Sleep more to burn more
If you were told to go have a rest in order to burn a few extra calories, you would think something wasn’t quite adding up. But it seems that losing sleep may affect not only how many calories we consume but also how much energy we burn.
The researchers measured the physical activity of participants by placing special devices on their wrists that detect physical activity. They found that sleep deprivation raised the amount of ghrelin, the ‘hunger hormone’ in participants blood, which meant that the less sleep participants had, the hungrier they were. Participants also burnt fewer calories where they were tired, as they moved around less and were not as active. Therefore, when we are sleep deprived, we're more likely to eat excess calories yet we burn fewer - a recipe for weight gain.
Sleep is already known to be vital for our wellbeing, but now is seems it's also involved in maintaining the balance between the amount of calories we eat and the amount we burn off through activity and metabolism.
Facebook & depression
It’s fair to say people love to hate Facebook, as social media has been pinned as the cause of a number of problems in young adults – from distraction to depression. A new study, published online in the
Journal of Adolescent Health, is the first to provide evidence that depression and the amount of time on Facebook isn’t linked.
Researchers surveyed 190 participants between the ages of 18 and 23, who were assessed using a clinical screening method for depression. They were then surveyed via 43 text message questionnaires about their internet use at random intervals over a seven-day period between February and December of 2011.
The study found that the participants were on Facebook for over half the time they were online. However, when the data was evaluated from the depression-screening results, there was no significant link between social media use and the probability of depression.
Although safe and balanced media use is recommended, there is no cause for worry that Facebook used could lead to depression. However it is still up in the air whether it is the main cause of procrastination…
Choose your friends wisely…
Friends are important and everyone knows they can have a big impact on your health and wellbeing. Your friendships play a bigger role in your physical wellbeing than you may think. A study found students are more likely to gain weight if they have friends who are heavier than they are. Conversely, students are likely to become trimmer if their friends are leaner then they are.
The researchers used sophisticated statistical technique to examine data from 1,775 students who participated in the
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. They were surveyed during the school year, and again the following school year.
They found that if a borderline overweight student had lean friends, there was a 40 per cent chance the students BMI would drop in the future. But if a borderline overweight student had obese friends, there was a 15 per cent chance the students BMI would decrease and a 56 per cent chance it would increase. There was also a link between social networks and participation in sports.
Researchers explain that the study was limited as it was observational rather than experimental, and more research is further needed but it does hint that our friends may have a ‘bigger’ impact than we realise.
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