Study Shows that Tea Helps Prevent Dementia

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According to a study from NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in China, drinking tea can help elderly individuals reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Based on a study of almost 1,000 Chinese aged 55 and older, researchers found that drinking tea daily can reduce cognitive decay by as much as 50%. What's more is that cognitive decay can be reduced by as much as 86% for people with genetic predispositions towards Alzheimer’s.

Researchers began the study in 2003 and followed up every two years until 2010. Though there has been a lot of research and drug trials, effective therapies for cognitive decline have been difficult to develop so far. The hope is that this study will help researchers develop a new drug that can be used to either prevent or reverse the effects of cognitive decay. 

The more we learn about Alzheimer’s and other cognitive disorders, the better we’ll come to understand the human brain. That could also help us to develop ways to better understand developmental issues that arise in younger people as well. 

While cognitive decline is generally a problem faced by older people, children can face a variety of cognitive impairments, too. There's even evidence to suggest that since the bioactive ingredients of tea aid healthy brain development, tea can provide cognitive benefits to children as well.

The issue of giving kids caffeine at an early age could be problematic, but this is a situation in which the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Plus, the amount of caffeine present in tea isn't nearly as high as the amount of caffeine in coffee. In fact, in many parts of the world, it's not uncommon for children as young as five to drink tea.

Either which way you look at it, this is a pretty safe and low-cost alternative to modern medicine. Better yet, there are little to no risks associated with drinking tea, so those who want to try it don't have much to lose. 

How Does Sugar Really Affect Your Brain?

Sugar activates our body's reward system.
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This week, I’d like to share a video I discovered on Ted-Ed. With animation by STK Films and narration by Nicole Avena, it’s a short and concise version of what how sugar affects our brains.

Avena begins the video by defining sugar in its various forms. Basically, sugar is a broad term that refers to soluble carbohydrates: glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, dextrose, starch, corn syrup, raw sugar, and honey are all different “sugars” that are found in food.

Sugar is sneaky, too. It’s not just in candy bars and lollipops—look on the back label of many sauces, yogurts, and even canned tomatoes, and you’re likely to find sugar. Because of its prevalence in such a wide variety of foods, it can be incredibly hard to avoid.

With all the bad press sugar gets, you’d think we would have learned by now to just stop eating it. Unfortunately, that’s also difficult to do. When we eat sugar—in any form—it activates taste receptors on our tongues, which then send signals to the brain that tell it to activate a reward system. The release of dopamine into our systems is our brain’s way of saying, “Yum! You should eat that again!”

While sweets every once in a while won’t really hurt us, overactivating this reward system creates problems throughout the body. We become more tolerant to sugar, more likely to become obese, start craving sweets more, and find it harder to control our eating habits and cravings. Sugar isn’t dissimilar to alcohol and drugs in that way. The more often we send our bodies into that dopamine high, the more our bodies will crave it.

Check out the video below and let me know what you think:

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Spotlight: Melatonin, the “Dracula of Hormones”

Can melatonin help cure insomnia?
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About a year ago, a co-worker told me that when she had trouble sleeping, she just took a small dose of melatonin and that helped her sleep through the night and wake feeling well rested. I had been having trouble falling asleep at night, and I asked her to tell me more. She told me that melatonin was a natural hormone and was sold over the counter for a relatively inexpensive amount. It sparked my curiosity, but I was too overwhelmed with work at the time to research it further.

I have a good friend who suffers from insomnia. She sometimes goes days without getting more than a few hours of sleep—and not for lack of trying. She often “rests” on days like that, which means she often spends hours lying in bed, exhausted, trying to fall asleep. From time to time I have bouts of sleep trouble as well, tossing and turning for several hours before drifting off into an uncomfortable sleep, only to reawaken a few hours later. As I continued to hear stories from my friend about her inability to sleep, I kept asking myself about melatonin. Finally, I sat down to learn more. Here’s what I discovered:

Image from crystalinks.com

• Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone produced by the pineal gland in our brains, which is a pea-shaped gland just above the center of our brains. It is produced to help control our sleep cycles, with larger quantities of it being produced starting around 9 PM and lasting until about 9 AM—our natural sleep hours.
• Melatonin is found in some foods naturally, which is why it is the only hormone that the FDA allows to be sold as a dietary supplement.
• Light directly affects how much melatonin our brains produce, which is part of what leads to symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
• Melatonin is generally produced in higher amounts in children and adolescents, with that amount naturally dropping off as we age. Some older adults only make small amounts or none at all.
• Not enough research has been done on melatonin, but scientists are looking into using it as a treatment for SAD, to help control sleep patterns, preventing/reducing sleeping problems after surgery, and reducing chronic clutter headaches.
• It’s possible that melatonin may help slow or even stop the spread of cancer, slow aging, and strengthen the immune system.
• Melatonin seems to help some people struggling with sleep problems, but during formal research it was shown to be ineffective as a sleeping pill. There is evidence, however, that it can help reset our internal clock—though whether it is more effective than light remains to be seen.
• Some research suggests melatonin may help people fall asleep faster. It could also help those working night shifts adjust their schedules. It may also be an effective treatment for jet lag. For the treatment of insomnia, the study results have thus far been inconclusive.

Image from gnc.com

In sum, melatonin may or may not be effective as a sleeping aid. The good news is that there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that use of it could be harmful, so it could be a good option to try if you’re wary of prescription sleeping pills (as I am). Dosage can vary from 0.2 mg to 20 mg, though, so if you’re considering giving it a go, you should discuss dosage with your doctor first.