Monthly Archives: October 2019

October 23rd, 2019

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Why You Should Have Early Dinners

I’m a firm believer of having early dinners and hardly ever indulge in suppers. Our current dinner time is very early as two of my children are back from school at 4 p.m. Instead of giving them the opportunity to have snacks and then only have dinner at 7-ish p.m., I make sure that by the time they are home at 4 p.m., home-cooked dinner is ready on the dining table. Thus, I have my dinner at 4 p.m. as well, on most days. On other days, we have our dinner before 7 p.m. By bedtime around 10:30 p.m., my tummy would already feel empty but I am fine with it and only have my first meal of apple cider vinegar with raw honey and psyllium husk at around 5 or 6 a.m. the next day. That’s a 12-hour fast I have here.

Having your last meal of the day early (at least 4-5 hours before bedtime) and only eating your first meal of the day at least 12 hours apart is a form of intermittent fasting, aka time-restricted feeding.

Intermittent fasting involves entirely or partially abstaining from eating for a set amount of time, before eating regularly again. Some studies suggest that this way of eating may offer benefits such as fat loss, better overall health, and increased longevity. Proponents claim that an intermittent fasting program is easier to maintain than traditional, calorie-controlled diets.

The easiest way to do the 12-hour fast is to include the period of sleep in the fasting window. It works pretty well for me.

Align your eating routine with your circadian rhythm, eating during the day and fasting at night. This will be different for each person, but generally it just means that you stop eating after dinner around 5 to 7 p.m. and you begin eating again at breakfast between 5 to 7 a.m. Simple as that!

If you sleep just after having dinner or don’t eat it early, you risk having health issues in the long run. Heartburn, acidity, gas, weight gain and other digestive problems could be a consequence as the digestive track fails to work its best. Most problems can be fixed with an early and light dinner.

Studies typically have shown that when calories get consumed later at night, the body tends to store them as fat rather than burn them as energy. Some studies done with animals found that food is processed by the body in different ways depending on what time of day it’s consumed. This might be because of physical activity, hormone levels, changes in body temperature, biochemical reactions and absorption and digestion of food

If you’re trying to lose weight, you may want to consider eating dinner very early or making a late lunch your last meal of the day.

In a 2018 study, researchers found that meal timing has an impact on human metabolism. They studied a small group of people carrying extra weight and found that those who ate their last meal by mid-afternoon had reduced daily hunger swings and increased fat burning at night.

In another research, eating dinner earlier in the day could help lower your risk of developing cancer.

Benefits of eating dinner early:
1. Better weight control
2. Better digestion
3. Ensures better sleep
4. May reduce risk of cancer
5. Good for heart health
6. Better overall health

Having my dinner early and having only a light one make me feel better and healthier. I used to have an uncomfortable feeling in my tummy after having a heavy dinner in the evening. I’ve never felt better with a better digestive system ever since I started making dinner the lightest meal of the day and eating at least 4 hours before bedtime.

It’s all about taking the effort to make a change in your lifestyle. If you work late, you can have light snacks like sandwiches at your desk or grab a quick bite after an evening meeting. My staple in the office pantry used to be sprouted wheat bread, peanut butter or cheese, which will be my go-to quick dinner whenever I needed to work late.

Start eating a healthy and light dinner at least 3 hours before bedtime for a week and see for yourself the positive changes it would bring to your health, physically and mentally!

Health and Fitness

October 11th, 2019

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Does Lack of Sleep Cause Cancer?

An increasing amount of research has found links between poor sleep and several cancers. Getting regular and sufficient sleep are an essential part of your overall health. If that period of time when the body is busy rebooting and fortifying its defenses is chronically shortened or disrupted, this could eventually have serious repercussions for cancer risk down the road.

While sleep itself has not been deemed a causal factor for cancers, researchers have associated certain sleep disorders with an increased risk of cancer. The three main sleep issues correlated with cancer are chronic sleep deprivation, sleep apnea, and shift work sleep disorder.

Anyone who has missed a night’s sleep understands the reality of sleep deprivation. When I get fewer than 5 hours of sleep for a few days consecutively, I would feel enervated, lack stamina when I exercise, easily agitated and find it hard to concentrate and remember things. I would constantly doze off throughout the day.

When we don’t get enough sleep, when we’re chronically sleep-deprived, that can lead to chronic inflammation and insulin resistance. Chronic inflammation has been associated with several kinds of cancer, and insulin resistance is a precursor to diabetes that occurs when your cells don’t respond appropriately to the insulin the pancreas makes to help your cells take up glucose from your blood. Inflammation and insulin resistance can both set the stage for cancer by contributing to DNA damage.

Chronic sleep deprivation (getting less than sufficient sleep over a sustained period of time, usually 7 to 8 hours for adults) is associated with:

1. Poorer memory and cognitive processing skills
2. Weakened immune system
3. Weight loss or weight gain
4. Increased irritability and higher risk for depression
5. Poorer judgment

Close-Up Photography of Woman Sleeping

Many people do not give priority to sleep. With the advent of electronic devices and social media, many people are losing sleep to these ‘vices’ without realizing the negative effects this has on their health.

Sad but true, multiple studies have linked sleep deprivation with increased cancer risk.

1. Men with insomnia were twice as likely to develop prostate cancer, according to a 2014 study that followed more than 2,000 men over a five-year time frame.

2. Individuals who averaged fewer than 6 hours of sleep per night (below the recommended amount of 7 to 8 hours) had a 50 percent increased risk of colorectal cancer, according to a 2010 study.

3. Lack of sleep is correlated with more aggressive forms of breast cancer, according to a 2012 study of postmenopausal women. They found that breast cancer patients who regularly slept fewer hours of sleep tended to have more aggressive forms than women who slept longer.

White Alarm Clock on Bed

Researchers suspect that a disruption in the circadian rhythm could pose a risk for developing cancer, since the body’s internal clock affects so many biological functions. One theory is that the suppression of melatonin at night (which comes from exposure to bright light) could be partly responsible. Indeed, scientists have seen this link in animal studies; for example, when they manipulate the sleep/wake cycles of rodents for an extended time, cancers grow faster.

The bottom line is whether you’re worried about your risk of developing cancer or not, good sleep is fundamental to so many things.

Health Issues, Interesting Information

October 3rd, 2019

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Benefits of Napping

For those who do not get sufficient sleep at night, a nap can often be the perfect solution. I need a 20-30 minutes nap by 10 a.m. on most week days as I am already up at 4:30 a.m. After 1.5 hours of doing house chores, I spend another 45 minutes exercising after the girls have gone to school. I am exhausted by 7:30 a.m. on most school-going days. If I am severely sleep deprived for weeks on end, I need two half-hour naps in a day – one in the morning and one in the afternoon to recharge my batteries.

I realized how important a nap is to me when I once dozed off while driving. I was on the way home after picking up my second daughter from school in the afternoon. I had felt very sleepy before I left home but didn’t have the time to prioritize on a 15-20 minute power nap. Thankfully my car only veered to the road shoulder and the wheels grazed the curb. I was jolted up by the loud crash on the curb.

Many people sacrifice sleep for other pursuits, but what they don’t always realize is that sleep facilitates learning, memory, creativity, problem-solving and productivity.

Even a 15-20 minute cat nap can do wonders on my mood and ability to concentrate in my work. With a 15-20 power nap, you get to reset your system and a burst of alertness and increased motor performance.

The length of your nap determines the benefits. A 20-minute snooze—called a stage two nap—is ideal to enhance motor skills and attention, while an hour to 90 minutes of napping brings Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, which helps make new connections in the brain and can aid in solving creative problems.

In Japan, inemuri, which means ‘sleeping whilst present’, is the term given to those who nap at their desks Getty

Sleep Fun Facts

~ Sir Winston Churchill managed on just four hours sleep a night during World War Two — but insisted on a two hour nap in the afternoon.

~ Albert Einstein reportedly slept for 10 hours a night, plus daytime naps.

~ Scientists have shown that a 60- to 90-minute siesta can charge up the brain’s batteries as much as eight hours tucked up in bed!

~ In recent years, Google, NASA, Uber, Zappos and Nike all offer some form of napping benefits at the workplace!

The Benefits of Napping

1. Increases alertness.

2. Improves learning and working memory.

3. Prevents burnout and reverses information overload.

4. Heightens your senses, creativity and boosts your mood.

5. Improves health.

When you sleep, you release growth hormone, the antidote to cortisol which which boosts your immune system, primes your sexual function, reduces stress and anxiety, and aids in muscle repair and weight loss. Napping gives your brain a chance to rest and your body a chance to heal.

Scientific proof

A study done with Greeks found that those that took a 30 minute nap at least three times a week had 37% less risk of dying from a heart-related condition. Among working men their risk of death was reduced 64%!

If you’re sleep deprived, all you need to do is to steal 20 minutes somewhere in your day. One study showed that even a 6 minute cat nap improves memory function. So you can even sneak one in during lunch time or when your boss is out 😉

Learn to embrace the nap and the napping of others. Napping is not a character defect! Many great men have taken advantage of the benefits of napping. It is a wonderful way to improve your quality of life.

Interesting Information