Alicia Silverstone - The Christ Hospital

healthSleep: Quantity mattersGetting too little sleep may increase your likelihood ofdeveloping metabolic syndrome—a combination of conditionssuch as abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure andinsulin resistance—which boosts your risk for coronary heartdisease. But so does getting too much sleep. That’s accordingto researchers publishing in the journal Sleep, who examinedmore than 1,200 adults ages 30 to 54. Results indicated thatgetting fewer than seven hours or more than eight hours ofsleep a night hiked the risk for metabolic syndrome by45 percent over those who slept an average of seven to eighthours a night. Eight percent of participants got more than eighthours’ sleep, while those who were short on sleep accountedfor 20 percent. Among other things, says the National SleepFoundation, important hormones are secreted, blood pressuredrops and memory is consolidated during sleep.Yet anotherreason to move it!Move it, mom—and pull your daughterswith you. That’s the take-awaymessage from a data review of nearly65,000 women to determine the relationshipbetween exercise and premenopausalbreast cancer. Regular physical activitywas rewarded with a 23 percent lowerrisk of breast cancer, and high levels ofphysical activity in young women betweenages 12 and 22 contributed most strongly.Authors of the study, which appearedin the Journal of the National CancerInstitute, say exercise wasn’t linked to aspecific sport or to intensity, but to totalactivity. Nearly one-quarter of all breastcancers are diagnosed in premenopausalwomen.Women’s Health Today