Less Sleep, More Weight – and Worse Learning Connections count. A few years ago people had a hard time believing that sleep time determined weight. Though physicians have long recognized that increased weight means increased sleep apnea, most of the population does not recognize that being overweight itself interferes with sleep and increases inflammation. […]
Your cell phone is a biological part of you (11/11/11)
Your Hand, Your Cellphone You’re an ecosystem – a complicated one. Your cell phone is just one component of it – and an inescapable part of your biology. Fortunately, it’s one you can control. A recent UK survey from 12 separate districts found bacteria on 92% of cell phones – and only 82% of human […]
Seeing the new you (11/9/11)
Seeing What’s Inside If you don’t see it, it’s not there, right? And that’s how most people react when told of the extraordinary speed by which their body remakes itself. I look at myself in the mirror now as I did four weeks ago. My gut is approximately as big, my feet, my calves, my […]
Senescent cells and the promise of human regeneration (11/7/11)
Learning From Mice Aging seems inevitable, but thoughts of reversing it propel great excitement. A group at Mayo Clinic has recently discovered that if a tiny group of cells, called senescent cells, are genetically manipulated to self-destruct, much of aging disappears – in mice. What the Study Showed The mice were a specially bred group […]
Obesity – why we can’t lose (11/4/11)
A Threat to the Nation Obesity will remain a threat to the American economy and national security for decades to come. With 17% of our GDP spent on health care, we cannot afford treating a nation that will be one third diabetic by 2030. Data argues that every pound Americans add increases national energy costs […]