Health | Sunstone Online

Are You Showering All Wrong?

Are you showering all wrong? You probably didn’t know that there was a right and wrong to showering, but Dr. Derek V. Chan, a New York-based cosmetic and medical dermatologist who was recently interviewed by the Daily Mail explains how you should be showering.

Dr. Chan explains that he recommends that people shower once a day and that you should use a moisturizer within five minutes of exiting the shower if you have exzema.

Warm showers are better than hot ones since hot showers can reduce moisture in the skin.

When you are washing your hair, Dr. Chan explains that you should massage a shampoo or conditioner into your scalp and then leave it on for approximately two to three minutes. If it’s a shampoo for dandruff, then they should leave it in for 3-5 minutes.
In general, exfoliates aren’t necessary but they can help with acne and clogged pores. Use a gentle exfoliation 1-2 times a week on the face. He says not to squeeze at pimples since it can cause scarring and color changes.
And that should be all that you need for your shower!

iPads as Tools of Relaxation

Recent research about iPad use in children is certainly interesting for patients undergoing operations – but a bit daunting for those of us who let their kids zone out with technology.

In a French study of 112 children aged 4-10 who were having a day surgery, the researchers found that computer games worked as well as drugs to help kids relax before their operations. Half of the kids were given a sedative before their anesthesia, while half were given an iPad loaded with games just twenthy minutes before going into surgery.

Then, the children, their parents and the surgery nurses were all asked questions. The answers to these questions showed that the iPads worked as well as the midazolam sedative did to help with anxiety. Even more significant, the parents and nurses were more satisfied with the children who had used the iPads than they were with the children given the sedative.

As researcher Dominique Chassard of the Hospices Civils de Lyon explains, “Our study showed that child and parental anxiety before anesthesia are equally blunted by midazolam or use of the iPad. Use of iPads or other tablet devices is a non-pharmacologic tool which can reduce stress without any sedative effect in paediatric surgery.”

Certainly, this information is helpful in terms of surgery. But it also indicates the power that technology can have over children; allowing them to zone out and become immersed in another world, of sorts.

What’s Making You Binge Eat?

In a new study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers looked at binge eating to see if it is actually a brain disorder – and they found that it is. The irrational desire to eat way beyond being satiated has long confused neurologists. But this study has identified neural circuits in the brain’s pleasure area that can actually inhibit binge-like eating in mice.

When normal people eat, the brain releases chemicals into the pleasure center like dopamines. When we’ve eaten enough, the brain them stops flooding the pleasure center. The theory here is that people who binge have a built up tolerance and a healthy amount of food doesn’t stimulate pleasure.

This team, led by Baylor’s Dr. Yong Xu, and conducted by the Baylor Colleget of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, analyzed lab mice which have been raised to binge eat. Of the 14 potential receptors that control the effects of serotonin in the body, Xu and his colleagues were able to identify one that might influence binging behavior. The serotonin 2C receptor could help to suppress binge eating.

There is already an FDA-approved drug that works as a serotonin 2C agonist and it is currently used for overweight and obese people. This could, perhaps, be repurposed to suppress binge eating in adults, according to Xu.

A New Way to Curb Cravings?

A new powdered food supplement just might end your cravings. Too good to be true? Scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Glasgow had 20 volunteers drink a milkshake that either had an ingredient called inulin-propionate ester in it, or a type of fibre called inulin. Participants then had an MRI scan where they were shown pictures of low and high calorie foods.

The researchers found that, when the volunteers had consumed the milkshake with the inulin-propionate ester, they had less activity in the brain in the area of reward when looking at the high calorie foods. Those participants also rated high calorie foods as less appealing.

There was a second part to the study, as well, where participants were given a bowl of pasta and told to eat as much as they wanted. With the inulin-propionate ester they at 10% less pasta than did those participants who drank the milkshake with the inulin alone.

As Professor Gary Frost, senior author of the study from the Department of Medicine at Imperial, said, “Our previous findings showed that people who ate this ingredient gained less weight – but we did not know why. This study is filling in a missing bit of the jigsaw – and shows that this supplement can decrease activity in brain areas associated with food reward at the same time as reducing the amount of food they eat.”

Claire Byrne, a PhD researcher also from the Department of Medicine, explained how this could be a good food additive. As she said, “If we add this to foods it could reduce the urge to consume high calorie foods.”

Adding to the discussion was Dr Douglas Morrison, author of the paper from the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre at the University of Glasgow. He said “This study illustrates very nicely that signals produced by the gut microbiota are important for appetite regulation and food choice. This study also sheds new light on how diet, the gut microbiome and health are inextricably linked adding to our understanding of how feeding our gut microbes with dietary fibre is important for healthy living.”

Are Dieting Drinks Making You Fat?

In a fascinating new study researches have actually found that drinking low calorie drinks during pregnancy results in…overweight babies. Motherw who drank artificially sweetened drinks every day during their pregnancy were twice as likely to have a baby who was overweight when they were 12 months old.

Conducted at the University of Manitoba in Canada, the research seems to indicate that babies introduced to such drinks in the womb develop a sweet tooth. Of course, they are looking at trends and can’t prove the link between sweet drinks and the sweet tooth – but looking back at previous research they did on rats they found similar findings. In the study with rats, those babies who were given artificial sweeteners demonstrated a preference for sweeter foods and put on weight.

As the scientists explained in the JAMA Paediatrics journal, “To our knowledge, our results provide the first human evidence to support these findings, suggesting that prenatal nonnutritive sweeteners exposure may contribute to infant weight gain and early childhood obesity.”

For the 5% of women who drank these drinks every day, their children were twice as likely to be overweight by 12 months, compare to those moms who didn’t drink diet drinks at all.
Interestingly, these trends are only seen for women who drank artificially sweetened drinks and not those who drank regular fizzy drinks or hot drinks with sugar.

Some have criticized the study, however, finding the women who are more likely to drink diet drinks are typically overweight and struggle with their weight. As Professor Kevin McConway, an expert in applied statistics at The Open University, said: “But they can’t know for sure they accounted for all these things completely, and there may be other aspects of these women’s unusualness that could not be taken into account at all because they weren’t recorded.”

Certainly, while more research is necessary, it’s an interesting finding and one worth watching.

Key Energy Boosting Foods

Most of us have some time during the day when we feel drained and tired. And this is the perfect time to eat something that will add energy to your day. Rick Hay, a nutritionist and author of The Anti Ageing Food & Fitness Plan offers advice about pick-me-up foods that can add energy to your life. Here are a few examples.

Bananas with almond butter: Rick Hay explains that in a 2012 study by Appalachian State University, they found that bananas are as beneficial as sports drinks in terms of energy.
Sweet potatoes: Sweet potatoes boost energy and also can assist in weight loss since they keep you fuller for longer.

Maca: This root is most typically found in powder form. It has been dubbed as the “Peruvian ginseng.”

Nuts: Nuts are a slow-burn food so they deliver steady energy. They help to keep the immune system strong with their rich levels of antioxidant minerals.

Eggs: Eggs are filled with protein and contain the amino acids that you need for a healthy body function.

Honey: Honey is rich in carbohydrates and helps to maintain glycogen levels which prevent muscle fatigue.

Learn about the rest of the list and stay healthy!