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Want to improve the quality of sleep and enjoy peaceful rest at night? Stop the consumption of caffeinated products, such as coffee and soda (no matter how early you drink them). This is the message of a study that evaluated the effect of caffeine on the efficiency, quality, and duration of sleep. For this study, scien...

On the last day of Linda Carney MD's trip to Hawaii for the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii, Dr. Carney was interviewed by Irminne Van Dyken MD for Dr. Van Dyken's Out of the Doldrums YouTube channel. This interview was conducted in the rain forest of Honolua Bay on the northwest side of the Island of Maui where...

Evening snacking might affect much more than the numbers on the bathroom scale. A new study shows that waiting longer between supper and breakfast reduces our risk of both breast cancer and diabetes. Eating in accordance with our body's natural sleep-wake cycle appears to regulate our blood sugar levels, thereby reducing our risk for diseases...

Low fiber high saturated fat and sugar diets are associated with lighter, less restorative, and more disruptive nighttime sleep.

A recent study published October, 2015, in the journal Sleep found that bedtime for teens is an important component in weight management. Researchers followed over 3,300 adolescents from 1994 to 2009 to determine the effect of bedtime on body mass index (BMI). Researchers concluded that between adolescence and adulthood, going to bed later during the workweek was...

Dr. Joel Fuhrman's article, New Information to Sleep on, reminds us that "in order to work optimally in our daily activities...sleep is a crucial component of excellent health." Rarely do we ever get a solid night's sleep - we toss and turn worrying about our lives, then fall to sleep just before the alarm clock goes...

A fascinating study showed that, "During sleep, the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain increases dramatically, washing away harmful waste proteins that build up between brain cells during waking hours."

Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Rochester, along with a team of scientists, discovered this "washing away" process when they studied the brains of mice that were sleeping. Dr. Nedergaard states that the scientists noted that during sleep, cerebrospinal fluid circulated through the brain and nervous system at a "very rapid pace." They believed this to be partly due to the brain cells of the mice actually shrinking when they fell asleep, making it easier for the cerebrospinal fluid to circulate. She goes on to say, "The process is important because what's getting washed away during sleep are waste proteins that are toxic to brain cells. This could explain why we don't think clearly after a sleepless night and why a prolonged lack of sleep can actually kill an animal or a person."

Going to bed two hours before midnight offers numerous health benefits. One benefit of getting adequate sleep is that it can help us to maintain a healthy weight. Dr. Joel Fuhrman's article, Can lack of sleep actually cause me to gain weight? highlights a study which concluded that sleep deprivation alters hormones which can lead to an...