a cup of coffee, a glass of wine and/or a piece of chocolate. Lüscher continues with opinions on the threesome:
“Well, wine is truly a joy but at best neutral when consumed in moderation.” He really likes “good red wine”, but cut his intake recently, enjoying one or two glasses at the weekend.
“Chocolate is a joy for our CV [cardiovascular] system, if consumed in dark, bitter form. A rare joy, its easy availability today has contributed to an obesity epidemic. I myself am not a chocolate eater.”
“And coffee? It wakes us up, less so if you drink it regularly, and at a dose of up to four cups a day, might even be protective.” He admits to having several espressos a day.
Prof Tom Chico from the University of Sheffield adds “that the evidence suggests coffee and chocolate are associated with a slightly lower risk of heart diseases, while alcohol is not”.
And Prof Paul Leeson, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Oxford, notes that his patients often assume wine, chocolate and coffee are a bad idea. They are notably relieved, he says, to hear this may not be the case.
I'm a Neurologist With Alzheimer's
My first symptom of Alzheimer's probably occurred over 15 years ago when I started to lose my sense of smell. Within 3 or 4 years, I had no ability to detect odors…About 10 years ago, I started to have some very mild problems with memory. I had recently moved to a new office and I was never able to learn my new office's phone number or address. I also started to have trouble occasionally forgetting names of colleagues and even neighbors. Daniel Gibbs, MD, PhD, retired neurologist.
Click on the title above for an excellent description of early Alzheimer’s disease from a 70 year old retired neurologist. If you choose to listen to the podcast, you will first hear from an infectious disease doctor in the UK about his 11 month struggle with long haul COVID. Dr. Gibbs’s Alzheimer story comes next on the podcast, or you can choose to read the attached transcript. His detailed description of slowly progressing dementia and his approach to making the disease even slower yet is very inspiring.