How Does Sleep Duration Link To Childhood Obesity?

Childhood obesity is a tough issue and many health experts have attributed such disorder to unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyle. However, a recent study has found that children who lack enough sleep face a greater risk of becoming obese than kids who get a good night's sleep.

An analysis of epidiomogical studies by the researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health revealed on February 5, 2008 that each extra hour of sleep cuts a child's risk of becoming overweight or obese by 9 percent. In comparison, children who got the least sleep had a 92 per cent higher chance of being overweight or obese than children who slept enough.

The researchers reviewed 17 published studies on sleep duration and childhood obesity, and the finding was published in the journal Obesity. The results clearly shows there is association between sleep duration and the risk for overweight or obesity in children, and the risk decreased with more sleep.

When comparing with other measures, desirable sleep behavior may be an important low cost means to prevent childhood obesity. As such, it should be considered in future intervention studies, as recommended by the researchers.

The findings may also have important implications for societies where children with insufficient sleep due to the pressure for academic excellence and where the rate of obesity is rising, such as in many East Asian countries.

As recommended and supported by other researches, those children under 5 years old sleep 11 hours or more a day, while children age 5 to 10 should get 10 or more hours of sleep, and children older than 10 should sleep at least 9 hours.

One should bear in mind that childhood obesity may lead to many chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. when these obese children become adults later on.

Modern Society Is The Culprit That Fosters Obesity!

People are worry about the many diseases like heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, stroke, etc that will be brought to their body if they do not manage their weight properly.

Overweight or obesity has become one of the toughest issues facing many countries. Based on the fast increasing number of obese people, governments will have to spend a great deal of financial resources just to tackle the health expenses that will follow.

Naturally, unhealthy diet and lifestyle are being blamed as the main reasons for the obesity epidemic but according to a newly released report, it is the modern society, which adds pressure to these individuals to put on weight.

During October 2007, a study by British government think-tank Foresight called for greater help to counter the "'obesogenic' environment" by designing towns and cities to promote walking and cycling and encouraging people to buy healthier food. The report also indicated that it could take some 30 years to tackle the problem. In fact, obesity rates have more than doubled in Britain in the last 25 years. In 2004, nearly a quarter of men and women in England were obese.

The report suggested there is compelling evidence that humans are predisposed to put on weight by their biology. Despite personal responsibility plays a crucial part in weight gain, human biology is also being overwhelmed by the effects of today's 'obesogenic' environment: abundance of energy-dense food, motorized transport and sedentary lifestyles. As such, people of the UK are becoming heavier simply by living in the Britain of today.

The government-commissioned research had suggested, if current trends are not halted, half of all Britons would be obese in 25 years; 86 percent of men will be overweight in 15 years and 70 percent of women in 20.

Living Near Airport Can Boost Your Blood Pressure!

It seems that high blood pressure is a very popular disease among us. A few of my friends have developed this disease, majority of them are below the age of 40.

Health experts used to blame unhealthy diet and lifestyle to cause hypertension. People who like salty foods since they are young are prone to getting high blood pressure. Some articles on the relationship of heart disease and salt can be found by clicking the following links:

Relationship between Salt and Heart Disease

A new study, however, has found another culprit that can raise blood pressure.

On February 13, 2008, the environmental health researchers from the University of Glasgow conducting the European Commission-funded study reported that loud noise instantly boosts a sleeping person’s blood pressure.

As revealed in the study, people living for at least 5 years near a busy airport and under a flight path have a greater risk of developing chronic high blood pressure than those who live in quieter areas. The louder the noise is, the higher a person's blood pressure. The finding suggests that people living near airports are not just irritating; there is a greater risk of health problems for them.

Hypertension, as it is known to some people, is a risk factor for stroke, kidney failure and heart disease. If it is not managed appropriately, the consequence could be very serious, or even deadly. Medical records show that it affects more than a billion adults worldwide.

Is Supplement A Must For Us?

Do we need supplement when we reach the age of 40?

I am sure many of us must have hovered around the decision whether we should take supplement to boost our health, especially when peers around us have started their intakes.

Perhaps I can share with you about the advice I have from a friend who is a doctor. He told me that for a healthy adult, a well-balanced diet is sufficient to provide the necessary dietary requirements, regardless of age. This does not mean that we cannot take supplements because supplements can be useful if taken appropriately.

However, you should do some home works to find out the nature and benefit of supplement you intend to take. He further cited some common examples to illustrate his arguments. For example, research has shown that gingko biloba can improve mental function and memory while ginseng is useful in alleviating fatigue. Omega-3 fish oil may be effective in reducing one's risk of getting heart disease. When one has osteoarthritis, a condition caused by wearing of joint cartilage after many years of exertion and movement, he or she might consider taking glucosamine sulphate. Saw palmetto may be useful for improving symptoms of mild benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH).

One important thing to note is that people should never treat supplements as a substitute for a healthy diet. In order to have proper nutrition, one should also include other important components, such as fiber and essential fatty acids.

It is evident that some supplements may interact with other medications or may affect existing medical conditions. Therefore, it is essential for people who are taking medications to first check with their doctors or pharmacist to ascertain which supplements are suitable for them.

Fat Boys More Likely To Have Heart Disease Than Fat Girls!

No one will deny that obesity will have a higher chance of developing heart disease. This conclusion is not limited to adult only: obese teens can develop heart disease as well just like the adults. Nevertheless, are you aware that there is a gender difference for fat teens towards developing coronary heart disease?

Let us take a look of a study in Denmark of 280,000 people born between 1930 and 1976. The finding, conducted by the researchers from The Institute of Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen, suggested that fat boys are far more likely to get heart disease as adults than fat girls are. The risk is higher if boys are obese at the age of 13 than if they were obese at age 7 but had slimmed down.

What the study discovered was that a 13-year-old boy of average height who is 11.2kg heavier than the norm has a 33 per cent higher risk of getting coronary heart disease when he grows up.

An accompanying commentary by Associate Professor David Ludwig of Harvard Medical School also predicts that childhood obesity would shorten lives in the United States by 2 to 5 years by mid-century. This is an effect equal to that of all cancers combined.

Some People Are Prone To Be Obese From Birth!

Being a risk factor for heart disease, obesity is frequently associated with unhealthy lifestyle and diet, but a new study could have probably changed this perception.

A new animal study, conducted by the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and released on February 5, 2008 in the February issue of Cell Metabolism, revealed that obesity might be hard-wired into the brain from birth, and this will make some people to be more prone to put on weight than others do.

It seems that appetite and obesity are built into the brain. In the study, obese rats had faulty brain wiring that impaired their response to the hunger-suppressing hormone leptin. Leptin plays an imperative role in fat metabolism. Produced by fat tissue, it acts as a signal to the brain about the body's energy status. Although its role in weight regulation is still unclear, it is understood that the brain calibrates the need for food intake based in part on leptin levels.

Previous research had shown that the brains of obesity-prone rats were insensitive to these leptin signals, so the researchers looked for brain abnormalities that could explain this. They found defects in the brain circuits that relay leptin signals throughout the hypothalamus, which is the brain's central switchboard for regulating conditions in the body.

According to the researchers, the neurodevelopmental differences in these animals can be seen as early as the first week. The results show that obesity can be wired into the brain from early life. Exercising and eating right might improve the rats’ condition, but the findings suggest that the propensity to gain weight cannot be reversed.

If we replicate the findings in humans, then people should be careful about those one-size-fits-all approach weight management and weight loss, especially those individuals who are genetically predisposed to obesity because of the way their brains are configured.

Expose To Sun To Get Your Needed Vitamin D!

Why is vitamin D so important to us? According to a new 5-year study, published in January 2008 in the journal Circulation, vitamin D may not only offer protection against serious illnesses, including strokes and heart failure, but also play a vital role in supporting bone strength.

A substantial amount of vitamin D required by our body is derived from exposure to sun. However, most of us are not getting enough. In fact, only about 10 percent of us are getting ideal levels of vitamin D.

It seems that sunlight is good for us! Should we therefore take as many sunbaths as we can? The answer is no! This will likely to disappoint many sun-worshippers.

Even when you are out of vitamin D, you need not immerse yourself in the sunlight over long period. For most people, short exposures are probably enough. Some researchers have suggested that a fair-skinned adult wearing a T-shirt and trousers needs to spend only 5 to 10 minutes in the middle sun to top up their levels of vitamin D.

Exposing to sun over long period will not give more vitamin D because once enough vitamin D has been produced, the rest will be converted into inactive substances. In addition, lounging around in the UV rays will raise your chance of developing skin cancer. Although one study showed that sunscreen could reduce vitamin D production, it was not enough to cause a deficiency. Therefore, you may want to use sunscreen when exposing in the sunlight.

Studies have shown that if there is a shortage of strong sun during rainy seasons, one can soak it up on sunny days and the vitamin D will be stored in the fatty tissue.

Nevertheless, if you are very concerned about skin cancer, darker skin, or if you are pregnant, elderly, you could always choose the other alternative by taking vitamin D supplement in the morning.

Remember this, you should not wear whole-body coverings or spend most of the time indoors as all these things may just increase your risk of vitamin D deficiency. Insufficient vitamin D may lower your protection against heart disease and many other medical disorders.