LiveLongAgeWell

Have you been reading the reports in the news regarding (the newly discovered) health problems that can result from long-term inadequate sleep? In the past, many felt that regularly sleeping less than seven hours a night was no big problem, but now, research is showing that if, on a regular basis, we aren’t getting enough sleep, the bad effects go way beyond just looking and feeling tired.

The most recent report is about the association between high blood pressure and short sleep times. Previous research has suggested a link between inadequate sleep and diabetes, and even obesity. One reason may be that the human organism requires a minimum amount of sleep to reset and calibrate our internal hormonal system.

Scientists have discovered that—surprisingly—people who undersleep tend to get fat, and one way to keep at a good weight is to make sure you are getting enough sleep. Only with enough sleep will our body have good healthy responses to ghrelin and leptin.

Maybe they sound like new diseases: ghrelin and leptin…but, ghrelin is a hormone we all have that’s formed in the lining of the stomach, and after being secreted, it goes deep into the brain and excites the same mechanism that causes some people to become addicted to say, food or alcohol. The other one, leptin, is a hormone secreted by our fat cells (!) that puts the breaks on appetite by acting on our brain in the opposite fashion. You can only imagine that biotech drug companies are racing to find and sell a pill that acts like leptin.

Bottom line: if you don’t sleep enough, you tinker with this leptin/grhrelin balance in a bad way; the tendency is to get fat. Many of us suffer, at least occasionally, from sleep problems, and I’m briefly covering this issue so that if you are one of those sleep-poor people, well…let’s think about the problem in a more serious way, with more attention to fixing whatever are the underlying issues.

I’m curious if my readers are interested in hearing more about sleep, and about what happens if you don’t get enough, such as the effects on your blood pressure and heart (besides the diabetes and obesity issues). Leave a comment if you are, and if readers say they want,  I’ll write a more detailed report in the near future.

Last post I gave some background information on coffee, and today I am offering some practical pointers on how to maximize the health benefits of coffee. This is from my upcoming book How To Drop Dead Dancing In Your 90s: Live Long Age Well. If you have any thoughts or comments about coffee drinking and health, please leave a comment! In the meantime, I suggest you grab a cup and read on…

• Choose caffeinated coffee if you can, because it has greater health benefits as far as decreasing your risk of Parkinson’s disease and diabetes, and caffeine tends to increase your HDL (good) cholesterol. Decaffeinated coffee can raise your cholesterol level. If you cannot tolerate much caffeine, try caffeinated in the morning, and decaf later in the day. If that’s still too much caffeine, at least limit your decaf to one to two cups per day. If you drink decaf, buy high-quality, water-processed decaf that has been prepared through a filter (not the espresso style).

• The ideal healthy amount of caffeinated coffee is one to four cups per day, ideally two to three, spaced throughout the day to avoid caffeine rebound when the coffee jolt wears off.  If coffee keeps you up at night, try drinking earlier in the day before resorting to decaf. When you consider “bad health behaviors”, drinking more than four cups a day is not so bad, but if you drink a lot, you are more likely to become caffeine addicted (one of the easier addictions to beat if needed), and you need to keep an eye on your blood pressure. If you get jittery or notice heart palpitations, cut back.

• If you often drink “fancy” coffee drinks, think about the calories. If you order one of the über-marketed (whatever)-ccinos, you could ingesting over 500 calories in that one tasty drink. (Hint: be suspicious of any drink that has the ® symbol…it’s probably full of unhealthy calories.)  If you drink a ® coffee regularly, probably you have moved coffee from something healthy to something that could make you fat and harm your heart.

• Filtered coffee or percolated or instant is the healthiest. Less healthy is French press, boiled, and (unfortunately) the espresso types, because those styles, taken as an espresso, or mixed into a latte or cappuccino and into any number of other chic-ccinos, can increase your cholesterol. A coffee filter removes harmful chemicals that naturally are found in coffee (such as kahweol and cafestol), and espresso drinks are not filtered.  Of course once in a while it’s fine to drink espresso or lattes or cappuccinos, but for your basic coffee, remember that regular filtered coffee is healthiest. If you want to be both chic and healthy when you order, ask for a “Caffé Misto” or “Café au Lait” (filtered coffee with steamed milk). You can still use the French name, but the barista should make your drink with filtered coffee rather than the less-healthy espresso type.

• Coffee and osteoporosis: if you take enough calcium in your diet, 1000 to 1200 mg. per day, you probably don’t have to worry about coffee lowering your calcium level. But if you have a concern about bone thinning, take your coffee with milk or better, soy or skim milk, and if you have a serious issue, talk to your doctor. If you are pregnant or lactating, many doctors feel a cup of coffee is probably OK, but discuss with your physician.

• If you have high or borderline blood pressure, occasionally check your pressure after coffee. If you have coronary artery disease (narrowed blood vessels in the arteries of your heart), you should wait an hour after drinking coffee before doing significant exercise.

• For some reason I don’t understand, anti-oxidants have the nasty tendency to stain your teeth... nothing is perfect.  But be careful—coffee can ruin your smile, so swish water after drinking to avoid the un-sexy dark teeth look. Or chew a stick of sugar-free gum (especially good is gum with xylitol) after coffee to freshen your breath and keep your teeth white.

Considering our current economic times, I will continue to regularly blog about research and ideas that hopefully will help us cope better. Previously I’ve addressed topics such as deep breathing, omega-3 supplements, and eating more fish (you are trying to eat more fish, aren’t you?)… as ways of cooling off our body’s stress response. Often we can’t control our outside stresses, but we can control how our body responds to those stresses, and that’s a big help.

This week at the American Heart Association’s meeting in New Orleans, a preventive cardiologist Dr. Michael Miller presented research showing how blood vessels respond differently to music we like, versus music that makes us feel anxious. Dr. Miller previously showed that laughter was good for the heart, since it seemed to relax our blood vessels and thus allow better blood flow. In the current study he found that when a group of volunteers were exposed to music they really liked, even their blood vessels relaxed, resulting in a 26% better blood flow. In contrast, music that made the test subjects feel anxious temporarily dropped their blood flow by 6%.

While Dr. Miller measured blood flow only in the arm, it’s likely that pleasant music would cause increased blood flow throughout the body, an effect that is good for the heart. (The opposite of what occurs in a person with high blood pressure where the vessels tend to be constricted and tight—not a heart-healthy process.) Dr. Miller didn’t discover the mechanism that made music open up vessels, but he suspects it has to do with the release of endorphins, chemicals released from deep in the brain which result in feelings of well-being.

One of the best ways to keep your brain functioning well as you get older is to frequently challenge it with new ideas, new activities….and even new types of music; music you might not initially like, but with a flexible brain, you learn over time to actually enjoy. Dr. Miller’s research suggests to me though that in times of stress—particularly if you already have high blood pressure or heart disease—one healthy way to chill out is to pro-actively seek out music that is most relaxing for you, and allow your blood vessels to open up and relax too.

Remember this for example next time you go to the dentist for some uncomfortable work, or on an airplane if flying stresses you. Be assertive; protect your heart as well as your mind…bring your iPod and put on whatever you most like, from hip-hop or rap to classical or christian contemporary, and let the blood flow. Don’t be shy; the research supports you.