Sleep quality 'improves with age'

The belief that older people tend to suffer worse sleep may be false - in fact the reverse may be true, according to US researchers.

A telephone survey of more than 150,000 adults suggested that, apart from a blip in your 40s, sleep quality gets better with age.
Those in their 80s reported the best sleep, says the study in Sleep journal.
A UK sleep researcher said while poor health could affect sleep, it was a "myth" that age alone was a factor.
While universities have equipment which can measure sleep duration and disturbance in study volunteers, this does not always match the volunteer's own opinion on their night's rest.
The research, conducted by the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania, instead focused on asking large numbers of randomly selected people about their sleep.
They were also asked about their race, income, education, mood and general health.
While being depressed or having health problems was linked to poor sleep quality, once the researchers had adjusted the results to compensate for this, a distinct pattern emerged.
Instead, they found that complaints about poor sleep quality fell as age rose, with the lowest number of complaints coming from the over-70s.
Middle age blip The only exception to this trend was middle age, where sleep quality was poorer.
Dr Michael Grandner said the original reason for setting up the study was to confirm the precise opposite - that sleep quality declined in old age.
He said: "These results force us to re-think what we know about sleep in older people - men and women."
He suggested that it was possible that older people were sleeping worse, but simply felt better about it.
"Even if sleep among older Americans is actually worse than in younger adults, feelings about it still improve with age."
Professor Derk-Jan Dijk, Professor of Sleep and Physiology and Director of the Surrey Sleep Research Centre, said the study was "interesting".
He said: "We have got to get away from all these myths about ageing - many people are very content with their sleep."
However, he said that asking people for their subjective opinion about sleep patterns could produce answers that were dependent on their mood at the time.
"If you are angry because your boss didn't give you a pay rise, your perception of sleep quality may be very different from someone who is feeling generally content."

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Heart full of Love

A Close look at how love is generated and how it works on health and body

On Valentine’s Day, a close look at how love is generated and how it works on health and body.

Valentine’s Day – a day when love is in the air, hearts and fluttering eyelids. It is a day when the young exchange gifts to express their love swelling in their heart. Why young? Even golden oldies have started joining the love band-wagon and rediscovering life.

You must be wondering what has Health to do with love. Heart is understandable, fluttering eyelids, well – passable, but love? Well, scientists consider love as a drug that is good for your heart and brain.

It might sound unfair to clinically dissect love and term it a function of a few naughty genes or chemicals with a few ‘college-going’ molecules or proteins that have mastered the art of sending a few lovelorn SMS to the brain. Probably Dr Spock of Star Treck would have loved to knit his brows and wonder why people go crazy over love.

Studies have shown that falling in love physically is very similar to taking drugs. It has an effect on the heart, shows typical signs of withdrawal symptoms and a few may get addicted too! That later.

Being attracted to someone is actually the result of a series of chemicals and hormones at work. The first spark comes from the brain that releases a neuro-transmitter chemical called dopamine. This results in a chain reaction leading to the heart pounding three times faster than normal. The extra gush of blood finds its way to the cheeks and sexual organs. This sudden diversion of blood makes your stomach feel a bit empty and this causes the feeling of butterflies in the stomach. Since the blood goes to specified areas, the hands and legs get a diminished supply of blood resulting in the palms getting cold and a slight shiver setting in. This is why many in love look a bit disoriented, nervous and they wear a new colour on their face.

Did I hear you say ‘how unromantic’? Well there is more.

How does the body benefit while in love? When in love, the body releases special chemicals that make you feel good, content and happy. This can spur creativity and that probably explains why most poets, artists, writers and people with extraordinary talents are also good at love.

Love can result in sexual activity and this can affect the entire body – from head to toe. Doctors believe that love-making is a good aerobic exercise that improves the circulation and can do wonders to the heart. Studies have shown that sexually active people tend to suffer from fewer heart attacks may be due to their better fitness. But you need to attain the right age to do this so that it can benefit the body.

It can also benefit in weight reduction. Intercourse can burn around 200 calories. And all this happens in just a few minutes work compared to a 15-minute workout on a treadmill at a gym.

In love-making the body releases endorphins, which can mitigate chronic pain of back ache, arthritis and migraines. Since brain chemicals are involved, sexually active people are less vulnerable to depression and suicides. Love-making is also good to calm anxieties, ease fear and can break down inhibitions – all this because of special hormones released by the brain and body.

Some research work has shown that frequent love-making can boost levels of key immune cells that can help fight colds and other infections.

A small study has shown that oxytocin and DHEA hormone released during love-making may prevent breast cancer cells from developing into tumors. Frequent love-making has also been linked to longer life – may be due to the beneficial effects on the heart and immune system.

But if love is just a chemical reaction, why is it that we do not fall head over heals over everyone. Why is that we get attracted to some and not to all? Well, again a bouquet of chemical is at work. Researchers say that the body releases special chemicals that the nose does not catch, but the brain does. And the brain selects the odour of somebody who has a very different immune system. That is why you seldom fall in love with a close relative.

For survival, mankind needs as diverse a gene pool as possible. Otherwise one disease will wipe out the entire humanity.

But if you thought that love involves a huge part of the brain, you are mistaken. In 2000, Andreas and Semir Zeki of University College, London, located the areas of the brain activated by romantic love. They took students who said they were madly in love, put them into a brain scanner, and looked at their patterns of brain activity. The results were rather surprising for such a wonderful emotion called love. The research showed that only a relatively small area of the human brain is active when a person is involved in deep love. But more parts of the brain are active and involved when the motion switches to ordinary friendship. “It is fascinating to reflect”, the pair conclude, “that the face that launched a thousand ships should have done so thorough such a limited expanse of cortex.” (As quoted in The Economist).

The second surprise was that the brain areas active in love are different from the areas activated in other emotional states, such as fear and anger. Parts of the brain that are love-bitten include the one responsible for gut feelings, and the ones which generate the euphoria induced by drugs such as cocaine. So the brains of people deeply in love do not look like those of people experiencing strong emotions, but instead like those of people snoring coke. Love, in other words, uses the neural mechanisms and pathways that are activated during the process of addiction. “We are literally addicted to love,” Dr Young observes.

When a person is in love, the special chemicals and hormones give the body an extra-ordinary feel-good envelope – an effect that is very similar to what cocaine or the drug Ecstasy does to the body and mind. Addiction experts say that attraction and lust are very similar to drugs – it leaves you wanting more. However, the ‘high’ is only temporary – just like in cocaine.

Brain scans have also revealed that the different flavours of love come different spots in the brain. Researchers say that love primarily comes in three distinct flavours: lust, romantic love and long-term attachment. In many cases there can be an overlap, but in essence these are separate phenomena.

Studies have proved that a dip in the chemicals and hormones involved in love result in a decrease in sexual activity. That is why people on drugs for certain ailments find themselves less active sexually because their chemical pool gets altered. Age will also do the same thing.

But love is much more than just genes, chemicals and hormones. So forget all this and just celebrate the different hues of love on Valentine’s Day. You can always fool the body’s chemicals and as someone said: love is in the mind and heart. Life, they say, is like a game of tennis. You need to first serve and it all begins with LOVE ALL.

FROM The New Indian Express,

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Sleeping on a problem ‘best way to solve it’

It may sound unusual, but sleeping on a problem may be the best way to solve it, says a study.

Researchers in the Netherlands have found that distracting oneself for a few minutes with something else or, even better putting off the issue until the next day, helps the brain come up with the ideal solution.

They have based their findings on a series of experiments which showed that people who consciously struggle with a difficult question are more likely to get the wrong answer, compared to those who put it on the mental backburner.

In the tests, students were asked to choose the best models from four imaginary makes of car. Each one had 12 different features but two had better road holding and fuel economy. After reading about each car, one group of students was asked to make an instant choice.

Another group carried out a second test which was designed to occupy their minds for five minutes before making their decision. Volunteers in that group, dubbed “unconscious thinkers”, were more likely to select the best car, the findings revealed.

According to the researchers, this is because their subconscious minds were given the time to weigh up all the pros and cons. “Putting it off” could also work for someone in a dilemma about a major financial commitment, they say.

Lead researcher Maarten Bos of Radboud University, said the experiments proved that forgetting about a decision often produced the best results, especially if it involved a complicated issue.

The students who did the best were the ones who had been distracted and were therefore unable to “consciously think” about the cars.

He said: “Unconscious thought produces better decisions than when people decide immediately. Although in our current experiments participants did not actually sleep on their decision, the benefit of a period of rest is clear.

“It allows us to differentiate between the vital and the irrelevant aspects. When your grandparents advised you to sleep on a decision first, they may have intuitively sensed the benefits of letting it rest to get a clear grasp of one’s priorities. The research shows our grandparents were right.”

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Beetroot juice helps prevent dementia

Drinking beetroot juice can increase blood flow to the brain in older adults, potentially halting the progresses of dementia.

“There have been several studies showing that drinking beet juice can lower blood pressure, but we wanted to show that drinking beet juice also increases perfusion, or blood flow, to the brain,” said Daniel Kim-Shapiro, director of Wake Forest University’s Translational Science Center.

“There are areas in the brain that become poorly perfused as you age, and that’s believed to be associated with dementia and poor cognition,” Shapiro said.

High concentrations of nitrates are found in beets, as well as in celery, cabbage and other leafy green vegetables like spinach and lettuce, report the journal Nitric Oxide: Biology and Chemistry.

When you eat high-nitrate foods, ‘good bacteria’ in the mouth turn nitrate into nitrite, according to a Wake Forest statement.

Research has found that nitrites can help open up the blood vessels in the body, increasing blood and oxygen flow.

In the study, researchers looked at how dietary nitrates affected a group of adults aged 70 and above.

The MRIs showed that after eating a high-nitrate diet for four days, blood flow to the white matter of the frontal lobes increased. This area is commonly associated with degeneration that leads to dementia and other cognitive conditions.

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Antibiotics have long lasting impacts on gut bacteria

Researchers of a new study have concluded that antibiotics leave long-term impacts on gut flora.

The scientists say that short courses of antibiotics prescribed to treat pathogenic bacteria can leave normal gut bacteria harbouring antibiotic resistance genes for up to two years after treatment.

They also believe that this reservoir increases the chances of resistance genes being surrendered to pathogenic bacteria, aiding their survival and suggesting that the long-term effects of antibiotic therapy are more significant than previously thought.

Studies have shown that high levels of resistance genes can be detected in gut microbes after just 7 days of antibiotic treatment and that these genes remain present for up to two years even if the individual has taken no further antibiotics.

“The long-term presence of resistance genes in human gut bacteria dramatically increases the probability of them being transferred to and exploited by harmful bacteria that pass through the gut. This could reduce the success of future antibiotic treatments and potentially lead to new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” said Cecilia Jernberg from the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control.

The review highlights the necessity of using antibiotics prudently.

“Antibiotic resistance is not a new problem and there is a growing battle with multi-drug resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria. The development of new antibiotics is slow and so we must use the effective drugs we have left with care,” Jenberg added.

The study is published in the latest issue of journal Microbiology.

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HEALTHY HABITS

Active life is a magnet that attract a number of habits that viewed one by one is too simple to assess. However, collectively, these habits is the main hope for the sake of personal health and vitaitas and even for the integrity of the nation's health surveillance system. Most habits are reminiscent of our mother's reprimand. a few years ago, researchers at the laboratory on human population california department of health published a habit related to health and longevity (Breslow & Enstrom, 1980)

List includes :

- Exercising regularly
- enough sleep
- good breakfast
- eat regularly
- weight control
- free of cigarette and drug
- moderate alcohol consumption (or not at all)

These studies prove the men can add as many as 11 years of age and women just as much as 7 years to run on 7 of the habit.

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HEALTHY WAY OF LIFE

You come to a crossroads: one road shows signs - traffic signs, while the other shows are rarely skipped or severe terrain. One way down the hill, the route is not heavy, while others slowly - land uphill. Would you be seduced by the easy route or motivated by the upward path with a beautiful view of the above? Unfortunately most people choose the easy road and consequently we lose our identity as a strong person. Along the way we've become a fat nation in the world, surrounded by chronic fatigue, depression, heart disease and lung, cancer and diabetes. My little advice to fitness for a healthy life, choose the hard way (the road less traveled), because this will change your life.

Which road less traveled? simple, is an active life, a way of life based on regular physical activity and a set of related habits, including healthy food choices, weight control, prevention sterss, free from cigarettes and drugs, moderate alcohol consumption, attention to safety, and prevention of disease. This is the way of individuals who not only leads to health, strength, vitality, but also respect for self and control over your destiny. Set of habits related to health have been proved to be a profound paradox in our society, it is easy to understand but difficult to implement.

Active life is the life that most people lived before humans reached the profit industrial modernization, technological developments, tools that reduce the labor unions, television, and computers. the findings of this extraordinary now allows us to reduce the daily energy expenditure by using the keys, keystroke, and the voice command to meet the demands of life, work and entertainment. Parallel with the decrease in the need to remove enregi is increased consumption of fat, easy, and fast food. Chemists find that we can add hydrogen into the oil vegetable oil to last a long time, using palm and coconut oil are cheap as any other substitute materials, and provide our demands will be fast food and rush. separately, decreased activity and increased food consumption may not be a problem. But, if combined, as in years today, raises the potential for epidemic disease caused by the way we live. fortunately, these habits can be changed. Now depends on your self that will change.

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VITAMINS EFFECT ON HEALTH

Today, quite a lot of supplements for skin beauty on the market. Vitamins A, C, and E in supplement form is offered as an intake for the skin. However, according to the American Academy of Dermatology, beside skin care supplements, nutrients to protect the skin can also be obtained from fruits and vegetables. Thus, to delay the appearance of wrinkles, the American Academy of Dermatology recommends the women taking supplements in the proper dose, and still get natural antioxidants from fruits and vegetables every day. Here, the nutrients you need for health and beauty skin:

Vitamin A
These nutrients are needed to keep skin firm and smooth. Drug and Food Control Agency United states, women need 5000 international units (IU) of vitamin A per day. However, if you want to get vitamin A from natural ingredients, you can consume food sources: milk, eggs, liver, meat, chicken, green vegetables , carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, broccoli, mangoes, tomatoes.

Vitamin E
Useful to protect skin cells from damage. The FDA recommends taking vitamin E daily as many as 30 IU. Sources of food: vegetable oil, wheat, avocado, and nuts. One tablespoon of corn oil, and a hand held almonds are the best sources of vitamin E for healthy skin. Sunflower seeds and hazelnuts are also added vitamin E intake in your daily menu. besides, you can also eat peanut butter, spinach and corn oil to meet the requirement of vitamin E.

Vitamin C
Efficacious to produce collagen, so skin always healthy and smooth. The FDA set a daily dose of Vitamin C is 60 mg. Sources of food: citrus, fruit types of berries, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, spinach, guava, and red peppers (vitamin C content was higher than the greens).

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What is the cause of boils and how to treat it??

Abscess is an inflammation of the hair follicle area and surrounding skin. The most common cause is a bacteria - usually staphylococcus aureus, because the blisters can also be interpreted as a local infection on the skin. Originally just an infected hair follicle, but because of friction, irritation, and less net body treatment, the infection can spread to surrounding tissue, and become ulcers. Initially the cause can also be due to ingrown hairs, cuts, or the entry of foreign objects into the skin.

Abscess usually begins with red bumps and soft on the skin area, which over time will become harder. Then in the middle of the lump will form a white top - that will break down or be removed by a doctor (through a minor surgical procedure). The liquid that comes out is called pus, containing white blood cells (which sent the body to fight bacteria that infect the skin area), bacteria and proteins.

Boils can also be caused by clogged oil glands, which then become infected. Such ulcers are called 'acne cysts', usually occurs in young skin (teenagers).

Another thing boils called 'hidradenitis suppurativa', caused by local inflammation of the sweat glands. Boils are usually incurred more than one, its location in the armpit or groin area.

And the last is boils called 'pilonidal cyst', usually occurs in the folds of the buttocks. Initially only form of infection in the hair follicle, then added with irritation from pressure from sitting too long, usually when traveling a long time then this abscess is formed.

Place of occurrence of ulcers are common in many areas of the body occurs friction, for example in the armpits and buttocks. The first aid that can be done if the abscess had been seen going to happen, is to immediately compress with hot water (warm), which can increase blood circulation to the area. Treatment is with antibiotic cream or ointment (must be with a doctor's prescription). But if not improved, which has been eyed for ulcers / no white peaks, the doctor will consider to remove the pus. Solid boils, sore eyes and not do a massage because there is no pus that can be issued.

If boils a lot, or there is fever in the body, it must be coupled with drug taking antibiotics. If blisters occur repeatedly, it must be sought underlying factors, namely whether there is diabetes, severe kidney disease, severe disease, immune deficiencies to the person or persons who have aged.

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