Depression and bipolar disorder are often thought of as being caused by a lack of neurotransmitters. Many of us first learned about neurotransmitters by watching TV commercials for SSRI’s like the ones for Zoloft. New Read more…
When it comes to chronic diseases, the Big 3 are heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Heart disease is the number one killer in the US, with cancer a close second. Diabetes numbers are increasing Read more…
Digging into the science and research connecting genetic variants with health for the past four years, I have found a common thread that connected a lot of chronic conditions that affect so many people today. Read more…
I thought about titling this article ‘going to the dark side’ but decided that bathroom humor should be left behind…. (get it, behind :-) Enough of the puns and onto the important science stuff that you Read more…
Shift work and ‘social jetlag’ are linked to an increased risk for several chronic diseases. Shift work is usually defined in studies as working a late or early shift more than two times per week, Read more…
This one simple change can help you lose weight and prevents diabetes! Ok, enough with the smarmy copywriting hooks… I’m going to depart from my usual format of talking about a specific genetic variant and Read more…
Everyone at some point knows the pain of a sleepless night. For some, though, this is an all too frequent occurrence.
A few quick facts:
This is a bit of a departure from my usual article. It is a paper that I recently wrote for a class that I’m taking for my Master’s in biology. Thought I would share it Read more…
The World Health Organization listed ‘light at night’ as a possible carcinogen in 2007. That is an eye-opening statement for something that affects almost all of us. From streetlights to the lamp in the living room, from accent garden lighting to the glow of TV's and cell phone... artificial light at night is truly ubiquitous.
An often stated fact is that 80% of people in North America cannot see the milky way at night. What was more surprising to me was that the Milky Way was supposed to be visible! Who knew? Oh, wait – people with no light pollution know…
So how can light possibly be a carcinogen? Will turning on the TV or a light in the living room after dinner suddenly cause cancer? Let me start with two recent, contradictory studies, and then I'll get into the science of why I think that artificial light at night is a fundamental health problem.
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There are five key elements to weight loss from a circadian point of view: Timing of Meals; Light Exposure; Sleep; What to Eat, When; and Genetic Variants. All of these can come together in our Read more…