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What causes ‘brain freeze’?

What causes 'brain freeze'?

It all starts with an innocent spoonful of ice cream. Then another. Then another. But before you know it, your ice cream sundae — or perhaps morning smoothie — has stopped you cold in your tracks with an old fashioned case of sphenopalatine ganglion neuralgia — better known as brain freeze. It’s so common, you could ask if it’s really even summer without experiencing this sensation. It’s not harmful and it doesn’t last long, but when it hits, those few seconds can be crippling. So what causes it?  After many personal experiments diving face first into that mint chocolate chip cone, you already know that cold treats leave you with a quick and intense headache. But what causes our bodies to react that way? Is it really cold temperatures “freezing” your brain? “On the roof of your mouth you have this thick bed of capillaries, so when you have something cold, it causes…

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Chocolate milk helps you recover from a grueling work out, study shows

Chocolate milk helps you recover from a grueling work out, study shows

It’s natural to work up a thirst and appetite after a tough workout — but what exactly you should be eating and drinking is highly debated. Some experts swear by protein, while others insist on sports drinks or alternatives like coconut water. One post-workout option you’ll see kick around often is chocolate milk. Why? Well, for starters, everyone loves chocolate milk — who wouldn’t want to look forward to an ice cold glass? But besides being tasty, it has a great combination of hydrating H2O, protein, and simple carbohydrates that can help your body heal after a particularly difficult day at the gym. The new research was published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study concluded that high-fat milk was just as effective as sports drinks or water in helping you recover from intense exercise. While water and sports drinks are great, chocolate milk has an edge when it comes to…

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High-fat diets might not be best for weight loss, one study shows

High-fat diets might not be best for weight loss

If you’ve gone on a diet recently, you’ve probably been told by a friend or even a fitness professional that a low-carb, high-fat diet is the fastest way to fitness. The theory goes that this type of diet will force your body into ketosis, where it will burn fat instead of carbs, prompting you to shed more pounds. But a new study suggests that this might not be the case. The new study from the University of Aberdeen in the Chinese Academy of Sciences was published in Cell Metabolism. Researchers found that mice who ate high-fat diets gained more weight over a three-month period than mice who ate high-carb diets. And actually, the mice fed carbs, didn’t gain any weight at all, while the high-fat diet produced overweight mice. Researchers at Aberdeen studied how mice responded to 30 different diets, which varied widely in fat and carb content. The diet-appropriate foods…

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This is what college students say would get them to drink less

This is what college students say would get them to drink less

Binge drinking is a major problem on U.S. college campuses. An estimated 40 percent of students engage it in regularly, despite the numerous negative consequences. So how do you get college students to stop drinking? Convince them that giving up the booze will help their grades, relationships and improve their health, one study showed. The findings were recently published in the Journal of American Osteopathic Association. Researchers surveyed nearly 300 college students over the age of 18 and asked them to report any binge drinking they had participated in during the past 30 days (September 2017), and then followed up with the same inquiry three weeks later. The students were asked about their willingness to initiate and participate in healthier drinking habits, as well as what factors they deemed necessary for a successful change. Lead researcher Dr. Manoj Sharma, professor of behavioral health at Jackson State University, said in a press release by the American Osteopathic…

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Eat more fruits and vegetables to reduce risk of breast cancer, researchers say

As if you didn’t have enough reasons to eat your fruits and vegetables, a new Harvard study shows that women who get their daily servings, or more, have a lower risk of breast cancer, especially aggressive tumors, than those who eat fewer servings of fruits and veggies. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, and yellow and orange vegetables, had a very strong link to lower risk of breast cancer. In the study, lead by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, researchers analyzed diet questionnaires from the Nurses’ Healthy Study (88,301 women, starting in 1980) and the Nurses’ Health Study II (93,844 women, starting in 1991). They found that women who ate 5.5 servings of fruit and vegetables each day had an 11% lower risk of developing breast cancer than those who ate 2.5 servings or fewer. (A serving is defined as one cup of raw, leafy vegetables, a half…

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Gen Z interested in healthy eating, international cuisines

Gen Z interested in healthy eating, interested cuisines

Millennials’ eating habits continue to steal the spotlight, but with generation Z coming of age, many companies are trying to predict how they will impact the future of the food industry. According to recent market research by Mintel, “Generation Z has the potential to reset expectations for health and wellness, increase the reach of international cuisine and heighten creativity in the kitchen.” Saying no to sugar One quarter of teens ages 15-17 say the worry about staying healthy. Another 49% agree that drinking soda is an unhealthy habit. Sugar continues to be at the top of the watchlist for parents of Gen Z kids. But while 60% of parents with kids ages 12-17 report saying “no” their their kid’s dietary choices because of sugar content, just 11% of food and drink launches in the U.S. last year had low, no, or reduced sugar. There is major room for improvement in this product area…

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Who does the dishes causes the most relationship conflict

Who does the dishes causes the most relationship conflict

Vacuuming isn’t much fun. Doing the laundry sucks, and scrubbing the bathroom — the worst. But apparently, none of these compare to the annoyance of doing the dishes. While many chores are shared in modern households, it’s dishwashing that your partner wishes you would do more of. According to the study conducted by the Council on Contemporary Families, women who handled the majority of the dishwashing in heterosexual couples reported less satisfaction overall in their relationships and lower sexual satisfaction than women who had partners that washed the dishes more frequently. “Doing the dishes is gross,” Dr. Dan Carlson, a professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah and the study’s lead author told The Atlantic. And unlike other appreciated chores — a clean car, a delicious garden — doing the dishes does not inspire compliments. Many of the least appealing and most thankless household chores have been traditionally handled…

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Men think food tastes better when waitress is attractive, study claims

Men think food tastes better when waitress is attractive, study claims

From interesting menu items to the perfect ambiance, restaurants pull out all stops to fill their seats night after night. But if it’s men they’re looking to attract to, the trick might be something much more simple. A recent study found that men believe their food tastes better when the waitress is attractive. Researchers say this is because good-looking women change mens’ expectations about their dining experience. Alternatively, the study found, when food is served by a handsome waiter, women’s opinions aren’t swayed. The research conducted by the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University in Canada surveyed 195 participants of both sexes. While an attractive woman raised men’s expectations of the dining experience, women were far more concerned with the location and noise level of the restaurant. Researched released a statement saying, “The current research shows that the presence of physically attractive individuals can affect consumers’ expectations about their consumption experience which…

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Millennials are the worst tippers, survey shows

Millennials are the worst tippers, survey shows

Of all the slack that Millennials take, this one might be the most merited. According to a new study, young people in this age range are terrible tippers. Credit cards.com surveyed 1,000 people and found that 10 percent of adults 18-37 routinely don’t leave any tip on their restaurant checks. And when Millennials do tip, it’s not nearly on the same level as other groups. At restaurants, nearly a third of tipping Millennials chose to leave less than a 15 percent. When presented with preselected options on a tablet (usually at a coffee shop or after taking an Uber), one in six Millennials choose the lowest amount, while one in five choose to leave nothing. Older age groups gave more generous tips in every situation. The study also found that across all age groups women are better tippers than men — going against the outdated thinking that men, as a whole, leave better tips. The median…

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Study says couples who drink together have happier marriages

Study says couples who drink together have happier marriages

People are constantly trying to find the secret to a successful relationship. Is it love? Understanding? Laughter? According to one study, the answer is alcohol. The study published in The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Series, couples who sip together, stay together. The report found that relationships where partners drank together had less negative relationship quality over time — particularly among wives. “Wives who reported drinking alcohol reported decreased negative marital quality over time when husbands also reported drinking and increased negative marital quality over time when husbands reported not drinking,” a summary of the study says. According to Reuters, nearly 3,000 couples participated in the study. On average, the couples had been together for 33 years — two thirds of those were on their first marriage. The study asked participants how often and how much they drink, then asked if they found their spouse “irritating, critical or too demanding.”…

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