Lack of Sleep Can Make You Fat

In 2002, a poll done by the National Sleep Foundation found that thirty percent of adults got at least eight hours of sleep on weeknights, and fifty-two percent got at least eight hours on weekends. Our culture has become so sleep deprived that it is now more accepted to pump your body full of drugs and stimulants that to take a twenty minute power nap. Despite increasing reports telling us to sleep more, it seems that we perceive folks that attempt to get plenty of rest as weak, or at least weaker. We take pride in our ability to deprive our bodies of rest and rejuvination, and gloat in the accomplishments we make in all that extra time. But how long will we be able to get away with cheating our bodies... and will there be a price to pay?

Most people know about the role quality (and quantity) sleep plays on increased cognitive function, but that is not the only benefits we attain by allowing ourselves this precious time of rest. More studies are coming to light that reveal that sleep deprivation can and will aid in weight gain. In fact, seventy-seven percent of older adults who are classified as overweight or obese also report sleep problems. It seems that our hormone levels and metabolic rates are greatly affected by the amount of our sleep: in fact, one recent study revealed that long-term, partial sleep deprivation leads to hormonal and metabolic changes that mimic the effects of aging. Mind you, that was only partial-sleep deprivation, such as an hour less sleep than recommended--imagine the effects of massive sleep deprivation!

But what may come as a surprise is the fact that the amound of sleep we get can partially determine our ability to lose weight and keep it off. Common sense tells us that when we are in a tired state, our bodies lack energy to do everyday functions (of course we've noticed that--that's why Starbucks is so popular!), but one of these everyday functions that is impaired is the ability to burn calories. Sooo . . . our metabolism slows because our bodies are too tired to efficiently process the calories and food that we consume. Not only that, but our motivated sleep deprivation increases the level of the stress hormone cortisol which makes us feel hungry even when we are adequately fed. The slightly ironic side of this is that many people can't sleep because they're stressed, and then they're stressed because they can't sleep.

The University of Chicago did a study and found that people who got four hours of sleep or less per night had more difficulty processing carbohydrates. Interestingly, sleep deprivation also decreases our ability to efficiently and properly regulate blood sugar levels, resulting in symptoms that resemble type-2 diabetes. Could our lack of sleep also be a cause in the growing number of diabetes cases? It seems that sleep does more than just rests and repairs cells.

Some unfortunate individuals just can't sleep, though; however, a few simple changes may go a long way towards paying off our sleep debt. Exercise is always on the list, but a few more creative tips may be what is needed. Avoid drinking fluids before bed to decrease your chances of having to get up, and if you do get up don't turn on the bathroom light. That will stop the secretion of melatonin for the whole night. Also try not to use loud alarm clocks--that rude jarring out of sleep feeling is not the best way get your body moving. There is actually a clock made to mimic a sunrise: it's domed-top gradually increases in light until you turn it off. Of course, that won't work until you're fully rested every night, but it is a good natural way to wake up. One other way to help induce sleep is to eat a high-protein snack and a piece of fruit several hours before bed to help release amino acids that aid in the onset of sleepiness.

Getting sufficient sleep may take more time out of our day, but if it makes us more productive and energetic it is a worthy investment. We don't need drugs or caffeine to stay awake. We just need more sleep.

Brianna Stanley has turned her passion for health and wellness into her business. To find out more about the Freedom Project's simple 3-step process, click here: http://www.miniofficeoutlets.com/stanley

All About Acne Body Wash

If you?re like me, you not only get acne on your face now and then, but all over your body as well. Although I normally only get acne on my face and back, I?ve had at least some amount of acne on just about every area of my skin at one point or other in my life. My feet, legs, and (ahem) genital area seems to be the only places to escape it completely so far. While there is a certain relief to that fact, having acne on my scalp, back, butt, chest, stomach, and shoulders is not exactly fun. For this reason I?ve done plenty of experimenting with acne body washes.

Oh, the joy of acne body washes knows no bounds. They come in different sizes, shapes, colors, smells, and flavors. Well, okay, I?m not sure about the flavor part, but there certainly is a wide array of acne body washes to choose from. The search is easily narrowed down when you consider the active ingredients involved. Most acne body washes use only one of two different active ingredients; salicylic acid or benzyl peroxide. Everything else in the wash is just for style points.

Having used plenty of different acne body washes, I consistently come back to the ones that use salicylic acid. This is somewhat counterintuitive, because benzyl peroxide seems to work best with the acne face washes I?ve tried. I?m not really sure why, but salicylic acid just seems more effective for body acne than anything else, even though its only moderately effective for facial acne. I prefer the acne body wash that ?Phisoderm? makes.

So my acne prevention and treatment routine is a benzyl peroxide acne face wash, and a salicylic acid acne body wash. So long as I use these washes daily, I?m able to reduce the acne I would be getting by somewhere around 90%, which is great. However, there is still that 10% or so that gets by, and I can?t really seem to do much about it. The acne on my back is especially hard to prevent; no acne body wash gets rid of it completely.

It seems to help a little if I use lotions and other skin care products in addition to an acne body wash. I like using ones with aloe vera and vitamin E. If I apply lotions like these soon after using an acne body wash, it seems to boost the overall anti-acne effect.

Keith Londrie II has put up three informative web sites so that you can learn more about acne and it's control. For more information please visit http://acneinformation.info/ as well as http://acne-solution-treatments.info/ and http://stop-your-acne.info/ for more detailed information.

Atkins Diet Results Are In & Some People Aren't Going To Like Them

According to a report I read at FoxNews.com (http://foxnews.webmd.com/content/article/102/106544.htm), researchers have come to some conclusions that are sure to create a firestorm of controversy. Researchers took ten obese patients into the most controlled of environments - an actual live-in study - where they closely monitored everything that they consumed, their weight gain or loss, water-weight gain or loss, and their blood glucose and cholesterol levels.

The premise of the study was to evaluate how an Atkins-like low carbohydrate diet actually works, or more specifically, why it works. The patients were to eat whatever they wished for the first seven days of the study. This period of time was used to determine their typical diet and caloric intake. Absent any guidelines, the patients consumed an average of 3,100 calories per day.

For the next two weeks, the patients were told to follow a low-carb diet. In this case, the patients were allowed to consume 20 grams per day of carbohydrate, but then they could consume as much protein and fat as they wished.

At the end of the two-week period, the patients lost an average of 3.6 pounds each and their blood levels normalized. But what about the low-carbohydrate diet caused them to lose weight? Interestingly, though they were not given calorie restrictions, the patients inadvertently cut their caloric intake by a whopping one-third. On average, the patients consumed only 2,100 calories per day while on the low-carbohydrate diet.

Researchers concluded that it's not what you are eating, but how many calories you are consuming that determines whether you experience weight gain or weight loss. Hmmm... that makes sense.

This is exciting news for those of us fighting the battle of the bulge. The implications are that structure; almost any structure, can result in a reduction in calories, and hence, weight loss.

There is a downside, but the well-informed weight loss warrior can overcome this hurdle if he or she is armed with the power of knowledge. The problem is that people do not seem to stick with a program even though it is working for them.

Researchers surveyed people who participated in four of the top-rated diet plans. After one year, only half of the respondents were still on the Atkins and Ornish diets, while about two-thirds of the Weight Watcher and Zone Diet participants were still in compliance. Persistence loses out to boredom.

So, how can we benefit from this information? Two things are clear when analyzing this information. The first thing is that structure results in a reduced caloric intake. Whether it's low-carb or low fat, when you watch what you eat, you tend to eat less and lose weight.

The second thing (and this is the key to long-term success) is that you should plan to switch, or switch your plans. The lack of variety may cause many participants to fall off the wagon ... even though they may be experiencing success.

Map out a course that you can live with. Try to use a certain plan for six months and then another for the next six months. If that works well, repeat it again for a year. For others, it might be easier to follow a seasonal plan. Three-month stints on each of four different diets might add the variety that you need to stick with your plan.

However you map out your future, be encouraged by this study. Ten people began a study. Three weeks later, they emerged weighing less and having stabilized their blood levels. They reduced their caloric intake by nearly one-third, and didn't miss anything. This is the kind of behavior from which we can all benefit.

Michael Callen is the author of the Weekly Weightloss Tips Newsletter (http://www.weeklyweightlosstips.com) and the Chief Technology Officer for WellnessPartners.com (http://www.WellnessPartners.com), an online retailer of dozens of health and wellness products such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), r+ alpha lipoic acid (R+ ALA), and green tea extract.

Autism: The Best Autism Treatment Options

Autism is a dreadful disorder, which affects an individual?s ability to communicate and associate with others. Generally the symptoms are detected in the first three years of the child?s life. In the United States, 1 in 166 people are affected by this disease. Although information about autism is scarce, some non-profit organizations have dedicated themselves to increasing the quality of the research in autism in order to bring out new treatments of autism.

Low levels of vitamins and minerals like calcium, folic acid, iron, magnesium and chromium continue to be the main attributed causes for the autism in children. It has been widely accepted that children suffering from autism who are treated with multivitamin/ mineral nutrient supplements show marginal improvement. Introduction of these nutrient supplements into the diet of autism-affected children contributes a lot in the improvement of the stage that includes high scholastic test scores, early neurological development, and scholastic test scores.

The autism-affected children treated with nutritional supplements showed improved learning abilities, experience cognitive, academic and substantial behavioral gains. In most cases, the follow-up research showed positive feedback from parents of the autism-affected children after treatment with nutrient supplements of Vitamin-B6 and Vitamin-c, Magnesium, Niacin, and dimethylglycine.

Innovative and Alternative Therapies for the Treatment Of Autism

The innovative therapy found to be most useful in treating autism is oral secretin. This should be given three times a day along with supportive therapy of vitamins. Most patients reported that they noticed a change in behavior within the first three days. Improvement in their social skills was also noticed. The overall cost of secretin and vitamins may come to $60 which should be continued for two days and the vitamin supplements may be followed as long as possible.

The other possible innovative treatments for autism lies with stem cell therapy (where one?s own cell from bone marrow is used), live cell therapy (live cells extracted from the animal being administered to the patients), oral organ extracts (administration of gut cells or brain cells for maximum effect in the autism affected children), and Lyophilisate extracts (Lyophilisate whole cells from Cytobiopharmica are being used for the treatment of autism sufferers).

The use of the antibiotic vanomycin being extensively studied since it is absorbed in the gut. The anti-protozoan drug, Metronidazole, also holds hope in treating autism since it is absorbed in the intestine and prevent diarrhea, which is the most affected symptoms of autism.

Naltrexone, a modern medicine played an important role in autism by blocking the substance endorphins, which produces an anesthetic like feeling. Use of Naltrexone for the autistic individual provides renowned result with improvements in increased eye contact, normalized pain sensitivity, general happiness, and reduced stereotypic and self-injury behaviors. The appetite is also improved among the autism sufferers after the treatment of Naltrexone. The side effects of this drug on the autism patient are also being studied and found to be nil so far.

You should consult your primary care physician for further advice on the latest autism treatments.

Rachel Evans. Get information and signup for a Free Autism Newletter at Essential Guide To Autism or for more autism articles click here Autism Articles.

Were Cave Dwellers Ever Fat?

In our mind's eye, we see our ancient ancestors as they have been depicted in paintings, stories, films, and scientific recreations. Small, wiry, hairy figures surrounding a huge beast, poised for the kill.

Do we know if that picture is really accurate?

We do know, from skeletal fragments that have survived, that they were definitely smaller than present day human beings. We can surmise that they were wiry from the lifestyle they pursued: irregular availability of food and long hours of daily hunting. We can assume that women started to gather plants, grasses, fruits, and seeds to provide an alternate source of sustenance to the men's only intermittently successful hunting efforts.

We have only vague timelines on when tribes started to move out of caves and into shelters they made themselves. We can only guess about the invention of cooking pots, an enormous advance from simply an open fire.

As the race became more domesticated, the variety of food expanded and therefore the availability of something to eat became more assured. Eventually, civilization sparked, agriculture was born, and eating became a process of selection and choice rather than mere consumption to stay alive. It was at this juncture, we can posit, that individual's weights started to differentiate, depending upon personal choice, the wealth or strength to obtain extras, or the physical demands of one's occupation.

What did our cavemen forbears bequeath as their legacy?

Underfed and overactive, they willed us a body that still thinks we dwell in the primordial forest. Suddenly cut back on our intake of food and the alert is sounded through the nervous system and organs of our prehistoric physiology. Famine coming, famine coming our bodies shriek and immediately our metabolism slows to a crawl. The body attempts to hold onto its fat like a Paleolithic hunter grasping his animal skin against the elements.

In the very architecture of our bodies: tail remnants, vestigial organs, and a primitive metabolic system, we carry the seeds of our own weight difficulties.

To work with our bodies, rather than constantly fight them, we need to recreate the world in which our bodies developed. While we cannot participate in a primeval hunt, we can repeatedly, over a long period of time, consume only limited calories so that our bodies don't have to worry about getting enough food, but process the little they do get rapidly and efficiently.

Our little friends, the white rats in the laboratory mazes, have proven over and over again, that consistent undereating is the pathway to good health and longevity.

For all they did for mankind in the dawn of history, the cave dwellers deserve our thanks and our respect as do the bodies they left as their testimony.

What ungrateful abuse we heap on them when we allow ourselves to grow flabby and fat, desecrating their gift and nullifying their efforts.

Virginia Bola is a licensed psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic. She specializes in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation on individual goals. The author of The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a free ezine, The Worker's Edge, she recently published a psychologically-based weight control e-workbook, Diet with an Attitude which develops mental skills towards the goal of permanent weight control.

She can be reached at

Multiple Sclerosis What is it?

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) where the body's own immune cells attack the nervous system. In Multiple Sclerosis, inflammation of nervous tissue causes the loss of myelin, a fatty material that acts as a sort of protective insulation for the nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. This demyelination leaves multiple areas of scar tissue (sclerosis) along the covering of the nerve cells, which disrupts the ability of the nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain, producing the various symptoms of multiple Sclerosis.

Multiple Sclerosis-Causes, symptoms, and risk factors The cause of multiple Sclerosis is unknown. Geographic studies indicate there may be an environmental factor involved. Multiple Sclerosis is more likely to occur in northern Europe, the northern United States, southern Australia, and New Zealand than in other areas.

Symptoms of multiple Sclerosis vary because the location and extent of each attack varies. There is usually a stepwise progression of the disorder, with episodes that last days, weeks, or months alternating with times of reduced or no symptoms (remission). Recurrence (relapse) is common although non-stop progression without periods of remission may also occur.

The exact cause of the inflammation associated with multiple Sclerosis is unknown. An increase in the number of immune cells in the body of a person with multiple Sclerosis indicates that there may be a type of immune response that triggers the disorder. The most frequent theories about the cause of multiple sclerosis include a virus-type organism, an abnormality of the genes responsible for control of the immune system, or a combination of both factors.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects approximately 1 out of 1,000 people. More women are affected than men are. The disorder most commonly begins between ages 20 and 40, but can strike at any age. Risks include a family history of multiple Sclerosis and living in a geographical area with a higher incidence rate for multiple Sclerosis.

For more information about multiple sclerosis visit, Multiple Sclerosis

David Chandler
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Liver Disease Symptoms

Liver disease may not show any symptoms at first, as symptoms can be vague. This includes weakness and loss of energy.

Other symptoms include jaundice that is a disease of the gall bladder. Jaundice is one of the main symptoms of liver disease. Jaundice can turn the skin color to yellow. Another symptom is related to digestion and appetite. Poor appetite is a very common symptom. It leads to loss of weight and anemia. Along with this vomiting, nausea or diarrhea can also manifest.

Another important symptom is light colored stool. Due to the lack of bile production, the stool will appear light and can be gray colored or pale.

Distention and bloating can be considered as another symptoms to watch out for and can cause a pain during breathing.

Polyuria or excess urination and polydypsia or excess thirst are the other symptoms typical of the liver disease.

Liver cancer has symptoms that include weight loss and loss of appetite. Abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, accumulation of fluid in the abdomen, enlarged liver, change of color (yellowing) of the skin and the whites of the eyes are also noticed. Bile duct obstruction has symptoms like pale stools, dark urine, abdominal pain, jaundice, vomiting, nausea and fever.

Portal hypertension that is a high blood pressure in the portal veins has no symptoms. But complications due to this disease can result in bloody vomiting and black, loose stools from varices, ascites; and signs of brain disease called encephalopathy.

Alcoholic liver disease has symptoms like loss of appetite, nausea, swollen abdomen, jaundice, abdominal pain, ascites, weight gain, mental confusion, excessive thirst, dry mouth and fatigue. Additional symptoms include vomiting blood or black, paleness, light-headedness or fainting, fluctuating mood and altered level of consciousness.

Liver Disease provides detailed information on Liver Disease, Liver Disease Symptoms, Fatty Liver Disease, Alcoholic Liver Disease and more. Liver Disease is affiliated with Kidney Stones In Women.