A new policy statement by doctors from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says that middle and high schools should move their start times from 7:30 or 8 a.m. to at least 8:30 because it would be better for the students’ health and welfare.

The statement, released in the journal Pediatrics, focuses on the negative effects of poor sleep, including but not limited to increased risks of depression, anxiety and obesity. The report also noted that insufficient sleep can affect school performance.

Doctors who contributed to the statement discussed findings that later school start times have been linked to higher graduation and attendance rates and better alertness and performance reported by students.

Whether schools are able to implement a later start time—which can be challenging due to political, logistical and financial factors— students should take it upon themselves to go to bed by around 10 p.m. and get eight to nine hours of sleep per night, the doctors said. They also noted that it’s important to wake up at a consistent time on weekdays and weekends.

NEXT: 7 juices to keep you healthy all week (infographic)

Sourced from: Reuters, Delay morning school start for teens: pediatricians

The more romantic partners a person has had as a single person may affect the quality of his or her marriage, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Denver, involved more than 1,000 Americans between ages 18 and 34 who were in a relationship but unmarried. the scientists collected data from this group for five years. Throughout the study, 418 of the participants got married, after which the researchers asked questions about their relationship histories, past romantic experiences and quality of their current marriages. Factors such as race and ethnicity, income, education and religion were controlled in the study.

The results of the study showed that on average, the people who had more relationships prior to getting married reported having a lower marital quality, when compared with those who had fewer relationships prior to marriage.

The researchers said that one explanation for their findings could be that people with more relationship experience may be more likely to compare current partners with past partners in terms of attractiveness and sexual compatibility, which could ultimately lead to greater dissatisfaction.

The study suggests that romantic partners may benefit from discussing past experiences with each other prior to marriage. The researchers noted, however, that many other factors—such as a lack of communication and impulsive actions—could also contribute to lower quality marriages.

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Sourced from: Medical News Today, Could relationship history hinder your chance of a happy marriage?

Scientists at Princeton University have developed a laser technique to measure people’s blood sugar, which they said could replace the current needle-pricking method used by people with diabetess.

The laser works by passing through the skin cells of a person’s palm and is then partially absorbed by the person’s body’s sugar molecules. By measuring the level of absorption, the user is  able to measure the level of blood sugar.

The laser technique, described in the journal Biomedical Optics Express, is referred to as a quantum cascade laser. Unlike other types of lasers, it can be set to various frequencies. For this study, researchers produced a laser in the mid-infrared frequency, which allowed them to penetrate skin cells without causing damage.

To test the technique, the researchers recruited three healthy volunteers. They used the laser to measure the volunteers’ blood sugar levels before and after eating 20 jellybeans. The researchers also used the finger-prick technique, and they repeated the measurements over several weeks.

The results of the study showed that the laser measurement readings were less accurate than those of the finger-prick test; however, the laser readings were still about 84 percent accurate, which is within the clinical requirement for glucose monitor accuracy.

Researchers said that further studies and improvements to the laser technique may have implications for diabetics as well as for other medical sensing and monitoring applications.

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Sourced from: ScienceDaily, Laser device may end pin pricks, improve quality of life for diabetics

Obesity may increase risk of dementia for people who experience the condition in early to mid-life, according to a new study.

Scientists at the University of Oxford in the U.K. analyzed data on more than 450,000 individuals with obesity, 57 percent of whom were women. The researchers looked at their hospital records between 1999 and 2011 and specifically at care received for dementia.

The researchers found that the individuals between ages 30 and 39 with obesity were about 3.5 times more likely to develop dementia when compared with people the same age who did not have obesity. People with obesity in this age group were also found to be the most likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease—the most common form of dementia.

While previous studies have found that obesity may be associated with increased risk of dementia, the new study, published in the Postgraduate Medical Journal, suggests that the risk may also be dependent on age. The study also found that in older age groups, individuals with obesity were still more likely to develop dementia than non-obese individuals, but the risk of developing dementia among the people with obesity decreased with age.

The researchers called the findings “surprising” but noted that they do not establish a cause-and-effect relationship. If further studies can confirm that dementia is a hazard of obesity, they will add to the importance of addressing the epidemic, researchers concluded.

NEXT: Laser may replace pin pricks for people with diabetes

Sourced from: Medical News Today, Medical News Today

Whether a person experiences a hangover after a night of drinking may depend, at least in part, on genetics, according to new research.

Scientists at the University of Missouri-Columbia collected data on about 4,000 middle-aged twins in Australia from the Australian Twin Registry. The researchers had all participants take a telephone survey, which included questions about alcohol consumption and experiences with hangovers—particularly “hangover resistance”—whether they had ever experienced a hangover after becoming drunk—and “hangover frequency”—the number of days in the past year on which they felt sick the day after drinking.

The researchers found that nearly half of the reason why a person may experience a hangover and another doesn’t was due to genetics. The differences in hangover frequency among women were 45 percent due to genetics, whereas the number was 40 for men. The other reasons why certain people experience more hangovers than others is likely to be due to non-genetic factors such as alcohol tolerance, how quickly a person drinks and whether he or she has eaten beforehand.

The researchers also examined the gene variants involved in increased risk of having hangovers and found that the study participants with those variants were also more likely to drink alcohol to the point of intoxication.

The study’s findings suggest that genes may play a role both in how frequently a person chooses to consume alcohol as well as how susceptible he or she is to hangovers. Further studies on genes associated with alcoholism may lead to better techniques for dealing with alcohol addiction, the researchers said.

NEXT: Many past partners may lower chance of happy marriage

Sourced from: LiveScience, Hangovers Are About Half Genetic

Here are seven different drinks you can make for yourself, each with its own benefit .