5 Surprising Reasons to Get More Sleep
6:41 AM
It could make you thinner. The less sleep you get, the higher your body mass index tends to be. Research showed that people who sleep five hours a night were found to have 15 percent more ghrelin ( a hormone that boosts hunger ) in their bodies and 15 percent less
leptin ( which suppresses it ) than those sleeping eight hours.
It could boost your memory.Sleep plays a key role in making new memories stick in the brain. A Harvard experiment showed that subjects taught complex finger movements such as a piano scaled recalled them better after 12 hours' sleep than 12 hours wakefulness.
It can slow down ageing. Persistent sleep debt affects carbohydrate metabolism and hormone function in a way to increase the severity af age-related chronic disorders. A large-scale study concluded that people who sleep six to seven hours a night lived longer than those sleeping than 4.5 hours
It could keep you orderly.If youre a child, that is. The depression and low self esteem often associated with just being a teenager actually correlate with sleep shortage. Young kids who sleep poorly are more than twice as likely to take drink and drugs in adolescence.
It's Not Just What You Eat...
12:20 PM
Its also how you eat.
Changing your eating habits could help cut your risk of digestive illnesses:
Take meal times seriously.
Treat them as sections of the day in their own right, not things to be slotted in around work.
Take your time.
Eat slowly to give your system a better chance of digesting the food. Sitting upright will also help. Sip drinks to avoid swallowing air.
Chew well.
This releases enzymes that aid thorough digestion.
Eat early.
A good breakfast kick-starts your metabolism for the day, while overloading the digestive systems late at night can lead to bloating.
Don't miss meals.
A lack of food in the system can cause excessive gas.
Give Yourself A Break
4:27 AM
You're extra busy at work this month, but you need to find time to unwin: Doing too much can make you sick. Those who clock-51-plus hours a week are 30 percent more likely to have high blood pressure than those work less than 40, say Unviersity of California, Irvine experts. And those with chronic job stress are up to five times more likely than stress-free workers to get metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors that can lead to heart disease and diabetes. To stay healthy, ease the strain, make friends at work and take breaks.
Related link: How to Prevent Diabetes
How to Prevent Diabetes
4:25 AM
Here's some sound advice for all people - not just those with diabetes - to enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods such as vegetables, legumes and fruit; cereals (including breads, rice, pasta and noodles - preferable whole grain ); and lean meat; reduced fat dairy products and plenty of water, Take care to:
Limit saturated fat and moderate total fat intake. Being overweight or obese can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes, and can worsen the disease. Aim to reduce your intake of saturated fats that are found in foods such as meat products ( like sausages and bacon ), butter, full fat milk, and cheese and palm and coconut oil. Good substitutes include lean meat and fish, poly- or monosaturated margarines like canola, sunflower, skim milk, and smalll amounts of olive oil.
Exercise regularly . Maintain a healthy body weight is important for the management of diabetes, so aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. Exactly where you carry your weight can be of great importance. In general, if you are "apple" - shaped (carrying weight around the middle ), you are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes thatn if you're "pear" shaped ( carrying weight around the hips and thighs ).
Get some sleep. Boston University medical researchers recently found that people who slept too little ( six hours or less ) were 66 percent more likely to have diabetes than those who slept 7 to 8 hours.
