Sleep can make you more happy, alert, motivated, and productive. If you’re healthy, it’s fairly straightforward to get these benefits from sleep if you know a little bit about your sleep cycles.

First, imagine if washing machines didn’t have timers and you had to guess when they finished their last cycle. If you stopped it too soon, your clothes would still be soapy; if you stopped it too late then it would start all over again. That would be a disaster; nobody would put up with that. Yet, that’s exactly what most people do with their sleep cycles.

You sleep in cycles. Each cycle usually lasts 90 – 110 minutes. It’s called a cycle because your brain and body go through a number of different stages and then it starts all over again. The stages can be divided in different ways, but two of the most common divisions are REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM.

The non-REM “deep sleep” phase is longer during the cycles earlier in the night and tend to get shorter during the later cycles. The REM phase is the opposite. Vivid dreams generally occur during REM sleep, so you tend to dream more as you get closer to your wakeup time.

Most of us get up at about the same time every day. Sometimes, you feel well rested; other times you feel like you barely slept at all. This wide variance can be caused by waking up in the middle of your sleep cycle rather than close to the end.

During a sleep cycle, your body is temporarily paralyzed. Some doctors and researchers believe this may be to prevent you from physically acting out the actions you perform in your dreams, potentially causing yourself harm or waking yourself up. If you wake up during a paralysis phase, you will feel groggy. Since a sleep cycle is typically ninety minutes, your total sleep time should be a multiple of ninety minutes.

Getting enough sleep is also important to your health. The length of your cycles and the exact number of cycles needed will vary by person. But, you’ll know you’ve had adequate sleep when you have no signs of sleepiness or dysfunction during daytime hours. In lab tests, sleep deprivation has shown to reduce white blood cell count, hurting the immune system. Sleep deprivation has also been linked to increased risk of: heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, memory lapses or loss, and irritability. It also slows your reaction time and accuracy.

There’s a free online calculator to help you calculate when you should go to sleep or wake up: http://sleepti.me. If you have a smartphone and want to be more precise, there are advanced alarm clock apps available such as Sleep Cycle that will wake you during the ideal point in your sleep cycle. I’ve tried Sleep Cycle and it works great. It is an iOS app, but there are plenty of Android and other options too — Elbyron has listed some in the comments. In general, these tools make you a lot more aware of your sleep cycles, which has definitely helped improve the quality of sleep that I get, even when I don’t use the app.

Sleep smarter and you’ll feel even better.

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Photo: Jeff Hill (cc)

Sources: wikipedia (sleep, sleep inertia), highexistence.com, sleepti.me

You probably don’t think about it much, but if you did, you’d notice that it often feels like one nostril or the other is always plugged. That’s completely normal for about 70% of adults.

Assuming you’re healthy, your “plugged” nostril actually allows a tiny amount of air through and your other nostril handles the rest. After an average of 2.5 hours, the cycle will shift and use the alternate nostril as the primary source of air. The following scan shows one nasal passage mostly blocked and the other mostly open.

For a long time, Eastern medicine has had theories about the purpose of this cycle and a number of exercises that involve moving air through a specific nostril. On the other hand, Western scientists didn’t come up with a physiological purpose for this phenomena until more recently.

Research indicates that the high/low flow approach in the two nostrils optimizes your sense of smell. As you’ve probably discovered first hand, or shall we say finger, the inside of your nose is lined with mucus. This mucus continues deep inside your nasal passage and is very important; it acts as a barrier and helps protect your brain from infection. But, it also means that something you smell has to be absorbed by the mucus before you can smell it.

This mucus absorbs different chemical compounds at different rates. Therefore, some smells are better detected when they are absorbed in more concentrated levels in the slow moving airstream of your plugged nostril while others are better smelled when absorbed in lower concentration through the fast moving airstream of the other nostril.

Humans have about 1.6 sq inches (10 cm²) of smell receptor cells in our nasal passage. By contrast, dogs have 17 times more space dedicated to these same receptors, and in greater density, which explains why their sense of smell is so much better than ours.

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Photo credit: Len Matthews (cc), Wikimedia Commons (cc)

Sources: wikipedia (Nasal Cycle, Olfaction)

If you have ever gone swimming for several hours or taken a really long bath, then you are probably familiar with the phenomenon referred to as “pruney fingers” or “raisin fingers.” A common explanation for this wrinkling of the hands (and feet) is that the skin absorbs excess water when submerged, which causes it to expand. This expansion increases the surface area of the skin, thereby resulting in wrinkles. So while these pruney fingertips may have the appearance of being shrunken or shriveled, they are actually larger than they were when dry. It has been suggested that fingers and toes are more susceptible to this effect than other areas of the body due at least in part to a lack of hair follicles, which produce sebum – an oily secreted substance that may act as a temporary protective barrier against water absorption.

But water uptake is only part of the story. As early as the 1930s, scientists noted that patients with palsy-related nerve damage in their hands showed no signs of water-induced wrinkling in the areas specifically affected by the impaired nerves. This insight suggested that the nervous system is actively involved in the wrinkling process, and additional research has shown that vasoconstriction – narrowing of the blood vessels – plays a role as well. A modern view of raisin fingers goes something like this: prolonged immersion leads to excess water uptake by the skin; the resulting electrolyte imbalance causes neurons to fire more rapidly, which causes blood vessels to constrict, thereby reducing blood flow underneath the skin and leading to a decrease in skin tension, thus causing wrinkling. This process is clearly more complicated than simple water-induced swelling, which is probably why most people have never heard about it. The complete physiological mechanism of action is likely a combination of water-induced swelling and vasoconstriction.

But none of this explains why fingers that look like little dried fruits should be a part of our biology in the first place. A new theory (put forth in a recent article in the journal Brain, Behavior and Evolution) proposes that wrinkles on the fingers and toes may actually act as miniature drainage channels to displace water and increase grip in wet conditions, similar to the rain treads on the tires of a car. In other words, when your fingers and toes get really wet, they wrinkle up to counteract the slickness of the water. Additional work still needs to be done for the theory to become more widely accepted, but it appears that the raisiny morphology may be an evolutionary adaptation for life in slippery environments.

As a professional bioengineer I feel inclined to run my own experiments, but I’m still waiting for my hot tub/climbing wall grant to go through.

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Sources: Amazing Health Trivia, WonderQuest, Wikipedia, Nature, 1Mark Changizi, et al

Image: Brian Zambrano (cc)

You probably learned about rods and cones in high school biology class. These retinal cells allow our brains to process light so we can see. But, there is a third type of cell that most people don’t know about: photosensitive ganglion cells.

They don’t have a cool name like Rods and Cones, but what they lack in name they make up for in swagger. Much like rods and cones, they send light information to the brain. Instead of using this information to “see”, the brain uses it to synchronize your body’s circadian rhythm to the 24-hour light/dark cycle of this planet. These “lion” cells are the original atomic clock.

They’re also used to control the pupillary light reflex. When you doctor, or local police officer, shines a bright light in your eyes, these cells are used to close your irises to limit the bright light hitting your retinas. Additionally, they help regulate melatonin — the hormone that controls several biological functions, including sleep.

Most research indicates that the ganglion cells are sensitive to light in the spectrum between 460 and 484 nm, or “blue” light which is prevalent in the visible spectrum of sunlight. Basically, this is why you get sleepy when it gets dark and why you start to “wake up” when it gets light outside.

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Photo: bigbluemeanie (cc)

Sources: nature.com, wikipedia (pupillary light reflex, photoreceptor cell, photosensitive ganglion cells, melatonin)

Some people think these shoes look weird:

But, they just look like feet. So, maybe it’s our shoe stressed feet that look weird. If you look at your toes, they’re not spread out like your fingers. Most people’s toes are squished together in the shape of a shoe, even when they’re not in shoes.

That’s weird.

I never really thought about it much, until I saw a pair of these shoes. They’re called “Five Fingers” and they’re made by a company called Vibram. They’re a bit pricey, so you may also want to look at Fila’s similar and slightly cheaper version called “Skele-toes.” This style of footwear are to shoes what winter gloves are to mittens.

These shoes and the growing category of “minimalist running shoes” are a hot trend in running circles right now. There are many reasons why, but the ten most convincing reasons are on the floor in front of you.

We’ve been cramming our feet into unnatural shoes since childhood, but what would our feet look like if we had never worn shoes? Probably something like this:

These feet actually look weird too; we’re used to seeing feet that are shaped like shoes.

The difference is glaring. Look at the straight black line in the first photo, it stretches from the big toe, across the ball of the foot to the heel. You can’t draw a straight line on the second photo that aligns these three important parts of your feet.

Cramping your foot’s style is not cool because that can lead to cramps and strains and lots of heel pains. If you’ve ever had foot pain or discomfort, you may think your shoes don’t have enough cushioning or that your arches have too much or too little support. While there are exceptions, these problems are generally myths perpetuated by the shoe industry that simply wants you to buy new shoes often.

Many of the best runners in the world, who consistently win marathons, run without any shoes at all. Do they have bad feet? No, they have really strong feet. They also have better knees and hips than runners who use thick padded running shoes. One medical study compared running in shoes to barefoot and fount that barefoot running demonstrated 38% lower knee torque and 54% less internal hip rotation torque. This means that running barefoot provides a much more natural motion for your joints. This notion is pretty surprising the first time you hear it, but there are a mountain of medical studies to support it.

Should you throw away your super spongy running shoes and go barefoot tomorrow? Probably not. Just like running in shoes, you need some education to do it the best way possible. Check your area for a local running club where you can learn, or look for some online videos on the subject. I’ve also got some great sources listed below which would make a good starting point.

Also, running on soft shoes might not be a good idea but research shows that running on soft surfaces is better than hard surfaces. Even though grass and dirt may have rocks and pits, these actually work to strengthen your ankles over time. That said, you may also want to consider the type of floors you have at home — you may even want to get something like soft rubber floors. One popular retailer in the US is Discount Flooring, for some other countries you may want to look at: Vintage Flooring (Canada) and Carpet Right (UK).

PS – Neil posted a funny story at 1000awesomethings.com about my first outdoor run earlier this year.

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Sources: PM&R, Shoe Myths, Nature.com, CMAJ.ca, bjsportmed.com

Seeds from peaches, black cherries, apricots and apples contain a compound called amygdalin. Your body metabolizes amygdalin as hydrogen cyanide, which can make you very sick and even kill you (in large doses).

Hydrogen cyanide is lethal because it impedes blood from carrying oxygen, which is of course a critical function of blood.

The pits and seeds from cherries and apples aren’t a huge concern since it would take an unreasonably significant quantity of those to cause you harm. However, you should be more aware of the dangers of peach and apricot seeds if you like to eat them.

If you’re just consuming the fruit, there is nothing to worry about; however, some people buy bags of apricot seeds, or other forms of amygdalin, as a treatment or preventative treatment for cancer. It is marketed under the name Laetrile and “Vitamin B17″ although there are many studies that prove it is not effective at treating cancer, not to mention the increased chance of cyanide poisoning.

A fatal dose of cyanide can be as little as 1.5 mg/kg of body weight. Since an apricot kernel contains approximately 0.5 mg of cyanide, consuming 150 seeds in a short period of time could be lethal to a 50 kg (110 lb) person.

It’s not just fruit seeds, there are other foods that contain cyanide too. Cassava, also known as tapioca, contains two forms of cyanide and should not be eaten raw. It is rendered safe for consumption by the process of soaking, cooking or fermentation.

There are many people who consume these foods in small doses without issue; you can buy bags of apricot kernels from Amazon or health food stores. If you do buy some, heed the serving suggestion and warning on the package.

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Sources: wikipedia (amygdalin, cassava, cyanide poisoning, apricot kernel), Saint Louis University (PDF)

Have you ever noticed a peculiar odor from your urine after eating asparagus? If so, you’re not alone. The “asparagus effect” has been documented since at least the 1700’s and was scientifically analyzed as early as 1891 when a chemist named Marceli Nencki attributed the smell to the chemical “methanethiol.” Most people would probably be satisfied with this explanation and move on, but science leaves no stone unturned; we now know that the distinct aroma is actually due to an intricate combination of sulfur-containing compounds (including methanethiol) formed during the breakdown of asparagusic acid.

So, mystery solved, right? Not quite.

Ask around, and you will find that only a portion of the population actually experiences the asparagus effect. A few early studies in the 1980’s reported that not everyone could smell the asparagus-induced odor, but those who could smelled it in all available samples, suggesting that everyone produces the aroma after eating asparagus, but only a portion of the population has the ability to detect it; a characteristic that was subsequently linked to a specific mutation in a group of olfactory genes. However, a more recent study in 2010 reported that a small percentage of people may not produce the odor at all, likely due to differences in the way they metabolize asparagusic acid.

In short, if you don’t notice the odor in your pee after an asparagus-heavy meal, you either have a unique, asparagus-proof metabolism or you simply lack the smell receptors to perceive your own stinkiness. If you do experience the asparagus effect, keep in mind that the odor-inducing precursor compounds are more prevalent in younger plants, so the smell will be less pronounced if you eat asparagus that is a little more mature. The effect is also extremely rapid – producing smelly pee in as little as 15-30 min after ingesting – so plan ahead if you’re thinking about eating asparagus on a hot date.

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Source: Wikipedia, Monell Center, The Guardian, The Discovery Channel, British Medical Journal

Image: Jonathan Moreau (cc)

As people and most animals age, our bodies don’t work like they used to: we weaken, lose fertility and wrinkle among other things.

Research shows that lobsters do not have these same symptoms of age.

Our cells are constantly being replaced by new cells. These cells are built to the specifications in our DNA. Over time, our DNA is damaged and cells do not divide perfectly.

Lobsters have an enzyme that naturally repairs DNA. In fact, if it weren’t for disease, capture or injury scientists believe they could live indefinitely.

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Sources: Wikipedia (Lobster)

Image: Stacy Lynn Baum (cc)

It seems ridiculous to say out loud, but the fact of the matter is that studies have proven that redheads actually require more anesthesia than blondes, brunettes etc. In 2004 a study was published in Anesthesiology that found that up to 20% more anesthetic was needed to achieve the same result in redheads that had been achieved in the blondes and brunettes taking part in the study.

So how does this make any sense? Without getting all scientific (those details can be found here) the bottom line is that redheads have specific mutations on the MCR1 gene that not only increase expression of red pigment but may also be involved with the function of the central nervous system.

This study opened the door for scientists to learn more and more about anesthesia and how it affects different patients. Do you know people who swear Tylenol or Ibuprofen doesn’t do anything for them? How about people who swear they have to take more than the recommended dosage in order for the medicine to take effect? Perhaps there is some truth to their claims after all. This study is a breakthrough in what could be a detailed explanation of how different people are affected by different medications.

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Sources: OR.org, Medscape, Discovery Health

Photo: Johnnyalive

You’ll probably find yourself yawning throughout this post. For adults, talking about yawning, reading about yawning and watching someone yawn is oftentimes contagious. In fact, at least 50% of adults will automatically yawn if they see another person yawning.

But this contagious behavior does not develop in children until around the age of five. Before age five babies will yawn as a sign of tiredness, but usually only a couple of times per day. On average, adults yawn seven times per day.

In the study performed by the University of Stirling, mothers reported that their babies did not respond to their yawns by yawning. Toddlers who watched a video of people yawning also did not respond by yawning.

Once children reach twelve years old they have usually transitioned into the contagious yawn stage and have a tendency to yawn contagiously as frequently as an adult.

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Sources: CBC, Newser.com

Photo: DanielJames

If you get a lot of headaches, you might be dehydrated and need to drink more water. If you’ve tried that and you’re otherwise healthy, then you probably want the fastest over-the-counter drug you can buy.

Typical painkillers come in a number of formats:

• Liquids
• Liquid Gels
• Chewable Tablets
• Capsules/Caplets
• Hard Tablets

This list is in order of the quickest for your stomach to break down. Generally, the harder it is for your stomach to breakdown the pill, the longer it will take to mitigate your pain. While the format does impact the speed of absorption, the drug itself does too.

In one scientific study, researchers found that solubilized ibuprofen (active ingredient in Advil Liqui-gels) was faster at curing headaches than acetaminophen (Tylenol). The median time for solubilized ibuprofen was 39 minutes while acetaminophen had a 53 minute median time.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you should take Advil over Tylenol. If you’re not sure which you should take, start by looking at this comparison of common over-the-counter painkillers and talking to your doctor.

Generic brand solubilized ibuprofen is available at many pharmacies too.

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Sources: PubMed.gov, Wikipedia (Tylenol, Paracetamol, Advil)

Last year, President Obama introduced the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is part of the health care reform of 2010.

Although we hear a lot about the controversial parts of this reform, there are variety of lesser known, albeit interesting, changes that will be phased in through 2018.

Some restaurants have already complied with one new regulation that requires them to show caloric values next to items on their menu. I noticed that Panera is already on board and my wife reminded me that Olive Garden has done the same. This is a bold move and it confirms that anything Alfredo is both the best and worst thing that Olive Garden serves.

There are some other interesting changes too; here’s an abbreviated timeline:

2012

• Employers will have to disclose the value of the benefits they provide to their employees.
• Tighter restrictions on corporate payments to individuals and other corporations, designed to prevent tax evasion and raise an estimated $17 billion over 10 years.

2013

• Individual salaries over $200,000 and families with income over $250,000 will see a tax increase of 0.5%.

2014

• Insurers can’t discriminate against individuals with pre-existing conditions.
• Insurers can’t set annual spending caps.
• Chain restaurants and vendors with 20 or more locations are required to show calorie count on menus and displays (additional nutritional info must also be available upon request).
• Expand eligibility for Medicaid.
• Changes to tax-free contribution limit on flex spending accounts.
• Require that everyone has health insurance.
• Penalize companies with more 50 full time employees if they do not provide insurance to those employees.

2017

• States can apply to waive certain sections of the law if they mandate coverage that is as comprehensive and affordable.

2018

• Existing health insurance plans must cover approved preventive care without co-payment.
• Individuals who spend more than $10,200 ($27,500 for families) annually on health insurance will see an additional tax on those “Cadillac” plans.

This list was by no means comprehensive, although I did try to include the most notable changes. The details of these changes have been abbreviated and you should see the sources for additional reading on the provisions that may affect you.

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Image: kobo4lila (cc)

Sources: The Bill Itself (PDF), Wikipedia (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), Library of Congress

Sunscreen, sunblock, suncream, sun lotion or whatever you want to call it, is much more complicated than most people realize.

The basic idea is well known: a number known as the “SPF” (sun protection factor) is used to describe its effectiveness at blocking sunlight.

Ultraviolet radiation from the sun can burn your skin with too much exposure. Understanding UV rays and SPF ratings is important if you want to prevent sunburns, long term skin damage and skin cancer.

There is a common misconception that SPF values refer to the extended amount of time they allow you to spend in the sun. For example, one myth suggests that an SPF 30 rated lotion would allow someone to stay in the sun 30 times longer without burning, compared to when they were not wearing sunscreen.

Time would be a nice and easy way to calculate it, and it’s fairly close, but the SPF cannot accurately relate to the time of sun exposure because there are a couple factors that affect how long it takes to get a sunburn, whether you’re wearing sunscreen or not.

1. Time of Day
2. Skin Type

Time of Day

Due to the angle of the sunlight in the morning and late afternoon, our atmosphere filters out more radiation at those times. You will burn more slowly at these times than during midday.

Skin Type

The Fitzpatrick scale divides skin types into six levels of sensitivity to sunlight. Type 1 is characterized by very fair white skin with freckles – it cannot tan, only burns. Type 6 is very dark brown or black skin that does not darken in sunlight. The in-between types demonstrate varying degrees of natural darkness and increased darkening when exposed to sunlight.

SPF and UVA/UVB

The SPF number reflects the relative amount of protection the product provides against UVB exposure.

An SPF 15 product would allow 15 times more exposure to UVB rays than when not wearing it. As mentioned above, this is not a measurement of time since there are other factors that can change the protection level and therefore the time. In addition to time of day and skin type, activities such as swimming can also reduce protection since they can reduce the amount of sunscreen on the skin.

Also, sunscreen and sunblock are not the same thing, although they are often used interchangeably. Sunblock is opaque and usually contains zinc oxide. It doesn’t normally need to be reapplied throughout the day. Sunscreen is usually transparent and needs to reapplied every two hours since the active ingredients break down over time while being exposed to sunlight. This obviously has a huge affect on how much protection time the product adds since it dramatically loses effectiveness after a couple hours.

Another problem with SPF numbers is that they don’t account for UVA rays in most countries. While UVB rays cause visible changes to your skin (tan/burn), UVA rays cause damage that may be invisible initially. Since UVA damages DNA, it increases the risk of malignant melanomas, a potentially life threatening issue. Some countries require a minimum level of UVA protection in sunscreen and more countries should adopt this regulation since the effects of UVA are not well known.

In fact, most countries lack thoughtful regulations on sun protection in general, so be weary of sunscreens that claim to offer broad spectrum protection. Unless the product contains zinc oxide, avobenzone or ecamsule, it doesn’t likely provide good UVA protection.

In addition, there is also infra red rays, which some sunblocks also reduce.

Have fun in the sun.

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Sources: Wikipedia (spf, skin color, NSFW – sun tanning, von Luschan scale)

Photo: Rishi Bandopadhay (cc)

A hiccup, or “synchronous diaphragmatic flutter,” is a rapid involuntary contraction of the diaphragm, which results in a large volume of air rushing abruptly into the lungs. This is typically accompanied by a “hic” sound as the airflow forces the vocal chords to suddenly close. The physiology of a hiccup is much like that of a knee jerk reflex (when a doctor taps your knee with that little hammer), but the hiccup reaction occurs within a few cranial nerves that extend between the neck/head and the chest. A bout of hiccups can be brought on by a number of different stimuli including prolonged laughing, eating too rapidly, various nervous system disorders, and even chemotherapy. But far more important than how or why we get the hiccups is how we can get rid of them.

I was astonished to discover just how many hiccup “cures” there are on the web. WikiHow has a particularly awesome article listing nearly 80 different methods for curing hiccups. My immediate reaction to this was, shouldn’t ONE be enough? Unfortunately, hiccups are not well understood and many of these home remedies may work for some people but not for others, so an extensive list of alternatives is not entirely unreasonable. What really astounded me, though, was the sheer variety of proposed treatments. Here’s a small sampling:

• Drink a glass of water while upside down.
• Cough or scream when you feel the next hiccup approaching. Repeat 3-4 times.
• Suck on a lemon wedge topped with 4-5 drops of aromatic bitters.
• Lean your head back and place a penny on your forehead. The hiccups will be gone after 1-3 more times.
• Drink a half teaspoon of pickle juice every 7-10 seconds until the hiccups stop.
• Alternate a spoonful of sugar with a sip of water until the hiccups are gone.

As a whole, these remedies have no unifying theme, and I while I haven’t personally tested all of them, I have to wonder if a placebo effect (or just a coincidental cessation) might have been the genesis of more than a few. I am also bothered by the use of the phrase “until the hiccups stop” in many of the treatments on the web. There are reported cases of hiccups (albeit rare ones) that lasted years. How much pickle juice might I expect to ingest before the costs begin to outweigh the potential benefits?

In my personal experience, the “cures” I tried never worked for me (including upside-down drinking and being startled by a friend), and I always resorted to the more apathetic method: waiting it out. That is, until recently. Several months ago, my girlfriend had a bout of hiccups and she decided to experiment with various improvised remedies. Most of her trials had no effect, but she eventually discovered a simple breathing pattern that eliminated her hiccups completely. Her method follows:

1) Take a deep breath through your nose. Fill your lungs as much as you can.
2) Hold the breath for 10 seconds.
3) Breathe out completely.
4) Repeat steps 1-3 once more.

The entire process takes less than 30 seconds, but I have used it at least five separate times now with amazing success (only one initial failure that was cured on a second attempt). While I can’t promise that it will work for everyone, it has worked for the few people I’ve shared it with so far, and it’s strikingly similar to some of the other “breathing methods” listed on the wikiHow site. In fact, a closer look at that article reveals something interesting: there are more than 10 methods devoted predominantly to breathing. Wikipedia provides some reasoning: a few researchers have theorized that hiccups may be an evolutionary remnant of amphibian breathing that is similar to gulping. More importantly, amphibian gulping is inhibited by high levels of CO2, and so are hiccups. When you consciously adjust your breathing using one of these remedies, not only are you taking more active control of your diaphragm, but you are also manipulating gas exchange in your lungs and blood. More simply, holding your breath is an easy way to increase physiological CO2.

There are also more than 15 methods listed on the wikiHow article that include some form of drinking. While these are far less likely to dramatically impact blood chemistry, they will alter your current breathing pattern, which may in turn help disrupt the involuntary reflex of your diaphragm during hiccuping. I can’t say for sure that the “pickle juice method” is complete nonsense, but I wonder if it might work just as well using plain water.

It’s hard to say exactly which methods will work for any one person, but at least a few of these cures appear to have some scientific rationale while many others seem rather arbitrary. Bottom line: next time you have the hiccups, I recommend trying any of the breathing or drinking methods before resorting to balancing a penny on your head. Good luck!

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Source: Wikipedia, wikiHow

Image: Cayusa (cc)

The most common eye color is brown and the least common is green. Eye color is determined by a number of genes, the actual number of which is unknown. Using six known genes, scientists can predict eye color from brown to blue with 90% accuracy.

The darkness of brown eyes is determined by the amount of melanin (pigment) in them. Blue eyes have little or no melanin, making them translucent; they only appear blue because of an optical illusion known as the Tyndall effect.

The color we perceive something to be is usually due to their pigment, but somethings appear colored for other reasons. Structural colors are one classification of colors that occur not because of their pigment but because of the way light interacts with the matter.

Without getting too technical, different colors of light have different wavelengths. When those waves pass through matter, they can be filtered or scattered in different ways. The Tyndall effect occurs when a light scattering particulate is suspended in a light transmitting medium and the size of the individual particulate is slightly below or near that of the visible spectrum of light.

Some things that appear to be colored due to optical effects are: blue jay and peacock feathers, mother of pearl, butterfly wings, beetle shells, bubbles, oil slicks and one we see every day: the sky.

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Photo: Jennifer Durfey (cc)

Sources: Wikipedia (Eye Color, Tyndall Effect, Color)

When I was a kid, the local 7-11 had 20 Slurpee flavors. Every Saturday, my brother Brett and I would bike there with a palm full of allowance and return with a belly full of food coloring. We didn’t know how lucky we were — I’ve never seen another convenience store with that many flavors. But, there was one thing we did know: BRAIN FREEZE.

While it’s frequently called brain freeze or ice-cream headache, this mind numbing pain is known as sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia in the medical community. Don’t even try to sound-it-out, even the British Medical Journal calls it ice-cream headache.

It happens to some people more easily than others and although your childhood imagination may disagree, your brain is not actually being frozen. The pain stems from a defense mechanism that is employed all over your body.

When it’s cold outside, your arms and legs usually cool down faster than your core because they generally have less insulation (fat) than your core. Because blood flows into your extremities and then back to your heart, the blood coming back will cool down your core. Your body protects itself from rapid cooling by constricting the veins in your extremeties, which reduces flow and slows the return of colder blood into your core.

This is a temporary reaction. After some time, the blood-vessels will expand to allow greater flow so these parts get proper blood flow again. This affect can be quite noticeable in the right conditions. If you’re outside for a while, you may find that your fingers are cold at first, but feel warm later. This is part of the reason they warm up. Also, redness in your cheeks is caused when the blood-vessels expand like this.

As you consume extremely cold food and beverages, the capillaries in your sinuses can rapidly constrict when cooled and expand when warmed. Pain receptors react to this by sending signals to your brain via the trigeminal nerve, the same nerve responsible for sensations in the face. This is why it can feel like the pain is coming from your forehead.

To get rid of a slushie stinger, some doctors suggest holding your tongue on the roof of your mouth to warm it up. Another tip, which you probably learned at a young age, eat slowly!

There is also a belief that you can only get brain freeze in warm environments, but that’s not true.

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Photo: Tom Magliery (cc)

Sources: Wikipedia, British Medical Journal, io9, about.com

This is one of the reasons some poker players wear sunglasses (they also do it so they can stare at their opponents without being noticed).

In fact, the neurotransmitters that mediate pupil dilation are closely associated with arousal in general.

This was proven in a recent study which found that pupil dilation is closely associated with memory and attention functions. In controlled tests, researchers were even able to predict the precise moment when subjects made decisions, based solely on a change in pupil size.

Knowing this, you may want to stick to online poker.

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Photo: David (cc)

Sources: ESPN, ScienceBlogs.com

If you eat potatoes, in any form, you’ve probably come across a partially green one.

Most importantly, don’t eat the green part — it’s toxic enough that you may get very ill, and it can cause death in rare cases. Secondly, it’s very bitter, so you’re not going to enjoy it. French fries and potato chips are also affected, so avoid the green stuff there too.

The green coloration is chlorophyll. Like many other plants, chlorophyll is formed with enough exposure to certain types of light. Of course, many green leaves are part of a healthy diet, so it’s not the chlorophyll itself that is the problem.

Exposure to light can also cause another reaction that forms a substance called “solanine.” It is not related to chlorophyll, but is often formed at the same time. Solanine is toxic. 16 ounces of a fully green pototo could be enough to make a 100lb person sick.

The green chlorophyll is a good warning about the presence of solanine, but solanine can form when chlorophyll does not. So, even if the potato looks normal, the bitter taste will serve as a warning.

Cooking a green potato will not help, it’s still toxic. But, a cooked potato cannot turn green since the required enzyme mechanisms are destroyed in cooking.

Bottom line: if it’s green or bitter, skip it.

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Photo: Selva / Eden (cc)

Sources: Purdue, Elkhorn

When adults are cold, our bodies shiver to engage our muscles and produce more body heat. When babies are cold their bodies do not react in the same way. Instead of shivering, babies warm themselves by burning body fat.

Babies are born with brown thermogenesis fat, also known as brown fat (because of its color). Brown fat is basically a fat-burning type of fat. Scientists used to think brown fat was only found in babies but recent studies suggest it does not actually disappear with age. For adults this could end up being the ultimate diet solution. For a baby it is critical for temperature regulation.

Brown fat is filled with mitochondria. When the body is fueled with food (sugar) the mitochondria help to transform sugar into energy in the form of heat. This heat warms the babies until they are able to shiver like adults.

Does this process warm them? Yes. However, some studies suggest this takes away calories that should be used to help the baby grow.

It is usually recommended that babies are dressed warm and in layers but ask your pediatrician for specific recommendations on ways to keep your baby warm, like what temperature you should keep your house at.

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Sources: Riley Hospital for Children, brainyweightloss.com, Chicago Tribune

Photo: Kaye Nemec

If you check your medicine cabinet, chances are good you’ve got some expired medication in there. Are they still safe and effective or are they fit for the trash?

First of all, this post is for information purposes only and it is not suggesting you take any drugs after their expiration date — always check with your doctor or pharmacist before making any decisions about pharmaceuticals.

The Federal Drug Administration regulates drugs in the United States. They have extensively studied drug expiration dates for the US government. Specifically, the US military stockpiles large quantities of drugs for regular troop usage and emergencies. If those drugs are not used, the cost to replace them can be high.

The FDA found that 88% of drugs tested remained potent for a year after their expiry date;  some lasted up to 14 years. Experts caution these results cannot be directly translated to your medication since the military stores their drugs in climate controlled environments that represents ideal conditions.

That said, the FDA and many in the drug industry, including one pharmacist I talked to off the record, agreed that certain drugs are still good up to a year after the expiration date.

Many popular drugs are safe after their expiration date, but there are known exceptions too. For example, Tetracycline, an antibiotic, becomes toxic and should not be taken after its expiration date. Aspirin, on the other hand, is known to be good for a while after its expiration date.

If the drugs are still good, why do drug companies put these short expiry dates on the bottles? It’s hard to say for sure, but there are a couple things we know.

1. The drug companies are required to ensure their products are 100% effective up to the expiration date. That means they need to do testing. The longer the expiration time they shoot for, the longer it will take to release a new product to market, which is bad for business and customers. In most cases, the products have at least a 1 year shelf life.

2. Every company wants you to buy as much of their product as possible. The drug companies can’t really control how much you use their product, but shorter expiration dates may convince you to buy more, even if you haven’t used all of the product yet.

To be safe, you should check with a pharmacist before taking any expired drugs. When you are ready to dispose of your medicine, check out this previous post: How to Dispose of Medicine.

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Photos: hit thatswitch (cc)

Sources: red orbit, medscape

We’ve long been told that coffee, marinara sauce and red wine will leave our teeth stained and in need of whitening. Dentists have warned us about letting these foods sit on our teeth for too long without brushing. But, it turns out we also need to be cautious when drinking white wine if we want our pearly whites shiny and bright.

It’s not just the color of red wine that affects our teeth, it is also the acidic nature of wine that helps stain and darken our teeth. In fact, red wine and white wine are equally acidic. The acids erode tooth enamel, which is there to protect your teeth.

Because red wine contains dark pigments that will stain your teeth, you get a two-for-one deal when drinking it. Not only will the acid rough up the surface of your teeth, but it will also clear an immediate path for the red pigments to settle in and stain. White wine, on the other hand, will simply make way for stains and is more dangerous if paired with or consumed in a diet that also contains red sauce, coffee or cola.

Apparently, citrus drinks like orange and grapefruit juice, sodas and energy drinks also contain enough acid to have the same, damaging effect on the enamel of teeth. Because coffee, sodas, juices and energy drinks have become so popular, whitening agents and toothpastes have also increased dramatically in popularity over the last few years. It seems that dentists agree, it is OK to use a toothpaste with a whitening agent in it; however, it is recommended that you do not brush your teeth immediately after drinking wine. As mentioned above, the acid in the wine will weaken the enamel on your teeth. The weakening process will last about an hour so if you brush before that hour is up you risk brushing away bits and pieces of your weakened enamel causing further damage.

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Sources: ToothMingle.com, NPR, DentalHealth.org

Photo: Danielle Bauer (cc)

I was rocking my son, trying to get him to sleep, staring at his wide-eyes as he stared back at me. I noticed that he rarely blinked and each time I blinked, I wondered if we had done it at the same time and I just missed him doing it. But, that type of coincidence can’t possibly happen every time I blink for 20 minutes, so I did some research.

It turns out, babies blink much less often than adults. Studies have found that babies, on average, blink less than twice per minute while adults blink, on average, 10 to 15 times per minute.

There are a couple of theories about why babies blink less than adults. One theory is that, because babies’ eyes are so much smaller, there is a much smaller opening through which things like dust, dirt and debris can pass. If fewer foreign particles enter the eye, less blinking and tears are needed to wash it away.

Another suggests that the more sleep a person gets, the less blinking is required. Since babies may have their eyes shut for as much as 15 hours per day, they are not as prone to dry eyes as adults, who often get 6 to 8 hours of sleep per day. When eyes are dry, blinking moisturizes them, so if babies don’t have dry eyes, there is no need to blink as often.

It is also interesting that babies do not produce tears until around the age of one month, when their tear ducts have developed. Even after that one month milestone, babies may continue to cry without tears for awhile. During the first few months, babies tend to save their tears for times when they are especially adamant about what they want or when they are in pain. So, if the purpose of blinking is to clear the eye of debris and lubricate it with tears, there is really no need for a baby to blink until they begin producing that cleansing agent.

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Sources: New York Times, The Register, Parenting

Photo: bbaunach (cc)

There are many over-the-counter pain killer choices and although they are often used interchangeably, they each have unique strengths and weaknesses. Knowing their differences can be extremely beneficial for choosing the most effective one for each situation.

This kind of information needs an upfront disclaimer, so I’ll warn you that this post is provided for information purposes only and it should not be taken as medical advice. Everybody is different and various medications can affect each person differently, be sure to seek professional advice before taking any medications. Also, read the sources listed at the bottom of this post for more detailed information.

Due to the cost of over-the-counter pain medication, they are often used in large doses for chronic pain. Therefore, it may be helpful to know that Tylenol and Ibuprofen do not interact with each other, so if you reach the maximum allowable intake of each per day, you can actually alternate them to increase the pain killing effects. Again, consult your doctor before doing this.

All of these pain relievers are generally used to relieve the same types of pain and symptoms: headache, arthritis, fever, menstrual pain, back pain, etc. But, each one has unique pros and cons. Hopefully, this comparison will help you ask your doctor the right questions to help find the right one for each scenario.

Aspirin

Uniqueness: Antiplatelet drug that improves arterial circulation. Small daily doses and/or large emergency doses are sometimes used to reduce risk of heart attack, stroke and blood clots in certain patients.

Warnings: Potential for allergic reactions, asthma complications, ulcers and stomach bleeding (especially in higher doses). If taking aspirin, doctors may recommend a break before taking ibuprofen. Should not be used to control flu, chickenpox or other viral symptoms in children and adolescents due to a risk of Reye’s syndrome.

Tylenol (Acetaminophen)

Uniqueness: Alternative for those with Aspirin allergies. Some acetaminophen products contain caffeine, especially ones that are marketed for headache and migraine relief. The caffeine makes the drugs more effective, which means you need less of them, which reduces cost and side-effects.

Warnings: Potential for liver damage, especially in high doses.

Advil (Ibuprofen)

Other Common Names: Nurofen (UK), Brufen, Motrin.

Uniqueness: Is better at reducing fever than Tylenol. Although it is an antiplatelet drug, its antiplatelet properties are mild and short-lived when compared to aspirin. One of the scientists who developed the drug, Dr Stewart Adams, discovered its hangover mending capabilities first hand shortly after the drug was finally approved for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Warnings: Should not be used during last trimester of pregnancy. If taking aspirin, doctors may recommend a break before taking ibuprofen. Can cause upset stomach.

Aleve (Naproxen)

Uniqueness: Powerful anti-inflammatory properties. Doesn’t just relieve pain, may reduce the inflammation that is causing the pain.

Warnings: Should not be used by nursing mothers. Can cause upset stomach.

All of the above drugs, except for Tylenol, are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID). That means they are generally better at treating pain caused by inflammation than pain killers that do not reduce inflammation. They are a very popular form of pain killer, in 2001 there were more than 30 billion NSAID doses purchased over-the-counter and over 70 million prescriptions in the United States alone.

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Sources: Wikipedia (Advil, Tylenol, Aleve, Aspirin, NSAID), PubMed (Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, Naproxen, Aspirin), Manufacturers (Tylenol) Consumer Reports (PDF), Vaughn’s Summaries

Relevant

Taking medications in excess, even if the drugs involved are over-the-counter ones, may also require substance abuse treatment later on.

An old wives tale states that gum stays in your stomach for up to  seven years, but that is far from the truth.

Although it’s pretty sticky between your fingers, a single piece of gum doesn’t present a great challenge to your digestive enzymes — gum generally moves through your digestive system pretty quickly.

Food digests in as little as a few hours, and although gum can move at the same speed, it is sometimes slower than normal food, and it passes through our digestive system within a few days at the most.

The confusion comes from the fact that gum cannot be broken down. It’s the same as small coins, they cannot be broken down but they usually pass through within a couple of days. That earns gum the designation of “indigestible”, but that doesn’t mean it won’t pass through the digestive system, it just means it can’t be broken down into smaller pieces. I guess it goes in the same category as corn.

That means habitual swallowers can suffer from blockages and constipation if a large amount of gum builds up, especially children who swallow gum frequently. But, a single piece of gum usually passes without a problem.

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Sources: Scientific American, Snopes, How Stuff Works

Actually, your hair and nails grow faster in sunlight, and we generally have more daylight available and spend more time exposed to it in the summer.

This is because your body produces more vitamin D in daylight, which is important for nail growth. In fact, hair and nails are just a basic form of skin. The epidermis layer of skin is made up of a few types of cells, hair and nails are made from one of those types of cells: keratinocytes.

Fingernails also grow faster on your dominant hand, due to better blood flow. Also, on your dominant hand, the finger nail on your middle finger usually grows the fastest and slowest on your thumb. Fingernails grow about five times faster than toenails.

Despite popular belief, hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after death. As a dead body dehydrates, the skin retracts, which gives the appearance that the hair and nails have grown. But, even while you’re alive, hair and nails are made from dead cells, which is why it doesn’t hurt to cut them.

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Photo: Ibrahim Iujaz (cc)

Sources: Straight Dope, Wisegeek, KidsHealth, eHow, Wikipedia

Chipotle Mexican Grill is a popular fast food restaurant with more than 1000 locations in the United States, Canada and England.

For those who don’t know, they are well known for using fresh and healthy ingredients. For the most part, they use meat from animals that are free range, fed vegetarian diets and raised without antibiotics, hormones or arsenic, not to mention vegetables that are organic and locally produced.

If you’ve read or seen Fast Food Nation (2001/2006), you’ll know that most fast food chains do not operate like this. They source the cheapest meats possible, which often come from animals raised in the least healthy ways. If you’ve seen the documentary Food Inc (2008), Chipotle is painted as a very different kind of fast food chain.

That’s why it’s so surprising that McDonald’s once owned a majority share.

Chipotle was started in 1993 by a chef named Steve Ells. The first store was in Denver Colorado, followed by a few more Denver stores in 1995 and five more in 1996. The chain was growing quickly, so they accepted outside investors in 1998, including McDonald’s.

Because the chain was expanding so quickly, it made a lot of sense for McDonald’s to invest. The funding helped Chipotle expand even more quickly, going from 16 stores in 1998 to 500 in just 8 years.

In January of 2006, Chipotle went public on the New York Stock Exchange. It was the second most successful public offering for a restaurant, second to Boston Chicken (now Boston Market), which was another McDonald’s property. McDonald’s divested its interest in both companies in October 2006 to focus on the McDonald’s brand.

It should be noted that Chipotle chose to sponsor the documentary Food Inc. Although, it’s not know if it was the chicken or the egg, that is if Chipotle was painted in such a positive light because they were a sponsor or if they sponsored and promoted the film because it made them look good. The sponsorship was announced almost two months after the film was released, so it’s plausible the sponsorship was an effort to promote the film because it was so favorable to Chipotle.

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Sources: grist, wikipedia, chipotle

Photo: Mr. T in DC (cc)

Some delis put way too much meat on their sandwiches.

Some people will say, “there’s no such thing as too much meat.” For me, I at least want to fit my mouth around it.

When you order your sandwich, you can ask for it “lite”, which is deli-speak for less meat. Some delis also use the term “half sandwich”, where they give you a full sandwich but only half the meat, other delis will just give you half the sandwich.

There are health benefits to a lite sandwich. Deli meats usually contain a lot of sodium, saturated fat and nitrates. The other benefit of lite sandwiches is the price. Because the meat is the most expensive part, you typically get a break when you order lite.

If you’re buying your own deli meats, look for labels like “healthy” which means the meat contains less fat and less sodium or “lean” meaning it contains less than 10% fat.

PS – I’m still looking for more contributors to help write content. Please contact me here if interested.

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Sources: Xomba, Find Articles, All Menus, Yelp (1, 2)

Photo: onefish2 (cc)

Popular wireless devices such as cell phones and wifi transceivers produce electromagnetic fields (EMFs).

A lot of people are concerned about the health affects of EMFs, so the World Health Organization started a project in 1996 to study their effects on people.

They currently maintain that EMFs, “do not produce any known adverse health effect.”

Operating in the microwave frequency range of EMFs, there is no denying that cell phones induce some of the highest exposure. The UK’s Health Protection Agency claims that 1 year of wifi exposure is comparable to 20 minutes on a cell phone.

The additional exposure with mobile phones is attributed to two factors:

1. Close proximity to your head
2. High power output (to reach distant receivers)

Both the World Health Organization and the Health Protection Agency continue to review the effects of EMF exposure in humans.

The amount of energy radiated by each cell phone model is measured and tracked. This measurement is taken in watts of radiation absorbed per kilogram of human tissue (W/kg). The amount of radiation absorbed, varies across the body — it is typically averaged over 1 gram of head tissue.

Canada and the US allow up to 1.6 watts per kilogram of radiation in cell phones, while the UK allows up to 2.0 W/kg. cnet maintains an up-to-date ranking of cell phones that emit the highest and lowest amount of radiation. They range from 0.1 W/kg to 1.6 W/kg. Check your user manual to see if your phone is high or low.

Comparatively, many bluetooth headsets emit ~0.001 W/kg of radiation, making them far lower than the mobile phone itself.

If you use a cell phone a lot, you should probably be using a bluetooth headset or speakerphone instead of holding the phone against your head.

Many new cars include audio systems that integrate with your cell phone for hands free calling, these are great. If you want something similar for your car, you can get a bluetooth speakerphone. I’ve had really good luck with the BlueAnt Supertooth 3, it downloaded my entire contact list for voice activated calling and its noise cancellation is really great.

If you’re looking for a headset, be sure to check the class of bluetooth headset you get. Most bluetooth devices are considered Class 2 devices, meaning they output around 2.5 mW of energy, which is a very small amount. A “Class 2″ device is likely what you want, which should translate to range of approximately 33 ft (10 meters). One of the most advanced and highest rated Class 2 headsets is the Jawbone Icon.

There are also Class 1 headsets, which give you much better range (up to 330 feet/100 meters), but they output more radiation, about the same as the phone itself. The Callpod Dragon is an example of a popular Class 1 headset.

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Sources: cnet, business week, bluetooth SIG, Wikipedia (bluetooth, wireless safety), antiradiation

If you’ve recently undergone some sort of medical procedure and are nervous about the number of digits when the bill arrives, relax. Medical bills aren’t necessarily black and white; some frugal patients have discovered a secret.

According to a recent New York Times article, most hospitals and doctor’s offices are willing to negotiate price if it means at least part of their bill actually gets paid. In a time when the economy isn’t exactly booming and some people can’t afford health care, more and more medical bills are left untouched. If you’re looking to steer clear of collection agencies and maintain your credit, you may be able to benefit from other people’s “dine & ditch” version of medical procedures.

So what’s the trick? Haggle.

Call your doctor, hospital, dentist etc. and ask them to give you a discount if you pay your entire bill immediately over the phone. Angie’s List recently performed a consumer survey about this topic and found that 74% of people received a discount on medical bills simply by asking for it.

If you’re the planning ahead type, check out the website HealthCareBlueBook.com before scheduling a medical procedure. They’ll give you an estimate of what some of the most common procedures should cost, that way you can shop around and see how much various providers are charging. Once you find the best deal, schedule the appointment, then call afterward to haggle your discount. Check out their section on How to Negotiate Healthcare Prices for even more tips on lowering your bill.

Even if you’ve never used the salesperson of the month parking spot, it’s easy to ask for a discount. The worst that can happen is: they say, “no”

Your request can be as simple as, “Hello. I have a labor and delivery bill from your hospital for $1,700.00 and I heard that if I pay it in full over the phone I can get a 25% discount. I’d like to go ahead and do that today.”

I’m wondering, could this also work at the vet? If you thought medical bills for humans were outrageous, try having a puppy and you’ll soon learn what astronomical looks like.

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Sources: NYT, CBSNews.com, Angie’s List, HealthCareBlueBook.com

Photo: Maxios (cc)

It’s like going to the electronics department in Costco — you eat free food samples while some kid tells you stuff you’ll never remember because all you’re thinking about is how you can get away from the booth without it looking like you just came over for the free food samples.

Taste has been studied for a long time. In 1901, Harvard professor Edwin G. Boring  published a paper that stated different taste receptors can be found on different parts of the human tongue. His last name was Boring, but his work was not. In fact, his work is slightly controversial since all areas of the tongue are sensitive to all tastes; however, some areas are more sensitive than others.

Some wine and beer glasses are shaped to encourage the liquid to hit certain parts of your tongue first, this is supposed to deliver the ideal taste sensation for that drink.

There are five generally accepted taste sensations:

• Sweet
• Bitter
• Savory
• Salty
• Sour

Most mammals can experience all of these sensations. There are some exceptions, particularly with sweetness. New world monkeys do not perceive aspartame as sweet. Humans, apes and old world monkeys do. Cats cannot taste sweetness at all.

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Wikipedia (taste buds, sweetness, wine glass), Scientific American