As a nation that consumes a large amount of caffeine, we thought this article from WebMD by Tim Locke, was fitting and applicable for many of our readers. After reading, let us know what you think. Is your caffeine fix essential to your everyday function at a high level? –Can’t start your day without a coffee? It’s all in your mind, according to University of Bristol, U.K. researchers who’ve found the stimulating effects of caffeine may be just an illusion. Their study involved 379 brave volunteers who went coffee “cold turkey” for 16 hours before being given a caffeine capsule or a placebo capsule containing corn flour. They were then tested for a range of responses, but there was little variation between the real- caffeine group and the placebo group in levels of alertness. Around half of the study participants were … Continue reading
*This post is from the Consumer Reports Health Blog. We felt it fit well as a follow up to our weekly post for May 1st, 2010. “The idea that people need and want less sleep as they get older is a myth,” says Harrison Bloom, M.D., a senior associate with the International Longevity Center USA in New York. But it is true that the type of sleep they get often changes. “People may not sleep as deeply as they did when they were young, and they may awaken more frequently,” Bloom says. That disturbed sleep increases the risk of conditions such as cardiovascular disease, depression, and hypertension. Unfortunately, even many physicians ignore complaints about poor sleep from older people, assuming it’s just part of aging. But health conditions that impair sleep, such as sleep apnea, are often independent problems that respond to treatment. … Continue reading
