How Tired is too Tired?

A common issue many people have is not getting enough sleep. Recently in the news there has been a lot of talk about sleep deprivation and the negative effects it can have on a person. How tired is too tired when it can become dangerous. One reason it has drawn concern is because there is still no way to measure how tired/sleepy someone is. The article I found about this topic stated some very interesting facts about how tiredness is becoming a very serious issue. The article stated 1 in 5 car accidents are related to “drowsy” driving and most people can’t recognize when they are too tired to operate a vehicle safely. Recently a conference was held that had 150 academic and industry researchers to try to come up with a solution on how to measure sleepiness. The end result of the conference was there is still currently no solution. I was surprised to learn that sleep deprivation can impair a person’s performance as much or more than alcohol. I think many college students think that if they get 6 hours of sleep they had a good night, but this is not true. Only getting 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night for a week can have the same effect on you as if you pulled an all-nighter said Dr. Czeisler, chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Another myth is that coffee can help wake us up and improve our performance but that is not true. Caffeine might help make us feel less sleepy but actually being deprived of sleep still negatively affects your ability to function normally. Being a college student myself, I need to start being more aware of the amount of sleep I am actually getting to avoid making my performance level decrease, too read more click here.

Pom Wonderful not so Wonderful

The media plays a powerful role on how the public perceives different products. Many products are promoted by the health benefit you can receive from them. Although the advertisements can be convincing, do we really know how good the product is and are we actually getting all the benefits the company says we are from their product. Recently in the news the popular pomegranate juice drink Pom Wonderful has been under scrutiny by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC has accused Pom Wonderful of having no evidence to support their claims that their juice helps health issues. Pom Wonderful juice is advertised to help reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer and other health benefits. Currently the FTC is preventing Pom Wonderful to put out any claims of the juices benefits until they can back it up with evidence through the Food and Drug Administration. Pom Wonderful is denying these claims so we will have to keep our eye out of the results of what this juice can actually do for us. I found this interesting because you have to be careful not believe everything you heard about a product. It is easy for companies to embellish the truth to help promote there product over another one. If you would like to read more about this topic: Click Here

Sugary Beverages Ban

In the Boston Globe I read an article about how the government is trying to make an impact on a healthier lifestyle by reducing sugary beverages in public places. As of right now Boston officials are discussing “whether to restrict or even prohibit the sale of calorie-laden refreshments on city-owned property.” The article talks about research that has shown that an American’s daily calorie intake from sugary drinks in the last 30 years has increase from 70 to 190 calories per day. Different people in the article seem to have mixed feelings about banning the sugary drinks all together. When I first started high school students had access to vending machines containing soda but halfway through my 4 years there all of those machines were removed. I think that public schools should definitely limit students on what they are able to purchase. I do think it is a good idea for public government building to do the same to encourage people to make healthier choices. There are some negative aspects to this happening as well. A Boston firehouse was interviewed that said they use the profit from there soda machines as a way to buy supplies for the firehouse. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future with this. There is a link to the full article: click here.