Blood pressure The heart is a pump that keeps blood moving through your arteries in order to deliver oxygen and nutrients to every tissue and organ in your body. You need a certain amount of pressure in your arteries to keep the blood flowing. Your blood pressure reading
Overweight or obese and wanting to lose weight? Which diet would be best to follow – a low-fat or low-carbohydrate diet? If you have a genetic predisposition to do better on one of these diets, what difference would it make? What role does your level of insulin secretion play in your
The role carbs play: Carbohydrates (carbs) in your diet provide glucose, which is the primary source of energy for the body and the brain. Glucose also provides energy to the body’s organs, muscles and nervous system. Glucose enters the blood stream after eating carbs and is the main sugar found
The end caps on a shoestring: Imagine pointing an electron microscope at your little finger and enhancing the image until an individual cell in the skin appears. Adjust a little more until you are able to see inside the cell. A number of Duracell batteries (the mitochondria) powers up the
What is invisible light? Harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun do not fall within the realm of visible light and form a portion of the spectrum of invisible light from 286nm (nanometers) to 400nm. This portion of invisible light is deemed to be harmful to the eyes. The harmful
What is blue light? Light that the human eye is able to see is known as visible light, which consists of wavelengths of varying lengths that are seen as different colours by the human eye. Blue light has a fairly short wavelength and is found close to the invisible, but
Have you ever wondered which factors contribute to a good life? Why do some people live happy lives? And others not? A study tracking the lives of 724 men over the past 78 years has come up with some very interesting findings. This Harvard Study of Adult Development has found
Let’s face it, people smoke because they enjoy it. When you inhale nicotine, it immediately rushes to the brain, resulting in feelings of pleasure and reduced stress and anxiety. The pleasurable sensations result from nicotine stimulating the release of the chemicals dopamine and noradrenaline in the brain. How can something
Research has linked certain foods to a higher risk of developing cancer and incidentally the same foods also poses a higher risk of developing diabetes. It follows that the very same foods would also pose a risk to one’s health in general, and the healthiest option would be to avoid
Magnesium is an essential mineral that is naturally present in a variety of foods. It plays an important role in many enzyme systems that regulate a wide range of biochemical reactions in the body, the major ones being in bone health, calcium absorption, diabetes, and heart health. It also plays
