Looking To Lose Weight? Don't Lose Any Sleep Over It

In a society where health trends seem to change with the weather — one week it's all about chia seeds, the next, kombucha is the number-one cure-all — one health fix remains controversy-free: sleep. By now, you probably know all about the positive effects that good sleep habits can have on your physical and psychological health. But, according to a recent study published by The University of Colorado, your sleep habits may have much more of a direct and immediate effect on your weight than any of us thought.

In the study, which measured sleep and its effects on metabolism, appetite, and weight among 16 healthy men and women, researchers found that while sleep deprivation actually spikes your metabolism, even just a few nights of meager sleep can lead to marked, immediate weight gain (in this study, that meant an average of two pounds over a period of a week). The reason? Sleep deprivation caused participants to eat more food at mealtimes, crave more caloric (a.k.a. carb- and fat-heavy) foods, plus it affected the participants' eating cycles. When the participants were kept up until midnight and only slept for five hours, they tended to indulge in much more post-dinner eating, and tended to skip breakfast. All of these changed habits added up to an intake of six percent more calories a day.

The take-home here: it seems that before focusing on diet or exercise, people seeking to lose weight should focus first on their sleep habits. If you're truly looking to get healthy, that whole burning-the-candle mid-week and sleeping in on the weekends plan is probably messing with your weight-stabilization mojo. The science has spoken: Good sleep habits are absolutely integral to your health, so it's definitely in your best interest to move sleep from the bottom to the tippy-top of your priority list. Trust us, you won't regret it.

News Source: www.refinery29.com

Tanning May Be Associated With Moles In Very Light-Skinned Children

Very light-skinned children without red hair who tan appear to develop more nevi (birthmarks, moles or other colored spots on the skin) than children who do not tan, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Cutaneous melanoma ranks sixth in incidence of all cancers among men and women in the United States, according to background information in the article. The presence of numerous benign or atypical nevi are the strongest risk factors for melanoma development. "The number and size of nevi are often used for determining the risk of developing melanoma," the authors write. "The risk factors for melanoma and factors associated with higher nevus counts are the same: lighter hair color, eye color and skin color; greater UV exposure; higher frequency and severity of sunburns; male sex; and freckling." Although previous studies on tanning exposure and nevus development in the white population have been conducted, none have investigated the relationship between tanning and nevi in those with the lightest skin.
Jenny Aalborg, M.P.H., of the Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Denver, and colleagues conducted skin exams in 2004, 2005 and 2006 to determine full-body counts of nevi in 131 very light-skinned white children without red hair and 444 darker-skinned white children without red hair born in Colorado in 1998. Participants' skin color, tanning measurements and hair and eye color were also noted. Redheads were excluded because numerous previous studies suggest that individuals with red hair report fewer nevi than all other hair colors in the white population.
"Among very light-skinned white children, geometric mean [average] numbers of nevi for minimally tanned children were 14.8 at age 6 years; 18.8 at 7 years and 22.3 at age 8 years. Mean numbers of nevi for tanned children were 21.2 at age 6 years; 27.9 at age 7 years and 31.9 at age 8 years," the authors write. "Differences in nevus counts between untanned and tanned children were statistically significant at all ages. The relationship between tanning and number of nevi was independent of the child's hair and eye color, parent-reported sun exposure and skin phototype." There was no correlation between tanning and nevi among darker-skinned white children.
"In conclusion, UV tanning promotes nevus development in non-redhead children with the lightest skin pigmentation," the authors write. "Whether nevus development is directly in the pathway for melanoma development or a surrogate marker for UV-induced skin damage and/or genetic susceptibility to melanoma, our results suggest that tanning avoidance should be considered as a measure for the reduction of melanoma risk in this population."

News Source: www.sciencedaily.com