The Scientific Guide to a Healthier You

A healthy, varied diet with plenty of fresh fruit and veg, regular exercise and six to eight hours’ sleep each night. When all’s said and done, the secret to good health is getting those three things. It’s not complicated and, truth be told, it’s nothing we don’t already know. We also know what happens when we don’t eat right, exercise well or sleep enough. Our bodyweight goes up, our mental well-being goes down and, if we forego any one of them for long enough, we get ill. What few of us know, however, are the reasons why a good diet, exercise and sleep are so important to our health. What exactly are those three things doing to our bodies to help us stay healthy and happy? Part of the reason for…

Pain killer Is it an alien landscape? Modern art? Rare mineral? Actually, none of the above. This colour-enhanced image is a close-up of aspirin crystals, which have been magnified hundreds of times. Aspirin has been used for over a century to treat pain, reduce fever and prevent heart disease. More recently, it has even been known to reverse tooth decay and decrease the risk of certain types of cancer. The main ingredient of modern aspirin – acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) – was first synthesised in 1853. But the medical use of its active component (salicylic acid) goes way back. Found in plants (especially willow trees) where it triggers processes such as flowering and defence mechanisms against disease, salicylic acid was extracted and used as a natural painkiller by ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, native Americans and…

1 teaspoon (5 grams) is the daily recommended salt intake for adults 20 minutes INTO CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISE, THE BODY STARTS TO BURN MORE FAT THAN SUGAR Junk food adverts aimed at kids have been banned in the UK since 2016 The first weight loss drugs became available in the 1920s It takes the brain 20 minutes to sense fullness after eating SEX BURNS 150-250 CALORIES PER HALF HOUR SESSION. WATCHING TV ONLY BURNS 32 CALORIES 1 apple a day helps lower levels of bad cholesterol and prevent stroke Despite your best intentions, do you get your five portions of fruit and veg a day? How about regular workouts? We all know what we should be doing, but a healthy diet and exercise regime are hard to stick to. Science has proven there’s a wealth of health benefits…

Discover how genes affect your relationship with food in The Science of Obesity bbc.n/2B07HPD The statistics tell their own story. One in four people in England are now classified as obese, compared with one in six in the 1990s. Fifty-eight percent of women and 68 per cent of men are now overweight. Being overweight makes us less healthy: a study published in Lancet Public Health in 2017 showed a clear relationship between hospital admissions and body weight. But it isn’t just physical problems that are the issue, because being overweight also makes many people unhappy. A British Social Attitudes survey revealed that people who are overweight suffer significant stigma and that 53 per cent of the British public believe that most overweight people could lose the extra pounds if they tried. But the…

More than half a billion people in the world are obese. Increasingly sedentary lives and a shift in diet are to blame. The South Pacific island of Samoa has the highest proportion of obese people – a whopping 74.6 per cent are considered obese. In fact, South Pacific nations reign in the top 10 – only Kuwait is not in the region. Elsewhere around the world, there is a direct link with income – the prevalence of obesity is four times higher in high-income countries than low-income ones. African and Asian countries generally have very low obesity levels. Less than two per cent of the populations in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are considered obese. FACT Two times more women (9.9%) are extremely…

1 Eat slowly Research presented at a recent American Heart Association meeting has found that eating quickly expands your waistline and increases heart disease risk. According to Dr Giles Yeo, eating too fast means you’re not leaving enough time for your gut to release hormones signalling to the brain that you’re full. So hunger continues and you keep on eating. 2 Avoid ‘empty’ calories Empty calories are sugary foods that make you gain weight, but don’t make you feel full. Fizzy drinks and fruit juices deliver large concentrations of sugar to the gut so quickly and easily that your intestines barely register it has hit them. Proteins and complex carbs, like beans, wholegrains, nuts and leafy vegetables, take longer to break down – so they’re in your gut longer and produce lasting ‘fullness’…