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  • Managing Diabetes Mellitus With the Mind: 6 Mental Strategies to Improve Your Health

    Managing Diabetes Mellitus With the Mind: 6 Mental Strategies to Improve Your Health

    If you’re living with diabetes mellitus, you’ve probably gotten an earful of advice from your doctor, from “take your meds on schedule” to “eat right” to “get more exercise.” But sticking to doctor’s orders can be a challenge no matter how forceful or reprimanding your doctor is — which could be part of the problem.

    Registered dietician nutritionist and diabetes mellitus educator Susan Weiner agrees: “Putting people down for not following a health professional’s advice doesn’t lead to positive and long-term changes.”

    So what does? The answer may lie with diabetes mellitus patients themselves.

    Diabetes mellitus experts are discovering that how diabetes mellitus patients view their condition and symptoms can have a big impact on their health and well-being. After all, the mind is a powerful thing, especially when it comes to disease. Negative thinking can lead to negative behaviors and poor health.

    Fortunately, the mind can be trained to think differently. In fact, evidence suggests that a change of mindset might be one of the most effective medicines for diabetes mellitus yet. The best part? A doctor won’t get on your case for making positive changes to your health.

    Incorporate these six mental strategies into your diabetes mellitus treatment plan, and make managing diabetes mellitus — and improving your health — as simple as mind over matter.

    1. Stop Obsessing Over Glycemic Index for Your Diabetes Mellitus

    For many diabetes mellitus patients, following a proper diet means avoiding foods with high glycemic indices. But using glycemic level as a tool to decide what to eat has a downside: you miss out on foods containing important nutrients that won’t do any harm and may even be beneficial to your overall health and help treat your diabetes mellitus.

    Glycemic index measures how carbohydrates in food increase blood sugar levels, and is ranked on a scale from 0 to 100. Common high-glycemic foods (those with a 70-plus index) include white bread, potatoes, cereals, and pretzels. While glycemic levels of foods can be a helpful tool in controlling blood sugar, obsessing over the ranking of a food on the glycemic index can be pointless and unnecessary.

    Some high-glycemic foods, for example, are perfectly acceptable for diabetes mellitus patients — like pineapple and watermelon. Not only do these foods contain important nutrients, they’re tasty and convenient to eat and, as part of a healthy diet, don’t cause adverse effects.

    Furthermore, how foods are cooked and prepared can alter their glycemic level. By itself, a baked potato has a high glycemic index, but put it in a casserole with vegetables and meat and the GI drops.

    Focusing too much on glycemic indices can lead to more than unnecessary food restriction and missed nutrients; diabetes mellitus patients may set themselves up for a tedious routine at mealtime, making eating a rigorous battle that depletes the fun and joy of food.

    In an article published in Food & Nutrition, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson Marina Chaparro suggests that diabetes mellitus patients stop obsessing over the glycemic index of foods, and concentrate on glycemic load instead. Glycemic load takes portion size into account as well as eating wholesome food and being carb conscious. Sensible eating is part of an overall wellness plan for diabetes mellitus patients, and they can make positive changes to their food choices by simply viewing food, nutrition, and GI differently.




    2. Adopt a New Weight-Loss Mindset for Your Diabetes Mellitus

    While maintaining a healthy weight may help stave off and control diabetes mellitus type 2, how weight is assessed can have a negative impact on health. Some experts recommend using BMI, or body mass index, to determine how much a person should weigh. BMI is calculated by measuring body fat based on height and weight.

    The problem with using BMI to gauge healthy weight in diabetes mellitus patients is that some people with BMIs in the obesity range of 30 or higher actually have normal blood lipids, blood sugar, and insulin levels, while others with normal BMIs can be underdiagnosed.

    That may be because people can have high BMIs due to muscle mass rather than body fat, just as they can have normal BMIs with a lack of muscle and too much body fat. Other factors, like age, race, gender, and genetics, also play a role in BMI, making it a less effective strategy for assessing healthy weight.

    Enter the “weight-neutral” mindset. This approach holds that diabetes mellitus patients focus less on BMI and more on body image and lifestyle changes, as well as address emotional eating issues. Proponents of the weight-neutral model believe it helps alleviate problems associated with BMI-centered weight maintenance, like dietary restriction, which can lead to weight cycling. Weight cycling, or repeated weight gain and loss, has been linked to all kinds of health problems, including inflammation, hypertension, insulin resistance, and emotional distress.

    The Health at Every Size (HAES) program supports a weight-neutral philosophy. HAES favors caring for and nurturing your body and adopting stable, healthy habits to keep weight within its natural range. Using five key principles — weight inclusivity, health enhancement, respectful care, eating for well-being, and life-enhancing movement — HAES celebrates body diversity and individual choice.

    But not everyone agrees with HAES. Critics argue that it encourages people to be fat. Advocates say no, HAES promotes trusting in your body and avoiding the negative health consequences of weight cycling while pursuing healthier, more sustainable weight loss practices. It’s also an effective program to follow for diabetes mellitus patients, insists Linda Bacon, nutrition professor, researcher, and HAES author.

    Bacon believes a targeted effort to lose weight, while it can improve blood glucose in the short term, may do more harm than good in the long run by distracting diabetes mellitus patients from the things that really improve health, such as learning to eat well, being physically active, and developing a positive sense of self.

    In an article published in Diabetes Self-Management, she and her co-author explain how shifting from “dietary control and weight loss to the HAES mindset, with an emphasis on wellness, will put you in charge of managing your diabetes mellitus and altering your choices as necessary.”

    Bottom line? Instead of fixating on being thin and losing weight, diabetes mellitus patients may find better results — and improved health — by adopting a positive, weight-neutral mindset about eating, health, and body image.

    3. Recognize and Manage Stress With Mind Work for Diabetes Mellitus

    Diabetes mellitus patients have plenty of reasons to avoid stress. Not only does it cause blood sugar to rise, it can result in poor sleep, high blood pressure, weight gain, and insulin resistance. What’s worse, stress is easy to create with diabetes mellitus, since there are so many reasons to worry. Diabetes mellitus patients are faced with questions and concerns on a daily basis: Are my blood sugar levels too high? Are they too low? Did I eat the wrong thing? Should I confide in friends or coworkers about my condition? Can I afford my medical bills? Will I be able to manage my health day in and day out?

    What diabetes mellitus patients may not understand is that the first step to alleviating stress is to recognize it for what it is — a figment of the mind. Having worries about diabetes mellitus is normal, but that doesn’t mean those worries are valid or life-threatening. Although stress can be scary and frustrating, it doesn’t have to ruin your health. Most worries that come with diabetes mellitus can eventually be put to rest through good healthcare practices and common sense.

    In the meantime, there’s plenty you can do to reduce day-to-day stress that threatens your health and happiness. Try these mental stress relievers to help manage diabetes mellitus symptoms:

    • Meditate. Any form will do, but mindful meditation is especially effective for diabetes mellitus management. Mindfulness involves an awareness of present thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations in a nonjudgmental way. According to research published in Health Psychology, mindfulness is associated with a reduced level of the stress hormone cortisol.
    • Do deep breathing exercises. Not only does deep breathing reduce stress, it can help you sleep better. Not getting adequate sleep can impair glucose tolerance and worsen diabetes mellitus type 2. How’s it done? Take slow, deep breaths through your nose, hold for a few seconds, and breathe out through the mouth. Repeat several times.
    • Journal. Writing in a journal can be highly therapeutic because it allows you to unleash thoughts and solve problems on paper, thereby releasing stress. Find a quiet spot inside or out where you can free mental blockages and write. Many diabetes mellitus patients find that journaling helps give them a clearer, more refreshed mind and a better life perspective.
    • Bond with a dog. Dogs make great companions for diabetes mellitus patients — they’re loyal exercise partners, can be trained to detect when your blood sugar is low, and help keep you on a schedule. And, according to studies, dogs can reduce stress. Spend time cuddling together or try doga, yoga with a dog, for relief. Don’t own a dog? Cats also have a calming effect.
    • Relax to soothing sounds. Ever notice how you can fall asleep more quickly when you listen to the sounds of the ocean or a gentle rain? The same noises can quell and eliminate stress. If you can’t get relief from the real deal, consider investing in a noise machine that offers a range of soothing sounds to put your mind in a restful, stress-free state.
    • Use muscle relaxation. Progressive muscle relaxation involves tensing and relaxing certain muscles groups while breathing in and out. While it may take some time to master, progressive muscle relaxation can be an effective way to relieve tension and eliminate stress. Guided instructions will help you better learn this technique.
    • Tap into your spiritual being. Studies have shown that spirituality plays an important role in managing chronic disease, like diabetes mellitus. The reason? Getting in touch with a higher power brings a sense of peace and comfort that alleviates anxieties related to illness. If church isn’t your thing, spend time reflecting in a quiet outdoor setting or practice tai chi or yoga.
    • Think of something funny. Laughter may not cure diabetes mellitus, but it can certainly help treat symptoms. When you laugh, you release endorphins — the hormones that eliminate pain, make you feel good, and relieve stress. Use your mind to stir up funny memories or find something humorous to read or watch, and laugh your worries away.
    • Focus on your senses. When time is limited and you need immediate stress relief, the quickest way to get it is to engage one or more of your senses, according to the Phoenix VA Healthcare System. Examples? Close your eyes and picture a pleasing scenario, smell flowers, hold a favorite object or memento, or sip on a refreshing drink.
    • Get sleep. People who are tired or sleep-deprived often put their minds in overdrive, making it more prone to worry and anxiety. Sleep reduces cortisol levels and helps refresh and relax the mind. Even a short nap can provide relief. If you suffer from insomnia, establish a relaxing bedtime routine and get professional help if necessary.



    4. Cultivate Positivity for Diabetes Mellitus

    Research has shown there’s a positive link between optimism and the outcome of all kinds of health conditions, including diabetes mellitus. One study reports that the most optimistic diabetes mellitus participants had a 27 percent lower risk of dying than their peers. A positive mindset doesn’t just lead to better health habits; it reduces anxiety, improves coping skills, and boosts happiness, all which help enrich a diabetes mellitus patient’s life and make it healthier and more manageable.

    Cultivating positivity isn’t difficult to do, but it does take practice. Positive self-talk is a good place to start. You can begin by thinking of yourself as you would a good friend. If that good friend were feeling down about something, you would likely offer encouragement, point out the friend’s strengths and skills, and tell your friend how special he or she is. Giving yourself the same treatment is both uplifting and motivating, plus it can influence your well-being.

    The American Diabetes Association agrees that how you talk to yourself makes a difference when it comes to how you feel and act. Negative self-talk can keep you from following a wellness plan and harm your health. But you can turn that around by simply substituting negative self-talk with positive alternatives. For example, rather than calling yourself an exercise failure because you didn’t walk today, remember the days you did walk and tell yourself any exercise is better than none.

    Another activity to try is to take note of the little things that have a positive impact on your health. Looking at the big picture can be overwhelming, especially when you’re dealing with health issues, like your diabetes mellitus. Instead, consider all the small achievements in your day-to-day living. Getting good blood sugar readings, taking an exercise class, eating a nourishing meal, adopting healthy sleep habits — these are baby steps to better health. Concentrate on the little accomplishments every day, and the bigger ones, like improving and reversing diabetes mellitus type 2, can be achieved.

    Gratitude also cultivates positivity because it takes your mind away from you and your worries and puts more productivity on others. Plus, feeling and expressing gratitude releases feel-good hormones, which means you’re doing something healthful for yourself too. Gratitude can be shown in many ways, from a simple thank you for advice from a loved one to making a meal for a friend to donating your time to an important cause.

    Finally, try forming relationships with people who are optimistic and fun to be around. Being with positive people is a good distraction from your health woes, and their optimism will rub off on you. Seek out others who you enjoy spending time with, who lift your spirits, and who care about you in a deep, meaningful way. Your mind will grow more positive about everything in your life, including your health and diabetes mellitus.

    Diabetes mellitus patients who suffer serious stress and stress-related conditions, like depression, may find help through cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Specialists trained in CBT help diabetes mellitus patients deal with feelings of failure, loss, and helplessness. This therapy can also help treat minor conditions associated with diabetes mellitus, including insomnia and anxiety. For more information on CBT and to find a therapist, visit the National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists.

    5. Sharpen the Brain for Diabetes Mellitus

    Recent research suggests that there’s cause for concern when it comes to diabetes mellitus and its effect on the brain. Scientists from Ewha University Brain Institute in South Korea found that people with diabetes mellitus type 2, especially those who were overweight, had thinner gray matter in the brain, a sign of deterioration. Further, memory and thinking skills were decreased in diabetes mellitus type 2 patients regardless of their weight — and the longer someone had diabetes mellitus type 2, the likelier they were to have brain changes.

    The good news is, learning and using your brain can help keep the mind sharp and improve diabetes mellitus symptoms, including spikes in blood sugar levels. So what can you do to get your brain working at top capacity? Here are five ideas that will keep you thinking and engaged:

    1. Read, read, read. It’s one of the best ways to stay sharp and work areas of the brain related to memory and deep thinking. Read a variety of material, including poetry, which has been shown to stimulate areas of the brain that tap into emotions.
    2. Do puzzles. Although research has been mixed on whether doing puzzles benefits the brain, there’s no question they require brainwork. Puzzles involve problem-solving, hand-eye coordination, creativity, and memory. The more complex the puzzle, the better for the brain.
    3. Take a class and learn. Taking a class promotes concentration and focus, plus it’s a great way to engage in social interaction and networking — all which benefit the brain. Classes abound on all kinds of subjects and they can be found online, through local colleges and universities, and via lifelong learning programs in the community.
    4. Play challenging games. Card games and board games, played alone or with others, can give the brain a rigorous workout that’s also fun and satisfying. A University of Iowa study found that playing video games can benefit the brain, too, by reversing mental decline in aging adults.
    5. Listen to music. Listening to music has many brain benefits, including improved brain function and memory, better sleep quality, and increased mental alertness. Some say that classical music tops the charts for improving brain health, but go ahead and listen to your favorite artist; any music can boost your physical and mental well-being.



    6. Get Mindful About Diabetes Mellitus

    The more you know about diabetes mellitus — or your potential to develop it — the better equipped you’ll be to manage symptoms, handle complications, and reverse or prevent the disease. You might begin by researching your family medical history. Heredity plays a definitive role in diabetes mellitus, so genes matter.

    According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes mellitus type 2 and 1 have different causes yet they share two factors: you inherit a predisposition to diabetes mellitus and something in the environment triggers the onset.

    Find out which, if any, family members have diabetes mellitus or pre-diabetes. Include both living and non-living relatives in your search. Then ask questions. Get to know their lifestyle and what it’s like to live with the condition day-to-day. Learn about individual symptoms and how they’re managed, what therapies work best, and at what age they developed diabetes mellitus.

    Move on to acquiring general information about diabetes mellitus. Get to know the differences between diabetes mellitus type 1 (which is insulin-dependent and usually develops during childhood or adolescence) and diabetes mellitus type 2 (commonly known as “adult onset” and is not dependent on insulin to control blood sugar). Research your own symptoms and see how they compare with other diabetes mellitus patients’. Look into all your options for treatment and disease management.

    Remember, knowledge is power, and there are numerous resources available for diabetes mellitus patients to get educated. Besides your primary doctor, other medical experts with backgrounds in diabetes mellitus include nutritionists, endocrinologists, eye doctors, podiatrists, nurse practitioners, and heart specialists. You might also consult a personal trainer or exercise coach.

    Literature on diabetes mellitus can be found through medical staff, but you can do research on your own, either online or at the public library. You might also consult diabetes mellitus associations for information and a list of contacts for any questions you might have. Many medical and health-related associations that are not diabetes mellitus-specific but that address other health problems associated with the disease can be useful, too. For a comprehensive listing of organizations related to diabetes mellitus, check out this Directory of Diabetes Organizations.

    The important thing is to learn all you can so you can make informed decisions about your personal and unique health situation.

    Diabetes mellitus is a common, chronic disease that can be a daily challenge to manage. Staying on top of your medication, weight maintenance, and exercise isn’t just a constant worry; it can drain your energy and make your symptoms worse. Fortunately, you have the power within you to treat your illness using one of the most effective tools around: your mind. Don’t overlook this valuable asset. It can be the ticket to better overall health and a longer, more comfortable life with diabetes mellitus.

  • How Standing on the Earth a Few Minutes a Day Can Help Treat Diabetes Mellitus

    How Standing on the Earth a Few Minutes a Day Can Help Treat Diabetes Mellitus

    Have you started earthing yet? It’s easy to do and has been proven to offer health benefits to your whole body. Scientists have even found that stepping on natural ground connected to the Earth can help treat diabetes mellitus.

    Earthing is when you make physical contact with natural earth or ground that’s connected to the Earth with no electrical insulation in-between. That means stepping on the grass with sneakers on won’t cut it because the rubber soles are insulators. But standing barefoot on the shore at the beach is one way to practice earthing.

    When you practice earthing, electrons from the Earth enter your body and neutralize harmful free radicals, which are more abundant in people suffering from diabetes mellitus. Researchers have proven that regularly practicing earthing speeds up wound healing and improves your sleep quality.

    If you’re dealing with chronic pain, earthing has also been found to lower your overall pain.

    How Earthing Helps Treat Diabetes Mellitus

    If you’re already skeptical about how standing on the ground can heal your body, you’re probably not even considering practicing earthing as a treatment for your diabetes mellitus. But doctors have found that such a simple and natural act can do wonders for your condition.

    Earthing has been found to lower your overall inflammation, which is elevated by diabetes mellitus. This helps prevent atherosclerosis caused by diabetes mellitus complications. It also lowers your risk for developing cancer and other diseases caused by chronic inflammation.

    Earthing has been found to regulate your nervous system, which relieves anxiety and lowers stress levels. This lowers your cortisol levels, which lowers your cells’ insulin resistance.

    Researchers have also found that earthing directly lowers blood sugar levels. They also found that earthing lowers blood viscosity caused by elevated blood sugar levels. Thicker blood increases your risk for a cardiovascular event, like a blockage. Less viscous blood means your risk for heart disease is lower.

    Safer and Easier Ways to Practice Earthing

    Standing barefoot on bare ground can carry risks. There are parasites that can enter through the soles of your feet, depending on where you’re planning on practicing earthing. The ground can also be polluted with toxins from artificial fertilizer, pesticides, and other pollutants. But there are ways you can get the Earth’s healing electrons without increasing your risk for coming into contact with these hazards:




    Wear socks, earthing shoes, or full-metal footwear. Wearing protective footwear can still allow you to practice earthing as long as it allows electric conductivity. Cloth still allows the passage of electrons, but at a hindered rate. Full-metal footwear will allow full conductivity without any loss in electron flow. You can also buy specialty earthing shoes that are made for earthing.

    You can use your hands too! Earthing isn’t just about stepping on the ground – you can practice earthing with any part of your body. For example, placing your hand on a boulder or natural rock formation will pass Earth’s electrons from them into your hand.

    Use earthing bands. You can also buy earthing bands that allow you to practice earthing indoors. One band goes on your wrist and it’s connected to a cord that plugs into the grounding prong of an electrical outlet. The grounding prong is connected directly to the ground, so the cord allows the flow of electrons from the Earth through the grounding prong and into the earthing band.

    Start practicing earthing today to lower your blood sugar levels and treat and protect you from other symptoms and complications of diabetes mellitus. It’s as simple as stepping outside and standing on the ground! You can also buy earthing bands and earthing shoes for easier earthing.

  • How Meditating Daily Can Help Treat Diabetes Mellitus

    How Meditating Daily Can Help Treat Diabetes Mellitus

    Researchers found that meditation can help lower blood sugar levels. Meditation can also help treat diabetes mellitus in other ways.

    Meditation Is a Healthy Activity, Not Just a Religious Ceremony

    Meditation should be an integral part of everyone’s lives. It’s not just an activity that religious monks do at a temple. Meditation has shown to improve your cognition and attention. Researchers found that meditating regularly lengthens your DNA’s telomeres, which are responsible for preventing aging by keeping your DNA safe from deterioration when your cells multiply.

    It’s also been found to boost your immunity. They found that people who meditate have a higher immunity against viral infections.

    And then there are the mainstream benefits you probably already know about that meditation confers: It lowers your blood pressure and stress.

    These are just the tip of the iceberg. Researchers are constantly discovering more health benefits that regular meditation can give you.

    Meditation Helps Treat Diabetes Mellitus

    But did you know that meditating everyday can also help treat diabetes mellitus? Researchers found that meditation lowers the levels of compounds responsible for causing inflammation, which is elevated in people suffering from diabetes mellitus. By lowering inflammation, meditation can help protect you from atherosclerosis and other diseases that you’re more susceptible to because of diabetes mellitus complications.

    Meditation’s stress-lowering effects are another way it helps treat diabetes mellitus. Since less stress means lower cortisol levels, meditation helps lessen insulin resistance.

    Meditation has also been found to directly lower blood sugar levels. Researchers instructed 50 diabetes mellitus patients to meditate after breakfast everyday for two weeks. They found that their postprandial sugar levels (their blood sugar levels after eating) were much lower after they started their meditation intervention.

    You should definitely include meditation into your daily routine because it will help treat diabetes mellitus, and is overall healthy for your body and mind.




    Here Are Some Ways You Can Ease Into Meditation for Diabetes Mellitus Treatment

    Meditation can be tricky and frustrating if you’ve never tried before. But you should make the effort because it’s a natural way to lower your blood sugar levels without medications. Here are a few helpful tips to get you jumpstarted:

    Try gradually. Do you remember when you first started learning to run or jog? At first you couldn’t go the full hour, but you gradually made your way there by increasing the time you ran or jogged each time you tried. Treat meditation like exercise – try meditating for only five minutes, then ramp it up to fifteen then twenty, and so on. You don’t have to go the full forty-five minutes on your first few sessions! This helps you ease into meditation without straining yourself and making the activity harder than it should be.

    Try mindfulness. Try mindfulness, which is probably the easiest form of meditation. Here you simply shift your focus to something else in a nonjudgmental manner. You’re concentrating on anything else, but objectively without emotions. You’re being an observer, like a scientist. For example, you can focus on your breath and try to feel all the sensations that come to you when you inhale and exhale. Soon you’ll find yourself in a deeper state of awareness with your blood pressure and heart rate lower. If you suddenly get lost in emotional or stressful thoughts, simply pull your focus back to whatever it was you were objectively focusing on.

    Visualize light. If you feel like trying an advanced form of meditation, try visualizing light. Imagine a golden light shining down on you from above, like the sun. After a while, imagine that the light can enter your body through your pores, penetrating every cell and healing them of their insulin resistance. Doing this has been proven to help treat your diabetes mellitus two-fold. The meditation lowers your blood sugar levels, while researchers found that healing visualization boosts rates of healing in diabetics. Diabetics with foot ulcers who were frustrated and depressed healed much slower than those who had positive thinking toward their condition and focused on healing.

    Meditation is a holistically healthy activity. Start meditating everyday and it will help treat your diabetes mellitus. There are no drawbacks, only good things can come from including this ancient practice into your daily life.

  • Can Losing Weight Permanently Reverse Diabetes Mellitus Type 2?

    Can Losing Weight Permanently Reverse Diabetes Mellitus Type 2?

    Scientists may have found a way to permanently reverse diabetes mellitus type 2. If it sounds too good to be true, that’s because the catch is something you probably will find difficult doing. But even if you can’t go through the treatment, there’s still hope – losing weight may also permanently reverse diabetes mellitus type 2.

    Doctors have always said that diabetes mellitus is a lifelong condition – and your doctor must have given you that speech too. But a UK study may have changed that – researchers reported they were able to completely reverse diabetes mellitus type 2 in patients that followed their very low-calorie diet.

    Actually, “starvation protocol” might be the better term to describe their diabetes mellitus cure. That’s because for eight weeks you can only eat 600 calories total everyday. Remember that a single slice of toast and one egg are already around 160 calories combined. But their diet may further constrict you to eating only non-starchy vegetables and liquid diet drinks – so no solid foods, like toast, at all!

    Does the starvation protocol really cure diabetes mellitus type 2? All diabetes mellitus patients who participated in the study were cured – that means the cure has a 100 percent success rate. But after 90 days, about 36 percent of the participants regressed and developed diabetes mellitus type 2 again – all participants were advised to eat a healthier diet after the study, but some regressed back to their normal eating habits.




    How Weight Loss Can Affect Diabetes Mellitus Type 2

    The starvation protocol is extreme, and the researchers strongly advise anyone who’s thinking about undergoing it to seek the supervision of a licensed medical practitioner. But when pressed about the diet, lead researcher Professor Roy Talor says that what’s important is the 600-calorie limitation and not the liquids and veggies component.

    He also says that bariatric surgery can also reverse diabetes mellitus type 2. This may mean that the key to reversing diabetes mellitus type 2 is losing weight.

    It does make sense – if you’re on a 600-calorie diet for two months, you’re going to lose a significant amount of weight. But also, Harvard says that 90 percent of diabetes mellitus patients are overweight. By losing weight until you’re at a normal body mass index, you may have a 90 percent chance of reversing your diabetes mellitus. What are the chances that you’d end up in the 10 percent percentile of diabetes mellitus patients who are normal weight?

    If you lose weight, there’s no downside. At best you’ll have reversed your diabetes mellitus, and if not, then you’ll be healthier and lower your risk for many chronic diseases, like cardiovascular problems.

    A Few Easy Changes That Lead to Weight Loss

    If eating less isn’t easy for you, there are other ways you can shed a few pounds:

    Exercise more. If you spend an hour a day doing moderate exercise, you’ll lose at least a pound per week. Of course, you need to make sure you’re eating the same or less. It’s simple math – you’re burning more calories per day without taking in more. A brisk jog outside or joining a karate class can help you meet this requirement. You can do fun things too – like play football, basketball, or any other high-activity sport. Dancing to pop music for an hour is great too – you can enjoy your favorite songs while burning carbs.

    Include more fiber into your diet. Fiber does wonders for your appetite and blood sugar level control. It keeps you feeling full and can help you eat less. If you include more fiber in your diet, you may find that you’re eating less because you’re not as hungry. Fiber also prevents sugar from being absorbed into your bloodstream all at once, which helps prevent blood sugar spikes and that helps treat diabetes mellitus.

    Walk to the grocery, take the stairs, park further away. You can also boost your daily carb burn by changing a few of your daily habits. Instead of taking the elevator, take the stairs. Instead of driving to the grocery store, walk there – it will save you fuel costs and help you get more vitamin D from the sun exposure while you’re burning carbs. Park further away from work or places you drive to – this makes you walk a longer distance and burn more carbs.

    Drink a solution of vinegar before eating. Drinking water or a vinegar solution before a meal helps sate your hunger. Mix a tablespoon of vinegar with a glass of water and enjoy. Vinegar has appetite-suppressing effects, which means you’re more likely to eat less during your meal. But vinegar also lowers your blood sugar levels by up to 33 percent – so it also helps treat diabetes mellitus.

    Feel empowered that you can reverse your diabetes mellitus type 2 – all it takes is a lot of sacrifice for eight weeks. If you think you can’t handle that, try losing weight and getting back to a normal BMI – you’ll most likely also reverse your condition because it seems as though diabetes mellitus type 2 largely affects overweight and obese people.

  • Pulling All-nighters Might Lead to Brain Damage

    Pulling All-nighters Might Lead to Brain Damage

    Scientists announce that not getting enough sleep causes your brain to physically destroy itself.

    Sleep deprivation commonly affects a significant percentage of the global population. In the U.S., the CDC found that 35.3 percent of adults get less than seven hours of sleep each night. When you include teens, that percentage could be far greater for the overall population since adolescents are known to stay up into the late hours of the night only to be forced awake before seven in the morning the following day.

    Sleep is something most people put off because they’ve procrastinated doing other responsibilities, like studying, finishing work papers, or because they just want to relax into the night with the television. But doing so on a regular basis can increase your risk for neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s.

    Researchers found that your brain’s astrocytes, which are like specialized immune cells of the brain that protect your brain from pathogens, also rid your brain of extra synapses to boost your mental efficiency. Microglial cells work in the same fashion by combing your brain and getting rid of debris and dead or damaged brain cells.

    They took two groups of mice and let one group go five days without sleeping, while the other group slept as long as they wanted everyday. The well-rested group’s microglial cells and astrocytes were only active in 8 percent of their brains’ synapses, but the sleep-deprived group’s microglial cells and astrocytes were active in 13.5 percent of their brains’ synapses.

    They say this increased brain-eating activity may lead to harmful neurodegeneration if it goes on long-term, like if you keep staying up late on weekdays and party until late on weekends. Although these results concern mice, these researchers are fairly sure they significantly represent what goes on in sleep-deprived people.




    Sleep Deprivation Can Also Lead to Obesity, Cancer, and Other Diseases

    When you don’t get enough sleep, it’s not only bad for your brain but for your whole body. Researchers discovered that your cells express fewer important genes when you don’t get enough sleep. The genes affected include those that regulate inflammation and metabolism.

    If your body is more prone to inflammation when you’re sleep-deprived, it can increase your risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and acne. All these diseases are linked with increased levels of overall inflammation.

    Since genes affecting your metabolism aren’t working 100 percent, your body will burn less carbs and store more fat and you’ll have higher blood sugar levels. Not only can this also play a role in your obesity risk, but it can increase your risk for diabetes too.

    Researchers found that acne is especially susceptible to sleep deprivation. They studied high school students with acne and found that 65 percent of them were sleep-deprived. Since there’s a higher proportion of sleep deprivation in acne sufferers, they concluded that not getting enough sleep can exacerbate or cause acne.

    Try Meditation to Get Your Full Night’s Sleep

    Sometimes it’s hard to fit in more than 7 hours of sleep per night – especially during exam time and when work gets hectic. It’s a good thing there’s a slight cheat that lets you get more sleep without spending more time sleeping!

    Researchers found that meditating in the afternoon for 40 minutes improves your attention and cognitive performance better than sleeping. That means if you’re sleep-deprived and need a brain power boost, use some of your lunch hour to meditate and you’ll supercharge your mental facilities.

    They also found that people who regularly meditate need less sleep. Those who meditated regularly needed only 5.2 hours of sleep per night, while normal people usually sleep 7.2 hours.

    If you’re not getting enough sleep, meditation can’t totally make up for it. But it can help counter the mental disabilities caused by sleep deprivation. If you meditate everyday, you may also start needing less sleep – and this can help lessen your sleep deprivation as well. But the best thing you can do is get seven or more hours of sleep every night to keep your brain and body healthy.

  • Can Living a Healthier Lifestyle Help Cure Colon Cancer?

    Can Living a Healthier Lifestyle Help Cure Colon Cancer?

    Researchers found that colon cancer patients who lived healthier lifestyles had a higher rate of staying in remission.

    Colon cancer is one of the deadliest cancers. Patient survival rates are between 92 to 11 percent within the first five years after diagnosis, depending on the stage of the cancer. But for patients who do survive and go into remission, researchers have found that living a healthier life can drastically increase the length of their remission.

    The American Cancer Society released lifestyle guidelines for cancer patients that advised maintaining a healthy body weight, exercising regularly, not drinking too much alcohol or drinking little alcohol, and eating an ounce of tree nuts twice or more weekly. After studying 1000 colon cancer patients in remission, they found that those who followed these recommended lifestyle guidelines had between a 47 to 51 percent lower risk of their cancer recurring for the next 7 to 10 years. Patients who drank more alcohol ended up near the higher end of the risk spectrum.

    This means that simply living a healthier life can cut your odds of cancer recurrence by half for about a decade if you’re in colon cancer remission. The American Cancer Society’s lifestyle recommendations are:

    • Maintain a healthy body mass index.
    • Exercise for 150 minutes total weekly. Do strength training twice weekly.
    • Eat a diet high in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
    • Eat 1-ounce of tree nuts at least twice a week. Peanuts and peanut butter are not considered tree nuts.
    • Limit alcohol consumption. Drink little to no alcohol.



    Other Factors That May Affect Colon Cancer Remission

    If you’d like to enjoy less risk of any form of colon cancer coming back, limit or remove red meat from your diet. Harvard Medical School says their review of research concludes that eating processed or fresh red meat increases your risk for developing colon cancer by about 33 percent.

    Why does eating red meat contribute to causing colon cancer? Researchers found that your body converts some compounds present in red meat into N-nitroso compounds (NOCs), which are carcinogens. They found that people who ate a diet rich in red meat had higher levels of NOCs in their stool, whereas people on a vegetarian diet had low levels of NOCs in their stools. The researchers then took samples of colon cells from people with high-NOC stools and discovered that the cells’ DNA was damaged. They concluded that eating red meat directly damages colon cells’ DNA. Chronic ongoing damage to DNA is a significant risk factor for developing cancer.

    The good news is that eating fresh chicken didn’t seem to increase colon cancer risk. They also found that eating fish lowers your risk for developing colon cancer by 33 percent. Also, people who ate red meat accompanied by a high amount of fiber had less levels of NOCs in their stools, but still more NOCs than the stools of people on a vegetarian diet.

    Avoid developing colon cancer and colon cancer recurrence by living healthier. Exercise regularly, stay away from red meat, enjoy a vegetarian-like diet with fish, eat more tree nuts, and stay away from alcohol. But you can also have chicken once in a while, which doesn’t seem to affect colon cancer risk unless you eat it burned or charred. If you’re going to eat red meat, then include a high amount of fiber with your meal to help lower the NOC levels in your GI tract.

  • Can Too Much Caffeine Kill You? Here’s What You Should Know

    Can Too Much Caffeine Kill You? Here’s What You Should Know

    Recent news reports of a teen who overdosed on caffeine and, unfortunately, died. Here’s what you should know.

    Recent events show that it seems even your coffee can be fatal. A high school 16-year old was pronounced dead on April 27, 2017 a few hours after he blacked out in class. The official cause of death was stated as probably a fatal arrhythmia or other cardiac event.

    His classmates informed the medical coroner that the teen drank a McDonald’s cafe latte, a large Mountain Dew, and a 16-ounce energy drink all within two hours. All three drinks are teeming with caffeine. The medical coroner theorized that the sudden burst of caffeine to his system disrupted his heart so much that it ultimately lead to the teen’s death.

    The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that teens and children shouldn’t ingest caffeine at all. The FDA recommends that adults limit their caffeine intake to 400 milligrams daily.

    If You Don’t Overdo It, Caffeine Is Actually Healthy for You

    But drinking caffeinated drinks can actually be very healthy as long as you don’t overdo it. For example, research shows that drinking coffee during key times can enhance your subsequent activities:

    • Drinking coffee before exercising boosts your metabolism and blood flow to your muscles, which helps you work out for longer without feeling exhausted. It also lowers muscle pain afterward.
    • Regularly drinking coffee can help protect your liver from cirrhosis caused by drinking alcohol. It also helps prevent you from developing diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
    • Drinking coffee 24 hours before taking a written test helps you perform better because it boosts your memory.



    These researchers recommend drinking only up to five cups of coffee daily. Drinking more than that can undo these health benefits. Ready-made coffee you buy at restaurants usually come loaded with unhealthy cremes, artificial chemicals, sugar, and other unfavorable ingredients. It’s best to brew your own coffee using pure coffee beans without adding milk or sugar.

    Healthier Naturally Caffeinated Beverages

    If you want to maximize caffeine’s holistic benefits without risking a fatal overdose, you can choose these better beverage options that come with a slew of other health benefits:

    Green or white tea. Green and white teas have higher cancer-fighting polyphenol and catechin content than other teas. They’ve also been found to boost your immunity and cardiovascular health. Their high antioxidant content also helps slow aging and lengthens your life. Of course, they’re both caffeine-rich, which means you also get all the benefits of caffeine when drinking either tea.

    Hot cocoa. Hot cocoa made from dark chocolate or pure cocoa has a high caffeine content. They’re also low-calorie and filled with antioxidants. Its flavanols have been found to boost your cognitive abilities for up to three hours. Eating or drinking cocoa regularly also protects your heart and helps you lose weight. Enjoying hot cocoa regularly means you get all these benefits and more, plus all the benefits that come with caffeine too!

    Caffeine can heal and protect your body, but don’t chug down too many caffeinated drinks within the span of a couple of hours because that can lead to cardiac complications. If you have children, it’s probably impossible to keep them away from caffeinated beverages because most popular sodas are teeming with caffeine. But do keep in mind that experts recommend that children and teens don’t drink caffeine, and that adults have a daily limit of 400 milligrams.

  • Why Eating Sushi Can Be Dangerous and What You Can Do About It

    Why Eating Sushi Can Be Dangerous and What You Can Do About It

    Eating sushi is one favorite pastime shared across the globe. It’s a unique cuisine originating from Japan and widely adopted by establishments in almost every country. But there are some dangers you may be putting yourself through when you dine on raw fish.

    Sushi is a significant part of most modern cultures. In fact, some surveys show that only 32 percent of people living in the U.S. have never eaten sushi. But most sushi contains raw fish, which can share the same health concerns as raw meat.

    Like raw meat, raw fish can be contaminated with parasites. In fact, one study found that the parasite anisakis simplex infests 39.4 percent of mackerel being sold in markets. Louisiana State University says that spaghetti worms infect 40 percent of speckled trout in Mississippi and Louisiana. And recently, experts found Japanese broad tapeworms infesting wild pink salmon in Alaska. These species of tapeworms are usually only found in the Asia Pacific. These are only three out of the countless kinds of parasites that infect fish used in sushi. Bottom line: odds are it’s not safe to consume raw fish unless it’s prepared correctly.




    Some parasitic infections from sushi completely clear themselves without medical intervention. The anisakis parasite can’t live in humans for a long period of time and dies within a month after inhabiting your gut. But while it makes its home in your gastrointestinal tract, it may cause vomiting, nausea, and pain. But some people can have severe or allergic reactions that can lead to anaphylaxis and intestinal bleeding.

    After dying, the anisakis parasite’s body, which is still attached to your GI tract, becomes an inflamed mass that can cause further unpleasant symptoms.

    But some parasites you can get from eating sushi will only get worse without medical intervention. Tapeworm infestations can go undetected for months or years, but pose dangerous threats because their eggs and body segments can break off and enter your bloodstream, where they can migrate to other parts of your body. These include your brain, lungs, muscles, and other organs, where they’ll flourish by eating you from the inside! Even if the tapeworms remain in your gut, they’ll cause nutrient deficiencies in the long term.

    Here’s How You Can Lower Your Risks When Eating Sushi

    Parasite infections from sushi are under 20,000 cases per year worldwide. But millions (if not billions) of people eat sushi everyday – that means it’s possible to eat sushi safely. Here are some things you can do to lower your risks of getting a parasite infection from eating sushi:

    Do your research on the sushi restaurant. The FDA says freezing raw fish below -31 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 hours or -4 degrees Fahrenheit for seven days kills any parasites that may be present. But they also caution that flukes can be resistant to freezing. Ask the restaurant if they freeze the raw fish they use for their sushi – if they do sufficiently, then their sushi is most likely safer to eat.

    Don’t eat sushi prepared using freshly caught fish. If you happen to live near a beach and you see a proprietor offering sushi prepared using freshly caught raw fish, then they haven’t killed any possible parasites by freezing. You should stay away from such establishments.

    Use vinegar. Try to dip your sushi in some vinegar seasoning (like sushi vinegar). Vinegar has antibiotic properties because of its acetic acid content. Although freezing kills parasites in raw fish, it doesn’t kill some bacterial pathogens, like salmonella. Dipping your sushi in a vinegar mixture can help kill any remaining bacteria in the raw fish.

    Eating raw fish, which is a fundamental of sushi, will always come with some risks. The best way to clear fish of any infectious pathogens is to cook it thoroughly. But if you follow these safety tips, you’ll be less likely to get sick after enjoying sushi.

  • Scientists Discover That Which City You Live in Can Increase Your Risk for Developing Cancer

    Scientists Discover That Which City You Live in Can Increase Your Risk for Developing Cancer

    A review of cancer statistics from extensive sources reveals that places with poorer environmental quality can put you at greater risk for developing cancer.

    The urban life attracts many with prospects of higher incomes, busier lives, cutting-edge technology and fashion, and a more diverse, fun environment. But experts are finding that you may be trading your health for a better lifestyle by moving into busy cities. They found that poor quality environments can increase your risk for cancer.

    Researchers went through numerous statistics from many governmental health agencies, including the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the EPA, and tried to find a correlation between cancer incidence and air quality, transportation and housing safety, water quality, pesticide exposure and contamination, and exposure to crime. They found that places which are lower overall in these environmental qualities have higher incidences of cancer.

    They found that prostate and breast cancer rates were the most sensitive to environmental quality. That means that living in an area that exposes you to a lower quality environment puts you at greater risk for these two cancers.

    Sadly, they also found that the more urbanized a place is, the lower the environmental quality tends to be. Highly urbanized places, like major cities, were found to have the lowest environmental quality. But even almost unpopulated rural areas can have a lower quality environment compared with a more populated suburban area if these rural areas have more pesticide exposure from farming or some other outstanding lower environmental factor.

    How to Protect Yourself From Environmental Cancer Risks

    But often it’s not possible to choose the environment you live in. Financial situations may force you to move to more polluted cities. Also, you shouldn’t give up your life goals for better environmental quality because the increased cancer risks aren’t as significant as something on the level of smoking cigarettes or using a tanning bed. While it isn’t possible to avoid all increased risks of developing cancer coming from your environment, there are many proactive things you can do to lower these risks significantly:




    1. Test Your Water

    Water quality is one of the environmental factors used in the review. Many cities across the U.S. have outdated irrigation systems that leak lead and other pollutants into their tap water. If you remember the Flint, Michigan lead contamination crisis, then you should know that Providence, Rhode Island children recently were found to have levels of lead in their bodies that are 300 percent over dangerous levels. Recent tests also found that some homes’ tap water in Portland contain lead levels that exceed EPA’s health hazard limits.

    Besides increasing your risk for cancer, continuing to introduce contaminated water into your system has been found to lower your cognition and overall brain power. The impact is so significant that children who were exposed to lead in their drinking water ended up with such lower IQ and cognitive abilities that their socioeconomic status was lower than their parents even at age 38!

    Given these findings on lead-contaminated cities and this new review linking environmental quality and cancer risk, it’s not a coincidence that Portland, Flint, and Providence are both highly urbanized places and have notorious lead water levels. If you live in a highly or somewhat urbanized location, there’s a chance your tap water may be contaminated too.

    But no matter where you live, it’s best if you run your own tests on your tap water to see if it’s safe for consumption. Local government agencies only test a few homes’ tap water and assume nearby homes have similar results. That means you shouldn’t assume your home’s tap water has been tested and officially approved as safe for drinking.

    2. Avoid Outdoor Air Pollution and Control Indoor Air Pollution

    It’s difficult to control the air pollution you’re exposed to if you’re living in a major city. But there’s still a few things you can do to lessen your exposure.

    Try to leave before rush hours. Commuting when there’s less traffic means you’ll likely be exposed to less smog. Try to pick routes with less traffic and fewer smoke-spewing buildings (like restaurants or industrial areas). Doing these two things will greatly reduce your exposure to outdoor air pollution.

    When at home, you can minimize indoor air pollution by vacuuming more often to reduce the dust you breathe in. Don’t use scented candles or artificial air fresheners because there’s evidence they vaporize chemicals that can disrupt your endocrine system and cause cancer. Instead, use a doctor-recommended air purifier that cleans the air of odor-causing particles and dust. Remember to change your HVAC filters and air purifier filters regularly to maximize their air filtration.

    You should also cultivate houseplants, which boost your indoor oxygen supply and naturally remove harmful vaporized pollutants (like benzene and formaldehyde) emitted from electronics. These are vital for your home office, which may have higher levels of these cancer-causing pollutants coming from your printer and computers. But formaldehyde and some other dangerous pollutants are also released by a few paints, varnishes, paper products, foam insulation, and other fixtures that came with your urban rental. Thankfully, household plants have been shown to lower formaldehyde levels in the air by about 600 percent. These researchers found that ferns are the best houseplants for removing formaldehyde from indoor air.

    3. Wash or Boil Your Produce

    Pesticide exposure is another environmental factor the review took into consideration. You can lessen pesticide exposure from the air by wearing long-sleeved tops and pants. Wearing clothes that cover more of your body means less pesticides can make contact with your skin and get absorbed into your body.




    But you must also wash your fruits and vegetables to remove more pesticide residues. The National Pesticide Information Center advises to wash and rub your produce by hand under a strainer to get more pesticide residues out. If you’re eating the produce raw, then you should also wash with a diluted solution of vinegar to kill harmful microbes.

    Research shows that boiling your produce ultimately removes the most pesticide residues. They found that boiling fruits and vegetables removes between 50 to 100 percent of pesticide residues, whereas simply washing and rubbing produce only removes between 20 to 89 percent.

    Removing as much pesticides from your food as possible helps lessen your overall pesticide exposure.

    4. Be Vigilant About Your Housing and Transportation

    Not everyone follows the law, and surely you’ve gone over the speed limit at least once when driving. The same applies to landlords and transportation companies. Housing and transportation safety is another environmental factor that can increase your risk for developing cancer. Make sure where you’re staying and what you’re riding are currently following all codes and regulations.

    Also make sure your home isn’t built with asbestos, lead-based paint, and other health hazards. If during your checks you find that your housing or transportation might be exposing you to unnecessary harmful pollutants, then you should choose different providers to avoid these potential increased cancer risks.

    You can’t avoid all the health risks your environment poses. But now that you’re aware of certain aspects of your environmental that can contribute to causing cancer, you can proactively lessen their impact on your body. Although living in an ideal, safe place would be best, you shouldn’t give up on your ambitions by actively avoiding highly urbanized places. Strive for your goals and protect your health along the way!

  • 3 Reasons Why Doctors Might Say You Should Drink Four Cups of Coffee Everyday

    3 Reasons Why Doctors Might Say You Should Drink Four Cups of Coffee Everyday

    It’s 5 A.M. and you’re reluctantly getting up to do your morning exercises before you have to prepare breakfast and drop the kids off at school. Believe it or not, having a cup or two of coffee now instead of during breakfast or before heading out to work can improve your workout. In fact, having another two cups of coffee throughout the day, like during lunch, protects you from chronic illnesses like cancer! Sounds crazy? Well, scientists don’t think so.

    Drinking coffee gets you more kick from your workouts.

    Drinking coffee before working out increases your metabolism while you exercise, according to a study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. They found that you’ll burn 15 percent more calories if you drink 4.5 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of your weight. If you weigh 110 pounds, that’s around 224 milligrams of caffeine or 2.5 cups of coffee.

    Research also shows that drinking regular coffee increases your blood flow by 30 percent, which allows your muscles more oxygen during your workout. They also found that drinking two or three cups of coffee an hour prior to a 30-minute high-intensity workout reduces muscle pain. That means drinking coffee also helps you endure longer during strength or endurance workouts.

    If you do endurance training you’re most likely doing intense workouts everyday. Thus, your glycogen stores must be replenished quickly. Muscles store and use glycogen to give you power and endurance during exercise. If your muscles’ glycogen stores are high you can last longer and deliver more power. Fortunately, drinking coffee with your post-workout meal helps with that! Research shows that a diet of caffeine and carbohydrates increases your muscle glycogen by 66 percent four hours after an intense, glycogen-depleting workout.

    Drinking coffee also protects your muscles in the long term. Studies find that regularly consuming coffee offsets natural muscle strength loss due to aging. This isn’t limited to the muscles you actively tone during your workouts – the protective effects were observed in the diaphragm too, protecting your body’s ability to breathe as you get older. Researchers believe from these findings that your coffee habit may preserve your overall fitness and even decrease your risk for age-related injuries too.

    Drinking coffee helps prevent chronic diseases.

    If you party hard on Fridays after work with your friends, remember your cup of Java! Research by the University of Southampton finds that drinking four cups of coffee daily reduces your risk of developing cirrhosis from long-term alcohol consumption by 65 percent.

    These daily four cups of coffee also protect you from other chronic diseases as well. Research by Harvard University finds that drinking one to five cups of regular or decaf coffee everyday helps protect you from cardiovascular disease, stroke, neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and diabetes mellitus due to coffee’s bioactive compounds which protect against blood-brain barrier blockage and reduce systematic inflammation and insulin resistance. However, drinking more than five cups reverses these health benefits.

    Furthermore, a study published in the Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry finds that drinking at least four cups of coffee everyday reduces your risk for developing multiple sclerosis by 26 to 31 percent. There seem to be compounds in coffee that have neuroprotective effects.

    Drinking four cups of coffee everyday helps prevent cancer too. Another Harvard study found that colon cancer patients in remission who drank four or more cups of coffee had a 42 percent decreased risk of cancer recurrence and a 34 percent decrease in overall mortality (including cancer-caused mortality).

    Ultimately, researchers found that drinking coffee reduces overall mortality by 15 percent.

    Late night studying with coffee to keep you awake is actually good for you.

    Drinking coffee while you study improves your memory. A John Hopkins study found that consuming caffeine enhances your memory for 24 hours. Caffeinated participants scored higher than non-caffeinated participants when shown images and asked to recall them. Remember that next time you’re studying for grad finals or working late finishing paperwork!

    If you chug a lot of coffee to boost your energy don’t be ashamed – it’s actually good for you! Drinking coffee before and after exercising enhances your performance and supports your muscles’ recovery. Coffee is also holistically healthy, helping prevent a wide range of diseases. Coffee also helps you cram for exams! But to be on the safe side, drink only four cups of coffee daily – you don’t want to reverse these health benefits.

    Sources:

    http://news.health.com/2014/06/19/5-reasons-to-drink-coffee-before-your-workout/

    http://www.health.harvard.edu/colorectal-cancer/harvard-researchers-link-coffee-with-reduced-colon-cancer-recurrence

    http://www.newsweek.com/coffee-could-lower-risk-ms-only-if-your-drink-excessive-amounts-stuff-433201

    motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2015/11/science-says-drink-your-coffee

    http://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/postings/2016/02/coffee_cirrohsis.php

    http://www.hngn.com/articles/169080/20160113/weight-loss-5-best-new-superfoods-losing-recipes.htm