Archive for December, 2005
We’re growing again! It is amazing how good things keep happening to us, and we are so grateful to our community members and other readers.
Today we celebrate two things. First, a huge boom in traffic due to our latest iPod Ear article getting picked up by several major websites, and second, the addition of our newest site, Healthy Low-Carb Recipes [http://lowcarb.health-hack.com].
This new Low-Carb and Controlled-Carb recipe site is gradually being filled up with approximately 1,000 recipes we’ve aquired the rights to, and we will be adding our own in addition to accepting reader submissions!
Diets we will be supporting include the standard Low-Carbohydrate choices such as Atkins, Protein Power, the Paleodiet and others, but also Controlled-Carb plans such as the Zone and South Beach Diets and the like.
To submit your recipes, we have a contact form linked from the site’s home page. We are daring our readers to send in the tastiest foods with the most creative recipe names they can come up with (all-age appropriate, please).
December 28th, 2005
Men’s Journal is running a short article on Power Napping. The piece is really a brief introduction of the subject.
Some practical advice offered is on preventing “sleep inertia” by awakening at the wrong point in your sleep cycle. It is suggested that one must keep the nap to 20 minutes or slightly less. If extra sleep is needed, sleep up to the 50-minute mark. This will prevent you from waking up groggy, or even more tired than when you fell asleep.
The following list is included in the article. It is from the forthcoming book Take Back the Nap! by Dr. Sara Mednick.
- The first consideration is psychological: Recognize that you’re not being lazy; napping will make you more productive and more alert after you wake up.
- Try to nap in the morning or just after lunch; human circadian rhythms make late afternoons a more likely time to fall into deep (slow-wave) sleep, which will leave you groggy.
- Avoid consuming large quantities of caffeine as well as foods that are heavy in fat and sugar, which meddle with a person’s ability to fall asleep.
- Instead, in the hour or two before your nap time, eat foods high in calcium and protein, which promote sleep.
- Find a clean, quiet place where passersby and phones won’t disturb you.
- Try to darken your nap zone, or wear an eyeshade. Darkness stimulates melatonin, the sleep- inducing hormone.
- Remember that body temperature drops when you fall asleep. Raise the room temperature or use a blanket.
- Once you are relaxed and in position to fall asleep, set your alarm for the desired duration
Read the Article:
Snooze, You Win [Men's Journal]
December 27th, 2005
Comrades! Join in the glorious revolution! You have nothing to lose but excess weight and perhaps your “single” status.
Games like DDR and StepMania show great promise in helping promote fitness, but perhaps there’s another benefit, as well.
According to anthropology researchers at Rutgers University, new study results show that dancing ability in humans has been shown to be a determining factor in mate quality.
From the press release:
“At least since Darwin, scientists have suspected that dance so often plays a role in courtship because dance quality tracks with mate quality,” said Lee Cronk, associate professor of anthropology. “But this has been hard to study because of the difficulty of isolating dance movements from variables, such as attractiveness, clothing and body features. By using motion-capture technology commonly employed in medical and sports science to isolate dance movements, we can confidently peg dancing ability to desirability.”
“In species where fathers invest less than mothers in their offspring, females tend to be more selective in mate choice and males therefore invest more in courtship display,” [postdoctoral research fellow William] Brown said. “Our results with human subjects correlate with that expectation. More symmetrical men put on a better show, and women notice.”
Read the article:
Rutgers Researchers Scientifically Link Dancing Ability to Mate Quality
December 23rd, 2005
With all the seasonal parties this month, hangovers may seem inevitable for some people. In twenty years of in-depth research, I have come up with a regimen for preventing this (and you don’t even need to swallow charcoal tablets!)
1. Don’t drink alcohol.
Ha ha. No, seriously. Failing that:
2. Try to stay awake until you become sober again.
3. Before going to sleep take 1000 milligrams of vitamin C
4. Before going to sleep drink as much water as you can (up to a liter or so*), over as long a time frame as you can.
If at all possible, try to do items 2, 3 and 4 together for maximum benefit.
5. If you know wine gives you a headache, don’t be a dumbass and drink it anyway (unless you are at a Seder, then you are stuck unless you can sneak the grape juice from the kid’s table**).
6. Ditto for beer. (God help you…)
Salut! and happy, safe holidays.
* There is such a thing as water intoxication. This can be fatal and happens from drinking too much water. It is rare, but happens. Oh, and despite the name, you don’t get a buzz.
**Don’t simply trade a kid his juice for your Manischewitz. That would be wrong.
December 21st, 2005
There is a new article out today outlining a leading audiologist’s plan to help users of personal-music-listening devices avoid “iPod ear” (a term we here at HHDC first coined, which has since moved into common usage).
Northwestern University audiologist Dean Garstecki advises that to keep “ear-healthy” people using iPods or other portable listening devices with headphones should follow the “60 percent, 60 minute” rule. This basically says that listeners can use these devices for up to 60 minutes daily if they limit their volume to 60% of maximum. If users are willing to listen at less than 60% of full volume, they may listen longer.
Garstecki states that many iPodders listen at a decibel level on par with the noise level found at rock concerts. This can lead to hearing loss after only about 75 minutes of exposure.
Read more:
Save Your Hearing Now
[Amazon]
IPod Earbuds Damage Hearing [Yahoo News]
Digg this story
December 20th, 2005
Sharp is introducing a new “steam oven” appliance called the Healsio. The claim is that by steam “roasting”, fat and sodium are significantly reduced.
Of course, far be it from us to remind Sharp that roasting inherently requires dry heat. It seems awfully gimmicky to have a whole appliance devoted only to steam-cooking (although some people swear by their rice-steamers).
If Quentin Tarantino ever directs a remake of “Who is killing the great chefs of Europe?“[IMDB], I hope he features the Healsio in one scene… that would be spiffy.
Read More:
Sharp Promoting So-Called ‘Healthy’ Low-Fat/Low-Calorie Appliance [Livin' La Vida Low-Carb]
Sharp to Start Worldwide Sales of the “Healsio” Water Oven [Sharp-World]
December 19th, 2005
According to new research from the Harvard Med school, long-term computer use can lead to a variety of Repetative Strain Injuries, but probably not specifically Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
RSI pain from improper computer use, poor working posture and other workplace ergonomic problems can occur in the neck, shoulders and other parts of the body in addition to the hands and wrists. Actual cases of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, the study claims, are far more likely to arise from factors such as weight, genetics, stress fractures or even pregnancy.
Cnet reports the story at:
Keyboard carpal culprit? Not so, study says
Interestingly, the comments on the story are quite skeptical, with some readers even asserting that Harvard has a legal interest in disproving the computing/Carpal Tunnel Syndrome connection.
December 15th, 2005
Everyone knows that vegetables are a crucial, but often under-consumed part of a healthy diet (even - no, especially - a Low-Carb diet). Many people are under the impression that to get the most nutritional “bang for the buck” vegetables should be eaten raw, but that cooked vegetables are an acceptable substitute. Raw vegetables often get short shrift because the flavors are either less complex or occasionally bitter and their fiber content makes them harder or unpleasant to chew.
In fact, to get the most nutrition from your vegetables, not only should you get a variety of different kinds of veggies (green and leafy, cruciferous, yellow and orange, etc), but you should alternate between raw and cooked. This is because although raw vegetables are rich in excellent vitamins (and minerals) and cooking can destroy some of these nutrients, others are present but unavailable for digestive absorbtion unless the food has been gently cooked.
Beware, though of overcooking. There is nothing less appealing or nutritive than flaccid, grey vegetable matter. Think “al dente”; soft enough to chew with just a slight crunch, but still retaining a bit of resistance to the tooth.
December 14th, 2005
Health-Hack.Com is proud to announce the launching of a new sister site on the subject of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. The site can be found at:
http://apnea.health-hack.com.
Eventually all the ApneaBlog articles from HHDC will be moved over there along with future postings on Sleep Apnea, CPAPs, BiPAPs, the Pillar Procedure, etc. The Sleep channel here on the main site will deal more with other sleep related topics such as insomnia and polyphasic sleep.
Eventually we hope to move all of our sister sites (most of which are hosted on Blogspot) over to unique subdomains here at Health-Hack.com.
Let us know what you think, and feel free to offer any advice. As always, we welcome comments and article submissions, or even ideas for future stories.
Thanks,
-The Eds
UPDATE: We have also moved over our Gout website, The Cause of Gout Symptoms to an HHDC subdomain as of last night. It is still a little rough around the edges and needs a new WordPress theme, but it does have all the old posts preserved.
December 12th, 2005
Previous Posts
Goodness, what a week! HHDC has launched 
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