Health for life

Researchers publishing in the journal Nutrition show that Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and natural foods including nuts and seeds can lower levels of dangerous homocysteine, an amino acid linked with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia. Reviewing data from eleven trials including more than 720 study participants, scientists found that introducing Omega-3 fats from dietary or supplemental sources were associated with significantly lowered levels of plasma homocysteine.

Consumption of whole walnuts or their extracted oil can reduce cardiovascular risk through a mechanism other than simply lowering cholesterol, according to a team of Penn State, Tufts University and University of Pennsylvania researchers.

"We already know that eating walnuts in a heart-healthy diet can lower blood cholesterol levels," said Penny Kris-Etherton, Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, Penn State. "But, until now, we did not know what component of the walnut was providing this benefit. Now we understand additional ways in which whole walnuts and their oil components can improve heart health."

In a randomized-controlled trial, the researchers gave 15 participants with elevated blood cholesterol one of four treatments -- either 85 grams of whole walnuts, 6 grams of skin, 34 grams of defatted nutmeat, or 51 grams of oil. The team evaluated biochemical and physiological responses in the participants before the treatments were administered and again 30 minutes, one hour, two hours, four hours and six hours after administering the treatments. The researchers repeated this process for each of the remaining three treatments.

Results -- which will appear in the June 1 issue of the Journal of Nutrition and are now online -- showed that a one-time consumption of the oil component in walnuts favorably affected vascular health. In addition, consumption of whole walnuts helped HDL -- good cholesterol -- perform more effectively in transporting and removing excess cholesterol from the body.

"Our study showed that the oil found in walnuts can maintain blood vessel function after a meal, which is very important given that blood vessel integrity is often compromised in individuals with cardiovascular disease," said Claire Berryman, graduate student in nutritional sciences, Penn State. "The walnut oil was particularly good at preserving the function of endothelial cells, which play an important role in cardiovascular health."

According to the researchers, walnuts contain alpha-linolenic acid, gamma-tocopherol and phytosterols, which may explain the positive effects of the walnut oil treatment.

"Implications of this finding could mean improved dietary strategies to fight heart disease," said Berryman. "The science around HDL functionality is very new, so to see improvements in this outcome with the consumption of whole walnuts is promising and worth investigating further."

Further studies are needed to determine the mechanisms that account for cardiovascular disease risk reduction with walnut consumption, according to Kris-Etherton.

"Our study indicates that simple dietary changes, such as incorporating walnuts and/or their oil in a heart healthy diet, may reduce the risk of heart disease," she said.

... and aid the breakdown of fat!

Researchers reporting in last months issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that supplementing 30 grams/day of resistant starch to their volunteers diets resulted in a 33% increase in insulin sensitivity. As a result, subjects could clear glucose from their bloodstreams faster than those who did not receive the resistant starch.

A study last year in Nutrition and Metabolism found that replacing 5.4% of the carbohydrate in a meal* increased fat-oxidation (the breakdown of fat) and could decrease fat accumulation over time. The implications for resistant starchs use in weight management are encouraging.

* For example, if your meal contained 100 grams of carbohydrate, 5.4 grams would be replaced with resistant starch.

What is resistant starch (RS)?
Simply, its starch we eat that is not digested in the small intestine. It passes to the large intestine where it undergoes fermentation by bacteria. The HealthyEatingClub.com lists these foods as containing resistant starch:

• Intact wholegrain cereals/seeds/nuts, e.g. oats, rye, wheat, barley, semolina, corn, linseed, sesame
  
• Processed starchy foods, e.g. some breakfast cereals (cornflakes), white bread, rice, pasta
  
• Processed starchy foods with added RS called Hi-Maize (derived from corn)
  
• Legumes, e.g. lentils, beans (Legumes have the highest content of RS.)
  
• Unripe fruit, especially banana
  
• Cooked cold rice, cold pasta salad, cold boiled potato salad (Cooking and cooling food can increase RS content.)

________
For some background on resistant starch:
Resistant Starch

For the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study:
Insulin-sensitizing effects of dietary resistant starch and effects on skeletal muscle and adipose tissue metabolism

For the Nutrition and Metabolism study:
Resistant starch consumption promotes lipid oxidation

Its the time of year when many of us celebrate the holidays with festive foods and drinks, including alcohol. No better time then to ask if it is true, as is widely held, that moderate consumption of alcohol is beneficial to health.

A research team led by an immunologist at the University of California, Riverside now has data that could put the question to rest. The researchers found that moderate alcohol consumption could bolster our immune system, and potentially our ability to fight infections.

The finding, published Dec. 17 in the journal Vaccine, can help lead to a better understanding of how our immune system works. It can also pave the way for potentially new interventions to improve our ability to respond to vaccines and infections, benefiting vulnerable populations, such as the elderly for whom the flu vaccine, for example, has been found to be largely ineffective.

"It has been known for a long time that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower mortality," said Ilhem Messaoudi, an associate professor of biomedical sciences in the School of Medicine and the lead author of the research paper. "Our study, conducted on non-human primates, shows for the first time that voluntary moderate alcohol consumption boosts immune responses to vaccination."

Messaoudi did the bulk of the research while she was an assistant professor at the Oregon Health and Science University, where she collaborated with Kathleen Grant, a professor of behavioral neuroscience and a coauthor on the research paper. She joined UC Riverside earlier this year.

To study the impact of alcohol consumption on the immune system, the researchers trained 12 rhesus macaques to self-administer/consume alcohol on their own accord. The team first vaccinated the animals (against small pox) and then allowed them to access either 4 percent ethanol (the experimental group) or calorically matched sugar water (the control group). All the animals also had open access to water as an alternative fluid, as well as food. The researchers then proceeded to monitor the animals daily ethanol consumption for 14 months. The animals were vaccinated one more time, seven months after the experiment began.

The research team found that over nine months of the animals ethanol self-administration, mean daily ethanol intake varied markedly among them.

"Like humans, rhesus macaques showed highly variable drinking behavior," Messaoudi said. "Some animals drank large volumes of ethanol, while others drank in moderation."

The animals voluntary ethanol consumption segregated them into two groups: animals in the first group were those that consumed more alcohol, averaged a blood ethanol concentration (BEC) greater than the legal limit of 0.08 percent and were theore designated heavy drinkers; animals in the second group consumed less alcohol, averaged a BEC of 0.02-0.04 percent and were designated moderate drinkers.

"Prior to consuming alcohol, all the animals showed comparable responses to vaccination," Messaoudi said. "Following exposure to ethanol, however, the animals showed markedly different responses after receiving the booster vaccine."

The researchers found that, as expected based on human epidemiological data, those animals that drank the largest amounts of alcohol showed greatly diminished vaccine responses compared to the control group. In contrast, animals that drank moderate amounts of ethanol displayed enhanced vaccine responses.

"These surprising findings indicate that some of the beneficial effects of moderate amounts of alcohol consumption may be manifested through boosting the bodys immune system," Messaoudi said. "This supports what has been widely believed for some time: moderate ethanol consumption results in a reduction in all causes of mortality, especially cardiovascular disease. As for excessive alcohol consumption, our study shows that it has a significant negative impact on health."

Alcohol abuse kills 25,000 Americans annually and is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the country. Two thirds of U.S. adults consume approximately four drinks a week, considered to be a moderate amount by most consumers.

"If you have a family history of alcohol abuse, or are at risk, or have been an abuser in the past, we are not recommending you go out and drink to improve your immune system!" Messaoudi said. "But for the average person that has, say, a glass of wine with dinner, it does seem, in general, to improve heath, and cardiovascular function in particular, and now we can add the immune system to that list."

The study was carried out under strict accordance with the recommendations outlined in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Animal Welfare and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The study was also approved by the Oregon National Primate Research Center Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

"Next, we plan to harness our observations made in this study to address bigger questions on the immune system, such as how can we boost our immune responses to vaccination, a particular challenge for our elderly," Messaoudi said.

The right definition was there all along!

Writing in the March 20 issue of JAMA, Drs. Douglas Noble and Lawrence Casalino say that supporters of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are all muddled over "population health."

The Disease Management Care Blog says the article is what is muddled and that the readers of JAMA deserve better.

According to the authors, after the Affordable Care Act launched the Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), their stated purpose has morphed from Health-System Ver. 2.0 controlling the chronic care costs of their assigned patients to Health System Ver. 3.0 collaboratively addressing "population health" for an entire geography. 

Between the here of "improving chronic care" and the there of "population health," Drs Noble and Casalino believe ACOs are going to have to confront the additional burdens of preventive care, social services, public health, housing, education, poverty and nutrition. That makes the authors wonder if the term "population health" in the context of ACOs is unclear. If so, that lack of clarity could ultimately lead naive politicians, policymakers, academics and patients to be disappointed when ACOs start reporting outcomes that are limited to chronic conditions.

In short, they dont believe ACOs, as currently configured, are up to the new task.  Thats because ACOs would need to collaborate with social service organizations, be responsible for a geographically defined service area and improve long term public health outcomes.  According to the authors subtitle, the answer to the question "should they try" is "no."

The Disease Management humbly disagrees.  Thats because Drs Noble and Casalino, the editors of JAMA and the manuscripts peer reviewers seem to be ignorant of the the correct definition of population health. Its right there on the Care Continuum Alliances web site, in this longstanding page that describes the "population health model of care."  When the DMCB did a simple Google search on "population health definition," it had little difficulty finding the link.

The CCA helpfully describes population health as:

a delivery model characterized as a physician-guided health care delivery system designed to develop and engage informed and activated patients over time to address both illness and long term health.

Was that so hard?

And how is that accomplished?  According to the CCA, the ingredients to that make for population health include:

• Population identification strategies and processes;

• Comprehensive needs assessments that assess physical, psychological, economic, and environmental needs;

• Proactive health promotion programs that increase awareness of the health risks associated with certain personal behaviors and lifestyles;

• Patient-centric health management goals and education which may include primary prevention, behavior modification programs, and support for concordance between the patient and the primary care provider;

• Self-management interventions aimed at influencing the targeted population to make behavioral changes;

• Routine reporting and feedback loops which may include communications with patient, physicians, health plan and ancillary providers;

• Evaluation of clinical, humanistic, and economic outcomes on an ongoing basis with the goal of improving overall population health

Accordingly, if an CMS-contracted ACO can identify its assigned Medicare population, perform needs assessments, promote awareness of health risks, offer education as well as support, increase self management, use data feedback and evaluate outcomes, its offering "population health."  By using that playbook, an ACO will capitalizing on the experience of a community of population health service providers that have been doing precisely this for over a decade.

This vision is far more compact than the overreaching, misinformed and muddled definition of "population health" offered in JAMA.  It is also, if ACOs invest in the right resources and partnerships, well within reach.

The DMCBs answer to the question "Should they try?" is "yes."

(Article first published as Berries and Grapes Improve Memory and Brain Health on Technorati.)
Loss of memory and the ability to learn and form thoughts are functions that should not be lost as we age. Cognitive decline can be prevented by eating a diet void of processed foods, sugars and damaging hydrogenated fats. Eat a cup of wild blueberries each day and supplement with grape seed extract to provide critical antioxidant support and prevent the assault from free radical damage.

According to research from Purdue University and University of Kentucky, mice that were given a diet which included watermelon juice received considerable benefits when compared to the control group.

The experts suggest, in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, that citrulline, a compound found in watermelon, was responsible for the mices lower cholesterol, weight, and arterial plaque.

This study coincides with prior research, also by the University of Kentucky, which found that watermelon consumption caused a reduction in atherosclerosis in animals.

Since other research has demonstrated that consuming this type of fruit can lower blood pressure, explained Shubin Saha, co-author and a Purdue Extension vegetable specialist, they were interested to examine what it could do in this research.

"We didnt see a lowering of blood pressure, but these other changes are promising," Shubin Saha added.

The scientists divided mice into two groups for their investigation, both were given diets high in saturated fat and cholesterol. One group drank water that consisted of 2% watermelon juice, while the other mice drank the exact amount of water mixed with a solution that matched the carbohydrate content of the fruit juice.

Results showed that nearly 50% less LDL cholesterol, or the "bad" cholesterol, was found in the animals who drank the watermelon juice, who also gained 30% less weight than the control group.

A 50% decrease in plaque in the arteries, as well as high citrulline levels, were found in the experimental group.

"We know that watermelon is good for health because it contains citrulline," revealed Sibu Saha, a professor of surgery at the University of Kentucky. "We dont know yet at what molecular level its working, and thats the next step."

The team hopes to discover a secondary market for watermelons in nutraceuticals, which are food or food components that provide health and medical benefits, such as preventing and treating certain diseases.

Approximately 20% of watermelon crop goes to waste each year, according to Shubin Saha. It may be because buyers think the fruit does not look appealing or because some farmers do not think it is worth spending that much money on harvesting it, as prices drop during the peak of watermelon season.

Shubin Saha explained:

"We could use the wasted melons that cant go to market for extracting beneficial compounds. Growers are putting energy into these crops, so if we can do something to help them market their additional product, that would be a benefit to the industry and consumers."

March 23, 2011 -- Cocoa, used throughout history as a folk medicine, may actually have significant health benefits, according to a new study by Harvard researchers.
Their analysis of 21 studies with 2,575 participants shows that cocoa consumption is associated with decreased blood pressure, improved blood vessel health, and improvement in cholesterol levels, among other benefits.
Eric L. Ding, PhD, of Harvard Medical School says the apparent health benefits come from polyphenolic flavonoids in cocoa that have the potential to prevent heart disease. Flavonoids are antioxidants that are commonly found in fruits, vegetables, tea, wine, and coffee.
Cocoa Flavonoids Good for Cholesterol
In addition to decreasing blood pressure and improving blood vessel health, consumption of flavonoid-rich cocoa decreased “bad” LDL cholesterol among people under age 50, and increased good HDL cholesterol, the analysis showed.

Flavonoid-rich cocoa consumption also was linked to reductions in risk factors for diabetes -- a major risk factor itself for cardiovascular disease.

Also, resistance to the hormone insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar, favorably dropped among people who consumed flavonoid-rich cocoa, compared to people in comparison groups.

Further, consumption of flavonoid-rich cocoa did not change triglyceride levels of study participants or make them obese. Triglycerides are a type of blood fat that have been linked to coronary artery disease when levels are elevated above normal.
More Research Needed to Nail Down Benefits of Cocoa

Most of the previous studies analyzed were short-term research projects using mostly sugar-free, dark chocolate.

Ding and his colleagues say in the new study that because most chocolate is high in added sugar and fat, more research is needed to determine the risk-benefit effect on the heart health of eating commercially available chocolate.

Though past studies by Ding and others have found that cocoa may reduce heart attack risk, the dosage necessary to produce this effect is not known, and further research is needed to shed more light on that question, as well as on cocoa’s direct benefits on preventing strokes and heart attacks, according to a news release.

The new research is being presented in Atlanta at the American Heart Association’s Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism/Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention 2011 Scientific Sessions.

Decades worth of research shows that tea—the second most consumed beverage in the world—may help prevent chronic illnesses, including heart disease, certain types of cancer and type 2 diabetes. New research shows tea has been found to help promote weight loss and maintain a healthy weight, improve bone health and activate areas of the brain that bolster attention, problem solving and mood.

The December 2013 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition features 12 new articles about the relationship between tea and human health. Each paper is based on presentations from world-renowned scientists who participated in the Fifth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health, held at USDA in September 2012. Highlights of some of the compelling reports published through the AJCN include the following five papers:

Tea Leaf Polyphenols May Promote Weight Loss

Tea polyphenols and the caffeine content in tea increase energy expenditure and fat oxidation, providing benefits for achieving and maintaining an ideal body weight. The results of one meta-analysis suggests the increase in caloric expenditure is equal to about 100 calories over a 24-hour period, or 0.13 calories per mg catechins. In a related review, researchers concluded that subjects consuming green tea and caffeine lost an average of 2.9 pounds within 12 weeks while adhering to their regular diet. Population-based studies also show that habitual tea drinkers have lower Body Mass Indexes (BMIs) and waist-to-hip ratios and less body fat than non-tea drinkers. In addition, green tea and caffeine also appear to boost fat oxidation over 24 hours by an average of 16% or 0.02 grams per mg catechins.

Tea May Reduce Risk for Some Cancers

Green tea polyphenols may play a role in arresting the progression of certain cancers. For example, in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, supplementation with 600 mg/d green tea catechins reduced the progression of prostate cancer. The researchers reported that after a year, 9% of men in the green tea supplemented group had progressed to prostate cancer whereas 30% of men in the placebo group had progressed.

Hundreds—if not thousands—of laboratory, epidemiological and human intervention studies have found anti-cancer properties in compounds present in tea. The types of cancer that have shown benefits of tea include cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, lung, prostate, breast, and skin. The proposed mechanisms of action for providing protection against cancer include antioxidant effects, inhibition of growth factor signaling, as well as improving the efficacy of chemotherapy agents.

Tea Catechins are Cardioprotective

Numerous studies suggest tea supports heart health and healthy blood pressure, and appears to be associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, including stroke and heart attack. New research, published in the AJCN provides further support. Study results published by Claudio Ferri, MD, University LAquila, Italy, found that black tea reduced blood pressure, and among hypertensive subjects, it helped counteract the negative effects of a high-fat meal on blood pressure and arterial blood flow. Hypertensive subjects were instructed to drink a cup of tea after a meal that contained 0.45 grams fat/lb. body weight. The results suggest that tea prevented the reduction in flow-mediated dilation (FMD), the ability to increase arterial blood flow that occurs after a high-fat meal. In a previous study conducted by Ferri, tea improved FMD from 7.8 to 10.3%, and reduced both systolic and diastolic blood pressure by -2.6 and -2.2 mmHg, respectively, in study participants.

"Our studies build on previous work to clearly show that drinking as little as one cup of tea per day supports healthy arterial function and blood pressure. These results suggest that on a population scale, drinking tea could help reduce significantly the incidence of stroke, heart attack and other cardiovascular diseases," concluded Dr. Ferri.

Tea Flavonoids Improve Bone Strength and Quality

Osteoporosis is a major public health concern but new research suggests that polyphenols in green tea may help improve bone quality and strength through many proposed mechanisms. In fact, one study found that tea drinking was associated with a 30% reduced risk in hip fractures among men and women over 50 years old. In a study of 150 postmenopausal women, researchers reported that 500 mg green tea extract (equivalent to 4-6 cups of green tea daily), alone or in combination with Tai Chi, improved markers for bone formation, reduced markers of inflammation and increased muscle strength in study participants. Numerous other studies have found that green tea flavanols provide a restorative effect to bone remodeling to help maintain bone density and slow bone loss.

Tea Improves Mood, Alertness and Problem Solving

Results from new research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that drinking tea improved attention and allowed individuals to be more focused on the task at hand. In this placebo-controlled study, subjects who drank tea produced more accurate results during an attention task and also felt more alert than subjects drinking a placebo. These effects were found for 2-3 cups of tea consumed within a time period of up to 90 minutes. Several studies have evaluated the role of tea in strengthening attention, mood and performance, and the results have been promising. It is thought that the amino acid theanine and caffeine, both present in tea, contribute to many of teas psychological benefits.

Twelve internationally renowned researchers contributed to the AJCN supplement, including experts from USDA, National Institutes of Health, UCLA, University of Glasgow and University of LAquila, among others. "The scientists who contributed their original research and insights are among the best in the world, and together, this body of research has significantly advanced the science of tea and human health," said compendium editor Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Director, Antioxidants Research Laboratory, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston.

"These new peer-reviewed papers add to the previously-published body of evidence that shows that tea can improve human health—both physically and psychologically," added Blumberg. "Humans have been drinking tea for some 5,000 years, dating back to the Paleolithic period. Modern research is providing the proof that there are real health benefits to gain from enjoying this ancient beverage."

AJCN published 12 new articles on the relationship between tea and human health including:

• Tea consumption and cardiovascular disease risk
  
• Human studies on the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of tea polyphenols
  
• Tea, flavonoids, and cardiovascular health: endothelial protection
  
• Acute effects of tea consumption on attention and mood
  
• Cancer prevention by green tea: evidence from epidemiologic studies
  
• Catechin- and caffeine-rich teas for control of body weight in humans
  
• Tea and flavonoids: where we are, where to go next
  
• Cellular targets for the beneficial actions of tea polyphenols
  
• Does tea prevent cancer? Evidence from laboratory and human intervention studies
  
• Tea and bone health: steps forward in translational nutrition
  
• Interactions of black tea polyphenols with human gut microbiota: implications for gut and cardiovascular health

A small pilot study shows for the first time that changes in diet, exercise, stress management and social support may result in longer telomeres, the parts of chromosomes that affect aging.

It is the first controlled trial to show that any intervention might lengthen telomeres over time.

The study will be published online on Sept. 16, 2013 in The Lancet Oncology.

The study was conducted by scientists at UC San Francisco and the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, a nonprofit public research institute in Sausalito, Calif. that investigates the effect of diet and lifestyle choices on health and disease. The researchers say they hope the results will inspire larger trials to test the validity of the findings.

“Our genes, and our telomeres, are not necessarily our fate,” said lead author Dean Ornish, MD, UCSF clinical professor of medicine, and founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute.

“So often people think ‘Oh, I have bad genes, there’s nothing I can do about it,’” Ornish said. “But these findings indicate that telomeres may lengthen to the degree that people change how they live. Research indicates that longer telomeres are associated with fewer illnesses and longer life.”

Telomeres are the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that affect how quickly cells age. They are combinations of DNA and protein that protect the ends of chromosomes and help them remain stable. As they become shorter, and as their structural integrity weakens, the cells age and die quicker.

In recent years, shorter telomeres have become associated with a broad range of aging-related diseases, including many forms of cancer, stroke, vascular dementia, cardiovascular disease, obesity, osteoporosis and diabetes.

For five years, the researchers followed 35 men with localized, early-stage prostate cancer to explore the relationship between comprehensive lifestyle changes, and telomere length and telomerase activity. All the men were engaged in active surveillance, which involves closely monitoring a patient’s condition through screening and biopsies.

Ten of the patients embarked on lifestyle changes that included: a plant-based diet (high in fruits, vegetables and unined grains, and low in fat and ined carbohydrates); moderate exercise (walking 30 minutes a day, six days a week); stress reduction (gentle yoga-based stretching, breathing, meditation). They also participated in weekly group support.

They were compared to the other 25 study participants who were not asked to make major lifestyle changes.

The group that made the lifestyle changes experienced a “significant” increase in telomere length of approximately 10 percent. Further, the more people changed their behavior by adhering to the recommended lifestyle program, the more dramatic their improvements in telomere length, the scientists learned.

By contrast, the men in the control group who were not asked to alter their lifestyle had measurably shorter telomeres – nearly 3 percent shorter – when the five-year study ended. Telomere length usually decreases over time.

The researchers say the findings may not be limited to men with prostate cancer, and are likely to be relevant to the general population.

“We looked at telomeres in the participants’ blood, not their prostate tissue,” said Ornish.

The new study is a follow up to a similar, three-month pilot investigation in 2008 in which the same participants were asked to follow the same lifestyle program. After three months, the men in the initial study exhibited significantly increased telomerase activity. Telomerase is an enzyme that repairs and lengthens telomeres.

The new study was designed to determine if the lifestyle changes would affect telomere length and telomerase activity in these men over a longer time period.

“This was a breakthrough finding that needs to be confirmed by larger studies,” said co-senior author Peter R. Carroll, MD, MPH, professor and chair of the UCSF Department of Urology.

“Telomere shortening increases the risk of a wide variety of chronic diseases,” Carroll said. “We believe that increases in telomere length may help to prevent these conditions and perhaps even lengthen lifespan.”

If you want to concentrate or get better test results, it helps you prepare for nap time. A recent study revealed a nap to prepare healthy brain to remember more sharply. Naps can be likened to reboot the computer in order to work more smoothly.

Matthew Walker, an assistant professor at the University of California said that sleep is not just for your health, but it is very important for the brain. In the study, Walker and 39 young adults were divided into two groups. At noon, all the participants took part in the exercise of memory to remember faces and link them with names.

Then the researchers took part in memory training in the afternoon after sleeping for 20-100 minutes. "Those who stay awake doing tests by 10 percent worse than take a nap," said Walker. One other thing that is obtained from the study, a persons ability to learn between noon and six oclock decreased by 10 percent, but this decline negates nap.

Studies show that the phase structure dreamless sleep improves memory. "Sleep plays an important role in memory processing. And give a lot of evidence that sleep is not only important for after learning, but you need it before learning to prepare the brain to put the information."

Long sleep gives the brain a chance to remember during the sleep cycle. After performing an electroencephalogram tests to track electrical activity in the brain, the researchers set, memory resher occur between deep sleep and dream, which is called rapid eye movement (REM).

"The brains ability to absorb information is not always stable," said Walker. "It seems that the capacity of the brain may be a bit like a sponge that will get soaked if you continue to learn throughout the day."

Jessica Payne, an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the results provide additional evidence of the importance of sleep. Sleep is very important for students and those who fight to preserve the memory due to aging. Other recent research proves sleep can help you think more creatively, maintaining long-term memory better and preserve important memories.