Cognition

Feel Tired All the Time? You Could Be Low on Iron

Iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency and affects 1.2 billion people worldwide, with around 183,000 dying from a shortage of this nutrient every year. Iron deficiency in women is especially common due to the high iron needs of the female body. If you find that you are often fatigued, have trouble concentrating or have other vague and insidious symptoms, you may simply need more iron.

Why Do We Need Iron?

Iron plays a variety of vital roles in the human body. First and foremost, it is one of the basic building blocks of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen in the blood from your lungs to the cells that need it. Iron is also important in the manufacturing of ATP, the molecule that cells use for energy. It is part of many different enzymes involved in growth and metabolism. Iron is also used by cells of the immune system to help fight infections. Last, iron is used in muscle cells to store oxygen for times when it is needed faster than the bloodstream can supply it.

Because our bodies use iron in so many ways, we have very high needs for this mineral. When people do not get all of the iron that they need, they have trouble converting food energy to cell energy, cannot carry oxygen to their cells and cannot perform a variety of crucial functions. In severe forms, iron deficiency can even be fatal.

Iron Deficiency in Women: A Common Health Problem

There are three basic ways that iron deficiency can occur: either not enough iron is being taken in, it is not being absorbed effectively or it is being lost somehow. Many people do not get enough iron-rich foods in their diet, which includes red meat, eggs, shrimp and the dark meat of poultry. In addition, people can get iron from vegetables such as legumes and leafy greens, although this kind of iron needs to be eaten with acidic foods in order to be absorbed by our bodies.

Even if you eat enough iron, you still may not be absorbing enough. Inflammatory conditions of the gut can make it difficult to absorb iron. In addition, you may simply be losing more iron than you naturally take in through diet. People lose iron mainly through bleeding, which is why people with ulcers or intestinal parasites are at high risk of anemia. This is a very important reason that you see high levels of iron deficiency in women, especially women who menstruate or have recently had a child.

Signs You Have Iron Deficiency

The signs of iron deficiency can be subtle and yet have a huge effect on your quality of life. The most common symptom is fatigue, because your cells are not making enough ATP and also are not getting optimal levels of oxygen from your blood. In addition, iron deficiency in women and men can manifest in a variety of other ways, such as:

dizziness
shortness of breath
heart palpitations
headache
pale skin
cold hands and feet
odd food cravings, especially for things that are not food (pica)
brittle nails
hair loss
muscle aches
difficulty concentrating
restless leg syndrome

When your body does not have the nutrients that it needs to performs all of the cell processes that iron supports, you will feel the effects in a variety of ways. Many people blame the effects of iron deficiency on not getting enough sleep, growing older, or having a hectic schedule when in fact they simply need to take in more vitamins and minerals.

Treating Iron Deficiency Safely and Naturally

If you believe that you are suffering from a deficiency of iron, there are several ways to quickly build up healthy levels of this vitamin. Many people simply add more iron-rich foods to their diets and take care to eat vegetarian sources of iron with an acidic food such as lemon. However, it can be difficult to get the iron that you need from diet alone, especially for women of reproductive age and young children who are growing quickly. For these people, taking an iron supplement or a multivitamin with their daily allowance of iron is the answer.

Getting enough iron is crucial for good health. However, iron deficiency in women and children is, unfortunately, only too common. While it can be difficult in the modern world to get all of the iron that you need to sustain optimal health, a well-balanced multivitamin ensures that you are always covered.

Not Getting Enough Vitamin B12 During Pregnancy Boosts Disease Risk for Baby

Nov 16 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Many people have are familiar with the importance of getting enough folic acid or folate, also known as vitamin B9, when pregnant. However, getting enough vitamin B12 during pregnancy is also important. New research underscores the importance of getting all of your B vitamins—especially vitamin B12—if you are pregnant or planning to conceive soon.

What Is Vitamin B12?

Vitamin B12 is an essential water-soluble vitamin that is used in a wide variety of cellular reactions. Essentially, it is a puzzle piece among many vitamins that are important for metabolism, energy production and other vital processes. People who do not get enough of this vitamin suffer from depressed mood, poorer memory and mental function and even a higher risk of infection. A long-term deficiency can cause permanent dementia and a variety of other serious illnesses. Pregnant women who do not get enough vitamin B12 during pregnancy are at a higher risk of giving birth to a baby with serious—and sometimes deadly—neural tube defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly.

Because vitamin B12 is water soluble, our cells do not store it in any significant amount. Going even a short time without foods or vitamins containing B12 can result in noticeable health effects. Most people who eat animal products usually get enough of this critical vitamin in their diets, as it is present in high levels in meat and eggs. However, there are times in life when your vitamin needs increase sharply, beyond what a typical Western diet can support. Pregnancy is one of these times. Pregnant women, especially those who do not eat a lot of animal products, are at e high risk of a B12 deficiency.

The Importance of Vitamin B12 During Pregnancy

According to new research, a vitamin B12 deficiency during pregnancy may have more effects than previously realized. Even babies who are born appearing to be in good health may suffer the consequences over their lifetimes. In one study, vitamin B12 levels were measured in pregnant women and both their and their babies’ health was analyzed. Babies born to mothers with a B12 deficiency had markedly lower levels of leptin, which is known as the “satiety hormone.” Low levels of leptin cause a person to need to eat more to feel satisfied, predisposing them to obesity, type 2 diabetes and other diseases. They also stored more fat. While extra fat stores are generally healthy in an infant, they can be a health problem later in life. Even worse, babies whose mothers had low vitamin B12 during pregnancy were more likely to become diabetic later in life.

This was a small study so it will need to be repeated to confirm the results. However, researchers and doctors are already calling for an increase in the recommended intake of vitamin B12 during pregnancy to ensure that women get ample amounts of this critical vitamin. With a large proportion of the population struggling with obesity, diabetes and the many related health problems, it is important to ensure we have the basic building blocks we need for a healthy metabolism. This is especially true when we are eating for two, such as when pregnant or breastfeeding.

I Thought Eating Too Much Meat Was Bad for Me?

The irony of this and other studies underscoring the importance of vitamin B12 during pregnancy and throughout one’s life is that many people believe they must cut back on meat and other B12-rich foods to improve their health. While eating a lot of animal products can negatively affect your health, these foods do contain nutrients that we need to be healthy and to bear healthy children. Ultimately, a well-balanced diet appears to be the key to leading a healthy life both in pregnancy and beyond. Pregnant women should eat a variety of foods and also take a high-quality prenatal multivitamin supplement to ensure their high nutritional needs are met. This is especially true for women who are vegetarian or unable to get enough animal products in their diet.

It is important for pregnant and breastfeeding women to talk to their doctors about any supplements that they are taking. However, during pregnancy, most doctors recommend taking a prenatal vitamin formula to ensure that you always have the building blocks that you and your baby need to enjoy optimal health. Eating a well-rounded diet and taking vitamins is an important way of giving your children the best chance at leading long, healthy lives.

Researchers Reveal the Best Time of Day for Decision Making

Nov 09 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

We make a plethora of decisions every day of our lives, from which shoes to wear to which politician to vote for in elections. Although we do not consciously realize it, a great deal of neurological activity goes into making even minor choices. During the decision-making process, neurons in three different areas of the brain communicate with each in a series of rapid firings that can take less than a second. Our brains balance risk, the likelihood of reward and emotions with our own life experiences, memories and knowledge. This intense brain activity results (ideally) in a clear decision that suits our values and needs.

However, there are differences in the way we make decisions at different times of day. You may be surprised to find out that the decision you make in the morning is very different from the decision you might have made late at night. Even more surprisingly, researchers can predict how your decision making varies throughout your day.

Time of Day and Decision Making

How can researchers study the way you make decisions? There are a variety of approaches; some use logic-based games such as chess while others look at the choices made by professional decision makers, such as judges, throughout their day. Regardless of the approach, research has found that there is a clear pattern. People are more likely to make decisions with higher risk and higher potential for reward early in the morning. As the day wears on, we become more likely to make the safe choice even if we stand to gain a great deal less.

Why do humans make different decisions at different times of day in such a predictable manner? There appear to be multiple factors at play, including levels of neurotransmitters, a phenomenon known as decision fatigue and even the chronotype of the decision maker.

Serotonin: How the Happy Hormone Influences Your Choices

Serotonin is a brain chemical usually associated with happiness. A shortage of serotonin can cause depression and other mental illnesses, but it’s also important for relaying messages between different areas of the brain. According to new research, serotonin levels may be a factor in why you make varying decisions at different times of the day. High serotonin levels calm us and make us more likely to take risks. As the day wears on, we begin to make decisions that involve less risk (and often less reward) due to a decreasing amount of this vital neurotransmitter.

The results of lower serotonin levels can have serious consequences. Judges who hear parole cases all day are far more likely to grant parole early in the morning as well as after breaks. People who have parole hearings later are much more likely to see them denied. The truth is, we all engage in a different reasoning process as the day wears on. This is due to mental fatigue resulting from using up stores of serotonin and other neurotransmitters needed to effectively weigh risks and rewards.

Decision Fatigue: When You’re Just Tired of Making Choices

Have you ever gotten tired of making decisions? This is a universal phenomenon known as decision fatigue. Unfortunately, we all must make a variety of significant and less significant decisions throughout our day, leaving the areas of our brains that are involved in these processes less energetic. Should you get up early to prepare a healthier breakfast or sleep in and grab a cup of coffee instead? Even these little decisions quickly add up to a tired brain.

Decision fatigue is becoming more of an issue in the modern world. While people in days gone by might make a handful of decisions every day, we have more choices, and thus are more likely to become fatigued. We have several pairs of shoes, many options for breakfast, and a variety of decisions to be made before we even walk out the door. This adds up to minds that are simply tired and lacking the ability to weigh risks and rewards in a way that leads to good decision making. The degree of decision fatigue also may be affected by our unique chronotypes. While we all suffer from the effects of depleted neurotransmitters, “morning larks” tend to think best earlier in the day while so-called “night owls” appear to make their best decisions at night.

Improving Your Decision Making

If you would like to improve your decision making at times of the day when it is a problem for you, consider these helpful tips. First, make big decisions early in the day, when your brain is fresh. Eat and take a short break before agreeing to any potential plan or solution. If you speak a foreign language, try thinking about your decision in it. Research has found that people often think more rationally when using a foreign language because they lack the idiomatic knowledge to fall prey to emotional arguments. Last, get some air. High oxygen and low carbon dioxide both help your brain to react as calmly and rationally possible.

Researchers are still studying how the time of day for making the best decisions coincides with our circadian rhythms. Until we have performed more study in this area, it’s best to get quality sleep, care for your internal clocks, and keep as close to your inborn sleep-wake pattern as possible. Sleep is essential to living a long and healthy life.

Children and Sleep: The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Behavior and Health

Oct 21 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink. Putting children to bed is a similar experience for many exhausted parents. You can go through a bedtime routine and tuck the little ones in at an early hour, but there is no “off” button. Some children lie awake for hours or get out of bed repeatedly asking for glasses of water and other diversions. This can lead to sleep deprivation for the whole family. Unfortunately, studies on children and sleep show that sleep deprivation can create behavioral issues and even affect children’s future physical health.

Children and Sleep: Is Lack of Sleep a National Epidemic?

There are hundreds of books on the market instructing parents on how to get their children to sleep. Many of these are focused on infants, who notoriously keep their parents awake at night. However, sleep deprivation is an issue for older children as well. Six out of ten middle-schoolers and almost 90 percent of teens do not get the sleep they need, according to pediatricians. School-aged children also are missing out on the valuable shut-eye that they need in large and ever-increasing numbers.

This sleep deprivation can have devastating effects on physical health and even behavior. American pediatricians have called for a variety of measures to remedy this, including later school times and earlier bed times. However, the problem appears to be worsening. Children are getting less sleep than ever in the U.S. and throughout the Western world. This is worsening to the point where some pediatricians have called sleep deprivation a public health crisis.

The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Growing Minds and Bodies

Unfortunately, sleep deprivation does not come without a cost. Going to bed late, even in the preschool years, is tied to obesity. Because having a healthy circadian rhythm is necessary to a variety of metabolic processes, children who grow up consistently getting lower than recommended amounts of sleep later are more prone to unhealthy weight gain. This is especially true for children who come from low-income households, who are minorities, or who have less educated mothers—in other words, children who are already statistically at a higher risk of health problems than their peers.

The effects of sleep deprivation do not merely affect weight, but behavior as well. Adults who get less than adequate sleep are more emotionally labile and this appears to be true for children as well. In children, this may manifest as poor behavior. In addition, children who do not get enough sleep are at higher risk of depression and anxiety later on in life. For many families, this creates a downward spiral in which sleep deprivation creates bedtime behavior problems, which in turn create more sleep deprivation for both parents and tots.

Natural Solutions to Bedtime Drama

While melatonin helps many adults to nod off at bedtime, the jury is out as to whether it can be effective in breaking the link between poorly-behaved children and sleep deprivation. Melatonin appears to help children fall asleep faster, but it also has more side effects in those who are young, including headaches and appetite loss. It has been shown to help children with ADHD fall asleep, but these results are preliminary and will have to be further studied. Because its long-term effects on children have not been adequately studied, parents should talk to their pediatrician about whether this is the right choice for their family.

There are other ways that parents can help children to get enough sleep. Experts recommend turning off screens and dimming lights well before bedtime. Having a relaxing and unchanging bedtime routine also can help children to fall asleep. Light therapy during the day may be helpful for children who suffer from a delayed sleep phase, in which children have a circadian clock that runs a bit late. Last, avoid exposure to caffeine and nicotine, which is present in secondhand smoke. These stimulants are always bad for children, but they can have the additional effect of keeping them awake well after they’re tucked into bed.

Getting children to bed in time for a restful night of sleep may not always be easy, but the alternatives can be devastating to physical and emotional health. There are a variety of healthy, natural ways to help children get the sleep they need to be healthy and happy throughout their days and well into adulthood.

The Health Benefits of Omega 3 for Children

Sep 22 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Many adults take a daily fish oil or flaxseed oil supplement to ensure they’re getting enough omega-3 fatty acids. There are a multitude of benefits to these supplements, from better cardiovascular health and improved joint function, to an improved attention span, mood and cognitive function. However, there may be special benefits in omega 3 for children as well, according to several recent studies.

Omega 3 for Children: A Cure for Academic and Behavioral Problems?

Omega-3 fatty acids have been touted as anti-aging nutrients for the brain. However, their effects on the brain are remarkable in the realm of encouraging healthy development as well. Several recent studies have looked at the effects of omega 3 fatty acids for children and found that they can have an immensely positive effect on brain function, even in developing minds.

In one study, third graders were randomly assigned to two groups, one receiving omega-3 supplements and one receiving a placebo. After three months, the reading skills of children taking the supplements had improved faster than those of the group who went without. The classmates were then all given supplements and soon the control group also saw benefits.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Behavior

Omega-3 fatty acids also may improve behavior by reducing aggression, according to another study of supplements containing omega 3 for children. Children of 11 and 12 years who had a history of aggression were placed in groups receiving a variety of therapies, including cognitive behavioral therapy and supplements believed to build the brain. Kids who received a mixture of therapy and omega-3 supplements saw a greater improvement in behavior than the other groups. Because this study only looked at the short-term, it is unknown how these children were affected over their lifespan. However, omega-3 supplements do appear to have an effect on behavior, especially when it comes to aggressive behavior.

How Can Omega-3 Fatty Acids Have Such an Immense Effect?

According to researchers, fatty acids affect our bodies in a variety of positive ways. First, they are a good source of the fatty building blocks needed to myelinate nerve cells. Myelin acts as an insulator for nerve cells so they can send signals more rapidly. While we are young, we are still building new neural connections (and myelinating them!) so supplements containing omega 3 for children can be of huge benefit.

In addition, fish oils containing omega-3 fatty acids appear to be good for almost every cell in the human body. They are a rich source of vitamins such as vitamin D as well as fatty acids of which the standard American diet is deficient. They also have been found to lubricate joints, allowing better mobility and less chronic joint pain as we age. The benefits of these tiny supplements are huge, which is why many adults take them. However, the benefits appear to be even greater for children.

Getting Enough Omega Fatty Acids in Your Diet

Why do we need an omega-3 supplement? Can’t we just get enough of these oils in our daily diets? In theory, we absolutely can. However, in practice, this is a very difficult task. Our ancestors ate plenty of foods that contained a healthy balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, such as oily fish, nuts, seeds and leafy green vegetables. Yet, the average Western diet is high in processed foods and thus low in these vital nutrients. When foods do provide fatty acids, it’s often in an unhealthy ratio heavy in omega-6 fatty acids. For many people, getting enough omega-3 fatty acids is almost impossible. This is especially true for children, who need much higher nutrient density in their diets, yet are often picky eaters. For many Western people, including most children, supplements are the easiest way to ensure that our diets have all of the nutrients that we need for optimal health.

While the individual studies on the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids are generally small, together they comprise a huge body of research that cannot be ignored. There are many health benefits to taking an omega-3 supplement, regardless of your age. The health benefits are too great and too far-reaching to be without these fatty acids in your daily diet.

Researchers Uncover the Intricate Relationship Between Sleep and Memory

Aug 24 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Many neurological processes, such as remembering to breathe without even thinking about it, are well-understood. However, there are a few areas where modern science is just beginning to discover the truth. Sleep and memory are two such areas. We know a lot about the basics of these two important activities, but there are a myriad of details that we do not totally understand. New research suggests that there may be a link between these two mysteries of the brain.

How Do We Form Memories?

On the surface, memory seems like a simple process. Humans remember vast numbers of details, from their children’s names to how to scramble an egg. However, there is a complex mechanism underlying the simple task of remembering. The first step is memory acquisition, in which we transform our perceptions into a set of sensations that can be sent to the brain. This occurs mainly in the hippocampus of our brains and places each memory in short-term memory. If we encounter the same information again and again, the memory then undergoes consolidation, during which it gets stored in our long-term memory. In consolidation, the memory is moved from the hippocampus to the prefrontal lobe. The final stage is recall, in which we pull up the memory as needed.

Not only are there different stages involved in forming a memory, but there are different types of memory as well. These memories are each stored in different ways and processed at different times. For example, declarative memory is the memory of “just the facts” and is processed in the REM and slow-wave phases of sleep. This is the type of memory that allows you to remember your address. Procedural memory is the memory of how to do something, such as how to get from your job to your home. This also is processed in REM and slow-wave sleep, although it appears to be processed at different times during these sleep phases. Because sleep is important when it comes to processing these two different types of memory, it makes sense that sleep and memory are somehow linked.

A Link Between Sleep and Memory

There have been several studies indicating a link between sleep and memory. One experiment looked at memory recall after taking a nap. People who had more REM sleep and higher levels of change in autonomic activity had better recall of a video they had seen earlier in the day. Interestingly, the change in autonomic activity such as heart rate seemed to predict memory abilities better than the amount of REM sleep.

While the waking brain is optimized to collect information, our sleeping brains appear to be best at processing and storing it. So how does lack of sleep, a condition suffered by millions in the United States alone, affect your memory?

Can Sleep Deprivation Affect Memory?

Unsurprisingly, losing sleep either from a busy lifestyle or a sleep disorder can affect your memory intensely. This appears to be due to a resulting lack of memory consolidation, the process of moving items from short-term to long-term memory. If you seem to have to look up the same information over and over or cannot remember a coworker’s name despite seeing them regularly, memory consolidation (and by extension a lack of sleep) may be the issue.

People who miss out on sleep fail to make new memories but also fail to recall old ones. Research has found that sleep can affect the function of the prefrontal lobe, and people who do not get enough sleep on a regular basis have been found to have changes in prefrontal lobe. Coincidentally, or not, these people also experience a dip in memories and begin suffering from the memory loss seen in dementia. Your sleep may be one of the most important factors in how easily you remember the details and facts that make up your memories and knowledge base.

Are you getting enough sleep? If you are like many people in the Western world, the answer is an emphatic no. However, you may not have realized that this may be causing a variety of mental and physical health issues. Getting enough sleep, both in quality and quantity, is not only essential to healthy cognitive function and memory, it’s crucial to leading a healthy and happy life.