Cheeseburgers can cause insomnia?

Note: this is not Another Post Bashing Red Meat. In fact, the phrase "Red Meat" will be used only twice in this post, and you've already passed both usages. It's safe to keep reading.

Do you want to stay up all night?
Photo: linecook

I stole leveraged this picture of a bacon-and-everything cheeseburger because it seemed the epitome of a high-fat meal. A study published in the journal Endocrinology claims that a high-fat diet can be bad for a new reason.


Dr. Oren Froy, and a couple minions white-coated colleagues, studied a circadian rhythm ("adiponectin signaling pathway") that deals with glucose regulation and the oxidation of fatty acids. According to the study, if the test mice fasted, the circadian rhythm was delayed, while eating a high-fat (HF) diet advanced the rhythm. A low-fat diet did not affect the circadian rhythm either way.

(They abbreviated "high-fat" to HF. Not sure why, since they didn't abbreviate any of the other terms. Maybe because it sounded way cool that way?)

Their conclusion? "Changes in the phase and daily rhythm of clock genes and components of adiponectin signaling pathway as a result of HF diet may lead to obesity and may explain the disruption of other clock-controlled output systems, such as blood pressure and sleep/wake cycle, usually associated with metabolic disorders."

I knew that not getting enough sleep causes cortisol levels to rise, and the waist to get thicker, and other not-so-great results. It was new to me that an HF diet (hell, if the cool people in white coats abbrev. stuff, I wanna abbrev. stuff 2. I cool) would mess with the body's cycles such as the ability to go to sleep at night and get up in the morning.

Besides insomnia, I don't like the idea of messing with the circadian rhythms in any case. To quote the blog Psychology, "The disturbance of circadian rhythms can lead to such phenomena as hormone imbalance, obesity, psychological and sleep disorders and cancer."

Eating an HF lunch can cause me to crave the Zzzs during my afternoon meetings, but I thought that was normal. And I thought frequent bouts of insomnia were just my lot in life.

Mmmmmaybe not.

Next time, I'll skip the pizza and take a walk at lunch instead.





Sleepy photos: Ingorrr

Pets can cause high blood pressure!

John Singleton Copley, Young Lady with a bird and a dog

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of a good home must be in want of a pet.

The universe is rife with studies about how owning a pet can improve your health, broaden your social life, and cure your warts. (Would you believe two out of three?)

Don't trust everything you read. I mean, you get a dog and at first it's all fun and excitement. The dog wants to go everywhere with you: frolicking, playing, enjoying life because you're in the same room.

This behavior is insidious, if that's the word I want. You get sucked into the easy path of being a pet owner.

And then the pet gets older, still loves your company but she's moving a bit slower. And the vet says the tumor "might not be benign, so we need to operate. Here's the estimate, about $250. It's just a little problem we need to take care of, just to be safe."

What are you going to do? The dog can't tell you where it hurts. Unlike a child, the dog doesn't usually cry when something's wrong. (Especially at the vet's. To a dog, it's important to look healthy when at the vet's, even if you collapse afterward. Never show weakness in front of someone who could take you away from your pack.)

So you sign here and initial there and cross your fingers.

And then you get your dog back, with a bill that's only $800 more than the estimate, please pay in full.

Sheesh!

I'm told that pet insurance has been around in America for almost 30 years, but I've only heard of it recently. (Hey, some things take awhile to filter down to me.) Some pet insurance policies cover the following:
- vehicle damage, if the dog causes the accident
- boarding fees, if the owner is in an accident and there's no one to care for the dog
- recovery costs (rewards or posters), if a dog is lost

Somehow, I doubt they would insure my aged dog. I do like the idea of an insurance policy designed to avoid 'economic euthanasia,' but then I'm a pet owner. Does this idea sound crazy to non-pet owners?

And would my insurance company pay for high blood pressure medication if I told them it was caused by a sick dog?

Salt, strokes, and regular exercise: it's complicated

[by Merry]

Well, if it's medicinal...

I think all medical studies should be taken with a grain of salt, and maybe with lime and tequila as well. There's one thing a medical study has in common with a Hollywood starlet's Reality Show: it's complicated.

The conventional wisdom has always been thusly:

1. High salt intake = high blood pressure
2. High blood pressure = higher likelihood of strokes and heart attacks
3 Strokes and heart attacks = very bad, to be avoided

I'm fine with points 2 and 3. Point 1 is the questionable part.
This advice is good if you're a couch potato.
It's not so good if you work out a lot . Then the process runs (or walks, or bicycles) more like this:

4. Exercising a lot = sweating a lot
5. Sweating = loss of salt
6. Loss of salt = high blood pressure (refer to points 2 and 3 above)

To quote my hero Dr. Mirkin, from whom this information was blatantly stolen leveraged:

If you exercise heavily and restrict salt, you will not replace the salt you lose through sweating, which can cause high blood pressure as well as fatigue, cramps and muscle pain. When the body is low in salt, the adrenal glands produce large amounts of aldosterone and the kidneys produce renin, which constricts arteries and can raise blood pressure.

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine showed that people on low-salt diets are actually more likely to suffer heart attacks than those on high salt diets (Journal of General Internal Medicine, June 2008). They analyzed data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) of American adults. Dr. Hillel W. Cohen, lead author of the study, stated, "Our findings suggest that for the general adult population, higher sodium is very unlikely to be independently associated with higher risk of death from heart attacks."


Every time I come across a study that seems to contradict everything I'd heard before on the subject, my first instinct is to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head. Trying to juggle several different theories at one time causes the brain to overload, and I want to press my hands against my ears and sing la la la until all the theories go away.I Just Don't Want to Know.

But sometimes what looks like a 180 degree contradiction isn't. This study refines the previous theory rather than opposing it. You can steer a middle course between no-salt and becoming a salt vampire, like that woman on the original Star Trek. (Am I the only person who remembers the original Start Trek?)

Life is not One Size Fits All, so why should health advice apply equally to all the people all the time? Pass me the tequila and lime. Don't forget the salt.

Beets Me

[By Crabby]

When I'm stressed, sometimes my blood pressure becomes a bit problematic.

No, not the "you must rush out and take care of that immediately" kind of bad, but the "ehr, better keep an eye on that" sort of number.

I have a blood pressure monitor at home that I'm very good about checking it when I know everything's mellow and it's going to show me a nice acceptable number. Oddly enough, I avoid using the monitor when I'm all wound up and I suspect it's going to tell me something I don't like.

I already eat pretty healthy, watch my salt, exercise religiously (except on road trips), and do every freakin' thing you're supposed to do. (Okay, I could be better about scheduling deep breathing/relaxation time, but I at least do a little of it.) And I'm reluctant to start on medication for as long as I can avoid it. So I'm always on the lookout for natural ways to lower my blood pressure.

And guess what, here's a new one: "Beet Juice Lowers Blood Pressure!" Just two cups a day.

Um, two whole cups of beet juice a day?

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Normally, a sweet taste in a vegetable is a good thing. Yams? Onions? Roasted Eggplant? All quite likable. But there's something about beety sweetness that I find totally disgusting.

If I had to drink two cups of beet juice a day I'd barf.

Is it just me, or does anyone else share an extreme hatred of beets, or have some other healthy vegetable you just can't stomach?

I'm also curious if anyone is on blood pressure meds and what those are like. I'm already up to my eyeballs in healthy vegetables, and will even drink beet juice if it will actually help, but I'm a little pessimistic. None of the other lifestyle things that are supposed to lower blood pressure have made a noticeable difference.

Or maybe all the healthy things I'm doing are really helping, and my blood pressure would be totally off the charts if I wasn't doing any of them.

I can't really complain about being unlucky in the blood pressure department, as all my other numbers have always been good. I know lots of you struggle with cholesterol or blood sugar or other unfair "bad" numbers despite your best efforts to be healthy. (Kinda frustrating, or do you take it in stride?)

Note: I'm definitely going in for a physical as soon as I get my new health insurance policy, so I can see what the doctor says. (When I go to my ob/gyn and my blood pressure comes out a little highish she doesn't seem too concerned--but then it's not really her department. And I'm thinking doctors who wield speculums are probably used to seeing patients who are not entirely comfortable and relaxed).

But for those of you who know something about the pros and cons of blood pressure drugs: Should I Fear The Pills? Anyone have any cautionary tales/words of encouragement? Or should I just suck it up and drink my beets?

Garlic: Stinky but Stupendous

Garlic is already known as a potent cancer-fighter, but apparently it's also great for lowering blood pressure and relaxing the arteries. At least that's according to this garlic study just out of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The scientists say it all has something to do with hydrogen sulfide interacting with red blood cells and relaxing your arteries--or well, at least that seems to be the case if you're a rat. But, as the article points out, hydrogen sulfide is "is a toxic, flammable gas responsible for the smell of rotten eggs."

Thus the problem. (Not the toxic flammable part--Crabby isn't worried about consuming so much garlic she bursts into toxic flames). She means the smell.

Does anyone else deal with the following household dilemma? Suggestions would be most welcome.

The Crab loves the taste of garlic, and is a Big Fan of eating tasty healthy foods no matter how offensively odoriferous they may be. Garlic is just one example; this same issue comes up with regard to broccolini, cabbage, and seafood. To the Crab, these food odors are (a) not that bad and (b) worth it for the pleasure of enjoying the smelly food items and for all the bonus health benefits that come with them.

However, the Lobster is not as big a fan of garlic, or of seafood or cruciferous vegetables. She can handle a little bit of garlic in spaghetti, but nowhere near as much as the Crab would enjoy. She can do without smelly fishy things and could happily abstain from eating cooked cabbage or broccoli or its cousins for the rest of her life.

Compromise and occasional Separate Dinner Menus are needed for the Crab to get the garlic/seafood/broccolini she craves. But even then there remains a problem: the house stinks to high heaven when she cooks these foods.

(And as an aside--why do the cooking odors seek out the master bedroom, which is far far away from the kitchen, to linger for another day or two? What's with that? Even Crabby is not entirely happy to smell two-day old garlic in the bedroom).

So the Crab cooks these foods far less frequently than she would enjoy them, but still much more frequently than the Lobster cares to breathe seafood/broccolini/garlic fumes.

Alas, opened windows (no matter what the temperature); air fresheners; fans; all these help a little but none has been able to eliminate the problem.

Does anyone else grapple with this? Is there a Secret Miracle Cure for nasty/healthy cooking odors? Does everyone in your household have the same tolerance for food odors?

Slacker Sunday

So it's another laid-back weekend post, even though Crabby took two days "off" during the week. Does the Crab have no work ethic at all? Apparently not!

Actually, in her defense, Crabby is still not very good at getting away from the blog. She spent quite a bit of the time she was supposedly "off" catching up on some blog chores. So readers are getting Randomness and Blog chat today, as is somewhat customary on weekends. Tomorrow: a real health and fitness post again!

So what were these "blog chores?"

First off, Crabby finally updated the Reader Recommendations for the Amazon ads. She messed up the General Health one and didn't realize that it wasn't rotating for several days. It should be fixed now. Note: some of your helpful suggestions do not seem to have usable Amazon codes, or are temporarily unavailable. For example, Jen at The Working Writer suggested some products from The Firm, but Crabby couldn't do it right, so those of you who are interested might want to go to her fine blog to check it out. Beware of her newest post though: there is a picture of donuts on it that could be dangerous to any Sensible Eating Plan you might be on. (Also, as another warning: if you a writer in the aspirational phase of your writing career, as Crabby is, her main website may cause admiration but also moderate to severe pangs of jealousy).

And going back to the product discussion, Crabby is always happy to hear more recommendations! She will stockpile these and work them in over time. She always likes books, but she's also interested in featuring other stuff too, like DVD's, or gadgets like heart rate monitors or the Best Swim Goggles you ever owned or whatever. The main requirements are some relationship to health and fitness, and that you think the thing is really, really good and others might want to give it a try. And why would you bother to do this when there's nothing in it for you? Because Crabby's readers are Smart, Generous, Discerning, and sometimes they have Opinions to Share!

In addition to the Amazon updates, Crabby has a new sidebar addition: "About" pages! These are (a) Very Ugly and (b) Still Rudimentary, but if you're feeling bored someday, please go check them out. Crabby has never been able to figure out how to do "static" pages on Blogger, so this is just a half-assed solution. These hideous looking GooglePages do, however, provide a little more space than the sidebar to feature Policies and Information and Explanations. Crabby hopes to add to these over time. (She also wants to make sure they actually work and do not have sneaky ads on them that she did not put there, so please report any weirdness you might encounter).

Enough about the blog! Here are your Random Research Posts for the day.

Are you on some sort of liquid diet with yucky shakes instead of real food? Might want to rethink that. A study out of Purdue University on solid versus liquid food found that liquid foods did not seem to fill people up the way solid foods did. Those who drank their lunch rather than ate it consumed more calories during the day.

This one you probably heard already, but it's the sort of Good News study that Crabby doesn't want you to miss. Another study says Dark Chocolate is good for lowering blood pressure, but this one found small but measurable benefits even with tiny amounts of chocolate--only 30 calorie's worth. (Though to Crabby, that seems like a criminally low dosage of an Important Health Food!)

And finally, there's this amusing study, which isn't recent, but somehow seemed perfect for readers of Cranky Fitness. Though Crabby has not reached Old Age yet, she thinks she sees her future quite clearly!

Don't Just Breathe, RESPeRATE!

May is apparently National High Blood Pressure Education Awareness Month (yee-hah!) and high blood pressure is a well-known Bad Thing. So when Crabby heard there was a relatively new treatment for it that didn't involve drugs and actually seemed to help, she felt compelled to investigate.

Have any of you seen the ads for RESPeRATE? That's actually how they spell it, too, with all that bizarre capitalization. It's a product based on some actual research that says slowing down your breathing to less than ten times a minute, for sessions of about 15 minutes at a time, can lower your blood pressure 10-15 points.

The machine straps around your middle (at least as far as Crabby can tell) and then makes little chiming sounds to get you breathing in the right rhythm.

So don't delay! Run right out now and plunk down about $300 to get it!

Or... um, maybe you could just remember to set aside time to slow your breathing down to less than ten times a minute?

There's even a nice little how-to guide here that's free.

Now the RESPeRATE folks say that their gizmo involves less effort than do-it-yourself methods and therefore works better. Could be true, but Crabby didn't see any convincing evidence of this. (She has to confess she didn't read every word on their site, so if she missed that part and someone wants to correct her she will gladly apologize).

And Crabby isn't saying that it's stupid to buy one of these things. If you are (a) busy and (b) rich, this could be a great motivational tool. You buy it, then you figure you better use it 'cause you paid 300 bucks for it.

Who knows, Crabby may even find herself tempted some day. She's a sucker for health and fitness gadgets and gear, and she'll be sharing some of her favorites with you in future posts.

Feel free, dear readers, to weigh in with anything about blood pressure, breathing (for it? against it?), gadgets, The State of The World in General, or Any Damn Thing At All. Or give yourself a break and don't say anything. You've all been so charitable with your comments; Crabby must be wearing you out by posting so regularly. Sometimes you get to just come here and read and then go home again, to a dry martini or a nice hot bath or a cream-filled apple donut.