5SR - September 26, 2023

Hitha on actual healthcare (and the business of it), inequity in sports, and the Metaverse's failure

Author

Hitha Palepu
September 26, 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.

What if Medicaid went beyond insurance coverage for doctors’ visits and medication? What if it helped fund the essentials for health - safe & clean housing, healthy food, transportation, and safety?

That’s what North Carolina is currently testing in their Healthy Opportunities Pilot. 13,000 of the state’s residents receive weekly deliveries of healthy food.

But this program is so much more than food. It's been a way to support entire communities in North Carolina, from local farms to nutritionists and community organizers to families.

Ensuring every person has access to safe and clean shelter, food, and healthcare is just the right thing to do in a civil society. But since members of our government require proof and means testing before authorizing funding for programs like these, I hope they see the clear ROI of being a good person and loving (and helping) thy neighbor.

Did Mia’s Reel have me immediately clicking over to her excellent article? Yes. Did reading it have me looking up tickets and buying merch for New York’s WNBA and NWSL? Also yes.

“Women’s sports haven’t always enjoyed this degree of popularity or attention, however. Historically, female athleticism has been minimized on a social level, and by proxy, taken less seriously by the media and the sports industry at large and given less airtime. Yet players have kept at their craft and passion. It’s taken decades to arrive at what’s happening before us in women’s sports today, which is why we’re seeing women’s sports reaching a pinnacle of sustained ambition — and a prime example of where speaking out and not giving up can take you.”

I’ll be the first to admit that my sports fandom haven’t been consistent with my values, but I’m eager to change that now. Moreover, expanding my fandom with women’s sports is something I want to do with my family, especially my sons.

Who wants to go to a Liberty game or a Gotham FC match?

It’s wild to think that two years ago, you couldn’t scroll or click without seeing the metaverse referenced as the great hope for the future.

Now? Nothing. And this article does an excellent job of unpacking why.

“If you ask kids what kinds of spaces they find themselves in, they won’t say Horizon Worlds. They’ll say Roblox (the controversial monetized game-design platform), Minecraft (an open world building video game old enough that I played it as a teenager myself), and Fortnite (a player-versus-player combat game with a great deal of customization.) Brands know this; many like Gucci and Nike have begun staging events and product launches in these virtual spaces, trying to capitalize on younger and younger eyeballs. But aside from a typical remark from Ingels that “architecture should be more like Minecraft” (i.e., playful like a video game), architecture—a highly professionalized world whose leaders, like Ingels, are in their 40s at their youngest—hasn’t paid much mind.

It makes sense, then, that what is in reality a highly stratified capitalist enterprise (that just happens to also be considered an art) wouldn’t see all of the exciting things bubbling beneath the surface in other parts of culture, like music and fashion. They instead see press releases from colleagues in the same insular, professionalized spheres: McKinsey, Meta, and PR agents.”

The irony of the increasingly profitable longevity market is that the principles shared in it aren’t groundbreaking in any way.

But let’s take a look at the numbers behind this market:

  • $183B - the projected market value of the anti-aging and longevity by 2028

  • 10M - the number of followers that Dr. Andrew Huberman has across social media platforms

The business of influence is usually focused on women creators, but this is just a different side of the same coin (as we see with these experts partnering with supplement companies as podcast advertisers or brand ambassadors.

And yes - I recognize my own small role in this world, in partnering with Athletic Greens (honestly speaking, it’s the only multivitamin I’m consistent about taking) and sharing my thoughts on Peter Attia’s book (I loved how he unpacked the science and clinical studies to validate the common sense advice).

As with everything, there’s a lot of nuance in this issue. But it’s one worth unpacking.

Speaking of Outlive, one of the biggest changes I’ve made in my workouts was to prioritize more Zone 2 cardio in my week.

It’s been easier to do physically, harder to do mentally. And it’s fairly simple to incorporate in your life - New Yorkers likely get it in daily without realizing it.

The best health habits are the ones you actually do, and this is one that I’ve been enjoying with a morning walk in the Park while catching up with a friend or listening to an audiobook. I’m still working on doing more strength workouts and eating less sugar, but I’ll take it.

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