SlEEP EARlY FOR BETTER SPERM COUNT
For men wanting to become fathers, going to bed before midnight may be key to healthier and fitter sperm. A study showed that those falling asleep between 8 and 10 pm had the best sperm motility, meaning the sperm are better swimmers and have a greater chance of fertilising an egg. On the other hand, men who went to bed after midnight had lower sperm counts and their sperm died much sooner too. Sleeping for six hours or less made this even worse, as did lying in bed for more than nine hours. late bedtimes and inadequate rest are harmful because they increase levels of antisperm antibody — a type of protein produced by the immune system, which can destroy healthy sperm, the Daily Mail reported recently. Previous study revealed that men getting six hours a night had sperm counts that were 25 per cent lower than in men snoozing a full eight hours.
WHY WOMEN ARE MORE PRONE TO ASTHMA
Absence of testosterone in women may explain why they are doubly likely to develop asthma post-puberty, research has shown. The results of research in France revealed that the primary male sex hormone suppresses the production of a type of immune cell that triggers allergic asthma and acts as a barrier against males developing the inflammatory airway condition. “Our research shows that high levels of testosterone in males protect them against the development of allergic asthma,” said Cyril Seillet at the Physiopathology Centre of Toulouse-Purpan in France. “We identified that testosterone is a potent inhibitor of innate lymphoid cells, a newly-described immune cell that has been associated with the initiation of asthma,” Seillet said.
BEETROOT JUICE CAN lOWER BP, HEART RISK
A glass of beetroot juice — a source of dietary nitrate — could dramatically lower as well as reduce heart attack risk, a study has revealed. Dietary nitrate is a compound that dilates blood vessels to decrease blood pressure, a leading factor for developing heart attack. The findings, published in the Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology, showed that the supplement can reduce overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system that occurs with heart disease and causes the heart to beat faster. “The study found that acute nitrate supplementation using beetroot juice can decrease muscle sympathetic outflow at rest and during exercise,” researchers from the University of Guelph in Canada were quoted by express.co.uk.