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Daily Edition • Thursday, April 9

Cooking Just Once a Week May Help Lower Dementia Risk

A spread of various dishes including shrimp, salmon, greens, and fried potatoes on a table with hands serving food.

Bilderboken/Unsplash

Yes, Chef: Cooking at home is a good way to save money, eat fewer calories, and have more control over what you’re consuming. But new research has pointed to another potential health benefit of even just one home-cooked meal per week: lowered risk of dementia for older adults.

The Study: Researchers analyzed questionnaire responses from 10,978 adults aged 65 and older enrolled in the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study and tracked dementia diagnoses over the following six years. Nearly 1,200 of them had developed dementia, but male and female participants who cooked meals from scratch had a 23% and 27% reduced risk of the disease, respectively.

The Takeaway: Even novice chefs cooking simple meals experienced benefits. Cooking at home was associated with an up to 67% lowered risk of dementia for adults who were less skilled at cooking. Learning new skills combined with the prepping, chopping, and measuring ingredients stimulated the brain in addition to improving diet, according to the researchers.

Keep in Mind: The study was observational, so it didn’t prove that cooking prevents dementia. Previous research indicates modifiable lifestyle habits, like diet, physical activity, and mental stimulation, can impact dementia risk.

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Spring Nights, Smoother Mornings

A hand reaches for a small bottle labeled "Z" above a box of ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol probiotic drink containing multiple vials.

Courtesy: Zbiotics

Warmer evenings tend to bring more dinners outside, backyard gatherings, and that extra glass of wine that stretches the night a little longer. But much of the next-day sluggishness people blame on alcohol actually comes from acetaldehyde, a toxic byproduct your body produces when it breaks down alcohol.

Zbiotics Pre-Alcohol takes a science-first approach. It’s a genetically engineered probiotic designed to break down acetaldehyde in the gut. Drink one small bottle before your first alcoholic beverage, and it works while you’re out enjoying the night. Right now, you can use code ALLHEALTHY for 15% off.

See How It Works

Thank you for supporting our sponsors! They help us keep All Healthy free.

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Beauty & Skincare

Braces Are the New Filler — At Least According to TikTok

Red novelty dentures with white teeth displayed in a pattern on a pink background.

Filip Mishevski/Unsplash

The Trend: “Facial balancing” is the latest trend in the beauty world. It’s the idea that a combination of subtle cosmetic tweaks can even out symmetry — and recently, braces have emerged as a go-to tool. TikTok creators are posting before-and-afters showing how aligners and braces reshaped their jawlines and profiles without filler or Botox. Of course, orthodontists already knew this — realigning your bite can expand a narrow arch, improve lip support, and smooth asymmetries that fillers can’t fake.

What People Are Saying: Filler sales have been declining. For example, Juvéderm’s revenue was down over 16% in 2024 — and the aesthetics market is moving toward a less-is-more approach. Dentists say orthodontics have always shifted facial structure — TikTok just made people notice. However, some providers are warning that braces are a medical treatment, and when it's all about looks, that’s closer to misuse than medicine.

What to Know: If you’re curious, talk to an orthodontist instead of consulting your TikTok algorithm. Aligners and braces can definitely adjust your profile, but the results are gradual (taking 12 to 24 months) and depend on your anatomy. Add retainers on top of that to maintain the effect, and you’re looking at a pretty long game.

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Fitness

What’s Actually Happening Inside a Marathon Runner’s Body

Runners in bright athletic wear participate in a marathon, passing by a modern building under sunny skies.

Henry Ren/Unsplash

You Should Know: Spring marathon season is here. If you've ever watched someone cross a finish line looking simultaneously triumphant and completely destroyed after running 26.2 miles, there's a legit physiological reason for that. Running for that long puts your entire body through an acute stress test and demands more of it than almost any other activity. Your heart rate climbs dramatically, and cardiac output can increase by as much as eight times.

Going Deeper: Things get weirder inside your body as the miles accumulate. Blood flow gets redirected away from the gut by as much as 80%, which explains why GI distress is so common on race day. Around miles 18 to 20, most runners exhaust their glycogen stores and hit the infamous wall, forcing the body to switch to fat as fuel, which is a slower process that tends to affect your pace.

Takeaway: Post-race soreness, which typically peaks in the 24 to 72 hours after finishing, is the body repairing the microscopic muscle damage caused by tens of thousands of steps. So all that soreness is part of the recovery process.

Bottom Line: Running a marathon is a full-body physiological event, and the recovery is part of the experience.

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Quick Picks

Pollen Problem — Here are the 20 worst U.S. cities for spring allergies.

Instant Relief — Can you speed up how fast pain relievers work?

Reset — What if your skincare could tell your skin cells it’s time to repair?*

Tangled Up — Is sitting with your legs crossed actually bad for you?

Bubble Over — This is what daily diet soda does to your liver.

^*Indicates a brand partnership

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This, Not That

Workday Reset

THIS

A person casually using a smartphone while seated at a table with a laptop, coffee cup, and small potted plant.

NOT THAT

Getty/Unsplash, Jakub Zerdzicki/Unsplash

This: 2-minute breathing break
Not That: Stress scrolling

When work stress hits, it’s tempting to reach for your phone — but scrolling can actually increase stress and stifle creativity. Just a couple minutes of slow breathing downshifts your nervous system, leaving you refreshed and more productive when it's time to dive back in.

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What We're Cooking

Summer Tortellini Skillet

A colorful pasta dish with tortellini, zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, and herbs served in a blue skillet.

Courtesy: Simply Recipes

Serves: 4 | Cook Time: 20 minutes

Fresh produce, one skillet, and just 20 minutes is all you need to make this vibrant summer pasta. A mix of seasonal vegetables like tomatoes, zucchini, and sweet corn creates a perfectly balanced flavor combo, but the beauty of this recipe is its flexibility — feel free to use whatever veg you have on hand. Cheese-filled tortellini adds a rich, creamy touch, while a sprinkle of fresh herbs brightens everything up. It’s simple, quick, and full of fresh summer flavors that are just as nourishing as they are delicious.

Get The Full Recipe

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A Smarter Pre-Drink for Spring Social Season

Spring tends to mean more spontaneous drinks — patio dinners, weekend trips, celebrations that run a little later than planned. ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol is designed for those nights.

It’s a genetically engineered probiotic that targets acetaldehyde, the toxic byproduct produced when your body processes alcohol. Drink one small bottle before your first alcoholic beverage, and it goes to work in your gut while you enjoy the evening. It’s a simple step that can help make the next morning feel a lot better. And right now you can use code ALLHEALTHY for 15% off.

Plan A Better Morning

Thank you for supporting our sponsors! They help us keep All Healthy free.

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HEALTHY HABIT

The Morning Air Minute

Step outside within an hour of waking and stay there for one full minute, even if that’s all you’ve got. Morning light and fresh air help cue the body clock and can support alertness early in the day. Keep it tiny enough that it still happens on busy mornings.

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Final Thought

Colorful wildflowers in bloom, with green grass and mountains in the background under a clear blue sky.

We never reach a serious goal unless we have the intention of doing so.”

– John Wooden, Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success

Annie Spratt/Unsplash