Welcome to the positive corner of the internet. Every weekday, we make sense of the confusing world of wellness by analyzing the headlines, simplifying the latest research, and offering quick tips designed to make you healthier in less than 5 minutes. If you were forwarded this message, you can get the free daily email here.

Today’s Health Upgrade: Living Longer

Fact or Fiction: Do High-Protein Diets Cause Kidney Stones?

Sometimes, it’s not the usual suspect that is the root cause of a health issue.

Studies suggest that higher-protein diets are not a direct cause of kidney stones. However, ignoring other nutritional needs while eating more protein could increase your risk. 

Kidney stones are deposits of minerals and salt that build up in your urinary tract and are extremely painful. They tend to be associated with obesity and a lack of movement and exercise. But your diet and hydration also play a key role in prevention.

Some research suggests too much animal protein is associated with kidney stones, but a link only appears to occur if your diet lacks balance. Drinking more water, eating more fruits and vegetables, managing salt and sugar, and having enough potassium, calcium, and vitamin C can all help reduce your likelihood of getting a stone, even if you follow a higher-protein diet. 

A Better Way To Cool Down

With the summer months heating up in some parts of the world, here’s a tip that can help prevent you from overheating. 

If you want to cool down and recover or boost your performance at higher temperatures, drinking cold water is a more effective way to cool off than pouring water on your body.

But that’s not all. The quick cooldown could have some drawbacks.

When you’re hot, it’s natural to want to dump cool water over your head or put on a cool towel. While those aren’t bad options, it could confuse your body.

A cool towel on the back of your neck could slow your ability to cool off. According to an episode of Science Quickly, your brain helps regulate your body’s temperature. And the receptors for heating and cooling are located near the back of your neck. So when you put cold on your neck, it can trick your brain into thinking you are cooler than you are, which means your brain will shut off your body’s other chill-out mechanism and keep you dangerously hot.

Instead, two easy ways could help cool down your body more effectively.

1) Drink cold water, but not too fast. This one is the most obvious but shouldn’t be understated. However, too much too fast could confuse your body’s natural signals. So sip on the cold water. If you want to know how much to drink, use the Galpin Equation by our friend Andy Galpin. Take your body weight in pounds, divide it by 30, and that is the ounces of water you should drink every 15 minutes of hard exercise. So if you’re 180 pounds, you’d want to drink approximately 6 ounces of water (180/30) every 15 minutes.

2) Run cool water on the palms of your hands or the soles of your feet. These might seem odd, but these areas (AKA “non-hairy skin”) have special blood vessels that help you cool down quicker. But there’s no need for the water to be freezing. Cool water will do the trick.

Exercise of the Week

Everyone looks better with well-defined shoulders. But are you hitting your shoulders in a way that will make them pop?

In this post, we break down why so many people seem to have different ranges of motion for shoulder raises — and why you might be missing out on a muscle-building potential if you’re not focused on how you lower the weight. 

💪Article we recommend: The Secret To Happiness? Thinking About Death (From the very talented Michael Easter)

💪Instant Chef: Did you know a toaster oven is a quick way to prep vegetables? Chop them up, coat them in 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil, put the toaster rack on the bottom rung, and let them toast! (If you have a temperature setting, put it at 400-425 degrees Fahrenheit). They’ll taste like roasted veggies from the oven but in much less time!

💪Healthier in 4 Minutes: Research suggests that as little as 4.5 minutes per day of “vigorous physical activity” (such as sprinting stairs) can reduce your cancer risk by more than 30 percent.

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell