Afternoon Drowsiness

It is well known that ambient light can influence aspects of human physiology including brain function, circadian rhythm, heart rate, and hormone release. But most studies of this have focused on the effects of light during the night; few have examined the body's response to light during the day.

New studies exposed participants to 21 minutes of bright white light in the morning. They became more alert, and brain images showed that regions of the brain involved with alertness and some cognitive processes became more active.

Those brain regions are also involved with attention and arousal regulation. This means that light exposure DOES affect performance and alertness at work.

Sitting inside a poorly lit office surrounded by incandescent or fluorescent lighting day and night starve your body of the unfiltered ultraviolet light that helps your body produce vitamin D. Full-spectrum light improves our health. More lumens the better!

The human race evolved under the sun, and for thousands of years lived in close harmony with its heat and light. Sunlight not only increases your energy and general well being, but it also helps:

• Lowers your cholesterol
• Teats multiple sclerosis and osteoporosis
• Prevent and treats cancer
• Lowers your blood pressure
• Increases the value of exercise
• Improves your body's ability to detoxify

See the light ... the bright natural light.

Men Also Get Osteoporosis

With all the hype about osteoporosis in women and the ads for calcium you would think it was just a disease of women, but that is very wrong. About one in six men who live to extreme old age do have a hip fracture caused by osteoporosis. the figure is one in three for women in the same age group.

Bone loss in both sexes begins as soon as the skeleton is fully mature, which is some time after age 30. The menopause is simply an accelerated phase of bone loss. This gradual loss may never cause a man a problem if he dies before the age of 70. However, a small skeleton in either a male or female means that bone loss will become more critical earlier in life.

Testosterone in males has a similar effect on calcium and bone in men as estrogen does in women. Men tend to maintain normal testosterone levels until late in life, unless they have an illness or use alcohol to excess Studies show that in medical situations where there is a decreased testosterone level, there will also be bone loss.

It is really not known how to stop osteoporosis related to age. But it is known that cigarette smoking and alcohol both increase bone loss.

The best approach to the problem is to prevent bone loss through developing a good skeleton, with challenging exercise and proper nutrition, in the development years, and to avoid alcohol and cigarettes.