Hey, friends! It’s your favorite delusionally young optimist, Debbie Nigro, back with another Wellness Wednesday where we keep the “live” in alive! If you missed the show, here’s a rapid-fire rundown of what we talked about—because, let’s be honest, I covered a lot. Buckle up!
1. Do We Age in Bursts? Apparently, OMG Yes!
Scientists have confirmed what we already suspected—one day, you wake up and bam, you’ve aged five years overnight.
Studies show major aging jumps around age 44 and 60 (so if you’re near one of those, hydrate and brace yourself).
Researchers analyzed DNA, proteins, and other molecular markers to prove that aging isn’t a slow, gradual process—it’s like nature’s version of a surprise party, but instead of balloons, you get wrinkles.
Humans age dramatically at two key points in their life, study finds: CNN
2. Your Heart is Aging, But Science is Catching Up!
Heart disease is still the #1 cause of death, but treatments are better than ever.
The heart actually stiffens as we age—apparently, moisturizer won’t fix this one.
New cardiology advancements are helping older patients live longer, healthier lives—yay for progress!
New Insights Into Older Hearts: NY Times
3. Ping Pong Could Help Parkinson’s Patients—And It’s Pretty Cool
A man with Parkinson’s found that playing ping pong helped him regain movement—and now thousands of patients worldwide are following suit.
New York City even has a dedicated Ping Pong for Parkinson’s program (and I was ahead of the curve on this story, thank you very much).
Bonus: Ping pong is fun, so even if you don’t have Parkinson’s, grab a paddle and get moving!
How pingpong is helping New Yorkers beat Parkinson’s disease: ‘Can’t get enough’: NY Post
4. Measles Outbreaks—Yep, They’re Back (Ugh)
Measles was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but now cases are popping up in Texas, New Mexico, and even New York.
Pregnant women and young kids are especially at risk, so let’s stay informed and proactive. Scary stuff.
We need to protect the kids! And this is your friendly reminder to double-check your vaccination records (if you can actually find them).
U.S. records most measles cases in single year since record 2019 wave: CBS News
5. Pheromones, Love Chemicals, and the $100 Attraction Boost
Did you know you can buy pheromone perfume additives to increase your attraction factor?
Dr. Winifred Cutler discovered human pheromones in 1986, bottled them up, and now you can buy them for $100 a pop.
Do we really need them, or do we just need to get out more? Hmm…
6. Collagen Loading—The Fountain of Youth?
I’ve been doubling up on collagen, and I swear I feel the difference.
It helps joints, skin, hair, and nails, but you have to stick with it for at least three months to see real results.
If you’re impatient, “collagen loading” (taking a double dose for the first month) can help speed things up.
7 reasons everyone over 50 should be taking THIS kind of protein: NativePath
7. Strawberries & the Norovirus—Wash Those Berries, People!
The FDA is warning strawberries might carry norovirus!
How to avoid getting sick? Wash them thoroughly under running water (yes, even the pre-washed ones).
A vinegar soak (3 parts water, 1 part vinegar) can also help cut down on germs.
Your Berries Could Contain Norovirus—Here’s What The FDA Is Doing About It. Delish.com
8. Spring Break Travel Warnings—Stay Safe, Folks!
Some Caribbean destinations now have heightened safety alerts from the U.S. State Department.
If you’re traveling, stick with your friends and avoid risky situations (especially late at night).
A tragic story about a missing college student in the Dominican Republic is a sobering reminder to stay vigilant.
9. Ozempic & Mounjaro—More Than Just Weight Loss?
New research suggests these popular weight-loss drugs may reduce inflammation in the brain, potentially helping Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s patients.
But there’s a catch—stop taking them, and your body might go right back to square one.
Obesity drugs have another superpower: taming inflammation: Nature
10. Where Can You Breathe the Cleanest Air?
Only seven countries met the World Health Organization’s air quality standards in 2024.
If you want fresh air, head to Australia, New Zealand, The Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Estonia, or Iceland.
The U.S.? Not on the list. (Might need to rethink those travel plans.)
Only seven countries met WHO air quality standards in 2024, data shows: REUTERS
Final Thought: The Key to Longevity is… LIVING!
Inspired by Arianna Huffington’s latest piece…Longevity Is Everywhere, But It Isn’t Everything.
I want to remind you—longevity is great, but don’t get so caught up in living long that you forget to live well.
Focus on joy, love, and purpose—not just extending your years, but making those year’s worth it.
Oh, and if someone texts you the word ‘slay’, make sure you know that means you’ve done an exceptionally good job (thank you, Gen Z, for keeping me on my toes).
If you ask me I think I’ve pretty much ‘slayed’ this week’s Wellness Wednesday Report!
Remember, we’re all just trying to keep the live in alive—so let’s do it with energy, laughter, love and maybe a little collagen.
Follow me for more fun, wellness insights, and Debservations on life!
@Debservations on Instagram and @TheRealDebbieNigro
Facebook The Debbie Nigro Show
Sign up for my free newsletter at DebbieNigro.com
And if you need some motivation to ‘get out there’ pick up a copy of my little ( and I do mean little ) book: “How To Talk To Strangers Advice From a Professional Stranger Talker”
Until next time—stay fabulous! 😘
Enjoy This Episode of the ‘Wellness Wednesday’ edition of “The Debbie Nigro Show’! Just me sharing with all of you all the things I found out that I thought might help us all!
If you’d rather read than listen the transcript of the audio is below.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
0:00:00
It’s time for the Debbie Nigro Show with Debbie Nigro, who says she’s still a babe, or at least she thinks she still is. That’s right, attitude is everything, and Debbie’s delusionally young. No one sees the glass of Cabernet half full like Debbie. She’s fresh air with a magnetic flair. Some day has arrived, and as far as she’s concerned, it’s time to roll.
0:00:26
Alright, here we go again. Hi guys, it’s Debbie Nigro. Happy to be alive, happy to be here. Keeping the living alive is my thing. Just don’t want you to stay alive. I want you to have a good time while you’re here, but you can’t have a good time if things
0:00:43
aren’t going so good. So that’s what this show is about. And I’m glad to have you along for the ride. Got some information, love to share it.
0:00:50
I learn, help you learn. A little nugget of something here and there always changes the game for everybody, right? So this morning, I think my loudest story that I was reading today, and I read it a couple of times from a couple of different sources, is that we don’t age like, ah, gently, like along the way, just keep aging. There are like these bursts of time in our lives when we like age dramatically at different like just like wake up one morning like what was I think I feel older. It’s not your imagination.
0:01:50
Isn’t that crazy. I’m going to tell you more about that in just a second. Hey Bob good morning.
0:01:54
I was just going to say I think that’s absolutely correct from personal experience.
Yes.
0:01:59
(Speaker 1)
You wake up one morning you’re like what the heck did I age overnight? What the heck?
0:02:03
(Speaker 4)
Is it going to keep going downhill this fast?
0:02:06
(Speaker 3)
Hopefully not.
0:02:07
(Speaker 1)
No, no, it’s not going to be. But you get these bursts of aging. Story was in the New York Times. It was a more recent story in the last couple of days about something that’s been talked about for the last couple of years, or maybe even last year. But this updated version was called, Do We Age Steadily or in bursts?
0:02:27
(Speaker 1)
And there’s new technologies that are giving scientists a better understanding of how the process actually works. And they found out there might be a scientific reason for this experience. They were analyzing what they call age-related markers like proteins, DNA tags, and the bloodstream stuff that we couldn’t identify in a lineup because we’re not scientists, but some of the scientists have come to understand that aging in adulthood is not a linear process, okay?
0:03:00
(Speaker 1)
So they started to look into these dramatic jumps at certain points in one’s life, and here’s what they learned so far, and what this could mean for your life, right, and your lifespan. And they don’t think, these scientists, because they don’t tell you a lot, they wait until they write the papers, they suspect things, right? They suspect things and then they keep it to themselves, they tell other scientists
0:03:24
(Speaker 1)
and they keep studying and then they always suspected that aging might happen in bursts. But they only started using what they call molecular signals, probably because they didn’t have the technology to do so, in the last decade or so. So there was a widely covered study, the New York Times was reporting on, that was published last year and I went and looked it up and everybody was talking about it, that tracked several molecular changes associated with aging in blood samples.
0:03:52
(Speaker 1)
They did like 108 people between the ages of 25 and 75 and they started comparing the samples at different ages and they found, can I have a drum roll for this Bobby, they found, you got a drum roll, you’re standing
0:04:05
(Speaker 4)
I gotta set up when you say that
0:04:07
(Speaker 1)
I’m gonna wait for the drum roll because it’s very exciting Okay, by comparing samples from different subjects of different ages it found that people seemed to age more rapidly around age 44 and again around 60 Wow, that’s very very very loud that they say. So if you want to think about your own life, if you’re not at 44, get ready.
0:04:33
(Speaker 1)
If you are at 44 and beyond, you may have noticed that. If you are 60 and you notice something, yeah, and if you pass 60 and you look back, you’re like, you know, when I was 60, I felt it all fall apart, yeah, yeah. So, also last year, there’s this, they did a study on mice, they were looking at these mice, and it was co-authored by Dr. Hoffman, who was mentioned in the article, and they found that sudden chemical modifications to the DNA occurred in the mice’s early to midlife, and again in mid to late life, suggesting there were three discrete stages
0:05:11
(Speaker 1)
Now I don’t know about the humans, but right now we only have 44 and 60. And so yeah, I guess it’s important we know this because there’s other data suggesting that certain organs like your heart or your brain may age faster than others. And that’s got to do with everything, okay. So whether they happen in spurts or phases, not really exactly sure. But people said, they said people should be kind of focusing on specific changes and conditions
0:05:42
(Speaker 1)
that correlate with a particular age, right? So that they can, you know, figure out how to do more to help themselves stay well at these certain ages. Okay, we’re just trying here, trying here, they’re going to keep researching while we just keep reading this stuff going. I think I’m going to die.
0:05:58
(Speaker 1)
I can’t believe it. I’m kidding. Okay, this is Wellness Wednesday, so I like to talk about this sort of thing, right? All right, heart disease more common in people over 65, but treatments are better than ever. Just had a friend have a heart attack. Made me feel very upset. It was last week. Good friend.
0:06:15
(Speaker 1)
And got, you know, text. Everybody tells everybody everything by text. Good, bad, or ugly. Did you hear about… I’m like oh no… and then it goes back and forth oh no and then you text the person and the other person and hopefully the person wakes up in the hospital and sees the text. That’s how we’re doing it these days. But yeah apparently the the treatments are better than ever. You know people are aging better and there’s more knowledge right and they have new insights into older hearts. They said that actually can complicate decision-making for older heart patients because I don’t know why, but apparently they think so.
0:06:57
(Speaker 1)
It was a Motown hit they refer to back in the day. I don’t know if you remember it. It was from the Isley Brothers. This old heart of mine is weak for you. Don’t go down. Don’t go down.
0:07:07
(Speaker 1)
Heart disease is the nation’s leading cause of death and disability, and about 6% of the people who live here in America between the ages of 45 and 64 have it, but more than 18% of those over 65. So that’s when it starts picking up. Because the old hearts, oh, they’ve been around. And it gets stiffer as we age. Did you know that? I don’t know how you moisturize it, but they didn’t give me that information yet. It just doesn’t fill with blood as easily and the muscles don’t relax as well.
0:07:40
(Speaker 9)
Maybe olive oil.
0:07:41
(Speaker 1)
Maybe olive oil. Yeah, I got that. I got plenty of that. Age changes the blood vessels, which can grow rigid and cause hypertension, and the nerve fibers send electrical impulses to the heart. This affects all the other organs and everything that plays a help.
0:07:55
(Speaker 1)
And then after 75 is when things really accelerate. So just tipping you off. But the good news is that there have been dramatic improvements in recent years that have reduced both heart attacks and cardiac deaths. A lot of research in cardiology, really they’re spending a lot of money, and the medications are better than ever, and they know how to use them better.
0:08:20
(Speaker 1)
So there you go. And the reason why it might be complicated for patients in their 70s and beyond is that that certain procedures or regimens may not extend the lives of older patients or improve the quality of the remaining years, especially if they’ve already suffered heart attacks and have other stuff going on, right? So sometimes some of the recent stuff they’re doing don’t pay off for older patients.
0:08:44
(Speaker 1)
Too few of them sometimes take advantage of one intervention that does. All right. What some of the researchers are learning is, I’ll put the article up because it’s good about, you know, there’s a shock to the heart. An implantable cardioverter defibrillator. I can’t talk about all this right now.
0:08:58
(Speaker 1)
I’ll put the article up. Just get the point. The point was, the point was, the point. You know what the point was?
0:09:04
(Speaker 4)
I think so.
0:09:05
(Speaker 1)
You’re not crazy. Your body does age really fast at certain ages. Age of 44 and 60. Moving on, moving on. I want to talk about how ping pong is helping New Yorkers beat Parkinson’s disease. I was so early on this story.
0:09:18
(Speaker 1)
I had the creator of this, who, who, Meenad Bak, who created, who had got Parkinson’s disease and he realized that ping pong was helping everybody. He was on my show years ago, right when he first came out with it. I’m always ahead of the curve. Trust me on that. And now it’s a New York Post story, actually, today.
0:09:38
(Speaker 1)
How ping pong is helping New Yorkers beat Parkinson’s disease. They can’t get enough. It’s a great, great story. And I’ll just reiterate it when we come back for just a second. As I move through the show today, with all the fun things I found out for you about how to keep the live in alive, so we can all have more fun while we’re here and do better trying to stay here longer. Okay, I’m Debbie Nigro.
0:09:59
(Speaker 5)
If you want my heart, baby, you’re gonna have to work for it. Work for it, work for it, work for it.
0:10:11
(Speaker 2)
I’ll show you just my type.
0:10:14
(Speaker 1)
Not much on this planet you don’t have to work for, really. It’s okay, it’s okay, work is good. It’s good, it keeps you moving. Hi everybody, I’m Debbie Nigro. And, um, yeah, you kind of just got to work for, I don’t know, anything you want to achieve, right?
0:10:32
(Speaker 1)
A good life, clean house, good friends. You got to put a little effort in there. Don’t just show up, all right? Just think people show up. Sometimes they do, but mostly it’s you creating the good energy that puts it out there and everybody wants to be around you.
0:10:45
(Speaker 1)
Do not underestimate good energy. It is contagious. I know this. I know this. All right, so I was talking about this ping-pong and how it’s helping people beat Parkinson’s disease. Pretty fascinating. Pretty fascinating. A couple of years ago, I had this amazing person on my show, Nenad Bak. And he was introduced to me by my good buddy, who knew him well, Lisa, who I love and adoring. I got to give her a call, I miss her.
0:11:17
(Speaker 1)
Anyway, he’s a Croatian-American musician, very, very famous around the world, who had performed with like Pavarotti and Bono and he was at Woodstock. And then he got diagnosed in 2010 with his symptoms getting so bad from Parkinson’s disease,
0:11:33
(Speaker 1)
he couldn’t play guitar anymore, the way he used to. He actually had to stop performing publicly. He’s 70 years old now. Then he started playing ping pong. And like after three or four months, he could play again. He said, if I help myself, why not others? That’s when everything started. So he is the founder of ping pong Parkinson. He did it in 2017. And now there are over 3000 players all around the world. 50 in New York alone over there at the Flatiron District that play over at a place called
0:12:05
(Speaker 1)
Spin that actually has encouraged this and embraced this and they kind of have a Parkinson’s camp over there. They have like a two-hour afternoon sessions before like the rest of the public comes in and they don’t turn anybody away. Even if somebody doesn’t have a $15 participation fee which pays the pros who help everybody get into the swing of things there’s a neon sign that that says do it together never alone and
0:12:32
(Speaker 1)
the players sort of kick off the sets by Stretching loudly introducing themselves, which is a common symptom of Parkinson’s is a soft voice So they speak up and pretty soon all the balls are flying around Everybody’s having a joyful time and he said you know box said he’s down that explain it to you. I can’t wait to play again. It’s like drinking water.
0:12:52
(Speaker 1)
You’re thirsty tomorrow and then in the afternoon, in the evening, the next day and it’s always welcome. Spin is a ping pong club, which you may or may not know was founded by Susan Sarandon, who you know is our TV Oscar winner, fabulous actress, actor. And they’re exploring nationwide expansion of the partnership and there are lounges in Boston, Chicago, Philly, San Francisco, Seattle and
0:13:16
(Speaker 1)
D.C. About a million people across the country are living with Parkinson’s, okay? And we expect 90,000 new cases every year. And it mostly affects people over 60, okay, which is weird, and it’s characterized by a progressive loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain. They’re known as the feel-good, you know, hormone, dopamine, and that’s the key to movement and motivation and all that stuff. And one of the doctors who’s a director of neuropsychology at Hackensack University Medical
0:13:48
(Speaker 1)
Center, Dr. Elizabeth Kira, who was mentioned in the article, said Parkinson’s patients often struggle to walk and control tremors because the disease significantly affects a certain region of the brain responsible for movement. So they’re always looking for ways other than medication to activate that certain area of the brain to produce more dopamine and apparently table tennis, ping pong is a perfect match for Parkinson’s.
0:14:14
(Speaker 1)
So it’s just incredible. It’s so exciting to read this and share with you again that this is helping, it’s working and people who are struggling with this don’t have to be idiots like stay home like they’re afraid that they’re back in society, right? It helps reintegrate them and make them feel less self-conscious. It’s so great. All right, so, there you go. Chronic illness, like everybody’s, a lot of people deal with chronic illness. You know,
0:14:41
(Speaker 1)
diabetes, hypertension, it’s one of these things. So, people who get depressed, who have chronic illnesses need to find ways out. And this is, whoa, this is a good one for people with Parkinson’s. Ping pong Parkinson’s community is like, come on, come on, come on. All right, there you go. I’m going to change subjects, Bob. Moving on.
0:14:59
(Speaker 3)
What?
0:15:00
(Speaker 4)
You’ve got no more to say about that?
0:15:01
(Speaker 1)
Okay. I don’t. I got other things. I got other things. So what do I want to tell you here? There’s so many things I want to talk about.
0:15:12
(Speaker 1)
I’m very a little, very a little, ridiculous comment. I’m a little concerned, okay, a lot concerned about the measles outbreaks growing in West Texas, New Mexico. I think I actually read there was one out in Long Island yesterday. This is very kind of scary. About six years ago, and I was reminded by reading CNN Health, there were two locations in New York. One was in Brooklyn and one was in Rockland County, New York
0:15:40
(Speaker 1)
They had the worst measles outbreaks in the United States that had been seen in decades. Okay, we actually eliminated measles from our country in 2000 but 2019 wow, that’s like that was like a really outrageous year and now new measles outbreaks are growing in West Texas,
0:16:03
(Speaker 1)
New Mexico, and testing sites and vaccine clinics have opened in outbreak areas. And the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention got there in Texas last week so they could back everybody up. But they’re concerned that this could still spread
0:16:21
(Speaker 1)
for months and months and months. Back in 2019, it was a quick response man. They’re like everybody was on that, you know, stop the measles let’s get this done the response was on the the unique needs of the communities that were most at risk, right and Well, he’s got to be aware this is this is like a public health thing it’s very dangerous for pregnant women in particular to be you know being the
0:16:44
(Speaker 1)
Get measles and especially the unborn child too. So just making you aware of that’s going on, all right. And you always think back, did I get vaccinated, right? Did I? Every child got vaccinated for measles as part of the growing up in this country
0:17:04
(Speaker 1)
as far as I remember, correct, Bob? Everybody?
0:17:07
(Speaker 4)
As far as I remember as well.
0:17:08
(Speaker 1)
Yeah.
0:17:09
(Speaker 2)
Yeah.
0:17:10
(Speaker 1)
But yeah, it’s time to like pay attention to some of these things that you can’t ignore, that need to stop, that there is an answer for, that we can solve this, and there’s no need for it, okay? People don’t need to suffer, people don’t need to die, it’s like, come on. Okay. And I understand choice about some things in life, but I don’t think this is a choice. I think this is an absolute necessity. Although I was thinking back, my gosh, you know, as a parent, you hope you did right by your kid, right? You
0:17:41
(Speaker 1)
don’t have kids, Bob, but you always just hope. I only had one. I don’t know these people keep track of two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten kids. When I hear people like, oh, I’m one of ten, I’m one of eleven, I’m like, what were these mothers? How do they even hold their brains together? But, you know, keeping track of kids’ health records, right, and what’s going on with them, each of them individually. We have records now that are easy to access because it’s all digital, but back then, right, they weren’t. And I was just sitting here thinking, where
0:18:08
(Speaker 1)
are my daughter’s health records? You know, she’s got her own kids now, but it’d be nice if I knew what, I think I gave them to her. Like, what parent does that? Kids never know where to put stuff. Anyway, I’ll get back to that. All right, moving on, Bob, moving on.
0:18:21
(Speaker 2)
I’ll tell you now.
0:18:22
(Speaker 1)
All these stories here. I’m very busy. I was looking at pheromones for a long time last night. I mentioned it on the show yesterday. Pheromones are our love chemicals. You know about that, right?
0:18:36
(Speaker 1)
And I had mentioned yesterday there was a woman who discovered human pheromones and then was able to extract them and stick them to scientists, a very serious woman, Dr. Winifred Cutler, and make them into perfume additives that you could, you know, add to any fragrance that you love and wear, because you couldn’t smell them, that would attract the opposite sex. So I started doing some homework last night, you know, what’s going on? I haven’t been to the Athena Institute website in, I don’t know, decades or a decade or two,
0:19:10
(Speaker 1)
because I was one of the first people to find out about her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, you know, hey, hi. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. But anyway, yeah, they’re still rocking and it still costs a hundred dollars a bottle. There’s all books and science and Dr. Winifred Cutler was a biologist who co-discovered human pheromones in 1986. And it’s not an aphrodisiac, it’s a toiletry. That’s right. It’s a toiletry
0:19:38
(Speaker 1)
We have one for men one for women. They have an aftershave additive for men Cost you a hundred bucks, but but don’t we make our own pheromones? I Think you need a little lift at some point, but thinking it’s like everything else that drips out I don’t know all right. You know I’m reading a lot about collagen lately because I’m Obviously missing some And I’m I’m taking it every single day in my coffee. I think I’m feeling it. I think I’m feeling the
0:20:07
(Speaker 1)
results. It helps your joints and your hair and your nails and your skin. You got to take it. Probably about the first month, you start seeing some things happen. Then the second month, you start seeing more things happen. Third month, you start seeing more things happen, unless you double up, which is called collagen loading, in which case you see more things happen faster that are good. I’ve got to tell you, I think I feel different. I’m going to get more research for you and come back to you on that.
0:20:29
(Speaker 1)
All right, I want to change subjects now. I want to change subjects now. Oh, okay.
0:20:33
(Speaker 2)
Yep, got to move on.
0:20:34
(Speaker 1)
So, the flowers make me happy, make everybody happy. We talked about flowers recently on the show. They change your mood. They just, they are great. And now I see the flowers coming back slowly, you know, a little pops through the ground, a little extra bud here and there. I last year got deeply into flower pots.
0:20:55
(Speaker 1)
I wanted to be like those other people whose houses I passed who had draping flowers coming over their balconies or over their windows and over their decks. I’m like, I’m getting it this year. I’m getting it done. So I got it done. I had two flower boxes that went on my rails.
0:21:09
(Speaker 1)
I bought the flowers and watered them, and I would admire them every day. I was like, look at me, I am mature enough to grow flowers. I’m a plant killer by nature. So my neighbor, who knows now that I can do this, sent me something the other day. I was like, oh my gosh, look at this. And it was a product, and I just want to throw it out because you may want to find out more
0:21:31
(Speaker 1)
about this. It’s called Plant Traps at planttraps.com, inspired by the balcony gardens of Europe. And what they are, are these plant garden containers that go right, turn your railings into a floating garden and you can have the balcony garden of your dreams. I can’t wait, I can’t wait.
0:21:52
(Speaker 1)
So of course I’m reading, reading, who’s behind this? It was some woman named Deborah, I love her, Deborah, who started, you know, I guess wanted to do this and then she figured it out. She invented this thing. She went on Shark Tank and she’s like, I’ll go to the place now.
0:22:06
(Speaker 1)
So plant traps, tuck it away. You want to look now before she runs out and you will be like me, proud, a proud real planter. Okay Bob, enough about that. I do have to move on.
0:22:17
(Speaker 4)
Oh, okay.
0:22:18
(Speaker 1)
Let’s go. I know I get you captivated, right?
0:22:22
(Speaker 8)
Yeah.
0:22:23
(Speaker 1)
So I’m reading Arianna Huffington this morning. You know who she is, right? She came up with the Huffington Post and sold it and moved on. She now is the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, focusing a lot on the wellness industry and the wellness world, and she writes a newsletter called On My Mind. I really like her and I follow her.
0:22:42
(Speaker 1)
Her headline was, Longevity is Everywhere, but It Isn’t Everything. So I said, oh, let me see what she’s got to say about this. Her first line was, don’t die. Good one. She said, that’s the simple mission statement of Brian Johnson, the tech entrepreneur, biohacker, who’s the subject of the new Netflix documentary, Don’t Die, the man who wants to live forever.
0:23:06
(Speaker 1)
You heard about him?
0:23:07
(Speaker 4)
No.
0:23:08
(Speaker 1)
Yes, I think he’s spending as much money as possible on every possible biohack to figure out how to live the longest of any human. I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s about. Anyway, longevity, that’s everywhere. It was in three conversations I had yesterday with people in other businesses that aren’t in the wellness business but are trying to get into the wellness business.
0:23:29
(Speaker 1)
And entrepreneurs are using, as she talks to here, AI to crack the longevity code. She speaks of cities vying to be the new longevity hubs and went on to say according to the top global consumer trends 2025, longevity will dominate the well-being industry in the coming year. So we got the gist, right? Longevity, which is going to be a lot easier to achieve for people who start worrying about that younger than older, okay?
0:23:59
(Speaker 1)
Younger you don’t have to make the mistakes because there’s new knowledge, there’s new information, there’s new motivation, new tricks to keep you on track so that you don’t do things that are antithetical to living long lives. In fact, drinking is a big sign that less people who are young are drinking alcohol while people who are baby boomers are probably the baby boozers now because they’re the ones who are drinking right so you know it’s information education choice right tech enabled mortality been in the
0:24:34
(Speaker 1)
conversation for a long time but she has she made a really interesting point and I just want to say that I’ll come back and just wrap it up because we cannot neglect our soul by losing ourselves in endless busyness and never ending to-do lists while never getting around to the big unspoken item that will eventually get its checkmark. Those are her words.
0:24:56
(Speaker 2)
Like the legend of the Phoenix Back to this legendary show Call it legendary, but I’m here again. Hi, buddy. I’m Debbie Nigro always great to be here. You know, I’ve been through a few fits and starts of Trying to stay alive myself over the years and I’m always grateful when I wake up and I get to do this again
0:25:13
(Speaker 1)
So thank you for tuning in. This is my Wellness Wednesday version of the show and I bring you information that I found interesting that I thought maybe would be useful. This last story I was talking about comes from Arianna Huffington who is the founder and CEO of Thrive Global. She invented the Huffington Post and everything and she writes this newsletter. It’s about longevity this week. She said longevity is everywhere but it isn’t everything. So I want to talk to the it isn’t everything phase here.
0:26:07
(Speaker 1)
You know, everybody’s trying to stay alive, stay alive, stay alive and do other things, but she was making a really big point about how just trying to, you know, work on the fact that we think we’re material beings and putting our existential eggs in one basket. Be careful not to diminish our appreciation and joy and the mystery and poetry and love that make life, however much we have of it, worth living.
0:26:35
(Speaker 1)
So, you know, it’s about living, and I thought she was, you know, supporting my message of keeping the live and alive really, really well here. You know, people are trying to optimize their lives like an algorithm right and
0:26:50
(Speaker 1)
The true meaning of life and I was telling a young person this the other day Who’s 18 years old was talking about their lives and I was listening in like whoa Really an 18 year old is telling you there about their life. That’s a major generational insight, man
0:27:04
(Speaker 4)
I was like whoa whoa hey
0:27:06
(Speaker 1)
I was with a 23 year old and a 27 year old this past weekend had a great day with my nephew and his girlfriend and You know I don’t know that the slang of Gen Z and I sent this cute girl something because I found some man you she’s like I mean Now with friends, I love her and she’s wrote back slay. I was like what? Wouldn’t know what that meant either. I actually had to look it up today. Okay. Well, it was a good it was a compliment Sla wisely
0:27:32
(Speaker 1)
Yeah, I think that’s what she meant. It means the slang to describe someone who has done exceptionally well or impressed others. So it’s like what I found out that I sent her a slay. I was like, oh, okay, I got to look this one up. Did you know that? I did not know.
0:27:50
(Speaker 1)
No, I did not know. Didn’t know. All right. We learned something together today. Anyway, what she was saying is, yeah, do what we can to lead a long life, but accepting that our life on earth will come to an end should make us more alive to it.
0:28:06
(Speaker 1)
Meaning we know this is a finite game here, right? You know, I don’t think anybody’s not going to die, even with all the technology and AI, all right? You know, how do you live a really good life? How do you live a good life and make sure it’s worth it, right? And then she put up a little like sticky with a saying on it said everything is super important right until you’re sick
0:28:30
(Speaker 1)
And then you realize there was only ever one thing that was important your health No truer words have been said no truer words And you’re talking about you know everybody if you got up today And you thought if you knew this was the last day What what’s on your list of things to do today be the things you do on your last day? Hmm might want to think about that.
0:28:50
(Speaker 1)
I want to think about that. Okay, I can move on from putting you in a position where you’re like, oh gosh, I better change my plans today.
0:28:57
(Speaker 7)
Oh gosh.
0:28:58
(Speaker 1)
Can’t be wasting this time here. All right, so I was reading Morning Brew this morning, and I like that. I talk about that a lot. I was, the headlines, they always have good headlines. Tariff chicken, like what is tariff chicken? But I didn’t stay there for that story.
0:29:16
(Speaker 1)
I was reading about, you know, thinking about, you know, you need some air, so you wanna travel, like where the, I wanna go where there’s fresh air, right? That’s your travel goal? Apparently your choice of destinations may be limited. Only seven countries meet or have met
0:29:34
(Speaker 1)
the World Health Organization’s air quality standards last year. That’s a story that came out yesterday. And so the countries in which you can breathe easily are Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Estonia, and Iceland. That’s what they found out. Not the United States.
0:29:55
(Speaker 1)
Nope. The countries with the most smog are Chad, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and India, but they’re hardly alone, there’s pollution everywhere. So WHO, the World Health Organization, suggests no more than 5 micrograms per cubic meter of any tiny toxic airborne particle known as PM2.5, and IQ Air determined only 17% of the world’s cities were able to meet that standard in 2024. They said, it’s not all bad news.
0:30:28
(Speaker 1)
I like when they give you the bad news and they go, oh, it’s not all bad news. The share of global cities making the grade last year was actually a significant jump from the year before. So people are doing better with the air. I mean, we don’t really have a choice
0:30:40
(Speaker 1)
unless you buy an air purifier to put in your house or you walk around with an air purifier, you know, hooked up to yourself. It is what it is. And we need air to breathe. We need food to live.
0:30:49
(Speaker 1)
And the food is, you know, sometimes the food has bacteria oh my gosh did you know strawberries can cause a neurovirus I don’t change the music change the music I gotta tell you this because I stopped in my tracks yesterday okay it’s one of those things I sent to my daughter if I would you should be grateful sometimes I’m not your mother because I send all kinds of news stories to my poor daughter.
0:31:14
(Speaker 1)
She’s like pregnant. She’s like, like really is like ma. But you know, she did have this, poor thing, she’s been going through a lot. My daughter is pregnant and was chasing a little two year old who ran under something in a park.
0:31:28
(Speaker 1)
Parents know when a kid runs away and you can’t get underneath or chase them fast enough because you’re an adult and you can’t fit. And went around the bed and she somehow tripped and hurt her knee and her back. And it was like, oh, poor,
0:31:37
(Speaker 1)
I mean, she really been having some challenges. Anyway, she did get the neurovirus from her, my granddaughter, that was not a pretty phase up there at the house. So I like to keep her posted. And I didn’t know if maybe this is how my granddaughter got it, because everybody loves strawberries in that house, me too.
0:31:55
(Speaker 1)
And I know that strawberries probably have a lot of bacteria on them, and I don’t know how you’re supposed to, how far you’re supposed to wash them, but we do our best, right? Prevention Magazine, Neurovirus in Berries has FDA adjusting food safety protocol. Like, what is this?
0:32:08
(Speaker 1)
Berries can harbor viruses that can make you sick. Thank you very much. The US Food and Drug Administration is trying to make the berry supply chain safer. Thank you very much. There are a few things you can do on your own
0:32:19
(Speaker 1)
to make your berries safe to eat. Thank you very much. What is it? So, I’m reading, because I’m like, what are you supposed to do? Because if you ever had a norovirus,
0:32:31
(Speaker 1)
that is not what you want to have.
0:32:34
(Speaker 4)
Isn’t there like a special spray to help clean vegetables?
0:32:37
(Speaker 1)
There is. And you know something? I don’t use it, but I think I’m going to start getting it because there’s just too much food nonsense going on. Yeah, they’re trying to enhance the berry safety, those FDA
0:32:46
(Speaker 1)
people, from the time the fruit is picked through the processing and beyond. But how do these viruses end up in the berries in the first place? I don’t know. So I don’t think they know yet. They’re trying to find out. The infectious disease people are trying to figure it out.
0:33:02
(Speaker 4)
The virus is like the berries, the same as we do.
0:33:05
(Speaker 3)
Something like that.
0:33:06
(Speaker 1)
Good taste. They have good taste. They don’t just grow norovirus or hepatitis A. Let me throw that in. They get contaminated with these viruses. And it’s from people who handle and process the fruit. That’s according to Darren Dittwiller, the food safety expert, and he wrote a book called
0:33:20
(Speaker 1)
Food Safety Past, Present and Predictions. He’s a professor up at Northwestern University, Northeastern, where actually I almost went to school there. He says historically there are lapses in sanitation which have occurred due to things like inadequate worker hygiene, which honestly I think is a big cause of a lot of things people get sick from, insufficient training, and you know that when things are hand harvested,
0:33:47
(Speaker 1)
right, it’s people’s hands. So berries do not have thick peels like other fruits. They’re delicate, they’re porous, so they’re very susceptible to contamination. So if anybody’s got, you end up getting sick, right? So there you go. What are you supposed to do? How do you clean these strawberries?
0:34:10
(Speaker 1)
What’s the FDA saying? What should I do here? Okay, I don’t think there’s only so much you can do. Buy berries that are grown and processed in the U.S. Okay, that’s number one. It’ll help decrease your likelihood of getting sick.
0:34:26
(Speaker 1)
Rinse your berries under running water before eating them, even if they’re labeled pre-washed. Use a colander to let the water flow over every crevice, rubbing gently to remove contaminants. Now, you’re not going to get all the germs out of there, but it will decrease the amount you’re exposed to. They said another one, Bob, let me just finish this thought. Another cleaning hack is to soak your berries in a special solution. A vinegar wash can help reduce viral
0:34:53
(Speaker 1)
loads. I was thinking that. I wasn’t at all. I was thinking nothing about that. You thought about that?
0:34:58
(Speaker 4)
Yeah. What’s the name? Apple cider vinegar is so great for all kinds of things.
0:35:04
(Speaker 1)
I just bought some more yesterday. Thanks so much for suggesting it. So this gentleman, Mr. Detwiller, recommends mixing three parts of water to one part vinegar, soaking the berries for five minutes and then rinsing them thoroughly. Again, not a surefire way to mitigate the disease, but, you know, helps. And you think, because you’ve got frozen berries in there, you’re out of the game here. Unfortunately, they said they’re also a concern, so rethink how you use these. Heat is your best defense.
0:35:29
(Speaker 1)
Boil your frozen berries for one to two minutes, rinse them. Yeah, it’s a lot. It’s exhausting to have strawberries. It’s exhausting.
0:35:35
(Speaker 4)
Of course, as far as we know, it’s just the strawberries, but maybe there’s other fruits too.
0:35:41
(Speaker 1)
I don’t know. I don’t know. Every five minutes, they’re recalling something. I don’t know if you’re supposed to wash it, not wash it. I actually buy spinach that says pre-wash, three triple wash, so I don’t have to wash it because I can’t be bothered every five minutes washing my food.
0:35:52
(Speaker 1)
But I think back to COVID. We were washing the outside of food packages. I remember washing bread that was in a plastic loaf with soap and water before I opened the bread. I mean, think about what we had to do, right? It was crazy. We didn’t have to, but a lot of people were acting nutso bonzo like me. Did you do anything nutso bonzo during COVID that now you would be like, no way? Well, wearing the mask as much as I did, maybe.
0:36:19
(Speaker 1)
Yeah. Yeah, you kept going. I see people walking around these days with masks on outside just walking. And I think they think, I don’t know if they’re sick or they’re trying to avoid getting sick. I don’t know which it is, but there are people who just made it part of their outfit. I am a girl who thinks and may incorporate future flights wearing an N95 mask, even though I don’t really like to wear a mask. But every time I have come back from a trip in the last two or three times, I’ve gotten
0:36:47
(Speaker 1)
sick. So I don’t know if it’s the plane or I don’t know what it is or touching something But I think maybe I’m going to try it and I’ll report back. I can’t give you the answer right now I don’t have all the answers. I have some information Coming on. Oh
0:36:59
(Speaker 4)
Well, we’re about to move on What we got we got a minute left and then we’re going to a break anyway So we do have that I have so many things
0:37:06
(Speaker 1)
All right
0:37:08
(Speaker 4)
Do you happen to have anything about Ozempic and Mongero and the new stuff they’ve learned about these drugs?
0:37:19
(Speaker 1)
Do I happen to have it handy in my pocket?
0:37:21
(Speaker 4)
Well, I was just wondering if that’s something you were going to talk about because I can certainly contribute a little bit here.
0:37:25
(Speaker 1)
Go ahead, tell me what you know.
0:37:26
(Speaker 4)
Well, apparently, they’re beginning to realize that it works on inflation in your body, which means because there’s inflation…
0:37:33
(Speaker 1)
Wait, wait, not inflation, inflammation.
0:37:35
(Speaker 4)
Thank you very much inflammation. And of course your whole body has that. And so they’re beginning to realize that these drugs could actually be fixing everything in your body pretty much. Not just weight loss. Oh my gosh. Yes. Oh my gosh. I know. You thought they were expensive now just wait. Yeah that is a big story.
0:37:57
(Speaker 1)
It’s always in a conversation. Everybody I talk to either is on it or can’t get it or thinks it’s too expensive or or. Now I was interested and I was told that maybe it’s not my best choice but I’m going to go have another conversation because it’s just too interesting, right? The problem is you stop taking it and everything goes back to the way it was before. I don’t know if we’re all ready for that I don’t know if that means the inflammation does too but you’re right. These drugs come out saying that they do decrease inflammation and there’s now new evidence, and this was from last month, that shows it
0:38:33
(Speaker 1)
may decrease inflammation in the brain, which can help people with Parkinson’s I was just talking about.
0:38:38
(Speaker 6)
Alzheimer’s.
0:38:39
(Speaker 1)
Right, because it’s all about inflammation to the brain. Good catch, Bobby. Thanks for joining in the conversation.
0:38:44
(Speaker 2)
If you need a drink, then I’m fine If you need a minute to think, I got time If you need a shoulder, come over It’s all good, baby, cry on mine Mr. Bossman’s on your back You left your laptop in the taxi cabin
0:39:00
(Speaker 2)
You’re crying in the park on your break Your boyfriend can’t talk, you can’t listen I like this song, makes me happy
0:39:06
(Speaker 1)
Some songs just, you know, get you. Not for each person. It’s not the same. Trust me, because I’ll be like, hey, you love this? No, not my thing. Hi, everybody. I’m Debbie Nigro. It’s my Wellness Wednesday version of the show, and I’m wrapping up my last segment here. I want to talk about travel warnings for spring break and the terrible story. I can’t get out of my head that poor girl who’s missing the Dominican Republic, every parent’s worst nightmare. And just it’s so painful to read this story. And she’s a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student, who you may have heard the news about, went missing six days ago,
0:39:43
(Speaker 1)
while vacationing in Punta Cana. And she was at the Rio… she was at the beach of the Rio Republica Hotel in the early hours. So, I don’t know, frantic pursuit. People are flying in from all over the place. India, where her family’s from, United States, Dominican Republic. And they don’t have a lot of clues and You know she was there a bunch of girls on a college spring break
0:40:04
(Speaker 1)
It’s just she was with some guy apparently and he came back to the hotel when she didn’t
0:40:10
(Speaker 4)
So there’s there’s a you know there’s a path for them to follow here Believe something I just I don’t think I just want to say if you go with friends on a trip
0:40:18
(Speaker 1)
Do not leave each other yeah in a strange place do not leave each other ever in a strange place. And there are travel warnings this year for popular Caribbean tourist locations. The U.S. State Department has upgraded travel alerts. One is Turks and Caicos, level two, exercise, increase caution. For every location, just check ahead. I should put it up because it’s not like I guess ever it’s been, I don’t know, does it always change? Is it just worse now than ever before? But there are certain places they are up on that you need to be very, very alert if you’re
0:40:59
(Speaker 1)
traveling to, if you choose to travel or maybe not travel because the warnings are pretty loud, you know? How could you relax if there’s these crazy warnings about your safety? All right, you know, you will make your own decisions, but I just wanted to put that out there. I have the press releases for the US Department of State.
0:41:34
(Speaker 1)
What do you think I do with all this information in my head every day? My gosh, it’s so much. But I love doing it, love sharing with you guys, helps me, helps you, hopefully we have a little fun in between and then we end it and say bye bye like I’m going to do now with some inspiration. Attention everyone, it’s the Daily Toast on the Debbie Nigro Show. You know I love positivity and I love
0:41:54
(Speaker 1)
you know life and it says, I do believe a lot of how we live our life has to do with how we think we can, right? So here’s my thought for the day. Believe you can and you’re halfway there. I also like keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you. That I like to like is never too late to be what you might have been and to live life to the
0:42:14
(Speaker 1)
fullest and focus on the positive. But let’s stop there Debbie. Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow. WGCH 1490 on the dial. WGCH.com is the digital live stream. My website is DebbieNigro.com free newsletter. Love you to sign up. I’m on Facebook, Instagram at The Real Debbie Nigro, Facebook, The Debbie Nigro Show, LinkedIn. And I’m out of here. Feeling good today. I’m going to go enjoy the day. You should too. See you later.
