BIS MAGAZINE/BIS Food and Drink News.../BIS Healthy Living

BIS HEALTHY LIVING

 

Siesta Time!

For centuries Spanish people have been seen to abandon work at mid-afternoon to head home for lunch and for a well deserved snooze.

Long days at work and late nights with friends have always been part of the Spanish way of living. For many Spaniards taking a siesta was just a way of making it all more manageable. However, this long cherished tradition seems to have become an endangered institution in recent years. The country's growing corporate culture now regards the idea of daytime dozing as being unproductive. As a result, Spain is fast becoming a nation of sleep deprivation. Globalisation in the workplace and the rising number of multinational companies in Spain means businesspeople can simply not afford to disappear from their desks for hours.

Less and less people take a siesta these days and according to some studies Spaniards now sleep about an hour less than the average European. Some people would like to see their working days shortened in line with the rest of Europe. Many people also believe that the high rates of accidents on the road, at home and at work are stress related and that new expanding non siesta culture is just another example of how much the traditional Spanish way of life seems to be threatened by the modern world.

Are there any real benefits of taking a siesta?

While most people would agree that the traditional two hour snooze is a little bit excessive, doctors say that a brief shut eye at midday keeps stress levels low and helps prevent heart disease.

After all, perhaps Spaniards should not yet renounce to this long practised habit altogether…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And on a similar note…

According to PsychologyToday.com, there are some further additional reasons for taking sleeping habits very seriously.

 

Did you know that…?

 

1. A midday nap reverses information overload.
2. The late stage of sleep – sometimes missed by early risers- can boost by 20 per cent your acquisition of coordination crucial for playing a sport, a musical instrument, or any fine motor control.
3. Sleep strengthens the nerve circuits that underlie learning and memory allowing the brain to make and consolidate new neural connections.
4. Missing out on sleep seriously impairs the body’s ability to process blood sugar, impeding the action of insulin much as in diabetes. Sleep deprivation may be an important contributor to obesity. It also elevates the stress hormone cortisol.
5. Sleeping for six hours a night may sound pretty good, but it’s likely not enough to keep your immune system happy. Restricting your sleep by a mere two hours a night for one week provokes the process of inflammation, which may set people up for heart disease.
6. Sleep deprivation curtails your ability to come up with creative solutions to life’s challenges.

 

Sleep also organises the memories of habits, actions and skilled learned during the day. Sleep gives you the mental energy to master complex tasks and the ability to concentrate.

 

In other words, success doesn’t just come from what you accomplish when you are awake.

 

So maybe it’s time we stopped overlooking the real importance of adequate sleep…

 

 

Sweet dreams!

 

 

 

  

 

Junk is banned

 

 

 

 

The U.K fight against child obesity…

 

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has recently announced that vending machines selling chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks will be banned in an attempt to outlaw junk food in schools.

 

Ms Kelly said it was time to end the "scandal" of pupils on junk food diets.

However, many Head teachers seem sceptical about these new measures and have warned that many parents would simply send their children to school with junk food in their lunch boxes instead!

But Ms Kelly told the Labour Party conference in Brighton: "I am absolutely clear: the scandal of junk food served every day in school canteens must end.

"So I can announce that we will ban cheap processed bangers and burgers being served in schools from next September.

"And because children need healthy options throughout the school day, I can also announce that from next September no school will be able to have vending machines selling crisps, chocolates, and sugary fizzy drinks."

It has also been said that by September 2006, stricter new rules will be brought in limiting the amount of sugar, fat and salt in school meals.

The plans are expected to require fresh legislation.

Once the law is changed, vending machines will have to stock items such as milk, bottled water and fresh fruit instead of sweets and crisps.             

The reforms follow Government promises to improve the quality of school meals after TV chef Jamie Oliver highlighted the problem in a national campaign.

 

 

 

 

Worried about those few extra pounds??

 

Forget about dieting…

 

Check out Diego Maradona’s new weight loss trend initiated in Colombia.

 

The former Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona dropped 110 pounds as a result of a gastric bypass surgery performed in Colombia and now Colombians want it too. Maradona weighed 266 pounds before he had the surgery in March. Since losing the weight, he's been travelling around the world, showing off his new body.

Overweight Colombians are flocking to doctors for the same procedure. At least 14 Colombians have filed lawsuits to have government-provided health insurance pay for the same surgery.

The cases have already become known as "Maradona lawsuits," Gina Magnolia Riano, director of the Ibero-American Social Security Organization, said at a medical forum on Monday.

A judge recently ruled in one man's favour, and his surgery has already been scheduled.

 

And on a similar note…

Have you ever wondered what makes a healthy diet?

 Now you can get answers to all your questions from a registered dietician online, as well as on the phone, courtesy of the American Institute for Cancer Research.

Questions can be submitted to the AICR Nutrition Hotline either online at www.aicr.org/hotline/ or by calling (800)843-8114.

 

 

 

Any questions…?