Hello,

Thanks for the continued positive feedback as Luke and I deliver our weekly brain bites with a focus on health and wellbeing.

We recently mentioned middle-aged men in the US are injecting themselves with artificial supplies of testosterone which, as an amateur cyclist competing in masters events, leaves me scratching my head given it’s illegal and classified as a performance enhancing substance. So my ears pricked up when I discovered this podcast from the BBC called “Don’t Tell Me the Score”.

In this particular edition is an interview with Matt Roberts, the London PT to the stars, and they discuss natural ways to boost your testosterone. It also acts as a review of his new book, Younger, Fitter, Stronger, which I found to be quite relevant for me and contain some pretty cool things. After listening, I was even compelled to order this test to check out my own testosterone levels and am motivated to get back in the gym (because spoiler alert: lifting heavy stuff promotes increased testosterone).

As a little chiro extra, at 55.30 of Matt’s podcast he reveals his top tips for spinal health, so scroll to this point if you are short on time.

If you’re female and thinking, “What about me?”, my job for next time will be to replicate the above resources for female hormones. So watch this space and please do feel free to share anything good you’ve read or listened to and I’ll add it in to my next MM.

I had a long, solo drive on the weekend, hence loads of time for podcasts, so here’s one more from “Don’t Tell Me the Score.” Michael Johnson, the 1996 Olympic 200m and 400m champion, reveals some of his secrets to success. I’ll admit, it’s bit dull to begin with but then, bam, some gold half-way though as he talks of strategy for improving any aspect of your life. Did you know he had a stroke and had to learn how to walk again?

Speaking of walking, researchers in New Zealand recently discovered slow walkers appear to age quicker and have lower IQs than their speedier counterparts. The 45-year-old participants were examined from childhood and those who had slower gait speed were found to exhibit signs of “accelerated ageing”. Time to get those skates on!

A great campaign was recently run by the NHS offering us all support for World Mental Health Day. With narration provided by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the film also features celebrities such as Davina McCall, Bradley Wiggins, Freddie Flintoff and Gillian Anderson. Watch a clip here and then visit the NHS help page where you can get your mind plan sorted.

Till next time,

Craig