Use Nutrition to Ward off Winter Blues

Physical disorders can negatively affect a person’s mental condition, so experts recommend ingesting sufficient nutrients to stimulate the brain and other parts of the body to maintain mental health. Vitamins tend to be a doctor’s first recourse as nutrients that are good for improving mental condition. A number of studies have established that vitamin D and folic acid help deal with depression. Vitamin D is produced when provitamin D, a substance contained in the skin, is exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays. In winter, when exposure to sunlight is shorter,…

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Smartphone Use Near Bedtime May Lead to Poor Sleep

If you want to improve your sleep, better cut down on smartphone use near bedtime, suggests a new study that found longer average screen-time is associated with poor sleep quality and less sleep overall. Poor sleep is associated with health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and depression. “Exposure to smartphone screens, particularly around bedtime, may negatively impact sleep,” the study said. For the study, Matthew Christensen from the University of California – San Francisco, US, and colleagues sought to test the hypothesis that increased screen-time may be associated with poor…

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Increased Smartphone Use May Affect Sleep, Health of Kids

Does your child indulge in playing games or watching videos on a smartphone or tablet even during bedtime? Beware, he/she may be over double the risk of having inadequate sleep, which may lead to various health issues, a study has found. Sleep is an often undervalued but important part of children’s development, with a regular lack of sleep causing adverse physical and mental health consequences, including poor diet, sedative behaviour, obesity, reduced immunity, stunted growth and mental health issues, said the researchers from Cardiff University in Britain. Currently 72 per…

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Screen Time, Phone use Linked to Less Sleep for Teens

Digital distractions, and a more classical one, talking on the phone, are linked to shorter sleeping time and greater daytime sleepiness for teens, Canadian researchers say. “Today’s adolescents sleep much less than previous generations, their sleep quality is poorer, and they report more daytime sleepiness, all of which have health and social consequences,” said Jennifer O’Loughlin, an author of the paper in the journal Sleep Health and researcher at the University of Montreal. At the same time, electronic media are becoming a larger part of teen’s lives and are often…

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Childhood Antibiotic Use Linked To Higher Food Allergy Risk

Antibiotic treatment within the first year of life is associated with an increase in food allergy diagnosis, suggests new research. The researchers found that children prescribed antibiotics within the first year of life were 1.21 times more likely to be diagnosed with food allergy than children who hadn’t received an antibiotic prescription. “Overusing antibiotics invites more opportunity for side effects, including the potential development of food allergies, and can encourage antibacterial resistance,” said lead researcher Bryan Love from South Carolina College of Pharmacy in the US. The study involved analysis…

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Revealed: Smartphone use at night does not affect your sleep

Revealed: Smartphone use at night does not affect your sleep (Donald Iain Smith/Getty Images) For those who love late night reading in tablets and smartphones, there’s good news as a recent study has stated that daytime light exposure can help fight sleep disturbances which may be caused due to late night use of electronic gadgets. The study has revealed that ample exposure to daytime bright light can help young people who used self-luminous gadgets for up to two hours in evening in getting a sound sleep. “Our most important finding…

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