TOO MUCH TV time may HURT your HEART

A study reveals Spending lots of free time glued to the TV or computer screen can hurt your heart and shorten your life, no matter how much exercise you get when you're not riding the couch.

People who spent at least four hours per day watching TV, playing video games, or using a computer for fun were more than twice as likely as those who kept their recreational "screen time" under two hours to experience a heart attack, stroke, or other serious cardiovascular problem, the study found. Couch potatoes were also about 50 percent more likely to die of any cause during the four-year study.

The study doesn't prove that watching TV or playing computer games is inherently unhealthy, says the lead researcher, Emmanuel Stamatakis, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at University College London, in the U.K. The real culprit may be what people tend to do during those activities: sit.

Why is sitting harmful? It's not entirely clear, but animal studies have shown that prolonged sitting slows down the action of an enzyme (lipoprotein lipase) that breaks down fats in the blood, such as cholesterol and triglycerides. When the enzyme activity slows, levels of those substances climb. This is a "very plausible explanation" for the findings, Stamatakis says.

Stamatakis and his colleagues followed more than 4,500 Scottish people age 35 or older whose screen time and other health behaviors were recorded in a survey. The majority of participants (54 percent) said they spent two to four hours of free time each day in front of the TV or the computer, while 29 percent spent four hours or more. (Screen time at work or school was excluded).

Stamatakis and his colleagues are now investigating whether getting up and walking around or even just standing can help counter the ill effects of sitting. The average adult in the U.S. and U.K. watches three to four hours of TV daily, Stamatakis says, and many of us also spend our working lives sitting at a desk and commuting behind the wheel of a car.

Information taken from here.

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The BEAUTY of a GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP

Why eight hours' shut-eye really does improve your looks.

Shut eye: Sleeping for eight hours a night makes you look more attractive, research shows.

Forget lotions and potions. Don’t bother with a new dress or hairstyle. The best way to improve your looks is to treat yourself to some good old-fashioned beauty sleep.

Those who manage eight hours a night look far more attractive than those who are sleep deprived, according to scientists.

Twenty-three healthy young adults were photographed after a good night’s sleep, and again after much less.

Young women who took part in the study were not allowed to use make up and had to wear their hair down for both photos, just in case a particular style was slightly more flattering.

On the first night they slept in their own homes and were told to go to bed at 11pm and set their alarms for 7am. On the second night they were allowed to sleep no more than five hours and were monitored in the laboratory to ensure they did not get any more. The result? They looked much worse after less sleep.

‘Sleep deprived people are perceived as less attractive and less healthy compared with when they are well rested,’ said the study, which was published in the BMJ and carried out at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

‘Apparent tiredness was strongly related to looking less healthy and less attractive.’

Although the notion of beauty sleep has often been dismissed as a myth, research is growing that shows sleep really can enhance your appearance.

Sleep has also been shown to reduce wrinkles in the face and neck. This is because when we are asleep we sweat more, and this moisture on the skin smooths out any lines. Experts recommend at least seven hours a night but the average Briton manages little more than six.

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 So then you sleep eight hours?

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10 Greatest discoveries: MEDICINE

Here are the 10 greatest discoveries in medicine ever:


1. Human Anatomy (1538)

Andreas Vesalius dissects human corpses, revealing detailed information about human anatomy and correcting earlier views. Vesalius believes that understanding anatomy is crucial to performing surgery, so he dissects human corpses himself (unusual for the time). His anatomical charts detailing the blood and nervous systems, produced as a reference aid for his students, are copied so often that he is forced to publish them to protect their accuracy. In 1543 he publishes De Humani Corporis Fabrica, transforming the subject of anatomy.

              2. Blood Circulation (1628)

William Harvey discovers that blood circulates through the body and names the heart as the organ responsible for pumping the blood. His groundbreaking work, Anatomical Essay on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, published in 1628, lays the groundwork for modern physiology.

3. Blood Groups (1902)

Austrian biologist Karl Landsteiner and his group discover four blood groups and develop a system of classification. Knowledge of the different blood types is crucial to performing safe blood transfusions, now a common practice.

4. Anesthesia (1842–1846)

Several scientists discover that certain chemicals can be used as anesthetics, making it possible to perform surgery without pain. The earliest experiments with anesthetic agents — nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and sulfuric ether — are performed mainly by 19th-century dentists.

5. X-rays (1895)

Wilhelm Roentgen accidentally discovers X-rays as he conducts experiments with the radiation from cathode rays (electrons). He notices that the rays are able to penetrate opaque black paper wrapped around a cathode ray tube, causing a nearby table to glow with florescence. His discovery revolutionizes physics and medicine, earning him the first-ever Nobel Prize for physics in 1901.

                                     6. Germ Theory (1800s)

French chemist Louis Pasteur finds that certain microbes are disease-causing agents. At the time, the origin of diseases such as cholera, anthrax and rabies is a mystery. Pasteur formulates a germ theory, postulating that these diseases and many others are caused by bacteria. Pasteur is called the "father of bacteriology" because his work leads to a new branch of scientific study.

7. Vitamins (early 1900s)

Frederick Hopkins and others discover that some diseases are caused by deficiencies of certain nutrients, later called vitamins. Through feeding experiments with laboratory animals, Hopkins concludes that these "accessory food factors" are essential to health.

8. Penicillin (1920s–1930s)

Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin, then Howard Florey and Boris Chain isolate and purify the compound, producing the first antibiotic. Fleming's discovery comes completely by accident when he notices that mold has killed a bacteria sample in a petri dish that is languishing under a pile in his lab's sink. Fleming isolates a sample of the mold and identifies it as Penicillium notatum. With controlled experimentation, Florey and Chain later find the compound cures mice with bacterial infections.

                        9. Sulfa Drugs (1930s)

Gerhard Domagk discovers that Prontosil, an orange-red dye, cures infections caused by the common bacteria streptococci. The finding opens the door to the synthesis of chemotherapeutic drugs (or "wonder drugs") and sulfa drugs in particular.

10. Vaccination (1796)

Edward Jenner, an English country doctor, performs the first vaccination against smallpox after discovering that inoculation with cowpox provides immunity. Jenner formulated his theory after noticing that patients who work with cattle and had come into contact with cowpox never came down with smallpox when an epidemic ravaged the countryside in 1788.

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What we would be without these discoveries?

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