New here? Welcome to All Too Well, where I draw on my 20+ years of expertise in wellness and healthy living to bring you bits and bites of free info you can actually use: low or no-cost tips, light on the preaching, with a side order of musical wordplay. 🤗 Let’s dive in.
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If the swamp of summer weather has you dreaming of Iceland instead of Italy, hands up and show those sweaty pits. 🙋🏻♀️ Travel to cooler climates, aka “Coolcations,” is one of this year's biggest travel trends, with searches up 74% as travelers trade scorching beaches for milder destinations, whether for physical relief or in the name of dialing down their carbon footprint. My colleague Emily Johnson of Elevate Hospitality makes a compelling case that isn’t just about escaping the heat, but rethinking what it means to really get away.
On that note, just sharing: I recently slept under a bath towel in a 4-star hotel. 😳
No, I was not actively seeking a Coolcation. It was mid-summer in Texas heat and my room was blasting A/C (sleeping cold: good), but there wasn’t an extra blanket, let alone a robe, in the room (shivering into sleep: bad).
I learned the hard way how critical it is for hotels to think about the overnight experience during daylight hours.
And for my own travel comfort, fleshing out my room rider to request the extra touches in advance. More on this to come…
If you’re tossing and turning at home or away, here’s a new installment in the ABCs of sleep supplements.
Today is brought to you by the letter D, for DORAs.
⚡️ This adorable acronym is for Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonists, a new class of sleep drugs that has already shown promise to not only aid in real, restorative sleep instead of just sedation (these are not the same thing), but to actually actively benefit cognitive health, according to early research suggesting a reduction in Alzheimer’s-linked proteins.
Why is this important? Research is waking up (ha) to the risks of benzos like Xanax, which are increasingly linked to brain volume loss with long-term use, and Z-drugs which carry an FDA black box warning for complex sleep behaviors (like sleep-driving, forreal) and aren't recommended long-term due to tolerance and dependence. These include Ambien and Lunesta. Take note.
Three DORAs are currently FDA-approved, each with a different half-life:
Belsomra (suvorexant): first to market, 2014. ~12.5 hour half-life.
Dayvigo (lemborexant): 2019. Longest-acting (~16.7 hours), built for people who wake repeatedly.
Quviviq (daridorexant): newest, 2022. Shortest half-life (~8 hours), best next-day alertness.
The half-life matters: these are dosed once, before bed. Unlike some sleep meds, you can’t take one at 3am if you wake up. This recommendation is a slight departure from the standard column about supplements, so file under check with your doctor.
Last, it’s been three weeks and cyclosporiasis outbreak is showing very little sign of slowing. But just because it’s no longer the lead story in the dizzying news cycle, it does not mean you can breathe easy and start buying bagged salads again. For an updated list of products and produce to avoid, see here.
Annoyingly, this also means the nothing-but-meat-and-kimchi guys are really getting to enjoy their moment. 💨 👀
☀️ It’s August already. Happy weekend, all!
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