Welcome to the positive corner of the internet. Every weekday, we make sense of the confusing world of wellness by analyzing the headlines, simplifying the latest research, and offering quick tips designed to make you healthier in less than 5 minutes. If you were forwarded this message, you can get the free daily email here.
Today’s Health Upgrade
Calm your mind, lift your mood
Pet nutrition 101
Upgrade your cardio recovery
Stronger body, healthier gut?
Arnold’s Podcast
Want more stories from Arnold? Every day, Arnold’s Pump Club Podcast opens with a story, perspective, and wisdom from Arnold that you won’t find in the newsletter. And, you’ll hear a recap of the day’s items. You can subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Mindset
Calm Your Body, Lift Your Mood (In Just 5 Minutes)
What if one of the most effective tools for reducing stress and improving your mental health didn’t come in a pill but from your breath?
Research suggests that just five minutes of daily breathwork can improve your mood and reduce anxiety, and it could even be more effective than meditation.
Scientists compared the effects of breathwork versus mindfulness meditation. Each person was assigned to perform one of four five-minute daily practices: cyclic sighing (a long exhale-based breathing technique), box breathing (equal inhale-hold-exhale-hold), cyclic hyperventilation with holds, or mindfulness meditation (passive attention to the breath).
All groups improved their mental state. But breathwork — especially cyclic sighing — was significantly more effective at boosting positive emotions and reducing physiological arousal.
Those who practiced cyclic sighing experienced a greater increase in positive mood and a reduced respiratory rate, suggesting a more relaxed physiological state.
Breath control engages the vagus nerve, shifting your body out of fight-or-flight and into rest-and-digest mode. Breathwork may also enhance interoception — your awareness of internal signals like heart rate and tension — giving you more control over stress responses. Over time, the benefits of breathwork grew. The more people practiced, the more their mood improved and stress markers dropped.
If you want to try it, cyclic sighing involves a double inhale followed by a long exhale, which maximizes lung inflation and promotes a sense of calm.
Meditation still helps. But when you're short on time or need fast relief, breathwork gives you control — and results — in just minutes a day.
Together With Sundays For Dogs
One Change Can Improve Your Dog’s Digestion
Just like you thrive on real, high-quality food, so does your dog. While every dog deserves special consideration from their vet, the most common nutritional approach is oftentimes not the best.
Research suggests feeding your dog fresh, minimally processed food can improve digestion, nutrient absorption, and gut health.
In a recent study, researchers compared three common diets: extruded kibble, raw food, and lightly cooked meals. The dogs eating raw or gently cooked food? They digested more protein and fat, absorbed more nutrients, and had healthier gut microbiomes in their blood work or urine tests without adverse side effects.
In other words: the “fresh food is risky” myth? Debunked.
It’s still best to consult with your vet about your dog's needs. That said, commercial kibble is highly processed and harder to digest, which can affect your dog’s energy, gut health, and overall vitality.
That’s why we’ve been searching for a better option—and we found one.
Sundays for Dogs is made with air-dried, human-grade ingredients that preserve nutrients, support digestion, and taste amazing.
And we’re not the only ones who think so: in a third-party taste test, dogs chose Sundays over traditional kibble 39 to 0. (Yes—Every. Single. Time.)
No fridge. No prep. No cleanup. Just scoop, serve, and feel good knowing you’re giving your dog real food that supports real health.
This isn’t just dog food. It’s human-grade nutrition made simple.
We give Sundays the official Pump Club stamp of approval. Use code PUMPCLUB for 40 percent off your first order, and give your dog the upgrade it deserves.
Fitness
Are You Shorting Your Protein After Cardio?
If you lift weights, everyone suggests you should eat protein. Runners are treated differently, and a new study suggests that’s probably a mistake.
Researchers found that aerobic exercise requires almost as much daily protein as recommended for strength athletes. And what you eat on your days off might matter more than you think.
The traditional recommendation for endurance athletes has been about 1.5 g/kg/day, but based on high-quality metabolic studies, the researchers suggest bumping it up to 1.8 g/kg/day.
When it comes to timing, a post-exercise dose of 0.5 g/kg of protein is recommended to kickstart the repair process, especially after long or intense workouts. This can be any time after your workout, so there’s no rush to force down a meal. But if you’re doing aerobic work, ensure your first meal has enough protein.
But that’s not all: the new research also suggests that rest days might be the time to eat more protein.
Protein turnover—breaking down and rebuilding muscle—may increase when you're not training. According to the researchers, this could be because your body goes into overdrive repairing damage and adapting to previous workouts when it's not under the stress of new ones.
That means your body might use more protein when you're not logging miles than when you pound the pavement or cycle up hills. The study found that you could benefit from eating a least 2 g/kg/day provides additional benefits.
If you ever needed a reminder that taking off days is important, the research suggests that increasing protein on off days could help you push even harder during your workouts.
On Our Radar
Stronger Body, Healthier Gut?
Maybe you can bench press your way out of some problems.
Clearly not talking about gut health.
Researchers explored the gut-brain connection through resistance training. They examined sedentary individuals. Half were assigned to an 8-week progressive resistance training program, and the other half stayed inactive.
The workout group trained 3 times per week, gradually increasing intensity from 45 to 55 percent to 70 to 80 percent of their one-rep max across multiple sets and exercises. Researchers assessed strength, mood, and blood biomarkers, including lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), a marker of gut permeability.
The training group got stronger, as you’d expect. But most interestingly, gut permeability improved significantly, suggesting better intestinal barrier function.
Researchers believe the results may be driven by systemic changes from exercise, including reduced inflammation and increased muscular signaling to the gut-brain axis. It’s just one study, but it’s not the only research that suggests strength training offers far more benefits than just improving your appearance.
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
