Category: Health


Can You Catch Up on Sleep?

Filed Under: Health by Mr. H — Leave a comment
May 29, 2013

From the Wall Street Journal:

“Nobody knows how long the horizon is, probably a few nights, but studies show that recovery sleep in the short term does work,” says Dr. Winter, a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Recent data suggests that banking sleep in advance of a long night can actually offset upcoming sleep deprivation.

A scheduled nap is healthier than catching up on or banking sleep. “The body likes routine,” he says. “When it’s prepared, it works more efficiently.”

Read the full article here.

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Sleep—You’ll Get Fit Faster

Filed Under: Health by Mr. H — Leave a comment
May 15, 2013

From Mark’s Daily Apple:

How to Get Fitter, Faster and Stronger With Quality Sleep

Here’s some information for the people who miss out on sleep to catch an early morning workout, who stay up late reading fitness blogs and trading fitness memes on Reddit, who tell themselves that all that yawning they do in between squat sets is just weakness leaving the body. Did you know that sleep deprivation also hampers our athletic performance? That bad sleep makes us slower, weaker, and less coordinated? That sleep deprivation reduces the effectiveness of our workouts, and sometimes even reverses their beneficial effects? That it can hamper our ability to build lean mass?

Let’s look at some of the research.

Read more here:
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Sugar Is Not Your Friend

Filed Under: Health by Mr. H — Leave a comment
May 15, 2013

From the New York Times:

Sugar is indeed toxic. It may not be the only problem with the Standard American Diet, but it’s fast becoming clear that it’s the major one.

A study published in the Feb. 27 issue of the journal PLoS One links increased consumption of sugar with increased rates of diabetes by examining the data on sugar availability and the rate of diabetes in 175 countries over the past decade. And after accounting for many other factors, the researchers found that increased sugar in a population’s food supply was linked to higher diabetes rates independent of rates of obesity.

In other words, according to this study, it’s not just obesity that can cause diabetes: sugar can cause it, too, irrespective of obesity. And obesity does not always lead to diabetes.

The study demonstrates this with the same level of confidence that linked cigarettes and lung cancer in the 1960s.

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