sleep

            Irregular bedtimes could disrupt natural body rhythms

                                          Irregular bedtimes could disrupt natural body rhythms and cause sleep deprivation, so undermining the plasticity of the brain and the ability to acquire and retain information, researchers said. "Early child development has profound influences on health and wellbeing across the life course. Therefore, reduced or disrupted sleep, especially if it occurs at key times in development, could have important impacts on health throughout life," they said. Researchers looked at whether bedtimes in early childhood were related to brain power in more than 11,000 seven year olds, all of whom were part of the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). The research drew on regular surveys and home visits made when the children were 3, 5, and 7, to find out about family routines, including bedtimes. Researchers wanted to know whether the time a child went to bed, and the consistency of bed-times, had any impact on intellectual performance, measured by validated test scores for reading, maths, and spatial awareness. Irregular bedtimes were most common at the age of 3, when around one in five children went to bed at varying times. By the age of 7, more than half the children went to bed regularly between 7.30 and 8.30 pm. Children whose bedtimes were irregular or who went to bed after 9 pm came from more socially disadvantaged backgrounds, the findings show. When they were 7, girls who had irregular bedtimes had lower scores on all three aspects of intellect assessed, after taking account of other potentially influential factors, than children with regular bedtimes. But this was not the case in 7 year old boys. Irregular bedtimes by the age of 5 were not associated with poorer brain power in girls or boys at the age of 7. But irregular bedtimes at 3 years of age were associated with lower scores in reading, maths, and spatial awareness in both boys and girls, suggesting that around the age of 3 could be a sensitive period for cognitive development.

heart disease risk

Lack of sleep increases heart disease risk 

                                             Sleeping for less than seven hours a night may increase the risk of fatal heart disease, a new study has warned. A good night's sleep can increase the benefit of exercise, healthy diet, moderate alcohol consumption and non-smoking in their protection against cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to results of a large population follow-up study. Results showed that the combination of the four traditional healthy lifestyle habits was associated with a 57 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular disease (fatal and non-fatal) and a 67 per cent lower risk of fatal events.

But, when “sufficient sleep” - defined as seven or more hours a night - was added to the other four lifestyle factors, the overall protective benefit was even further increased - and resulted in a 65 per cent lower risk of composite CVD and a 83 per cent lower risk of fatal events.“If all participants adhered to all five healthy lifestyle factors, 36 per cent of composite CVD and 57 per cent of fatal CVD could theoretically be prevented or postponed,” researchers said. The study is the first to investigate whether the addition of sleep duration to the four traditional healthy lifestyle factors contributes to an association with CVD. In the Monitoring Project on Risk Factors for Chronic Diseases (MORGEN), a prospective cohort study in the Netherlands, 6672 men and 7967 women aged 20-65 years and free of CVD at baseline were followed up for a mean time of 12 years. As expected, results showed that adherence to each of the four traditional lifestyle factors alone reduced the risk of CVD, researchers said. Those at baseline who recorded sufficient physical activity, a healthy diet and moderate alcohol consumption reduced their risk of composite CVD from 12 per cent for a healthy diet to 43 per cent for not smoking and risk reduction in fatal CVD ranged from 26 per cent for being physically active to 43 per cent for not smoking. 

However, sufficient sleep duration alone also reduced the risk of composite CVD by about 22 per cent and of fatal CVD by about 43 per cent.Thus, non-smoking and sufficient sleep duration were both strongly and similarly inversely associated with fatal CVD. These benefits were even greater when all five lifestyle factors were observed, resulting in a in a 65 per cent lower risk of composite CVD and an 83 per cent lower risk of fatal CVD

Arthritis

Safer treatments for Arthritis 

                                           The increased risk of heart attack or stroke associated with many arthritis drugs may be avoidable, a new international study has claimed.

Drugs such as Vioxx, diclofenac, ibuprofen and Celebrex operate by blocking an enzyme known as COX-2, whose presence in blood vessels has up until now been held responsible for these side effects. The study, co-authored by researchers at Imperial College London, carried out on mice has revealed that COX-2 is largely absent from the major blood vessels and instead found in the brain, gut, and kidney as well as the thymus gland in the chest. Now that researchers know where in the body the drug is acting, they can begin to develop safer, more targeted drugs for patients with arthritis as well as cancer. Arthritis drugs have long been associated with potentially fatal cardiovascular side-effects in patients. Health concerns led to the anti-inflammatory Vioxx being withdrawn from the market in 2004, and recently medical regulators have advised some patients to stop using the painkiller diclofenac.

Researchers have always believed that COX-2 was found in the blood vessels where it was central to preventing the formation of clots. This meant that any drug that inhibited the enzyme was thought to lead to an increased risk of clotting. The new study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, reveals that COX-2 is largely absent from the major blood vessels. Instead COX-2 appears to be present in the brain, kidney, thymus and gut, where it may well be affecting the cardiovascular health. "Now we know the true sites of COX-2, we can begin to develop new ideas that will lead to better drugs for arthritis and cancer with fewer side effects," said lead author, Professor Jane Mitchell of Imperial's Faculty of Medicine. The study suggests future development of COX-2 inhibitors that carry reduced risk of stroke or heart attack may be possible.

Hypertension

Hypertension

                                              High blood pressure, or Hypertension in medical parlance, is not a curable health condition though it can be kept at a distance by observing some changes in one's lifestyle.Stressful life is largely considered as the main cause of temporary BP spikes. The remedy obviously lies in reducing stress.  Deep breathing, Yoga, exercise, household chores, gardening, brisk walking, cycling and so on are helpful in reducing stress. Excessive consumption of  alcohol, smoking and chewing tobacco are definitely hazardous to those with hypertension. Maintaining optimum body weight is also important to ward off blood pressure casualties. It is advisable to keep a body mass index (BMI) of less than 23 and waist circumference of less than 90 cm in males and less than 80 cm in females.

It is better to avoid fatty and fried food items. Salty food such as sauce, pickles, chips, etc should be a no-no and they should be replaced with fruits and vegetables that are low in sodium and high in potassium. Processed and canned food items are high in salt and hence it better is to avoid them. High blood pressure is usually hereditary but that cannot be the only reason. Junk food, sedentary life style, excessive use of alcohol, stressful lifestyle, among others are conducive to accentuating this chronic health condition.If left uncared, abnormal blood pressure may affect the functioning of the heart and the arteries connecting it to the body, which may ultimately lead to strokes.