Issue #291: The Hawthorne Effect
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, January 16th.
In today’s email:
Learn: The Hawthorne Effect
Try: Accountability Partner
Measure: Triglycerides
In the News: Hope for IVF
Stat of the Day
The probability to achieve your goal when you tackle it with an accountability partner. (source)
Learn
The Hawthorne Effect
We just came back from a chilly (for Florida) afternoon at the zoo with the kids and I had made my special chili recipe that was sitting in the crockpot. Mmm - all I wanted to do was throw on some sweats and sit back with a delicious bowl.
But I signed up for a 30 day fitness challenge with a group of about 15 guys - we all committed to at least 20 min of exercise everyday. And - we had to text a photo of what we’re doing that day to the group. It was really more about motivation than “proof” but it added to the honor system.
So I went upstairs, put on running shorts instead and laced up my new kicks for a 4 mile run.
Once the brisk wind hit my face and my legs started moving I immediately felt better. The soreness in my hamstrings from yesterday’s workout started to fade, I saw a dolphin pop up out of the water, and I got 4 new ideas for Thrive25 during that run.*
All because of a little accountability.
There’s a phenomenon called the Hawthorne Effect where we modify (often improve) our behavior when we know someone’s watching.
That’s not surprising - we all can think of times as kids, or adults, when we behave well in front of the teacher or a boss - until they turn their back.
But rather than think about it from a negative viewpoint, it can be an incredibly powerful tool for health & longevity.
It’s not easy to always do the things that are good for us. We’re wired to be lazy and to eat all the food in front of us.
One way to stay on track is through accountability partners.
There are multiple ways to bring in partners to support your health journey:
1. A Group - you can be a part of a group, like the one I’m in right now, to help motivate each other to keep moving. There’s the positive vibes you get from the photos/videos/GIFs of others, but also the potential of getting kicked off the text chain if you quit.
2. A Partner - Max started off 2023 with 56 straight days of meditation (based on the time they say it takes to build a habit). But he did this with a friend and they texted each other when that person completed their daily meditation. Sometimes it’s even more powerful to not let down the one person counting on you.
3. An App - I even noticed my snacking habits change while I was wearing the CGM (Issue #288). I didn’t want to see spikes and competed with myself to keep my blood glucose below 100 mg/dL.
*And I still got time in my sweats eating chili on the couch with my kids 😁
Try
Accountability Partner
Next time you set a goal - don’t go after it alone.
Find your accountability partner that will be there to support you through the journey. Sometimes that person is your biggest fan.
But sometimes that person (or technology) doesn’t even need to do anything, except be there.
It’s why some of the best coaches in the world spend most of their time observing and silently supporting their players/clients - often that’s enough.
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Measure
Triglycerides
Ok - a little journey to high school biology when we called fat “lipids.” Triglycerides are a lipid that store and transport energy.
Without getting too technical, triglycerides flow through your blood to deliver energy to muscle cells throughout the body and are carried along those blood vessels in a similar way to cholesterol.
They are essential, but like just about everything in the body - too many triglycerides are bad for our health. Why is that?
Last week we talked about fasting glucose levels. But in today’s diet, it’s not just glucose that has to get metabolized by our liver - it’s also fructose and alcohol (think high-fructose corn syrup). These won’t show up on the CGM that I wore, but will still overwork our liver and leave us with excess fat that our body can’t use for energy.
Initially this fat will show up as subcutaneous fat. This isn’t really a bad thing - it’s what humans were designed to have for times of famine. But there’s a limit to the capacity for subcutaneous fat in the body. When we reach the limit it spills out - and one of the places it goes is into the blood as triglycerides.
High triglycerides leads to a 53% increase in heart disease and down the path toward Type 2 diabetes.
So make sure triglycerides is part of your upcoming blood panel and look for these results:
Normal: Less than 150 mg/dL
Optimal: Less than 100 mg/dL
The lower the better - some experts suggest under 70 or 80 mg/dL.
There is also a relationship between triglycerides and HDL cholesterol. Without getting into the science, this ratio can act as a proxy measurement for metabolic health - especially if you don’t get your fasting insulin biomarker included in your blood panel.
The target Triglycerides:HDL Ratio is less than 1:1.
Action Plan
Best way to lower your triglycerides is to eat less carbs - especially simple carbs like processed food, pasta, bread, etc.
#2 is to get more Omega-3. Studies show that 4g of omega-3 (Issue #22) daily can lower triglycerides by 21-35% in most people.
#3 is to drink less alcohol, at least to not binge drink and overwhelm your liver with multiple drinks in a short window.
In the News
Improving IVF: IVF is a challenging journey, taking a psychological toll on the couple - often requiring multiple rounds of treatment, with only a 20-40% success rate to show for it. Scientists at UCSD have uncovered a noninvasive approach to better predict the miracle of birth. (UCSD)
Find a New Author: Last week we touched on how new music enables neural plasticity (Issue #289). A new study shows complex or uncommon phrases cause the brain’s language processing center to fire rapidly while familiar phrases and general nonsense do not. (MIT)
Tetris @ 40: Once thought unbeatable, AI program StackRabbit broke the game in 2022. But no human had won until 13-year old gamer, ‘blue scuti’ beat Tetris by breaking the game in Level 157. There were artificial horizons created at Level 29, then 95, but the AI program discovered new techniques to win - we’ll see if the floodgates open now like the 4:00 min mile. (Source)
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We’re 40-something dads that felt our bodies and minds start to slow down and we’re not ready for that. We found too much information on every subject. So we started Thrive25 to transform what we’ve learned into something useful for the rest of us to spend just 3-5 min a day to optimize our health & longevity.
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The information in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and may not be appropriate or applicable based on your individual circumstances. Thrive25, Inc. does not provide medical, professional, or licensed advice. Please connect with your healthcare professional for medical advice specific to your health needs.