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123: Holiday Gift Challenge 2022

Dec 13, 2022

It's that time of year when Scot, Mitch, and Troy, come bearing gifts for better health. The rules: one gift if the cost wasn't a consideration, one gift under $50, and the cheapo-challenge, one gift that costs the least. All gifts (except one from Scot, who didn't follow the rules) have helped the WCAMH crew pursue a healthier and more enjoyable life.

Episode Transcript

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Scot: All right. It's that time of year when Mitch, Troy, and myself, three not-so-wise men, come bearing gifts for better health.

It's "Who Cares About Men's Health," offering information, inspiration, and a different interpretation of men's health. And today is our best Christmas gifts to give for health, or at least our personal favorite ones. These are the gifts that we would give to somebody else if they were interested in being healthier.

My name is Scot Singpiel. I bring the BS. The MD to my BS, Dr. Troy Madsen.

Troy: Hey, Scot. I'm here. We've been giving gifts for a couple of years now, so this did take some thought on my part. Again, I'll admit I'm not a wise man, but I brought some gifts.

Scot: It was hard.

Troy: It was hard.

Scot: Also joining the show, Mitch Sears. His bells are jingling and jangling today. How are you doing?

Mitch: I'm doing well. I got all the myrrh because I guess that's . . . if we're the three not-wise men, someone had to bring it.

Scot: Oh, you're the myrrh?

Mitch: Yeah.

Troy: The myrrh?

Mitch: Myrrh.

Scot: Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. All right.

Troy: What is myrrh?

Scot: Yep. Good one. He's a myrrh.

Troy: I don't know what myrrh is.

Mitch: I think it's some sort of incense or something.

Troy: Oh, okay.

Scot: That might be good for your health. I don't know. Light some of that up and . . . I don't know if you smoke it or . . .

Troy: Why not?

Mitch: Smoke myrrh?

Troy: You probably don't smoke it.

Scot: Do you just let it kind of fill your room, like incense? I don't know.

All right. So, in no particular order, here are the ground rules for our gift giving. And these are gifts that you might choose to give somebody else if you're really struggling and they're into wellness.

And we're not talking about fitness nuts. The past couple years, we've tried to differentiate. If you go on the internet and you do a search for "gifts for better health" or whatever, it just seems to go to this extreme. You've got to be a fitness nut or you've got to be way into wellness. It's just not for normal people, right? So, hopefully, that's what we bring.

And we did have some rules. So each one of us has three gifts that we've put under the tree. The first gift is a gift that we would give somebody if cost was not a consideration. And let's be honest, these might be gifts we give ourselves, or these might be gifts you might just want to give yourself as a listener. The second one is a gift under $50. And the third one is a gift under $50, but we're going to try to see who could have the least expensive one. And I think I'm going to win that, by the way.

Mitch: You think so? It's like the cheapo challenge.

Troy: You really think so?

Scot: The cheapo challenge.

Troy: Yeah, what is yours? Like a piece of string you tie on your finger as a reminder to exercise or something?

Scot: Nope. That's number four now. That's a great idea.

Troy: That's number four. Okay.

Scot: All right. So my gift, if cost was not a consideration, my first thought was one of those Stream Dx that measures the velocity of your pee stream . . .

Mitch: Oh, sure.

Scot: . . . from Episode 99. Because I think that could be a lot of fun to pass around to your friends and compare graphs.

Troy: Have a holiday party and everyone goes in there and gets their graph to print out?

Scot: Yeah.

Troy: Nice.

Scot: So that was in Episode 99 about weak streams. You might want to check that episode out if you have a weak stream, find out what that means, if it's something you need to worry about. But I ended up going with a Tonal. Do you know what these Tonals are?

Mitch: Oh, sure.

Troy: The fitness thing?

Scot: Yeah.

Troy: The LeBron James ads?

Scot: Yes, the LeBron . . . It's the thing that goes on the wall and it looks like a cable crossover machine. It has two arms that stick out so you can do independent exercises, but then you can also connect them together with a bar, so you can do squats and bench presses. That thing costs . . . Does anybody know how much that thing costs?

Troy: Twenty-five hundred dollars?

Scot: Nope. Higher.

Troy: Whoa, serious?

Mitch: Yeah.

Troy: I went high. I didn't know it was higher.

Scot: On sale right now, $3,285.

Troy: Wow.

Mitch: Yeah, no.

Scot: And the reason I like it is it's compact. I mean, it can go on the wall. I think it could fit in just about anybody's house. If you want to kind of have some serious exercise equipment, it takes up a lot of space. This doesn't.

And also it comes with some kind of cool technology stuff, like this smart weight tech. So it figures out what kind of resistance you need and then increases that resistance every time you go back and exercise, so you don't have to write it down in a notebook.

Troy: Oh, wow.

Scot: It changes the resistance throughout the range of motion, so you're constantly challenging your muscles. Other exercises, if you do a bicep curl, when you get to some point, gravity is helping a little bit.

And then it also has that screen, and you can get these different workouts. You can choose the different workouts, which could maybe add some variety or motivation.

But in addition to that $3,285, you have to pay $49 a month for membership.

Mitch: Whoa.

Troy: That's the kicker.

Scot: Yes. Right? So anyway, doing this exercise kind of really made me think about something. This thing is cool and it's neat, and I like shiny gadgets, but it's just kind of totally unnecessary for the kind of fitness that I'm seeking. I don't need . . .

Troy: So, wait, you're telling people to get this gift and you're totally knocking it?

Scot: I'm not telling people to get the gift. The rule was a gift if cost was not a consideration. I immediately went to the Tonal, but then I started thinking it through and thinking not only am I stressed that I would not use it . . . Because how many times do you buy a piece of exercise equipment that you don't use? And this is a really expensive one to be . . .

Troy: Very expensive.

Scot: . . . a wall ornament. But it's also unnecessary for the kind of fitness that I'm seeking right now. I don't need the science of Rocky versus the Russian guy and all these different variations of exercise. Really, to get the kind of fitness that I need, just doing some body weight exercises or my kettlebells and squats and deadlifts with some simple weights.

Troy, I really admire what you do. You do some dumbbells and you've got your pull-up bar, right?

Troy: Yeah. That's pretty much it.

Scot: And that's the dosage . . .

Troy: That's my equipment, yeah.

Scot: Yeah, that's the dosage of physical activity that is good enough to help keep you healthy. Ultimately, at this point in my life, I'm not trying to be big and buff. I just want to be healthy.

So you could check out our Core Four Back to Basics: Physical Activity episode from this year, and we talk about what's the minimum dosage and what do you realistically have to do. It doesn't have to be the LeBron James workout. He's working out for a different reason, right?

Mitch: Yeah. Interesting.

Scot: The other thing I learned from this exercise is I often think that a thing is going to change my behavior, like, "If I get this thing now, all of a sudden I'll start exercising more. If I get that thing, I'll do something else." But it never does, right?

Troy: It's a common thought, though. I think we all think that. If we get a gym membership, we're going to feel obligated to go. And I think most people feel obligated for the month of January and then numbers drop off significantly after that. So yeah, it definitely has to come more from internal motivation.

But all that being said, I kind of like the idea of the Tonal as someone who doesn't really like going to gyms because it would give you that gym-level workout with a personal trainer from home. It's just going to cost a lot of money.

Mitch: Timeout. My cousin has one. They're rad, but at the same . . . It's really nice to do, but at the same time, I can pull up a YouTube video on my phone. And if you want this fancy-schmancy self-toning whatever, there are companies that make what they call smart tension bands for like $100 to $200 that do the exact same thing. You just have to mount it in between a doorframe or something like other little hand bands, or tie it off to a pair of furniture.

So the thing about the Tonal that breaks my brain is that you can do the exact same thing for a fraction of the price and get all the bells and whistles and everything. For renters as well, how do you install this thing, etc.? It's just man, oh man, I cannot imagine that much money on a single piece of equipment.

Troy: Yeah, it's a decent amount of money to spend. You could get a gym membership for a lot less, or like you said, Mitch, you could just watch some YouTube videos and get some tension bands or something, or resistance bands, or whatever works.

Mitch: You can even get smart tension bands for $200. You can even get that experience where it says, "Hey, your left arm is a little weaker. We're going to go ahead and turn it up." You can do that for $200.

Troy: Wow.

Scot: I hope that's one of your gifts. I want to hear more about that.

Mitch: No, it's not. I'll tell you off air.

Scot: Let's move on to Mitch. What's your first gift if cost was not a consideration?

Mitch: All right. Based on the person, buy them one piece of home workout equipment that fits in their office, whether that be an adjustable dumbbell or an adjustable kettlebell or a nice pull-up bar.

If you get nice versions of these, they'll run you $200, $300, $400 for everything, but I cannot tell you how often just having these little dumbbells in the corner of my office . . . I'll just pick them up for a minute. I'll just pick them up and kind of play around with them. Or while I'm waiting for an export or an email or something to render or something like that, I just hang . . . I can't do pullups yet, but I just hang on my pull-up bar, and I'm getting a little stronger every day.

And it's just like bringing in kind of that playful toy-type approach to fitness and just this little thing, rather than a big, huge, super expensive whatever. It's still pricey, but I think I would get a lot more . . . Me and the people in my life would get a lot more usage out of that kind of stuff.

Scot: I like that.

Troy: Yeah, I like it too. And I like too that you say you just have it there, and when you see it there, it's kind of like, "Hey, I'm just going to do some dumbbells to take a break here." I like that accessibility of it too.

Scot: Yeah, instead of picking up your phone, you pick up the dumbbell, right? Or instead of watching some video while you're waiting for something to happen, you could just do that. I've often thought about taking one of my kettlebells to work just because of that very reason.

Troy: Oh, sure.

Scot: We've learned that a workout doesn't have to be 30 minutes solid. It can be little exercise snacks, right? You could do three, four, or five minutes. You're just getting up, moving, putting some tension on the muscles. So I love that idea, especially just kind of small, compact, adjustable. Yeah, it's great.

Mitch: Yeah. These days, I have a relatively small apartment that I live in, and anytime I'm using the microwave, heating up whatever, I just go and hang for a while on my little bar just to build a little strength. And it's just something to do to see how long I can hold it, see if I can hold it until the food is done, etc. It's just little things, yeah.

Troy: Nice.

Scot: You gamify it a little bit.

All right. Troy, if cost was not a consideration, what would you get?

Troy: Okay, Scot. Mine is not nearly as expensive as yours. And I chose this for cost not a consideration because it is over $50, but not much over.

Scot: You are so frugal.

Mitch: Boom.

Scot: "It was $54."

Troy: It was $59. So this is a gift I got from my sister several years ago, and it's recovery sandals. So these are sandals that are designed to wear after running or after being on your feet a long time. The most popular brand name out there is OOFOS. You may have seen OOFOS.

And when I first got these, I never would've bought them for myself, never would've even considered it because I thought, "Oh, that's gimmicky. I don't need recovery sandals. That's silly."

I got them about three years ago. I finally wore them out and bought another pair this last summer because I like them so much. They just feel so good on your feet. If you're running or whatever you're doing on your feet, you're on your feet all day, come home, put these on, they distribute the weight more evenly.

So if you have certain areas that hurt . . .I've found they help a lot with plantar fasciitis or just certain parts of my feet that may be hurting. It just seems to make the recovery that much better.

And I will say, this summer, when I went to buy a new pair, I thought, "Well, I'm going to try a less expensive brand and just see what they're like." I got them and it was not the same. I will just say that. It was not the same, so I had to go for that brand name. But love them. They're great. I'd highly recommend them.

Scot: I think my wife has a pair of these clogs because she has some foot problems, and so she just uses them for house shoes. So when she's in the house, she wears them and then that helps with her foot and leg problems when she's standing practicing. She plays viola. So I think she has these. Yeah, she loves them. She swears by them too.

Troy: Yeah, they're great. And ideally, they're supposed to help with larger joint pain too, like you said, knees, hips, just because they distribute that weight more evenly.

Again, when I first got them, I was a little skeptical, but I can say at least for foot pain, which I'm very familiar with, they're wonderful. They just feel good.

Scot: All right. Round 2, this is a gift under $50. I'll go ahead and start here. This was really challenging for me. I found this year it was really hard because I don't really have anything I brought into my life for fitness. So unlike Troy, where I have personal experience with it, a lot of this is just, "Oh, this could be kind of cool."

How about this? For just under $50, the Panel Sound USAPA-approved Pickleball Paddle. You get two rackets, one carrying case, four balls, and two cooling towels.

Troy: What more could you want?

Scot: Yeah, I think it was like $40 for this. And then there was a bunch of them that were in the $50 to $70 range. But that's inspired by our Episode 110 where we tried pickleball, and that was a lot of fun.

And it was not only fun physically, just getting out . . . and I'm not super athletic, but I enjoyed it a lot . . . it was fun socially. It was fun getting out with the guys and just talking and playing. And I think if I had the rackets and the balls around the house, maybe I might be more likely to call you, Mitch.

Mitch: Oh, okay. Sure.

Scot: Where you live nearby, and we have a pickleball course nearby.

Troy: Nice.

Mitch: I do.

Scot: And we'll maybe go out. So anyway, that's my number two, a gift under $50. A little pickleball set there for your physical and emotional health.

All right. Mitch, what's your number two?

Mitch: So we're going to start with a question. I did a lot of research. How much time do you think the average man in a year spends defecating?

Troy: I knew you were going there.

Mitch: Yeah, poop.

Troy: I was going to interrupt you, and I was going to say, "On the toilet," and then you said defecating.

Mitch: Yes, 100%.

Troy: Actually defecating or just sitting on the toilet? Because those are two different things.

Mitch: The whole procedure.

Troy: The whole procedure.

Mitch: I don't know if anyone ever visits, but on Reddit, there's a board called r/theydidthemath, and it's mathematicians who figure things out. Any guesses?

Troy: I'm going to say 10 hours.

Scot: Okay. Hold on. Let's see. Probably one minute in the morning and one minute at night times 365 times two. What does that put me at minute-wise? Troy, do the math.

Mitch: One minute?

Troy: Wow, I don't even know.

Scot: Yeah, that's one thing I'm pretty happy about in my life.

Mitch: One minute?

Scot: I can sit down and it just . . . It's great.

Mitch: All right. Yeah, they did the math. Apparently, based on a whole bunch of different surveys that have been done by the NIH and some other groups, the average amount of time of a man spending in the toilet is 12 minutes. And then they times that by how often that's done and then blah, blah, blah. It equals 73 hours a year you will spend sitting on a toilet.

Troy: Seventy-three hours, yeah.

Scot: Twelve minutes a day, or a time? Each time?

Mitch: Each time.

Scot: You all need to eat more fiber.

Mitch: Sure. I mean, that's not my life, but that's the average based on science.

Troy: It's science. It's the NIH.

Scot: Where are you going with this? What gift is this going to . . . Is it going to be some . . .

Troy: Is it a toilet book?

Mitch: We're getting a Squatty Potty, y'all.

Troy: A Squatty Potty?

Mitch: I was skeptical of it originally. My last partner had one, introduced me to them. I cannot tell you how much more enjoyable the entire process, and faster and just . . . It's great.

Scot: So the Squatty Potty actually does work? I kind of thought it was a joke and I don't know if there's any research to support it, but it makes . . .

Troy: Oh, there's research.

Scot: Oh, there is?

Mitch: Oh, there's research.

Troy: Oh, I've heard this discussed in medical lectures, yeah. To recommend it to patients who have constipation.

Scot: Really?

Troy: Basically, what you're describing, Mitch, is something that your feet go on.

Mitch: Yes.

Troy: It sits in front of your toilet. So you're sitting on the toilet, on the regular toilet seat, but it raises the level of your feet up, and then that kind of . . . It essentially mimics a squat, like you're squatting in the woods, just because your feet are up and your knees are up higher than your pelvis. And that then adjusts the colon, the rectum specifically. So it helps with constipation, helps things move.

Yeah, I've seen this discussed before. I can't say I've ever personally recommended it to a patient, but it's not a bad idea.

Mitch: There was a recent study that I'm looking at right now and it says that they're doing some studies into showing that a squatting device could potentially replace laxatives and other medicines for chronic constipation in a majority of people.

Troy: Yeah. "Who are you actually going to give this to?" is, I guess, the next question.

Mitch: Everyone. Both of you are getting one.

Troy: Everyone?

Mitch: Everyone is getting one. Because you're not going to get it for yourself and you're just going to . . .

Troy: That's true.

Mitch: . . . roll your eyes at me until I hand you the thing to change your life.

Troy: Life changed right there.

Scot: All right. Well, we always manage to have something for the toilet on the big old gift episode. So this year is no exception.

Troy, what's your number two, a gift under $50?

Troy: So my number two, no pun intended, is also something I have tried. And this goes in the sleep category of the Core Four. This is a weighted blanket. I don't know if either of you have weighted blankets.

Scot: Uh-uh.

Troy: Yeah. So they are actually weighted. They are designed to weigh a lot more than a standard blanket. They actually have little beads in them, like glass beads that increase the weight. You're not feeling weird beads on you or anything like that, but they have glass beads that increase the weight. You've probably been to hotels where you've had weighted blankets.

They are ideally helping with sleep, helping with the quality of sleep. We have one. Laura loves it. I'll be honest, I just get too hot under that weighted blanket. It's a little too hot for me, but it's something . . . you can get it easily under $50, even $30, and it's kind of a nice gift for people. You can get throw blankets, blankets for their bed, things like that.

Scot: So what is it that Laura likes about it, or that if you could stand the heat, you would like about it?

Troy: The idea is that it kind of has that almost cocoon nesting effect where it just . . . That extra weight on you just increases that feeling of security, and that's supposed to improve sleep.

I know it's been recommended by some sleep experts. I can say as a father now of a very young baby, they also recommend for young babies some of these kind of little . . . A little outfit that she wears we put on her at night has a little bit of extra weight on it, and that helps babies feel more secure too.

Scot: Interesting.

Troy: I don't know. That's the idea behind it.

Scot: From an evolutionary standpoint, what was it in our lives that would've been weighted that . . . I just can't process why.

Mitch: I don't know. Piles of people in a cave.

Troy: Yeah, the whole family just piles up at night.

Mitch: Yeah. I'm not a Neanderthal, but . . . I got actually kind of prescribed . . . A doctor actually told me to get one for my restless leg stuff.

Troy: Oh, okay.

Mitch: And so I get a really heavy one. And same thing, they can be a little hot, so I usually only do it in the winter. But yeah, I find myself sleeping a lot better. There is this kind of . . .

Troy: Do you have one then?

Mitch: Yeah. I got this kind of comforty feeling, but on top of that, I don't get as intensive feelings of restless leg just before bed.

Troy: Interesting.

Scot: Another solid round there. All right. Moving on to round number three of the gift-tacular here on "Who Cares About Men's Health." This was a gift under $50. So if you just want to go under $50, that's fine. You didn't have to necessarily play the next part of this game, but we were going to see who could come up with the least expensive one.

Mitch: The cheapo challenge.

Troy: Here we go.

Scot: All right. So here we go. Gift under $50, but we're going to keep track of who had the least expensive one. Mine comes in at $4.99.

Troy: Oh, that is pretty cheap.

Scot: It's a box of Twinings English Breakfast decaffeinated tea, 20 bags for $4.99. But it's not the gift, it's how you use it.

I started incorporating this into my life in the past month, and it's been a game changer for a couple of things for me. So the rules are you get the tea, you add some lemon, that's 79 cents, if you want to, and honey, that's $3.99. So the price would go up if you put on the add-ons. And you put it in a standard teacup, not an insulated container. Just a standard teacup. And that's important because it kind of acts as a timer for this next part.

So then you take your tea and you go sit somewhere other than at your desk or where you work, preferably alone, someplace quiet. You could do this at night in your house too. Go to a nice quiet place. Take the tea and take five deep breaths and breathe in that vapor, and then sip your tea.

And this is the important part. That's all you do. No phones, no computers, no books, no work. Just your tea and your thoughts. And then you breathe and you sip your tea. And then after about 10 to 15 minutes, the tea is gone, or it's cold, right? And that's a nice little built-in timer. Then you can get back to work or get back to whatever you're doing.

Mitch: Wow.

Scot: I tell you, that has been a game changer during my day to clear my brain and help me be able to concentrate on the next tasks at hand.

I also use it at night. I've been trying to cut back on the number of nights I have beer. I like beer a lot. I like the flavor of it, right? Sitting on the deck requires something. I can't just justify sitting somewhere without . . .

Troy: You have to have something there.

Scot: So I've been able to take my tea out there, which gives me something to do. It already kind of has this . . . I'm establishing this "when I do this, it relaxes me" kind of a thing, so it's conditioning me, if you will. But I can sit out there and I can just enjoy the outside. And again, no phones, no books, no work, no computers. Just quiet. Just living with your thoughts.

Also, then, that fills me up so that I don't feel the need to have a beer. And it also gives me something to do while I'm out there.

Troy: Nice.

Mitch: I like that.

Scot: A box of tea and those instructions. Yeah, that's what I've got for you.

Troy: Yeah, it sounds like you would need to include the instructions just to add that additional meaning to it.

Scot: You would. And that's really actually . . . Mitch, I don't know if this is worth bringing up. You used to smoke, right?

Mitch: Yeah.

Scot: And you talk about how when things got stressful at work, you'd go outside and you'd have a cigarette.

Mitch: Yeah.

Scot: You'd just kind of hang out by yourself. You'd just be quiet. I don't know if you're on your phone or not, but I see a lot of people that don't. They just sit there and enjoy that cigarette. Now, that's terrible.

Mitch: Oh, sure. Yeah.

Scot: But the ritual of every once in a while giving yourself a break, the ritual of going outside and just being alone with your thoughts for a little bit, the ritual of maybe sipping something or consuming something, I think that's all good. So I kind of base this on that.

All right. Let's see if you can beat $4.99, Mitch.

Mitch: All right. So this year, we are going . . . What?

Scot: Just the suspense is killing me.

Mitch: So I think I've done the math okay, but you're going to get a bunch of gifts out of this one. You can get everyone on your list. We're going to expand on our Thanksgiving Dudes Just Being Grateful episode. We are going to write letters of gratitude to our friends, loved ones, and colleagues.

What you're going to do is you're going to take a single blank holiday card, and it is a $1.48, and a pen, and you are going to put down to paper every little good thing that you have thought about that person that particular year, and what you are grateful for with them. And you put it in an envelope and give it to them.

Scot: Wow.

Mitch: And I'm going to tell you that that is going to be so very, very good for you because you're doing the gratitude thing. You're being a little bit exposed because you're giving it to another person, so you are allowing for emotional availability and back and forth.

Scot: That's scary.

Mitch: It's way scary, right?

Troy: That's scary.

Mitch: But you know what? It's less than $2. You get a whole pack of these things for $7, right? They don't need to be anything particularly special. It's just the words.

And a couple of years ago in college, or right after college, where I was kind of broke but loved the holidays, I did this. I wrote messages to all of my very good friends. And I cannot tell you how meaningful it was for most of them that opened them. They come out every year and sit on mantels and things like that. It's just a dumb $1.50 card and some really sincere and authentic bits of gratitude and appreciation to another person, and it's the greatest gift you can give.

Scot: Troy, is that something you would do?

Troy: Would I actually do it?

Scot: Yeah. Would you do that?

Troy: I don't know if I would. That's really putting yourself out there.

Mitch: Sure.

Troy: That is. I would do it in the context of if I could do it as . . . Like I said, if I had actual photography skill, and I had a photo I had taken, and then I just did the card like, "Hey, just want to let you know I'm thinking of you. I really appreciate this about you. Thanks for being my friend." Something like that, I think I would do that. I don't know about going with a long list, but I think just something like that would work for me.

Scot: Why wouldn't you do it in just a regular card you bought in the store? Why would it have to be a photo you took?

Troy: I don't know. To me, that would seem like it would kind of take the pressure off me from having to have a ton of content in the card. It's kind of like, "Hey, I'm sharing this photo I took with you, and here's what I like about you too." Don't expect me to say a ton in this card, but I'm going to say, "Thanks for being my friend. I appreciate this about you," something like that. I don't know.

Scot: That's good. $1.49, huh?

Mitch: It's authentic and sincere. That's all you've got to do. I promise it'll be meaningful to them.

Troy: Nice.

Scot: All right. Troy, a gift under $50, but if you want to try to have the least expensive one, you can do that. Can you beat . . . Was it a $1.49?

Troy: So mine is a pack of gum. This gum . . . Just kidding. It's not a pack of gum. I clearly lost this round.

Scot: I was dying to see where that went.

Troy: It was going to go the same way yours went, except you go outside and chew your gum in the evening.

Mine is $10.99. So mine is a headlamp but not just any headlamp. And again, I have this, so I've tried it and love it. It's a headlamp that clips onto your hat. So if you have a baseball cap on, you just clip it onto the front.

I like it compared to other headlamps because it's not quite so heavy. The other headlamps kind of wrap around your head and they're kind of tight on your head and you've got batteries in there. This is rechargeable, very lightweight. Clip it on the front of your hat.

The reason I think this is a nice gift, and this is in the mental health category of my gifts, is because winter is so dark and you can't go outside after 5:00 because it's too dark. And the great thing about a headlamp is it really opens that up for you.

So the way I use the headlamp, I like to run in the morning. Right now, I'm going out about 6:00, 6:30. I use the headlamp. Maybe you want to go out and just go for a walk. Even if you're on a well-lit street, it's kind of nice to have a headlamp just so cars see if you're crossing intersections, things like that.

But I think it's a nice gift just to keep you getting outside even in the winter when it's dark. It's super cheap, super useful. I've had this headlamp for several years. Love it. Easy to use, works great, gets you out of the house in the winter.

Scot: I like that. That can be a challenge, so a headlamp is good. And even if you get one with a strap, they're only like . . . You can get cheap ones $10, $15.

Troy: Yeah. You can get those pretty cheap.

Scot: If the point is just to make yourself more visible. I wear one when I walk the dogs at night in the neighborhood. It's mainly to make myself visible. It's not that I really need it to see. And I can use my flashlight when the dogs do their business on my phone. But I like to make myself visible on the sidewalk so people can make decisions if they want to cross or not, and so cars can see me and stuff like that. I like it.

Troy: Yeah, agreed. The visibility is nice, but yeah, even if you're on a well-lit street, it sometimes just helps kind of make out the contour of the street or icy sidewalks, things like that. But yeah, it gets you out of the house, so it's good.

Scot: Excellent. Another fine gift episode. We've done that for two or three years now and it was another good episode with some good gifts. Which one that you heard are you going to get, Mitch, for yourself?

Mitch: Oh, for myself? I don't have a headlamp anymore. I've got to find one. So yeah, I'm probably going to get myself a headlamp because it's like, "No, I can't go out and do anything."

Scot: I like it. I think I'm going to go for the adjustable dumbbell or something to take to work, maybe just even if it's a kettlebell. Troy, how about you?

Troy: I'm getting the Tonal.

Mitch: Oh my god.

Troy: That's what I'm getting. Laura, if you're listening, Tonal.

Scot: Happy holidays. Thank you for listening, and thank you for caring about men's health.


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