Sleep is good for a new reason. It selectively heightens memories we expect to need in the future. A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience tested 141 healthy adults on tasks that involved recalling words, locating two-dimensional objects and reproducing a series of finger taps. After a night's sleep of 7-8 hours, participants who knew they'd be tested again were better at remembering how to complete the tasks than those who didn't know about future testing. Participants who didn't sleep didn't show memory improvement whether or not they knew about being retested. Obviously, it isn't good to lose sleep worrying about upcoming tests.
Obesity is always bad, but it's bad for a new reason. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed the shift in the age of stroke victims to the obesity epidemic. CDCP researchers compared a nationwide sample of stroke hospitalizations during 1994 and 1995 with those in 2006 and 2007. Although the elderly continued to have the most strokes, the sharpest rise in stroke hospitalizations - 51% - occurred among men under 35, including teenage boys. Strokes among women in the same age group increased 17%. It seems that young and middle-aged Americans are putting "fat" in fate.
Sugary sodas are bad because they're fattening, but substituting diet sodas could be bad too. A study by the University of Miami surveyed 2,564 north Manhattans about their eating, exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption. The volunteers were also given physicals. After 9 years the researchers found that the volunteers who drank diet sodas every day had a 61% higher risk of heart attack and stroke than those who didn't drink diet soda at all. It seems people with risk factors for vascular disease - high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking and cardiovascular disease - might want to give up "die-t" sodas.
However, love is good for our health. Love prevents loneliness; and according to a UCLA study, chronically lonely people have more internal inflammation that can lead to cardiovascular disease and cancer. A 2008 study found blood pressure was lower for married people than for unmarried people and was highest for unhappily married people. A Carnegie Mellon University study found people in love got fewer colds. However, a December 2010 study found that although single women stayed fit and divorced men got more fit, married women and remarried men got less fit. Regarding health, love isn't always a perfect fit.
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