Lack of sleep affects fat metabolism: Study

Healthy sleep habits can make a big difference in one’s life but work week keeps us all a bit short on sleep, which can be severely harmful, says a study.

In the Journal of Lipid Research, researchers at Pennsylvania State University reported that just a few days of sleep deprivation can make participants feel less full after eating and metabolise the fat in food differently.

Sleep disruption has been known to be having harmful effects on metabolism for some time.

Orfeu Buxton, a professor at Penn State and one of the senior authors of the new study, contributed to a lot of the research demonstrating that long-term sleep restriction puts people at a higher risk of obesity and diabetes.

However, Buxton said, most of those studies have focused on glucose metabolism, which is important for diabetes, while relatively few have assessed digestion of lipids from food. Read Complete Article

Research shows how nordic walking may benefit breast cancer patients

Nordic walking, an aerobic activity performed with walking poles similar to ski poles, may benefit patients with breast cancer, according to a review of existing research.

The low-impact exercise improved swelling, physical fitness, disability and quality of life, the study authors conclude in the European Journal of Cancer Care.

“The main strategy in rehabilitation for women with breast cancer is a change of habits, where physical exercise is a fundamental tool,” said study co-author Jorge Torres of the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Sports at the University of Vigo in Pontevedra, Spain.

“It’s not easy to turn a sedentary person into an amateur athlete, so sports such as Nordic walking are accepted more easily,” Torres told Reuters Health by email, particularly since the activity doesn’t require expensive equipment, can be done in a group with others, and is easy to learn. Readmore

The obesity rate is dropping among US preschoolers, study suggests

Preschoolers, who are receiving government food aid, are reaching healthier body mass index and contributing to a steady decline in obesityrates, recent findings suggest.

As part of a recent U.S. study, the researchers noted that according to a report by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity rates dropped to about 14 per cent in 2016 (down from 16 per cent in 2010).

The results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, USA Today reported. The findings of the study come as a welcome result for the health experts, following an upward trend of obesity in young children during 2000 and 2010.

According to the team of researchers, all racial and ethnic groups recorded a noteworthy decline in obesity. “It gives us more hope that this is a real change,” said Heidi Blanck, head of the obesity prevention division at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

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