5 Healthyish Things I like/don't like this week, including buckwheat pillows

Headlines that promise bold, clear-cut, simple answers about health are fun to click on. But science is complex and ever-evolving. Anyone who says they definitively know the answer is being extremist to gain followers (shouts to Examine’s amazing Co-Founders Kamal Patel and friend Sol Orwell).

Moderate opinions on science and health are boooring, and saying “I don’t know, it depends” won’t get you followers. But IDKID is often the truest answer in health.

Since I’m assuming this will become a recurring theme here at 5HT, presenting… your newest viral landing page: IDKID. Think of it as the new TLDR. (No applause, please.)

Long story short, try to come to peace with the notion that there aren’t many “obvious” answers in health–and watch out for anyone who says they know something for sure.

Speaking of claiming you know something for sure, it turns out it’s not totally clear that sunscreen does more harm than good. Last week, I implored you all to ignore fear mongering on TikTok and slather it on liberally. But some of my nerdier health science friends reminded me that the advantages and disadvantages of sunscreen are not so… tan and burnt?

Friend Justin Mares explains some sunscreen might make sun damage worse, essentially ushering the damaging UVA rays in through the back door. Friend Robin Berzin, MD recommends EWG’s “Guide to Sunscreen” and recommends Babo Botanicals sunscreens (this for adults and this for kids) because they use non-toxic zinc oxide as the active ingredient.

So should we be focusing on alternative ways to avoid sunburn, like giant hats and linen button-downs, and throwing our Sum Bum in the trash? IDKID. Like so many things, it’s about trade-offs. If you’re in the sun for hours a day, that extra protection may be less damaging than the direct sun exposure. Yes, ideally it’s mineral-based sunscreen but–in a pinch–there’s toxic stuff everywhere so it might be okay to use the chemical stuff, too. 

Ultimately, friend John Durant says his best advice is "don't get sunburned” and that everything else is cosmetic. So do with that what you will.

I have a terrible back, which makes me sad. 😔 But hey, now I know lots about the right stretches, back-strengthening exercises, and intense fascia-focused deep tissue massages at AustinDEEP (highly recommend).

One thing I haven’t been able to solve, though, has been my pillow situation.. until now! I first heard about “buckwheat pillows” from friend Nick Gray (one of the most interesting people I know, he writes a killer newsletter and recently blew up on Twitter for his blind date in Tokyo). He said he loves his buckwheat pillow so much he travels with it.

After doing more research, I bought this Hullo buckwheat pillow and you should too. I get that a pillow literally filled with buckwheat hulls sounds less glamorous (and literally sounds noisier) than down feathers, but a couple months in it’s by far the best pillow I’ve ever used. It basically molds to my head and gives my neck the support it needs. I even bought a travel-sized version (thanks, Nick!).

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are like the leeches of the healthcare system. They’re the needless middle-man who decides the actual cost of medicine, how much the insurance will pay for, and how much the pharmacy will sell them for. Their “job” is to negotiate lower costs, but instead they usually jack them up and pocket the extra cash. 😠 A recent NYT article highlighted the role PBMs play in the high cost of prescription drugs–and I think their bullshit needs to be called out as often as possible. Many companies I know have tried to fix this, but like most things in health care it’s almost impossible to dislodge. It’s rude and unfair, and we can all hate it together.

Until we can end PBMs, here's my advice for keeping drug costs down:

• Ask your pharmacists for coupons like GoodRx (which, by the way, typically just find the lowest-priced PBM network deal 🙄) or bring your own.

• Ask what the out of pocket cost is (because, yuck, it could be cheaper than even your copay). 

• And don’t be afraid to use generics.

I got to be an early member of Function Health (founded, among others, by friends CEO Jonathan Swerdlin and Mark Hyman, MD), which offers robust lab testing of over 100 biomarkers (5x what your typical annual physical labs includes) twice a year for $499. Function shares that data in a beautiful, simple interface, showing how each test compares, adding digestible explanations of every result, and giving personalized clinician notes to discuss with your doctor. 

For example, I used my first round of testing to confirm some consistently out-of-range heart health biomarkers, started taking a statin, and saw its impact in my second round of testing. I’m a big fan… and not just because it says my biological age is 25.2 (though that’s very flattering, Function, thank you). 

Yes, it is just a layer on top of Quest lab work. But I’m all about making healthcare more accessible and a major part of that is finding ways to empower the health care consumer with useful knowledge. Creating something people will actually use (and pay out-of-pocket for) in healthcare is no easy feat—and in their Series A raise announcement from Andreessen Horowitz earlier this week– they claim 50K+ members! I’m excited for them–and think it’s the perfect example of how the opportunity to consumerize parts of health care is sky high.

(BTW If you’re interested and want to skip their waiting list, I’ve got 5 free codes you can access here.)