Sleep Archive

Extra-virgin olive oil and nuts seem to contribute to the benefits.

A drink or two a day has long been touted as beneficial for the heart. But new research suggests that for older people, even moderate drinking may cause worrisome changes in the heart's structure and function. Moderate drinking is defined as a drink per day for women and two drinks a day for men.

The study included nearly 4,500 adults with an average age of 76 years. They drank varying amounts of alcohol, ranging from none to 14 or more drinks per week. Researchers looked at the size, structure, and function of different parts of their hearts using cardiac imaging techniques.

Q. Should I stretch before or after my workout to help prevent muscle injuries and soreness? I've gotten conflicting advice on this.

A. We all remember the importance placed on stretching in our high school physical education classes. However, recent expert opinion has moved away from static stretching before activity and toward a gradual and active warm-up period before exercise. Stretching a healthy muscle before exercise does not prevent injury or soreness.

Meeting fiber goals improves overall nutrition and helps with regularity, even without dramatic dietary changes.

Q. Why can't doctors decide if vitamin supplements are good for your health, or not?

A. You might think that it would be simple for doctors to determine if vitamin supplements are good for your health. Alas, it's not. Here's why.

Give your relationship a tune-up by assessing strengths, letting go of disappointments, and doing things together.

Foods such as kale, cantaloupe, and quinoa can boost the amount of nutrients you consume without increasing calories.

Getting enough nutrients through diet is challenging as we age. Our bodies don't absorb nutrients as well as they once did, yet we tend to need fewer calories and eat less. So it's important to make the most out of the foods we do eat. One way is by choosing more nutrient-dense foods, which provide more nutrition bang for the calorie buck. "They contain an abundance of nutrients and other healthful substances—vitamins and minerals, fiber, lean protein, and unsaturated fats—but are not excessive in calories. This is compared with foods of low nutrient density that are high in calories," says Liz Moore, a registered dietitian at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Although health experts are giving us fewer reasons to see the doctor every year, there are many benefits to doing so.

Simple changes can help to turn down the volume.

If your wife or sleep partner often seems bleary-eyed and resentful in the morning, you may be one of the millions of adults who snore habitually—a condition that affects twice as many men as women. Snoring occurs when your upper airways narrow too much, causing turbulent airflow. This, in turn, makes the surrounding tissues vibrate, producing noise.

"Snoring is a sign that there is a really narrowed space," says Dr. Sanjay Patel, a sleep disorder specialist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "That happens either in your nasal passages or in the back of your throat." Some men are snorers because they have excess throat and nasal tissue. Others have floppy tissue that's more likely to vibrate. The tongue can also get in the way of smooth breathing. 

It appears that cognitive behavior therapy may help people with chronic insomnia and no underlying medical problems fall asleep faster.