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HOW TO GET A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP, AND SUSHI BOWLS

March 16, 2018 1 Comment

 

sushi copy

How did you sleep last night? If the straw poll of friends around my dinner table this week (all women around 50) is anything to go by, then not very well. Today is World Sleep Day: designated to encourage us to focus on getting some shut-eye. We’re living in an epidemic of sleeplessness which has a huge impact on our health as we age. And one of the major causes of this is the electric light which dominates our lives – not just from light bulbs, but televisions, phones, alarm clocks, computers and tablets.

Our bodies simply aren’t designed to deal with all this artificial light. Our delicate circadian rhythms (which make us sleep and wake) are programmed to respond to light – as in daylight. Not the round-the-clock gleam of our electronic devices. And the knock-on effect on our health is devastating: when our bodies are exposed to more light, they produce less melatonin, the vital sleep-inducing hormone which regulates our circadian rhythms. A lack of quality sleep has a profound effect as we age and has been linked to an increased risk of dementia, cardiovascular problems, diabetes and obesity.

Not all light is created equal. Basic physics: light is made up of seven colours – you know, the colours of the rainbow. Different coloured light has a different impact on our bodies.  In the daytime, blue light is what we want: it boosts mood, alertness and reaction times. But that’s exactly what we don’t want at night. Those screens we are glued to in the evenings emit blue light, and keep us awake. Plus, the energy-saving LED light bulbs we are encouraged to buy emit more blue light, so it is increasingly hard to avoid in our homes.

Harvard researchers tested the effects of exposure to blue light against exposure to green light of comparable brightness. The blue light suppressed melatonin production for about twice as long as green light, and shifted circadian rhythms by three hours as opposed to one and a half hours. Red light has the least impact on melatonin production  – so if you need a night light, make it a red one – research from Israel shows that looking at a red-light emitting screen between 9pm and 11pm has almost no negative impact on melatonin production.

Like my friends, I often struggle to sleep well, taking ages to nod off. Annabel and I have both experimented with using melatonin supplements  and sprays, but with mixed results – and we’re not mad about taking lots of supplements. She blogged about it here. So with World Sleep Day in mind I’ve decided to take charge of my exposure to light. This is my plan:

  • Minimal use of computers and phones after 9pm. I’ll try and ‘power down’ earlier in the evenings, and use the time to read, get ready for the morning and sleep.
  • If I can’t avoid looking at a screen after 9pm – and sometimes I can’t – then I’ve ordered some orange tinted glasses from Amazon to block the blue light. They look hideous but I’m not going to wear them in public!
  • I’ve downloaded a free application called f.lux (there are others like Twilight or Redshift) onto my laptop. These programmes can be set to reflect sunrise and sunset wherever you are in the world so that the screen emits less blue light in the evenings. It means my screen has a slight strange pinkish glow in the evenings, but it’s rather soothing.
  • I’m experimenting with the night-shift settings on my iPhone (I’m sure there’s an equivalent for Android devices but I’m afraid I don’t know what it is). I’ve made the colour temperature warmer and set it to ‘manually enable until tomorrow’ so the changes stay in place over night.
  • I’ll look into red or orange light bulbs for the bedroom (but they might look a bit weird in the mornings?)
  • And absolutely no electronic devices in the bedroom at night!

SUSHI BOWLS – SERVES 4

These bowls are super quick and simple to make: cook some rice, whizz up a dressing and prepare some toppings. My children love these bowls – do swap in any vegetables or fish you like. These bowls are perfect for when you get home from work and don’t want to stay up late cooking or clearing up – more time for sleeping!

  • 300g brown sushi rice (or other type of short-grain rice)
  • 2 tbs sushi seasoning (or use 1/2 tsp each of salt and sugar with 1 tbs vinegar)
  • 4 carrots, peeled and grated
  • 1 chunk of cucumber
  • 1 avocado, peeled and sliced
  • 100g smoked tofu
  • 2 tuna or skinless salmon steaks or a pack of ready prepared sashimi (optional)
  • edamame beans, cooked

DRESSING

  • 3 sheets of nori
  • 4 tbs soy sauce
  • 100ml water
  • 2 tbs sesame oil
  • 2 tbs rice vinegar

Cook the rice according to the packet instructions. While it’s cooking, prep all your toppings. Slice the avocado and cucumber. Cut the tofu into cubes and finely slice the fish, if using cutting across the grain of the fish diagonally (unless you’ve splashed out on sashimi, in which case it’s ready cut for you).

Make the dressing by whizzing up all the ingredients in a blender (it won’t look very pretty, but it does taste good). Add a splash more water if needed.

Drain the rice, and stir in the seasoning. Divide between four bowls and arrange the toppings over it. Drizzle over some of the  dressing and put the rest on the table in a small bowl.

 

Susan

 

 

 

  • Meal Types: Dinner, Family
  • Conditions: Ageing
  • Ingredients: Rice, Salmon
« SHOULD YOU EAT LESS SALT? LEBANESE BAKED BEANS
NOT ALL EXERCISE IS EQUAL: ZA’TAR NUTS AND THE LONDON BOAT RACE »

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Welcome to The Age-Well Project

Welcome to The Age-Well Project!
Here you’ll find easy changes for a longer, happier life. We’ve immersed ourselves in the science of longevity and distilled the research to make it work in our everyday lives. You can change the way you age: here’s how.

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Susan was lucky enough to spend a day at the olive Susan was lucky enough to spend a day at the olive harvest at Bidni Extra Virgin Olive Oil @bidni_evoo in Malta in late September. Fresh from the press, the oil was pretty peppery! That’s the polyphenols at work.

Polyphenol levels in olive oil also play a vital role in its brain boosting properties. They help reduce neuroinflammation and slow cognitive decline.

A study presented at a conference this summer by Harvard School of Public Health looked at the cognition of more than 90,000 people over 30 years. It found that those who consumed half a tablespoon of olive oil each day, as opposed to mayonnaise or margarine, had a 28%  lower risk of dying from dementia. Interestingly, this research found that the brain benefits of olive oil held up, regardless of the quality of the rest of the participants’ diet. So even those who didn’t adhere to other guidelines of the Mediterranean diet still got the benefits from the oil.

There’s more on the blog - link in bio

#womenover50 #over50andfit #womenover60 #postmenopause #postmenopausalwomen #postmenopausalhealth 
#brainhealth #alzheimers #reducedementiarisk #cognitivehealth  #agewell #longevity #ageingwell #agingwell #longevity #EVOO
Two new pieces of research you need to know about Two new pieces of research you need to know about if you want to age well: 

1️⃣ the kynurenine pathway. It’s complicated but high levels of it don’t bode well for ageing well. Several studies have found that older people, those who’ve had hip fractures, the frail, as well as the depressed have higher circulating levels of kynurenine.  Indeed the more kynurenine in your blood, the greater your chances of dying sooner rather than later. High levels of kynurenine also seem to be associated with low levels of melatonin and serotonin – meaning both poorer sleep and a greater risk of depression.

New research has identified a very simple way of blocking the accumulation of kynurenine (and its toxic by-products) in our blood and tissues: regular, heart-beat-raising movement.

2️⃣ Platelet Factor 4 (PF4). This compound appears to keep our brains and memories sharp. And it too is released when we move. Discovered by a team from the University of Queensland Brain Institute, PF4 is a protein secreted by the tiny blood cells that prevent blood clotting (known as platelets). This protein rejuvenates brain cells (neurons) in ageing mice, and researchers now think it may be the reason that exercise  and movement amplify the production of new neurons in the brain.

Want more info? It’s on the blog - link in bio 

#womenover50 #over50andfit #womenover60 #postmenopause #postmenopausalwomen #postmenopausalhealth 
#brainhealth #alzheimers #reducedementiarisk #cognitivehealth  #agewell #longevity #ageingwell #agingwell #longevity
In today’s Observer: Check out our top tips for In today’s Observer: Check out our top tips for caring for ourselves and our parents. Take a multi vit for 50+, persevere with technology and/or try something new every day, walk daily, stay social, consume sufficient protein, supplement with vits D and B12… 

#agewell #healthyaging
Autumn giveaway! 🍂 We’ve got a bundle of two Autumn giveaway! 🍂

We’ve got a bundle of two books to give away here on Insta - one copy of The Age-Well Project and one of 52 Ways to Walk. 

To win, simply leave a comment below letting us know your favorite landscape for autumn and winter walks. Do you like hills, mountains, flatlands, canals, rivers, coastlines, cities, cemeteries, your local park, moorland...? Just a few words to tell us where you’d most like to be walking in the next few months to help you age well. 

The competition closes at midnight BST on 18 October and a winner will be selected at random.

And in case you’re wondering why Annabel’s interested in your favourite landscape, it’s because she’s writing a new book about the places we choose to walk in and how they affect us. So she’d love to get a rough idea of the best-loved locations… all in confidence, of course.

Good luck!

#womenover50 #over50andfit #womenover60 #postmenopause #postmenopausalwomen #postmenopausalhealth 
#brainhealth #alzheimers #reducedementiarisk #cognitivehealth  #agewell #longevity #ageingwell #agingwell #giveaway #womenwhohike #womenwhowalk
Look, we know not many people have round-the-clock Look, we know not many people have round-the-clock access to a sauna. But Susan found one in a hotel she was staying at recently, there’s one in our local gym and Annabel found plenty on her summer holiday in Finland. 

A growing number of studies attest to the longevity-enhancing benefits of routine forays into a sauna. Much of the research has been instigated in Finland where sauna (pronounced to rhyme with downer) has existed forever.

So how does sauna help us age well? The extreme heat activates heat shock proteins which researchers think can maintain the healthy functioning of our cells.  As we get older, the proteins in some of our cells start to misfold and collapse. They then clump together forming plaques, including the plaques thought to cause Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Heat shock proteins – triggered by a sauna stint and possibly by hot baths – appear to prevent the misfolding and collapsing of cellular proteins, as well as clearing out those that have already misfolded. Which is to say they keep our cells in good shape. 

There’s more on the blog - link in bio 

#womenover50 #over50andfit #womenover60 #postmenopause #postmenopausalwomen #postmenopausalhealth 
#brainhealth #alzheimers #reducedementiarisk #cognitivehealth #betterbrainhealth #brainfog  #agewell #longevity #ageingwell #agingwell
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