Four Weird and Wonderful Tips to Help You Get Lucky Tonight

What does your mobile phone have to do with your vagina? And does sex improve your cognitive wellness? We spoke to sexual health writer Tim Boyer about some weird and wonderful tips that can help you avoid problems in the bedroom as well as ensure that you will “get lucky” tonight.

 

1. Turn On the Loving By Turning Off Your Mobile Phone: According to sex and relationship expert Laura Berman, ‘Sexual inspiration does not begin between your legs. It begins between your ears.’ And Boyer certainly agrees. ‘Taking your cell phone in bed with you is a big no-no if you want to have satisfying sex,’ he says. ‘Research has shown that rather than the orgasm being the key to sexual satisfaction it’s actually the emotional connection to your sex partner. When you or your partner takes a cell phone to bed, you are connected with everyone but each other. In addition, making the bedroom off limits to your cell phone may be a good idea toward good health in another way. Some reports pose that the habit of carrying your phone in your bra may actually increase your risk of breast cancer.’

 

2. Having Sex Can Actually Make You Smarter: Boyer details, ‘Research done at Rutgers University found that when women were experiencing an orgasm while being scanned by an MRI, the entire brain was firing much more in comparison to when the women were doing brain boosting puzzles. Researchers believe that the increased firing of neurons during an orgasm brings more blood to the brain and in turn makes the brain healthier and more active.’

 

3. Sync Your Sexy Time with Your Sleep Cycle: Researcher Jeanne Duffy, PhD, asserts that avoiding sex at night because you are too tired, ‘…may not just be an excuse.’ But why? Boyer explains, ‘Women as it turns out have a sleep cycle that signals their body that it is time for bed (for sleep) a good hour earlier than in men. Therefore, feigning off sex from your partner at night may be more of a biological issue than an emotional one. Interestingly, however, some men have sex even while asleep in a condition known as “sexsomnia.” One solution offered by the director of female sexual medicine at the Academic Urology’s Centre for Pelvic Medicine in Rosemont, PA is if you find it difficult to have satisfying sex at night because you feel too tired to enjoy it, set your clock to wake you up a little earlier in the morning. However, if that is not possible, then make the effort to sneak in some spontaneous daytime sex while the kids are at school, during their nap or during their TV time.’

 

4. Coffee Can Kick-Start Your Sex Drive: ‘While hormonal research has determined when women are most likely to want to have sex, having a cup of coffee can be all that is needed to get someone in the mood,’ Boyer comments. ‘Studies have shown that when a woman’s “fight or flight” behavioural stimulus is triggered either with a heart-pumping scary movie or exercise, that it is also priming the body for sexual arousal. Caffeine may make a woman feel hotter from the increased heart rate, increased blood pressure and increased blood flow to the genitals that caffeine provides. Furthermore, animal studies demonstrated that giving caffeine to female rats may increase sexual desire as the caffeinated female rats apparently sought out males for some increased copulatory activity. The tip here is to be sure to time your coffee with your aspirations. Caffeine takes about 15 minutes to kick in, and wears off within two to three hours. But don’t overdo the caffeine as too much can suppress your libido as well.’

Categories: caffeine, cell phone, female rats, increased blood, lucky tonight, mobile phone, phone, satisfying sex, sleep cycle, wonderful tips

Six Foods You Need to Avoid If You’re Stressed at Work

You spend a large portion of your day at work, so it’s not hard to see how your corporate wellness impacts the rest of your wellbeing. Work stress feeds into the rest of your life, which, in turn, has a negative influence on your overall health. Therefore, we’re always trying to find ways to reduce workplace stress and, thanks to registered dietician/nutritionist Keri Gans, MS, RDN, CDN, author of The Small Change Diet, we now have the answer: your food. According to Gans, what you eat may contribute to your stress load and, since diet is one of the things in life you have any control over, it’s a good place to start when dealing with workplace stress.

 

1. Avoid foods high in caffeine: The Stress Management Society states that while caffeine can be stimulating when you’re tired, foods and drinks with caffeine also contain the neurostimulator theo-bromine. Gans explains, ‘Both theo-bromine and caffeine have been proven to increase stress levels. Caffeine can also cause a loss in concentration, which can result in poor work output and thus more stress on the job. If you need coffee or tea in the morning for that boost, make sure you do so in moderation or you won’t be able to reduce work stress.’

 

2. Foods rich in sodium: ‘Sodium can cause the body to retain water, possibly leading to hypertension and an increase in stress,’ Gans warns. ‘Thankfully, sodium is fairly easy to monitor in a diet; make sure you read all product labels. Natural and whole foods will have less sodium than those in packages, but keeping hypertension at bay also means keeping up with an exercise routine.’

 

3. Junk foods: Not only do junk foods get in the way of your weight loss plans; they can also hinder your efforts to reduce work stress. Gans notes, ‘Snacking on potato chips, candy and baked goods may temporarily relieve hunger, but it rarely lasts any length of time. This can cause an energy crash later in the day and can lead to chronic hunger, which can make work that much more difficult to get through. What’s more, junk foods lack the vitamins and minerals the body needs to manage stress throughout the day.’

 

4. Fatty foods: There is research that indicates if you eat a fatty meal you will increase the negative effects of stress on your heart. ‘Most people don’t realize it, but starting the day out with a high-fat dairy product could be sabotaging that goal to reduce work stress,’ Gans cautions. ‘The more stressed the body feels, the less likely it is to perform well throughout the day, and as most of us now, poor performance is one way to drastically increase job stress.’

 

5. Alcohol: Gans advises, ‘Most jobs don’t allow drinking on-site, but if you go out for a business lunch steer clear of those alcoholic drinks. Alcohol stimulates the release of the stress hormone cortisol even though it may seem like it lowers your inhibitions. Also, drinking heavily at night can make you sluggish for work in the morning and make you less likely to pick up on important job facts throughout the day.’

 

6. Fizzy Drinks: If you steer clear of alcohol on business lunches, don’t replace your usual tipple with a glass of fizz! The Stress Management Society asserts that you should avoid fizzy drinks if you are feeling stressed at work. Gans comments, ‘When the body is under pressure, a build-up of carbon dioxide and lactates in the body can result in a condition called “acidosis”, which can harm health. The high levels of carbon dioxide in beverages aggravate that condition; therefore soft drinks need to be considered as an unnecessary addition to your diet.’

Categories: caffeine, day nbsp, junk foods, reduce work, sodium, steer clear, Stress, stress gans, stress management, stress nbsp, work stress, workplace stress

Mood Boosters: Why Caffeine, Carbs and Fat are Good for You

When you’re stressed out or feeling grouchy, you find yourself reaching for a sugary snack to give you an emotional wellness a boost. However, you know all-too-well that your feeling of wellbeing won’t last long, and will be replaced by the inevitable blood-sugar crash, with added irritability to boot. The problem with many foods in the Western diet is that they set you up for depression, anxiety, and mood swings. However, the good news is there are also plenty of foods to boost your mood, energy and performance. According to Drew Ramsey, MD, co-author of The Happiness Diet, ‘Food choices that you make every day influence your brain’s ability to grow and heal. The foundation of good mental health is good wholesome food.’ So, which foods can do the trick?

 

1. Caffeine: There’s something soothing about your morning cup of coffee, and a 2011 study from the Harvard School of Public Health has proven it. The results of the research revealed that if you drink at least two cups of coffee regularly, your risk of depression is 15% lower than women who don’t drink coffee – and your risk decreases by 20% if you plump for four or more cups. This is possibly because caffeine triggers your brain to release dopamine, which sharpens your focus and improves your outlook. Dr. Ramsey adds, ‘Coffee also contains plant-based nutrients that function much like a class of drugs that are used to treat depression.’ However, caffeine doesn’t affect everyone the same way, so cut back if you start to get the jitters or sleep poorly.

 

2. Fat: Because fat slows digestion, it gives you an unparalleled a calming, blood-sugar-evening effect. This is especially the case with omega-3 fatty acids, as a recent study found. The researchers asserted that eating two meals containing seafood per week can lower your rate of depression, anxiety and other mood disorders. This is possibly due to the fact that omega-3s maintain function in the areas of your brain that are responsible for regulating mood and emotion. However, Mary Morreale, MD, a psychiatrist at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, laments that, over the last 150 years, ‘we’ve greatly minimized the amount of omega-3s in our diet.’ It is the recommendation of the American Psychiatric Association that you eat two to three servings of oily fish a week. Other good sources of omega-3s are avocados, nuts and grass-fed beef, chicken and pork.

 

3. Carbs: Sure, carbs aren’t the best thing if you’re trying to lose weight, but they can seriously help with the mid-afternoon slump. Former director of MIT’s Clinical Research Centre in Women’s Health Judith Wurtman, PhD, co-author of The Serotonin Power Diet, explains you start to get cravings in the afternoon ‘thanks to a drop in the feel-good brain chemical serotonin, which can lead to that 4 o’clock mood slump some of us experience every afternoon.’ However, if you have a small snack that containing 25 to 30g of carbs, ‘it’s a small caloric expense to pay for feeling good,’ says Wurtman.

 

4. Tryptophan: Susan Bowerman, RD, assistant director of UCLA’s Centre for Human Nutrition, comments, ‘In order to make serotonin, you need tryptophan, an amino acid that your body can’t produce on its own, so it must be obtained from food.’ These include sources such as poultry, beef, eggs and nuts.

 

5. B Vitamins: Instead of making your lunchtime salad with boring, old romaine lettuce, switch to spinach for a better boost of the B vitamin folate. Dr Ramsey notes, ‘Higher concentrations of folate in the blood are linked to a decrease in negative mood, clinical depression and fuzzy thinking.’

Categories: Blood Sugar, Brain, caffeine, Coffee, depression, depression anxiety, dr ramsey, fats, mood, nbsp, omega 3s

Nutritious Tips that Can Help to Enhance Your Sex Life

People go to all sorts of lengths for sexual wellness; you try little blue pills and powdered rhino horn, but shouldn’t sexual nutrition be a little bit simpler? The truth is, eating the right nutrients to enhance your overall wellbeing – which everyone should be doing anyway – can also give your sex life a boost, unlike those mostly unproven aphrodisiacs. According to Beverly Whipple, PhD, RN, professor emeritus at Rutgers University and co-author of Science of Orgasm and The Orgasm Answer Guide, ‘One of the best things you can do to ensure a healthy sex life is to eat a well balanced diet.’ In fact, you’re probably eating many of the vitamins and nutrients that support a robust sex life right now—just not in sufficient quantities. Let’s take a look at a few dietary tips for bolstering your bedroom experience:

1. Eat a balanced breakfast: First thing in the morning, grab yourself a meal containing protein and fibre, such as peanut butter on whole wheat toast or yoghurt with fresh berries. Registered dietician Susan Kleiner, PhD, author of Power Eating, explains that as this combination takes your body a long time to digest, it gives you steady energy all morning and stops you making unhealthy food choices throughout the day. Why does this help your sex life? If you have more energy, you won’t be on a sugar-low, moody or grumpy, when you get home in the evening; you’ll be ready for action.

2. Avoid carbo-loading: While it may make sense to apply marathon logic to a lengthy bedroom session – e.g. eat carbohydrate-rich meals, like a bagel with cream cheese, before attempting to go the distance – loading up on carbs is actually disastrous for your sex life. Too many carbs will cause your blood sugar to spike and then plummet, leaving you sluggish and in the mood for nothing except a nap.

3. Hydrate: Kleiner points out, ‘If you’re low on fluids, you will be low on those important sexual fluids too. Drink a couple of cups of water when you rise in the morning after your overnight fast; this is the most dehydrated time of the day.’ Throughout the day, sip on low-calorie beverages and snack on high-water content foods to stay mentally and physically alert.

4. Don’t overdo the lattes: Yes, drinking plenty of water and other low-calorie beverages is key to having a healthy sex life, but downing caffeine like it’s going out of style will give you the jitters, meaning you’ll be in no mood for sex. Leslie Bonci, a registered dietician and director of sports medicine nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre, warns, ‘Too much caffeine is a central nervous stimulant. You may end up chasing each other around the bed and be too wound up to get down to business!’

5. Eat chicken, fish, and lean protein: Without enough protein in your diet, your brain doesn’t emit enough dopamine—the neurotransmitter associated with feelings of happiness and romance. Kleiner recommends, ‘An active woman should have at least 0.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight daily. Divide your body weight in half, and that is the least amount of protein that you should have in a day.’

6. Lay off the red meat and processed baked goods: Lean protein is a big “yes” in the sexual wellness stakes, but the unhealthy saturated and trans fats found in red meat and processed baked goods, on the other hand, contribute to clogged arteries and lowered blood flow. Whipple comments, ‘When the blood supply is blocked, there is less blood flowing to the genitals. Women won’t feel as lubricated and will have less feelings of arousal.’

Categories: baked goods, better sex, breakfast, caffeine, calorie beverages, healthy sex, lean protein, processed baked, red meat, registered dietician, sex life, Sexual Wellness

The Mum Shun: Foods to Avoid During Pregnancy

When you find out you’re going to be a mother, you want to do what’s best for your baby’s wellness as soon as possible. You start taking care of your wellbeing by adding healthy foods to your diet, but do you know the nutrition nightmares to avoid? Here’s our list of foods you should steer clear of during pregnancy.

 

1. High-mercury seafood: Too much mercury could damage your baby’s developing nervous system, and you’ll find high levels of the toxin particularly in big and old fish. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pregnant women should avoid swordfish, shark, king mackerel and tilefish. You’re OK to eat up to 12 ounces (340 grams) of tuna a week.

 

2. Raw, under cooked or contaminated seafood: These kinds of seafood are likely to contain harmful bacteria or viruses, so avoid raw fish and shellfish, especially oysters and clams. You are fine to eat smoked seafood if it’s canned, shelf-stable or an ingredient in a cooked dish, but you should avoid refrigerated smoked seafood, such as lox.

 

3. Under-cooked meat, poultry and eggs: Pregnancy increases your risk of bacterial food poisoning, gives you more severe reactions than you might experience when not pregnant, and, in rare cases, food poisoning affects the baby, too. Cook all meats, poultry and eggs properly and avoid refrigerated pates, meat spreads and pre-stuffed raw poultry.

 

4. Unpasteurized foods: While low-fat dairy products – like skimmed milk, mozzarella cheese and cottage cheese — can be a healthy part of your diet, foods containing unpasteurized milk could cause you to develop foodborne illnesses. Unless clearly labelled as otherwise, don’t eat brie, feta, camembert, blue cheese or Mexican-style cheeses, such as queso blanco, queso fresco and panela. You should also consider pasteurized eggs.

 

5. Unwashed fruits and vegetables: It’s vital that you eliminate any chance of harmful bacteria by thoroughly washing all your fruits and vegetables, as well as cutting away any bad or damaged bits. Raw sprouts — including alfalfa, clover, radish and mung bean — might also contain disease-causing bacteria so don’t eat them raw but be sure to cook the sprouts thoroughly.

 

6. Large quantities of vitamin A: Although this vitamin is essential for eye health, too much vitamin A can lead to your baby developing birth defects. If you’re pregnant and over the age of 19, it is the recommendation of The Institute of Medicine that you get 2,565 international units (IU) of vitamin A daily. This sounds like a lot, but bear in mind that cooked beef liver contains 27,185 IU in three ounces and cooked chicken liver has 12,325 IU per three ounce portion.

 

7. Excess caffeine: Not only does caffeine interfere with your baby’s heart rate, research suggests that it may actually increase your risk of miscarriage. While this is yet to be fully proven, doctors recommend pregnant women to consume no more than 200 milligrams of caffeine a day. To work that out in terms of your daily drink needs, in an eight-ounce cup of brewed coffee there are about 95 milligrams of caffeine, the same-sized brewed tea contains about 47 milligrams and a 12-ounce caffeinated cola soft drink contains roughly 29 milligrams.

 

8. Herbal tea: Data on the effects of specific herbs on developing babies is thin on the ground – even the types of herbal tea marketed specifically to pregnant women – so it’s best to avoid herbal tea unless your doctor tells you it’s OK.

 

9. Alcohol: While one drink probably won’t harm your baby, no level of alcohol has been proved safe during pregnancy so your best bet is to avoid alcohol entirely.

Categories: Alcohol, avoid, avoid refrigerated, Baby, caffeine, Food Poisoning, harmful bacteria, herbal tea, nbsp, Pregnant Women, smoked seafood

Eight Foods You Need to Avoid When Suffering Incontinence

Incontinence can be an embarrassing health concern for men and women alike, especially when you have no idea what might set it off. There’s a plethora of food triggers which can irritate your bladder but if you eliminate the right ones, and cut down on the rest as much as possible, you don’t have to let incontinence dictate your life.

 

1. Alcohol. Anyone can experience an increased need to urinate after a few drinks, but if your well-being is affected by incontinence, alcohol can really exasperate your bladder. If this is the case, you need to limit your alcohol consumption to a drink a day.

 

2. Fluids. Regardless of what you’re drinking, it is recommended that you consume just about the recommended two litres of fluid a day. Any more than that may spell trouble, but not drinking enough can also affect your wellness with dehydration, constipation and kidney stones.

 

3. Chocolate. Whether it’s white, milk or dark, the caffeine content in your favourite box of chocs make them an absolute no for incontinence sufferers.

 

4. Sugar. While you may be able to still consume sugar as part of a balanced diet, overdoing it can play havoc on your bladder. This is the case for sugary foods containing honey, fructose and corn syrup as well as artificial sweeteners.

 

5. Fizzy drinks. These beverages contain the unholy trinity of health concerns; caffeine, high sugar content and carbonation. Even if you find some fizz that doesn’t have caffeine, all of these beverages are best avoided when you have incontinence.

 

6. Coffee and tea. These beverages are diuretic and irritate the bladder, even if they’re decaffeinated. Doctors recommend that you slowly wean yourself off the mug stuff, in order to help your bladder cope better.

 

7. Cranberry juice. Because cranberry juice it is useful against Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and bladder infections, you may assume it can counteract your overactive bladder. However, it is the infection element, rather than the bladder element, that the juice works on, and as cranberry juice is highly acidic, it will do more harm than good to your bladder.

 

8. Spicy food. Hot or spicy foods irritate your bladder, which can trigger episodes of incontinence. Try to regulate how much spicy food you consume.

Categories: bladder, caffeine, cranberry juice, foods, Incontinence, Juice, nbsp, spicy food, Sugar

Is your Daily Coffee Intake Putting Your Health at Risk?

If you are a regular coffee drinker, you probably feel a certain amount of guilt about it, as you know that it is not very good for your health. A lot of research has been done into the health concerns associated with caffeine, and many studies seem to show that it may have a detrimental effect on your wellness. A new study has now taken a fresh look at chlorogenic acid (CGA), a substance that is found in coffee, and has looked into the effects that this compound may have on your wellbeing.

 

There have been claims in the past that coffee can cause obesity, but when looked at in more detail it appears that the research was into the CGA chemical rather than coffee itself, and the research was conducted on mice. The rodents in question were fed this chemical as part of their daily diet to see if their weight or glucose regulation was affected. This was part of a study which looked into whether or not there could be a link between this chemical and type 2 diabetes.

 

Mice that were fed a high fat diet and a supplement of CGA appeared to have a lower ability to regulate their own glucose than those who were simply given a high fat diet, which seems to suggest that consuming CGA can be bad for your health.

 

Despite this, the study on its own does not support the idea that coffee can cause obesity. The study was conducted on mice, for a start, and the levels were not tested on humans. In addition to this, the mice were fed a high fat diet, so adults who drink coffee alongside a normal, varied diet may not be at any additional risk of ill-health. Although the links to obesity seem fairly spurious, you should bear in mind, however, that excessive coffee consumption can lead to other health problems such as insomnia and irritability.

Categories: caffeine, Coffee, health

You-nique: Why Should Your Diet Pill Be Tailored to You?

You may want to lose weight, but diet pills seem like a scary step, don’t they? Some pills contain high levels of caffeine, which can affect your wellbeing with some pretty heavy side effects. However, while this type of diet pill is not ideal, most of them will only contain a certain amount of caffeine which – as you will know from your morning cuppa – is not necessarily a bad thing on its own. Caffeine only becomes a wellness problem when you consume more that your body can effectively process. So, with that out-of-the-way, let’s take a further look at diet pills.

 

When it comes to diet pills, it’s not a case of “seen one, seen ‘em all”. Some diet pills are worse than others and should be avoided like the plague, as they contain artificial ingredients that your body cannot process. Some diet pills, on the other hand, are filled and created using only natural ingredients that have been shown to help the body in certain processes. If you’re looking to lose weight, it is natural pills like these that you should plump for – although you may have to read a few labels first in order to determine which one is right for you.

 

If you do find yourself reading the labels of the entire supplement aisle, make sure you pick up on a few savvy points; do you have any allergies to any of these items? Will any of these items interact negatively with other medications you are taking? You should always talk to your doctor before you start taking any new supplement, but this becomes especially important if you don’t know how diet pills will interact with your current conditions/medications. You are an individual, with unique needs, and as such you need to equip yourself with information to ensure that you make the right choice for you.

 

Speaking of information, it’s not just how the pills will affect your medications that you need to read up on. Diet pill websites can easily make large promises about how effective their pills are, but when you read the fine print most of them will tell you that you need to also adopt a diet change and exercise. These kinds of companies at least have a realistic expectation of weight loss, which makes them more credible. However, if a website makes promises that sound too good to be true, that’s probably the case.

Categories: caffeine, diet pills, Natural Ingredients

Settling it Once and For All: Is Caffeine Bad For You?

Whether it’s that morning mug of coffee that helps you to kick-start your morning, or that pot of tea that calls out to you at the end of a long, hard day, sometimes, you just need a bit of caffeine. With that wellbeing-boosting feeling, it’s hard to think that caffeine is anything but good for you, but with numerous studies citing the dangers of caffeine you have to ask; is it safe?

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that disrupts homeostasis within your body. It will increase your heart rate and blood flow while raising your body temperature, but most wellness experts agree that a daily cup or two of coffee or tea is considered safe. However, if you’re susceptible to certain conditions, caffeine may not be the best choice for you. If you have a heart condition, high blood pressure or Type 2 diabetes, you are risking added stress on your heart and circulatory system, as well as a possible increase in blood sugar levels, when you drink caffeine.

You should also be wary of drinking caffeine if have trouble sleeping, or if you’re dehydrated, restless, anxious or irritable, as too much caffeine could make these conditions worse in susceptible individuals. However, the positive side of caffeine is that it helps to improve your athletic performance, so you could get more out of your workout if you have a cup of coffee or green tea beforehand. Research shows that assists in your body’s release of calcium, as well as helping you burn fat as a fuel source, which increases your muscular power. Caffeine also makes your brain feel as if you aren’t working as hard as you really are, and this helps you to do more.

The problem with your morning cup of coffee is that many people use it as a replacement for a complete breakfast, which means you have no nutritional sustenance to get you through the day. As long as you have a balance of macronutrients from actual food for breakfast, there’s nothing wrong with having a cup of coffee or brewed tea. If you drink a caffeinated drink, have the same amount of water afterwards to help offset the diuretic effect of the caffeine.

Settling it Once and For All: Is Caffeine Bad For You?

Categories: athletic performance, caffeine, heart disease

Salt, Sugar, Caffeine, Alcohol: Foods That Age You

When it comes to foods that take their toll on your wellbeing, as well as your ageing process, one underlying theme seems to be that they dehydrate your skin. Sure, you could amp up your intake of water – which is certainly no bad thing for your wellness – but if you really want to make your anti-ageing regime the best it can be, there are certain foods you need to avoid.

With dehydration, the number one culprit to turn on is salt. Anyone who’s ever eaten a bag of crisps will tell you that you get thirsty afterwards, and salt is the reason why. The dehydration that salt causes your body causes you to become fatigued, and this, in turn, makes you look tired and worn out. As an added bonus, consuming salt excessively can cause you to develop high blood pressure and kidney disease, and it also interferes with your bone metabolism. Bottom line: don’t pass the salt.

Another well-known dehydrating ingredient is caffeine. Sure, your morning cup of coffee gets you going in the morning – and there’s nothing wrong with that – but the average Brit drinks four cups of something caffeinated every day, and that’s where the danger of looking fatigued rears its ugly head, as well as yellowing your teeth. The same goes for caffeinated energy drinks and, according to the Dr. Oz Show, energy drinks damage the enamel in your teeth eight times more than fizzy drinks do, which makes your teeth look yellow and unhealthy, meaning that you look older.

While we’re mentioning fizzy drinks, these too tend to dehydrate the body, as they are high in sugar. The Dr. Oz show adds that consuming too much alcohol dehydrates your body, and so that vodka and coke is a cocktail for anti-ageing disaster! However, the ageing properties of alcohol don’t stop dehydration, but Dr. Oz explains that your favourite tipple also causes wrinkles, loss of collagen, redness and puffiness – lovely!

If in doubt, avoid things that are high in salt, sugar, caffeine or alcohol, but if you do partake then GalTime.com recommends plenty of water: ‘A good rule of thumb is to drink half your body weight in ounces. So if you weight 130 lbs, you need 65 ounces of water a day – just over eight cups.’

Salt, Sugar, Caffeine, Alcohol: Foods That Age You

Categories: Alcohol, anti ageing, body, caffeine, Drinks, Energy Drinks, fizzy drinks, Salt, salt sugar, sugar caffeine

Is Drinking Coffee Bad For Pregnant Women?

We’ve known for a long time that caffeine isn’t the best substance to be filling our bodies with. That’s why it’s especially worrying that people drink so much coffee. There is so much caffeine in coffee and it is such a regular part of many peoples’ diets that it could be a cause for concern.

This is especially true in light of new research that has revealed coffee puts pregnant women at risk of damaging their unborn child. Excess levels of caffeine have been linked to a low birth weight and prolonged pregnancies.

Along with important things like nutrients and oxygen, caffeine freely passes through the placental barrier, but the developing baby’s body is not developed enough to deal with the substance. The World Health Organisation currently suggests that pregnant women should limit themselves to around 300mg per day, but some countries recommend a limit of 200mg which is equivalent to less than a single cup of coffee in many high street cafes.

A team of researchers from the Norwegian Institute for Public Health looked at the impact of mothers drinking caffeine on their unborn babies. The team used information about the mother’s diet and birth details collected over a period of ten years. All the major sources of caffeine were monitored in the study: coffee, tea, fizzy drink and chocolate.

The results showed that all forms of caffeine were noted to reduce birth weight and prolong pregnancies, but that caffeine derived from coffee was by far the worst. This suggests that it is not only caffeine that is causing the problem but likely another substance found in the coffee that is making things even worse.

The team noted that more research will be required into the area to look at the other problems surrounding coffee and pregnancy.

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Is Drinking Coffee Bad For Pregnant Women?

Categories: babies, caffeine, Coffee