Allergic to your sleeping partner(s)?
November 20, 2009
The You Docs
If the first cold snap nixed what made you sneeze all fall, then why are you still sniffling? What's indoors can be just as bad, if not worse. The dust mites that love to live in your bed, your pillow and other soft places you've been also can trigger a drippy nose and puffy eyes. These mites feed on skin cells that fall off into the fabrics you rub against – it's their poop you are allergic to.
Turn your symptoms down a notch by setting the washer to "hot" when you wash bedding. And put the rinse cycle on "extra."
When bed sheets were washed in either super-hot (140 degrees Fahrenheit) water or in steam, 100 per cent of household dust mites in that bedding were killed. Not bad. Hot cycles worked best with dog dander, too, as did an extra rinse cycle.
If your washer doesn't have a temperature gauge, choose the hottest setting and measure the water with a meat thermometer. Also, put a little extra something between you and the mites: Cover your pillow and mattress with 1-micron, impermeable cases that look and feel like pillowcases.
THE SKINNY ON MILK: The difference between fruit juice and skim milk at breakfast could mean the difference between buttoning your pants and having to buy new "skinny" ones.
In a small study of overweight people, those who drank about 20 ounces of skim milk with breakfast ate less at lunch than the folks who drank that much fruit juice with their morning meal. Milk drinkers also felt fuller and more satisfied right after they ate.
What's the magic? The effect is most likely thanks to the whey and casein proteins that are in milk; they're better at quelling hunger than the carbs in fruit drinks.
If 20 ounces of milk is more than you can stomach or if you're lactose intolerant, there are other ways to introduce lean protein into your morning meal. One favourite is to add an egg: In one study, people who ate two scrambled eggs and toast rather than the same number of calories in a bagel and cream cheese, dropped 65 per cent more weight. Or, add silken tofu to your breakfast smoothie. Or put yogurt under your berries, or on top of your cereal.
It's "ONLY" a light ciggie? It's tempting to assume that, until you quit smoking, it's better to smoke light cigarettes. But these aren't any healthier that those that dump more than 4,000 chemicals into your body, including arsenic and cyanide (yes, rat poison). And they may stop you from kicking your habit.
A new study found that people who switched to light cigarettes were more likely to attempt quitting – but were 46 per cent less successful at quitting than non-switchers.
If you really want to quit, here are the bare bones of the most successful plan (find details at our site, www.RealAge.com):
1. Don't quit for a month. Instead, prove to yourself that you can feel better and do something important for yourself with the healthy habit of walking 30 minutes a day, every day, for a month.
2. Find a quitting buddy, and touch base every day.
3. Ask your doctor about stop-smoking pills. Use nicotine patches and anti-craving pills (Bupropion) when your quit date comes around, and the success rate jumps to 60 per cent from 2 per cent for cold-turkey quitters.
4. Tally the benefits. Within 24 hours of quitting, your heart attack risk decreases. In a year, your risk of coronary disease drops to half that of a still-smoker. And the wrinkles and other signs that your blood vessels are aging fade – you can look and feel more than five years younger within about two years of being smoke-free.
Fat-fighting tea: Recent research suggests you're more likely to become obese if your friends are. One way to help change your odds might be to have your friends over for tea.
Two types of tea in particular may have you shopping together for smaller clothes (provided you swap the crumpets and clotted cream for tender, crisp veggies):
White tea. Made from the buds and early leaves of the same plants used to make green and black teas, white tea may have special fat-thwarting powers. Your body's fat cells increase or decrease in size, according to your weight. And in a lab study, human fat cells treated with white tea extract accumulated significantly less fat. The tea stimulated the breakdown of fat from mature cells.
Green tea. Green tea speeds up your calorie-burning process. And it seems to turn up your calorie torches after exercise. In fact, overweight people who worked out for 12 weeks lost more belly fat when they drank green tea every day. Compounds called catechins may be the heroes: They may act on enzymes that influence the way your body burns fat and calories.
So make an afternoon of it and have your friends over for a walk before you break out the tea set.
The You Docs, Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz, are authors of the best-selling YOU: On a Diet. Send questions to the doctors on their website, www.realage.com.
Toronto Star