#4: Rucking

Welcome to issue #4. Thanks for being here. 

In today’s issue:

• January AI founder Noosheen Hashemi talks gut health, sauna, and wearables

• Sleep’s role in preventing chronic disease

• Why experts like Peter Attia and Michael Easter are rucking

• Plus, new product drops from brands like Bad Mouth, On, and Skratch Labs

Move: Rucking with Jason McCarthy 🚶

Rucking is simple. “Put some weight on your back and go for a walk,” says Jason McCarthy, founder of GORUCK, makers of rucking gear.

Surging in popularity, #rucking has more than 15M views on TikTok, while Google searches for ‘rucking’ have more than doubled in the past five years. 

Talking up the benefits, experts like McCarthy, Peter Attia, and Michael Easter are highlighting the perks:

• Generally, rucking burns 2x to 3x more calories than walking

• It gets you outside which can improve your brain and mental health

• It can improve lower body muscle power, especially in older people

Get started. Because rucking involves simply adding weight to your walk, it’s approachable. McCarthy says you can bake it into your everyday life, throwing on a rucksack while walking the dog or pacing during a conference call. 

If you don’t have rucking gear, you can start by putting a dumbbell, kettlebell, or even water bottles into a backpack. But, make sure the weight is secure and won’t shuffle around as you move.

Dive deeper: Watch our interview with Jason McCarthy here. 

Sleep: A key factor in preventing type 2 diabetes 🛌

Sleep is a pillar of well-being. Just like you can't outrun a bad diet, you can't deprive yourself of sleep and expect to achieve your goals. Worse, you may be setting yourself up for chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes (T2D), even if your diet is on point.

The data: A new study analyzed data from 247,867 adults aged 40 to 69. It found that those who slept less than 6 hours daily had a much higher risk of developing T2D than those who slept 7 to 8 hours.

Why it matters: Around 38M Americans have diabetes (about 1 in 10), and approximately 90-95% of them have T2D.

T2D is largely preventable through lifestyle changes. But, as this study highlights, even adults who ate healthily experienced increased risk from shorter sleep duration.

Takeaway: If you want to be at your best and protect your long-term health, eat well, move more, and crucially, sleep enough.

Health Stack: Noosheen Hashemi 🌱

Welcome to our Health Stack series, where founders, operators, and experts share their favorite products, supplements, gear, apps, and routines…

This week, we’re joined by Noosheen Hashemi. Noosheen is the founder and CEO of January AI, a precision health company using AI to treat metabolic issues. 

Here’s Noosheen’s Health Stack:

Eden’s Gut Health: “My number one hack is having a substantial amount of fiber in my diet on a daily basis. I get this both from vegetables and fruits, but also from a prebiotic supplement, Eden’s Gut Health. It was developed over multiple years of wet lab research and boasts robust scientific and clinical validation.”

Oura Ring: “My second hack is getting enough sleep. No matter what my work schedule looks like, I try to have lights out by 10:30PM at the latest, and I am up and running by 6:30. I use my Oura Ring to keep dialing my sleep, understanding better what levers I can control and manage for more restful and restorative sleep.”

• Setting an eating window: “Third, I try to eat my meals in a small window. My window is 8 hours, generally starting between 10:30 AM and noon, and ending between 6 and 8 PM.”

• Sauna: “I try to fit in a sauna session on the days when I don’t strength train. Sauna is shown to reduce all-cause mortality risk. I double the benefit by meditating in the sauna.”

• January AI: “I plan out my calories for the week. If I know I’ll have some heavier days due to social obligations, I make sure that the other days are of low caloric impact. I use the January AI app to easily see meals’ impact – it’s as simple as taking a photo.”

Check out Noosheen’s Health Stack here on Wellworthy.

Add to wishlist: Skratch Labs Everyday Drink Mix 💧

• Sports nutrition brand Skratch Labs just launched Everyday Drink Mix, its first unsweetened, sugar-free, and low-calorie electrolyte mix with a squeeze of real fruit (Shop here)

A few more drops:

• Swiss performance running brand On collaborated with twenty-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer on THE ROGER Clubhouse Pro, a minimalist tennis shoe designed to suit all racket sports. (Shop Men’s, Women’s) 

• Bad Mouth makes low-sugar candy (and, according to their website, has employed a “legendary candy scientist”). We’re eyeing these organic fruit chews that resemble fiber-rich Starburst. (Shop here)

• An essential part of meal prep + minimizing food waste is having a solid set of reusable containers, and this new magnetic, stackable storage system from Cliik is not to be missed (Shop here)

• Your bodycare doesn’t have to be boring or basic, which is why we love Baude’s gentle gel-to-cream body cleanser made with patented scent-tech to make you feel “loose, juiced, and ready” (Shop here)

Today’s newsletter was brought to you by Ash Read and Melanie Ehrenkranz.

P.S. We’d love to hear from you! Send us your favorite gear, personal health stack, or feedback on the newsletter.