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So what was the noise coming from Science Daily today?

The tick-tock of your biological clock may have just gotten a little louder.

Jonathan Arnold, a professor in the UGA department of genetics and director of the research project set out to show how more than 16 genes are controlled by one's biological clock.

Arnold's team uncovered a remarkable 295 genes that are influenced by the biological clock-and that number could be dramatically higher, given the conservative controls the researchers put on their work.

"It appears the clock influences a number of biological processes, including cell cycling, protein metabolism and varied signaling processes," said Arnold.

The formal study of biological temporal rhythms such as daily, tidal, weekly, seasonal, and annual rhythms, is called chronobiology. And yes the tides absolutely affect me, in fact everything having to do with the moon effects me. Hmmm maybe you could call me a lunar girl?

I am now convinced my biological clock is the sole reason behind my insane weight gain, I mean I can't just blame marriage can I? Haha. Nah, it's all because I love to eat and can't seem to stop; delicious food calls to me by the hour!

University of Georgia. "More Genes Are Controlled By Biological Clocks Than Previously Thought." ScienceDaily 31 August 2008. 31 August 2008 .

Labels: biological clock, genetics

In terms of research studies which I deem totally pointless and a waste of money I think this one might just be the champion.

Childhood risk factors, including exposure to dogs, can boost the chances of snoring later in a life, according to a team of researchers.

"Early-life environments can affect if you are a snorer or not later in life," Karl Franklin, MD, PhD, the study's lead author and a physician at University Hospital in Umea, Sweden.

The so-called expert stresses that more research is needed before advising parents to do anything. "I think we should do more studies before we take the dogs away."

Well yeah, I'd say so. Good grief!

The study is published in Respiratory Research.

Labels: children, pets, research, snoring

Did you know the Center for Disease Control recommends women eat 46 grams of protein per day? It seems like a high number and typically protein comes from food with high fat contents, but our bodies need protein to maintain our cells, tissues and organs. So how do you keep your body healthy by eating enough protein and yet not too much in the way of fatty foods?

Well, moderation and portion size play a big part in eating healthy regardless of the nutrition facts. A small bag of Almonds or Cashews happen to have between 4 and 6 grams of protein in each serving. Fortunately, there is an easy way to get just the right amount thanks to Peeled Snacks.

Peeled Snacks has a variety of fruit and nut snack packs which are just the right serving size to fill your tummy. Better yet they taste good even though they squeeze in all those scary health food keywords:

no added sugar or oil
100% natural
cholesterol, dairy, wheat and gluten free
not to mention a fantastic source of essential vitamins and minerals
plus fiber!

I am a big fan of almonds. This can get me into trouble if someone leaves me alone with a jar or a big bag of almonds because I will eat them all and think nothing of it until afterwards. Thank God for the single serving snack packs offered by Peeled Snacks. Their "Almond-daze" portion is perfect!

So when you find a good thing you should stick with it. I tried a pack of their organic "go-Mango-man-go" and was surprised how delicious the fruit pieces were considering they were 100% natural and had no added sugar. That's when it hit me, a way to cleverly get these fruit snacks into my four-year-old!

Cut to me pouring a bowl of cheerios and throwing in some of the dried banana pieces from Peeled Snacks "Banan-a-peel" pack. Eureka! How is that for a healthy eating tip? I can hardly wait for the "Apple-2-the-core" snack packs coming this fall.

For those of you who might be just a bit skeptical here are some fun factoids to further entice you. =o)

Each bag of Peeled Snacks can contain up to 25% vitamin C, 16% fiber and 4% protein which means adding one of the snack packs to your child's packed lunch has just made your Momma job that much easier in terms of packing foods that are good for your kids. Since the nuts and fruits taste so delicious you won't get any complaining and in fact, your kids will look forward to finding out which pack you choose to give them each day. Trust me!

As if you needed more great news you might want to know Peeled Snacks is constantly developing new partnerships and working on projects to help the world around them. Last year, they donated a portion of proceeds from sales of our Holiday Gift Collection to the American Diabetes Association. You should have seen the gifts in the collection. The Mistletoe Gift Box was only $25 and it contained 8 of their snack packs! I can't wait to check out the holiday collection this year!

I don't know about you but when I can buy something as a gift and know part of the proceeds were used to aide others, well, that makes the purchase even more special! You can shop for the Peeled Snacks gift collection any day of the year and they always wrap up the perfect collection of seasonal sweetness.

Everyone send a big thanks and shout out to Noha Waibsnaider founder of Peeled Snacks who noted, and then acted on, the need for healthier snacks.

Labels: children, eating healthy, nutrition

Do you know someone who has been diagnosed with psychiatric condition called borderline personality disorder (BPD)?

People who suffer from BPD show erratic mood-swings and find it difficult to trust and understand the motives of others. As a result, they suffer from fraught personal relationships with friends, colleagues and partners.

Brooks King-Casas at Baylor College of Medicine has researched possible activity in the brain that might reflect BPD behavioural tics. Specifically, he searched for areas which respond differently in healthy and BPD brains, in response to the size of the investors' investment. He found one - the anterior insula.

The insula has increasingly become the focus of attention for its role in body representation and subjective emotional experience. Functionally speaking, the insula is believed to process convergent information to produce an emotionally relevant context for sensory experience.

Other psychological studies have suggested that this part of the brain plays a role in assessing fairness, and it has a particular propensity for reacting to injustice. In ultimatum games, where one player offers a share of a pot and the other decides whether to take it, the anterior insula is most active when offers are low and when players reject. When people watch someone else being punished, their anterior insula is most active when the parties are punished after apparent fair play, and least active when the person actually cheated.

Regular meditation has been shown to thicken the cortical region of the brain. This region is related to somatosensory, auditory, visual and interoceptive processing. Regular meditation practice may also slow age-related thinning of the frontal cortex. Who knew meditation may be associated with structural changes in areas of the brain that are important for sensory, cognitive and emotional processing?

It is amazing how the brain works isn't it? I always say if we understood our brains better and could somehow work on fine tuning our use of our brain imagine all we could do.

Labels: borderline personality disorder, brain, Emotional, neurology

As is typical, the National Institutes of Health have released more wellness related research and I'm going to brief you.

Pregnancy in women who have diabetes is automatically considered high-risk. Though I am blessed not to have diabetes I did have a high risk pregnancy. Basically it means you go through more visits, ultrasounds and tests which can cause higher anxiety during what should be a precious and exciting time.

So to make things easier to handle there is a new booklet available titled "For Women with Diabetes: Your Guide to Pregnancy." The introduction to the booklet is as follows: "You have type 1 or type 2 diabetes and you are pregnant or hoping to get pregnant soon. You can learn what to do to have a healthy baby. You can also learn how to take care of yourself and your diabetes before, during, and after your pregnancy."

You can order a free copy at this link. If you would like to read it online you can view each section here.

More information is available at Diabetes Educator.org.

Labels: diabetes, pregnancy