Benefits of day-time nap revealed
After decades of research we have a great deal of evidence affirming the importance of sleep on cognition and memory consolidation. It's becoming very clear that information acquired during waking states is imprinted on a deeper level when followed by a sleep period. One compelling study from 2016 revealed sleeping to be a vital part of a study strategy, and students should take sporadic power naps to help memorise information faster. No one is doubting the value of a good, old-fashioned siesta, but new research led by the University of Bristol has found short naps can even help a person process information they were not even consciously aware of perceiving. The study adds weight to prior work finding sleep improves a person's problem solving abilities, suggesting a nap helps one process unconscious information. The study recruited 16 healthy subjects and gave them to two different tasks — a control task, and a masked prime task.
Diabetes can be detected before diagnosis
Early signs of Type-2 diabetes can be detected 20 years before diagnosis, according to a new research. Researchers from Aizawa Hospital in Japan found that increased fasting glucose, higher body mass index (BMI) and impaired insulin sensitivity were detectable 10 years before the diagnosis of diabetes as well as prediabetes. As the vast majority of people with Type-2 diabetes go through the stage of prediabetes, our findings suggest that elevated metabolic markers for diabetes are detectable more than 20 years before its diagnosis, said Hiroyuki Sagesaka, lead researcher from the varsity. According to present studies, diabetes can be detected 20 years before its diagnosis unlike the previous research which said that risk factors like obesity and elevated fasting glucose may be present up to 10 years before someone is diagnosed.
Supplements may not improve bone health
Vitamin D supplementation may not improve bone density or prevent fractures and falls in adults, a large new analysis suggests. After combining data from 81 randomised controlled trials, researchers found no bone benefits from supplementing the vitamin, according to the report in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. “Our results show that there is little reason for adults to take vitamin D supplements for their bones to protect against fractures, except people from high risk groups, such as those who have a prolonged lack of exposure to sunshine,” said study co-author Dr Alison Avenell of the University of Aberdeen in the UK. “For example, older people in institutions who never go outside.” Vitamin D supplements have long been recommended to seniors for treating and preventing the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis. Avenell and her colleagues would like to see guideline changes that steer people away from the supplements.
