• Regularly getting up in the night to go to the loo makes you a lot less productive than your colleagues, according to a new study. Dutch scientists found people who suffer from nocturia
(waking up from sleep to urinate) are 24% less productive than those who sleep through.
• Olive oil may be the secret to weight loss – and even just the smell can help. German and Austrian researchers followed a group of people who added oils to their daily yoghurt, and found those who consumed olive oil ate fewer calories overall and reported feeling less hungry. Blood tests showed they had higher levels of serotonin, a hormone that can make us feel full.
WE CANNOT IGNORE THE TREE OF LIFE EXPECTANCY
Cutting down trees is bad for our health. That’s the suggestion from US researchers, who have linked the loss of 100 million ash trees in the United States to an increased number of people dying from heart and respiratory disease.
The researchers, from the US Department of Agriculture and other centres, estimate that as many as 21,000 deaths over a six-year period are related to a loss of trees.
They say that trees provide major public health benefits, including stress relief, improved air quality and increasing physical activity.
Reporting on the ndings in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the researchers say, “There is increasing evidence from multiple scientific fields that exposure to the natural environment can improve human health.”
A PATCH ON PARKINSON’S
Nicotine skin patches may be useful for more than trying to quit smoking, and are being used to tackle the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, as well as the side effects of medications.
Scientists believe that nicotine helps regulate levels of the brain chemical dopamine. Low levels of this are linked to the movement problems associated with Parkinson’s. Too much dopamine
can trigger compulsive behaviour, such as gambling – and this is a side effect of some medications.
The patches are being prescribed in two clinical trials in both France and the United States.
RUDE HEALTH
People who have sex at least 12 times a month have greater heart rate variability – a measure of how well the heart responds to little changes – which lowers the risk of heart disease, reports the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy.
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