Tom Nikkola | VIGOR Training

COVID-19 doesn't make headlines like it did six months ago. Most people are mentally and physically past infections, as well as the media's constant barrage of fear porn.

Though the infections may be more rare today, many people continue to deal with long-lasting effects, a condition called long-haul COVID-19. When this was first discovered, many believed it to be a rare condition. However, some studies now suggest that up to 73% of people who had COVID-19 develop long-term symptoms. Among the symptoms, fatigue ranks at the top.

A new study looked at how a specific blend of essential oils affected feelings of fatigue and vigor in a group of women dealing with long-haul COVID-19-related fatigue. The results were pretty impressive.

Symptoms of Long-Haul COVID-19

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, affects vascular and nervous system tissues, though the specific tissues it impacts varies from person to person. The virus most commonly infects respiratory vessels, but does much more than harm your lungs.

The following table outlines the more than 40 symptoms of long-haul COVID-19. I've listed them in the order of frequency.

Symptoms of Long-Haul COVID-19FatigueHeadacheAttention disorderHair lossDyspnea (shortness of breath)Ageusia (loss of taste)Anosmia (loss of smell)Post-activity polypnea (rapid breathing)Joint painCoughSweatNausea or vomitingChest pain or discomfortWeight LossCutaneous signsResting heart rate increasePalpitationsPainIntermittent feverSleep disorderReduced pulmonary capacitySleep apneaChillsMental healthPsychiatric illnessRed eyesPulmonary fibrosisDiscontinuous flushingDiabetes mellitusSputum (thick mucus)Limb edemaDizzinessStrokeThroat painMood disordersDysphoriaOCDNew hypertensionMyocarditisRenal failurePTSDArrhythmia (irregular heart beat)Paranoia

Though it wasn't on the list above, recent evidence shows that a COVID-19 infection can also lead to low testosterone in men.

For those who've paid attention to the COVID-19 vaccine side effects, you'll see that many match those of actual infections. In fact, myocarditis seems to show up more often from the vaccine than from an infection, especially in healthy, young adults and children. Of course, you don't hear much about vaccine side effects from mainstream media.

Getting back to long-haul COVID-19, 58% of people with it develop fatigue.

The fatigue is a feeling of exhaustion in spite of good sleep quality and nutrition. In some, the fatigue may be connected with other symptoms, such as shortness of breath or the development of diabetes. In others, the fatigue could be connected to nervous system issues that also lead to fatigue, such as chronic pain.

In either case, chronic fatigue compromises productivity and makes it less likely people will exercise or remain active, which can lead to additional health complications.

As the study's authors explained:

Fatigue differs from sleepiness in that it encompasses a feeling of exhaustion and tiredness regardless of sleep quantity and quality. It is a nonspecific symptom that leads to a reduced overall capacity to accomplish routine tasks. This may involve the inability to initiate activity, inability to continue routine activities, or difficulty focusing and concentrating, with symptoms worsening after physical or mental exertion.Hawkins J, et al.

If there was a way to reduce feelings of fatigue, even if it didn't resolve the underlying issue, without compromising one's health, it could significantly improve your quality-of-life. The important point here is that a natural or pharmaceutical therapy that reduces fatigue and increases energy and vigor is only valuable if it doesn't lead to other side effects.

For example, you could certainly boost your energy by drinking a couple of Red Bulls or taking an Adderall, but you'd do so while potentially causing other health complications.

On the other hand, if you could boost your energy without sacrificing your heal...

The effort to convert people to plant-based diets is nothing new, but the effort to move people from eating meat to going vegan continues to gain traction.

There are some who wholeheartedly believe a plant-based diet is better for your health than one that includes animal proteins. But those leading the anti-meat agenda likely have goals in mind that aren't really about your health.

If you could build muscle, maximize bone density, minimize excess body fat, and boost cognitive function by removing meat from an otherwise healthy diet, I’d be the first to jump on board.

However, scientific evidence fails to support any of these benefits. A 2020 systematic review even finds a strong connection between plant-based diets and anxiety and depression.

That’s the topic of this article.

In modern history, Dr. Harvey Kellogg might deserve credit for seeing the power of meat to influence your mind and mood, though it's probably not the way you might be thinking. 

He thought that meat and certain flavorful or seasoned foods increased sexual desire, and that plainer food, especially cereals and nuts, could curb it...Kellogg developed a few different flaked grain breakfast cereals—including corn flakes—as healthy, ready-to-eat, anti-masturbatory morning meals.

Matt Soniak, Corn Flakes Were Part of an Anti-Masturbation Crusade

Think about that the next time you look at a box of Corn Flakes. His anti-meat ideology led to one of the biggest food industry categories: breakfast cereal. Not something I'd recommend starting your day with.

Interestingly, many vegan websites claim that vegans have stronger libidos. For example, here’s the search results of the phrase “research vegan diet libido” from my Brave browser.

As I read through some of the articles, I noticed a total lack of scientific evidence. When I searched PubMed for “vegan diet libido,” I only came up with this paper:

The case study authors stated:

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a combination of decreased free testosterone and increased DHEA blood concentrations after consuming a soy-rich diet. Hence, this case emphasizes the impact of isoflavones in the regulation of sex hormones and associated physical alterations.

Siepmann T, et al.

Obviously, you can follow a vegan diet while avoiding soy, but many vegan foods contain it. So, maybe Dr. Harvey Kellogg was onto something with his belief that a plant-based diet changes your psychology. Then again, this is just a single case study.

That said, libido is just once small (but significant) aspect of mental health. Possibly more important to understand is how a vegan diet affects depression and anxiety. According to the World Health Organization, mental illness is the leading cause of disability in the world. No doubt, they and most countries' leaders made that problem worse with how they approached the Covid Circus.

Globalists seem intent on moving the population to a plant-based diet out of concerns about climate change. That argument is a whole other controversial topic to address at another time. If you don't want to wait for some answers on this, I recommend reading Sacred Cow: The Case for (Better) Meat: Why Well-Raised Meat Is Good for You and Good for the Planet.

The question is: how does a plant-based diet affect depression and anxiety? If it makes those mental health problems worse, it would seem that a questionable attempt to save the planet while harming the people would be a bad idea.

Before we get to the effects of a vegan diet on anxiety and depression, I need to back up a bit and discuss how the effects of vegan diets have been assessed and review some of the nutrient gaps they leave behind. Once you understand that, it makes it easier to understand why vegan diets affect mental health the way they do.

What are you comparing a vegan diet to?

When a proponent of a vegetarian diet or vegan diet says "it's healthier,

The effort to convert people to plant-based diets is nothing new, but the effort to move people from eating meat to going vegan continues to gain traction.

There are some who wholeheartedly believe a plant-based diet is better for your health than one that includes animal proteins. But those leading the anti-meat agenda likely have goals in mind that aren't really about your health.

If you could build muscle, maximize bone density, minimize excess body fat, and boost cognitive function by removing meat from an otherwise healthy diet, I’d be the first to jump on board.

However, scientific evidence fails to support any of these benefits. A 2020 systematic review even finds a strong connection between plant-based diets and anxiety and depression.

That’s the topic of this article.

In modern history, Dr. Harvey Kellogg might deserve credit for seeing the power of meat to influence your mind and mood, though it's probably not the way you might be thinking. 

He thought that meat and certain flavorful or seasoned foods increased sexual desire, and that plainer food, especially cereals and nuts, could curb it...Kellogg developed a few different flaked grain breakfast cereals—including corn flakes—as healthy, ready-to-eat, anti-masturbatory morning meals.Matt Soniak, Corn Flakes Were Part of an Anti-Masturbation Crusade

Think about that the next time you look at a box of Corn Flakes. His anti-meat ideology led to one of the biggest food industry categories: breakfast cereal. Not something I'd recommend starting your day with.

Interestingly, many vegan websites claim that vegans have stronger libidos. For example, here’s the search results of the phrase “research vegan diet libido” from my Brave browser.

As I read through some of the articles, I noticed a total lack of scientific evidence. When I searched PubMed for “vegan diet libido,” I only came up with this paper:

The case study authors stated:

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a combination of decreased free testosterone and increased DHEA blood concentrations after consuming a soy-rich diet. Hence, this case emphasizes the impact of isoflavones in the regulation of sex hormones and associated physical alterations.Siepmann T, et al.

Obviously, you can follow a vegan diet while avoiding soy, but many vegan foods contain it. So, maybe Dr. Harvey Kellogg was onto something with his belief that a plant-based diet changes your psychology. Then again, this is just a single case study.

That said, libido is just once small (but significant) aspect of mental health. Possibly more important to understand is how a vegan diet affects depression and anxiety. According to the World Health Organization, mental illness is the leading cause of disability in the world. No doubt, they and most countries' leaders made that problem worse with how they approached the Covid Circus.

Globalists seem intent on moving the population to a plant-based diet out of concerns about climate change. That argument is a whole other controversial topic to address at another time. If you don't want to wait for some answers on this, I recommend reading Sacred Cow: The Case for (Better) Meat: Why Well-Raised Meat Is Good for You and Good for the Planet.

The question is: how does a plant-based diet affect depression and anxiety? If it makes those mental health problems worse, it would seem that a questionable attempt to save the planet while harming the people would be a bad idea.

Before we get to the effects of a vegan diet on anxiety and depression, I need to back up a bit and discuss how the effects of vegan diets have been assessed and review some of the nutrient gaps they leave behind. Once you understand that, it makes it easier to understand why vegan diets affect mental health the way they do.

What are you comparing a vegan diet to?

When a proponent of a vegetarian diet or vegan diet says "it's healthier,

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, or plandemic, or circus as I like to call it, we saw a distinct difference between how men and women responded to the infection. 

Though both men and women (the only scientifically and Biblically supported sexes) saw similar infection rates, men were much more likely to develop severe infections or die from the disease.†

This led some people to believe that estrogen, which is much higher in women, protects you from severe illness, or that testosterone, which is supposed to be much higher in men, makes infections worse.

Many health “experts” vilified testosterone. Listening to them speak, you’d think the best preventative would have been to get on anti-androgen medication. Of course, they were also the ones championing Remdesivir in late-stage COVID-19 patients, which likely killed many people.

A new study shows how ridiculous, and deadly reducing a man’s testosterone might have been, or how much doctors missed the mark by not checking their patients' testosterone levels. 

High Testosterone Protects Men from Severe COVID-19

You’re probably already aware of some of the common risk factors for severe COVID-19. They include:

Older age

Male sex

Obesity

Diabetes

Cardiovascular disease

Systemic inflammation

Lymphopenia

Neutrophilia

Presence of autoantibodies to class-I interferons

Each of these factors plays a role in your susceptibility to severe COVID-19 infection. 

But a new study shows that, in men, low testosterone increases your likelihood of a severe infection or mortality. Again, this is specific to men. 

According to the study:

Higher testosterone levels may protect men from COVID-19, based on how testosterone affects immune system function

COVID-19 infection reduces testosterone levels, and raising testosterone back to usual levels may keep men from developing severe COVID-19 or dying from it

Most men know testosterone as a hormone for building muscle, growing facial hair, and causing an erection. But it does much more, including influencing your immune system.

According to the study’s authors:

we found significant and direct correlations between testosterone levels, lymphocytes, and neutrophils, suggesting a role for testosterone in aberrant immune responses in deceased patients.

Toscano‑Guerra E, at al. Recovery of serum testosterone levels is an accurate predictor of survival from COVID-19 in male patients

The researchers identified a connection between a man’s testosterone levels and his levels of lymphocytes and neutrophils.

There are two types of lymphocytes:

B cells: They produce antibodies that attack bacteria, viruses, and toxins. If a man’s lymphocytes are low, he won’t be able to produce adequate levels of antibodies to fight a virus like SARS-CoV-2.

T cells: They destroy the bodies own cells if they’ve already been taken over by viruses or cancer.

Neutrophils block, disable, or digest pathogens like bacteria and viruses.

If a man has low testosterone, and can’t produce adequate neutrophils or lymphocytes, it stands to reason he’d be more likely to get a severe infection, not just COVID-19, but many others.

And yet, nobody is talking about how low testosterone may contribute to a severe COVID-19 infection.

The researchers concluded their paper as follows:

The tight association observed between reinstatement of testosterone and survival from COVID-19 in male patients, along with a reversal of signs of excessive inflammation and immune dysfunction, suggests a potential functional role for testosterone, beyond being a mere biomarker of outcome, in such recovery. Further explorations of mechanistic relationships between testosterone status and SARS-CoV-2 infection outcomes may lead to potential prophylactic or therapeutic interventions to tackle severe and lethal COVID-19 in men.

More simply put, men who got their testosterone levels back up to a healthy level rebounded bet...

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, or plandemic, or circus as I like to call it, we saw a distinct difference between how men and women responded to the infection. 

Though both men and women (the only scientifically and Biblically supported sexes) saw similar infection rates, men were much more likely to develop severe infections or die from the disease.†

This led some people to believe that estrogen, which is much higher in women, protects you from severe illness, or that testosterone, which is supposed to be much higher in men, makes infections worse.

Many health “experts” vilified testosterone. Listening to them speak, you’d think the best preventative would have been to get on anti-androgen medication. Of course, they were also the ones championing Remdesivir in late-stage COVID-19 patients, which likely killed many people.

A new study shows how ridiculous, and deadly reducing a man’s testosterone might have been, or how much doctors missed the mark by not checking their patients' testosterone levels. 

High Testosterone Protects Men from Severe COVID-19

You’re probably already aware of some of the common risk factors for severe COVID-19. They include:

Older ageMale sexObesityDiabetesCardiovascular diseaseSystemic inflammationLymphopeniaNeutrophiliaPresence of autoantibodies to class-I interferons

Each of these factors plays a role in your susceptibility to severe COVID-19 infection. 

But a new study shows that, in men, low testosterone increases your likelihood of a severe infection or mortality. Again, this is specific to men. 

According to the study:

Higher testosterone levels may protect men from COVID-19, based on how testosterone affects immune system functionCOVID-19 infection reduces testosterone levels, and raising testosterone back to usual levels may keep men from developing severe COVID-19 or dying from it

Most men know testosterone as a hormone for building muscle, growing facial hair, and causing an erection. But it does much more, including influencing your immune system.

According to the study’s authors:

we found significant and direct correlations between testosterone levels, lymphocytes, and neutrophils, suggesting a role for testosterone in aberrant immune responses in deceased patients.Toscano‑Guerra E, at al. Recovery of serum testosterone levels is an accurate predictor of survival from COVID-19 in male patients

The researchers identified a connection between a man’s testosterone levels and his levels of lymphocytes and neutrophils.

There are two types of lymphocytes:

B cells: They produce antibodies that attack bacteria, viruses, and toxins. If a man’s lymphocytes are low, he won’t be able to produce adequate levels of antibodies to fight a virus like SARS-CoV-2.T cells: They destroy the bodies own cells if they’ve already been taken over by viruses or cancer.

Neutrophils block, disable, or digest pathogens like bacteria and viruses.

If a man has low testosterone, and can’t produce adequate neutrophils or lymphocytes, it stands to reason he’d be more likely to get a severe infection, not just COVID-19, but many others.

And yet, nobody is talking about how low testosterone may contribute to a severe COVID-19 infection.

The researchers concluded their paper as follows:

The tight association observed between reinstatement of testosterone and survival from COVID-19 in male patients, along with a reversal of signs of excessive inflammation and immune dysfunction, suggests a potential functional role for testosterone, beyond being a mere biomarker of outcome, in such recovery. Further explorations of mechanistic relationships between testosterone status and SARS-CoV-2 infection outcomes may lead to potential prophylactic or therapeutic interventions to tackle severe and lethal COVID-19 in men.

More simply put, men who got their testosterone levels back up to a healthy level rebounded better from COVID-19,

Clients and readers often ask if I’ll ever write a book about health and fitness. After more than 20 years, I have a lot I could write about. But then, I think about those who might read it. 

Maybe it’ll be someone looking to get back in shape after years of eating poorly and avoiding exercise. Or, perhaps it’ll be someone who’s never really been fit. Then again, it could be a personal trainer or nutrition coach looking for additional ideas to share with clients.

After so much time teaching, training, researching, and writing, I’ve realized an important point about the idea of writing a health and fitness book:

The older I get, the more I try to simplify everything because in reality, getting fit and healthy is simple. Maybe not easy, but simple.

That’s not to say that as you get more fit, you won’t do things to fine-tune your diet or tweak your strength training program. But we’re in the midst of a crisis far more alarming than COVID-19 ever was, especially in the United States. 

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, a whopping 70% of Americans are either overweight (32%) or obese (38%) compared to global averages of 39% and 13%, respectively. Put another way, the excess weight of Americans is equivalent to about 1 billion average human beings on the planet. By 2030, nearly half of the American population is projected to be obese.

Mauro F. Guillén, 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything

Rather than adding to the feeling of overwhelm so many people feel as they try to reclaim their health by writing another book on the topic, I prefer to keep things as simple as possible and as brief as possible.

After all, your efforts to improve your health and fitness should enhance your life, not become your life.

The following are seven simple principles to live by. In doing so, you’ll not only make better choices about your diet and lifestyle; you’ll also see through the nonsense portrayed by “health experts,” the government, and the advertisements trying to sell you something.

Don’t Lose Muscle

I often call this “The first rule of VIGOR Training,” my online fitness program. It’s the lens through which I consider all diet, nutrition, lifestyle, and medical choices.

Muscle is your quality of life investment account. The more you have when you reach old age, the longer you’ll be able to maintain your quality of life.

That’s no exaggeration. Muscle loss is often an avoidable consequence of:

sedentary lifestyles

low-calorie diets

inadequate sleep

excessive cardio

a lack of strength training

low-protein or plant-based diets

low testosterone and high cortisol

certain medications

Of course, the more muscle you build while you can, the better off you’ll be. But at some point in our lives, we all lose the ability to build muscle and must work to maintain it for as long as possible.

The good news is, you can keep building it well into your 50s and possibly 60s. And if you’ve never been consistent with building muscle, you can even increase muscle and bone density in your 70s and 80s.

More and more research even suggests that maintaining muscle has a greater impact on longevity than dropping body fat does, at least if you’re comparing someone with a little extra body fat compared to too little muscle.

By maintaining more muscle, you:

Increase your resting metabolic rate

Increase your capacity for storing carbohydrates

Indirectly maintain greater bone density

Support a stronger immune system

Maintain greater strength, mobility, and joint integrity

Unfortunately, most people do things every day to compromise their muscle mass. Even many who think they’re doing something healthy end up losing muscle, like when they start eating less meat or following a low-calorie diet.

Don’t lose muscle!

Eat Your Calories

I once had a client drop 15 pounds in a month, simply by cutting alcohol.

Clients and readers often ask if I’ll ever write a book about health and fitness. After more than 20 years, I have a lot I could write about. But then, I think about those who might read it. 

Maybe it’ll be someone looking to get back in shape after years of eating poorly and avoiding exercise. Or, perhaps it’ll be someone who’s never really been fit. Then again, it could be a personal trainer or nutrition coach looking for additional ideas to share with clients.

After so much time teaching, training, researching, and writing, I’ve realized an important point about the idea of writing a health and fitness book:

If it takes me an entire book to teach someone how to get lean and healthy, I’ve made getting lean and healthy way too complicated.

The older I get, the more I try to simplify everything because in reality, getting fit and healthy is simple. Maybe not easy, but simple.

That’s not to say that as you get more fit, you won’t do things to fine-tune your diet or tweak your strength training program. But we’re in the midst of a crisis far more alarming than COVID-19 ever was, especially in the United States. 

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, a whopping 70% of Americans are either overweight (32%) or obese (38%) compared to global averages of 39% and 13%, respectively. Put another way, the excess weight of Americans is equivalent to about 1 billion average human beings on the planet. By 2030, nearly half of the American population is projected to be obese.Mauro F. Guillén, 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything

Rather than adding to the feeling of overwhelm so many people feel as they try to reclaim their health by writing another book on the topic, I prefer to keep things as simple as possible and as brief as possible.

After all, your efforts to improve your health and fitness should enhance your life, not become your life.

The following are seven simple principles to live by. In doing so, you’ll not only make better choices about your diet and lifestyle; you’ll also see through the nonsense portrayed by “health experts,” the government, and the advertisements trying to sell you something.

Don’t Lose Muscle

I often call this “The first rule of VIGOR Training,” my online fitness program. It’s the lens through which I consider all diet, nutrition, lifestyle, and medical choices.

Muscle is your quality of life investment account. The more you have when you reach old age, the longer you’ll be able to maintain your quality of life.

That’s no exaggeration. Muscle loss is often an avoidable consequence of:

sedentary lifestyleslow-calorie dietsinadequate sleepexcessive cardioa lack of strength traininglow-protein or plant-based dietslow testosterone and high cortisolcertain medications

Of course, the more muscle you build while you can, the better off you’ll be. But at some point in our lives, we all lose the ability to build muscle and must work to maintain it for as long as possible.

The good news is, you can keep building it well into your 50s and possibly 60s. And if you’ve never been consistent with building muscle, you can even increase muscle and bone density in your 70s and 80s.

More and more research even suggests that maintaining muscle has a greater impact on longevity than dropping body fat does, at least if you’re comparing someone with a little extra body fat compared to too little muscle.

By maintaining more muscle, you:

Increase your resting metabolic rateIncrease your capacity for storing carbohydratesIndirectly maintain greater bone densitySupport a stronger immune systemMaintain greater strength, mobility, and joint integrity

Unfortunately, most people do things every day to compromise their muscle mass. Even many who think they’re doing something healthy end up losing muscle, like when they start eating less meat or following a low-calorie diet.

Don’t lose muscle!

“Inhalation aromatherapy using the damask rose (rose essential oil) was effective in reducing state anxiety and improving sleep quality among OR (operating room) personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

That’s the conclusion of an October 2021 study that looked at the effects of rose essential oil inhalation on sleep and feelings of anxiety. The study adds to the volume of scientific support for essential oils. 

Rose Essential Oil

The new study’s authors recognized that previous studies found that rose essential oil lowered feelings of anxiety caused by:

labor

hemodialysis

burn dressing

surgery

menstruation

Others found it improved sleep in:

patients with cancer

those hospitalized in cardiac care units

patients undergoing hemodialysis

Sleep deprivation can contribute to increased anxiety, and anxiety may reduce sleep quality, creating a cycle of anxiety and poor sleep. This led the researchers to studying the effect of the oil on both issues. 

They chose a specific study population known to deal with a lot of stress and poor sleep: emergency room personnel.

Study Design

Researchers assigned 40 participants to the treatment group and 40 to a control group, all of whom were emergency room personnel. 

The researchers put two drops of damask rose oil on a cotton swab and asked the treatment group participants to hold it 5 cm from their noses while breathing normally for 10 minutes. The researchers used paraffin oil for the placebo group. They completed this aromatherapy session at the beginning of their shifts.

At night, the participants put five drops of either rose essential oil or the paraffin oil on an absorbent 10x10 cm cloth and pinned it to their pillows each night for 30 consecutive nights.

This created a consistent aromatherapy method for all participants. In my opinion, a diffuser would have been easier, but would have probably added to the cost of the research significantly.

Findings

Compared to the control group, those using rose essential oil experienced a greater reduction in anxiety. Interestingly, their levels decreased more over the course of the study.

Sleep quality also improved in the rose oil group compared to the placebo group.

The study authors wrote:

...it seems that inhaling damask rose aroma increases parasympathetic activity and reduces sympathetic activity. In healthy adults, the inhalation of damask rose caused a 40% and a 30% decrease in sympathetic activity and adrenaline concentration, respectively. Moreover, it seems that the inhalation of damask roseoil can directly affect the stress system activity by glucocorticoid receptor resistance and cognitive function. Likewise, it was hypothesized that aromatherapy with damask rose can improve sleep quality by reducing anxiety. Similarly, it seems that damask rose aromatherapy can alleviate sleep disorders by the reduction of pain severity, as two meta-analyses indicated the analgesic effects of this intervention and pain is a risk factor for sleep disorders.

Mahdood B, et al. Effects of Inhalation Aromatherapy With Rosa damascena (Damask Rose) on the State Anxiety and Sleep Quality of Operating Room Personnel During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized Controlled Trial

My Comments

Rose essential oil is one of the more underrated essential oils available. In part, this is due to its cost. It takes a lot of rose petals to produce a single bottle of oil. However, rose is a very potent oil, so you’d use less than you would for some other oils such as lavender or tangerine.

Although there's a significant amount of research supporting the aromatherapy benefits of rose essential oil, most people remain unaware of them. Part of the reason is that essential oils available for purchase never have aromatherapy-related health claims connected to their marketing. The FTC and FDA won't allow it.

Health claims like “supports sleep” or “helps relieve occasional feelings of anxi...

“Inhalation aromatherapy using the damask rose (rose essential oil) was effective in reducing state anxiety and improving sleep quality among OR (operating room) personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

That’s the conclusion of an October 2021 study that looked at the effects of rose essential oil inhalation on sleep and feelings of anxiety. The study adds to the volume of scientific support for essential oils. 

Rose Essential Oil

The new study’s authors recognized that previous studies found that rose essential oil lowered feelings of anxiety caused by:

laborhemodialysisburn dressingsurgerymenstruation

Others found it improved sleep in:

patients with cancerthose hospitalized in cardiac care unitspatients undergoing hemodialysis

Sleep deprivation can contribute to increased anxiety, and anxiety may reduce sleep quality, creating a cycle of anxiety and poor sleep. This led the researchers to studying the effect of the oil on both issues. 

They chose a specific study population known to deal with a lot of stress and poor sleep: emergency room personnel.

Study Design

Researchers assigned 40 participants to the treatment group and 40 to a control group, all of whom were emergency room personnel. 

The researchers put two drops of damask rose oil on a cotton swab and asked the treatment group participants to hold it 5 cm from their noses while breathing normally for 10 minutes. The researchers used paraffin oil for the placebo group. They completed this aromatherapy session at the beginning of their shifts.

At night, the participants put five drops of either rose essential oil or the paraffin oil on an absorbent 10x10 cm cloth and pinned it to their pillows each night for 30 consecutive nights.

This created a consistent aromatherapy method for all participants. In my opinion, a diffuser would have been easier, but would have probably added to the cost of the research significantly.

Findings

Compared to the control group, those using rose essential oil experienced a greater reduction in anxiety. Interestingly, their levels decreased more over the course of the study.

Sleep quality also improved in the rose oil group compared to the placebo group.

The study authors wrote:

...it seems that inhaling damask rose aroma increases parasympathetic activity and reduces sympathetic activity. In healthy adults, the inhalation of damask rose caused a 40% and a 30% decrease in sympathetic activity and adrenaline concentration, respectively. Moreover, it seems that the inhalation of damask roseoil can directly affect the stress system activity by glucocorticoid receptor resistance and cognitive function. Likewise, it was hypothesized that aromatherapy with damask rose can improve sleep quality by reducing anxiety. Similarly, it seems that damask rose aromatherapy can alleviate sleep disorders by the reduction of pain severity, as two meta-analyses indicated the analgesic effects of this intervention and pain is a risk factor for sleep disorders.Mahdood B, et al. Effects of Inhalation Aromatherapy With Rosa damascena (Damask Rose) on the State Anxiety and Sleep Quality of Operating Room Personnel During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized Controlled Trial

My Comments

Rose essential oil is one of the more underrated essential oils available. In part, this is due to its cost. It takes a lot of rose petals to produce a single bottle of oil. However, rose is a very potent oil, so you’d use less than you would for some other oils such as lavender or tangerine.

Although there's a significant amount of research supporting the aromatherapy benefits of rose essential oil, most people remain unaware of them. Part of the reason is that essential oils available for purchase never have aromatherapy-related health claims connected to their marketing. The FTC and FDA won't allow it.

Health claims like “supports sleep” or “helps relieve occasional feelings of anxiety” are only allowed on pro...

Should my teenager take a pre-workout supplement? 

That’s one of the most common questions I get asked from parents about nutrition and exercise. 

While I try to dissuade teens from using pre-workout supplements, I do so only after some explanation. 

I was a teen once upon a time, and we raised two of our own. I know that it’s hard to change a teenager’s mind, especially when he or she sees friends doing something you think they shouldn’t.

It also doesn’t help much to say, “That’s not good for you." They usually just do it anyway. But if you can help them get what they want, and do it a different way, you both win.

That's where this blog post comes in.

Why would a teen use or need a pre-workout supplement?

Teens make up a significant portion of the energy drink market, so it isn’t surprising that they’re also lured into the promises of pre-workout drink advertising as well.

From my experience, most teens buy pre-workouts because they hope to:

Lift more weight, thereby impressing their friends

Build muscle faster

Get more energy because they don't get enough sleep

You might add a fourth reason: “because their friends are doing it.”

In reality, you don’t need a pre-workout supplement to accomplish any of these goals.

In fact, most teens would be better off skipping the pre-workout and focusing on some of the alternatives I cover later.

Mega-Dosing Caffeine 

Of all of the ingredients in popular pre-workouts, the excessive caffeine consumption poses the greatest risk for a teen. Don’t take that sentence out of context, though. I’m not saying caffeine is bad. The Lord knows I’m a big advocate of black coffee.

But the mega-doses of caffeine in many pre-workouts is different. A single serving often contains 300+ milligrams, the equivalent of 3-5 cups of brewed coffee.

First, such a large amount, especially if it’s used for an after-school workout, can significantly disrupt sleep quality and quantity. It could be midnight before most of that caffeine wears off.

Going to sleep so late could suppress growth hormone and testosterone while raising cortisol, which all limit muscle and strength gains.

It also create a cycle of dependence: The caffeine keeps them up too late, leaving them tired the next day. They're tired which makes them more likely to use the pre-workout again.

Second , isolated, or anhydrous, caffeine can cause a major crash hours later: That's different from the caffeine in coffee. Coffee contains dozens of other compounds which may lessen the caffeine kick, but also helps you avoid the subsequent crash. 

Third, many people develop a tolerance. The boost of energy they get the first few days they use it eventually subsides. To get that same amount of energy again, they’ll need to consume even more. 

With all that said, caffeine does improve athletic performance when used on occasion. It:

Increases time to fatigue

Increases strength, power, and speed 

Increases mental acuity and reflexes

Decreases pain

Increases fat metabolism 

Improves muscular and cardiovascular endurance 

To reiterate, caffeine is not bad. It can be good. But it can lead to unwanted side effects when used in excess or taken at the wrong time of day.

Other Ingredients 

Pre-workout supplements often contain numerous other stimulating ingredients, including ginseng, green tea, huperzine, B12, tyrosine, velvet bean, and others.

Every parent knows how finicky a teenager’s brain is, so I wouldn’t recommend dumping all of these ingredients into his or her body at once without trying them out individually. It isn’t worth the risk.

For adults, it might be alright to tinker with something like this, but for a teen at peak growth and development, it isn’t worth the risk.  

Pre-workout ingredients that work

The following, at efficacious doses used consistently for months do indeed enhance muscle and strength gains as part of a good strength trai...