If you’re like me and feeling extremely guilty about everything you ate at the Thanksgiving table, especially after touring all the restaurants you’ve been missing for three months, then you’re probably looking for a way to drop the extra calories faster than you put them on. Aside from trips to the gym and getting back to healthy eating, there are some ways that are known to burn some calories as an extra boost. I have heard many rumors about both coffee and tea (specifically green tea) that are related to weight loss and burning calories. So, which is the better one to choose?

It is often said that green tea does numerous wonders for your body, but is well-known for its ability to reduce belly fat and burn calories. Coffee is best known for the boost it gives you and keeping you awake through the rough days, and also has a reputation for burning calories, if it is served black. So the question is, which one is the best option when you are trying to lose some extra weight? This article explains that coffee does not directly burn fat and calories when you consume it, but it does curb your appetite in its tracks. By making you less hungry, it helps prevent weight gain by stopping the temptation to eat fattening foods. So, coffee does not exactly cause weight loss, but instead prevents it from happening. Tea, on the other hand, works a little differently. The antioxidants and compounds boost the fat burning hormones in the body, which start the process of breaking down fat. It also increases the amount of norepinephrine in the body, which is an enzyme that signals to fat cells to break down fat. The more there is of this enzyme, the more fat will be broken down. So unlike coffee, when green tea enters your body, it is actually working at the fat stored inside.

After reading these two articles, I think that tea is probably the best option when it comes to losing weight. Coffee can certainly help, but it appears to be more of a preventative method rather than a solution. An experiment could certainly be done to test this; if enough people are gathered throughout different age groups and body types, we could split them in half and give one group black coffee and the other green tea. The results could show which group recorded the most weight loss or fat burned, by looking either at pounds or BMI. However, this cannot rule out reverse causation; what if people with faster metabolisms or more active people are drawn to drinking more tea, and heavier people are drawn to coffee? While this could be an issue in the experiment, I think it is definitely something worth testing out, as the results could be useful to countless people trying to shed the extra Thanksgiving weight.

Do you ever get dizzy and sick from the sight of blood? Every movie, TV show, or picture that contains blood, real or fake, is enough to make me sick, or in some instances collapse to the floor. I always assumed it was normal for people to faint at the sight of blood since it is normal for me, but most people do not have such a problem with it. So, what causes some people to faint when they see the red liquid, while others don’t even flinch?

First of all, it is important to see what causes fainting in the first place. This article explains what happens in the brain that triggers fainting, aka vasovagal syncope. The vagus nerve in our brains synapses onto something called the nucleus of the solitary tract, abbreviated as the NTS. Stimulating the NTS is what causes the bodily functions that lead to fainting: a drop in blood pressure, drop in heart rate, etc. The nerve stimulations are triggered by stressful events. This explains why things such as hunger, dehydration, and intense heat are such common reasons that people lose consciousness. So, where does the sight of blood play into all this? For some, that scene can register as a stressful event. Stress and intense emotion are factors that trigger the vagus nerve to synapse, and so if someone is very sensitive to gruesome scenes, the NTS will be stimulated just the same. So, it is really up to how each individual interprets the scene in front of them. Some people may just feel uneasy and turn their heads, but others can register this on a deeper level, which leads to the common phenomenon of people fainting at the sight of blood.

I do not think an experiment can or needs to be done to test this, since it really depends on the individual and how they process what they see. If we see a gruesome image in class, each student is bound to react to it differently. This cannot be due to reverse causation either, because we know that fainting is final result, not the cause. So the takeaway from this is, if you have a tendency to get woozy from seeing blood, then you should avoid some horror movies or some PowerPoint slides in class. If you do not feel any discomfort when seeing certain images, then go right ahead and look; your nervous system will be just fine.

After a regretful night of Applebee’s half-priced appetizers that sadly ended at 1:15 AM, I left feeling very ashamed and in denial. During my feelings of regret, though, I did come up with an idea for a blog post. I have often heard that eating after a certain time at night causes more weight gain than eating during earlier times of the day. Is this true? Is late night snacking worse for your calorie count? This myth has been around for as long as I can remember, but I want to see if there’s some truth behind it.

This article explains why this question is so tricky. It explains that technically, the time of day that you eat does not really matter. A 100 calorie snack has 100 calories in the morning and at night, and they both affect your body the same way. But if it really makes no difference, how did this rumor get started? The problem lies in what you eat. When it is late at night, people tend to go for foods that are more fattening and worse for your body. When you crave food at night, fruits and vegetables usually do not satisfy your craving. But overall, the time of day does not affect the fat that you intake. Simply eating something at night does not make it more fattening or unhealthy. But the weight gain occurs because of the content of the food you choose.

The article closes by saying why this question is a tricky one to answer. “However, people who eat late at night tend to choose high-calorie foods that their bodies can do without. If you are one of these people, avoiding food after dinner may help you deter weight gain—or even promote weight loss.” So the rumor that eating late at night causes weight gain is partially true, but entirely dependent on the person and what they eat. If your midnight snack consists of healthy foods, then there is no cause for concern about gaining weight. If someone wanted proof of this, an experiment could be done where a wide variety of participants eat healthier foods while some eat fattening ones at the same time at night for a period of time, and the results are recorded. This can show that just the content matters. However, the results could be due to reverse causation; do people who weigh more tend to eat more at night? For now, if you are watching your weight, it is best to lay off the fatty snacks that just seem to taste so much better at night. But as long as you are careful with what you are eating, eating it at 3 AM will not make it worse for you.

I think this is something that we all suffer from. You can spend hours studying for a test and staring at a textbook, and for some reason, you just can’t retain the information. It seems impossible to remember the formula right in front of you or the facts that you have been learning all semester. However, when one of your favorite songs comes on, even one you haven’t heard in years, you can remember the whole thing. You never hear Sweet Caroline on the radio often, but at a football game, you can scream all the lyrics. You can rap all of Anaconda  without missing a beat. But why can all of the words to these songs come back to us so easily, and the information we really need can’t?

According to this article, music has been used as a tool for remembering important things since the beginning of time. Songs were created to help remember how to prepare food, find water sources, etc. The ancient Jews sang the Torah to remember it before it was written. The article also points out that we still use these methods today. How did we learn the alphabet, or the days of the week and months of the year? Music is very strongly connected to the parts of our brain that help us remember, and this would explain why it is so easy for a song to become stuck in your head without much effort. After thousands of years of evolution, our brains have become programmed to interpret music as a way of remembering what we need to know. Of course, we don’t really need to know every line to so many songs, but it at least explains why it is such an easy thing to do. But why is it still so hard to remember the facts that will be on our exams?

While the answer to this is not very clear, this article points to a solution that may be able to help. Maybe turning the facts or formulas you need to remember into songs can help more than staring at pages for hours and trying to etch them into your brain. Psychologist Daniel Levitin says, ” ‘The structures that respond to music in the brain evolved earlier than the structures that respond to language’ “. So, right now we could be working towards making language easier to remember. For right now, though, this article only answered half the question, why it is so easy to remember music. This can still be helpful, however. Putting the information you need to know to your favorite song or a simple tune can be a very beneficial tool when you are cramming for that exam the next day. Rather than just repeating the words or numbers to yourself, try matching it with a song, and see if it makes the difference!

During a long car ride to visit a friend at her school yesterday, my legs were beginning to cramp up and experience a lot of pain. I hadn’t moved in over and hour, and while I debated pulling over to let them stretch, I wondered how damaging it is to your body to sit in one spot for so long. Could there be any harmful effects besides the obvious pain in your legs?

According to WebMD, “researchers have reported that sitting for long hours is linked to worse mental health, a higher risk of death from heart disease and other causes, and a higher risk of being disabled.” So aside from some temporary pain, there can be some serious consequences of sitting for too long. But today, it is hard to avoid sitting for such long periods of time, with school, desk jobs, and our addiction to computers and Netflix. But how does something so common and part of our everyday lives cause such severe results? According to the article, scientists just do not know. One explanation is that sitting causes your blood to flow more slowly and muscles begin to burn less fat. This is turn increases the risk of heart disease and blood pressure, which lead to hard endpoints such as death or serious health complications. The article goes on to explain a study done by Andrea LaCroix, where she found that older women who reported that they sat the most hours during the day were more likely to die between then and a 12-year follow up. However, the article does not include any other information about the study, such as how many participants there were, or anything about their health that might also cause on impact, so it is not very reliable.

The information presented in the article does not rule out reverse causation. What if people with poor health or with higher blood pressure and heart problems are just prone to sitting more? As of right now, there is no way to tell which comes first. Reverse causation may very well    be present here, which means that sitting for too long may not even be a problem, it could just be the result of people who are already have heart and blood pressure problems. However, until we find out, it would be a good idea to break up the periods of time that we are sitting for. Getting up and walking around during a commercial, taking a break to stretch while driving, or getting up more during long hours of work are all ways to reduce the risk of sitting in the same place for hours.

As Penn State students, we know what to expect when it comes to the winter. We bargained for it when we chose our school, but it is something that we can’t help but dread. It seems obvious that people are happier when spring and summer come around and feel worse when winter is coming, but is there something deeper behind it? Can the weather really affect your mood so much? Is there a point where the weather can actually push you to sadness or depression? Apparently, the answer to that is yes.

Personally, the winter always brings me down. There is not a single thing about it (after the holidays and my birthday) that makes me want to get out of bed and start my day. I always thought that this was just normal, because how could anybody actually enjoy walking through ice and snow and standing in the freezing wind? But according to WebMD, there is such a thing as Seasonal Affective Disorder, or “winter depression”. When the last leaves of autumn are gone and the worst of winter really sets in, people can experience depressive symptoms. These symptoms are severe enough for this to be considered a mood disorder, not just winter blues or not wanting to get out of bed because of the awaiting cold. People who suffer from SAD do not experience any depression throughout the rest of the year, showing that the seasons are the direct cause. This would reject the null hypothesis, that nothing is happening here and the seasons have no effect on mood and depression.

I was really surprised to find out that a condition like this exists. No one particularly likes the winter, and it always seems like people dread the cold as opposed to the way they look forward to summer, but enough that it can cause depression? I know that I go into a slump during the cold, but it seems odd to me that some can temporarily have depression and then go back to their normal selves when it starts to warm up. However, there are ways to manage and treat this disorder. Researchers have found that those who suffer from SAD are very sensitive to light, or the lack thereof. This could be one of the causes, and it is one of the ways that this can be treated. Light therapy is one of the most effective ways to treat winter depression. This article describes the process and why it works so well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder

http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/seasonal-affective-disorder

At home, I would always put my phone down next to my pillow before I went to sleep. When I woke up, it would always be in a different spot somewhere across the room, and my mom would explain that she moved it because if I fell asleep with it right next to my head, I would get a brain tumor. Now, my mom has the tendency to overreact to essentially everything, so I never took this seriously. But now that she’s hundreds of miles away and can’t move my phone away at night, I always wake up with it right next to me and wonder if what she said has any truth behind it. Is there a possibility that our phones can give us cancer?

Cell phones are known to emit radio waves. When your phone is nearby, the tissue nearest to it will absorb the energy from the waves. This is where the concern comes from. However, there are two types of these radio waves, ionizing and non-ionizing. Enough exposure to ionizing radiation is known to increase the risk of cancer, however cell phones only emit non-ionizing radiation. Studies conducted on animals, humans, and cells have shown no evidence of these radio waves being linked to cancer. Several case-control and cohort studies were conducted all around the world, and the results all showed no significantly significant increases in cancers. No substantial evidence was found that could connect cell phone usage to areas where we use our phone or keep it the most often. One study in Denmark found 358,000 cell phone subscribers that were suffering from brain tumors, and even then could not find a link between the tumors and cell phone usage. As of right now, there is no reason to be concerned and no visible connection between the two.

I personally think this subject is going to continue to be studied. The question of if cell phones cause cancer seems to be a popular one, and maybe there is a connection that no one has found yet. This is extremely important in our society today, because of how popular cell phones are today and how undeniably addicted we are to them. My guess is that cell phones are only going to become more popular in the coming years, and maybe that increase will cause a problem. Who knows how much we will be using them in the future? If our research continues the way it is going now, hopefully something will be detected. For now, it looks like my mom can relax a little and not try to hide my phone where I can’t find it.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/cellphones

We’ve all heard people say “I get high off exercise” or heard of a “running high”. We know that exercise can put people in a great mood afterwards and make them feel on top of the world, but is there any substance to the expressions about it getting them high?

For years, this hypothesis was unproven. The idea was that chemicals are released in the brain during exercise, and they are able to change a person’s mood. But there was never medical technology to test this idea and see if the released endorphins traveled from the blood to the brain, which would be the reason behind the mood change, according to a New York Times article. However, recently, researchers in Germany used advanced neuroscience technology to take this question head-on and they came to a conclusion: running (or other intense endurance exercises) does make people feel high. The experiments were done by using PET scans using newly available chemicals that show endorphins in the brain, and comparing brain scans of runners before and after a long run. The tests showed that endorphins are, in fact, produced during the run and attach themselves to the areas of the brain that are associated with emotions. So, the “runner’s high” is not just a myth, and leaving the gym feeling inflated is actually because of a chemical reaction in your brain.

Personally, I have never experienced a runner’s high. I absolutely hate running and I have never felt good after it, besides being glad that it’s over. The article does say in the beginning that there are some who do not experience a runner’s high at all. So, what happens in their brains when they run? Are they not producing the same endorphins, are they not attaching the the brain in the same areas? If running can make some people feel so happy and euphoric, what happens for the people who feel miserable afterwards? This article does not answer any of these questions, but those who enjoy running or intense exercise are also able to enjoy the feeling of intense happiness when they are finished, as well as all the benefits of exercising.

A few years ago at a regular checkup at my doctor’s office, my doctor warned me that I needed to use my headphones less. She said that if everyone used their headphones as often or more than we currently do, we will all be deaf by the time we’re 40. I brushed this off because I figured she was just trying to scare me, but is there any substance behind this? Is it possible that that could actually happen?

As college students, we use our headphones a lot. Almost everyone I see on my way to class or downtown is using a pair of headphones. It eases our long walks around campus, occupies us on the bus or during long car rides, helps us study, and lifts up our moods. Personally, I can’t study or finish any homework if I don’t have my headphones in. But is this going to have a negative impact in my future? According to this article, it probably will; but it mostly depends on the volume of your music.

Most people use earbuds nowadays instead of typical headphones. This is especially more dangerous because they fit directly into your ear, and also do not cancel out the noise around you, so you are hearing sound from both sources. But the biggest problem is the decibel level that we are listening to. It takes about 85 decibels for a sound to cause hearing damage. In a study described in the article, an audiologist discovered that most students had their music playing in their headphones between 110 and 120 decibels. This is equivalent to the sound of a car horn blaring, a lawn mower, power tools, or being at a rock concert – but playing directly in your ear. I don’t think anyone would want to hear a car horn blast directly next to their ear, so why would we want to play our music at the same level? If music is played at such an intense level, then the answer to my question would be yes: headphones, at a certain level, can cause hearing damage. That does not mean my doctor was correct about our generation being entirely deaf by our forties, or that we can never use headphones again. We just have to be careful about how loud our music goes and be careful.

Personally, I wonder how headphones and earbuds can have such a difference, like the article talks about. Obviously earbuds are more direct because the fit perfectly inside your ear and headphones don’t, but don’t they still achieve the same purpose and cause the same problems?  And if all this really can damage your hearing, is it reversible? While I’m not sure if the damage can be reversed, this article offers one way to preserve your hearing before anything serious happens. It explains the “60/60” rule, or not listening to headphones/earbuds for more than 60 minutes at a time at 60% of the maximum volume. This seems like a reasonable solution to me, as our hearing is such an important sense and something that I don’t think anyone would willingly want to lose.

I think by now we are all aware of what a gorgeous campus we get to see every day. Of course it’s hard to get up and out of bed in the morning and convince myself to go to class,  but once I’m walking to class, I really don’t mind anymore. In fact, I actually enjoy it because walking around such a beautiful place immediately puts me in a good mood. I definitely don’t mind going to class here as much as I did in high school, where I had to sit in the same ugly building all day. Is that because of the environment around me? Does being in a pretty setting or around a lot of nature have an impact on mood?

Besides knowing that nature is pretty and enjoying looking at a patch of flowers while walking by, there may be a scientific explanation as to why nature makes us feel better. This article explains a concept known as the Biophilia hypothesis: we are hard-wired to connect with nature. When you walk outside on a nice day, you are programmed to feel happier. It is just a part of being human. The article also offers an interesting take on the phenomenon: “Nature encourages introspection because we are removed from the man-made pressures we face in our daily lives. We spend so much time dwelling in these man-made structures…they serve as a constant reminder of the worries, stresses, and anxieties we deal with all the time”. I couldn’t agree more with this. When we are outside, it is easy to forget about the troubles and stress that we all have to deal with. Being in classrooms, lecture halls, or even your dorm or apartment can remind us just how much we have to tackle. I always feel stressed in my room before class, but while walking there I can feel a noticeable difference in my mood and I always feel calmer. I think this is really important for college students because we are all dealing with a certain level of stress, and maybe sitting outside for a few minutes or taking a walk through campus can really help us deal with whatever is going on in our lives.

Of course, a college campus is not equivalent to walking through a forest or along the beach and is not the nature scenario most would think of. However, I personally think that all the trees, grass, and flowers we see can have an impact on how we feel. Going to school or studying at home always felt like more of a chore, but walking to class at Penn State is at least enjoyable because you get to walk past so many attractive buildings and places. Studying seems easier when I go outside or find a quiet outdoor bench or table to work at. I don’t know of any experiments that have tested whether nature makes people happier or less stressed, but the reasons behind this phenomenon seem strong to me and make sense as to why this is true. The next time you feel overwhelmed with homework, exams, or anything stressful, take a quick break and stroll around campus for a while; it could help more than you think!

http://www.youbeauty.com/mind/columns/cloud-nine/health-and-happiness-benefits-of-nature

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/03/why-nature-makes-us-naturally-happy/?__federated=1

http://magazine.good.is/articles/scientific-proof-that-trees-make-us-happier

We’ve all done it before: get ready for bed, climb in, but instead of closing our eyes and trying to fall asleep, we reach for our phones and play around with them for a while. I can admit I am one of the worst offenders when it comes to this. I will be absolutely exhausted and finally lay down at the end of a long day, but am suddenly able to be awake enough to stay on my phone and scroll through every social media site before finally turning it off and falling asleep. It may seem like checking up on a few things before going to sleep could be harmless, but being exposed to the lights and screen at night can disrupt our sleeping patterns and cause more problems than we probably think.

I checked out two different articles on this subject to see if using your phone before bed can cause any problems or is harmless. The first explains the problems that affect your sleep at night and why it is unhealthy. It says that after two hours, exposure to artificial light can suppress melatonin in the body, disrupting sleep. Melatonin in a hormone in the body that acts as a sort of timer, and sends signals throughout the body about nighttime and indicates that it is time to go to sleep. When we are looking at a phone, tablet, computer screen, etc, for about two hours or more, we are suppressing the melatonin in our bodies. Suppressing melatonin disrupts our circadian rhythms, which causes sleep disturbances. So, if you are typing up your homework or watching Netflix for over an hour before bed, take a break to do your nighttime routine, and then sit in bed staring at your phone, your body is responding in a negative way. The best way to avoid this would be to try to stay away from most electronics before bed; of course, late night homework is unavoidable sometimes, but every night can become a problem. When you go to bed, turn off your phone and actually go to bed instead of checking Twitter, Instagram, or whatever it may be. Checking in the daylight the next day will make all the difference for your sleep cycle.

The second article that I looked at talked about the effects of late night phone/tablet/computer usage on the next day, which also showed negative consequences. The article depicts a study that involved 82 managers answering several surveys over a period of two weeks about their phone usage and work performance. The results show that those who used their phones after 9 PM the previous night led to decreased work engagement during that day. Those who used their phones so late felt worse in the morning because of a worse night of sleep, which directly affected their work performance. A second part of this study used the same surveys and experiments but with questions about laptop, TV, and tablet usage. The results were similar (using these items late at night also caused a worse morning and work performance), but also showed that smartphone usage had a more prominent effect on the subjects’ behavior the next day.

Overall, using all electronics late at night has an entirely negative impact on sleep patterns, the next morning, and the work we will try to complete the next day. This is definitely something to keep in mind when going to sleep but deciding to check your phone first. I do this often and am definitely going to take these articles into consideration when I have classes, exams, and work due the next day.

This past weekend was Yom Kippur, or more commonly known to Jews as “the worst 25 hours of the year”, “the hunger games”, and other various nicknames. For those who are not Jewish or do not know much about Yom Kippur, it is one of the holiest Jewish holidays and those who celebrate are supposed to fast from sundown of the first night to sundown the next day. And yes, it sucks. While starving on Saturday, my thoughts were almost all about food, but I also wondered what happens to your body when you fast for a period of time. I’ve heard that it’s healthy for you, but I’ve always questioned this and wanted to know.

After reading this article, I’m a little relieved to see that so many healthy benefits come out of fasting. The first benefit on the list says that it gives your digestive system a break. I have never really thought about it from this perspective, but the article makes a good point. People take breaks from work, exercise, we nap, and we rest each parts of our bodies, but our digestive system is always working and we never really give it the chance to stop. This was definitely something interesting to think about, and giving your digestive system a break once in a while can be very helpful and beneficial. It has never occurred to me that this one part of our bodies never really takes time off, so it is something to keep in mind when I’m wishing Yom Kippur would end.

The article lists other health benefits of fasting, such as breaking down toxins in the body, putting more energy towards healing instead of digesting, and cleansing and strengthening us. Fasting has been practiced since ancient times, and throughout ages, has always shown healthy results and been known to cure illnesses and rejuvenate the entire body. If you are suffering during your Yom Kippur fast and can’t stop the constant food thoughts throughout the day, try to think about all the positive effects that the fast is having on your body. It won’t replace the Chipotle and ice cream that you want, but it’s definitely interesting and helpful to see all the benefits that you are gaining out of it.

We’ve all heard of it. We dreaded it all summer. “The Freshman 15”. The idea that every freshman will gain 15 pounds when going away for their first year of college. Of course, it’s easy to gain a little weight when you’re away from home for the first time; it’s hard to find time to exercise while trying to adjust to a new schedule, we are not eating home cooked meals anymore and are constantly eating out, our schoolwork is more time consuming, and maybe some are not playing sports anymore that they used to in high school. It all adds up to a probable chance of gaining some weight, which is completely normal. But does that mean the freshman 15 is real, or is it just a myth or over exaggeration?

One article says that it is not entirely true. “Recent studies suggest that while college students (both male and female) do gain weight during their first year at school, it’s more to the tune of five pounds rather than fifteen”. In other words, it is expected and very common for freshmen to gain weight and college, but the “freshman 15” does not necessarily exist. A study done at Ohio State (no) showed that the average amount of weight gained for freshmen is about three pounds. Hardly any students actually gained 15 pounds or more, and a significant amount even lost weight.

That is not to say that gaining weight in college is a complete myth, because most do. It just means that the idea of the freshman 15 is basically an exaggeration. Constant access to fast food and dining halls, excessive drinking, and poor habits all contribute to the phenomenon. However, significant and unhealthy weight gain can be avoided. Exercising and eating healthy are two methods that never fail. It also helps to walk to classes instead of taking the bus or driving every single day. If it is nice out, walking is always a good opportunity for exercise. It all depends on the individual and how everyone handles their college experience, but it is probably a relief to know that the freshman 15 is not completely true.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/freshman-15-weight-gain_n_3860832.html