Using Movement as Medicine, and the Iowa Caucus

Good Morning,

From time to time I like to bring guest writers onto the newsletter to spice things up and keep perspective fresh.

Today I have a very special guest: My dad, Terry Sullivan. Some may call this act a sickening example of today’s era of rampant nepotism, but never fear! Terry has about 20 times the writing experience and 40 times the charm as I do. He spent a long career in communications, as well as in community journalism. In short, he’s qualified.

My dad is a former competitive runner, and currently you can find him on the Oregon coast smiling while running with his headphones tuned to Pink Floyd, Tom Petty and the Allman Brothers Band. 

Today’s weekly:

• 🗳️ A brief breakdown of the Iowa Caucus results

• 🏃🏽‍♂️How cardio can maintain a healthy brain (by Terry)

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In Brief: Takeaways From the Iowa Caucus

On Monday last week, the Iowa Caucus was held, kicking off the most draining 11 month stretch in America: election season. The Iowa Caucus is historically the first state primary “election”, which determines who the GOP will select as their nominee for the general election in November.

In a shock to no one, Donald Trump won the Caucus with 50+% of the vote, followed by Ron DeSantis, and billionaire Koch Brothers-backed Nikki Haley.

Headlines swirled: “Trump wins in landslide”. Except, it wasn’t really a landslide victory when you take a hard look at the numbers:

• Yes, Trump won over 50% of the vote, however, this year’s Iowa Caucus saw only ~110,000 voters turnout, the lowest turnout since the year 2000.

• That turnout also represents only 7% of registered republican voters in Iowa.

So Trump won in a landslide, if you consider a landslide to be 7% of registered republican voters in Iowa, and 3% of all registered voters in Iowa.

Its important to note that Trump essentially has an “incumbent” advantage as an ex-President. So I find it especially noteworthy that half of the Caucus voters cast their vote for other candidates who definitely will not be the nominee in November.

Ted Cruz won the Caucus in 2016, and Rick Santorum won in 2012. Neither of whom obviously became President. The truth is, the Iowa caucus is only useful for understanding how the people of Iowa view a particular set of candidates. And this year, republican voters in Iowa opted to stay home. A trend the GOP has struggled with since 2020.

The next primary election is New Hampshire on January 23. For what its worth, the last candidate to win both the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries in their respective party AND go on to win the presidency was… Jimmy Carter.

Movement as Medicine

By Terry Sullivan

One of my favorite mantras is that to age well one has to keep moving!  After witnessing both of my parents’ demise and their inability to embrace even the simplest of exercises, I committed myself to maintaining the exercise habits that had served me so well in my life. My core belief is that maintaining physical health into older age helps us to dodge the wheel chair, avoid ending up mostly horizontal and not needing help getting off the toilet.

I am aware I didn’t just make this belief up, so I was pleased to come across a recent study that affirmed this view and in fact, showed additional upsides to staying active as we age.

The study had 141 participants, all of whom had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders.  The average age of the participants was 38 years.

Participants got to pick a 16 week intervention of their choice.  One group was a “medicated” group.  The second group was a “running” group.  Surprisingly in today’s instant gratification culture, 96 of the 141 chose to participate in the running group which included at least two runs per week over the 16 week period.  The other 45 chose the meds prescribed for their level of the disorder.  Btw; two runs per week is considered to be at the low end of aerobic development.

The researchers tracked mental symptoms and severity, along with metabolic and immune system factors (heart rate, weight, lungs, hand grip strength and overall fitness).  My clear bias is to avoid meds and to keep moving, so I was very curious to see the study’s outcomes.

The very good news in the results is that if you prefer exercise to meds, both antidepressant meds AND running created similar improvements in participant’s mental health scores. A solid 45% of participants no longer met the diagnosis criteria for depression and anxiety disorder!  The even better results were that those who chose running over meds also showed significant improvement in their physical health, including weight loss, lower blood pressures and decreased resting heart rates.  

Meanwhile the group that chose meds, experienced the common side effects of antidepressant drugs, including weight gain and a reduction in overall physical health. The conclusion was that running had equal effectiveness as the meds in reducing depression symptoms, but instead of negative side effects, they experienced positive side effects!  Let that sink in!  

While you may not enjoy running, (most people I know don’t) if you are experiencing anxiety or depression, this (and other studies) indicate just a couple of sessions of exercise per week will bring the same benefit as those pharmaceuticals AND your overall health may improve.  I would add that I bet attitude would also improve knowing we are enjoying (feeling) better health.

As a near life long runner who like most humans has up and down days mentally and emotionally, I have found on the days that I run (or aqua jog in the pool), my happiness meter spikes in a positive direction.  This in turn seems to fuel my friendliness towards others which is important to my own sense of well being.  Plus I share this positive energy with those I encounter.  Win win!  If you struggle with anxiety or depression whether diagnosed or not, I’m not an expert and can’t promise a few runs per week will cure you.  However, I am quite comfortable suggesting that before you head to the pharmacy for a magic pill that may quiet your mind, but provide negative side effects, I say try moving your body instead.

If you have physical challenges that are exacerbated by gravity, going to your local community pool and doing water aerobics or aqua jogging can provide a similar benefit.  Whether the exercise is independent or instructor-led, moving our bodies in water can be just as useful as running or other movement activities you choose.  I choose running because I love it.  My wife prefers to jump rope.  Our children and friends choose combos of these and other things like yoga, cycling, kicking footbags and hiking.  The goal is to just move consistently. 

I got back into lots of running twenty years ago in my mid/late 40s.  Today I feel like I am still in my 40s. If you haven’t been very active in the past, you can begin with just walking or easy pool exercises or something else that moves you.  You just may be surprised at how quickly your body and your mind begin to crave movement.  That craving can be a game changer!