Tag Archives: sleep

Too Little Sleep May Weaken Our Body’s Response to Vaccines

Sleep has remained the focus of numerous studies recently, including a new report from the University of California, San Francisco that suggests a lack of sleep may reduce the efficacy of vaccines.

As reported by TIME, authors of the study claim this is the first “real-world” look at the connection between the amount of sleep we get and our immune response to vaccines.

The study took place outside of a traditional lab setting and instead tracked participants in their ‘day-to-day’ sleep patterns outside of a controlled environment. Participants were middle-aged and researchers studied how their bodies reacted to a ‘standard three-dose hepatitis B’ vaccine.

Findings revealed that those who got less than six hours of sleep a night on average fared much worse than those who slept more when it came to antibody response. In fact, they were found 11.5 times more likely to be unprotected by an immunization.

Lead author Dr. Aric Prather pointed out that this study shows concrete evidence of a connection between inadequate sleep and being more prone to infectious disease. (more…)

Posted on August 2, 2025 by Dana

Irregular Work Hours Can Shorten Your Life, Study Shows

If you’ve ever thought working the graveyard shift sounded like the least appetizing schedule imaginable, you’re not alone. I for one would much rather wake up at 6 a.m. and work until 3 if it meant I could have my precious evening hours to myself. 

Now there’s more reason to loathe the night shift: it’s been linked to higher risk of heart attack, stroke, early aging and other serious health conditions, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers collected data from 34 previous studies on the topic of work shift and heart health. From a combined total of 2 million participants worldwide, researchers gathered that atypical shift workers are at a 23 percent greater risk of heart attacks, 5 percent greater risk of stroke,and 24 percent greater risk of all coronary events than their 9-5 Monday-Friday counterparts. These workers also saw higher death rates overall.

Researchers considered those who worked any shift outside of ‘normal daytime hours,’ including evening, night and extremely early morning shifts, as well as split shifts, on call hours and other atypical working hours.  (more…)

Posted on July 27, 2025 by Dana

4 Sure-Fire Weight Loss Strategies to Keep You Satisfied

By Lauren O’Connor MS RD for AroundthePlate.org

Weight Watchers has shown us that we can eat cake and lose weight, too! Today there are a variety of weight loss plans and meal planning services that can appeal to our taste buds and keep the promise that (as long as you follow their plan) you’ll lose the weight. Finding your own healthy lifestyle without the structure of a weight loss program can be a challenge. But there are simple things you can do to instill a lifestyle that promotes good health, gradual weight loss and healthy maintenance. And that includes a healthy diet and exercise.

“Not every calorie is created equal – the bulk of your diet should be wholesome, nutritious foods in order to achieve sustained weight loss, improved health and satiety,” says Theresa DiMasi, VP Editor and Chief at WeightWatchers.com. “Eating well and exercising are two key strategies important for long-term success.

Here are some other strategies for weight loss success (and maintenance, too): (more…)

Posted on July 6, 2025 by Around The Plate

Americans Who Watch 4.5 Hours of TV Daily Have Plenty of Time to Exercise

You don’t have time to workout, huh? Well, I have information that says otherwise.

According to the Bureau of Labour we’re a busy bunch, but we’re not exactly making the most of our free time. The biggest excuse in the book for skipping exercise kind of falls apart when you see that people spend the majority of their leisure time watching TV. Are your shows that important? Then move while you watch!

You can easily do yoga, squats, or jog in place while cleaning out your DVR and catching up on the hottest summer reality shows. There are some people who only allow themselves time to watch TV while they’re on the treadmill at the gym, and some who keep their TV in the fitness room of their home.


The only thing we spend less time doing than exercise is relaxing, and that’s no good either. Our bodies and brains need plenty of time to unwind. In some cases though, exercise and relaxing go hand-in-hand. Yoga, swimming, cycling, a round of hoops, or chasing your kids through the park are all ways to relax while still remaining active. (more…)

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Natalie K

Lack of Sleep Leads to Poor Eating

Are you a night owl who struggles to put down the fork in the wee hours of the morning? New research shows that the later we stay up, the likelier our bellies and our brains are to start craving junk food, which gives us all the more reason to hit the hay earlier.

Combined research specifically shows that sleep-related hunger and food cravings are caused in part by hormones that help drive our appetite. These tendencies, researchers propose, may be what’s leading to weight gain. When our bodies are sleep deprived, areas of the brain are stimulated that seek out pleasure – for some in the form of junk food. Sleep deprivation may also contribute to weight gain since drowsiness can fog our brain’s ability to squelch these cravings.

One of the studies, which took place at Columbia University, utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor the blood flow in the brains of 25 volunteers. Researchers used the scans to compare brain activity following a normal night’s sleep – about eight hours – to a night in which they were allotted just four hours. (more…)

Posted on June 11, 2025 by Dana

Napping is the Secret to Health and Happiness

Would you tell Einstein he was stupid if he told you that taking a daily 20-minute snooze helped him come up with his revolutionary equations? Would you call JFK indolent because he spent some afternoons sawing logs in the Oval Office? Would you tell Salvador Dali his paintings were boring and needed more work? No, you wouldn’t question these men, especially not if you had any understanding of the importance of taking naps.

While many understand the ill health effects of getting too little sleep, few exalt the benefits of squeezing in a little shuteye in the middle of the day. In our culture, taking a siesta is neither a saluted nor a regular part of our daily schedule. Too many of us have pending agendas, deadlines, and a mile long to-do list, so sleeping mid-day, to some, seems like a lazy or careless activity. We are way too ambitious and competitive to think lying on the bed or on the couch to catch up on some much needed sleep is a good thing. (more…)

Posted on May 16, 2026 by Jill

Why Social Jet Lag May be Making you Fat

Social jet lag may be making you fat, and you don’t even have to be a frequent flier to be at risk.

German researcher Till Roenneberg believes that there’s a conflict between our busy lives and our biological clocks, and it’s creating a type of jet lag that he refers to as ‘social jet lag.’

He says people who might fall in the category of socially-jetlagged include those whose weekday work schedule is drastically different from their weekend schedule, causing a major shift in sleeping patterns.

One good way to measure if you’re socially jet-lagged might be if you wake up at 4 and 5 a.m. during the workweek, and then take full advantage of your rest on the weekend by sleeping in past, say, 10. Roenneberg says this sleep pattern may have the same effect as switching time zones, which can have a nasty affect on the body. (more…)

Posted on May 15, 2026 by Dana

New Study Shows Sleep Limits Influence of Obesity Genes

More and more research is coming forward in support of sleep for good health.

The latest research published in in the journal SLEEP shows that sleeping at least nine hours per night can have more control over your weight than genetics. Getting plenty of sleep gives you an edge if your genetics position you with a tendency to be overweight.

For this particular study, 1,088 sets of twins, both fraternal and identical, had their sleep habits examined along with their body weight. The conclusion of the study was that those who get plenty of sleep actually have more control over their weight through their behavior. Those in the study who slept less than seven hours each night showed a 70% difference in their body mass index (BMI) due to their genes, while things like diet and exercise were responsible for only 4%.

In contrast to that group, those who slept nine or more hours per night had a 51% difference in their BMI due to diet and exercise with only 32% of the difference coming from genes. (more…)

Posted on May 2, 2026 by Descygna

New Study Shows Work May Be the Cause for Lack of Sleep

A new study conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has revealed some fairly obvious information – the more people work, the less sleep they are likely to get.

The information in the study shows that about one third of the workers surveyed said they sleep six or fewer hours each night. This is a pretty stark contrast to the good health amount of sleep which is between seven and nine hours each night. Those with multiple jobs or clocking more than 40 hours seem to be sleeping the least of all.

Another observation that comes as no surprise is the fact that those who are separated or divorced are missing out on sleep too, which includes single parents. Employees in the mining industry have about 41 percent sleeping less than six hours per night while 38 percent of utility workers sleep less than six hours.

Perhaps the scariest of the statistics within this sleep-deprived study relates to those working in the transportation and manufacturing field. As high as 70 percent of people in that field who are working the night shift are getting less than six hours of sleep, including train operators, bus drivers and semi-truck drivers. (more…)

Posted on May 2, 2026 by Descygna

Oprah and Transcendental Meditation: How it will Help with Weight Loss

Sunday Night, Oprah‘s network aired her show, “Next Chapter.” The show went into depth covering Transcendental Meditation or TM. The Huffington Post says that Winfrey, while speaking with Dr. Oz last year, described having more of a spiritual than bodily fulfillment, and that the practice of Transcendental Mediation was part of her overall attempt to “connect with that which is God.” 

If you are not aware of TM, it is a simple form of meditation practiced 20 minutes twice a day. It is based on the ancient Vedic tradition of enlightenment in India. It was created by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi about 50 years ago.

It is not specific to a religion or lifestyle and many celebrities practice TM, including Oprah. There are more than five million people worldwide that practice this form of meditation, making it one of the more popular versions.

It is unique from other forms of meditation because unlike other styles that have you focus on your breathing or a single thought, it allows your mind to naturally transcend without forcing it to go somewhere in particular. (more…)

Posted on March 26, 2026 by Kristina

Eat 5, Move 10, Sleep 8 to Improve Heart Health

by Dani Stone

Americans spend a lot of money and time trying to get fit and lose weight. We pour over diet books, hire personal trainers, and pay for diet programs that help us count calories and track miles on the treadmill. Dr. Martha Grogan, a cardiologist with the Mayo Clinic and medical editor for the new book Heart Healthy For Life says there’s a simpler equation we can use to achieve a healthy lifestyle and improve heart health. The answer, she says, lies in the simple equation Eat 5, Move 10, Sleep 8.

EAT 5

Eat 5 refers to eating at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. “The great thing about eating fruits and vegetables, they have all kinds of beneficial effects to your heart and for your health in general,” says Grogan. Working this number in to your daily routine can be quite easy if you make a conscious effort to do so and maybe even plan ahead when you’re at the grocery store. A typical day could look like this: Have a banana with breakfast, a juicy peach as a midday snack alongside a cheese stick, a salad of leafy greens with cucumbers and green pepper for lunch and for dinner, serve a side of asparagus along with lean meat, fish or chicken. Look at that, we actually got 6 servings in there.
(more…)

Posted on March 12, 2026 by Health Buzz