The weather turns, the clouds disperse, the sun returns, and one’s thoughts wander to camping, backpacking, and just generally tromping around in the great outdoors. It is the human imperative to conquer the wilderness and to exult in its grandeur, beauty, and danger. The true frontier is mostly gone now, but we can emulate that […]
Hello, readers! Scott sent in his first success story five years ago. A lot has happened since then, so he’s back with an incredible update. Join me in congratulating Scott and wishing him well! Now I have a request for you: I consider it a true privilege to publish these real life stories, and I […]
Last week, I told you how to embrace the cold—how to make the most of an uncomfortable ambient temperature. Today, I’m giving you some ideas on how to embrace the other uncomfortable ambient temperature: heat. What can you do to make the most of hot weather? How do you handle heat? How can you make […]
While some people use the winter as an excuse to burrow into their blankets and do as little physical activity outdoors as possible, that’s a huge mistake. Wintertime is an excellent time to get outside. Don’t hurry from warm interior environment to warm interior environment, trying to minimize exposure. Dally outdoors. Feel the chill. Experience […]
Last week, I discussed winter survival tips and gear. That’s what most people mean when they talk about survival situations: staying alive in harsh snowy conditions. But there’s also summer survival. What do you do against the heat? If winter survival is all about maintaining body heat, keeping metabolic rate high, increasing both true temperature and […]
I may have spent the last several decades of my life living in warm or temperate climates—the SF Bay Area, Malibu, and Miami are famous for their mild or non-existent winters—but I grew up in coastal Maine and spent the majority of my time outside, rain, snow or shine. I’ve endured some harsh winters and […]
Perimenopause and menopause comes with a complex web of physical, psychological, and social symptoms. The treatment usually prescribed by doctors, hormone therapy (HT), is controversial and not appropriate for some women. I won’t get into the HT debate here—Mark did a great job covering the pros and cons recently. Suffice it to say that HT […]
For the last 30 years, the messaging has been clear: Slather your body with sunscreen if you so much as even think about going outside in the sun. Cloudy and rainy? Doesn’t matter. Wear the sunscreen. Want to build up a base tan? You’re killing yourself. Wear the sunscreen. It’s only ten minutes? That ten […]
In part one of this series on improving vagal tone, I explained that the vagus nerve is the information superhighway of your autonomic nervous system. It connects your brain to organs and glands throughout the body and acts as the main conduit of your parasympathetic (“rest-and-digest”) nervous system. Vagal nerve activity touches just about every […]
Enlarge / The sun shines through the treetops in the Arnsberg forest in Germany. (credit: Guido Kirchner/picture alliance via Getty Images) What would rewilding mean for a country like the UK? Bringing back wolves and bears? Returning the land to how it looked in prehistoric times? How will people fit into this wild and unimaginably […]