body

A sedentary lifestyle is not only destroying your body, it is also changing your personality

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Sitting is a problem. Better said: sitting is a lot of problems. Sedentary lifestyle is the fourth risk factor for death globally and is behind one in four cancers of the breast, uterus or colon. And the thing doesn’t end there. Its impact is undeniable: it doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, slows down glucose metabolism, and reduces fat synthesis. In addition, with one hand it hinders the burning of calories; while the other causes loss of muscle mass, bone weakness and bone demineralization. But we have known that for a long time. What is not usually said is that, in addition, sitting changes our personality. The personality? Indeed. In recent years, researchers have been building a growing body of evidence associating physically inactive lifestyles with small (but measurable) declines in several personality traits over decades. Since 2018, We know that baseline physical inactivity predicts declines in four of the big five personality traits: responsibility, openness, extraversion and agreeableness. It’s true that the effects are small (and the evidence is observational), but they are surprisingly consistent. Does exercising protect our personality? It is not clear. As I said, the studies are observational: that means that we know that both variables go hand in hand, but not that one ‘acts’ as a protector of the other. However, we don’t always need clear causality to see where the problem is. And the problem sits at the very center of Western society. Spain is a good example: between 27.4% and 36.4% of Spaniards aged 16 and over declared themselves sedentary in their free time according to the INE. And they are right: if the WHO recommendation speaks of between 150 and 300 minutes of physical activity per week, almost half of Spaniards do not reach it. Sedentary lifestyle is, without a doubt, a silent epidemic that is straining our health system and, if these researchers are right, is changing who we are. Because, although there is debate about all thisthe idea that an active lifestyle is a protective factor for personality stability throughout life is gaining strength among experts. It is true that we do not know the specific mechanisms, but the psychological plausibility of the matter is beyond any doubt. It’s time to get going. Image | Kate Sade In Xataka | Cereals yes, but wrapped in black cardboard: the packaging business aimed exclusively at men

the bracelet that measures your body without distracting you

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Google has presented the Fitbit Aira $99.99 fitness tracker with no screen, no notifications, and no watch. It collects data 24 hours a day, dumps it into an app, and disappears from your wrist. This is where the product announcement ends. The interesting thing is that the Fitbit Air is the fourth, perhaps the fifth, on a list that is getting longer and longer. What has happened. Whoop created the category ten years ago. Polar launched its Loop in September for $199. Amazfit released the Helio Strap for 99.99. Garmin has a bracelet called Cirqa in development, according to leaks. And now Google is joining in with a product that costs one hundred euros and shows absolutely nothing. Everyone’s approach is practically identical: A plastic capsule with optical sensors placed in a textile strap. No screen, no buttons and no notifications. A mobile application where, if you feel like it, you can look at the data. Why is it important. We have been convincing ourselves for eleven years that more screen equals better device. The Apple Watch won as a format for its applications, its notifications, its ability to respond to messages… that is, its approach as a wrist-worn mobile phone with a certain focus on health, but also on quick procedures and notifications. And it turns out that we now have products whose success is measured the other way around: by how little you remember that you are wearing them. Whoop got more than 2 million subscribers paying between $199 and $359 a year for a bracelet that doesn’t even tell you the time. Let Google enter this format already having its own PixelWatch It says a lot about the size of the public for whom the smartwatch does not serve. The context. The easy narrative is that people are tired of the screen on their wrist. But the reality is more diverse. We could say that there are four different profiles buying these products for different reasons, and only one fits the idea of ​​being fed up. The athlete or biohacker who already has a sports watch for training but doesn’t want to sleep with it. The screenless bracelet is your second device, light and almost invisible. Anyone who has never wanted a watch with a screen. Because it has a mechanical one. You have never contemplated an Apple Watch or you had one and abandoned it. Now you can measure your body without giving up the jewelry. The smart ring userespecially women, which combines aesthetics with cycle, sleep and temperature monitoring. The underlying logic is the same: clockless data. The normal person who does not play sports and does not want to carry anything every night or anything that overwhelms or distracts him. A 100 euro bracelet with seven days of battery life opens the door. Between the lines. The bracelet is an answer to the problem that smart watches have brought us: turning the wrist into another window of interruptions. Its great commercial virtue is precisely that renunciation of the screen. By not competing visually with anything, it stops competing with any other accessory you are already wearing. mechanical watch, AirPods Pro 2ring, whatever. Zero conflict. Go deeper. Then comes the question of the reader who is not an athlete or biohacker: What exactly is this for? Dream. It’s not about knowing that you’ve slept six hours and twenty-three minutes, but about detecting trends. Many people believe that they sleep seven hours and discover, when measuring, that the actual time is much less. This pushes us to correct specific things: go to bed earlier, don’t have a late dinner, avoid the drink that breaks the deep phase… Resting heart rate. An isolated value is not useful, but the trend over months is. If your heart beats faster than it did half a year ago, something is happening: stress, worse fitness, a brewing infection, etc. Heart rate variability (HRV or HRV). This metric helps explain how well your nervous system responds to effort and rest. It tells you when to train hard and when to stop. Cumulative effort. Especially in order to see the pattern. The bracelet doesn’t tell you what to do. It gives you context about your body and you decide. And now what. The Fitbit Air will not be the last. Garmin will presumably bring out the Cirqa this year. Apple could end up making a move in some similar format if demand for these devices continues to grow. AND Whoop will continue to defend its subscription model against four rivals that make it difficult for it. For ten years, the success of a wearables was measured by engagement: The more you looked at the screen, the better. If the next wave decides to learn to disappear altogether, the smartwatch as we know it has a bigger problem than you think. Featured image | Google In Xataka | After almost a decade with the Apple Watch, I have switched to a Garmin. And I understood what I was missing

this is how our body really perceives excesses with alcohol

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Theory (and experience in some cases) tells us that when we overindulge in alcohol, the next day is literally hell. However, despite being one of the most common afflictions in many societies, science continues to reveal the exact mechanisms that are activated in our body when the party is over. And far from being a simple problem of dehydration, the “morning after” is a complex chemical, immunological and cognitive breakdown. A body map. Here science has wanted create a map with all the effects that there are on the body after a drunkenness, and for this the Catholic University of Leuven used a simple mobile app to be able to monitor a total of 34 young adults who are habitual drinkers. Through this app, participants could cross-check questionnaire data, indicate the intensity of their hangover and even the quality of their sleep. But in addition, users pointed out the exact areas that hurt, felt weaker or numb in real time to clearly see that a hangover is more than a slight headache or having a dry mouth the next morning. The result. Once all the participants had painted the areas where they experienced these physical sensations, the truth is that it was quite clear what was happening in the muscles. And in general terms, it was seen how the pain mainly affected the temples of the head or even the stomach discomfort that was felt as a hyperactivation of motility. But at the other end of the spectrum we have the deactivation effect, which were areas painted with cold colors that signaled numbness or heaviness in the extremities. Although the fascinating thing about these “hangover maps” is that they are not purely psychological, since here science shows that these maps have real physiological correlates. That is, the areas that participants color align with measurable physical alterations, such as modulation of heart rate and visceral signals. He leaves the laboratory. Traditionally, tests on the effect of alcohol have been done in a laboratory, analyzing all the variables that could change, but the reality is that no one drinks in such a measured way in the real world. That is why now going out into a much more real environment gives you a naturalistic touch which offers much higher validity. Now an authentic representation of the multi-systemic hangover experience is literally being captured, balancing scientific rigor with the reality of how alcohol consumption occurs in our daily lives. A risk pattern. Behind this study of hangovers lies a key neuroscientific concept, which is called interoceptive phenomenology. This is nothing more than our brain’s ability to perceive and process the body’s internal signals, so mapping how we feel alcohol and a hangover is of great help in identifying a risk pattern for alcoholism. The key is in the literature that suggests that the way in which these physical sensations are processed is directly linked to our vulnerability to addictions. Here, interestingly, people who don’t have as many physical effects during a hangover may be at higher risk of developing an alcohol use disorder, since it may not feel too bad for them to draw a line. And this can be essential to be able to detect early in the future this serious problem that can literally destroy a life. Images | wirestock at Magnific In Xataka | There are scientists dedicated for decades to studying hangovers: what thousands of drunken binges (analyzed) have concluded afterwards

science explains what happens to your body (and your brain) depending on the time you choose

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In social circles, the truth is that there are sometimes very interesting debates about common customs, such as whether it is better to shower first thing in the morning or just before getting into bed. Here, while there is a group of people who defend tooth and nail the revitalizing power of water in the morning to “start” the day, others say that there is nothing like hot water at night to conclude sleep. And here science has something to say. It makes us sleep better. If you have trouble falling asleep, the science here suggests that a nighttime shower may be a good idea, and explained in a meta-analysis published in 2019 in the magazine Sleep Medicine which analyzed 17 different studies. Here it was concluded that bathing or showering with hot water between one and two hours before going to bed reduces the time to fall asleep by approximately 36%. Because? Here hot water is our main ally, since it warms the skin and, therefore, increases blood flow to the extremities such as the hands and feet. From here, when you get out of the shower, that heat dissipates quickly, causing a drop in the body’s core temperature. And this is the key, because this thermal drop mimics the natural cooling that our body experiences before sleeping, which sends an unequivocal signal to the brain to release melatonin, which is the sleep hormone, and reduce levels of cortisol, which is related to stress. It depends on the time. From a psychological point of view, morning and night showers fulfill completely opposite functions and it depends precisely on the time at which we take them. In the case of the morning showerthe goal is increase performance with the activation of the sympathetic system by stimulating muscle tone and, above all, preparing us for the stress of the day. In the case of the night shower, as we have said before, an attempt is made to activate the parasympathetic system with a longer and more leisurely duration of the shower with the aim of reducing the accumulated physical and mental tension, fulfilling the function of an authentic ritual of transition and disconnection. According to psychology. Here we enter territory that is not so clear, but which indicates, for example, that people who prefer a shower at night do so because they have a lower tolerance for dirt, which is why they prefer to remove all the sweat of the day before going to bed. But it is also noted that people who prefer solitude tend to prefer nighttime showers, precisely because, after a day full of stimuli, the bathroom becomes a capsule of sensory disconnection. In the end, it is a way to relax from everything that has happened throughout the day. Images | freepik In Xataka | Cooling down is the forgotten step in our exercise routines. And that affects how we shower

We already know where many of the microplastics that enter our body end up. We have bad news

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That microplastics had managed to enter our body is something that we already knew in detail, especially considering that we have found them in the lungsin the placenta and even in the testicles. However, there were questions about where they accumulated in greater quantities in our body and what consequences does it have. Something that science has already solved. What they have seen. It has been thanks to a recent study published in the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology that it has finally been revealed that not only can cholesterol crystals be found in bile that end up generating stones, but also there are microplastics. And the worst of all is that they have a direct impact on the premature aging of the cells that make up our gallbladder. How do you know? To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed 14 samples of human bile: five from healthy patients without gallstones and nine from patients with gallstones. The results were conclusive, since they found microplastics in the samples, mainly highlighting two of them. the most common polymers in our daily lives: polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Here it could be seen that the particles had a size that ranged between 20 and 50 micrometers. A very relevant fact, since from these sizes is when they can cross the biological barriers, cross the intestine-liver axis and end up in the gallbladder of our liver. There is more. In addition to the presence of plastic in the bile, it could be seen that patients who had gallstones showed a higher load of microplastics. Something fundamental, since it is a fact that fits with recent research that suggests that these particles could act as ‘seeds’ around which cholesterol groups to form the dreaded stones in the gallbladder. What do they do? This is the key point of these studies, since we still do not have much idea of ​​the damage that microplastics can do to our body. Here it points out that bile causes mitochondrial dysfunction and promotes the aging of cholangiocytes, which are the cells that line the bile ducts. In previous experiments, it was possible to see that in the liver of laboratory mice exposed to environmental concentrations of microplastics there was alteration in the metabolism of bile acids and liver damage. In the case of humans, which increases oxidative stress. But the important thing is that in both cases the bile duct cell loses its ability to function correctly and ages prematurely, which in the long term could be related to liver and bile duct diseases. Can it be mitigated? Among the bad news, scientific literature suggests that there are ways to avoid it. One of the great protectors that exists is melatonin, suggesting that it can combat oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction generated by these synthetic intruders. In parallel, other recent experiments with human liver organoids have shown that the damage caused by microplastics improves when ursodeoxycholic acid is administered, which is the drug administered to ‘dissolve’ gallstones. The ‘magic’ of this compound is that it increases bile flow, suggesting that promoting a kind of natural “washing” of the bile duct could help reduce toxicity. A problem. The confirmation of bile as a “hidden reservoir” of microplastics highlights an undeniable reality: plastic pollution is no longer just an environmental problem in our oceans, but a systemic public health problem about which we know more and more data. The longer-term consequences, such as the relationship with gallbladder cancer, remain to be seen. Images | FREEPIK In Xataka | An 18-year-old girl has created the definitive weapon against microplastics: a filter that eliminates 96% of them from water

Sleeping in on the weekend seems like the perfect solution to your tiredness. Your body has a very different opinion

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Sleep eight hours a day religiously is for many a goal that they almost never manage to achieve, since the alarms sound too early and the days lengthen, accumulating a dream debt which we tried to settle on Saturday morning. But here the question is obligatory: are we achieving anything by sleeping 10 hours on Saturday? The answer. Here science has wanted to investigate the debate about whether doing this recovery sleep technique on weekends is useful or is a temporary patch. And the truth is that there are endless different options that mean we don’t have a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. Cardiovascular shield. At first glance, science seems to agree with people who decide that the weekend is for sleeping, since several studies suggest that it is quite positive for our health. One of these analyzed more than 90,000 people and concluded that the group that accumulated more compensatory sleep on the weekend had a lower risk of developing heart disease. And more specifically, these people had up to 20% less risk of suffering from coronary heart disease. On the other hand, another study used data from the NHANES surveys carried out in 2018 and noticed an association between recovering hours of sleep and a lower prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, which is something that stands out especially in patients who slept less than 6 hours during the week. There is small print. In science there are contrary points, since researchers, when they affirm measurement methods and look beyond self-completed questionnaires, reality is more complex. Here is a study with 70,000 people who used accelerometers to objectively measure sleep threw cold water on previous evidence by pointing out that compensatory weekend sleep is not associated with lower mortality or fewer cardiovascular events. More alterations. Apart from all this, different scientific reviews point out that the evidence is heterogeneous, pointing out that sleeping more on the weekend does not always manage to correct problems such as insulin sensitivity, which is altered after previous days of sleep restriction. And it is known right now that biologically, lack of sleep triggers complex processes such as insulin resistancethe activity of the sympathetic nervous system and systemic inflammation. And all this cannot be fixed in a silly weekend of sleeping a few more hours, since a much longer sleep regulation would be needed to once again have an optimized biological system. Beyond the heart. Although we usually focus on the engine of our body, the reality is that there are effects much further than that. In the case of mental health, science suggests that weekend recovery carries a lower risk of depression. But other articles on health-related quality of life suggest that the “optimal” duration of recovery sleep is not the same for everyone, and can vary greatly depending on the sex and chronotype of each individual. The verdict. Right now science tells us that there is an association, but not a proven coincidence. In this way, trying to pay off your sleep debt on the weekend is undoubtedly better than continuing to sleep little seven days a week, but it is not a metabolic time machine. What you have to keep in mind is that the final effect will depend on how much deficit you carry during the week and how many hours you try to achieve, but in the end the medical advice that we should stick with is that the objective is to have consistency in daily rest so that it is as optimal as possible. Images | Slaapwijsheid.nl In Xataka | We have accepted that “deep sleep” is the standard for sleep quality: science points in another direction

Chaplin died on Christmas. In March they were already asking for $600,000 in ransom for his body.

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On the night of March 1-2, 1978, a pair of unemployed mechanics dug up the coffin of the legendary Charles Chaplin from a Swiss cemetery, and moved it to a cornfield, where they hid it. They asked for $600,000 to return it and the widow refused to agree to their demands. Everything was solved with an intervention by the police, but with an unexpected final twist: the thieves did not remember where they had hidden it. Death. Chaplin had died on December 25, 1977, at the age of 88, at his residence in Corsier-sur-Vevey, a town on the shores of Lake Geneva. He had been there since 1952, when the US government denied him a visa to return to his country after being accused of communist sympathies. during McCarthyism: He had left the United States to attend the London premiere of ‘Candilejas’ and was never able to return. The funeral was discreet and the oak coffin was buried in the local cemetery without much fanfare. A quiet end for someone who had been, literally, the most famous person in the world in the 1920s. The robbery. The tranquility lasted ten weeks. In the early hours of March 1-2, 1978, two men crossed the unprotected cemetery carrying flashlights and shovels. They were Roman Wardas, Polish, 24 years old, political refugee who led a precarious life in Switzerland and Gantscho Ganev, Bulgarian, 38 years old, also a mechanic, also without stable work. They had come to the conclusion that Chaplin’s corpse was the solution to his financial problems. They unearthed the 135 kilo oak coffinthey dragged him to the street and loaded him into Ganev’s car. They drove to a cornfield a little over a mile from the Chaplins’ house and reburied him. You don’t negotiate with terrorists. On the morning of March 2, police discovered the empty hole and notified the family. Press speculation They were immediate: uncontrolled fans, local anti-Semites, neo-Nazis resentful of ‘The Great Dictator’… That same day, calls from tomb desecrators began to arrive. And they repeated themselves. Between March 2 and May 16, Oona Chaplin, the actor’s very young widow, received 27 calls demanding a ransom of $600,000. His refusal made history: “Charlie would have found it ridiculous.” In reality, there was a reason for delaying them: while he pretended to negotiate to buy time, the police tapped his phone and deployed agents to the two hundred public telephones in the region, because the thieves changed booths with each call. The situation was complicated because impostors appeared who claimed to have stolen the body, forcing the real kidnappers to photograph the coffin to prove that they were the ones who had it. The thieves also threatened the family’s youngest children, but Oona Chaplin stood her ground. The arrest. On May 16, 76 days after the robbery, Wardas was arrested in a telephone booth in Lausanne, and Ganev fell shortly after. The police took them to the cornfield to recover the coffin, but there was still comedy in the story: the thieves did not remember the exact point where they buried it. The agents had to use metal detectors to locate the coffin. Chaplin was reburied in the same place, this time with a concrete slab on top of the coffin. Oona died in 1991 and is buried next to him. More robberies. The theft of Chaplin’s body was not an isolated accident, but the continuation of a macabre tradition of famous kidnapped corpses. In 1876, a gang of counterfeiters attempted to steal Abraham Lincoln’s body to ask for a ransom and the plan was aborted when the thieves had already sawed off the tomb’s padlock. In 1977, weeks after Elvis Presley’s death, four people attempted to break into his mausoleum in Memphis, convincing the family to move the remains to Graceland, also sealed under a slab. Eva Perón lived a posthumous journey that lasted decades: her embalmed corpse was stolen by the Argentine military in 1955, stored in a van parked in the streets of Buenos Aires, secretly transferred to Italy and buried in Milan under a false name until she was able to return to Argentina in 1974. And in 2015, the skull of ‘Nosferatu’ director FW Murnau disappeared from his grave near Berlin, possibly stolen by satanists. He never recovered. In Xataka | This is how sound was added to cartoons before sound films: the complex simplicity of mechanical orchestras

How does not having enough magnesium impact our body?

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For society and science, aging healthily and having a good quality of life in the last years of life It is a goal that we want to reach little by little. Gene therapies, evidence that do exercise of strength is the best and even having a good diet These are some of the keys we know to be able to have very healthy aging. But to this list now we must add the magnesium. On everyone’s lips. The magnesium supplementation It is something that is quite fashionable right now in society in general due to the supposed benefits that having optimal levels of this mineral can have. But now it is being seen that magnesium deficiency is not only tremendously common as we age, but it acts as a catalyst for our body to age worse and faster. There are studies. To verify the effect of magnesium on our old age, we have to look at the research that science has done on the matter. In this case, in the biology of aging they are guided by what they call the ‘hallmarks of aging’that is, marks of aging in the genetic material that dictate how and why our cells deteriorate. Here is a review from 2024 put on the table that magnesium is directly related to each and every one of these markers. We are talking about DNA instability, shortening of telomeres, which are essential to protect the genetic material, dysfunction of the mitochondria, which are the ‘energy factories’ and the dreaded chronic inflammation. And it has been seen. Studies done in the laboratory had already warned us of this. In 2008 It was shown that when a type of human cell was cultured in a magnesium-poor environment, it entered programmed senescence. That is, they age suddenly. Here it was seen how tissue aging markers began to increase and telomeres shortened rapidly. Basically, the cell loses its ability to repair itself and goes into an “early retirement” mode. Its consequences. This accelerated cellular aging not only remains in the microscope, but has great consequences in the human body that results in what is known in medicine as ‘inflammation‘, that is, the chronic low-grade inflammation that is associated with age. In this way, chronic magnesium deficiency favors the production of free radicals and pro-inflammatory cytokines, and this oxidative cascade has a direct impact on protein. Klothopopularly known as the “anti-aging protein.” And it is that this protective protein of our cells, without magnesium, it seems to function much worse. In the day to day. Here science suggests that having low levels of magnesium in the blood increases up to 24% the risk of dementia and cognitive decline. And in the case of muscle, it occurs a loss of muscle mass and strengthwhich is one of the great dangers in the elderly. Why is there a deficit? As we age, our body becomes inefficient at processing this mineral, which results in the The intestine absorbs less magnesium from food and the kidneys excrete more through urine. Yes to this we add diets which may be poorer at certain ages, along with more typical age-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, the result may be a drop in magnesium. The supplementation. Although it may be very easy, given all this, to start taking magnesium pills daily, the truth is that it is not necessary. In this case, the clinical approach proposed is to have personalized supplementation with a diet rich in magnesiumwith more green leafy vegetables and legumes. But in addition, it is also important to measure how much magnesium we have in our blood with an analysis to decide whether to take supplementation or not. The problem is that today having a magnesium supplement is within everyone’s reach, finding it on supermarket shelves. But we must insist that, before starting to take a pill, we must see if we really need it. Images | MIND FAVOR Daniel Franco In Xataka | Which dietary supplements really work and which don’t, in a great graph

What exactly happens to your body if you continue drinking after age 65?

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The alcohol is quite normalized in our society as it is for sale to the public as long as you are of legal age, and almost always because we associate it at leisure. But the truth is that we are talking about a drug that has important harmful effects on our body, that at 30 years old may not be noticed because we have a strong body that processes it relatively easily. But when we reach the barrier of 65-70 years this changes completely. An older organism. What at 30 years old can be easily counteracted with healthy organs, cannot be achieved with organs that are more ‘worn out’ with the passage of time. This means that science suggests that, from a certain age onwards, it is advisable to stop drinking alcohol, and scientific evidence behind It never stops giving us reasons to do so if we want to have a better old age and with fewer diseases. A structural change. The first and most critical factor that alters our relationship with alcohol as we age is drastic change in body composition. As we age over 65, the body experiences a progressive loss of lean muscle mass and, crucially, a reduction in total body water. This is vital, because alcohol is a substance that is diluted in water, and that is why, as there is less water in the body to dilute it, the same amount of alcohol ingested by a 65-year-old person will result in a significantly higher concentration than in a younger person of the same weight and gender. We go slower. Added to this is the slowing down of liver metabolism, since the aging liver produces Less of the key enzymes responsible for breaking down ethanolwhich means that alcohol remains in the bloodstream longer, prolonging its toxic effect. The direct result is drunkenness that comes much sooner with less alcohol, drastically increasing the risk of loss of balance, falls and bone fractures. Something that at that age is almost a sentence for the muscle loss that it entails. Neurotoxicity. If we start talking now about the direct effects that alcohol has on the different organs of our body, the first obligatory stop is the brainwhere one of the most severe impacts of continued consumption occurs. Here alcohol acts as a neurotoxin that accelerates neuronal lossa process that already occurs naturally due to aging, but that ethanol multiplies. Prestigious neurologists such as Richard Restak emphasize that neuronal damage after the age of 65 is irreversible, recommending total abstinence here. This joins reviews carried out in Spain that demonstrate that alcohol accelerates cognitive deterioration, the impact being even more serious with distilled beverages compared to fermented ones. In memory. But the loss of brain matter, which can lead to severe dementia, is also accompanied by loss of memory and control of what we do. Cohort studies, such as the NEDICES projecthave linked high alcohol consumption in people over 65 years of age with notably lower neuropsychological scores. Furthermore, the loss of motor coordination explains why 60% of serious falls in the elderly they are related to alcohol consumption. Multi-organ damage. Continued consumption in the elderly is not limited to one organ, but causes cascading systemic failure aggravated by oxidative stress, which is the great enemy of aging. A recent cross-sectional study made in Extremadura With more than 2,800 participants, it was demonstrated that in men over 65 years of age, the prevalence of risky consumption reaches an alarming 30%, being strongly associated with increased cholesterol, hypertension and cardiovascular risk such as a heart attack. The heart. Undoubtedly, you suffer the onslaught of alcohol-induced hypertension and an increased risk of arrhythmias, while blood vessels lose their elasticity. This makes it much easier to have high voltage spikes that lead to a stroke, for example. In the liver. Without a doubt, one of the most affected organs, being the ‘factory’ that is in charge of processing all the alcohol that enters the body. Chronic toxicity here not only increases the risk of cirrhosis, but, due to poor metabolism, prolonged exposure to toxic metabolites exponentially increases the risk of developing cancer, especially liver, breast and colorectal. Something that responds to the greater damage suffered by DNA in the elderly who continue to drink with some frequency. In the intestine. Perhaps one of the most recent notes we have is the erosion caused by alcohol in the intestinal mucosaand therefore to the microbiota found here. Little by little we are seeing that the microbiota is more important than we think, and it has been shown that its loss allows endotoxins to pass into the bloodstream, favoring chronic inflammation of different parts of the body. Something that is linked to many other effects. Without going any further, this inflammation aggravates the osteoporosis that is already marked at this age, damages the pancreas and causes an accelerated shortening of cellular telomeres, which translates into premature biological aging and a fragile immune system incapable of fighting respiratory infections effectively. The silent trap. A critical factor that is often overlooked is the polypharmacysince the vast majority of people over the age of 65 take several prescription medications daily. It is not uncommon to see a person with a pill for stress, diabetes, pain, to reduce fluid retention… The problem is that combining some of these pills, such as anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen, increases the risk of suffering severe digestive bleeding. Images | Vlad Sargu In Xataka | The work ethic has been selling for years that getting up at 05:00 AM is good. Science is clear that absolutely

After “skincare”, the new cosmetic fever focuses on one of the most hidden corners of the body: the scalp

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For years the message was simple: maintain good hydration and, please, do not go to sleep without removing your makeup. Then we immersed ourselves and fell in love with a new trend: the skincare and his feared ten steps exported from South Korea. Now, in 2026, when it seems that we already have the keys to a good routine integrated, and our pulse does not tremble when deciding whether the serum goes before or after the moisturizing cream, a new task arises. In the midst of a fever to optimize health, the focus moves a few centimeters higher: the scalp. The ten-step routine falls short It is increasingly common to find yourself in cities or, failing that, on TikTok, with centers of hair spa Japanese inspired. Cranial massage, activation of energy points, water jets and hair diagnosisall seasoned with an environment that offers an experience of absolute relaxation. With a proposal this striking, it is not surprising that these treatments have become the new object of desire. beauty. But, as happens with almost everything that promises well-being and succeeds on social networks, an inevitable question arises: are we facing a new gesture to care for our well-being based on science or a new fashion without much sense? This “instagrammable” fusion of hair care with moments of relaxation was born in Asia but the franchise Japanese Head Spathanks to viral videos, has awakened the desire of thousands of users and has managed to adapt the treatment to the European public; especially when emphasizing the relaxation and well-being part. (Unsplash) Aída García, the promoter of the business, discovered the technique at a fair in Miami, but also through TikTok videos, mostly from accounts in Saudi Arabia, where many users wondered when something like this would arrive in Spain. It was then that it detected this gap in the market and decided to take the step, currently having more than 25 centers spread throughout the national territory. “It seems easy, but behind it there are years of experience, an incredible team and a very strong focus on marketing; for example, TikTok has been key because every time we upload a video, our agenda fills up” Aida Garcia, promoter of Japanese Head Spa It is clear that the virality and striking nature of the treatment is what attracts so many users, helping the proliferation of these establishments. Not in vain, these types of centers top the list of trends in spas and wellness, with a 233% increase in searches in 2025 compared to the previous year according to the report SpaSeekers. But there is undoubtedly another compelling reason for this growth. And it is that in a day to day where they prevail the rush and frenetic paceany help to lower the revs is welcome: “They come here from girls who give it to their mothers because they have seen it on TikTok, women aged 30-40 who come accompanied by their partners or grandmothers with their granddaughters. Nowadays, when we have cortisol through the roof and we are going a mile an hour, everyone needs to stop, that is why a hair spa treatment is super giftable,” explains García. This trend around the globe has meant that the endless skincare routines with ingredients such as hyaluronic acid or niacinamide are also transferred to scalp care. As an example, the term “scalp serum” recorded, for much of 2025, a monthly average of more than 910,000 results on social networks such as Instagram or TikTok; assuming an increase of 77% compared to the previous year. Furthermore, if we focus on the global market, sales of products and treatments dedicated to the scalp grew by 4.2% in 2024 and the trend continued to increase in 2025, the year in which articles intended for this area of ​​the body reached 9.6 billion of dollars. (Unsplash) South Korea is not far behind in this trend, honoring its deep cult of beauty. What’s more, the debate about hair loss has transcended the merely aesthetic and has become a public policy issue thanks to the South Korean president and his proposal to cover baldness treatments by the national health insurance. According to Lee, for many young people the problem has stopped being aesthetic and has become “a survival question“On the other hand, when it comes to the viral, there are many spa centers in the country in which famous and influencers enjoy those 15 or 18 steps which includes the Head Spa treatment promising to cleanse, revitalize and balance the scalp. Indeed, the entire experience of this ritual, if we focus on its relaxation aspect, is something positive and can benefit us. However, it is when it comes to hair diagnosis and the avalanche of products with active ingredients where we have to put the brakes on and be more cautious. There are no shortcuts to healthy hair The truth is that although these spas claim that in general they are treatments suitable for all types of hair and scalp, they always urge people with specific conditions such as psoriasis to consult with a dermatologist first. And that’s what we have done, although to satisfy all our doubts: “People have a profound lack of knowledge about health in general, and about the aesthetics and health of the skin and hair in particular, it is something that I see a lot in consultation, that false sense of information. Sometimes they make cherry-picking and they do not know how to relate the concepts, which in the end is the most important thing,” says Dr. Silvia Berjón, a specialist in trichology. The Glowmour Clinic doctor agrees with the sensory and well-being benefits that these treatments provide. Emphasizing “the value of human contact and the release of oxytocin that can cause this relaxation process.” Furthermore, from its focus on longevity medicine emphasizes that not only healthy habits influence a longer and fuller life but, as supported by science, “also activities that nourish emotionally and help reduce stress”, such as these types of rituals. Even … Read more

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