Healthful Bites

Skip the Hospital Corners

Slipping back the covers and sliding your toes under the securely-tucked and properly-made bed sheets is an inviting thought—way more so than a sloppy pile of blankets! But researchers at Kingston University in the U.K. have proven that tiny dust mites find made beds more appealing as well. Apparently, having neatly stacked and tucked sheets makes the bed environment cooler and damper for the bugs, which they prefer over the warmer and dryer unmade environment.

Dust mites are very common in the boudoir (in fact you may be sleeping with as many as 1.5 million!), but aren’t too hazardous to a healthy human’s well-being. Basically, they like to chow on dead skin cells that your body sheds. But they also emit allergens that may bother some people, such as those with allergies and asthma, while slumbering. 

Scientists say that dust mites need to absorb moisture from outside of their bodies to survive, so leaving the bed open to dry air can cause them to die off. Air purifiers and keeping your home tidy with a vacuum and some Pledge can also help your home stay a little less mite-y ;)

Fun fact: a 150 lb. person burns about 35 calories making their bed for 15 minutes! Do you make your bed everyday? 

 (Image from Nichols Clan)

It may be smart to save some time and leave that bed sloppy!

Shopping Slim

Without taking a peek in your cart or your body, an outsider may be able to tell quite a bit about your health by knowing the place that you grocery shop. People who want affordable food go to one store, while those who seek eats for their nutritional value frequent another. These findings highlight the economic disparity that may be at the root of obesity and other health issues, according to University of Washington researchers who discovered these results.

Obese individuals are about 10 times more likely to hit up the lower-cost grocery store than the healthier one. In this study done in Seattle, 40 percent of shoppers at Albertsons were obese, while only four percent were at Whole Foods. All the stores offered nutritionally-sound noshes. However, another study found that an average low-calorie diet costs about $36 per day, compared to about $3.50 for a high-calorie diet. So, in other words, your limited dollars would buy a lot more red licorice than red bell peppers.

Do you feel that obesity is mainly an economic issue? Or is something else a larger factor in promoting weight gain?

 (Image from Dan Brokamp)

Picking produce is a wise choice at any market.

Water cooler conversation starter: Some songs are more likely to get stuck on replay in your head, and certain activities are more likely to bring these “earworms” on than others. Can you believe people research this stuff?

Not surprisingly, tunes with repetitive phrases and fillers such as “la la” or “do-run-run” as the kids of the ’60s might say, commonly become stuck in listener’s brains. The good news: these jams on repeat generally occur when people are feeling good and doing something that doesn’t take too much brain power. One easy fix: try working on something that will use your mind so it won’t “Gaga-ahhh-Gaga-ooh-lala-rara-ahhh-watch out bad romance” on you.

For a list of the songs that were most often stuck in the heads of the French individuals studied during this serious scientific research, click here. Then share the tunes that get stuck in your head in the comments! If you couldn’t tell already, mine is “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga (and I’m not complaining ;) )