TUESDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) — New research with mice suggests that intravenous doses of vitamin C could one day reduce the size of cancerous tumors in people.

The findings are preliminary and still must be confirmed in humans. And even if the treatment works, it’s not a cure but would likely be used in combination with other drugs, the researchers said.

Still, the research does show an unexpected use for vitamin C, which has previously been thought of as a nutrient, not a drug, said study co-author Dr. Mark Levine, chief of the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section.

"There’s potential promise that [vitamin C] is part of the armamentarium for treating some cancers," he said. "Which ones? We’ve got to do more and find out."

Vitamin C has long been one of the most respected of all vitamins, lauded for its supposed powers to treat many ills, from colds to heart disease. The late scientist Dr. Linus Pauling increased the vitamin’s profile by touting it as a cancer treatment.

But getting heavy doses of vitamin C into the body is a challenge. Unlike some other vitamins, it’s virtually impossible for people to overdose on vitamin C since the body only ingests a certain amount through the mouth and then stops allowing it to build up, Levine said. "The body wants to get to a certain place and no more," he said.

Researchers have found that they can disrupt the body’s "tight control" over vitamin C levels by giving the nutrient intravenously and bypassing the digestive system, Levine said. The intravenous approach involves "short-circuiting the body’s normal control mechanisms and finding there’s an unexpected surprise that may be beneficial," he said.

In the new study, published in the Aug. 4-8 issue of theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Levine and his colleagues found that intravenous vitamin C produced hydrogen peroxide, which proceeded to reduce cancerous tumors in the mice by 43 percent to 51 percent. The mice had ovarian, pancreatic and brain cancer.

It’s not clear why some tumors are immune to the treatment and others are not, Levine said, although normal cells are unharmed by the therapy.

According to the researchers, it’s possible to intravenously boost levels of vitamin C in humans to the levels used in the mice.

But Levine cautioned that the treatment isn’t ready for prime time with humans. "Should patients with any kind of tumor go out and get IV ascorbate [vitamin C]? That’s not the message here," he said.

Instead, he said, the study shows the need for more research.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said the research is interesting but not yet proven.

"Like so many things that are intriguing or appear to be promising, there appears to be a long way to go from the theory in the lab to the practical application in the clinic."

More information

To learn more about vitamin C, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

SOURCES: Mark Levine, M.D., chief, Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section, and senior staff physician, U.S. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.; Len Lichtenfeld, M.D., deputy chief medical officer, American Cancer Society, Atlanta; Aug. 4-8, 2008,Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Click here to read the full article

Caffeine Protects from Brain Damage in Multiple Sclerosis

By Sarah Vasques

Scientists with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation have found that when consumed in large amounts, coffee was found to protect against multiple sclerosis. It appears that caffeine blocks key steps in the development of the disease. The stimulant found in coffee blocked a compound called adenosine, which led, in mice, to the protection of brain cells from immune system cells which destroy the protective coating that surrounds the nerve cells, myelin.

The research will be published in the July 8 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, but the results were already presented at the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Immunologists in San Diego, which took place in April.

In mid-June, a study carried on at the Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain, found that people who are dinking up to six cups of coffee a day do not have an increase chance of dying compared to people who don’t drink or drink less coffee. Furthermore, if you are a woman, drinking coffee might even diminish the chance of you dying of heart disease. Also, coffee seems to not influence cancer in any way, the Spanish study concluded.

An interesting thing was that both women who drank decaf and normal coffee had the same chance of getting a disease. What this means is that caffeine doesn’t seem to be the substance responsible for these good effects.

Also, in January, another study found that caffeine consumption could have a negative effect on people suffering from type 2 diabetes, raising blood sugar levels and possibly exposing them to other risks, US researchers revealed. The study’s conclusions appeared to be in stark contrast with previous research which showed that people who drink more coffee are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

Caffeine is a xanthine alkaloid which behaves like a psychoactive stimulant drug. The substance can be found in coffee, hence its name, but also in guarana, mate, and tea. The alkaloid protects these plants and dozens more from most insects.

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune condition which is characterized by the damaging of the central nervous system by the immune system, through demyelination.

Read this story….© 2007 – 2008 – eFluxMedia

Researchers have uncovered a new clue to the cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

The brains of people with the memory-robbing form of dementia are cluttered with a plaque made up of beta-amyloid, a sticky protein. But there long has been a question whether this is a cause of the disease or a side effect. Also involved are tangles of a protein called tau; some scientists suspect this is the cause.

Now, researchers have caused Alzheimer’s symptoms in rats by injecting them with one particular form of beta-amyloid. Injections with other forms of beta-amyloid did not cause illness, which may explain why some people have beta-amyloid plaque in their brains but do not show disease symptoms.

The findings by a team led by Dr. Ganesh M. Shankar and Dr. Dennis J. Selkoe of Harvard Medical School were reported in Sunday’s online edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

The researchers used extracts from the brains of people who donated their bodies to medicine.

Forms of soluble beta-amyloid containing different numbers of molecules, as well as insoluble cores of the brain plaque, were injected into the brains of mice. There was no detectable effect from the insoluble plaque or the soluble one-molecule or three-molecule forms, the researchers found.

But the two-molecule form of soluble beta-amyloid produced characteristics of Alzheimer’s in the rats, they reported.

Those rats had impaired memory function, especially for newly learned behaviors. When the mouse brains were inspected, the density brain cells was reduced by 47% with the beta-amyloid seeming to affect synapses, the connections between cells that are essential for communication between them.

The research, for the first time, showed the effect of a particular type of beta-amyloid in the brain, said Dr. Marcelle Morrison-Bogorad, director of the division of neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the research.

It was surprising that only one of the three types had an effect, she said in a telephone interview.

Morrison-Bogorad said the findings may help explain the discovery of plaque in the brains of people who do not develop dementia. For some time, doctors have wondered why they find some brains in autopsy that are heavily coated with beta-amyloid, but the person did not have Alzheimer’s.

The answer may lie in the two types of beta-amyloid that did not cause symptoms.

Now, the question is why one has the damaging effect and not others.

"A lot of work needs to be done," Morrison-Bogorad said. "Nature keeps sending us down paths that look straight at the beginning, but there are a lot of curves before we get to the end."

Dr. Richard J. Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging, said that "while more research is needed to replicate and extend these findings, this study has put yet one more piece into place in the puzzle that is Alzheimer’s."

In addition to the Institute on Aging, the research was funded by Science Foundation Ireland, Wellcome Trust, the McKnight and Ellison foundations and the Lefler Small Grant Fund.

___________________________________________________

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read this article here >>>

In a recent study, researchers at NASA showed that a thirty to forty-minute power nap increased cognitive faculties by approximately 40%!

What Exactly Is a Power Nap?

A power nap is a short nap, normally between 10 and 30 minutes long, taken in the middle of the day in order to reinvigorate and refresh you for the next part of the day.

Power naps are not similar to normal sleep, so you will not be groggy after taking one.

While you might have “dreams”, power naps are more similar to meditation, where thoughts are allowed to move from the sub-conscious mind to the conscious mind and back again without you concentrating on them.

Some famous self-proclaimed nappers include people like Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci , Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Johannes Brahms, John D. Rockefeller, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gene Autry, Nikola Tesla, Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy, Napoleon Bonaparte, Salvador Dali and Sylvester Stallone.

Why Take a Power Nap?

Research also says that taking a nap of 30 minutes a day is better than sleeping in for 30 minutes in the morning.

Sleep is a daily need, as it is during this time that your body carries out cell repair, and it helps memory and hormonal functioning.

If you go short of a night’s sleep, your physical coordination (including reactions while driving); memory and judgment; energy level; patience; and general stress-tolerance drops. Lack of sleep affects all your bodily, mental, and emotional elements.

A power nap of 15 to 20 minutes can, surprisingly, bring all those functions back to or much closer to normal functioning than we might imagine.

10 Reasons Why the Power Nap is Beneficial and Healthy

• boost in productivity and energy at work
• increased motivation
• improved ability to concentrate,
• better mood
• improved hand-eye coordination
• improve emotional state
• increased learning
• maintain peak brain activity during the course of the day
• protect yourself from sleepiness
• decrease and eliminate stress

How To Take a Healthy and Effective Power Nap

• Time: choose a mid-morning or in the middle of the afternoon when everything is usually lulled.
• Have a silence place to power nap without interruptions or distractions, eg turn off the phone.
• Avoid eating too much caffeinated or sugary products before your power nap
• Use a blanket to stay warm if necessary, since your body temperature drops during sleep.
• Darkness is known to help you fall asleep faster.
• Plan the length of your nap and make sure you wake up at the planned awakening time
• Light sounds such as classical or jazz music help relax your mind so you can go to sleep especially if you’ve had a stressful day.
• Be proud of your nap – don’t be ashamed of telling people and asking them to help you separate naptime from the rest of the day by leaving you alone to rest.

This article is courtesy the Sleep Aid Centre’s guest writer Andy SZEN of www.egodevelopment.com

More sleep, or less sleep? 6 hours, or 9 hours?

Finally… an answer. Yes, too much or too little sleep are BOTH risks to your health!

How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?

Friday, Jun. 06, 2008 By LAURA BLUE

Sleep is one of the richest topics in science today: why we need it, why it can be hard to get, and how that affects everything from our athletic performance to our income.

Daniel Kripke, co-director of research at the Scripps Clinic Sleep Center in La Jolla, Calif., has looked at the most important question of all. In 2002, he compared death rates among more than 1 million American adults who, as part of a study on cancer prevention, reported their average nightly amount of sleep. To many, his results were surprising, but they’ve since been corroborated by similar studies in Europe and East Asia. Kripke explains.

Q: How much sleep is ideal?

A: Studies show that people who sleep between 6.5 hr. and 7.5 hr. a night, as they report, live the longest. And people who sleep 8 hr. or more, or less than 6.5 hr., they don’t live quite as long. There is just as much risk associated with sleeping too long as with sleeping too short. The big surprise is that long sleep seems to start at 8 hr. Sleeping 8.5 hr. might really be a little worse than sleeping 5 hr..

Morbidity [or sickness] is also “U-shaped” in the sense that both very short sleep and very long sleep are associated with many illnesses—with depression, with obesity—and therefore with heart disease—and so forth. But the [ideal amount of sleep] for different health measures isn’t all in the same place. Most of the low points are at 7 or 8 hr., but there are some at 6 hr. and even at 9 hr. I think diabetes is lowest in 7-hr. sleepers [for example]. But these measures aren’t as clear as the mortality data.

I think we can speculate [about why people who sleep from 6.5 to 7.5 hr. live longer], but we have to admit that we don’t really understand the reasons. We don’t really know yet what is cause and what is effect. So we don’t know if a short sleeper can live longer by extending their sleep, and we don’t know if a long sleeper can live longer by setting the alarm clock a bit earlier. We’re hoping to organize tests of those questions.

One of the reasons I like to publicize these facts is that I think we can prevent a lot of insomnia and distress just by telling people that short sleep is O.K. We’ve all been told you ought to sleep 8 hr., but there was never any evidence. A very common problem we see at sleep clinics is people who spend too long in bed. They think they should sleep 8 or 9 hr., so they spend [that amount of time] in bed, with the result that they have trouble falling asleep and wake up a lot during the night.

Oddly enough, a lot of the problem [of insomnia] is lying in bed awake, worrying about it. There have been many controlled studies in the U.S., Great Britain and other parts of Europe that show that an insomnia treatment that involves getting out of bed when you’re not sleepy and restricting your time in bed actually helps people to sleep more. They get over their fear of the bed. They get over the worry, and become confident that when they go to bed, they will sleep. So spending less time in bed actually makes sleep better. It is in fact a more powerful and effective long-term treatment for insomnia than sleeping pills.

The Great Sleep Deficit Podcast: TIME talks to Daniel Kripke, of California’s Scripps Clinic Sleep Center, about how a night’s sleep can prolong—or shorten—your life.

Listen to the Podcast by clicking HERE >>

Low self-esteem ’shrinks brain’

By Pallab Ghosh, BBC Science Correspondent

People with a low sense of self worth are more likely to suffer from memory loss as they get older, say researchers.

The study, presented at a conference at the Royal Society in London, also found that the brains of these people were more likely to shrink compared with those who have a high sense of self esteem.

Dr Sonia Lupien, of McGill University in Montreal surveyed 92 senior citizens over 15 years and studied their brain scans.

She found that the brains of those with low self-worth were up to a fifth smaller than those who felt good about themselves.

These people also performed worse in memory and learning tests.

Retraining

Dr Lupien believes that if those with a negative mind set were taught to change the way they think they could reverse their mental decline.

He said: “This atrophy of the brain that we thought was irreversible is reversible – some data on animals and some data on humans shows that that if you enrich the environment if you change some factors this brain structure can come back to normal levels”

Researchers are studying which psychological treatments work best.

According to Dr Felicia Huppert of Cambridge University – the early signs are that fairly simple techniques can have an enormous impact:

“There are interventions which talk about focusing on positive things in everyday life and savouring good moments even at times when life is difficult little tiny things may give you pleasure so there are skills involved in how to derive pleasure from the ordinary things in life”.

‘Reversed’

According to Dr Lupien, the fear of memory loss may be a self fulfilling prophesy as anxiety leads to negative thinking which leads to mental impairment.

“If you always think it’s normal to lose something, then you will never work to increase it because doctors have always told you that. I’m saying that it is not normal.

“So this might impact positvely (sic) on the public by saying that its possible to impact on increasing your memory performance and by saying that it is normal to have a fulfilling life, we may be able to increase self esteem among the general public – and prevent a lot of these deficits related to age”.

(read the full article here)

Amsterdam, 9 June 2008

A 115-year-old woman who remained mentally alert throughout her life had an essentially normal brain, with little or no evidence of Alzheimer’s disease…

…according to a study in the August issue of Neurobiology of Aging.

The findings question the assumption that Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia will inevitably develop, if people live long enough.

“Our observations suggest that, in contrast to general belief, the limits of human cognitive function may extend far beyond the range that is currently enjoyed by most individuals, and that improvements in preventing brain disorders of aging may yield substantial long-term benefits,” according to a study led by Prof. dr. Gert Holstege of University Medical Centre Groningen, The Netherlands.

Dr. Holstege and colleagues had a unique chance to test the mental functioning of one of the world’s oldest humans, and then to compare their findings with the condition of the subject’s brain after death. The patient was a Dutch woman who, at age 82, made arrangements to donate her body to science after death. At age 111, she contacted the researchers to ask whether her body would still be useful for research or teaching purposes. They assured her that, contrary to what she thought, they were especially interested because of her age: “She was very enthusiastic about her being important for science,” Dr. Gert Holstege and colleagues write.

The researchers found the patient to be “an alert and assertive lady, full of interest in the world around her, including national and international politics and sports.” She had lived independently until moving to a residential care home at age 105, mainly because of poor eyesight. Ironically, she had been very small at birth and was not expected to survive.

A series of neurological and psychological examinations were performed when the patient was 112 and 113 years old. The results were essentially normal, with no signs of dementia or problems with memory or attention. In general, her mental performance was above average for adults aged 60 to 75.

As planned, her body was donated to science when she died at age 115. At the time, she was the world’s oldest woman. Examination after death found almost no evidence of atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries) anywhere in her body. The brain also showed very few abnormalities—the number of brain cells was similar to that expected in healthy people between 60 and 80 years old.

A key finding was the absence of brain abnormalities typical of Alzheimer’s disease. There were almost no deposits of a substance called beta-amyloid, which are characteristic of Alzheimer’s patients. The other abnormalities present, including “neurofibrillary tangles,” were very mild—too early to cause significant mental impairment.

The unique case lends new insights into the potential for preserving brain function in very elderly patients. Previous studies have found at least mild abnormalities in the brains of nearly all “cognitively normal” elderly people. As the number of people living to age 100 and beyond continues to increase, the findings suggest that deterioration of the brain is not inevitable.

In addition to the article, commentaries by Dr. Joseph L. Price of Washington University, St. Louis, Panteleimon Giannakopoulos of University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland and colleagues, and Drs. Kelly Del Tredici and Heiko Braak of the Institute for Clinical Neuroanatomy in Frankfurt/Main, Germany are available.

The full text of the article is available upon request by contacting the Elsevier press office, newsroom@elsevier.com.

About Neurobiology of Aging
Neurobiology of Aging publishes the results of studies in behavior, biochemistry, cell biology, endocrinology, molecular biology, morphology, neurology, neuropathology, pharmacology, physiology and protein chemistry in which the primary emphasis involves mechanisms of nervous system changes with age or diseases associated with age.

Heal Your Mind and Body

By Raquel Smith

You can heal your mind and body through hugging.

Yes, you heard me correctly. Studies show that hugging heals everything from emotions to diseases. It is also a fact that touching triggers healing in our bodies. A great example is that of premature babies in the hospital.

The babies who are not touched regularly takes a longer time to develop or they may even die. The ones who are touched regularly feel the love and flourishes in top speed. Hugging keeps you healthy by strengthening the immune system. It also relieves stress and depression.

The dictionary defines hug as:

1. 1. To clasp tightly in the arms, with affection; embrace.
3. 2. To cling firmly or fondly to; cherish
5. 3. To keep close.

Hugging is a way of saying that you care to someone or even to yourself. Hugging is a natural part of us as humans. How come we don’t do it more often? If you can remember as a child you just loved hugging everyone and as you grew older you decided that hugging was not "adult." The fact is as we grow older the need for hugs grow with us, whether we accept that fact or not.

Virginia Satir, Family Therapist made this observation:

We need 4 hugs a day for survival.

We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance.

We need 12 hugs a day for growth.

Imagine that, we should be hugging at least 4 times per day just for survival. There may be some of you saying that you are single and you work from home. So, there is no way you can even get one hug per day. Oh contraire my friend. You can hug yourself. That’s right, it’s called self-hug. You can hug yourself as many times as you want. One person even noted that it is cheaper than getting a massage. This is where the healing comes in. By you hugging yourself, you are connecting with your spirit and being centered. You are showing yourself love which leads to you feeling better about yourself. The benefits that you get after that are innumerable.

Once you love yourself, then you can pass on that love to others. Once everyone gets into the practice of hugging a change in the environment follows. Once people start feeling good about themselves and others they can start the healing process of removing any dis-ease from their body.

There are several types of hugs, I will tell you about three in this article:

1. 1. The A-frame hug – this involves only the heads touching of each person. It is more formal in nature and generally used on new acquaintances or in a business setting.
3. 2. The Heart-Centered hug – it is considered to be the highest form of hugging. This involves full body contact by both parties. This form of hugging acknowledges each other from deep within. It is usually reserved for very close friends and family.
5. 3. The Self hug – this involves you hugging yourself. This hug allows you to show yourself love and compassion. It gives you a sense of self- worth.

Here are a few benefits of hugging; this list is by no means exhausted:

• Dispels loneliness
• Opens the door to feelings
• Eases tension
• Builds self-esteem
• Heals dis-ease
• Balances your emotions
• It is fun

As I mentioned earlier, hugging is the most natural thing to do. We got our first hug as soon as we came into this world by the person who delivered us. Hugging does not have to be looked on as sensual. It is merely giving support and showing compassion to each other. Think about it, when you are feeling down or not feeling well, you perk up immediately if someone gives you a hug. I am encouraging you today, to start practicing this "lost heart of hugging™." I said heart, hugging is from the heart. You are sharing from the heart. Remember to hug yourself first.

"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can fly embracing each other."

Luciano de Creseenzo

© 2008 Raquel C. Smith, Values Alignment Coach

Raquel C. Smith, "The Values Alignment Coach," publishes the transformational Golden Life Living’ monthly ezine. If you’re ready to transform your life into a golden life and start living the life of your destiny, get your FREE ebook now at http://www.goldenlifecoaching.com/unstoppableconfidence.html

"How many brain scientists have been able to study the brain from the inside out? I’ve gotten as much out of this experience of losing my left mind as I have in my entire academic career."

Jill Bolte Taylor

Jill Bolte Taylor was a 37-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist when a blood vessel exploded in her brain. One day, she woke up and realized she was having a massive stroke…

(Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 18:44.)

She spoke at TED (which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design – three wide-ranging subject areas that are, collectively, shaping our future.) Every year, 1300 of the world’s leading thinkers and doers gather together for four days of networking, education and exposure to new ideas. Past speakers and performers have included Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Paul Simon, Richard Branson, Frank Gehry, Philippe Starck, James Watson, Billy Graham, Jane Goodall, Al Gore, and Bono.

However, TED is about much more than famous names, Jill says. It is about passion, laughter, beauty, and ingenuity. It is about ideas capable of changing the world, and she was given 18 minutes to share her personal story and an idea that she believed was worth spreading. She says her experience at TED was both phenomenal and life transforming. Her story is a powerful one of recovery and awareness.

"So who are we? We are the life force power of the universe, with manual dexterity and two cognitive minds. And we have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world. Right here right now, I can step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere where we are — I am — the life force power of the universe, and the life force power of the 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form. At one with all that is. Or I can choose to step into the consciousness of my left hemisphere. where I become a single individual, a solid, separate from the flow, separate from you. I am Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, intellectual, neuroanatomist. These are the "we" inside of me.

Which would you choose? Which do you choose? And when? I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world and the more peaceful our planet will be. And I thought that was an idea worth spreading."

(Read the transcript of her amazing speech here)

So I thought I’d just share with you just a few pointers to get you on the right track if you are suffering from lack of sleep. Please share your comments at the end of this post

According to Harvard Health Publications’s Press release, Repaying Sleep debt, more than 60% of us don’t regularly sleep the brain’s required seven to nine hours of sleep per night.

This is quite a significant number of sleep-deprived people! But don’t fear, there’s hope. They also say that you CAN ward off the negative effect of sleep loss because you CAN repay even a chronic, longstanding sleep debt.

So how do we counter the effects of chronic sleep loss?

Harvard Women’s Health Watch suggests:

If you’ve missed 10 hours of sleep over one week, make up for it over the weekend and the following week. If you’ve missed sleep for decades, it could take a few weeks to repay the debt. Plan a vacation with a light schedule, and sleep every night until you wake naturally. Once you’ve determined how much sleep you need, factor it into your daily schedule.

BrainBasedBusiness further discussed this in an article last year, showing that this really has been/is an ongoing problem.

Dr. Mercola says in a short article about lengthening workweeks robbing people of their precious sleep:

While sleepy workers know they’re not performing well, work is what’s keeping them up at night. Workdays are getting longer and time spent working from home averages close to four-and-a-half hours each week.The average waking time is 5:35 AM, and the average bedtime is 10:53 PM.

The good news? It’s not all bad news. You can do something about it.

I’ve also compiled a few tips for you, to get you started on helping yourself sleep better, ASAP:

8 tips to better sleep

• Don’t nap too long during the day so you can sleep better at night
• Exercise regularly, earlier in the day, not before you sleep
• Finish eating at least two to three hours before you sleep
• Avoid alcohol, caffeine and nicotine before you sleep
• Maintain a regular sleep/wake schedule, including during weekends
• Make your sleep environment cool, peaceful and comfortable
• Use relaxation techniques if they help you sleep
• Start a relaxing bedtime before-you-sleep routine

However, the battle is only just beginning, because:

Bodies don’t ’spring ahead’

By Kim Painter, USA TODAY

A bold prediction: A week from today you will be feeling sleepy, very sleepy.

You will have trouble getting out of bed. If you are a teenager, you will have even more trouble than usual. If you are an early-morning commuter, you may struggle to keep your eyes open as you drive along darkened streets.

What will trigger this mass bout of drowsy driving, this predictably mopey Monday? It will be the first weekday of daylight saving time — that once-a-year "spring ahead" that robs us of one hour of sleep (which is returned when clocks "fall back" in November).

It’s just one hour, but experts in chronobiology — the study of our internal body clocks — say it takes most people several days to adjust. (The fall change also is disruptive, but less so.) One recent study from German researchers, published in the journal Current Biology, found that some habitual night owls have trouble getting enough sleep for weeks after the spring shift — which, in effect, demands that we all go to bed and get up an hour earlier.

At best, "we’ll have a lot of groggy people on the highways the first couple of days," says Michael Smolensky…

……….(click here to continue reading this article)

You can also take a look at:

• Dr. Mercola’s 33 Secrets to a Good Night’s Sleep.
• 25 Tips For a Better Pre Sleep Ritual on Sleepybed.com.
• On Better Sleep by the Better Sleep Council.
• 10 tips for better sleep on MayoClinic.com.
• Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep:Getting the Sleep you Need on Helpguide.org.