Health & Fitness

It is easy to ignore the problem of litter. We "throw out" our waste and once a week the trash collector comes and takes it all away. Since it is out of sight, we seldom question where it goes or realize the waste is not really gone at all. It’s simply been relocated to landfills and incinerators.

The average American throws away more than 7 pounds of garbage a day and Americans dispose of an astounding 60 million water bottles daily, which is nearly 700 per minute.

Of course, food giants and huge retailers need to stop putting the onus and blame for excessive trash on consumers when they are the ones creating it. They need to dramatically reduce their wasteful packaging of plastic bottles, plastic bags and Styrofoam food containers.

Consumers can put pressure on these trash producers, be it Coca-Cola or their local grocery stores, restaurants and dry cleaners. A new RT documentary, “Life Without Litter,” chronicles the efforts of correspondent James Brown to reduce the individual waste he generates every day over a two-week period, with the goal of a zero-waste lifestyle.

While Brown, who lives in Moscow, does not arrive at the desirable zero waste state, he is able to greatly reduce his litter production by educating himself, being more conscious about his consumption and thinking ahead before buying or using wasteful products.

The Challenges of Recycling in Russia

Like other countries, Russia is awash in packaged food that creates waste, as well as ubiquitous advertising that exhorts people to crave and buy such foods. But unlike some other countries, Russia has few places to recycle the waste, says Brown.

In fact, the co-op where he and his wife live has one refuse bin for both non-recyclable and recyclable waste. Ironically, the documentary shows a sign near a garbage collection area that does not segregate recyclable items that says "Love Your Clean City." Recycling in Russia is "still in its infancy," he says.¹

At the start of Brown's two-week waste reduction challenge, the documentary follows him throughout his day as he collects the waste he generates. At work, we see him use plastic cups and plastic plates that he would normally throw out but now collects.

After work, Brown goes shopping at the grocery store and shows viewers how much litter he has already accumulated, even though he has not cooked anything yet. As he looks over a pile of trash from a single day's activities, he muses over the short usefulness of these items, compared to their long life as garbage.

Brown is keenly aware of the plastic pollution caused by grooming and household cleaning products. While he doesn't want to add to the mountains of plastic trash that individual use creates, neither does he want to give up cleanliness for himself and his home.

Grooming Products Made Without Waste

To investigate how he can replace cleaning and grooming products that produce waste with low or zero waste products, Brown watches a video of tips by Lauren Singer that includes a demonstration of toothpaste made with coconut oil, baking soda and essential oils. A Women in the World article about Singer, who lives a zero-waste lifestyle, notes that:²

"… her lifestyle changes have enabled her to fit all of her trash from the past four years into a single 16-ounce mason jar. As an environmental studies major, Singer said she looked into her refrigerator one day when she had a realization: 'Every single thing in there was packaged in plastic,' said Singer. 'I was like, ‘Wow, I’m just as bad.’ I was protesting against the oil and gas industry, but supporting them as a consumer' ...

According to Singer, a trash-free lifestyle is much easier to achieve, and cheaper to afford, than people realize. 'I’m eating healthier, saving a ton of money, and I’ve become more of a minimalist,' said Singer. 'I absolutely love this lifestyle. I see no future of living any other way.'"

Brown also tries using homemade, no-waste shampoo made from apple vinegar, which he says seems to work satisfactorily, at least on the first day. He also tries washing his clothes in water made from boiled beans. He says he has found a place in Moscow that uses mustard powder to clean dishes.

Mindful Shopping Is Just the Beginning

As Brown continues his zero waste experiment, he returns to the grocery store, this time carrying his own bags. He is pleased to discover that the food sellers will gladly deposit the items in his bags rather than in the store's pre-packaging.

Nevertheless, Brown still encounters waste he cannot avoid. In fact, he says, the only products he wanted to buy that he could find unpackaged were leeks, parsley and a pineapple. After his mindful shopping, Brown is able to cook his first "waste-free meal" — broccoli cream soup.

Brown is pleased that the waste he and his wife produce in one week has gone from five bags to two bags. However, when he invites his friend and eco-activist Sergey Dorkin over to his apartment to analyze the trash, he gets disappointing news. Some of what Brown thinks can be recycled, can't.

If "organic waste," usually food, is present, the refuse centers says it is not clean enough for recycling, says Dorkin. Plastic bags that have paper stickers cannot be recycled because the paper "will clog the material when crushed."

And finally, while plastic food dishes made of material marked with the resin identification code 2 or 4 are OK to recycle, when plastic is attached to metal foil or composite material, as is often the case with food containers, it cannot be recycled. Sadly, only about 70% of what Brown thinks is recyclable actually is. As it turns out, recycling is not as simple as just separating the plastics.

Better Disposal Methods Are Needed

“Life Without Litter” shows that it is very difficult to completely eliminate the waste we produce in the way Lauren Singer and others have miraculously done.

More education is needed about what is recyclable and more accessible recycling collection centers are necessary, especially for items like plastic bags. However, we can start the process by realizing that when we throw garbage "out," it is not really "out" at all. It’s simply relocated to landfills and incinerators.

Landfills sound more environmental than "dumps," but they are hardly the answer to our waste problems and the tremendous amount of waste produced every day. In the 1970s there were 20,000 landfills in the U.S.; by 1986 there were 6,034 active sites.³ In 1997, the U.S. had 3,091 active landfills and over 10,000 old municipal landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.⁴

In a continuing downward trend of active landfills, in 2009 there were 1,908 in the U.S.,⁵ as Waste 360 predicted would happen, due to regulations the EPA instituted in 1991. Newer rules implemented by the EPA in 2019 indicate there are now approximately 1,900 landfills⁶ in the U.S., due to closures of many landfills across the country.

However, even though there are fewer active landfills, that doesn’t mean trash accumulation is also going down: For example, New York City now sends its trash to the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania,⁷ so whatever New York “saves” from its now-closed landfills is actually being shipped out of state.

Since many municipal landfills accept hazardous waste, they are dangerous. Their "leachate" or water, which contains pollutants like benzene, pesticides, heavy metals and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, contaminates ground and surface water when the plastic landfill liners and pipes break down. Fortunately, EPA rules implemented in 2017 address leachates with new restrictions and regulations covering how the leachates are handled, collected and removed.⁸

While these rules also address air emissions, the plain fact remains that landfills also produce hazardous air emissions. Incinerators are equally as dangerous, emitting toxic materials like dioxins, mercury and cadmium and air particulate pollution.

Other Important Sources of Waste

When discussing litter and waste, the world also needs to address "clothes pollution" — clothing produced so cheaply it ends up being viewed as disposable. Electronic products and appliances are also considered disposable these days, and thrown out rather than repaired.

To demonstrate the contribution of excessive clothing to pollution, Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall, an English chef, celebrity and environmental activist, dumped a pile of 10,000 clothing items in the middle of a shopping mall.⁹

The crowd that gathered was asked how long it would take for Britain to dispose of that amount of clothing. While people in the crowd guessed "one week" or "several days," the correct answer is 10 minutes! Fearnley-Whittingstall said:¹⁰

"We're binning more than £150m worth of clothes every year in the UK, and they end up being incinerated or buried in landfill. Chucking away clothes at this current rate is clearly an environmental disaster."

Finally, let's not forget the pollution generated during the holidays. Season’s greeting cards alone could stack a football field 10 stories high, and enough gift ribbon is thrown away to tie a bow around the Earth.¹¹ Too bad ribbon and cards are not generally regifted. Gifts themselves also tend to have excessive packaging.

How You Reduce Your Personal Waste

There are signs the world is waking up to the waste problem, however. In 2019, 187 countries added plastic to the Basel Convention treaty that governs the movement of hazardous waste from one country to another.¹²

As you can see in “Life Without Litter” it is possible to greatly reduce the volume of garbage we generate through education, conscientious purchasing and planning ahead. Here are a few more tips:

Reduce your plastic use — If at all possible, avoid products made from or packaged in plastic. Here are a few ideas: Use reusable shopping bags for groceries. Bring your own mug for coffee and bring drinking water from home in glass water bottles instead of buying bottled water. Store foods in the freezer in glass mason jars as opposed to plastic bags. Take your own leftovers container to restaurants. Request no plastic wrap on your newspaper and dry cleaning. Avoid disposable utensils and buy foods in bulk when you can. These are just a few ideas — I'm sure you can think of more.

Recycle/repurpose what you can — Recycle and repurpose products whenever possible, especially ones that are not available in anything other than plastic. This includes giving your clothes or gently used household items to charities and frequenting second-hand stores instead of buying new things. Make use of online sites like Freecycle.org that allow you to give products you no longer need away to others instead of throwing them away.

Choose reusable over single-use — This includes nondisposable razors, washable feminine hygiene products for women, cloth diapers, glass bottles for your beverages, cloth grocery bags, handkerchiefs instead of paper tissues, and using an old T-shirt or rags in lieu of paper towels.

Compost your food scraps and yard waste — A simple bin in your backyard can greatly cut down on your landfill contributions while rewarding you with a natural fertilizer for your soil.

Support legislation — Support legislative efforts to manage waste in your community; take a leadership role with your company, school and neighborhood.

Be innovative — If you have a great idea, share it! Your capacity to come up with smarter designs and creative ideas is limitless, and many heads are better than one. Innovations move us toward a more sustainable world.

Assist recovery — Return deposits on bottles and other plastic products, and participate in "plastic drives" for local schools, where cash is paid by the pound.

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Have you ever gotten creative when applying a small adhesive bandage? It can be challenging to figure out how to cover one of your finger joints, while still being able to use your finger. Whether it’s the end of a finger or over a joint, you’ll discover several hacks you can use with a one sized bandage in this short video.

Many times, you won’t have the right size or configuration of the bandage you need when you get a cut or abrasion. In other cases, replacing your bandage each time it gets wet means you’ll go through every specially configured dressing in the box for the cut over your finger joint before it heals.

However, going without a covering before your cut has scabbed may also not be a good idea. As the number of antibiotic resistant infections continues to rise, it is crucial you don’t overlook the little cuts and abrasions but treat them when they happen. Vegetables, raw chicken, bathrooms and even your cell phone can be a source of infection.

Dressings Create a Barrier Against Dirt

Your skin provides a barrier against infection, protecting your body from an invasion of pathogens. When the barrier is broken, it increases your risk of getting a local or systemic infection.¹ If your skin can’t provide a barrier against the environment, then dressings may be used to provide a barrier against pathogens and promote healing.²

However, while it may appear putting on one dressing is all that’s needed, when a bandage gets wet it becomes a prime area for breeding bacteria and other pathogens. As this wet dressing is pressed up against your skin, even if the cut has scabbed or closed, it may increase your risk of a local infection.

Have you noticed your skin begins to wrinkle if you stay in the pool or bathtub for a long time? The same thing happens on a small scale when you keep a wet dressing against your skin. The skin then begins to breakdown, called maceration. This allows bacteria to enter, increasing your risk of infection. It is important to change your dressing any time it gets wet.

Clean the Wound First, Then Cover It

Getting cuts and scrapes is common. The openings in the skin create an opportunity for bacterial growth so initial cleaning is crucial to help flush out unwanted pathogens and help the area heal. Before covering a cut or scrape with a dressing, start with cleaning the cut. Some prefer soap and water while others reach for the bottle of hydrogen peroxide, but which is best?

Hydrogen peroxide is effective at killing microorganisms and much safer and more effective than using isopropyl alcohol. It works by breaking the cell membranes in the bacteria. As it reacts with an enzyme inside the bacteria called catalase, you'll see fizzing from the hydrogen peroxide reaction and release of an oxygen molecule.

Although it is a good antiseptic, it cannot distinguish between healthy cells and bacterial cells in your wound. Thus, the peroxide also breaks down healthy cell membranes and produces the same fizzing. Most clinicians do not recommend using an antiseptic solution of any kind as it destroys healthy cells and may slow the healing process, as well as increase the risk of scar tissue formation.

Instead, the best way to clean a cut is to use a safe mild soap free of triclosan, triclocarban or fragrance with plenty of water. Before washing out a cut or scrape, wash your hands first to reduce the potential for transferring bacteria to the wound. You may find a cut or abrasion will bleed as you're cleaning it.

Apply direct pressure to stop the bleeding after you're finished cleaning and elevate it above the level of your heart if able. This helps to reduce the amount of blood delivered to the area and helps to stop the bleeding. Cool water may feel better to you than warm, but either is acceptable.

If you have a sprayer on your kitchen sink, try using it to help clean the wound out while rinsing for five to 10 minutes. This helps remove dirt and debris from the area.

Once the cut has been flushed out, use mild pressure with a clean washcloth or a piece of gauze and mild soap. Scrubbing the area with an abrasive material or hard pressure may disrupt healthy tissue and prolong healing time.

Tips to Speed Healing of Cuts and Scrapes

Once you've cleaned the area and the bleeding has stopped, there are several ways you can improve the speed at which your wound heals and reduce the potential of getting a scar.

Consider Bentonite Clay to Prevent Infection

Cuts and scrapes are so common that in a one-year study in Great Britain, researchers discovered individuals would have at least one cut, ache, sprain or other minor ailment at any given time. If it was not present, something was highly likely to occur in the following three days.

The data suggested citizens would suffer 9,672 ailments over the course of a 78-year lifespan. Each open cut represents an opportunity for pathogens to invade the body. In one study, data demonstrated the effectiveness of blue clay against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli (E.coli), including strains demonstrating carbapenem resistance and methicillin resistance.

Carbapenem is a class of drugs often reserved for severe infections or as a last line antibiotic. The researchers found when natural antibacterial clay was topically applied it could kill pathogens. Bentonite clay, also known as Montmorillonite, is found in large deposits near Fort Benton, Montana. It can be purchased for use internally and externally.

However, it is important to keep the clay from contacting anything metal as it reduces the effectiveness of the product. Therefore, it's important to mix it in a glass jar with a plastic lid or use a plastic whisk to mix the contents. Be sure to get it from a reliable, quality source as some contain lead.

For instance, in 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to purchase “Best Bentonite Clay” from a company in Guthrie, Oklahoma, as elevated levels of lead posing a risk of poisoning had been found in the products.

More Benefits and Uses for Bentonite Clay

When purchasing bentonite clay, it's important to recognize there are forms sold for internal and external use. For instance, sodium bentonite is often used for industrial products and expands quickly when it absorbs liquid. This can be a problem if it swells in your stomach or intestines.

Calcium bentonite has a lower sodium content, and it doesn't swell as much, which makes it safer to take internally. When using it internally, be sure to drink water until your urine is a light straw color each time you use the bathroom. This will reduce the potential for becoming constipated.

Bentonite clay has been used internally to help with digestion and detoxification as it attracts bacteria, pesticides and heavy metals. It may also be added to homemade toothpaste or mixed with water as a mouth rinse to help remove toxins from your oral cavity and calcify and whiten your teeth.

The clay also has unique external uses including as an underarm detoxifier and deodorant. It can be applied with a face brush on your armpits as your only natural deodorant. It can also be made into a paste with clean pure water by mixing it in a glass jar with a non-metal spoon.

This may be applied to skin irritations such as insect bites cuts or burns. Leave it on until it dries and then wash it off. It may also help reduce itching from eczema, psoriasis and chickenpox.

Recognize an Infection and Know This Treatment

Although not common, every cut or abrasion offers the opportunity for pathogens to enter the body and trigger sepsis. This is an extreme response to an infection that sets up a life-threatening chain reaction and is a medical emergency. The most common types of infections triggering sepsis are respiratory or urinary tract infections. However, it can also develop with an infected cut or scrape.

When a cut or scrape appears to get bigger, becomes more painful or develops a discharge, it may have become infected. If treatment at home with an antibiotic cream or coconut oil does not demonstrate improvement within 24 hours or you develop the symptoms of sepsis outlined below, seek immediate medical care.

Symptoms of sepsis may be subtle and mistaken for other conditions. If you suspect sepsis, it is vital you seek medical attention and begin immediate treatment. Symptoms may include a rapid heartbeat, high fever with chills, confusion and disorientation, slurred speech or difficulty breathing.

Successful treatment is a considerable challenge and becoming more so as antibiotic-resistant infections become more prevalent. Part of what makes it so deadly is people typically do not suspect it and the longer you wait to treat it, the deadlier it gets.

Even health care workers may miss the signs and delay treatment. For further discussion of the causes, symptoms, risk factors and strategies to reduce your risk as well as a unique treatment with a high rate of success, see “Recognizing the Signs and Symptoms of Sepsis.”

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About one in 75 college students sustain a concussion each academic year, and the vast majority occur outside of organized sports, according to a new three-year study. It also found August is the peak month for concussions, and they're at least as common among females as males.

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Regular cannabis use could affect the structure and function of the heart.

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Amid concerns about gluten sensitivity, increasing numbers of people are avoiding wheat. Most have not been diagnosed with a wheat-related medical condition, yet they seem to feel better when they don't eat gluten-containing foods. A possible explanation is that modern varieties of wheat are responsible. But now, researchers have shown that a popular modern variety does not impair gastrointestinal health in mice compared with heirloom wheat.

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Prostate cancer screening with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test has been criticized for flagging too many slow-growing tumors that might never be life-threatening.

But some men have inherited gene defects that boost their risk of developing prostate cancers that can be quite aggressive. Is PSA screening particularly well-suited for these genetically defined groups? New research suggests the answer is yes.

In November, a team of British scientists released highly anticipated findings from a study of PSA screening in men with defects in a pair of important genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2. Better known for increasing the odds of breast and ovarian cancer in women, BRCA gene defects are also risk factors for aggressive prostate cancer in men. Cells with defective BRCA genes have a compromised ability to repair the DNA damage they sustain routinely every day. As that damage accumulates, those cells become prone to forming tumors.

What the investigators wanted to know was if PSA screens detect more prostate cancers in men who test positive for BRCA mutations than those who do not. To find out, they screened just over 2,900 men ages 45 to 69 who were split into four groups: a BRCA1 mutation-positive group, a BRCA2 mutation-positive group, and two groups that tested negative for mutations in either gene. The men were screened annually for four years, and had a prostate biopsy if their PSA levels ran higher than 3.0 nanograms per deciliter.

What the results show

In all 357 men were biopsied, and 112 of them were diagnosed prostate with cancer. The BRCA2 mutation carriers had the greatest cancer risk: 5.2% of them were diagnosed with the disease, and most of their tumors had intermediate- or high-risk features. BRCA1 mutation carriers had a lower risk: 3.4% of them were diagnosed with prostate cancer. And the men who tested negative for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations had the lowest risk overall, with diagnosis rates of 3.0% and 2.7% respectively.

Based on the results, Ros Eeles from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, who led the research, issued a statement calling on regulatory bodies to update guidance so that men with BRCA2 defects can get regular PSA screening after age 40.

Most expert groups in the United States recommend that doctors start talking about the pros and cons of PSA testing with patients who are 55 or older. However, guidelines are being rewritten to focus screening on high-risk groups at younger ages, and BRCA2 mutation carriers are widely considered to be in the highest-risk category.

Men should consider being tested for BRCA mutations under the following conditions:

• If there’s a history of prostate, breast, or ovarian cancer in the immediate family, particularly among younger members
• if other family members test positive for BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations
• if they are of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, since BRCA mutations occur frequently in this ethnic population.

Dr. Marc Garnick, Gorman Brothers Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and editor in chief of HarvardProstateKnowledge.org, says new guidelines that should be available soon will provide more information for families at risk of these cancers. If possible, he says, men should consider getting a PSA test when they’re 10 years younger than the age at which the youngest family member was diagnosed. Fortunately, he adds, new tailored treatments are becoming available for BRCA mutation carriers, and studies so far show promising responses.

The post Researchers urge prostate cancer screening for men with BRCA gene defects appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

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Whether children will enjoy academic success can be now predicted at birth, a new study suggests. The study found that parents' socioeconomic status and children's inherited DNA differences are powerful predictors of educational achievement.

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New research found that obese children had a thinner pre-frontal cortex than normal weight children. The thinner cortex could be factor in the decreased executive function earlier studies observed among children with higher BMI. The new study confirmed that the obese subjects in the study had poorer working memory compared with normal weight children.

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Saccharin received a bad rap after studies in the 1970s linked consumption of large amounts of the artificial sweetener to bladder cancer in laboratory rats. Later, research revealed that these findings were not relevant to people. And in a complete turnabout, recent studies indicate that saccharin can actually kill human cancer cells. Now, researchers have made artificial sweetener derivatives that show improved activity against two tumor-associated enzymes.

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Wearable sensors that track heart rate or steps are popular fitness products. But in the future, working up a good sweat could provide useful information about a person's health. Now, researchers have developed a headband that measures electrolyte levels in sweat. And unlike many previous sweat sensors, the device can heal itself when cut or scratched during exercise.

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Amid concerns about gluten sensitivity, increasing numbers of people are avoiding wheat. Most have not been diagnosed with a wheat-related medical condition, yet they seem to feel better when they don't eat gluten-containing foods. A possible explanation is that modern varieties of wheat are responsible. But now, researchers have shown that a popular modern variety does not impair gastrointestinal health in mice compared with heirloom wheat.

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IgG4-related disease is an autoimmune disorder affecting millions and has no established cure. Previous research indicates that T cells, a major component of the immune system, and the immunoglobulin IgG4 itself are key causative factors, but the mechanism of action of these components is unclear. Now, scientists have meticulously explored this pathway in their experiments, and their research brings to light new targets for therapy.

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A pioneering new study found that even if people had a high genetic risk of heart disease or stroke, healthy sleep patterns could help offset that risk.

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Researchers have found that different mutations in a single gene can have myriad effects on a person's health, suggesting that gene therapies may need to do more than just replenish the missing or dysfunctional protein the gene is supposed to encode, according to a new study.

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Scientists found that emotions have different meanings across 2,474 spoken languages, but that there are universal sources of structure.

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Tiny pores in heart cells generate electrical signals to initiate each heart beat. Structural studies of these channels provide details on their functions, and also on their malfunction due to different inherited mutations. These include ones behind sudden death in young athletes. Information on the architecture and mechanics of cardiac sodium channels could help develop better diagnostics and medications for life-threatening heart arrhythmia.

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During early adolescence, especially the transition to middle school, kids face a number of challenges both socially and academically. Parents can act as social 'coaches,' offering support and advice to youth as they navigate these challenges. Researchers are finding that not all kids benefit from the same types of parental coaching because kids respond to stress differently.

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Researchers refute the link between increased levels of herpes virus and Alzheimer's disease.

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Smart devices are everywhere, including wrist-based monitors. These wearables promise to count our steps, remind us to move, and provide insight on our sleep. But can we trust them to measure our sleep accurately?

Most wrist-based devices are based on an accelerometer, which measures wrist movement. The data gathered from the accelerometer — how often the wrist moves and how forceful that movement is — are coded as sleep or wake. In some cases, programs will also label sleep as light or deep, seeming to imply that the sleep is good or bad. Some devices also monitor heart rate. Small variations in the timing of heart rate — which occur naturally under certain situations with a regular heart rhythm — may provide some clues about sleep stage as well. During stable deep sleep, breathing is typically very regular, and so is heart rate.

After these wrist devices collect data on our movements and/or heart rate during sleep, it is wirelessly transmitted to our phone or computer, and software programs analyze it to create charts and graphs that allow us to “see” our sleep.

Sleeping is believing, right?

It can be nearly magical to go to bed, sleep, and then instantly get a graph that shows what we did while we were sleeping. Was it a good night? How much deep sleep did we get? A few taps on the phone will show the truth. A graph will tell us how we spent the last several hours, with a breakdown of time awake, time in deep sleep, and light sleep. We may even get an overall “score” for the night. This is data-based, so it must be accurate, right? Turns out, the answer is much more uncertain.

How well do these devices measure sleep?

First, it is worth noting that the software algorithms that decide what is sleep and what is wake are a bit of a “black box.” These are proprietary, owned by the various companies that make the devices, meaning sleep doctors and researchers don’t know exactly how the programmers decided to make these determinations. Between different brands, or even different devices within a brand, the software code, and therefore sleep interpretation, could vary.

Consider that perhaps one wrist device determines that you’re awake after a bunch of forceful movements — think brushing your teeth — while for another device, a single small twitch of the arm may be considered being awake. How many movements mean we’ve woken up? One? Ten? Over what time period, one movement per minute? Ten movements over two minutes? How forceful do those movements have to be? How does the software decide we’re up for good or if we fall back asleep after movement? How good is the device at even catching movement — does it know if the wrist device is too loose? With all of these factors, the possibilities to code the data and interpret the data are infinite.

Second, there’s little to no data that compares wearable devices to research or clinical measurements. Actigraphs are small wrist-based devices that sleep providers and researchers utilize to measure sleep over longer periods. Similar to the consumer-available devices, they use accelerometers to sort sleep versus wake. Actigraphs, however, have been extensively studied and compared against sleep logs, sleep studies, and other data. Sleep providers have a fairly good sense of their strengths and limitations, and therefore how to use the data. The consumer devices are rapidly changing — newer monitors, frequent software upgrades. In general, the studies suggest that these wrist devices overestimate sleep duration (how long we’re asleep), and how much of the night is spent asleep (sleep efficiency).

Finally, there’s even less data on how these devices are impacted when there is a coexisting sleep or medical condition, or by medications. Consider a patient with insomnia who meditates when he can’t sleep and lies still in bed. This absence of movement and steady breathing could easily be misinterpreted as sleep by a wrist-based device.

What’s the gold standard for measuring sleep?

 A sleep study, also called a polysomnography, measures brain waves, muscle tone, breathing, and heart rate, while a technician supervises, often in a hospital setting. The information from the brain waves determines wake versus sleep, and the stage of sleep. This is considered the gold standard for determining sleep characteristics in most circumstances. However, it is time- and labor-intensive, and expensive (and not always covered by health insurance).

Should we pay any attention to these devices?

Wrist-based devices seem to be here to stay, and people are going to be curious about their sleep. In general, I counsel my patients to review their sleep data with a grain of salt. It’s just one piece of the picture to incorporate, and doesn’t substitute for a quality sleep log or other forms of sleep assessments. The benefit is that the collection of this data is fairly passive, and can be done for longer stretches of time to gain insight into patterns.

Keeping in mind how these wearables measure sleep helps us know what they can and can’t do. In general, the devices probably do give us a rough sense of the time we’re spending in bed (which may or may not equal sleep time), and the regularity of sleep zone (the time we slept or tried to sleep between going to bed and getting up). Gaining insight on these two factors can be very helpful, and hard to pin down for some patients in other ways. Though the wrist devices don’t substitute for a medical opinion or sleep study in a hospital, if they help us reflect on our sleep and how much (or little) we’re getting, they may have a role if used carefully.

The post Wearables and sleep: What can they really tell us? appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

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