In the news
Sleep: more valuable than we thought
Like daily exercise, a good night’s sleep is more important than most people are aware of. It was once thought that it’s a time when the brain is resting, but the opposite is true. It’s a period of intense neurological activity and not getting enough sleep or experiencing poor sleep quality has profound effects. For instance, during sleep the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the brain removes waste products, including amyloid and tau proteins, both of which are implicated in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. During sleep, brain circuits are reorganized, improving cognition.
In Why we sleep, Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams, Matthew Walker, Ph.D. covers a wide range of sleep issues, including those bizarre dreams that we all experience, how sleep patterns influence inflammation, which is the driver of heart disease and other conditions, and much more.
It appears that going to bed at the same time every evening (researchers agree that ten p.m. is ideal, perhaps because we avoid the eleven o’clock news) is best. Persons who sleep less than seven hours a night or more than ten hours experience more health issues.
For a good night’s sleep, allow at least two hours between exercise and bedtime. The same time interval applies to a heavy meal. And no, an alcoholic nightcap is not a healthy habit – although it seemed to work pretty well for Winston Churchill.
Lifestyle
Vaccine refusal: unexpected fallout
About thirty years ago a British pediatrician, Andrew Wakefield, almost single-handedly initiated what has become a widespread and deadly phenomenon, parents’ refusal to allow their children to receive vaccines. He claimed that the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine caused autism. His falsified and erroneous “research” was somehow published by the medical journal Lancet but subsequently withdrawn and the UK government lifted his medical license. More than fifteen peer-reviewed medical publications have since proved that there is absolutely no link between any vaccines and autism, but the damage was done. What has followed is a disaster. Literally tens of thousands of unimmunized children have developed pertussis (whooping cough); measles incidence is highest since 2000, when the United States was declared ‘measles free’. Two children have died of measles in the past few weeks; neither had received the measles vaccine.
And there’s more. Prior to the administration of vitamin K to newborns, about one in sixty experienced serious bleeding, sometimes in the brain. About twenty percent of infants with a brain bleed will die. Those who survive suffer lifelong brain damage. Many parents now distrust any “shot” and pediatricians everywhere report that refusal of vitamin K has increased to a shocking level of more than eight percent in some parts of the country.
Expect to see further fallout. Parents’ mistrust of government edicts and the healthcare system extends to refusal to allow an antibiotic to be placed in newborns’ eyes. Prior to the initiation of silver nitrate eyedrops to prevent infection more than a century ago, gonorrhea was the leading cause of blindness in children. The leading sexually transmitted disease is due to Chlamydia, followed by gonorrhea. The former is ugly but fairly benign; the latter is severe and life-altering.
Death, brain damage and blindness. Will we see more of these in the coming decade because of irrational decisions?
