If you need a good reason to start turning in earlier or sleeping later, the cavalry has arrived. It turns out that far from being a time waster, sleep makes you healthier, smarter, and a better leader - and may even yield great ideas for growing your firm. According to a 2007 survey by office-supply chain Staples (SPLS, Fortune 500), 51% of entrepreneurs say that they regularly dream about work. Of those, 70% report implementing their work-related dreams.

The evidence that sleep matters is irrefutable and constantly growing. Let’s start with a newly discovered link between sleep deprivation and serious illnesses such as diabetes and cancer. A 2008 research project at the University of Chicago’s medical school kept young, healthy volunteers awake for all but four hours a night for six nights running. The result: The levels of subjects’ hormones shifted - in particular a hormone called leptin that affects appetite. They became ravenously hungry, scarfing down pizza and ice cream long after they would have felt full normally, and their blood sugar shot up to pre-diabetic levels - an ominous result after less than one week of inadequate sleep.

Other studies duplicate those results so regularly that researchers now believe that not getting enough sleep is a top cause of obesity and diabetes, both of which are on the rise nationally. At the same time, the World Health Organization (WHO) has gathered data from around the globe showing that sleep deprivation depresses the immune system, to the point where WHO is considering labeling chronic sleep deprivation a carcinogen, comparable to tobacco and asbestos.

Read more here: Make sleep work for you

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In earlier T-shirt-sniffing studies, women taking birth control pills seemed to be attracted to the “wrong” men. Intrigued, Roberts and colleagues took a closer look.

They paid 37 women to smell men’s T-shirts before and after going on the pill. Then they compared the women’s before- and after-pill ratings of the odors to those of 60 women who did not use oral contraceptives .

The result: After taking the pill, women shifted toward preferring genetically similar men. Women who did not take the pill slightly increased their preference for genetically different men.

Why? Roberts notes that when they become pregnant, female animals switch to preferring the scent of genetically similar males. This may allow them to seek out males that will help them protect and raise the baby. Claus Wedekind, PhD, who performed the original T-shirt-sniffing studies, has suggested that birth control pills somehow mimic this process.

The question, of course, is what happens when a woman taking birth control pills marries a man to whom she’s attracted — and then stops taking the pill.

Herz says marriage counselors who have never heard about these studies tell her that the No. 1 complaint among women no longer sexually interested in their husbands is that they can no longer stand how he smells.

Read more here: Pill Users Choose ‘Wrong’ Sex Partners

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I understand that two of the physicians who appeared on “Larry King Live” said that they always use earpieces with their cell phones to keep the energy from the microwave antenna away from the brain. The third said he uses his cell phone in speakerphone mode. I agree with them and with Dr. Herberman on this. In fact, I’ve been recommending the use of earpieces or headsets for years. Until we know whether or not long-term use of cell phones increases the risk of brain tumors, I think we should be careful.
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In addition to using a headset or earpiece, I suggest taking these precautions:

• Save long conversations for conventional phones.
• In your car, use a cell phone that has a remote antenna outside the vehicle.
• Find out how much radiofrequency energy your cell phone emits. (This measurement is called the Specific Absorption Rate or SAR; find the SAR for your cell phone via the FCC. The SAR permitted in the United States is 1.6 watts per kilogram.)

Read more here: Another Cell Phone Scare?

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Many of us don’t think twice about ditching our medicines before the prescriptions run out. We dislike the side effects, we feel better, we don’t feel better, we can’t afford the pills, we simply forget. But the risks of stopping suddenly are real. And many doctors don’t understand these risks any better than we do. “How to go off medicines isn’t routinely studied and remains more of an art than a science,” says Jack E. Fincham, PhD, a pharmacy professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Pharmacy. Here are some common reasons for stopping a medicine and what you should know before you do.

“I Was Feeling Fine”

Seven-year-old Nicolas Gerlock’s strep throat was being treated with ten days of antibiotics. But after eight days, the boy’s fever and soreness were gone, and he was balking at taking more medicine. “I shouldn’t have given in,” says his mother, Jennifer Gerlock of Frederick, Maryland. She shelved the medicine, but a few days later, Nick’s voice was raspy, and the fever spiked again. Eight days after Nick started a second round of antibiotics, Gerlock figured the bug had to be dead, and her little complainer wasn’t making things easy. So she stopped the medication early again-and the infection resurged. “We are on our third round of antibiotics, and we are finishing this one,” she says.

Bottom line - Feeling better does not mean that all the bacteria have been killed or that an infection has been eradicated. Partially treated, strep can affect the heart and kidneys, for instance. Stopping too soon may also contribute to the rising problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

People with chronic conditions like high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes often stop taking pills because they feel no symptoms to begin with. Always ask your doctor how long you need to take a prescribed medication.

Read more here: Prescription Drug Side Effects: Take As Directed

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Question:

What’s this I hear about shower curtains emitting a toxic smell? Is this true of all shower curtains? If so, does it have an effect on health, and how should I protect my family?

Answer:

Many shower curtains and shower curtain liners are made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, which contains a number of toxic chemicals. If your shower curtain emits the characteristic “new shower curtain smell,” you can be pretty sure that it was made with PVC. The chemicals released as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), may cause respiratory irritation; damage to the central nervous system, liver and kidneys; nausea, headaches, and lack of coordination. The most common symptoms that occur with exposure to VOCs include eye irritation, nose and throat discomfort, breathing problems, allergic skin reactions, headache, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, dizziness and nosebleeds.

Read more here: Toxic Shower Curtains?

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To get an optimal vitamin D supplement from the sun at a minimal risk of getting cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM), the best time of sun exposure is noon. Thus, common health recommendations given by authorities in many countries, that sun exposure should be avoided for three to five hours around noon and postponed to the afternoon, may be wrong and may even promote CMM. The reasons for this are (1) The action spectrum for CMM is likely to be centered at longer wavelengths (UVA, ultraviolet A, 320-400 nm) than that of vitamin D generation (UVB, ultraviolet B, 280-320 nm). (2) Scattering of solar radiation on clear days is caused by small scattering elements, Rayleigh dominated and increases with decreasing wavelengths. A larger fraction of UVA than of UVB comes directly and unscattered from the sun. (3) The human body can be more realistically represented by a vertical cylinder than by a horizontal, planar surface, as done in almost all calculations in the literature. With the cylinder model, high UVA fluence rates last about twice as long after noon as high UVB fluence rates do. In view of this, short, nonerythemogenic exposures around noon should be recommended rather than longer nonerythemogenic exposures in the afternoon. This would give a maximal yield of vitamin D at a minimal CMM risk.

Source: At what time should one go out in the sun?

Going out at noon reduces the risk of melanoma and gives you the most vitamin D.

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CINNAMON
Researchers at Maryland’s Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center discovered that cinnamon makes cells more responsive to insulin (the hormone that regulates glucose in the blood and allows for faster muscle growth after workouts). Other studies suggest that ingesting just a half teaspoon of the spice per day will help lower your risk of developing metabolic syndrome.

HOW TO USE IT
Add to sliced apples or bananas, sprinkle on oatmeal or sweet potatoes, use to flavor protein pancakes, or add it to your chili.

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GARLIC POWDER
It’s been touted as having anti-infective, antioxidant, anti-cancer, and cholesterol-lowering properties, and as if that weren’t enough, one of its active ingredients—allicin—has been shown to possess powerful antibiotic, anti-fungal, and blood pressure–lowering capabilities. Garlic has a pungent, “hot” flavor on its own, and it can greatly enhance most other flavors in cooking.

HOW TO USE IT
Sprinkle over vegetables to add flavor without adding salt, add to browned ground beef or turkey, or use in marinades or rubs.

Read about all 5 here: Spice of Life: 5 seasonings you should start using now

I keep reading more and more about the benefits of herbs and spices. I think one of the primary benefits is their antibacterial properties; they suppress any bad bacteria present in your digestive tract or bacteria that might be present in your food.

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There were significant differences between the groups for weight, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triacylglycerols and systolic blood pressure, favouring the low-carbohydrate diet. There was a higher attrition rate in the low-fat compared with the low-carbohydrate groups suggesting a patient preference for a low-carbohydrate/high-protein approach as opposed to the Public Health preference of a low-fat/high-carbohydrate diet. Evidence from this systematic review demonstrates that low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets are more effective at 6 months and are as effective, if not more, as low-fat diets in reducing weight and cardiovascular disease risk up to 1 year.

Read more here: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials of low-carbohydrate vs. low-fat/low-calorie diets in the management of obesity and its comorbidities

The low-carb diet showed the best improvement in the following markers: weight, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triacylglycerols and systolic blood pressure.

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Video: Kyle Maynard doing CrossFit

Kyle Maynard of Suwanee, Georgia, U.S. was born on March 24, 1986 with a rare disorder called congenital amputation. He has no elbows and no knees, yet he competed in the 2004 Georgia High School Wrestling Championships. He graduated from Collins Hill High School with a wrestling record of 35 wins, 16 losses and a 3.7 GPA.

He is the recipient of a 2004 ESPN Espy Award for the Best Athlete With A Disability and has been featured on many radio interviews, talk shows, and television programs. He has modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch. Currently he works as a speaker for the Washington Speaker’s Bureau, specializing in motivational speeches. He is also the author of the memoir No Excuses: The True Story of a Congenital Amputee Who Became a Champion in Wrestling and in Life.

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