The Detrimental Effects of Alcohol and Nicotine on Sleep

Everybody knows that a cup of coffee before sleep will keep you awake, and a glass of red wine will put you away, but a new study  reveals that while red wine may make you drowsy, it comes at a steep price to your sleep quality. More surprisingly, it found that caffeine may not affect sleep deprivation in any serious way, at all.

What they found, surprisingly enough, was that nicotine and alcohol actually had a far greater detrimental effect on participants’ sleep cycles compared to caffeine.

Drinking an alcoholic beverage or consuming nicotine in any form 4 hours before sleep was associated with fragmentary sleep, with nicotine having a severe effect on people reported suffering from insomnia, and was associated with a loss of about 40 minutes worth of sleep.

And it’s not necessarily cigarettes that keep you awake, either. The problems with nicotine arise when the body begins hankering for a fix while you’re still asleep, leading you to wake up earlier than you intended to.

The research studied the evening consumption of alcohol, nicotine and caffeinated drinks of 785 people over a combined period of 5,164 days, tracking the duration and quality of sleep through the use of actigraphy (a method of monitoring sleep through worn sensors) and participants own sleep diaries.

Meanwhile, alcohol could cause permanent damage to our circadian sleep cycle through altering genes related to our biological clock, also causing chronic inflammation and liver disease.

And while caffeine definitely gets a bad rap as an inducer of sleep deprivation, the researchers could find no connection between consumption of caffeinated drinks, such as coffee and tea and poor sleep quality.

This challenges many of the assumptions we have about caffeine consumption, but for the time being, it’s safe to say that so long as you don’t overdo it, a cup of coffee shouldn’t actually keep you from getting a good shut-eye.

For a good night’s sleep, you would be best advised to set the cigarettes aside, and maybe settle for a hot cup of tea for a nightcap and keep the pinot noir for the occasional dinner.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                      FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                    

                                https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

 

 

3 best foods to eat to sharpen memory and boost performance during exams

There’s no denying the fact that diet plays a vital role in brain health. Perhaps,  many studies have shown that eating certain foods can help improve memory power and focus, suggesting foods affect your mental health more than you can imagine. It’s important for students to eat healthy to fuel their body, boost performance in the class or exams.

Ideally, eating a healthy diet means you’re consuming the correct balance of essential nutrients, including protein, fibre, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. One common mistake most students make is not eating enough fresh fruits and vegetables and gorging on processed, junk food that is bad both for mental and physical health. If you aren’t quite certain what it means to eat well, we’ve listed here some of the best foods that can help improve brain function and reduce the risk of several diseases. 

Best foods to boost your brain health

Broccoli

Turns out, cruciferous vegetable is one of the healthiest foods for your brain. Packed with vitamins, minerals, fibre, and antioxidants that boost health and lower your chances of developing certain diseases, broccoli is an excellent food to eat especially during exams. It is claimed that the vegetable contains high levels of brain-boosting compounds such as choline, Vitamin K, and glucosinolates.

Black beans

An excellent source of protein, black beans are considered a brain super-food. Apart from being high in fibre, black beans also contain significant amounts of folate and magnesium that can help reverse the detrimental effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Beans are also a great food to lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels. 
 

Berries

Berries such as blueberries can help boost brain health due to their high antioxidant content. They contain many essential nutrients and vitamins, including vitamins K and C, and fibre. The antioxidants, specifically flavonoids, in blueberries have been shown to slow memory impairments and motor coordination that are typically associated with ageing, if taken regularly.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                         FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/           

                                                                           FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

OCD linked to educational underachievement

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), especially those diagnosed before age 18, are less likely to pass compulsory school tests or to go on to higher education compared with peers who don’t have the disorder, a large European study finds.

Less schooling can translate into fewer job opportunities and lower pay over a lifetime, but early OCD diagnosis and interventions might help to close this gap, researchers conclude.

OCD is estimated to affect approximately some million around the world. Symptoms of the condition include obsessive thoughts and fears, and compulsions to repeatedly perform tasks to allay those fears.

“OCD often starts in childhood/adolescence and can be chronic,” said lead author.

“Sufferers typically experience highly distressing thoughts and feel compelled to perform rituals (compulsions) for several hours a day. This can have a major impact on the person’s ability to concentrate and benefit from school,”he added.

For example, individuals with contamination fears may not be able to sit in the classroom or might have to constantly visit the toilet to perform rituals, such as hand-washing.

Other common rituals include the need to re-read or re-write sentences many times, which makes learning slow and frustrating, she added.

“Everyone who regularly works with persons who have obsessive-compulsive disorder has seen that their patients often struggle with school work.”

It is not uncommon for these individuals to have poor school attendance and severe patients can be out of the education system altogether, she noted.

“We have long suspected that OCD has a detrimental impact on the person’s education, with all the consequences that this entails (worse chances to enter the labor market and have a high paid job), but we did not really know to what extent OCD impacts education.”

Researchers analyzed data from several national registers on more than 2 million people born  between January 1, 1976, and December 21, 1998. Follow-up information was available through the end of 2013.

About 15,000 of the people included in the analysis had been diagnosed with OCD and 81 percent of these had additional psychiatric diagnoses. That compares to 13.6 percent of the group without OCD who had other psychological conditions. In addition to the broad analysis, the study team compared sibling pairs in about 700,000 families.

The researchers looked at who attained several educational milestones in the school system.
Compared to people without OCD, those with the condition were 40 percent to 65 percent less likely to pass all their compulsory education courses in their middle-teens, and were 53 percent less likely to move on to an upper secondary vocational school program and 39 percent less likely to get into an academic upper secondary program.

People with OCD were also 57 percent less likely to finish upper secondary school, 28 percent less likely to start a university degree program, 41 percent less likely to finish one and 48 percent less likely to complete postgraduate education.

“OCD was associated with pervasive academic underachievement across the lifespan, compared to matched population controls.” she said.

The association wasn’t specific to a particular school subject, she noted. “We found that patients were more likely to fail every single course or subject at the end of compulsory education, including each of the core subjects.”

As expected, the association was stronger in individuals first diagnosed in childhood/adolescence, though patients with a later age of onset were still substantially impaired across the board, she added.

“OCD sufferers also need to cope with the social consequences of their symptoms, which they may perceive as embarrassing,” she said. Severe cases may be housebound and unable to attend school altogether, and it is not uncommon for families to arrange home tuition for their children.

“We also observe that it is difficult for young people to return to school even if they have had a successful treatment with us. Considerable efforts are needed from the families, schools and mental health professionals to try to get these kids back on track,” she said.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.   

PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO VIEW MY BLOG-                      

HTTP:GSEASYRECIPES.BLOGSPOT.COM/
FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                       

HTTP://KNEE REPLACEMENT-STICK CLUB.BLOGSPOT.COM/
FOR CROCHET DESIGNS
HTTP://MY CROCHET CREATIONS.BLOGSPOT.COM