5SR - October 20, 2023

Hitha on sleep, sponges, and the joy of Practical Magic

Author

Hitha Palepu
October 20, 2023

Today’s curator is the founder of #5SmartReads, Hitha Palepu. She’s a consummate multihyphenate - CEO of Rhoshan Pharmaceuticals, author of WE’RE SPEAKING: The Life Lessons of Kamala Harris and How to Pack: Travel Smart for Any Trip, and professional speaker. Hitha is an unabashed fan of Taco Bell, Philadelphia sports teams & F1, romance novels, and is a mediocre crafter. She lives in NYC with her husband and two sons.

We’re just calling these reads the “no commentary required, only reading is” ones.

Please read it in full. And please prioritize offline blocks in your day - every day.

I’ve abandoned my health habits over the past week and a half.

I just eased back into meditation this week. I journaled for the first time yesterday (I did the Define Your Success Metrics writing meditation from Superhuman - highly recommend), and I’m am drinking more water than I had been lately.

Most importantly, I’m sleeping (except when the Phillies are playing). And I’m so glad that sleep has been the first health habit I reprioritized, especially when it’s this good for you.

Sleep is a significant enough contributor to cardiovascular health that it’s been a proposed update to the American Heart Associations Life’s Simple 7 prescription (the 7 key predictors of heart health). The data shows that those getting fewer than the 7 recommended hours of sleep are at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease (which my genes already have given me).

Is it too early to think about bed?

At this point, no one can predict when Congress will have a Speaker of the House (or who it will be, given Jordan’s less than impressive rounds of voting).

And whoever gets elected will likely have a short, dramatic turn holding the gavel, which is the opposite of what the party had stood for in prior years.

"The long saga to elect a new speaker underscores the dramatic evolution of the House Republican conference, whose own members now fear may no longer be governable. As McCarthy’s short tenure proved, grievance not the gavel is the coin of the realm in present-day Republican House politics. And whenever there is a handful of discontented Republicans, dysfunction is likely to follow.

“These guys want to be in the minority,” Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska, who represents a swing district being targeted by Democrats, told reporters on Thursday. “I think they would prefer that because they could just vote no and yell and scream all the time.””

Someone asked me how I’m protecting my peace this week. Getting out the house has helped, from going for a walk to pick up a coffee to supporting my friends at their events. I’ve been reading more, which always helps bring me more peace.

And I’ve watched Practical Magic every single week since October started. It’s just the best spooky season film, and it feels like this exhaustive article was written just for me.

If you’re a serial Practical Magic rewatched, you will love this piece. And if you haven’t seen it, please do. It’s the most delightful film and you’ll be able to fully appreciate this hilarious and joyful analysis of the film.

Sponges deserve more credit than they get.

The animal variety are an important part of coral reef ecosystems. The land variety literally clean up our messes.

And now a hybrid one - created on land, intended for the sea - can help remove micro plastics and nanoplastics that are hiding in our water.

And did I mention they’re biodegradable?

While these particular sponges are unlikely to make a difference in the microplastic and nano plastic, they could be deployed within wastewater facilities and household water supplies, once more research is done to create a sponge without formaldehyde and can be scaled up to commercial production.

It’s a bit of hope - and I think we all could use that right now.

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