Influence of the moon on our behaviour

For the longest time, people have felt the influence of the (full) moon on their behaviour.
Especially on cloudless nights, many of us feel an urge to go outside and enjoy watching the full moon. Some will even go so far that they will go on a nightly hike or bike ride.
If this urge still persists today, how influential must the moon it have been in the past when we only could rely on light of the sun, moon and fire?

This is why so many people believe how lunar cycles can and do influence many other aspects of our behaviour and health.
The most persistent one is about its influence on menstruation cycles, fertility and even on the gender of babies. It's not too difficult to understand where this belief comes from: after all, a lunar cycle is almost as long as the average menstruation cycle.

However, until recently, scientists haven't been able to confirm most of the claims.
Only a short while ago it was confirmed how indeed, the full moon does have an impact on the length of our sleep. Even those who live in an urbanized environment, feel the effect of the full moon on their sleep cycle, even though it is far less pronounced than for indigenous people living without artificial light.

About time to explore whether the moon cycle really affects other aspects of our health and/or behaviour.

Feeling sad and stressed due to COVID-lockdown?

Depression in winter time is quite normal, because we aren't exposed to the vitamin D-generating sunrays, which also enhances immunity levels. Fortunately, we can take vitamin D supplements to combat seasonal depression as well as enhance immunity levels.

Another way to chase sadness away is by celebrating, no matter whether that's Sinterklaas, Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas or New Year. We will decorate our houses, exchange gifts and overeat , get a bit tipsy and enjoy ourselves.
This year is different: restaurants, shops and even gyms need to close down and we are not allowed to gather together in groups. Lack of entertainment, retail therapy and exercise will make it much more difficult to overcome feelings of depression.
It gets worse when you are among those who work in the tourism or entertainment industry and have lost your job as well as most of your income.

For now it is probably best to just accept the current state of affairs and try to console yourself with non-edible goods, such as nice music with a good book, entertaining movie, and aromatherapy (perfume/room fragrances).
And, weather permitting, put on your walking shoes and go for a long walk in the forests or local park.

But perhaps you have been feeling too stressed to enjoy whatever you still can do to relax? Or you were already feeling sad before COVID-19 came along? In that case, DHEA might help.

Exercise or diet, what's better for weight loss?

Especially in January, we are asked whether it is better to lose weight by exercise or by diet.
The response I mostly give is that diet is the more efficient method but makes you grumpy and if you overdo it, will lose muscle, while exercise can make you happy, fit and strong.
A few years ago the discovery how in general, exercise doesn't make you lose weight made headlines.
In my former life as a long-distance cyclist I'd have shaken my head in disbelief.. after all, every single spring, fat would almost literally melt away once the cycling season started.

Anyhow, as counterintuitive as it seems to mile-eating cardio-junkies, exercising more is not the best solution to weight loss mostly because the weight piles on off-season.
True enough , once the season was over, the fat would pile on equally fast. Why?
Quite simply, unlike many of my cycling buddies who were also passionate about (marathon) skating, I didn't practice any other sport. Some others refused to skate indoor and only wanted to skate on natural ice, which has become a rarity in the the past 30 years!
Of course I knew exercise burns calories, but somehow it is very difficult to adjust to diet upwards or downwards as appetite lags behind so much!

About us

Everything really started with an advertisement in an American muscle magazine with the name MM2K (Muscle Media 2000) for a product called DHEA

At the time, MM2K was a revolutionary magazine because they didn't tell you lies about doping use in sports and bodybuilding and strength sports in particular, unlike other magazines that were solely focused on inspirational stories and faking how bodyubuilding was a doping-free sports.

By contrast, MM2K wrote openly about doping, supplements, nutrition, training, and other gossip stories about health, sports and politics.
MM2K had great contributing authors, such as Bill Philips himself, Dan Duchaine who was seen as the 'mad scientist' and Charles Poliquin, a well-respected personal trainer. Dan Duchaine wrote extensively about diet drugs, which he wrote down in his booklet 'Dirty Dieting', which would become the starting point for more diet books written by Lyle McDonald.

DHEA, what is it and why is it so popular?

DHEA is an abbreviation for dehydroepiandrosterone, which is a steroid hormone available in dietary supplement form. Inside the body, it is made in the adrenal glands.

In the body, DHEA is converted into male and female sex hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone.
DHEA is also responsible for developing “androgenic effects” that are referred to as masculinization. Examples of such changes include production of oilier skin, changes in body odor and growth of armpit and pubic hair.

On the other hand, DHEA can play a part in physiological pathways, since it is believed to bind to certain receptor types and act as a neurosteroid that directly affects neuronal excitability.

DHEA production peaks around age 25. Afterwards DHEA levels decline steadily.

The lost art of flirting

In the past weeks, no years one after another scandal about sexual abuse came out in the open, where the pattern was very clear: one person being far more powerful than the other, who didn't speak up until even decades later, about the abuse out of respect or fear.

Yet, despite all the outrage over sexual intimidation, we almost seem to forget about desirable intimacies and the sheer fun of flirting.
Fortunately, in Europe flirting is still considered to be an innocent game , but in the USA male students have started to stop approaching female students for fear of being accused of sexual intimidation.

In a time, when non-verbal communication is diminishing and both sexes seem to be fighting each other, it made sense to focus on a more pleasant aspect of communication: the flirt. All over the world, both men and women seem to forget how to flirt. In a rapidly changing society, where most communication happens over a smart phone, people literally have less "eye" contact and forget the (mostly) non-verbal language of flirting.

That is why we need a course in flirting, Flirting 101 so to say. Fortunately I didn't need to write it myself, there is one already on the internet. Not a nonsensical girly guide, but one based on real scientific facts.
We can't share the entire content here, so I will limit myself to sharing the introduction and adding an explanation as to why we don't always recognize flirting behaviour or think someone is flirting when they aren't but were just paying you (or your loved one) a compliment.

Hormones and osteoporosis

Over and over again, women are warned to start supplementing calcium and take up weight lifting once they are in their 40s as otherwise we will end up with frail bones at old age.