Too little sleep makes us sick

Everyone knows how useful a good night's sleep makes for well-being and performance the next day. Now growing awareness of sleep great importance for health in the long term.


Get enough sleep can reduce the risk of a range of more and less serious diseases, explains Professor Torbjörn Åkerstedt, who researched sleep for three decades.

Previous sleep research was mainly about how sleep is regulated, circadian and working hours significance and how lack of sleep affects us in the short term. Torbjörn Åkerstedt is one of the Swedish researchers who contributed most to the knowledge of particular importance to working hours sleep and fatigue safety risk. While research continues on these issues can sleep researchers now ahead and insert sleep in a holistic approach to health and lifestyle.


Only now we begin to understand that sleep is a base for long-term health and why it is so, he says


Torbjörn Åkerstedt is professor and director of the Stress Research Institute at Stockholm University. His research focuses on stress, sleep and recovery. He also leads Stockholm Stress Center, an interdisciplinary center for research on work-related stress and health that formed the 2009th Centre was funded by a grant of 50 million over ten years from the FAS. Stockholm Stress Center consists of collaborating research groups from the Stress Research Institute and Department of Psychology at Stockholm University and the Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Department of Public Health Sciences at Karolinska Institutet.


Thanks to the interdisciplinary cooperation within the research center, we may combine such as immunology, stress research, sleep measurements and techniques which depict brain function. This gives us a whole new spin on the subject. When you order together research from different disciplines look suddenly new patterns, he says.


It has never been so much fun that now researching sleep!

For example, studies that gave explanations for the importance of sleep for the emotional balance. Imaging technique that shows activity in different parts of the brain has helped researchers understand why people become more emotionally unstable and easily swings between different emotions when you sleep poorly. Normally held areas in the brain which is the center of strong emotional reactions under the control of other more analytical and planning areas in the front of the brain.

The studies show that sleep deprivation fatigue the controlling areas that lose grip of the brain. Suddenly you lose the emotional balance and can start over react in different ways.

 Studies show that sleep deprivation fatigue the controlling areas that lose grip of the brain. Suddenly you lose the emotional balance and can start over react in different ways, says Torbjörn Åkerstedt.

Sleep repairs

Recent research has shown that for short and / or disturbed sleep can eventually contribute to including dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome. Torbjörn Åkerstedt and his employees work in a variety of studies to try to explain why stress and poor sleep makes us sick. An important aim is to prevent such problems.
When we are active during the day we use energy and other resources built up in the body. During the activity is thus degradation, catabolic processes in the body's cells. Degradation needs to be balanced with the reconstruction, anabolic processes that renew the body's resources. This recovery is very largely dependent upon our sleeping enough. Sleep is necessary for many of the reconstruction process. You could say that the body repairs itself while we sleep and pulse, andningsfekvensen, body temperature and blood pressure. During the sleep phase called deep sleep also increases the secretion of growth hormone significantly while the secretion of the stress hormone cortisol decreases.

Today we can demonstrate clear long-term effects of sleep disorders on the anabolic systems, says Torbjörn Åkerstedt.

 Sleep, Stress and 24-hour society

 It is precisely the reduced recovery of the body's various systems that are likely to be the root cause of the sleep disorder has so many negative effects. The lack of recovery explains among other things the connection between sleep disorders and stress. In Stockholm Stress Center, several studies on stress, sleep and recovery. The main hypothesis is that stress does not cause disease unless disturbed sleep out. Meanwhile, as we know, stress often make it harder to sleep.

 Sleep is disturbed that it is hard to stop thinking about work when you are sleeping. They dwell on things that have happened and things will happen. It leads to a physiological revving up to counteract sleep, says Torbjörn Åkerstedt.

The problems with stresstörd sleep is greatest in human occupations - such as teachers and health care professions. Getting involved in other people at work makes you wound up.

 Problems with stresstörd sleep is greatest in human occupations - such as teachers and health care professions. Getting involved in other people at work makes you wound up. There is also a gender difference that makes women get more sleep problems than men. Among physicians, the example twice as many women as men who have sleep disorders.

Something else that helps many people today receive too little restorative sleep is the community known as the 24-hour society. The boundaries between work / activity and rest blurring more and more when we get used to be reachable around the clock and when to socialize, be entertained and make a lot more at night when our body really need sleep. If you are active late into the night, making the biological circadian rhythm of sleep is shortened.

You may not notice it myself, but late habits leads to less sleep. Often you might not feel any major problems of the day, but our studies have shown that even small variations in sleep duration and quality of sleep affects the function the next day. If you put too late, it will lead to is worse mood and running slower the next day. Disturbed sleep systematically for longer, also the longer-term health effects. An important lifestyle factor

 Research indicates that most people need to sleep about 7 hours a night to avoid fatigue and adverse health effects. According to a national survey by the Swedish Council on Technology Assessment was performed by the Swedes sleep an average of 6 hours and 51 minutes per night during the workweek. On weekends, sleep about an hour longer.Most successful thus basically get the sleep they need, but the variations are large. Sleep disturbance and fatigue are a major and growing public health problem. Between 1993 and 2003 almost doubled the number of people in Sweden who had trouble sleeping, according to Statistics Sweden's Surveys of Living Conditions. Among young women, there was a threefold increase. Now, the growth stalled and sleep disturbances stabilized at a significantly higher level than 20 years ago. The SBU survey mentioned previously reported 11.5 percent of the population sleep disorders.
Torbjörn Åkerstedt think it is high time that we really start to see the sleep habits as a key lifestyle factor in itself, in addition to nutrition, physical activity, smoking / abstinence and alcohol use. He suggests the need for greater awareness of the importance of sleep, both among employers, policymakers and health care people in each of us as individuals.
- Interest in the issues of sleep, stress and fatigue has increased in recent years and it is pleasing. But still sleep undervalued as a lifestyle factor, perhaps because it is free? We need changes in attitudes and knowledge and even there, I hope that our research can contribute.

Women in occupations with low power at higher risk of stroke

Women with low influence at work are at higher risk of stroke than other women. Among men, the link between power and stroke weak. According to a study by the Centre for Health Equity Studies (CHESS), Stockholm University which examined the link between the psychosocial work environment and the risk of stroke.

The analyzers are based on population studies from the database Swedish Work and Mortality Data Base (HSIA) for individuals born between 1930 and 1965. They showed that low influence at work had a significantly associated with stroke mortality among women but not among men.

The importance of low power for stroke mortality was also when the analyzes were controlled for marital status, education level and occupation-based social class. Class-specific analyzes showed that the effect of impact on stroke mortality is similar in most occupational classes among women but not among men.

In analyzes of the risk of stroke, regardless of the outcome is fatal or not, and influence of the work was the risk highest in occupations with the lowest influence. The relationship varied for different types of stroke (cerebral hemorrhage or cerebral infarction), and gender. The relative risk of stroke was highest among women in occupations with the lowest influence. For men in occupations with low power, there was instead a slightly increased risk of cerebral infarction.

11 surprising causes headache

Headache is something that most of us encounter every now and then. Some of us more often than others. The causes of headaches can be different from time to time. There is some that you may not know who may be somewhat surprising. Here we compile some of them.

First Your weight
In a study conducted recently, researchers found that women with certain obesity (BMI of about 30) 35% more likely to suffer from headaches than women with a lower BMI. Women with high obesity where BMI is over 40, ran 80% increased risk of headache.

2nd Your personality 
Some elements of your personality can also increase your risk of suffering from headaches. Personality traits such as strictness, rigidity and obsession can make you more susceptible to headaches than average. If any of these traits apply to you then it is perhaps time to sign up for a course in yoga, meditation, or plain old relaxation.

3rd Sex
In a survey, 46% of respondents who felt that the sex sometimes triggered their headaches. In most cases, this is a headache caused by overexertion, similar to that weight lifters or runners can get sometimes.

4th Leave
Many of us get a headache when we relax or become vacant, or does break from daily routines. When taking weekend maybe you sleep and / or different compared to weekdays. To overcome such problems is recommended to keep a similar routine, weekdays and weekends.

5th Fresh Paint 
Many paints used, when painting walls or ceilings may release substances that contribute to that you may suffer from headaches. However, there are now plenty of alternative colors that emit smaller amounts and are odorless. 

6th Dehydration 
If you have too little fluid in the body, there is a high risk that you get headaches. It does not require large amounts of fluid to be in balance. Note, however, to drink as much water as coffee when you work because coffee is a diuretic.

7th Skipping meals
 On weekdays, we are all very busy job and family, but be sure not to skip any meals if you want to avoid getting a headache.

8th Too much caffeine 
A small amount of caffeine can certainly help you get rid of the headache, but an excessive intake can also help you get a headache.

9th Lack of exercise
 Lack of exercise can cause both headache and depression. By you move regularly, you can thus avoid feeling bad in several ways. The amount of exercise is not the focus, but the regularity - ensure at least go a little round every day.  

10th Lack of sleep
A large study has shown that people who sleep an average of 6 hours per night suffering from a lot of headaches than people who sleep upwards of 8 hours a night.

11th Food and drinkSome types of food and drink deemed to have tendencies to give it that sets itself the headache. Admittedly, people react differently, but below are some tips on food and drinks to avoid to avoid headaches: red wine, beer, chocolate, aged cheese, sauerkraut, and salami. 

 

Therefore, you get pimples

Pimples and acne affect people, and most predominantly teenagers worldwide. Some may even scar for life, but most of us know how hard it can be even with the milder outbreaks of pimples.

The reason behind is bacteria in the skin, but genetic and hormonal factors also controls. For example, we hit extra hard at puberty because the testosterone level in the body increases, both the boys and girls.

But why some suffer a lot, while others may go through life completely spot-free? The question, researchers at the University of California responded, and now you think you have found the answer.

Good and bad bacteria
Scientists have looked into the genes of Propionibacterium acnes, the bacteria that cause facial problems. Just as in humans, there are small differences that separate bacteria ate, even if they are of the same species. And when the researchers detail studied these differences so they made an unexpected discovery.

We noticed that two variants of the bacteria could be linked to the occurrence of acne. And perhaps even more exciting was that we found a variant that could be linked to healthy skin, says Huiying Li, one of the researchers behind the study.

Different variants thus plays different role in our skin, and not all Propionibacterium acnes bacteria are evil.

Want to help people
According Huiying Li opens these results up many exciting new opportunities to help acne sufferers. 

One way to go is to develop some type of moisturizer that contains the "good" variant of the bacterium. Theoretically, then, a kind of cream to protect against the "evil" versions, just as different yogurt products and the like contain good magbakterier that keeps the bad guys away from your stomach.

Another way is to find ways to kill the evil variants without killing the good.

But it's a while until you have something there, and what is the best option, future studies in humans show. But Huiying Li hopes that such studies are not very far away in time.

The study now published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. 

 

Erection reveals the heart

It says scientists from the University of Sydney, Australia, after studying data from about 95,000 men who were part of an even larger health study. During the follow-up period expired the men who said they had problems with erections significantly higher risk of hospitalization for different types of heart problems - no matter how serious erection problems were. Compared with men without these problems, they had a higher risk of heart attack, heart failure, vascular disease and problems with the heart's electrical conductivity. To top it all, they had also a greater risk of dying from any cause.
The study, which is the largest of its kind, presented in PLOs Medicine Today.

Weakens excessive cleanliness our immune system?

Today we are much better for hygiene than before. The only good thing?

Not even very thorough cleanliness weakens the body's immune system, it is very important to avoid infectious diseases.

Hygiene is now much better than before, but at the same time, the number of allergy sufferers has exploded in the western world. It has given birth to a hypothesis that a sterile environment increases the risk of developing allergies, because the immune system is not kept in the form of such infectious diseases.

It therefore runs amok and react strongly to harmless substances. The hypothesis are not proven, and other studies suggest the contrary that such repeated influenza infections increase the risk of developing asthma.

Excipients make vaccines more effective

The vaccine is an ingenious invention, but in order to effectively prepare the immune system against diseases in the world many patients also undamaged, it is sufficient to fill the syringe with weakened microorganisms. The key to success today is to provide the vaccine with a range of customized power amplifiers.

Vaccines are one of medicine's greatest achievements. Doctors have saved countless lives by providing preventive renovate the immune system against pathogenic microorganisms. In this way it has been successful in eradicating smallpox and push back diseases like measles and polio so that they may be able to be completely eradicated.

A vaccine mimics an infection, so that the immune system reacts and then "remember" the disease, when the latter shows up in the body.

What exactly is fiber?

The fiber plant is a carbohydrate that can not be digested by humans, so it passes through the system are relatively intact and little or no calorific value.
There are two types of fiber: soluble (soluble in water) and insoluble (does not dissolve in water). Both play an important role in optimal health and naturally occurring - often together - in foods such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and beans.
The fiber, soluble fiber, especially, also improves blood sugar control by lowering the rate that the stomach empties the food, which slows the rise in blood sugar after meals and avoid excessive insulin secretion or excessive. Delayed gastric emptying can also help you lose weight to improve control of hunger.
Women should consume about 25 grams of fiber per day and men should consume 38 grams. Most Americans have less than half of the recommended daily amount of fiber.
If you have trouble getting adequate amounts of fiber daily or intestinal problems or suffer from high cholesterol, talk to your doctor or nutritionist about adding a fiber supplement to your diet.
If you currently do not eat enough fiber, increase fiber intake slowly to avoid unpleasant intestinal symptoms (such as gas and bloating) and be sure to drink plenty of water.

healthy and beautiful skin

Total beauty begins with beautiful skin that is clean, fresh and glowing. We are born with a skin smooth and soft. However, with the passage of time, the skin loses its fine structure, due to constant exposure to pollutants, dirt and adversities of weather conditions. But with proper care, we can preserve the beauty of the skin.

To look beautiful and elegant all you need to do is spend a little time each day to feed and care for your skin. It is necessary to understand the nature of the skin to give proper attention it needs. Using the right products for your skin, keeping the skin fresh and clean. Knowing the type and structure of the skin is important to select the right products for your skin.

This section provides an overview of skin types and textures, problems and treatment and natural masks for different skin types to keep skin soft, smooth and radiant.

Obesity can "lead to vitamin D deficiency"

The report, in the journal PLoS Medicine, analyzed data from 21 genetic studies - a total of 42,000 people.

They found each 10% increase in body mass index (BMI) - used as an indicator of body fat - led to a 4% decrease in available vitamin D in the body.

Since vitamin D is stored in the fatty tissue, the authors suggest a greater storage capacity in obese people can avoid circulating in the bloodstream.

The BMI is calculated as weight (in kg) divided by height (in meters) squared. People with a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese.

Lead author Dr. Elina Hypponen of the University College London Institute of Child Health, said the study "underlines the importance of monitoring and treatment of vitamin D deficiency in people who are overweight or obese."

Vitamin D is produced in the skin after exposure to sunlight and can be taken in supplements.

Sound levels are approximately 50 nanomoles per liter - less than 30 nanomoles per liter can cause softening and weakening of the bones, leading to rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.

Professor David Haslam of the National Obesity Forum, said: "food intake and genetics play a role in obesity - but this research is a reminder that physical activity, like walking the dog or going out of the race in sunlight, should 't forget and can help correct the weight and lack of vitamin D "

Good hygiene creates an imbalance in the immune system

Scientists do not know what causes the immune system to attack insulin-producing pancreatic cells, so that they can no longer produce insulin. However, suspicions directed against excessively good hygiene, such as the immune system out of balance, because the clean environment does not create sufficient challenges. It can give a violent overreaction to a harmless infection, which ends with the attack might temporarily directed to the pancreas.

The theory is supported by the type 1 - diabetes is most prevalent in the Western world and the Arab Gulf States, where virtually all residents have access to clean drinking black and sanitation. However, before the disease is largely absent in Afghanistan, where only ten percent a population has the same benefits. Surveys suggest that genes play only a minor role.

Poor lifestyle makes insulin unusable

Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder, body cells gradually lose the ability to respond to insulin, so that the patient cannot control blood sugar levels. Insulin formed, but it has little or no effect. The disease is due to the metabolism is the balance, resulting in too many nutrients in the blood. It stressed cells so that they behave abnormally. The treatment is medication, which must try to regulate blood sugar levels, but above all, the patient must be on a diet and engage much about exercise.

Good sleep habits prevent diabetes

 

Studies from the U.S. and Japan suggest that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases if one sleeps badly at night

• The level of physical activity is 39 percent lower, if you only get to sleep 5.5 hours with a normal 8.5 hours each night.
• The risk of developing type 2 diabetes is five times higher, if you sleep less than 5 hours at night, instead of more than 7 hours.

Headache Pills cure inflammation

A chronic inflammation of the overfilled fat cells suspected of causing type 2 diabetes. Common headache tablets of aspirin type can be a new cure for type 2 diabetes. Aspirin is namely based on aspirin which inhibit inflammatory reactions.
Steven Shoelson at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, tested the effect of the substance salsalate, which is similar to aspirin, in an attempt to obese patients, who were one developing diabetes. For a month, a third of patients placebo, while the rest were treated with salsalate. Both groups ate the same sugary.

Foreign stools provide healthy intestinal flora

New research suggests that a healthy gut flora can keep diabetes at bay. After implantation of feces from lean, healthy subjects, nine obese men cured of type 2 diabetes.
 
With an unusual experiment showed scientist experiments showed researcher Max Nieuwdorp at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, Holland, in 2012 the species composition of our intestinal flora can affect whether we develop type 2 diabetes or not.

He made a 'faecesimplantation in nine obese men who showed signs of diabetes. Subjects received feces from foreign, slim and healthy persons registered in the gut. This was already after six weeks the composition of the intestinal flora of patients changing. Concurrent they experienced a marked improvement in their symptoms of type 2 diabetes.

As we have become more cleanly and fights infections with antibiotics, we affect the intestinal flora, creating an imbalance in metabolism. Therefore, it is certainly not just our own bad lifestyle but also the lifestyle of intestinal bacteria deeds that we are developing type diabetes.

Feces transmitted by endoscopes

 

The endoscope with 20-30 ml of feces from a donor is taken to the patient's rectum.

 

The foreign stool "good" bacteria work their way into the intestines, where they outcompete the patient's own "bad" bacteria.

Fight cancer with biotechnology

February 1, 2013 - Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Cuba, after cardiovascular diseases. In the run up to World Cancer Day on February 4 this report examines how Cuba has followed WHO recommendations, implement a comprehensive national program of cancer control. To support the plan, there has been a significant investment in biotechnology. Cuban scientists and researchers have recently made ​​great progress in the search for new cancer treatments and tools to improve diagnosis and prevention.

Cut heart risk by 32%, "Vegetarians"

Cut heart risk by 32%, "Vegetarians"

A study of 44,500 people in England and Scotland showed vegetarians were 32% less likely to die or require hospitalization for heart disease.

Differences in cholesterol levels in blood pressure, body weight and health are thought pulse again.

The findings are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Heart disease is a greater scourge in the West. Kill 94,000 people in the UK each year - more than any other disease, and 2.6 million people living with the disease.

The blood supply of the heart itself is blocked by fatty deposits in the arteries that feed the heart muscle. It can cause angina or even lead to a heart attack when the arteries become completely blocked.

Researchers at the University of Oxford analyzed data of 15,100 and 29,400 vegetarians who ate meat and fish.

For 11 years, 169 people died in the study of heart disease and 1,066 required hospitalization - and were more likely to have been the meat and fish eating vegetarians.

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Choice of vegetarian options on the menu is a shortcut to a healthy heart '

Tracy Parker British Heart Foundation

Dr Francesca Crowe said: "The key message is that diet is an important factor in heart health, I am not advocating that everyone eat a vegetarian diet.

"Most diets are completely different. Vegetarians probably have a lower intake of saturated fat so you know there is a lower risk of heart disease."

The results showed that vegetarians had lower blood pressure, lower levels of "bad" cholesterol and were more likely to have a healthy weight.

Tracy Parker, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "This research reminds us that we should try to eat a balanced and varied diet - this includes meat or not.

"But remember, to choose the vegetarian option on the menu is a shortcut to a healthy heart. After all, there is still plenty of food suitable for vegetarians that are high in saturated fat and salt.

"If you are thinking of switching to a vegetarian diet, be sure to plan your meals carefully to replace the loss of vitamins and minerals, such as iron, which normally get from meat."

Correct figures for measles

Measles has long been and still is one of the primary causes of death mixed children. An outbreak followed a rule a high fever, cough, red eyes and ice severe cases a form an encephalitis, so ka be fatal. Therefore sported WHO in 1980 an extensive vaccination program, which would eradicate the disease. As we wrote, show the latest figures from the WHO, the number of deaths from measles was reduced by 74 percentage since 2002 - still dying around 140,000 remains of the infectious disease each year. The latest figures from 2010 show that 85 percent of the world's children today are vaccinated

Measles primarily affect children

Blood Pressure Monitor:

Blood Pressure Monitor:

Keeping track of blood clots

High blood pressure may not be noticeable, but it increases the risk of blood clots. Normally we leave to the doctors to measure blood pressure, but today, a blood pressure monitor connected to a smart phone. By placing a sensor on the upper arm and connect it to the phone, patient blood pressure checked as often as necessary, at home in the kitchen. With a push of a button send the measurement results to the physician, who can then consider possible treatment.

Dr. Smartphone

Dr. Smartphone
Viewing your health

Measure your blood pressure, check blodsockeret and scan their unborn children. The smart phones are so intelligent that they can monitor our body. In the near future, the phone will be able to diagnose including cancer, but we need to go to the doctor.