Browse the evidence

Acute total sleep deprivation (approx. 32 hours) amplifies reactivity in human mesolimbic reward brain networks (VTA, striatum, amygdala, insula) in response to positive emotional stimuli, resulting in a behavioral bias where sleep-deprived individuals rate more neutral stimuli as pleasant compared to rested controls.

If you are sleep-deprived, your brain's reward system is hijacked. You will likely perceive neutral things as more pleasurable and rewarding than they are, and you may feel a temporary, unstable 'high' or euphoria. This state biases you toward impulsive decisions, risk-taking, and potentially overconsumption of rewards (like food or substances). Prioritize sleep to maintain accurate emotional appraisal and decision-making.

Poor sleep quality is significantly associated with poverty and race/ethnicity, with the disparity being most pronounced among impoverished individuals of all racial groups, particularly impoverished Whites who showed the highest odds for poor sleep in adjusted models.

If you are struggling with poor sleep, recognize that your socioeconomic environment and health status are major contributors. For those in poverty, addressing underlying health issues and stress may be more critical for improving sleep than sleep hygiene tips alone. Public health interventions should target these structural determinants rather than placing the burden solely on individual behavior.

Lowering the price of food, particularly through temporary promotions and quantity discounts, significantly increases energy intake and consumption volume, especially among low-income consumers and children.

Be aware that sales, coupons, and bulk packaging are designed to increase your total food intake, not just save you money. If you buy a large package or use a coupon, you are likely to eat more, even if you are not hungry. To counteract this, buy smaller portions or dispose of excess food immediately after purchase.

Marketing communications, including advertising, branding, and health claims, influence food intake by altering expectations of taste and health, often leading to overconsumption due to 'health halos' and 'negative calorie' illusions.

Do not trust 'health halos' created by marketing. A 'low fat' or 'organic' label does not mean the food is low-calorie. Often, these labels lead you to underestimate the calories and eat more. Always check the actual calorie count on the nutrition facts panel, regardless of the front-of-package claims.

Packaging size, design, and convenience directly influence consumption volume, with larger packages and convenient access leading to increased intake, particularly for overweight consumers.

Be aware that larger packages lead to eating more, even if you are not hungry. Divide large packages into individual servings immediately after purchase and store the rest out of sight. Do not eat directly from the package.

Adopting an extended unhealthy lifestyle profile (including smoking, alcohol, poor diet, low physical activity, high TV viewing, and sleep duration) significantly increases all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality risk, with the magnitude of this risk disproportionately higher in socioeconomically deprived populations.

Your lifestyle choices (diet, activity, sleep, substance use) have a massive impact on your longevity, and this impact is even more severe if you live in a deprived area. To maximize your health, you must address all these factors, not just one. However, recognizing that systemic factors play a role, seeking support and focusing on what you can control within your environment is critical.

Higher levels of education and higher socio-economic status (SES) are significantly associated with better nutrition knowledge, while men have poorer knowledge than women.

If you have lower education or income, you may face barriers to accessing clear nutrition information. Focus on learning basic labels: look at the back of the package for total fat, sugar, and fiber, rather than trusting front-of-package marketing claims like 'low-fat' or 'healthy.' Men should actively seek out nutrition information, as studies show they often have less knowledge than women, which can lead to less healthy dietary choices. Targeted education for these groups can help reduce health inequalities.

Seven-day diet diaries demonstrate higher repeatability and stronger correlation with biological biomarkers (urine nitrogen/potassium, plasma vitamin C) than food-frequency questionnaires or 24-hour recalls.

For accurate health tracking, use a 7-day food diary where you record everything you eat, including cooking fats and brand names. This method is significantly more accurate than trying to guess your average habits (FFQ) or recalling just one day. The extra effort yields data that better reflects your true biological nutrient intake.

Minority status and lower socioeconomic position are associated with significantly shorter self-reported sleep durations, specifically very short (<5 hours) and short (5-6 hours) sleep, compared to normative sleep (7-8 hours).

If you belong to a minority group or have lower income, you are statistically more likely to get very short sleep. This is not necessarily a personal failure but a reflection of socioeconomic pressures. Prioritizing sleep health requires addressing these external stressors, such as food security and financial stability, alongside sleep hygiene.

Lower socioeconomic status, indicated by lower income, lower education, public insurance, and very low food security, is associated with increased odds of very short sleep (<5 hours).

If you have lower income, education, or food security, you are statistically more likely to get very short sleep. This is not necessarily a personal failure but a reflection of socioeconomic pressures. Prioritizing sleep health requires addressing these external stressors, such as food security and financial stability, alongside sleep hygiene.

Implementation of a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) excise tax leads to a significant decline in the volume of SSB sales, accompanied by a substitution effect toward untaxed beverages (particularly water), without increasing overall consumer spending per transaction.

A tax on sugary drinks successfully reduces the amount of sugary drinks sold by making them relatively more expensive. Consumers respond by buying less sugary drinks and more water or other untaxed beverages, keeping their total grocery bill roughly the same. This policy lever works through economic substitution rather than direct health mandates.

Consumption of pea fiber (specifically pea hull fiber) increases bowel movement frequency and fecal output, improving gastrointestinal health in elderly and pediatric populations.

If you struggle with constipation, adding pea hull fiber to your diet can help increase bowel movement frequency. For elderly individuals, 4 grams per day is effective. For children, pea fiber added to snacks (1.4-3.4g) combined with inulin significantly increases bowel movements. If you experience bloating, try pea starch instead of whole pea flour, as it is more tolerable.

Longer duration of successful weight maintenance (2-5+ years) significantly reduces the relative risk of subsequent weight regain compared to shorter maintenance durations (<2 years).

If you have recently lost weight (less than 2 years), your risk of regaining it is significantly higher than if you have maintained it for 5+ years. Treat your current maintenance phase as a critical period requiring active behavioral adherence, not a passive state of 'being thin'.

Higher baseline levels of dietary disinhibition, binge eating, and depressive symptoms are significant predictors of subsequent weight regain in successful weight losers.

If you struggle with binge eating, dietary disinhibition, or depression, your risk of regaining weight is higher. Seek interventions targeting these psychological factors to improve long-term maintenance.

Urban residents have higher prevalence of most lipid abnormalities compared to rural residents, except for low HDL-C which shows no urban-rural difference.

Be aware that living in an urban area may increase your risk for certain lipid issues, but rural living also carries specific risks like low HDL-C. Regular screening is key regardless of location.

State boredom increases energy intake (calories, fat, carbohydrates, and protein) in a dose-dependent manner, independent of other negative emotions.

If you find yourself reaching for food when you are bored, recognize this as a specific psychological trigger distinct from hunger or stress. The paper suggests that boredom drives you to seek stimulation or escape self-awareness. To counter this, try to engage in an activity that provides 'excitement' or meaning rather than just consuming food, or choose 'exciting' healthy foods (like cherry tomatoes) if you must snack.

High objective self-awareness moderates the relationship between boredom and unhealthy snacking, making high-self-awareness individuals more susceptible to choosing less healthy, exciting foods when bored.

If you are naturally introspective (high self-awareness), you are more likely to turn to 'exciting' foods (healthy or unhealthy) when bored as a way to escape self-focus. To manage this, identify when you are bored and consciously choose a non-food source of stimulation or an 'exciting' healthy snack (like tomatoes) instead of sweets.

Boredom increases the consumption of 'exciting' healthy foods (e.g., cherry tomatoes) as effectively as it increases the consumption of unhealthy foods (e.g., sweets), provided the individual is high in objective self-awareness.

When bored, your brain seeks stimulation. If you are introspective, you might reach for sweets. However, you can satisfy this need by choosing 'exciting' healthy foods (like cherry tomatoes with strong flavor) instead of sweets. The key is the 'excitement' factor, not just the health factor.

The LEAF-Q screening tool, which assesses self-reported symptoms of gastrointestinal issues, injuries, and menstrual dysfunction, can identify female athletes at risk for the Female Athlete Triad with 78% sensitivity and 90% specificity.

Use the LEAF-Q questionnaire to screen female athletes for signs of low energy availability. A score of 8 or higher suggests a need for further medical evaluation of energy intake, menstrual health, and bone density.

Short sleep duration (less than 6 hours per night) measured objectively via actigraphy significantly increases susceptibility to developing a clinical common cold following viral exposure.

To lower your risk of catching a cold, prioritize getting more than 7 hours of sleep per night. This study shows that sleeping less than 6 hours significantly increases your odds of getting sick after exposure to the virus. Focus on total duration rather than just sleep quality or fragmentation.

Primary care behavioral counseling interventions targeting diet and physical activity produce small, statistically significant improvements in intermediate cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI) in adults without known CVD risk factors, but do not consistently improve long-term health outcomes like mortality or morbidity.

If you are generally healthy, talking to your doctor about diet and exercise will likely lower your blood pressure and cholesterol slightly. However, do not expect this counseling alone to prevent heart attacks or death. The benefits are modest and require sustained effort (high-intensity counseling yields better results).

The cardiovascular benefits of dietary fat reduction are only evident in trials with a mean follow-up duration of two years or longer.

If you are changing your fat intake to protect your heart, expect to maintain these changes for at least two years before seeing the full protective benefit. Short-term changes may not reduce your risk of cardiovascular events.

For endurance exercise lasting approximately 1 hour, rinsing the mouth with a carbohydrate solution and spitting it out improves performance, likely through oral carbohydrate sensing affecting brain motor output rather than metabolic fuel availability.

If you are competing in an event lasting about an hour, try rinsing your mouth with a sports drink for 5-10 seconds and spitting it out right before you start or during the race. This tricks your brain into thinking fuel is coming, which can help you push harder without actually consuming calories.

Genetic variants in the FTO gene are robustly associated with increased body mass index (BMI) and obesity risk in humans, primarily by increasing energy intake rather than altering energy expenditure.

If you carry FTO risk variants, your biology may predispose you to higher food intake. Focus on strategies that manage appetite and food choices, as this is the primary mechanism by which these genes influence weight in humans.