Metabolism
Scientific
Stay Up Too Late and You Might Give Yourself Diabetes
Inadequate sleeps has profound effects on metabolic regulation, shows new research. In a study at the Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands, subjects spent two nights in a sleep lab, on the first night sleeping for eight hours, and on the second night, sleeping for only four hours. After each night of sleep, their insulin sensitivity was tested, with dramatic results: One night of inadequate sleep, and the subjects showed significant insulin resistance. FYI, insulin resistance is a big deal. It's a component of type 2 diabetes. A number of studies have previously shown that long term sleep deprivation leads to insulin resistance, but this study marks the first time just one night of poor sleep has been shown to mess up your metabolism in this way. Lesson: Get your winks — every night counts!
Afternoon Stretch
Wake Up, Metabolism!
"Kettlebell swings, squat thrusters, medicine ball lunges, dumbbell snatches ... pain inducing in a positive way." — saadiah, today, 1:30 P.M.
Newslinks
Sprinters have Long Toes and Swine Flu Subway Fights
- Forget about Michael Phelps extended torso, or Lance Armstrong's amazing femur; it's all about Usain Bolt's toes. Science Daily reports that elite sprinters have longer toes than the rest of us. Weird. Cool.
- The New York Times reports there's no such thing as "afterburn," meaning a workout doesn't rev your metabolism up for the whole day. You just burn what you burn while you're working out. And that's it.
- Floggers unite: Tyra Banks says she lost 30 pounds because she started keeping a food diary.
- Swine Flu updates: Flu fears led to blows on the subway earlier this week. The fight broke out on the D Train in midtown because a woman wouldn't cover her mouth when coughing. On the upside, the vaccine shortage situation is improving. 10 million more Swine Flu vaccines are now in the pipeline.
- Dept. of silver linings: Newsweek reports on research that argues depression is good for us and not always a medical "ailment."
- A new study shows that the immediate judgements we make about people based on their physical appearance are, in fact, accurate about 90% of the time, at least in terms of major personality traits.
- Want to "Dance Your Ass Off"? The Oxygen Network is currently casting season two of the show.
Round Up
Run for Spring
Three reasons to go running today, even though Spring is still struggling mightily to show up...
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