4 the Better: Little Purposes, Naps Benefit Your Brain, Packaged Shredded Cheese Downsides
Bite-sized inspiration and information in 4 minutes
A Purpose is a Purpose No Matter How Small
Alfred “Alfie” Date was well known for two things: first, he was Australia’s oldest man when he passed away at the age of 110 in 2016, and second, he became an international internet sensation (around the same age) for knitting adorable teeny tiny “little Penguin” sweaters for the rescued short-legged sea-birds.
As it turns out, Alfie, born in 1905, was a knitter from way back, first picking up his needles in the 1930s. A humble hobby of creating scarves and sweaters for his children and grandchildren was resurrected when the staff at his retirement home heard about the plight of the little penguins on Australia’s Phillip Island.
As a result of an oil spill that covered the birds in slime and caused their feathers to stick together, limiting their ability to function properly, Phillip Island’s Penguin Foundation had put out a call for knitted sweaters to keep the little penguins warm while they waited to be cleaned. The staff casually mentioned the story of the injured birds to Alfie, 109 at the time, who didn’t hesitate to dust off his needles and get to work.
As a designer, I was amazed and greatly appreciate the fact that Alfie didn’t just knit on autopilot…he meticulously created carefully crafted, beautiful designs for each itsy-bitsy jumper. He said, “I like to make it without mistakes and I don't excuse myself for doing it. (But) I think there is an excuse for a person who's gone beyond the normal span of life.”
Despite his advanced age, when most people would be resigned to simply sit and watch the world go by, Alfie chose to look to the future and use his skills for the sake of these tiny creatures that he didn’t even get a chance to meet. He is an inspiring story of choosing to live with a purpose, no matter the age, no matter how insignificant the impact appears to be.
Incidentally, after Alfie had knitted his quota of petite penguin outerwear, he turned his attention to creating beanies for premature babies, which—from the countless of uplifting stories I found on the net—is a great need that many grandparent needleworkers answer. I had no idea it was such a thing!
All these wonderful people prove that age does not determine our ability to make a meaningful difference in someone else’s life, no matter how small.
Naps Benefit Your Brain
Andrea’s dear friend Dick Bass used to call it “trickle charging,” taking brief cat naps anywhere he could. A car ride, sitting in a restaurant after eating lunch, leaning against a tree on a hike break….he could trickle charge anywhere, anytime.
Turns out Dick was on to something. A recent study published in Sleep Health found that people who habitually took daytime naps had brains that were larger by a volume equivalent to 2.6 to 6.5 years of aging compared to people who didn't nap.
The study, conducted by researchers at University College London, analyzed data from the UK Biobank cohort, looking at people aged 40 to 69. They discovered that those genetically predisposed to napping had larger total brain volumes, a marker of good brain health.
I am a HUGE fan of napping. It was requisite when I was pregnant, and even now, if I’ve had a rough sleep, I’ll break in the afternoon for a 30 to 45-minute trickle charge. Now I can rest easier knowing it’s actually benefiting my brain!
Packaged Shredded Cheese Downsides
As I made my husband a breakfast burrito this morning, I grabbed my trusty shredder from the butler’s pantry to grate a couple of tablespoons of cheese. The thought crossed my mind it was rather laborious for such a paltry amount of cheese…but then I remembered why I hand grate all our cheese.
Many packaged shreds include cellulose (a plant-based fiber), potato starch, and calcium sulfates as an anti-caking agent to prevent the cheese from clumping and sticking together or the antifungal Natamycin. Although all additives are FDA-approved and considered food-safe, to my mind, anything added that can accumulate over time in the body or contribute to the disruption of the gut microbiome is unnecessary.
Additionally, by the nature of several processing steps, there are many entry points for heavy metal contamination, which is increasingly becoming a health concern.
Lastly, I like to control what my family eats and select organic, grass-fed cheese…which, for obvious reasons, is not as readily available pre-shredded.
Washing a shredder takes a nano-second, I just had to remind myself not to be lazy.
