Low nicotine cigarettes may reduce addiction

Cigarettes with low levels of nicotine may reduce addiction in smokers without increasing exposure to toxic chemicals, says a study.

The study monitored the smoking behaviour of 72 adults as they switched between three types of cigarettes with markedly reduced nicotine levels.

When the participants switched between conventional cigarette brands - which have similar nicotine content - there was no significant change in their puffing behaviour, number of cigarettes consumed or levels of toxic chemicals in their systems.

"We found that smokers were unable or unwilling to compensate when there was markedly less nicotine in the cigarette," said David Hammond, from the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at University of Waterloo in Canada.

The cigarettes - Quest 1, Quest 2 and Quest 3 - had a nicotine content of 8.9, 8.4 and 0.6 mg, respectively, as opposed to an average of 12 mg in a regular cigarette.

The study appeared in the journal Cancer Epidemiology.

Yoga may boost your brainpower

Hatha yoga (Sanskrit: हठयोग haṭhayoga, About this sound listen (help·info) IPA: [ɦəʈʰəˈjoːɡə]), also called haṭhavidya (हठविद्या), is a kind of yoga. The word haṭha (lit. 'force, violence') denotes a system of physical techniques supplementary to a broad conception of yoga.

As a part of Hindu origin, Hindu tradition believes that Shiva Himself is the founder of hatha yoga.

In the 20th century, hatha yoga, particularly asanas (the physical postures), became popular throughout the world as physical exercises, and is now colloquially termed "yoga".

According to legend, Lord Shiva is credited with propounding hatha yoga. It is said that on a lonely island, assuming nobody else would hear him, he gave the knowledge of hatha yoga to the Goddess Parvati, but a fish heard the entire discourse, remaining still throughout. The fish (Matsya) later became a siddha and came to be known as Matsyendranath. Matsyendranath taught hatha yoga to his disciple Gorakshanath and to a limbless man, Chaurangi. Hatha Yoga Pradipika mentions many other famous hatha yogis. Hatha yoga was thus passed down in disciplic succession.

Practicing hatha yoga three times a week can significantly improve cognitive function in the elderly, scientists led by an Indian-origin researcher have found.

Hatha yoga three times a week for eight weeks improved sedentary older adults’ performance on cognitive tasks that are relevant to everyday life, researchers said.

The findings involved 108 adults between the ages of 55 and 79 years of age, 61 of whom attended hatha yoga classes.

The others met for the same number and length of sessions and engaged in stretching and toning exercises instead of yoga.

At the end of the eight weeks, the yoga group was speedier and more accurate on tests of information recall, mental flexibility and task-switching than it had been before the intervention.

The stretching-and-toning group saw no significant change in cognitive performance over time.

The differences seen between the groups were not the result of differences in age, gender, social status or other demographic factors, the researchers said.

Hatha yoga is an ancient spiritual practice that involves meditation and focused breathing while an individual moves through a series of stylised postures, said Neha Gothe, who led the study with University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Edward McAuley.

“Hatha yoga requires focused effort in moving through the poses, controlling the body and breathing at a steady rate,” said Gothe, now a professor at Wayne State University.

“It is possible that this focus on one’s body, mind and breath during yoga practice may have generalised to situations outside of the yoga classes, resulting in an improved ability to sustain attention,” Gothe said.

“Participants in the yoga intervention group showed significant improvements in working memory capacity, which involves continually updating and manipulating information,” McAuley added.

“They were also able to perform the task at hand quickly and accurately, without getting distracted. These mental functions are relevant to our everyday functioning, as we multitask and plan our day-to-day activities,” he said.

Previous studies have found that yoga can have immediate positive psychological effects by decreasing anxiety, depression and stress, Gothe said.

“These studies suggest that yoga has an immediate quieting effect on the sympathetic nervous system and on the body’s response to stress,” she said.

“Since we know that stress and anxiety can affect cognitive performance, the eight-week yoga intervention may have boosted participants’ performance by reducing their stress,” said Gothe.

The finding was published in The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences.

Egg yolk is good for you some facts

Ditching the egg-yolk has always been an ideal option for the weight-obsessed. But why boycott the most delicious part of an egg when research says you should embrace it.

You might think yolks are high in fat and cholesterol but scientists believe their role in raising cholesterol levels is minimal and in fact they're the most nutritious part of an egg. According to nutrition coach Liz Wolfe, NTP and author of 'Eat The Yolks', whole eggs don't raise the risk of heart disease and in fact, it may be worse for your health to not eat the egg yolk. (As reported in huffingtonpost.com)

Previous Claims
Egg yolks, along with other sources of saturated fat and cholesterol, came under fire in the wake of research by Nikolai Anichkov at the turn of the 20th century. Anichkov fed rabbits pure cholesterol and found that their arteries clogged up with plaque. This lead him to believe that cholesterol triggers heart disease and since then there have been many questions raised about the relationship between the two. Wolfe counters this result by saying that, "Rabbits have nothing in common with human bodies... and cholesterol isn't part of their diet anyway."

Researcher Ancel Keys made headlines in the 1950s with his Seven Countries' Study, which almost single-handedly set the line of thinking on saturated fat that prevails today. Keys claimed that after looking at the average diets of populations in seven different countries, he was able to determine that those who ate the maximum amount of animal fat had the highest rates of heart disease. But his analysis was flawed.

Although Keys' data did show a connection between fat and heart disease, he couldn't demonstrate that the relationship was causal. Furthermore, while mortality rates for heart disease were higher in the countries that consumed the most animal fat, deaths from nearly ever other cause were lower - and overall life expectancy was higher.

The New Facts
In 2010, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a meta-analysis - the collected findings of 21 different studies - which stated that "saturated fat was not associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease, stroke or coronary vascular disease".

Earlier this year, Time magazine reversed the argument it made in a 1984 cover story claiming eggs and other high-fat foods were dangerous.

What's So Great About Egg Yolks
Besides its great taste, egg yolks are power packed with amazing health benefits. Wolfe suggests the real cause of heart disease lies in the inflammation caused by "chronic stress levels and the over-consumption of vegetable oils and processed carbohydrates." According to Wolfe, egg yolks are "a great source of vitamin A, which is good for skin, B vitamins for energy and choline, which also supports brain health, muscles and is necessary for a healthy pregnancy".

The saturated fat in yolks is also necessary for hormone production and the body's absorption of vitamins and minerals. If you control your overall calories, whole egg consumption won't cause weight gain, despite its fat content.

Women always fake this while texting

Do you exchange sexually explicit message with the opposite sex either to get into the mood or fulfill your partner's fantasies? You may be faking orgasm “non-physically”.

According to an interesting research, lying while sexting was found more common among women - at 45 percent - compared with 24 percent among men.

“Most people lie while 'sexting' because they want to please their partner,” said Michelle Drouin, an associate professor at Indiana University.

The participants listed several reasons for lying, including wanting to make a partner happy or fulfill a partner's fantasy.

Some said they lied to avoid upsetting their partners.

During the study, researchers examined the prevalence of “sexting” among 155 college students - 62 men and 93 women.

 

They found that some of them who reported having lied while “sexting” did so to “get in the mood”.

Other said they wanted to see how their partners would react to their "fake" texts.

But some people lied because they were bored or there were other people around while they were “sexting”, the study noted.

“In relation to other types of sexual deception, the overall incidence of lying during 'sexting' is slightly lower than pretending orgasm in a face-to-face context,” Drouin wrote.

Lying while “sexting” can harm relationships, researchers warned.

The findings appeared in the journal Computers in Human Behavior

Antiperspirants actually make you smell worse

The study is conducted by researchers at the University of Ghent in Belgium. For the study, the researchers asked eight test subjects not to use deodorant or antiperspirant for a month.

Another subject who was not a regular deodorant user was asked to use it regularly for a month. The researchers selected the timeframe on one month because a new layer of skin is formed in around 28 days.

The researchers tested the armpit bacterial community of each subject at the start and the end of the month and found out that the ecosystem of each armpit ecosystem had been altered after one month.

The study showed that the use of antiperspirant was linked to an increase in Actinobacteria, the 'bad' type of armpit bacteria that instigate noxious armpit odour.

Lead author Chris Callewaert said the presence of the aluminium compounds in antiperspirants is to be blamed for this.

He added that these compounds can block pores to prevent sweating by killing off "good" bacteria. According to Callewaert, this allows Actinobacteria to dominate.

The results were published in the journal Archives of Dermatological Research.

Marijuana use shrinks teenagers brains

Frequent marijuana use among teenagers can lead to cognitive decline, poor attention and memory and decreased intelligence quotient (IQ), psychologists warn.

Abnormalities in the brain's grey matter, which is associated with intelligence, have been found in 16- to 19-year-olds who increased their marijuana use.

"It needs to be emphasised that regular cannabis use is not safe and may result in addiction and neurocognitive damage, especially in youth," said Krista Lisdahl, director of the brain imaging and neuropsychology lab at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Brain imaging studies of regular marijuana users have shown significant changes in their brain structure, particularly among adolescents, Lisdahl added.

People who have become addicted to marijuana can lose an average of six IQ points by adulthood.

Countries must consider regulating levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the major psychoactive chemical in marijuana - in order to reduce potential neurocognitive effects, researchers emphasised.

THC is responsible for most of marijuana's psychological effects.

Previous research has shown that frequent use of high potency THC can increase risk of acute and future problems with depression, anxiety and psychosis.

"This relationship between marijuana and mental illness may be moderated by how often marijuana is used and potency of the substance," claimed Alan Budney from Dartmouth College in the US.

12 Ways To Revive Romance

 

Find out based on your zodiac sign what you need to do to have a good relationship with your partner! Is something missing? Which areas of your relationship do you need to work on? Experience change in the right direction by working on yourself first.

Aries: Aries you can work on your behavioral issues and enhance your relationship with your partner. If you are too independent in your relationship, there`s little or no connection no matter what kind of relationship it is. There may be great love but the other person can feel like something is missing and that he/she is being held at arm`s length.

Taurus: Change your laidback approach towards your partner occasionally to keep things exciting. For a day in your married life, try to act as if you are not married, but are trying to attract each other. Do things, which you would do to impress the other person. This will not only make life fun, but will also make your marriage a valuable relationship. This will be a truly memorable experience and will help in bonding better. You will feel much closer to your spouse.

Gemini: With you Gemini, You have so much to say that you have no time to listen. Have you patiently listened to your partner without any interruption for an hour? If not, begin doing that. When you speak, he/she will also listen. That will cement the marriage, because everyone loves a good listener. Communication is a very important aspect of marriage. Be a good listener and listen to your spouse.

Cancer: Don`t be too dependent and clingy. Just because you marry, it doesn`t mean you must embrace everything about your partner. Sometimes, you forget about how different you two are because you`ve been together for so long. Don`t lose your uniqueness because it`s the same thing that attracted both you and your partner in the first place. Try to take on different interests and encourage your partner to do so too.

Leo: When you`re angry, you hear nothing else and you don`t care about anything else. If you find that both you and your partner are angry, try to have some space. Calm down before talking. Be sensitive to each other`s problems. Talk through the problem and hear each other out. Abandon the whole world rather than each other. And never go to sleep without settling the argument. Most importantly, never yell at each other.

Virgo: Do not make a small problem look big in a relationship. Let it remain small. Sometimes, you think too much about a small mistake that your mate made and build all the past instances on that. This way the other person begins to look like a careless person. If somebody forgot the laundry for a day or did not get the car repaired, forget it. These are very small issues and can always be worked upon with peace as well.

Libra: When things go out of balance in your life, be there to support your spouse. If there is a financial crisis or your child is sick, stick to each other. Being together when things don`t seem to go right is the key to a successful marriage. Create a sense of balance in your roles as employees, parents, friends and spouses so that you can be truly together.

Scorpio: There will be times when you and your spouse won`t agree at all in some matters. Don`t make your point sound like a criticism to your partner. It doesn`t matter who is wrong or right. Always bear in mind that an argument doesn`t need a winner or a loser. Even if you disagree with what your partner, don`t say anything harsh. Disagree in a manner that doesn`t sound offensive.

Sagittarius: Whenever something goes wrong, do not rub past issues in. Don`t dwell over the past such that you become blind with the wonderful things ahead of your relationship. Bringing up past mistakes again and again will only lead to further arguments and make the relationship sour. Rather, think about all the wonderful time you have spent together. Concentrate on your present and try to make it beautiful.

Capricorn: Pride is a good thing but too much of it is not good. It keeps your head high in public. It`s not a bad thing to have pride in someone or something. But in private, when you`re with your partner, keep the pride level down; because it becomes a wall your partner would have to overcome. This will adversely affect your relationship with him/her. Your pride will make it difficult for you to own up to your mistakes.

Aquarius: Forgiveness is a difficult thing for many people to do. It involves being willing to swallow pride, forget about revenge, and to allow something that hurt you to go unanswered. It makes sense when there is genuine regret felt by the partner who has offended, when the harm done is not part of a larger, repeating pattern, and when there is reason to believe that the mistake will not reoccur.

Pisces: Good partners learn to trust each other, to be vulnerable with each other, to laugh together, and to support one another in times of need. Your partner`s trust is the most valuable asset you have. And you must make sure that you do not break it. There should not be any secrets in the relationship. The more open you are with each other, the more comfortable the marriage will be.