Turning Head to Look at Backseat Passenger When Driving
It’s very unsafe driving while turning your head to look at a backseat passenger you’re talking to. Why do people do this?
Don’t Tell Me “You Can’t Even Taste the (Blank)”!
Someone promotes a treat that combines two flavors; you say you don’t like one of the flavors; they invariably say, “You can’t even taste (the flavor you don’t like).”
Can a Completely Nonverbal Autistic Give Eye Contact?
Is an autistic adult who’s 100% nonverbal capable of giving, let alone holding, eye contact? Let’s take a look at this fascinating topic.
What People in Their 90s Will Love About Lifting Weights
Lifting weights isn’t just for the young. In fact, it’s especially helpful for people in their 90s.
ASD Special Interest vs NT Health Anxiety Deep Dive on Disease
Is there a difference between an autistic deep dive on a medical condition vs. a health anxiety deep dive by a neurotypical?
Why Are Nearly All Autistic Kids Who Elope Nonverbal?
Is this because an intellectual disability contributes to nonverbal status, and ID alongside autism would be why they’re more prone to eloping?
Exercise Won’t Offset Dangers of Fat Around Your Organs
Even if you regularly slaughter gym workouts, this will not prevent excess visceral fat from damaging your heart.
Exercise Isn’t Punishment: It’s Anti-Aging, Youth Preserving
You need not view exercise as “punishment” for eating habits; see it for what it actually is: a formidable force against aging.
Who wouldn’t want that?
Yet more research supports that exercise is the best anti-aging “drug.”
When people exercise with passion, it isn’t always about burning calories or building a “calorie bank” for an upcoming vacation.
It’s not always about body image insecurities or wanting to get thinner and thinner.
Let’s face it: Nobody likes the idea of getting old — or feeling old.
Must-Read Research
Research, published in the journal Aging (2025), and led by Takuji Kawamura from Tohoku University, shows that consistent workouts and building fitness may even reverse certain markers of aging.
Scientists measure aging basically two ways.
- Chronological age: number of birthdays you’ve had
- Biological age: how healthy your cells and tissues are.
We can even add a third way: functional age, which would be how well your body moves throughout the day, particularly during certain tasks.
For instance, can you deftly leap over puddles?
Can you trot down flights of stairs with the nimbleness of a ballerina?
Can you load heavy bags into a big garbage can with little effort?
How about briskly walking across a parking lot that’s slightly uphill, while holding a heavy bag in each hand?
Biological Age
Biological age is measured with “epigenetic clocks,” tools that study chemical changes on your DNA called methylation.
These changes can switch genes on or off and are strongly tied to how quickly your body is aging inside.
The research paper makes it clear that all movement is good, but structured exercise — like thrice-weekly workouts at the gym, or consistent dedicated days for jogging or fitness classes — does far more to slow down this molecular aging process.
The overly generic “get moving” is good advice for couch potatoes to get them launched, but is far from being the be-all, end-all, for combating the aging process.
Fitness levels, especially cardiovascular endurance, are closely linked to a younger biological age.
Studies
In animal experiments, mice that did structured workouts had healthier muscles at a cellular level.
In humans, even short-term exercise programs showed impressive results.
One study found that sedentary middle-age women were able to turn back the clock by two years after just eight weeks of combined cardio and strength training.
Another study revealed that older men with higher oxygen uptake levels, which is a measure of cardiovascular health, were biologically much younger than their peers.
Organs, not just Muscles
Exercise seems to slow aging in multiple organs, including the heart, liver, fat tissue and even the gut.
Olympic athletes, for example, show slower biological aging than non-athletes, suggesting that long-term, consistent training has lasting benefits.
Nevertheless, what’s not known is what specific types of workouts have the biggest anti-aging effects.
Some people insist it’s intense weightlifting, while others insist it’s trail running.
There are those who’ll put yoga at the top of the list, while others believe it’s hard-style martial arts, Zumba or CrossFit.
Exercise Is Not Punishment: Crazy Idea!
Freepik
Whoever on earth came up with the notion that exercise is a form of punishment related to eating habits, body weight or body image?
It’s really very unfortunate that some influencers on Instagram and TikTok have been spreading the idea that exercise = punishing oneself for feeling insecure about how their body looks.
But even if you work out in the name of keeping your weight controlled or feeling self-conscious about your inner thighs, upper arms or tummy, those chemical changes on your DNA called methylation will still slow down!
This means a slowed-down molecular process that results in slower aging.
The paper points out, though, that ultimately, it’s a personalized workout plan that would be the best.
Someone with a bum knee shouldn’t be running in the mountains, while not everyone would enjoy a kick-butt martial arts class.
The bottom line? Staying active isn’t just about feeling fit today — it’s one of the best ways we know to keep your body younger on the inside, adding not just years to your life, but life (high functionality) to your years – whether or not you get hit by a meteor jogging to the gym.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness, where she was also a group fitness instructor, she trained clients of all ages and abilities for fat loss and maintaining it, muscle and strength building, fitness, and improved cardiovascular and overall health.
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Top image: Freepik/karlyukav
Why “Mass Moves Mass” Doesn’t Always Apply to Big People
Mass moves mass is often cited for why morbidly obese people can lift very heavy loads with little training.
Got the ‘Tism? “Tism Tingle”? Words that End in “Tism”
Let’s have some fun here. You’re autistic; have the ‘tism.
Here are many words that end in tism.
In fact, there are so many, that referring to ‘tism as autism isn’t as unique as you may think.
Frankly, too many words end in tism to think of this suffix as unique to autism.
Nevertheless, I’ve seen tee shirts with ‘tism on them, such as one that says, “God blessed me with the ‘tism.”
Below is a list of the words; this list is not complete.
- absolutism
- adventism
- animatism
- antisemitism
- astigmatism
- baptism
- defeatism
- docetism
- dogmatism
- donatism
- egotism
- elitism
- eremitism
- erotism
- favoritism
- hypnotism
- leftism
- magnetism
- nepotism
- patriotism
- pietism
- pragmatism
- quietism
- rightism
- semitism
- statism
- syncretism
These aren’t words for which I’ve added “ism” to. These are actual words.
What is the ‘tism tingle?
Also known as the tizm tingle, it’s when an autistic person can immediately tell when someone else is autistic — in the context of a typical interaction or brief observation in public.
In other words, the tingling really doesn’t count much when the Autistic is at an autism resource fair, where many other Autistics are certainly in attendance.
I’m talking about just being out and about in the community, conducting routine errands or tasks — and encountering people along the way.
The people may be employees at big box stores. They may be sitting nearby at the cafe where you’re having lunch.
They may be walking in the parking lot where you just parked your car, or working out at the gym.
And you could just tell. If you’re on the Spectrum, you know what I mean.
Some Autistics refer to this as autie radar. I like to call it suspectrum.
When my ‘tism is tingling, I think, “Suspectrum!”
This all doesn’t mean that the individual whom we have spotted has the so-called frank autism, where it’s plainly obvious to any neurotypical nearby.
For example, at a special needs social event where there were neurotypicals as well, I noticed a young woman who seemed typical — until she’d suddenly dash forward about 10 feet and flap her hands.
Then she’d return to presenting as typical, carrying on conversations.
I began chatting with her; she was 18 and had a job at Walgreens, and was working on ways to suppress her stimming in public. I gave her tips on “replacement stims.”
But as for the ‘tism tingle, I’m talking about very subtle signs in an individual — very subtle, that can easily be overlooked by NTs. You just know.
