IFYL Just the Facts: Pinterest Predictions; Nightmare Cheese; Dark Showering

In this episode we discuss:

Weaponized Gifts;

The Return of the Foryo;

Ritual Cleaning.

And many more topics.

For more information, and to sign up for our private coaching, visit tesh.com

Our Hosts:
John Tesh: Instagram: @johntesh_ifyl facebook.com/JohnTesh
Gib Gerard: Instagram: @GibGerard facebook.com/GibGerard X: @GibGerard

Transcript

Unknown: 0:08

Gib. Hello and welcome to another episode of the podcast. I'm Gib Gerard. It's time for just the facts. Ma'am, that's right. I'm basically Sergeant Joe Friday. This is a collection of clips from the radio show intelligence for your life featuring myself and John Tesh. But this is just the the pure information. This is the pure intelligence, just the facts from none other than John Tesh. So ladies and gentlemen, please, just the facts with John Tesh. Here we go with what will be trending this year. Pinterest has the answers for us. Their annual Pinterest predicts report is so accurate, 88% of their predictions come to pass. So here is what will be in this year for Gen Z and millennials, they're really into khaki remember old school Banana Republic, when all it sold was Safari inspired clothing. As the vibe again, from Bermuda shorts to field jackets. They're calling it a paleontologist esthetic. Pinterest says, if your look can survive the desert, and then you're doing it right and go raid grandma's jewelry box, because brooches are back, even for men. Top Pinterest searches include heirloom jewelry, brooches for men's suits and vintage pins, the trendy hobby for 2026 pen pals, Pinterest says we can expect a letter writing Renaissance with topics like cute stamps and stationery handwritten letters and snail mail gifts. And then as far as travel, dare cations are in dare cations, these are thrilling and adventurous destinations and activities like auto racing events, river rafting, rappelling down a waterfall, or canyoneering, which is exploring canyons through hikes and rock climbing. Alrighty, if you've ever tried to work out on a really cold day, you've probably felt that stiff, slow, almost creaky feeling in your arms and legs that I feel every time. There's a reason for this. When your body hits freezing air, it immediately starts trying to keep you alive. The blood vessels in your arms and legs tighten up to protect your core, your muscles stiffen. You might even start shivering. It's all good for survival, but not so great for a jog. Now, Harvard Medical School says cold muscles just don't react as quickly. They don't generate as much force. That makes you more likely to strain something, even if you're just leaping over a puddle, because when tissues get cold, your range of motion drops, and stiff muscles can also throw off your balance, which is risky when sidewalks are slippery. Of course, cold weather also increases our blood pressure and makes our heart work harder. But if you don't have a medical condition, you can exercise outdoors and cold weather safely by just layering up, doing a dynamic workup indoors first, and make sure you stay hydrated when you can see your breath that is water leaving your body. But the Mayo Clinic says it's officially too cold to exercise outdoors when it's five degrees Fahrenheit or 15 degrees Celsius, there's a new nighttime ritual blowing up on social media. It's called Dark showering. It's exactly what it sounds like taking a shower at night in low light, or the lights completely off. Now, psychologists say it's more than a trend. It's a surprisingly effective way to calm your brain and get a better night's sleep. That's because bright overhead lighting tells your body to stay awake by raising levels of your stress hormone cortisol, while at the same time dialing down your sleep hormone melatonin. But dim light does the opposite. It signals lower mental stimulation and nudges your nervous system into rest mode. Psychologist Dr Daniel Amen says it actually, quote, turns down the brain's threat radar, which is why a dark shower can feel instantly grounding after a stressful day, and a hot shower about 90 minutes before bed, already helps your body shift into sleep mode. Taking that shower in the dark just amplifies the effect by creating fewer distractions and a calmer environment. If you want to try it, keep things dim but safe, soft, amber light, a calming scent and 15 quiet minutes may be all you need to downshift for a better night's sleep. If you've ever had to talk with an older parent or grandparent about giving up their car keys, and I have you know, it's one of the toughest conversations there is. Most people don't just hand over the keys, even when their memory of reaction time is starting to slip, and usually those changes don't show up until a doctor's visit, which, let's be honest, may only happen once a year, but new research tells us that a simple GPS tracking device may spot early cognitive decline long before a doctor does. Scientists followed hundreds of older drivers for just over three years, tracking things like trip distance, how often they drove at night, how far from home they traveled, and even how predictable their routines were. And little by little, a pattern did emerge. Older Adults with mild cognitive impairment didn't necessarily. Drive dangerously. They just drove differently. They made fewer nighttime trips, shorter drives, went to fewer unique destinations, and those everyday driving patterns identified cognitive impairment with about 82% accuracy, almost as strong as a formal cognitive test. So for families wondering when it's time to step in, using a GPS tracker to monitor a loved one's driving patterns, could offer a very serious warning sign. Did someone ever give you a Christmas gift that just hurt your feelings? If so, you may have received what psychologists call a weaponized gift, a passive aggressive present that doesn't speak to who you are, and may even feel like a slap in the face. Clinical psychologists say one reason we get bad gifts from our loved ones is, quote, emotional avoidance. So if your husband consistently gives you things you don't need or don't like, it may be so you won't expect anything better. The gift giver may also worry that giving something nice might create emotional intimacy they don't want so instead, they keep your expectations low by giving something that required very little thought. Now other times the issue is a lack of empathy, like giving you a gym membership as a way to say you really need to get in shape and lose some weight. But no matter the reason, the impact is the same, you don't feel loved. Now, if you receive a weaponized gift, experts say, remember, this is not about your worth. It's about the giver's limits, and unless the relationship is truly strained, you don't have to confront anybody. Sometimes letting it go is the gift you give yourself from our sleep files. If you've ever stared at the ceiling at 2am wondering why your brain suddenly thinks it's time to relive every awkward moment from the last 20 years. You're not alone. I'm with you. But there's a new viral trick to fall back asleep that I'm using, and it's ridiculously simple, which is why I can use it. You close your eyes and then gently roll them around side to side, up and down in slow circles your eyes. That's it. The idea blew up on social media after Oncologist Dr Caitlin Tondo steel said it worked for her, and there's a legitimate reason why this works. Those slow eye movements mimic what happens naturally during REM sleep, when you're dreaming, and those eye movements can send a wind down signal to your nervous system, plus, if you do it when you're trying to fall asleep, it can distract you from any anxious thoughts by giving your brain a simple, boring task. If you want to try it, do this, use slow, gentle movements, and if it's not working after a few minutes, get out of bed. Staying awake in bed just trains your brain to stay alert. But eye rolling is a low risk hack. Try it. Let us know if it works for you. Here's my email, john@tesh.com Hey, if joining a running club feels a little too intense, I want to tell you that there's a new fitness trend that might be more your speed. Hiking clubs are exploding in popularity. The fitness app Strava says hiking clubs grew 600% last year, almost twice as fast as run clubs and the all trails app hit 90 million users last year, a 20% jump. People are joining everything from hiking groups for creative professionals in Los Angeles to women only clubs in North Carolina to girl hiking groups for travelers. So it feels more low key and accessible than running clubs, plus you get the same social perks and heart health benefits of running, but without needing marathon level stamina, it's part of a bigger post pandemic shift to more outdoor exercise and for remote workers, hiking clubs have become a way to build community groups like men walking, men Talking, thrive because there's no sign up, no fee, no pressure. You show up and you move it also fits into a bigger cultural trend in which people are craving analog, simple, low stakes activities. It doesn't get much simpler than a walk in the woods. Of course, the new year is a great time for a mental refresh, and the Japanese have a centuries old ritual to start fresh. It's called osogi, or great cleaning. It's a yearly deep clean, but it's more than tidying up. It's a way to reflect, reset and prepare for the year ahead. Osoji dates back over 1000 years, beginning as a ritual to purify the Imperial Palace and invite good fortune, and by the 1800s it had spread to households, temples and schools, families sweep, scrub and organize as a way to welcome in happiness for the new year, basically clearing out what doesn't serve you anymore to make room for what will serve you better. And there are entire businesses of professional cleaners to help people with this ritual. And although it has spiritual undertones, anybody can do it and adapt it to their life. Even a single drawer or neglected corner that you tidy up will provide a mental and physical refresh. The overriding principle is to clear out the old to welcome in the new. It's Japan's version of a New Year's reset. Osoji. Did you know that 25% of people won't eat cheese because they think it gives them nightmares, and cheddar tops the list as the worst offender. This myth isn't new. Over 100 years ago, a classic Welsh dish called Rarebit was blamed for causing bizarre dreams. If you've never heard of it, Rarebit is melted cheese sauce served over toasted bread. But is it true? Well, there's no clinical proof that cheese causes nightmares, but if you are lactose intolerant, stomach troubles could wake you up at night. And although people think cheddar is the worst, it has hardly any lactose, because it's an aged cheese, and the longer a cheese is aged, the more lactose is broken down. So cheeses like cheddar, Gouda, Swiss and parmesan, have virtually zero lactose, and even a pizza topped with mozzarella probably won't upset your stomach because it has a lot less lactose than milk, making it tolerable for most people, especially if it's shredded. However, sleep experts say cheese can affect sleep. That's because it contains compounds that can increase REM sleep the dream stage. So cheese can make dreams more vivid, but there's no proof it causes nightmares. It's time for the Trend Report, and frozen yogurt is trending. It's officially having a comeback moment, and the shops today aim to be more like a Starbucks, where you hang out and meet up with other people after years of shrinking, the fro yo scene is picking up again because of pure nostalgia, and one chain, 16 handles, is betting that people never stopped wanting frozen yogurt. They just stopped wanting the stores it was served in. So they're opening new locations with a cleaner, minimalist vibe inspired by coffee shops. During the day, it's bright and relaxed, and at night, the music turns up just enough to feel cool, but not like a nightclub, and that's exactly what many people want, a place to hang out after work, go on a date or grab dessert without drinking. Tiktok is overflowing with hashtag Froyo posts, and in major cities, chic Froyo spots have turned a $10 cup into a kind of status symbol. The health halo is part of the appeal too. Froyo shops are hyping up the fact that it's low sugar, high protein, vegan and even packed with probiotics. There are about 4000 shops from coast to coast, and food industry experts are saying Froyo is about to make a huge comeback. That's it for the show today. Thank you guys so much for listening. If you like the show, please rate comment and subscribe on Apple podcast. Spotify wherever you get your podcast. It helps us out a lot. When you do that, we also try to respond to every mention the show, every DM about the show. You can tell us what you think about it, because ultimately, we do the show for you guys. So thank you so much for listening. You.