404: Why You Should Eat Your Carbs At Night, Ben’s Top Recovery Tactics, Can You Do Cold Therapy If You’re Sick & Much More!

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Listener Q&A:

Is Earthing Dangerous?…28:06

Ray asks: After your podcast with Clint Ober, I was fascinated with the science and immediately began digging deeper into the topic. I ordered Clint's sleeping mats for me, my wife and two boys, and as you know the mats plug into the ground via a wall outlet. We immediately noticed a huge positive difference when we began sleeping on the mats. Then I started reading and watching videos about dirty electricity dangers when using earthing mats that plug into the ground with the home outlets. They say the long ground wires create loops in our homes and act as antennas which pick up EMF's from everything including our appliances and wifi, and it focuses that EMF on our bodies while we sleep. Is this something you've researched, and if so, is it better to connect the mats using grounding rods?

In my response, I recommend:

Ben's Top Recovery Tactics…38:51

Aaron asks: I'm about a year into jiu-jitsu, and I've noticed a common theme from most of the upper belts. Everyone is always injured. I know that soreness and pulled muscles are inevitable, but I'm talking about more extreme injuries that require some sort of surgery. Can you recommend any recovery and injury prevention tactics that will help me avoid similar injuries?

In my response, I recommend:

Can You Do Cold Therapy If You're Sick?…52:25

Carmen from Germany asks: I want to start cold therapy for health reasons, but also to not always feel as cold as I do right now. I've tried cryotherapy and cold showers, but I've always gotten sick afterwards. I have Hashimoto's disease, and I'm also recovering from adrenal fatigue. A doctor once told me I get sick after trying cold therapy because my adrenals can't handle the cold. Is this true? How can I start any type of cold therapy, and what else from cold showers can I do?

In my response, I recommend:


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25 thoughts on “404: Why You Should Eat Your Carbs At Night, Ben’s Top Recovery Tactics, Can You Do Cold Therapy If You’re Sick & Much More!

  1. Ben S. says:

    Comment re: f.lux and Iris Tech software.

    I personally use Iris at the moment, but I’ve also used f.lux for many years in the past.

    Iris is highly configurable, but the UX is a bit of a mess and an average user not wanting to tweak a huge range of settings may well find f.lux easier to manage, since all you need to do is adjust your preferred color temperature for day / sunset / night. I also find on MacOS Iris draws more CPU load than f.lux, if that sort of thing matters to you.

    So am not sure I would agree with Ben that f.lux isn’t worth considering, since it does exactly what it is supposed to do – adjust the color temp to levels you set so that you can manage blue light before and after sunset. Again, I currently use Iris, but it does have some shortcomings.

  2. Interested in the compression gear recommendation. I have had some shoulder pain (mostly muscular) after starting a martial arts class. I’m 51, and the DOMS from it is – while not awful – irritating.

    Would the use of compression gear (in this case, a shirt, I suppose) be best implemented directly following the workout? And for how long? In other words, should I pop on a compression shirt as I’m changing out of my uniform?

  3. Harry says:

    not a single 404 joke in this episode?!

    1. Hah! I saw that on my browser as I was reading the show-notes here. First thought I had (as an IT guy) was “oh, crap, Ben’s got some issues.”

  4. RG says:

    Great break down on grounding devices Ben. I have another grounding question… would there be any difference between having the grounding product plugged into a power-board as opposed to it directly plugged into the wall outlet?

  5. Adam says:

    Assume I intermittent fast from about 8 pm and then workout (strength train) at 12:30 pm the next day with Aminos, and then eat first meal at 1:30 or 2 pm. First, is this an ok time to workout from a testosterone, etc. standpoint (vs. mid afternoon or early evening)? Second, would you still wait for carbs until your last meal, or are you better off having carbs in that first meal?

  6. nathan patry says:

    Hey Ben I use a chilipad and was wondering how a grounding pad would work in combo if at all?

    Thanks

    1. Yes, just make sure the grounding pad is on top of the chilipad. The grounding mat is thin and contains carbon which would also conduct chilipad's temperature, so there would be no interference in the effectiveness of the chilipad.

      1. nathan patry says:

        Thanks Ben

  7. Matt says:

    Hey, I’ve listened to you talk about the benefits of both cold exposure and sauna use. You mentioned how both of them are good to do in the morning. Is there any particular order that works best? how long should I wait in between? should I even do them both in the same day or alternate days? And if it effects your answer I train Muay Thai and jiu jitsu 5-6 times a week at night and a generally active person even when I’m not training. Thanks for all the great content and everything you do!

  8. Jakub says:

    Is there any benefit combining collagen with EAA? 20g of collagen with 10g of EAA instead of 40g collagen or 20g EAA. Also is it good to take peoteolytic enzymes together with collagen/EAA? aren’t they going to be used for digesting? Thanks!

  9. Meghan says:

    Why did you say that red meat is part of an inflammatory diet? Red meat is likely the most natural human food in existence, and certainly one of the most nutrient-dense foods. You know better than most (which I say because I’ve heard you talk about it). Even grain-fed red meat is still orders of magnitude better than most carbohydrate-rich food in grocery stores. Why are you all of a sudden parroting the mainstream medical community in this episode? Speaking of which, it would be great if you interviewed Shawn Baker one of these days.

  10. Stefanie Hilton says:

    What if you have Raynaud’s disease? Is cold therapy bad in this condition?

  11. Ed says:

    Love this issue! Never knew working out in cold is not a good thing. Thanks

  12. AMANDA DAIGLE says:

    I could not find the Hsp gene in my 23andme raw data. Why would that be, or is there something else I should be looking for?

    1. Taylor says:

      Same… i dont think it is in their data.

  13. Monika says:

    Thank you Ben, love your podcasts. This one was very useful, too. I love earthing tools and use them as much as I can at home.

  14. Aidan O Donovan says:

    Great episode, using the red light and infrared light now has improved the healing of a sprained ankle that was taking forever to heal.

  15. Alex Robinson says:

    Once again another great podcast. Information regarding earthing cleared-up all uncertainities.
    Thank you!

  16. Love all the great info Ben and have recommended your podcast to many people.

  17. Cara L Zaller says:

    If I turn off the circuit breaker to my bedroom at night so no electricity is coming in through the sockets, will the earthing sheet still ground me if it’s plugged in to the socket?

  18. Su says:

    First of these podcasts I’ve listened to and I will certainly be back to listen to more. Thank you.

  19. Fred says:

    Hi,

    very interesting! I was just wondering, for the carbs intake, if I am working out mostly in the morning and not the evening, should I consume most of my carbs at a different time of the day? Also, should I consume them before or after the workout?

    Thanks!

    1. Alex says:

      Unless you are working out again at night, there isn’t a need to have carbs post workout in the morning. Assuming you work out in a fasted state you should eat something post workout but doesn’t need to be carbs. I usually go high protein and high fat afterwards and have stuck to this for awhile. Seems to work well for me.

      1. herb says:

        Why do you not think you should avoid carbohydrates after a morning workout?
        There’s no special benefit to eating carbohydrates with dinner, if you have worked out in the morning.

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