Daytime Nap Could Be Bad For You
You may want to stop snoozing in the daytime as a new study has found that those who steal 40 winks in the day are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, conducted a meta-analysis that included data from nine observational studies with 112,267 participants. The results found that those seeking midday shut-eye had a 13-19 per cent increase in risk for hypertension. However, when researchers looked at the data on the link between nighttime napping in individuals who work night-shifts and hypertension, the results were limited. One observational study found that night-shift workers who napped at night showed reduced risk of hypertension by 21 per cent. According to lead researcher Wisit Cheungpasitporn, more research is needed to better understand whether the duration of midday sleep or if diet, exercise or an underlying medical condition, might be impacting risk.
Germs May Cause Type-1 Diabetes
Germs could play a role in the development of type-1 diabetes by triggering the body’s immune system to destroy the cells that produce insulin, suggests new research. Type-1 diabetes is a very serious and hard to treat condition affecting mainly young people and children. Research has shown that killer T-cells — a type of white blood cell that normally protects us from germs — play a major part in type-1 diabetes by destroying insulin-producing cells, known as beta cells. The study identified part of a bug that turns on killer T-cells so they latch onto beta cells. This finding sheds new light on how these killer T-cells are turned into rogues, leading to the development of type-1 diabetes.
Binge Eating: Red Wine To Your Rescue
Giving red wine lovers a new reason to celebrate, researchers have found that a compound in this drink could help counteract the negative impact of high-fat/high-sugar diets. The findings point to the health benefit of resveratrol, which occurs naturally in blueberries, raspberries, mulberries, grape skins and consequently in red wine. In previous animal studies, resveratrol has already shown to increase the life span of mice and slow down the onset of diabetes. In one study, it mirrored the positive effects of aerobic exercise in mice, which were fed a high-fat/high-sugar diet. For the current study, researchers fed a control group of rhesus monkeys a healthy diet and another group a high-fat/high-sugar diet, half of which also received a resveratrol supplement and half of which did not. The researchers wanted to know how different parts of the body responded to the benefits of resveratrol.