Men's Health Australia June 2020

They say you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone . . . and ain’t that the truth in 2020. Although, on the flip side, perhaps what’s ‘gone’ isn’t of the utmost importance right now. What is important is what you gain from your loss or from the hardship you endure. For me, that’s a profound sense of gratitude – a spirit we’ve endeavoured to capture with this month’s cover. Author Dan Brown suggests that a change of perspective is all it takes to see the light and that’s what we at Men’s Health hope to share in this month’s issue. As we’ve all been forced to slow down and live with our thoughts a little more, it’s been comforting to look back on past experiences with a renewed sense…

THE BIG QUESTION Will working out really increase my resistance to COVID-19? – MB Good question, MB. And recent work in the field of exercise immunology will allow us to give you an evidence-based answer. In short, go for it. Working out is one of the best things you can do to fend off this infernal virus. However – and this is important – don’t flog yourself into the carpet. A review last year in the Journal of Sport and Health Science confirmed the findings of earlier research that found people who did moderate levels of exercise reduced their risk of contracting upper-respiratory tract infections (of which COVID-19 is one) by more than 30 per cent compared to inactive types. “Moderate” means at least one hour of exercise per day, but not all…

Hey doc. I’m struggling to cope with social distancing and forced lockdown? Any suggestions? Sure. Try to keep some sense of routine in your day. Get up and go to bed at your normal times. Go through your morning routine – don’t just stay in pyjamas all day. If you’re working from home, schedule work and meetings as you would when you’re in the office. What about the social side of things? I hear you. Social distancing and isolation protocols are incredibly important right now but try to make some form of social contact – like a Zoom or Skype call with a mate – a part of your day. Cool. Anything else? Test out a mindfulness practice like progressive muscle relaxation or deep breathing. There are some great apps for both of these. Right. What…

HERE’S THE TROUBLING thing about a COVID-19 vaccine: we may never have one. “Vaccines are very hard to do. We’ve spent years trying to create a universal flu vaccine and haven’t quite got there yet,” says Professor Eddie Holmes, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Sydney. No vaccine came to the rescue in the MERS (2012) or SARS (2002) outbreaks, nor a century ago when the Spanish Flu infected 500 million people and killed at least 20 million before running out of victims to infect. In fact, there’s never been a vaccine for any coronavirus. That’s not to say many brilliant minds aren’t working on one for this latest scourge. They are. And around the clock. At last count, some 60 candidate vaccines are in preliminary testing, two…

RISEANDSHINE A morning dose of sunshine sets your cicardian rhythms for daytime activity/nighttime shutdown. Get out early. SKIPTHEPMCOFFEE Depending on your sensitivity to caffeine, a single cup of coffee post-lunch could derail your ability to fall and stay asleep. Skip it. MAKELIGHTWORKOFDINNER Even some healthy foods (steak, beans, broccoli) are a poor choice for your evening meal because your body has to work overtime to digest them. Another culprit: tomatoes, which trigger the release of the stimulatory neurotransmitter norepinephrine. Peas, please. SWITCHOFF TV – even a comedy – before bed is unhelpful because the artificial light interferes with sleep hormone melatonin. Anxiety-inducing coronavirus coverage is the double whammy. Try a book instead.…

WHEN LIFE FEELS out of control, taking charge of your diet can be soothing. For some of us right now, eating well could mean the difference between getting sick or not, between feeling subpar for a bit and a stint in an ICU. David Raubenheimer and Stephen J. Simpson, scientists based at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney and the co-authors of Eat Like the Animals (HarperCollins Australia), argue this is the perfect time to copy our animal friends. “They know how to listen to their nutrient appetites, which guide them to make healthy food choices – including when they’re sick,” Raubenheimer and Simpson tell Men’s Health. “They can change their diet to self-medicate. Our favourite example is an experiment where we infected caterpillars with a lethal…