The Woman on the Bus was crying

The woman on the bus, years ago, was crying. I sat down beside her; it was the only vacant seat left. - "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know why I'm crying. I'm not sad." - "My guess is you're not getting much sleep." - "You're right. How did you know?" she asked. - "Lack of sleep is the main reason people find themselves crying," I said. "They can't help it. It's a physical thing, not emotional. Don't let them tell you you're depressed."

There is a positive correlation between getting less than seven and a half hours' sleep and increased risk of developing heart disease.

Less than seven and a half hours' sleep 'could increase risk of heart attack'
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"High blood pressure increases the risk of developing heart disease, which can lead to damage in the arteries and place strain on the heart.

An estimated one third of Britons, some 16 million people, are thought to suffer from high blood pressure.

It is more common in older people and an estimated half of all people over 65 suffer from the condition.

Scientists followed the sleep patterns of 1,255 people, with an average age of 70, who suffered from high blood pressure for more than four years.

They found that those who slept less than 7.5 hours a night, and whose blood pressure increased overnight, were 25 per cent more likely to suffer from heart disease."

All of the health problems mentioned in the article are exacerbated by high salt intake and reduced in incidence and severity when salt and salty food are avoided.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods

How to improve your sleep.

5 ways to ... improve your sleep habits - Guardian

And I have a sixth way to suggest: - eat less salt/sodium. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

And also lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

'Less sleep' linked to obesity. - Both problems - obesity and lack of sleep - can be easily reduced by eating less salt.

This could be your dream diet - article in today's Daily Telegraph.

Extract:

"evidence is emerging of a link between a drop in the time society spends slumbering and the dramatic rise in obesity and associated diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure."

In the article the connection made is that shorter sleeping time results in weight gain and some 'explanations' are explored. - In fact the positive correlation between less sleep and more weight has been made before. - See http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2006/10/claim-is-made-that-lack-of-sleep-may.html and http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2006/09/sleepy-kids-at-greater-risk-of-obesity.html

But as is so often the case with matters concerning obesity, cause and consequence have been reversed. - Just as inactivity is the consequence of obesity and not the cause of it, so losing sleep is the consequence of becoming more obese and not its cause. Obesity causes a host of adverse physical and emotional health outcomes, and it is these adverse health outcomes that lead to reduced sleep.

Obesity is NOT caused by eating too much or by lack of exercise. - Overwhelmingly it is caused by salt sensitivity and fluid retention. - It is easy for obese people, child or adult, to lose weight by eating less salt/sodium and forgetting about calorie reduction. Cutting down on salt enables the body to shed (in the urine) some of the excess water held in the body by sodium and so weight is lost.

Once weight is lost by reducing salt intake, sleep will improve.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

The claim is made that 'Lack of sleep 'may help make youngsters obese'

The claim is made this news article 'Lack of sleep 'may help make youngsters obese'

The researcher has reviewed studies on this topic. As with the previous researchers, his logic is faulty. There is a positive correlation between lack of sleep and obesity, that is true. - But it is not that lack of sleep causes obesity; it is that obesity tends to cause lack of sleep.

Obesity is NOT caused by eating too much or by lack of exercise. - Overwhelmingly it is caused by salt sensitivity and fluid retention. - It is easy for obese people, child or adult, to lose weight by eating less salt/sodium and forgetting about calorie reduction. Cutting down on salt enables the body to shed (in the urine) some of the excess water held in the body by sodium and so weight is lost.

Once weight is lost by reducing salt intake, sleep will improve.

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ and particularly page http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html for advice on how to reduce obesity in children.

Sleepy kids at greater risk of obesity

Sleepy kids at greater risk of obesity

This was the title of an article published on the internet and dated 17th March 2006. Here is the article http://news.netdoctor.co.uk/news_detail.php?id=17071351 - And here is an extract from the article:

"Kids who get less sleep are at a higher risk of becoming overweight or obese, researchers have claimed.

Experts from Laval University in Quebec, Canada, said that busy parents and a lack of strict bedtimes could be a major factor in rising levels of childhood obesity.

In a study of 422 children aged between five and ten years old they found that those who slept for just a couple of hours less each night were 40 per cent more likely to be overweight.

Of the children taking part in the study, one in five of the boys was overweight or obese compared to a quarter of the girls."

The researchers clearly believe that lack of sufficient sleep is a major factor in the causation of childhood obesity.

In my opinion they have confused cause with effect. Obesity causes a host of adverse physical and emotional health outcomes, and it is these adverse health outcomes that lead to reduced sleep.

In any case, obesity, whether of children or adults, is caused by sensitivity to salt, so to reduce obesity AND improve sleep, the most effective and reliable measure is to reduce salt/sodium intake. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html and other pages on the website.