Fibre Fixes, Walking Wins and the Cancer Warning Debate

0:00If we knew more about our sleep, what would we do differently? Would we go to bed at a consistent time? Or take steps to reduce interruptions to our sleep? With the all-new Sleep Score, Apple Watch measures your bedtime consistency, interruptions, and sleep duration. Then, every morning it combines these factors into an easy-to-understand score from 1 to 100. So you'll know how to take the quality of your sleep from good to excellent. Introducing the new Sleep Score on Apple Watch. iPhone 11 or later required. Shopping is hard, right? But I found a better way. Stitch Fix online personal styling makes it easy.

0:36I just give my stylist my size, style, and budget preferences. I order boxes when I want and how I want. No subscription required. And he sends just for me pieces, plus outfit recommendations and styling tips. I keep what works and send back the rest. It's so easy. Make style easy. Get started today at stitchfix.com slash Spotify. That's stitchfix.com slash Spotify. Welcome to The Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration. And as always, we are here as your hosts. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rhianna Lambert. And after a decade in the wellness industry, we know that it can be very confusing, very overwhelming.

1:16And that's why we're here to cut through all that noise. And this podcast is going to be simple, fun and personal. Every week, highlight of our working week. I think being here, just absolutely love it. So just as always, just wanted to reiterate a massive thank you to all you guys who tune in, who take the time to message us, leave comments, reviews. It honestly means so, so, so much. Please keep doing it, sharing it, spreading the word. Let's get kind of simple, accessible wellness for many people as possible. And Ria and I are loving it because we keep being number three in the charts, which three is my lucky number.

1:48So it's a bad place to be. But it's just really nice that this message is resonating with so many people. So we just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you this morning. We really do, everybody. Honestly, I think the show is built by you, actually. You give us the suggestions. And Ella, your lucky number's number three. Yeah. How random. Is it from childhood or just always been number three? Can't give you any rational answer. I love that, but it is a lucky number. I still know something round about it. I like it. It's lucky for us. Always thought that. I don't have three of anything. I wasn't the third child.

2:23It's so funny, I can't tell you. But anyway, OK, but we have more than three great headlines today. What are we going to be talking about? We really do. Right. It is a really heavy show, everyone. So in a good way and an informative way, the first is the new research that calls for cancer warnings on bacon and ham. And we're going to go into that in depth and give our opinions today. The science showing as well that one longer walk a day beats multiple short strolls. why kiwi fruit could be the simplest natural fix for constipation, and how shared happiness in relationships can lower stress and boost longevity, which just sounds incredible, and our trend The Truth About Infrared Pilates and whether the heat really does help.

3:11Okay, this is going to be so nice. Rhi, how are you? We've just had Halloween. Rhi's got such a chic outfit on today. she's really embracing autumn I'm like blushing everybody honestly when Ella said I looked chic this one I said oh my gosh I went for like comfy tracksuit vibes but it's the color of the season which is burgundy she's super on trend so there you go I'm trending today guys myself Halloween it's been hectic but so much research has come in my way and I'm so excited and I feel like I'm at that point again my publishers must really dislike me at this point because we finished the book and then new research comes out and I do this all the time and I'm like we have to add this in we've got new research on fiber and menopause that I was going through that's gone into the book and it was so so interesting Ella looking at the fact that studies that introduce protein I'll give a little spoiler for the fiber formula but studies that introduce protein into women's diets without looking at the overall quality of their diet had no impact whatsoever on their insulin levels being beneficial for menopause so it indicated in other research that the fiber perhaps may be more important i'm not saying protein isn't important it does need to increase but without fiber as well no difference oh my gosh i'm sat here in awe my mouth's like on the floor guys that's actually fascinating and i think so important just to pause on and not just have this as an aside actually which is if i'm understanding correctly basically this new evidence is showing that yes to your point we all know as you go into menopause you need to increase your protein a little bit but simply increasing protein so simply just eating more chicken more eggs more beef without increasing fiber and looking at the overall quality of a healthy diet you know Mediterranean-esque as we all know whole food focused ultimately you won't get the health benefits that you're looking for.

5:04That's what the studies suggest and obviously we need more research but I'm putting this one in the fiber formula and it's 2025 data so I've been geeking out a lot because book edit stage is a lot of adding in and I've even cooked I think I was inspired to be honest by our conversation last week and equally the fact that after Halloween I feel so sluggish. Oh my gosh me too I've had more sugar in the last few days than I have had in a long time and this morning I felt so rang almost like a little bit hungover bought a really good focaccia that I hate on the way from the station here to try and put myself up.

5:39My skin, Ella. Like I know when it's, when I've had a lot of sugar, like I just finished the bags of candy kittens at night of wild things. I'm basically eating all the leftover sweets. Anyway, yeah, I cook some dals. How about you, Ella? I love that. I love dals. I'm a much more like cozy season cook. I really like summer salads and dips and things like that. Obviously they're delish, but I'm such a cozy season. Like I just love a really rich chunky hearty like mushroom ragu or something like that I've been perfecting my mushroom lasagna I just love like cozy rich dishes so yeah I've been doing lots of things like that which I'm just loving and freezing and I with as our John Lewis range we did these little silicon freezer storage things life-changing I just popped a couple out for the girls dinner last night it's so satisfying and what about your pumpkins because I did roast one of mine it's really hard to cut a pumpkin can I just say I dislike cutting pumpkins I know and they're not quite as delicious either they're like carving pumpkins as you're kind of all the different varieties of squash and things like I got I got different colors this year it's almost like those funny Instagram memes that go around so I got a little mini white one I got a gray one like a blue one and I haven't cut into the big one yet spooky pumpkins I had it all going on It was good.

6:59I roasted it, like you said, and it was really nice. OK, should we move on to our health headlines that matter? Although, Rhi, you actually have a really nice recommendation. That was so nice. We couldn't wait till Thursday to share it. OK, yes. Thank you. I nearly forgot to mention this. So my friend Lucy dropped me a message over the weekend. She's like, Rhi, I thought of you when I saw this because I know it's something you'd love to do. And I really appreciated her message. And if you go into Dunelm, the big shop, you can pick up different labels for families and children for Christmas. You know, we're not far off Christmas now, everybody.

7:32And really, sadly, so many go without. And I just couldn't ignore so many of these labels. And Lucy said the same. A lot of people were just simply asking for underwear, formula for babies, just some chocolate for their children or just any toy, anything. And they write out the age of the children. They say the gender. which is, of course, an optional thing to abide by and what they need on the label. So it could be three or four items. You get those items, you pop your label on it in the bag and then you return it to the shop and they make sure that it goes to people in need. And I just thought, what a lovely idea.

8:05It's so specific. You don't feel stuck or overwhelmed with what do I give them? They've written what they need. I love that. That is such a nice recommendation. OK, so done, everyone. I'm sure there's more. So if anyone has any other recommendations, other places, similar things, we can all be doing over Christmas just to support community. Please, please do let us know and we'll keep sharing them over the next few weeks. We should do a shout out every week to a really nice charitable cause. That's so nice. Yeah. So please share because I'm sure you guys have got loads of amazing suggestions. OK, there is no good segue from that to Kiwis to relieve constipation.

8:43Let's be honest, but that's where we're going to go next as we dive into the health headlines that matter. So in case you're new here, in which case, obviously welcome. But this is the section where we break down the biggest health stories, making news. Rhi, tell us about kiwis. Yeah, maybe more effective than generic advice for constipation. So the NHS back guidance suggests that a kiwi a day alongside drinking enough water is enough to help relieve constipation in adults. Now, something we've always said in the clinic is try, if you're going through a period of rough digestion, two kiwis a day.

9:16We normally say two. Also, kiwis contain more vitamin C, random fat, than oranges per portion. So kiwis are an absolute powerhouse. But the advice was reported by the BBC recently in the headlines that we were picking up. And it's, again, just about the benefits of fibre. And the study that showed one to two kiwis a day can increase stool frequency, so how often you go, and also the quality of your stool. Now, anyone that wants to have a look at whether they have good stools or not, or good poo, is to go to the Bristol stool chart and there's a comparison. and you'll see the different stages of poo.

9:49And really there's seven different rankings, right? Of how it can look. Yeah, one to seven. And it's actually really helpful, I think, for most people to have a look at and just be really, really aware of your bowel movements because that's really important. It is, the Bristol stool chart that is. And interestingly, just a last bit on that is basically you're probably thinking, oh, well, why not apples and why not other fruits? You're absolutely right. All of those different fruits, veggies, et cetera, have soluble and insoluble fibre, depending what you're eating which is fab but kiwis also contain a specific enzyme re i'm sure i'm going to pronounce it wrong so can you do the honors i think you could have nailed that one but no it does contain an enzyme called actinidin which is unique to kiwis exactly and that helps stimulate digestion and improve bowel mobility so that's why kiwis obviously we're not saying neglect the rest of your fruit and veggies and your plants and your legumes and your whole grains and all the good stuff but kiwis particularly good so if that's something you're struggling with or maybe like someone in your family is and i would say top tip as well maybe i actually not obsessed with kiwis and i know what about the golden my kids love the golden ones are amazing i just buy the golden kiwis now but if you're not big on kiwis you could always just blend them into a smoothie that will then be delicious and i'm sure everyone will enjoy them yeah oh my goodness you're right kiwis can fizz for some people not everybody likes kiwis it does move us on to another headline that is linked to our gut health actually which is incredibly important and it's big everybody this is one of the biggest headlines that i've been most excited to discuss probably this year i mean it's huge scientists are demanding cancer warnings on bacon and ham sold in the uk exactly and i just want to say hopefully our regular listeners know that when rey and i discuss this we obviously have personal opinions on every topic we talk about but also none of that is like judgment we're not here to make people feel really guilty or try and make you feel i must never eat a bite of bacon again in the rest of my life but equally i think it is this really interesting conundrum for a better word that we have in the health and wellness industry landscape kind of it's a structural issue as i see it which is that ultimately you know people bang on about let's find balance let's find balance we bang on about it too.

12:09And balance is really important. It's not about being dogmatic and about saying you've got to be 100 % X, Y or Z. But balance doesn't really count if the balance is what the current British diet is, which is, you know, 50 plus percent of calories coming from ultra processed food, 90 plus percent of people being deficient in fiber, one in five people being able to get their fiber date. That isn't balance. Balance really kind of, I think, you know, by definition is eating a nourishing diet that is packed with whole foods to which you pepper on and layer at different times other things you really really enjoy like it's halloween you have some sweets you know you are on holiday you have loads of drinks and you know you love those margaritas that's great it's not about shaming anybody or making anybody feel guilty for it but i do think that we have to probably slightly readdress what we believe is balance because i think our collective diets are so far removed from balance if you're not getting a five a day it's not balanced I would say if I'm being honest Rhi you might disagree no I do agree with you and I just want to add in as well that we're aware of the privilege aspect here that not everyone has the choices to become balanced at the moment the country is not supporting everybody there's a kindness element there's different sensory reasons why people eat different foods we are aware that this is a very emotive and nuanced conversation and lots of people have different needs and requirements.

13:36But like Ella said, fundamentally, we are not a nation of healthy balanced eaters. Exactly. And so looking at this from that perspective, I think it's really interesting. And so there was big news over the last week or two with scientists calling for cigarette style cancer warnings on bacon and ham sold in the UK. And these scientists who were part of the people who initially classified bacon and ham as class one carcinogens are essentially criticising successive governments. So obviously, therefore, on both ends of the spectrum, both Labour and Conservative, for doing virtually nothing at all to reduce the risk.

14:11Since the World Health Organisation confirmed, as I said, a decade ago, that process meat is a class one carcinogen and it can cause bowel cancer. And we know that we're seeing a very steep rise in bowel cancer especially in this country in younger people exactly and so as i said it's been 10 years now this was essentially published and a kind of campaign launched on the 10th anniversary since the world health organization classified process me as this class one carcinogen and just to be clear what that means is that it's in the same category as tobacco and asbestos alcohol and alcohol so i mean i don't think you'd go up to anybody and be like do you know that smoking is really bad for you.

14:52I don't think you should smoke a lot. It's not dissimilar to that. And I think I say I can see myself or feel myself hesitating as I say this because I know people will be like, shut up. But it is, I find that really interesting because we don't want to think it sits in that camp. So we're slightly ignoring it, which I think if I can read between the lines is what people are slightly saying here. The classification came after very strong evidence showed that nitrites, the chemical used to cure and preserve bacon and ham, can form cancer causing compounds in the body. So this is a really well researched, really evidence-based, established link that the World Health Organization have now for a decade put in the same camp as tobacco.

15:33So I don't think they're unreasonable in saying, and a part of, you know, we'll go into in a sec, but a big part of the press around this was saying the problem is, is no one's told the public. And I think it's true. You know, it's not, everybody now knows that smoking is not very good for you. I think you'd be hard pressed to find an adult in this country who doesn't know that whatever you then choose to do on it. I don't think most people would believe you if we went out onto the street now and said, you know, do you think ham sits in the same bracket as asbestos? Yeah, no, I don't think people are aware at all.

16:08Interestingly, Ella and I were also looking at headlines. I don't know if we put it in next week or not, but there was definitely one headline recently as well when this study came out or rather this um what would you call it action group came out to discuss this that said move over veganism or vegetarianism meats here like we need to be eating more meat and we saw that at the same week that this came up so and in one of the other newspapers i mentioned it last week literally next to it online was like hey great i can't remember if it was bacon or something yeah please like for autumn and you just thought Gosh, this is so very confusing.

16:43But before we go any further, Rhi, just help us a second, because I think it's really important to kind of clarify this again. What are we talking about with nitrites? The compound that's the problematic element of it? Exactly. And it's definitely not the kind of nitrates you find in beetroot. So don't get that confused. This is a very different component. We've discussed that previously because that also made some headlines recently. and if anyone has the science of nutrition but there's a diagram of this that I wrote for that book on this subject because it is confusing so nitrates and nitrates are added to cured meats they basically are there to prevent bacteria and preserve the pink color because obviously you put meat on the shop shelf it's going to spoil quite quickly and that is why hammer's pink it's not naturally meant to be that color but once inside the guts once you've digested these components they can form something called N-nitroso compounds.

17:39And these are also known as NOCs, which is what I'm going to refer to them as. It's a bit easier. But these are what we describe in science as genotoxic. And this means that our DNA can be actively damaged by consuming these. And the cell lining in our bowels, which is where the link comes from with bowel cancer particularly as well, can also be equally damaged. And when these meats are cooked as well, which they classically are all around the world on barbecues, for instance, in barbecue season. It's a huge component of cultures, actually. When these meats are cooked at high temperatures, like frying or grilling them, which I would actually argue nearly, how else does anyone cook bacon?

18:18Yeah, ham less so, but you're right with bacon. Grilled and frying. It adds another layer of risk because it produces these heterosylic amines, HCAs, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are PAHs. These are both components that are linked in multiple research to cancer development, everybody. So it's about the amount you consume. But really, just like alcohol, it's just not good for us. And we cannot say there's any benefit because there are other animal items produced out there that do offer the same amount of protein or iron retrospectively to your red and processed meat. So to put it into perspective for you before I waffle on, the World Health Organization estimates that eating just 50 grams of processed meat today, which is around like one to two rashes of bacon, depending on the size, increases your bowel cancer risk by 18%.

19:10And then recent UK testing found that supermarket ham still contains up to 30 milligrams of these nitrates per kilo. Loella. It's very overwhelming because the data is just so stark. And I also find it very, very disappointing by our governments that people are blindly consuming them. Well, and they're one of the biggest items on food menus up and down the country in school, sorry, in school menus. We've seen that before. Three of the five most popular meats in terms of what serve to children in British schools sit in this camp. And as I said, it's not about criticising anyone but I think it is important to know that in terms of how you find genuine balance with all of this and essentially four of the scientists who helped establish this original link back 10 years ago have written now to the health secretary that's worth treating in the UK urging him to act they want mandatory cigarette style warnings on the estimated 90 to 95 percent of bacon and ham packets that still contain nitrites you can buy nitrite free we're back to the same unfortunately conversation of it being infinitely less available and infinitely more expensive and you still have the problem of the frying and the grilling and things like that so it doesn't but it is better it is undoubtedly better I feel I don't know if you feel the same but I feel like I have butterflies in my tummy because I feel really on edge even when we're discussing this because for me this is just totally unheard of as a registered nutritionist that we're discussing something that's so blatantly obvious yet it's not actioned on a public health level.

20:44So it's talking about something before things come in. It's actively put so much into schools. I mean, I think it's things like that where you just think, gosh, you know, people say, oh, don't have a nanny state. And I understand that, you know, everyone has free will and everyone should have choice, but it should be a choice in which the information is freely available and where you're not giving it actively to young children. Like, that's just really odd from a government perspective. But the glorification of these items of foods in childhood systems and up and down the country, I'm sure we've all been there or experienced it because previous generations it was a big part of the diet so i think there's two really interesting bits here first of all on that is exactly what's echoed by one of the professors who's launching this professor dennis corporate he said consumers deserve clear information most people don't realize that the who the world health organization classifies nitrite cured meats like bacon and ham in the same carcinogenic category as tobacco and of asbestos, which I think is such a relevant point.

21:42Again, it's not about pointing fingers and blame, but it is because we don't have this education and they want this stuff phased out, you know, as well as these warnings. Because what they're saying is that the claim from them is that government in action since 2015, since this was such an established link, has already led to about 54 ,000 bowel cancer cases in the UK and cost the NHS around£3 billion. And this has been echoed by the World Cancer Research Fund echoing the same concerns. They stated that there is, no doubt that process leaves people at greater risk. So it's quite, I know it's not positive news guys, but I think it is really important to cover.

22:21It's also, I think lots of people know somebody affected by cancer in some shape or form. Bowel cancer just is so alarming how the rates are just getting higher and higher every single year. And I was writing about this for the next book. And I remember Deborah, of course, Dame Deborah, James, Baobabe Fund did so much before her end of life. She was remarkable at campaigning for this. But I really hope that now these are making the headlines and we're discussing on the podcast. We can just do something to help everybody because nitrites are not beneficial in any shape or form for our bodies. And we need more fiber and whole grains and lovely foods.

22:58We do. So I think as an action, it is. It's just limiting it. We're not saying never have it ever again, but it is limiting it. Or go for the meat alternatives, Ella. I know that they're UPFs, but they don't contain nitrites. But they're not group one carcinogens. No, and they're lower in saturated fat. And I do think if your children want to try something or as an option, if you can make the switch to those every now and again, that's reducing their risk of cancer. So there's no bad thing. No. And shout out to fibre again. That is balance. we need more fiber because that is what really supports our gut.

23:33And we're not just saying, I feel a bit awkward because we're not just saying it because I'm writing a book on fiber. We've been talking about fiber before. Oh my gosh, we all desperately need fiber. The beginning of the podcast's tendency. Totally regardless of Facebook. Yeah, totally regardless everybody, just so you know. Yeah, that's the best way you can help your gut is get those 30 grams a day, guys.

23:56Okay, this is a totally different headline. Good. This is a nice one. Yay. Okay. Now, let's play a game. Which is better, one long walk or many short ones? I wonder what anyone at home thinks. I wish we could do a put up your hand. I know, because I would have originally said, you just got to get it in wherever you can get it in. But I'm quite happy that this is the conclusion. Yeah. Although, I guess this is like, don't make perfect the enemy of good. Many short ones are still better than no ones. But this headline was everywhere, actually. that headline in particular the which is better came from the new york times but it comes from a new study published in the annals of internal medicine and that suggests that going on longer walks instead of like lots of little walks has greater health benefits than taking the exact same number of steps spread across lots of short strolls which is really good actually to know if you do enjoy that one daily long walk but not so great for people like me on some days when you are sporadically working and you only get those short bursts in like the walk to the train station or to the office but hundreds of studies have shown that higher daily step counts lower the risk of dementia type 2 diabetes and heart disease and this is one of the first to ask how we should get those steps so we know it's not about 10 000 because even though there's a higher step count that was a made-up number yeah by a japanese company to market a pedometer before the japanese olympics so 10 000 steps is one of the best examples of marketing um from the last hundred years or so but it's it's not a real thing but many steps is a real thing but 10 000 as a mythical number is a completely invented phenomenon by a yeah brilliant japanese marketeer but this analysis in particular the one on long versus short walks was looking at 34 000 adults between 40 and 79 in the UK all of whom walked fewer than 8 ,000 steps a day most were just under 5 ,000 and participants were sorted by walking patterns and tracked for about a decade so really looking at these people over a really meaningful amount of time those who regularly walked for 15 minutes or more without stopping were 80 % less likely to die from any cause and nearly 70 % less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than people whose walks lasted five minutes or less I mean what a win okay I know we just did a quite a like tricky headline but this is a win because actually we're not talking about crazy long walks here we're talking about like 15 20 minute walks getting i mean that is mega mega benefits guys so extraordinary because even if you break it down if someone's total step count was low like mine is on the majority of days sometimes i'm working from home longer continuous walks still offered those significant protections like across the course of a week so roughly 1 ,500 uninterrupted steps.

26:43That is your 15 minutes of steady movement. That's all you need. Just try and get to 15, 20 minutes. I think that's a really good target for us all. It's get off a stop early if you can. You've got to find the time in the day where you can devote the time to doing that. Is it after work? Is it before work? Is it just at the weekends? You can do it twice at the weekend. Is it when you want to listen to the wellness scoop? Yes, you want to listen to the wellness scoop. And this lead researcher, we should give him a little shout out here, Dr. And Borja del Pozo Cruz. He's from the European University of Madrid.

27:16So our Spanish listeners might think our pronunciation is poor. I would not have done any better than you. I didn't do Spanish at school. I did French. I'm really sorry. Although my son's learning Spanish now. But he said, I quote, we're not saying short abouts doesn't work. But it just seems like it's much better to accumulate steps in longer periods. So it makes sense. and you can also accumulate steps by taking the escalator and walking up it rather than standing on it there's ways of doing it and i think just an important note on that as well because i think certainly when i first read this this was my first thought and i'm sure that some of you guys as well oh but surely there's just like those people are fitter so they walk more but actually not true the team controlled the study by age weight smoking cholesterol intake so it's not just saying fitter people walk longer this is actually the walking pattern itself yes that matters here which i think is really encouraging i love it and it's to do with our heart rate so when we improve our circulation when we take more exercise we build more capillaries we have more blood vessels we become healthier and helping those blood vessels stay flexible so over time it helps regulate our blood pressure so that in turn is helping our heart health and then it improves our insulin sensitivity which of course as well is linked to lower inflammation and a better steady mood throughout the day as well and of course on top of that reducing your inflammation which we know we don't want a boosted immune system we want a happy one and overall Ella it's like a win-win.

28:42Yeah sports metabolic vascular health I mean it's just such a win and as I'm always like deeply enthusiastic for the wins that feel reasonable. This is reasonable. You know as we said at the beginning of the first headline that we collectively have such a problem with our health in this country we don't exercise enough we don't eat well enough we don't sleep enough our stress is out of control and it's really difficult to turn it around and I don't want to like overly simplify that and that's why I love something like this where it's really robust evidence that's saying guys go for a 20 minute walk just keep walking for 20 minutes and you're 80 less likely to die from any cause I mean that's really that's a nice news for a Monday morning the hot girl walk again oh is it is it our first big hot girl that might be our headline yeah it's back we're back the hot person walk yeah hot anybody walk let's just get walking everyone it's evidence-based and we love that yeah exactly the hot walk okay number three we're just gonna end on high with our headlines today another really nice one you found it ella it's a And a really gorgeous one.

29:48Yeah, well, you know what? I thought Christmas is coming, so I think the mood goes up. But, like, it's pretty dark and all the rest of it. And we're going into winter, so let's have some good vibes. OK, our third headline, couples who make happy memories together live longer. It's gorgeous. It was in the Telegraph, everybody. And they found that older partners who regularly shared joyful moments together had lower levels of cortisol, the hormone-linked distress, and a lower risk of age-related illness. So the research was led by Tomiko Yanada at the University of California, Davis, and analyzed data from three studies.

30:22It was a nice sample size. I mean, I'd look forward to more. 321 couples in Canada and Germany. So you've got two different countries there they're pulling it from as well. And they were aged between 56 and 89. And they completed surveys about their positive emotions, even provided saliva samples quite in depth. and they had a significantly lower stress hormone cortisol, even after accounting for factors such as medication or the time of day. But I think, Ella, you know, this could apply to friendships. They were very clear in that this is about, but it's about long lasting relationships. So longstanding friends, I guess, people who you feel probably really close with.

31:01And I think there's also something so nice about this is that the reason that they were looking at their saliva was to get a really accurate read of cortisol. And so, but what they found in that was that it was when they experienced happiness together, rather than individually, not that individually is not really positive, but it was the experiencing it together, they significantly lower cortisol. It's that shared experience with someone that means a lot to you. And I just love that. So when couples felt good together, their cortisol level stayed lower later in the day, suggesting that co-experiencing positive emotions helps the body stay calm over time.

31:35and interestingly the findings didn't differ by age sex even relationship satisfaction which I think is very interesting so this isn't all about like perfect couples perfect relationships it's about I guess great moments as opposed to anything else but the benefits kind of held true across like all sorts of different couples. Do you know what's funny or rather not funny maybe it's practical I was with some of my girlfriends I went out for dinner rare occasion here in my life at the moment love it and we actually discussed maybe i mean we don't know where we're going to be in our lives but maybe we should look at care homes or places to retire in i'm trying to say it seriously because obviously i hopefully i'm very far off off that point in my life but maybe we should do a recce of them all and decide that if we're all a bit closer together we'll have better so we were talking about social interaction and then we can have a lovely ripe old quality of life i love it extend that health span as much as you can.

32:29Not normal, is it? But, you know, with headlines like this. I know, they just feel so good, don't they? And I think it's this reminder as well that like, I know we've banged on a lot about diet today and fiber and all the rest of it. But I think it is, again, that just like constant reminder that we all desperately need that your emotional connections also massively shape your health, including your physical health. And, you know, we often talk about stress. You know, it feels like a mental thing, but it's actually deeply physiological. and chronic stress raises inflammation blood pressure aging markers and these positive experience together seem to do the opposite lowering cortisol which soothes the nervous system protects against long-term heart health and things and so it's just a nice reminder again on that like connection connectivity not feeling lonely just enjoying life is key to health and it is that here's the word again but it is about finding balance between looking after yourself and really enjoying life.

33:22And those are the generations in this study that are before the current phone addiction generations that I think we're on the cusp of as millennials, Gen Z. I really feel that our big challenge when we get to that bracket of time is going to be not being isolated and not just scrolling and making an effort to have those social interactions. We really have to remind ourselves it's so easy to get trapped into being isolated because your phone wants you to be hooked on it all the time do you know what my phone is on such a good one though at the moment i mean don't get me wrong i'm still have my days i really struggle with it because i've been getting really into my gardening yes my algorithm has shifted so much and away from like great white sharks attacking people and like illness and disease and like all the things that terrify me in life into like here's how to prune lavender yeah oh it's here's some bulbs that you could plant now in time for Christmas and it's so joyful and it's such a reminder that like you know trying to curate because Instagram in the good old days you didn't have all the suggested stuff it was you followed things that you liked and therefore you kind of yes you're spending too much time online but at least there's a kind of sense of like learning and connectivity and community because it's oh I'm really interested in this here's someone else that is and I can learn a bit about how to prune lavender or how to grow some really nice pots in my house for Christmas.

34:50You found your hobby. Oh yeah. I feel like garden might be my hobby. We were talking about it at the beginning of the podcast, how hobbies, cause I'm singing all the time now at home. I've got Christmas gigs and it's making me, it's distracting me from tech. It's, I'm doing something else. You have discovered gardening. This is it. That's my new life. I love it. I love it. I'm really enjoying it. I don't think I'm any good yet but i'm really enjoying it the test will be if any of the daffodils come guys i'm waiting for the daffodils until march they might come out end of feb mine came out end of feb this year i mean i have planted so many that if none come through then i really am like the world's worst gardener so everyone keep their fingers crossed at least i get like let's go for three let's go for lucky number three if i get three daffodils i'll continue i have a feeling you're going to get 300 so yeah let's stay positive we've got a very different trend though to discuss with you which i can't picture ella infrared pilates is it like being on a bright red reformer it's i think it's in the walls so it's around the room like a himalayan salt room in a spa that people do exactly and i've seen a lot because my instagram feed isn't solely gardening i do see people go and sit in front of an infrared light in the morning to do meditations and things like that so imagine a kind of almost it's like a you know like a electric heater kind of thing because tall is your knee or I don't know I would love that because I am a cold person naturally like as in I find it once I'm cold I'm cold to the bone that type of thing I've really cold I've bad circulation what's it called Reynolds I got um diagnosed with Reynolds when I was younger and that's what I need infrared room so it's a big trend a just sitting in front of an infrared light but be then exercising in an infrared environment and particularly pilates but yeah so it's a heated environment it uses these infrared panels essentially and the idea being it then like warms the body up directly and people feel like it creates kind of a deeper muscle warm-up which creates this improved flexibility and mobility, enhanced circulation, quicker recovery, bigger calorie burn.