Alex Manos - Health & Performance

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Alex Manos - Health & Performance

Alex Manos is a fully certified Functional Medicine practitioner, with a MSc in Nutrition. He is also a life coach and personal trainer.

Alex is a performance coach supporting people reach their true potential in life. Alex is a Functional Medicine Practitioner with a MSc in Nutrition and a 1st Class degree in Nutritional Therapy. He is also a Movement Therapist certified with The Gray Institute, NASM, EXOS, FMS, Paul Check and Premier. He is also a NLP Coach and currently certifying as a life coach.

06/06/2023

Which resonates with you right now?

01/06/2023

Truth.

02/05/2023

In September 2019 a vision was born.

A vision of becoming a breathwork facilitator and incorporating this in to my work as a functional medicine practitioner/health coach.

I’ve been on quite a journey since. And I am almost at the end of the first chapter (certifying as a transformational breath facilitator).

Having facilitated quite a few sessions now in our garden studio I have to pause and acknowledge that journey, and the accomplishment (historically I have never celebrated or given myself a pat on the back on any achievements or successes - it was ls always straight on to the next goal.)

The vision has finally become reality!

So I acknowledge the sacrifices that have been made, including those as a family unit.

I am grateful for all the beautiful people I have met along the way.

I acknowledge everyone who has trusted me to be their facilitator, allowing me in to what can be a very sacred and vulnerable experience.

This work is important. It can be healing at the deepest of levels. But as is often the case, the work really happens in between breath sessions. In the integration. As I was clearly reminded of yesterday, in a felt palpable way during a self-facilitated breath session.

I also acknowledge all the hard work my dad put in to convert the home gym in to this beautiful space. I love you. And I still owe you a beer! 🍻

26/04/2023

Hydrogen sulfide is detoxified in the colonocyte - a certain type of cell that is on the lining of the large intestine.

In cases of too fast colonic transit (i.e stuffs travelling through the colon too quickly) it can result in a reduced amount of hydrogen sulfide being absorbed by the cell, and thus a reduced amount of it being metabolised - thus more being released in flatulence.

= eggy smelling farts.

This would require a totally different approach to the concept of H2S SIBO, or a sulphur deficiency, being the cause.

Interesting!

27/03/2023

VO2 max explained 22% of the variance of an individuals relative gut bacteria.

VO2 max is the maximum rate of oxygen your body is able to use during exercise.

Everyone should try to increase their cardio respiratory endurance.

A higher VO2 max is associated with a lower risk of death.

15/03/2023

I read this quote recently and had to share. ❤️

The breath can tell us so much about a person.

And whether we realise it or not we have a relationship with our breath.

One that we can nourish and strengthen by becoming more aware of our breath.

That’s what breathwork ultimately is - intentionally becoming aware of the breath. How we ‘use’ or change the breath will be dependent on what we are trying to achieve - perhaps we’re looking to reduce anxiety, or improve energy, or get a better night sleep.

But another way to explore the breath is perhaps surrendering to the breath. Can we let go of striving, doing, controlling and come to understand that breath is life, it’s who we are, it’s spirit/source/alive/what connects all of us/and so much more.

What’s your relationship with your breath?

15/01/2023

Why would you take a prokinetic at bedtime?

(And are they recommended too often?)

“Colonic motility also follows a circadian rhythm with reduced nocturnal activity. Healthy humans have normal bowel motility during the day, frequently following awakening or following a meal, with minimal activity during the night.

Maladjusted circadian rhythms in the bowel have been linked to digestive pathologies, including constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.

Our advanced knowledge of the link between the circadian clock and gastrointestinal physiology provides potential therapeutic approaches for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases.”

07/01/2023

Mould has been in the news a lot recently and there is increasing understanding how certain toxic moulds can severely effect our health.

The paper cited above, authored by Dr. Bredesen summarises several case studies connecting mycotoxins with cognitive decline.

Link in bio to blog.

04/01/2023

I’ve written a little blog on glyphosate and human health.

It’s pretty scary when you look in to it. The third post sums it up well I think.

Link in bio to full blog.

What are your thoughts?

15/11/2022

The gut microbiome is only going to be as healthy as it’s host. And the host is only going to be as healthy as their environment.

Things to consider around circadian biology and our light environment include:

• Morning sunshine/light.
• Time restricted feeding with more calories earlier in the day.
• Limit artificial light at night.
• Limit artificial night before sunrise (relevant at this time of year here in the UK).
• Avoid high intensity exercise in the evenings.
• Get to bed on time.
• Be consistent.

When we consider how our environment significantly influences the gut microbiome we also need to be mindful that our physiology is (or should be) seasonal - referred to in the research as circannual rhythm.

08/11/2022

The findings appeared in the January 2008 issue of Chronobiology International.

“The health effects of light pollution have not been as well defined for humans as for wildlife, although a compelling amount of epidemiologic evidence points to a consistent association between exposure to indoor artificial nighttime light and health problems such as breast cancer, says George Brainard, a professor of neurology at Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. “That association does not prove that artificial light causes the problem. On the other hand, controlled laboratory studies do show that exposure to light during the night can disrupt circadian and neuroendocrine physiology, thereby accelerating tumor growth.”

The 24-hour day/night cycle, known as the circadian clock, affects physiologic processes in almost all organisms. These processes include brain wave patterns, hormone production, cell regulation, and other bio- logic activities. Disruption of the circadian clock is linked to several medical disorders in humans, including depression, insomnia, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, says Paolo Sassone-Corsi, chairman of the Pharmacology Department at the University of California, Irvine, who has done extensive research on the circadian clock. “Studies show that the circadian cycle controls from ten to fifteen percent of our genes,” he explains. “So the disruption of the circadian cycle can cause a lot of health problems.”

- Fromm ‘Missing the Dark Health Effects of Light Pollution’

04/11/2022

Fascinating paper on breast milk and the importance of chrononutrition.

The newborn can continue receiving the mother’s timed cues through breastmilk. Colostrum, transitional, and mature human milk are extraordinary complex biofluids that besides nutrients, contain an array of other non-nutritive components. Upon birth the first milk, colostrum, is rich in bioactive, immunological factors, and in complex oligosaccharides which help the proper establishment of the microbiome in the gut, which is crucial for the infants’ health. Hormones, such as glucocorticoids and melatonin, transfer from the mother’s plasma to milk, and then the infant is exposed to circadian cues from their mother. Also, milk components of fat, proteins, amino acids, and endogenous cannabinoids, among others, have a markedly different concentration between day and night.

If for whatever reason a newborn isn’t being breastfed then try and pay even more attention to the light/dark cycles. Use dim lighting in the evenings, and try and have a period of real darkness.

Unfortunately, there is only limited research on the role of breastfeeding and control of light-dark conditions in the establishment of infant circadian rhythms and wellbeing.

But the evidence we do have, fortunately, is compelling (i.e exposing premature infants to a light/dark cycle in neonatal clinics) and leading neonatal care societies to recommend this practice for clinical applications.

03/11/2022

One take away from research like this is that one of the most important health behaviours, for us and our future generations, is to limit artificial night at light.

For some of us this is obviously more important than others (i.e some of us have far more light pollution in and around our homes) but the simple use of blue light blocking glasses can help. And consider black out curtains - there are some cheap options available. Also limit technology use in the evenings and keep your home a little darker perhaps when appropriate - it’s good for our utility bills (and planet!) too!

Another important take away is that health is accumulative. How we feel and how resilient we are today is related to more than our life’s journey.

If I could give one piece of health advice to the younger generations it would be simple….maintaining health is far easier than regaining health. I appreciate health is not always totally in our control (sorry, but it’s not), but with what ever ‘control’ or autonomy we have, we need to ensure we use it wisely. This starts with education and understanding what is required for humans to thrive - the light environment is one of these.

02/11/2022

The real vitamin D….vitamin darkness!

How often do you experience true darkness? For most of us it’s rare these days.

When we consider just how important melatonin is for optimal health (see my previous posts) we simply have to consider our light environment.

In a recent review published this year the authors discussed how melatonin is a biological dark sensor, compared to vitamin D which is a biological light sensor. They state:

“Melatonin has become a popular dietary supplement, most known as a ‘chronobiotic’, and for establishing healthy sleep. Research over the last decade into cancer, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, fertility, PCOS, and many other conditions, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to greater awareness of melatonin because of its ability to act as a potent antioxidant, immune-active agent, and mitochondrial regulator.

There are distinct similarities between melatonin and vitamin D in the depth and breadth of their impact on health. Both act as hormones, affect multiple systems through their immune-modulating, anti-inflammatory functions, are found in the skin, and are responsive to sunlight and darkness. In fact, there may be similarities between the widespread concern about vitamin D deficiency as a "sunlight deficiency" and reduced melatonin secretion as a result of "darkness deficiency" from overexposure to artificial blue light.

The trend toward greater use of melatonin supplements has resulted in concern about its safety, especially higher doses, long-term use, and application in certain populations (e.g., children).”

21/10/2022

Infertility rates have worsened from 42 to 48.5 million couples worldwide between 1990 and 2010, affecting 1 out of 7 couples trying to conceive. In fact, a 1% yearly average decline of s***m concentration was recorded in semen quality studies between 1938 and 1991, alongside decreased s***m parameters and total motile s***m count, and increased morphological abnormalities. This alarmingly continuous decline of s***m count and human fertility worldwide are attributed to many factors, among which, the significant role of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), such as mycotoxins and pesticides, are not well established.

Although an international scientific consensus on s***m count rate was not achieved throughout the 1970s, a comprehensive review covering a 50-year longitudinal study reported irrefutable evidence of declining semen quality.

As several studies attempted to tackle the potential causes of this decline, Bahadur et al. suggested environmental pollution and lifestyle factors as decisive influences on reproductive health with a possible endocrine underlying cause, a possible intimation of epigenetics.

Since then, an accumulating body of evidence suggests that pre-conceptional exposure to lifestyle and environmental factors impact the phenotype of the current and subsequent generations through epigenetic mechanisms and developmental plasticity. Dietary habits, starvation, psychological traumas, alcohol consumption, smoking, toxins, physical activity, and other emerging factors have all been implicated in influencing the phenotype of organisms and their progeny. These non-genetic interventions, specifically though regulatory mechanisms known as epigenetics, regulate gene expression rather than induce gene mutations. Evidence is leaning toward these mechanisms in compromising the phenotype of the next generation through the remodeling of the epigenetic blueprint of s***matozoa

11/10/2022

“Soil and the human gut contain approximately the same number of active microorganisms, while human gut microbiome diversity is only 10% that of soil biodiversity and has decreased dramatically with the modern lifestyle. The authors tracked relationships between the soil microbiome and the human intestinal microbiome. They propose a novel environmental microbiome hypothesis, which implies that a close linkage between the soil microbiome and the human intestinal microbiome has evolved during evolution and is still developing. From hunter-gatherers to an urbanised society, the human gut has lost alpha diversity. Interestingly, beta diversity has increased, meaning that people in urban areas have more differentiated individual microbiomes. On top of little contact with soil and f***s, hygienic measures, antibiotics and a low fiber diet of processed food have led to a loss of beneficial microbes. At the same time, loss of soil biodiversity is observed in many rural areas. The increasing use of agrochemicals, low plant biodiversity and rigorous soil management practices have a negative effect on the biodiversity of crop epiphytes and endophytes. These developments concur with an increase in lifestyle diseases related to the human intestinal microbiome. They point out the interference with the microbial cycle of urban human environments versus pre-industrial rural environments. In order to correct these interferences, it may be useful to adopt a different perspective and to consider the human intestinal microbiome as well as the soil/root microbiome as ‘superorganisms’ which, by close contact, replenish each other with inoculants, genes and growth-sustaining molecules.”

We need to shift the entire paradigm of how we perceive health - away from us as individual organisms to appreciating our deep interconnectedness with nature.

PMID: 31450753

06/10/2022

As I prepare a presentation on resilience and autoimmune disease I’m reflecting on where to go with the ‘journey’. There’s so much that could be discussed!

But this quote really stood out to me. Another reminder that we don’t get sick on our own and we don’t heal or transform on our own.

We can’t consider ourself without considering our relationships, our environment, how we were brought up, how we relate to the world, the beliefs we have about our self, our body, our healing potential….and the list goes on and on.

Resilience is not a trait like once thought, but something that can be cultivated through numerous ways - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. All are important, but those that need prioritisation are always going to be personal and ever changing. ❤️

And often it may start with awareness and compassion.

It’s just so fascinating to see how deep it runs.

04/10/2022

Probiotics and prebiotics are all the rage but have you got good micronutrient status? These have a significant impact on all parameters of the microbiome from metabolic capacity, to overall composition, and diversity.

Also the latest research on methane adds further complexity to SIBO test interpretation (but I’d argue adds value to the test) and hydrogen is a potent antioxidant.

Whether it’s considering the ‘methane hot spots’ in the human body, or the fact that it has anti inflammatory and anti oxidative properties and may actually be produced by all living organisms…there’s a lot to consider.

Stay tuned for some webinars/YouTube videos diving in to this in more detail.

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http://www.alexmanos.co.uk/

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