BlueSkies Newsletter - February 2011
Welcome to the February edition of the BlueSkies Newsletter.
We hope that you find the articles informative and useful.
In this edition, we look at:
How a lack of sleep can affect your health
Whether high cholesterol may run in your family
Also this month, find out about the nutritional benefits of pomegranate and how a home workout could help you get fit or stay fit.
If you have any comments or there is a particular topic that you would like us to cover, please contact us by email.
Is A Lack Of Sleep Ruining Your Health?
For many years, we've been told that we need 8 hours of sleep a night but, for many of us, that is simply a pipe-dream! Whether your lack of sleep is caused by late-night partying, burning the midnight oil trying to meet work deadlines or children who keep you up into the small hours, new research has shown that it may be putting your health at risk.
The research, led by Professor Cappuccio at Warwick Medical School, found that people who regularly get less than 6 hours of sleep per night, or whose sleep is disturbed, are 48% more likely to develop or die from heart disease and 15% more likely to have a stroke. As Professor Cappuccio says, "The trend for late nights and early mornings is a ticking time bomb for our health. The work/life balance struggle is causing too many of us to trade in precious sleep time."
However, the findings also showed that people who sleep for a long time (over 9 hours) on a regular basis are also at an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. It seems that sleeping for between 6 and 8 hours per night is optimal for health. An analysis of 15 previous research papers was performed which involved nearly half a million subjects in total - for the full paper, click here.
So, how can you help yourself sleep if you are struggling to get the recommended amount?
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Try to stick to a regular bedtime and get up at the same time every day -this will help to regulate the internal body clock called the 'circadian rhythm' which governs a person's sleep and wakefulness.
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Try to develop a bedtime routine - just as children benefit from routine, so do adults!
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Avoid watching TV or reading in bed as these stimulate your mind rather than relaxing it.
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Try having a warm bath before bed as this may help to induce sleep. It is not the heat itself that aids sleep but it is thought to be the drop in temperature experienced following the bath that induces sleepiness.
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Drink a hot, milky drink before bed. These drinks can help you to relax as they are rich in tryptophan which is converted to serotonin in the body. Serotonin is a hormone that aids sleep.
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Eat a light snack before bed which contains tryptophan-rich foods and carbohydrate to boost your serotonin levels e.g. turkey sandwich, cereal with milk or a banana and milky drink.
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Avoid caffeine after lunchtime so that the body can process this prior to bedtime. It may surprise you to know that caffeine can disrupt sleep patterns up to 12 hours after drinking it.
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Avoid excessive alcohol intake. A couple of glasses may make you sleepy but more than this will probably disrupt your sleep patterns.
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Keep your room dark and cool so as not to confuse your body into thinking it is daytime.
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Make sure that your bed is comfortable, if it is not then it may be time to invest in a new mattress.
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Take part in regular physical activity.
Exercise Of The Month - Home Workouts
January is over and you've had time to review your New Year's Resolutions - are you still exercising? If you, like many other people, have seen your exercise routine fall by the wayside for whatever reason, it may be time to consider a different way to workout. So, how about a workout that you can do at home?
There are many different ways to workout from home, you could try a fitness DVD, a Wii-Fit, internet-based classes or a personalised home workout from BlueSkies Fitness. Whatever your choice, consider these benefits of home-based workouts:
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they are cheap - normally just a small one-off payment instead of expensive monthly fees
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they are convenient and can be completed at a time to suit you
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you can do them anywhere, even in hotel rooms
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there's no queuing for the equipment
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you don't have any 'dead-time' driving to and from the gym
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you can exercise in private
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you can wear whatever you like
If you would like more information about a BlueSkies home workout, please email us by clicking here. If you are new to exercise, our seated workout might be just the thing for you and, at £5, it won't break the bank - click here for more information.
The Facts About Dietary Fats
Do you know your saturates from your unsaturates, your polyunsaturates from your monounsaturates or your trans fats from your hydrogenated fats? If not, you are not alone! In fact, research shows that almost 20% of the UK population think that saturated fat is 'good' fat and over 30% think that trans fats are healthy.
The research, commissioned by The Fat Panel, showed that:
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18% of us think that saturated fat is a 'good' fat
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11% don't realise that some fat is an important part of a healthy diet and 18% don't know that we need fat as it is an essential source of Vitamins A, D, E & K
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36% of people think that trans fats (TFAs) are 'good' fats and 49% believe that TFAs are essential fatty acids
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28% of the population think we should eat more TFAs
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51% of us don't realise that monounsaturated fats are 'healthy' fats and 29% don't understand that polyunsaturated fats are 'good' fats
So, not only do we (as a nation) not realise which fats are 'good' for us, we also don't know which ones are 'bad' for us either. It's no wonder that we make so many poor dietary choices as far as far is concerned.
Fat is essential in the human diet as it provides us with the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E & K. In appropriate amounts, it is essential in the body for a variety of functions including tissue repair, skin health, protection of the vital organs, hormone metabolism and growth & development. However, in excessive amounts, some fats can damage our health. Fats can generally be split into 'good' fats and 'bad' fats.
Good fats include Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) and Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFAs). PUFAs are Omega fats and Omega-3 & Omega-6 are essential in the diet as they cannot be synthesised by the body. Vegetable oils, corn oil, sunflower oil and oily fish are excellent sources of PUFAs. PUFAs are important for heart health. MUFAs have been found to lower a person's LDL (bad) cholesterol level when used as a replacement for saturated fats. Good sources of MUFAs include seeds & nuts, seed & nut oils, avocado and olive oil.
Those fats that are not so beneficial to our health include Saturated Fats and Trans Fats or Trans Fatty Acids (TFAs). Saturated Fats are generally found in products of animal origin e.g. meat & dairy products and tend to be found in higher concentrations in processed foods. An excessive intake of saturated fat can raise a person's LDL cholesterol level and it is estimated that we consume approximately 20% too much saturated fat on average.
TFAs do occur naturally in some meat and dairy products but the main dietary source of these fats is in processed foods such as cakes, pastries, pies and biscuits. TFAs are formed when liquid oils are hardened by a process called 'hydrogenation'. TFAs raise LDL cholesterol levels but can also lower HDL (good) cholesterol levels which can significantly increase the risk of heart disease.
For more information, visit The Fat Panel's website by clicking here.
Food Of The Month - Pomegranate
Pomegranates are becoming a more common sight in British supermarkets and greengrocers. This is partly because they are being made 'fashionable' by well-known chefs such as Jamie Oliver. However, it must also be partly due to the fact that they are a healthy addition to the diet.
Apparently, each pomegranate fruit contains 840 seeds and these are packed with anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are important for health as they are known to counteract elements called 'free-radicals' that can cause cellular damage and are thought to play a part in the development of chronic conditions such as cancer. Pomegranates are touted as a 'super-food' due to the fact that their concentration of anti-oxidants is 2-3 times higher than that found in red wine & green tea and significantly higher than in blueberries, cranberries & oranges.
Pomegranates are also rich in potassium, Vitamin C, Vitamin B3 (niacin) & fibre and they have been the subject of a number of research projects in recent years. A few studies have found that regularly drinking pomegranate juice can lower the risk of atherosclerosis and it may even reverse the process. Other studies have shown that the anti-oxidants in pomegranates are powerful 'anti-cancer' nutrients.
So, next time you're shopping, why not buy a pomegranate? You can add them to salads, eat them on their own or even make cocktails using them!
Does High Cholesterol Run In Your Family?
You are probably aware that having high cholesterol increases the risk of cardiovascular disease but did you know that there is an inherited condition called Familial Hypercholesterolaemia which causes high levels of 'bad' cholesterol? Up to 1 in 500 people have this genetic disorder which means that they cannot effectively clear cholesterol from their blood and can trigger heart attacks in people as young as 30.
Although screening is available for this condition, new research which was partly funded by the British Heart Foundation has found that poor screening is putting thousands of lives at risk. In fact, it is estimated that of the 120,000 people in the UK with FH, around 100,000 are unaware of their condition.
This means that 100,000 people are unaware that they have a a greatly heightened risk of heart disease. If FH is left untreated, approximately 50% of men will develop heart disease by the age of 55 and 33% of women by the age of 60. However, if FH is identified and treated early, people with this condition are likely to have a normal life expectancy.
The findings of the report showed that, although treatment for people with FH was generally good, very few families of people with this condition are being systematically screened to find out if anyone else has it. The Royal College of Physicians says that children and young adults whose relatives have FH should undergo genetic tests to find out if they too have the condition. This screening is limited as the report also found that there were not enough facilities for diagnosing, treating or caring for children with FH.
FH leads to high cholesterol levels affecting people's arteries from a very young age which increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Therefore, many lives could be saved and quality of life improved if people were routinely tested for FH.
The extent of the problem is stated by Professor Steve Humphries (director of the centre of cardiovascular genetics at the British Heart Foundation) who says, 'In the UK, I estimate that roughly one undiagnosed FH patient a day suffers a coronary event that could be prevented if funding....were available.'
So, what should you do if you suspect that you may have FH? Well, first things first, consult your GP who will assess your risk and arrange for testing if they think it is necessary. If you are found to have the condition, you will most likely referred to a dietician to see whether you can being your cholesterol down through dietary intervention. If this does not work, you may be prescribed medication to control your condition. For more information on controlling cholesterol levels, click here.
All of BlueSkies Health MOTs include assessment of a person's cholesterol with results delivered in just 5 minutes - for more information on our Health MOTs, click here or email us.
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