ScienceDaily: Living Well News

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• Demographics drive fitness partner decisions online, study finds
• Couples sleep in sync when wife is satisfied with their marriage
• Sleep after learning strengthens connections between brain cells and enhances memory
• Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system
• Molecular secret of short, intense workouts clarified
• Use of gestures reflects language instinct in young children
• You catch (and kill) more flies with this sweetener
• Sperm size, shape in young men affected by cannabis use
• Jump into bounce house safety this summer
• Poor health, lifestyle factors linked to memory complaints, even among younger adults
• Night owls may be more sedentary, less motivated to exercise
• Insect repellents more important than ever as tropical tourism increases
• Why some experimental forms of 'The Pill for Males' will never rise to the occasion

Demographics drive fitness partner decisions online, study finds Posted: 05 Jun 2014 03:36 PM PDT Participants in an online fitness program ignored the fitness aptitude of their potential partners, instead choosing partners based on age, gender and BMI. The findings suggest that although people in online health programs are beckoned with the possibilities of meeting healthier people who can provide them with information about new kinds of exercises and better strategies for getting healthy, they self-select into networks that look very similar to the kinds of networks that people typically have offline.

Couples sleep in sync when wife is satisfied with their marriage Posted: 05 Jun 2014 11:18 AM PDT Couples are more likely to sleep in sync when the wife is more satisfied with their marriage. Results show that overall synchrony in sleep-wake schedules among couples was high, as those who slept in the same bed were awake or asleep at the same time about 75 percent of the time. When the wife reported higher marital satisfaction, the percent of time the couple was awake or asleep at the same time was greater.

Sleep after learning strengthens connections between brain cells and enhances memory Posted: 05 Jun 2014 11:18 AM PDT Researchers show for the first time that sleep after learning encourages the growth of dendritic spines, the tiny protrusions from brain cells that connect to other brain cells and facilitate the passage of information across synapses, the junctions at which brain cells meet.

Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system Posted: 05 Jun 2014 11:15 AM PDT In the first evidence of a natural intervention triggering stem cell-based regeneration of an organ or system, a study shows that cycles of prolonged fasting not only protect against immune system damage -- a major side effect of chemotherapy -- but also induce immune system regeneration, shifting stem cells from a dormant state to a state of self-renewal.

Molecular secret of short, intense workouts clarified Posted: 05 Jun 2014 08:35 AM PDT The benefits of short, intense workouts have been extolled as a metabolic panacea for greater overall fitness, better blood sugar control and weight reduction. Scientists confirm something is molecularly unique about intense exercise: the activation of a single protein. The new findings open the door to a range of potential exercise enhancements.

Use of gestures reflects language instinct in young children Posted: 05 Jun 2014 05:34 AM PDT Young children instinctively use a 'language-like' structure to communicate through gestures. Research suggests when young children are asked to use gestures to communicate, their gestures segment information and reorganize it into language-like sequences. This suggests that children are not just learning language from older generations, their preference for communication has shaped how languages look today.

You catch (and kill) more flies with this sweetener Posted: 04 Jun 2014 05:30 PM PDT A popular non-nutritive sweetener may be an effective and human-safe insecticide, researchers have discovered through a study that began as a sixth-grade science fair project. Erythritol, the main component of the sweetener Truvia, was toxic to fruit flies in a dose-dependent manner in the study. Flies consumed erythritol when sugar was available and even seemed to prefer it. No other sweeteners tested had these toxic effects.

Sperm size, shape in young men affected by cannabis use Posted: 04 Jun 2014 05:29 PM PDT Young men who use cannabis may be putting their fertility at risk by inadvertently affecting the size and shape of their sperm, according to new research. In the world's largest study to investigate how common lifestyle factors influence the size and shape of sperm, a research team found that sperm size and shape was worse in samples ejaculated in the summer months, but was better in men who had abstained from sexual activity for more than six days.

Jump into bounce house safety this summer Posted: 04 Jun 2014 05:29 PM PDT Summer block party season is here and that means inflatable bounce houses will be springing up in neighborhoods across the country. As kids jump into this fun summer activity it's important to ensure they are safe.

Poor health, lifestyle factors linked to memory complaints, even among younger adults Posted: 04 Jun 2014 05:21 PM PDT Researchers polled more than 18,000 people about their memory and a variety of lifestyle and health factors previously shown to increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. They found that many of these risk factors increased the likelihood of self-perceived memory complaints across all adult age groups. The findings may help scientists better identify how early lifestyle and health choices impact memory later in life.

Night owls may be more sedentary, less motivated to exercise Posted: 03 Jun 2014 10:58 AM PDT Night owls are more sedentary and feel that they have a harder time maintaining an exercise schedule, research concludes. People who characterized themselves as night owls reported more sitting time and more perceived barriers to exercise, including not having enough time for exercise and being unable to stick to an exercise schedule regardless of what time they actually went to bed or woke up.

Insect repellents more important than ever as tropical tourism increases Posted: 02 Jun 2014 05:45 PM PDT New research on DEET safety assessments is published on the first ever Insect Repellent Awareness Day. Authors recommend applying repellents containing 20-50% DEET to the skin when in countries with diseases spread by insects, such as malaria and dengue fever. Although medicine and vaccines can prevent some diseases, they don't prevent them all: in those cases, stopping the bite in the first place is the best line of defense.

Why some experimental forms of 'The Pill for Males' will never rise to the occasion Posted: 02 Jun 2014 07:17 AM PDT It appears that 'The Pill' for men will have to wait a while longer. A new research study involving mice shows that a previously developed male hormonal oral contraceptive method (i.e. via testosterone) is unable to stop the production and/or release of sperm. Scientists demonstrated that the male contraception approach by testosterone has an inherent problem -- spermatogenesis does not stop. They found that that administering increasing doses of testosterone to infertile mutant mice did allow sexual function to return at a certain dosing threshold, however spermatogenesis also returned at that dose.

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