Have scientists discovered the root of emotional eating?

The April/May/June issue of Scientific American Mind has a brief review of a study out of Columbia University. The sub-head of the article is "Lowering blood sugar levels may thwart forgetfulness."

This maybe a reason why we crave carbs after an upsetting experience. Comfort foods raise our blood sugar and impair memory creation. This memory blocking mechanism also plays a role in memory degradation as we age. Of course the researcher immediately jumps on the exercise band wagon as the answer to insulin resistance. Me? I'll just keep my carbs low.

Senior moments, those pesky instances of not so total recall—forgetting where we left our keys or what we did last weekend—are a subtle but significant part of the aging process. Another effect of growing old: rising blood sugar levels, which typically take off in our late 30s or early 40s as our bodies become less adept at metabolizing glucose in the bloodstream. Now a study has linked these rising levels with momentary forgetfulness, pinpointing exactly where in the brain the aging process acts—a finding that could help the elderly ward off memory lapses.The nature of senior moments led scientists to believe they stem from disruptions in the hippocampus—an area that, among other roles, acts as the brain’s “save” button, allowing us to retain new information. Using functional MRI, researchers looked at the effects of increased blood glucose in the hippocampus of 181 subjects aged 65 or older with no history of dementia. They found that elevated levels impaired function of a section of the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus, which is a “hotspot” of age-related impairment, according to study author Scott Small, a neurologist at Columbia University.Blood glucose is not alone in selectively affecting dentate gyrus performance. A 2007 study co-authored by Small shows that exercise improves its function in both mice and humans. The newer research, he points out, suggests that these positive effects may actually result from the influence of regular exercise on the body’s ability to break down glucose.Psychiatrist Mony de Leon of New York University explains that the new study “may be showing a very funda­mental aging process that might have some reversibility built into it.” If you correct the glucose intolerance, he says, you may be able to forget about forgetfulness.

Remembering the Alamo

I'm visiting San Antonio with the Hamilton College Women's Lacrosse Team Spring break training trip. The weather is 43 and cloudy, but 43 in San Antonio is a completely different animal than 43 in Deansboro, NY. We play two games against Salisbury and Rowan on Wednesday and Thursday. Wish us luck!

Eating right while traveling isn't easy! I managed to stay away from carbs, but didn't get enough Yin foods and I feel a bit off. Looking for some good Texas beef today. That will help.

Why lying in bed awake is good for you

Dr. Thomas Wehr at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), studied what happens when we sleep very long nights, mimicking deep winter when night are very very long. Before electric lights we would go to bed early.

"Early to bed, early to rise, make a man healthy, wealthy and wise." -- Benjamin Franklin

In the early morning, it was still dark so we would stay in bed in a half-awake almost meditative state. Modern day brain wave readings of people in this half-awake state were similar to people in a transcendental meditative state. Dr. Wehr states that the hormone prolactin, released at night, "probably facilitates the switch to a 'quiescent wakefulness'." That's a fancy scientific way of saying half-awake. Now how many of you get out of bed to do something "productive" if you enter this phase of sleep?

My advice is don't. Stay warm in bed with the lights out. Daydream. Plan your day. Meditate. Pray. Envision world peace. Then get up when you are supposed to with the sun.

Dr. Thomas Wehr at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), studied the difference between getting a short night of sleep versus a long night's sleep. What he found was that short nights:

• reduced melatonin secretion which impairs your immune cells
• melatonin is a potent antioxidant and low levels reduce your body's ability to repair itself
• shifting of the hormone prolactin (in men and women) to daytime production which increases carbohydrate cravings