It feels unfair. I will be sacrificing an hour of sleep tonight.
With Daylight Saving Time (DST) starting in the United States in the summer, the clocks are set to move forward by an hour tonight at 2 a.m. local time. This means the new local daylight saving time will be 3:00 AM.
Scientists are expressing concerns that apart from causing sleepiness, the transition to daylight saving time could have adverse effects on our health. According to Dr. Beth Murrow, a neurology professor and director of Vanderbilt’s sleep division, the clock change leads to a slight increase in strokes, heart attacks, car accidents, and sleep deprivation.
The impact of “springing forward” is not limited to the elderly but also affects young people. Research published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine revealed that teenagers lost an average of 2 hours and 42 minutes of sleep on weeknights after the time change in a 2015 study.
Dr. Murrow emphasizes the importance of morning light for setting our body clocks, improving mood, and aiding sleep. She suggests that the shift in light from morning to evening due to changing clocks for almost eight months could have health effects.
Despite the challenges posed by losing an hour of sleep, there are practical tips to counteract the effects:
1. Adjust your bedtime earlier for a few days before the clock change.
Experts recommend gradually going to bed 15 to 20 minutes earlier each night in the week leading up to daylight saving time.
American Academy of Sleep Medicine mentions that around 30 to 35 percent of adults experience temporary insomnia symptoms due to sudden changes in sleep schedules, such as the clock change.
Adapting slowly to the new time can help ease the transition and provide some extra rest,” says Dr. Murrow.
2. Get exposure to bright light in the morning
Daylight Saving Time aims to extend daylight in the evening, but this may disrupt your natural sleep-wake cycle. Exposing yourself to natural light in the morning can help set your body clock, making it easier to sleep at night.
3. Avoid long naps and late-day caffeine, opt for exercise instead
Avoiding long naps and caffeine late in the day can help regulate your sleep. Instead, engage in physical activity which can promote better sleep at night.
Exercise should be done at least 90 minutes before bedtime to avoid disruptions in sleep caused by increased endorphins and core body temperature.
Read more:
4. Limit screen time before bed
Exposure to blue light from screens like cell phones can interfere with melatonin production, affecting sleep. Try to avoid using electronic devices before bedtime to promote better sleep.
Watching content with blue light before bed, like news, can hinder relaxation and sleep after the clock change.
Consider abolishing Daylight Saving Time
Many experts suggest abandoning Daylight Saving Time due to its negative impacts on health. Living on Standard Time year-round could have health benefits compared to Daylight Saving Time’s schedule changes.
Dr. Murrow and Professor Alice Gregory advocate for a permanent Standard Time to align better with our natural circadian rhythms and improve overall well-being.
About our experts:
Dr. Beth Murrow is a neurology and sleep medicine professor, director of Vanderbilt’s Sleep Division, and advocate for sleep research related to medical conditions and genetics.
Alice Gregory, a psychology professor at Goldsmiths University, has contributed to various areas of sleep research and promotes public engagement with science through her work and publications.
TThe biggest story in the gaming world so far this year is Palworld, the Pokémon-with-guns early access game that broke and broke concurrent player records on PC.It's showing some signs that it's unsustainable, as these player numbers show dropout In recent weeks, developers have revealed: eye-watering cost Although it requires keeping servers online for so many people (about $600,000 a year), it still has the potential to be the biggest game of 2024 in terms of pure revenue.
There's something a little off-putting about Palworld that makes other developers and critics wrinkle their noses. Unlike Minecraft's blocky animals, it's not just unpleasant to point a gun at a creature that's designed to look cute.The character design became a hot topic because it was too similar to Pokemon. suspicion of plagiarism, the 3D models of some of the game's creatures are incredibly closely matched to those from recent Pokemon games. (The Pokémon Company is currently investigating, but Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe said: palworld said The studio says it has “cleared legal review” and that it has “absolutely no intention to infringe on any other company's intellectual property.” ) Lead developers are also actively outspoken about the use of AI tools, which is a very unpopular opinion among all users. Everyone except a few executives is working on the 2024 game.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, from 2022. Photo provided by: Pokemon Co., Ltd.
This game borrows ideas from several other games without incorporating many of its own ideas. When you play Palworld, what comes to mind is not Pokemon, but Ark: Survival Evolved. This is his 9 year old survival game where you tame dinosaurs in addition to the usual collecting, building and crafting. Once you capture a creature, it will either be forced into indentured servitude within your base, or it will come to fight alongside you in the wilderness.
It's nothing we haven't seen in some other survival games, but Palworld makes it completely smooth and takes a lot of the hectic work out between you and the next great upgrade. Like fellow smash hit Genshin, this game employs familiar gaming tropes and is so easy and engaging that it's hard to put down.
It helps that other players aren't trying to ruin your fun like Ark and Rust do. In another survival game, there's always someone trying to smash you with rocks and take your stuff. There is currently no player vs player competition in Palworld (planned for a later version). Instead, you collaborate with other players on the server. The game's attitude towards creatures is cruel, they exist to be killed, enslaved, or eaten. However, the attitude towards players is very welcoming. There's a reason it's popular.
Despite this, I don't like Palworld. It's soulless, and anecdotally it seems like there are a lot of kids in the 19 million player base, even though this is not a game made with kids in mind. It's violent and immoral, especially when compared to the Pokemon games from which its creature design is clearly inspired. In Pokémon, a children's classic that has evolved over 25 years, your creatures aren't just pets, they're companions. You fight them for sport, sure, which Peta won't approve of, but they don't get hurt, they don't have weapons, and of course you don't either. eat they.
Massacre on a farm…Palworld. Photo: pocket pair
Palworld is more like what panicked parents and reactionary preachers of the late 1990s had in mind.Pokemon was like when Time magazine featured fear-mongering headlines. Be careful of pokemoniacs And Christian groups claimed that Pikachu was literally a manifestation of the devil. “Monsters make disturbing playmates. No matter how toylike and frivolous they may seem, they are unnatural and ultimately deal with unresolved fears,” Time magazine wrote in 1999. Stated. Consider the dubious fascination with the creature called Pokémon… The 4- to 12-year-old set may exhibit the most troubling enthusiasm about Pokémon. ” It's funny to read that line now, but I remember when video games were always talked about in mainstream media in this tone, as a symptom of serious mental illness among kids in the '90s.
Anyway, I'm not here to create a moral panic about Palworld. It's ironic, but it's also mostly harmless and undeniably compelling. I wouldn't let her 7 year old play, but anyone over 12 would have had a much worse experience with her YouTube. There's probably nothing new under the sun, and most of the upcoming breakout games will be repackaged ideas he's seen ten times before. But we keep hoping that the next unexpected hit we'll play this year will leave us with a smile instead of a nasty taste in our mouths.
what to play
Dream Daddy: Daddy dating simulator. Photo: Game Gramps
Since it's Valentine's Day, I have to recommend a game about love that many games don't tackle with confidence. dream daddy is a dating game where you play a single father looking for love with one of seven other eligible single fathers in a new neighborhood. Many thought it was an over-the-top joke until it was released in 2017, but it remains one of the most sincere and unexpectedly touching dating games of all time. Teenage daughters often muster up the courage to talk to the father of your choice. It also often leads to mildly surreal mini-games, where you try to wow your date with competitive pride in your child's achievements, for example. The game turns out to be about the love between parents and children, and the budding romance between you and the sexy singles in your neighborhood. They all have their own problems and are stories that are handled with humor and compassion.
Available on: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC, smartphone, Estimated play time: 2-10 hours depending on how many dads you want to date
Star Wars x Fortnite, anyone? Disney invested $1.5 billion in Fortnite maker Epic. Photo: PictureLux/Hollywood Archive/Alamy
We're still waiting for Microsoft to outline its vision for the future of Xbox. It will take place tomorrow evening UK time. via podcast Featuring Xbox executives Sarah Bond, Phil Spencer, and Matt Booty. This is according to a recent study from 2K Games, which suggests that the PS5 is outperforming the Xbox Series X two to one.
British maker of Jagex, the developer of Runescape; Acquired for £900m By two private equity firms.
Disney is Invested $1.5 billion (!) in Epic Games As part of a deal to create a “new permanent universe” [that] It provides numerous opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more. ” That sounds like it could mean some more Star Wars skins will be added to Fortnite.
Lenses featuring a trippy spiral design could be an alternative to traditional multifocal lenses. It seems to produce clearer images than standard multifocal lenses, even in dimly lit areas.
The lens was created by the inventor Laurent Galinier.when bertrand simon He met Galinier through a scientific collaboration at the Institute of Optics Graduate School in France, and he immediately wanted to test lenses in the lab.
They are round lenses like traditional contact lenses, but the surface is carefully turned into a spiral using a lathe. This spiral shape changes the path that light rays take through the lens. That is, the lens does not have a single focal point, but several focal points, some closer to the lens and some farther from it.
It's unclear exactly how the spiral shape does this, but Simon said it appears to twist the light rays and create vortexes of light (like small tornadoes of light) that somehow influence each other. ing.
In the lab, Simon and his colleagues analyzed laser light passed through a spiral lens and simulated the process on a computer. In direct comparison with traditional multifocal lenses, the spiral lenses provided more clarity and detail when more light passed through them, and performed better in dim light conditions.
Therefore, spiral lenses may be suitable under various lighting conditions. For example, it could be useful for people who use multifocal lenses while driving at night, Simon said. He tried the spiral contact lenses himself and said that while the hard material was uncomfortable in contact with his eyes, it saved him the hassle of removing his glasses to look at his cell phone. With the spiral lens, I could see the screen clearly.
james wolfthorn According to researchers at Aston University in the UK, many people experience problems focusing on nearby objects, even if their distance vision is corrected. Innovations like spiral lenses are promising, but only clinical trials can prove how much of a difference new technology will actually make for people, he says.
Simon says it's possible to create a more compact camera by replacing part of the lens with a spiral lens version, but the team will first investigate the science behind spiral light. We would like to do further testing.
E
Earlier this year, a patient came to physical therapist Teresa Marco complaining of neck pain. Marco, who is based in New York City, began the interview as usual, asking a series of questions about lifestyle, habits, and attitude. Soon, a person believed to be the culprit appeared. It was a woman’s cell phone.
Marco, who declined to give her name for privacy reasons, said the woman typically used her phone or tablet with her head down on her lap. “She’s going to be very, very bent over, so it’s going to put a lot of strain on her neck,” Marco said.
Marco says he often talks to his patients about how to use their phones. “I don’t think people end up coming to physical therapy because they realize they have a problem with their cell phone,” Marco says. But as she solves problems, it often becomes a focus.
While the negative effects on mental health associated with smartphone use are often discussed, the physical effects can also be significant.serious consequences like Selfie-related injuries and deathscan occur, but chronic problems are much more common, especially in the upper body. This year is research
Using hospital data, they estimated that between 2011 and 2019, hand and wrist injuries caused by cell phone use nearly doubled, reaching about 7,300 cases per year.
“Like [phone] Carolyn Somerich, director of the Human Factors/Ergonomics/Safety Engineering Laboratory at The Ohio State University, said: These sentiments are not new, but according to a Gallup poll, Number of people who reported using a smartphone
“Too much” increased from 39% in 2015 to 58% in 2022. He was 84% most likely to feel this way.
I
If you listened to Stephen Fry's recent podcast, you may have been confused. The recording of MS Singh's The Missing Lines was cut off after just 2 minutes and 48 seconds and his next 9 chapters were left silent. However, this was not a mistake. It was a trick to raise awareness of the people who go missing every 90 seconds.
This isn't the first time a podcast has been used as a stunt. Joe Lycett recently announced Turdcast. This is a podcast where celebrities talk about their poop, including Gary Lineker and his amazing 1990 World Cup pitching poop. However, this footage was never made public. Lycett used this as an opportunity to highlight the government's response to the sewage leak crisis.
“For you, it probably means something like frustration,” Frye said of his “Broken” podcast. Sure, it might be a slightly annoying realization that makes you feel a little silly after hooking up on a walk, but it's definitely an effective way to get your message across.
The five podcasts are absolutely This week's picks include a fascinating series about Eunice Carter, the first black woman to serve as a prosecutor in the United States. Keep reading to find out the best podcasts that ended right away.
Holly Richardson TV Deputy Editor-in-Chief
This week's picks
Oona Chaplin, host of Hollywood Exiles. Photo: Antonio Olmos
Nicole Perkins' new podcast is set in 1936 New York, where gangster Lucky Luciano is on trial, but there's a much more interesting story behind it: that of lawyer Eunice Carter. It's about time Carter, who has been described as “the spark that started the fire” as America's first black female prosecutor, gets props. Perkins portrays an outspoken lawyer who brought Luciano to court, but was sidelined and kept out of the spotlight by the rules of the day. Hannah Verdier
In this exasperating mini-series that brings the housing crisis to a close, one housing association reveals that when low-income people apply for affordable housing, they can be forced to wait eight to 10 years on a waiting list along with 800 others. It says that there is a sex. Jeevan Basagar speaks to people who rely on public housing and those who work in the system, showing them exactly how bad the situation is. Holly Richardson
Oona Chaplin from Game of Thrones hosts this podcast and talks about how her grandfather Charlie was forced out of Hollywood during the anti-communist movement. From her life in a workhouse in Lambeth to owning a Hollywood studio, Chaplin achieved her American dream until she was investigated by the FBI. HV
There has been an uproar after 19-year-old Belgian cyclist Femke van den Driesche was found to have a motor installed on her bike. But was she a scammer, or was she a victim? Kris Marshall Bell tells this very strange story with passion, chronicling death threats, unbelievable allegations about doped pigeons, and anger from his competitors. HV
Revealed: The Ashley Madison Hack Widely available, all episodes released on Wednesdays When no-strings-attached dating site Ashley Madison was hacked, scammers were horrified as their personal information and desires were exposed. The series tells elaborate hacking stories with subtlety and a touch of romance, while explaining the connections users have made and the fear they've felt in the face of moral judgment. HV
There's a podcast for that
Phoebe Robinson (left) and Jessica Williams in 2019. Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for HBO
this week, Hannah Verdier Choose the 5 best podcasts it ended too soonfrom Starry Cain's weird and wonderful investigations to Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams' comedy masterpieces.
mystery show Starry Cain's offbeat investigation was the perfect antidote to the true crime reign of 2015 in the podcast world. Cain's storytelling is impeccable, but her podcast ended after her six sweet episodes due to what Gimlet mysteriously described as “business reasons.” During that season, a big question was asked: “How tall is Jake Gyllenhaal?” More complicated questions, like why Britney Spears was photographed holding an obscure self-help book by Andrea Siegel. There is also a search for a treasured belt buckle, a missing video store, and a lunch box.
One of the shelters used to simulate extreme drought. It is located at the Central Plains Experiment Station in Colorado.
melinda smith
An experiment conducted at 100 sites around the world shows that during extreme droughts, grassland productivity declines much more than we thought. This finding suggests that plants may be struggling to cope with more frequent and severe droughts that are expected to result from climate change.
melinda smith Researchers at Colorado State University have designed a shelter that can be placed on top of land and topped with a piece of plastic to deflect some of the rain away from the vegetation below.
Working with other researchers around the world, Smith and her team were able to install such shelters in 100 grassland or shrubland locations across six continents.
For each site, Smith said, the team aimed to recreate conditions that would be considered extreme drought in the area, the type of conditions that occur once every 100 years. For example, in areas of Europe with high rainfall, more plastic strips are placed on roofs compared to drier areas to better simulate drought.
A year later, the researchers discovered that while some experiments were successful in reproducing drought conditions, others were unsuccessful because certain areas had higher than average rainfall.
In the 44 sites that experienced extreme drought, plant growth decreased by 38% in grasslands and 21% in shrublands. “That was huge,” Smith said, adding that the reduction in plant growth was much more severe than the researchers had observed in previous studies.
They also found that arid regions with low biodiversity are particularly vulnerable to drought. “Dry places are already at their limit,” Smith said. “Their systems don't have a lot of buffers to deal with it.”
Smith hopes these insights can improve global climate models that have previously underestimated the role of drought in the carbon cycle.
Researchers at the University of Basel have conducted a study on muscle adaptations in mice and discovered that endurance training leads to significant muscle remodeling. This is evident in the differential gene expression in trained muscles compared to untrained muscles, with epigenetic changes playing a crucial role in these adaptations. Trained muscles become more efficient and resilient, allowing for improved performance over time. The findings shed new light on the mechanisms behind these muscle adaptations.
Endurance training comes with numerous benefits. Regular exercise not only enhances overall fitness and health but also brings about substantial changes in muscle structure. This results in decreased muscle fatigue, increased energy production, and optimized oxygen usage. The recent experiments conducted by researchers at the University of Basel, using mice as subjects, have further elucidated these muscle changes.
Professor Christoph Handsin, who has extensive experience in muscle biology research at the Biozentrum University of Basel, explains that it is well-known that muscles adapt to physical activity. The goal of their study was to gain a deeper understanding of the processes occurring in muscles during athletic training. The researchers found that training status is reflected in gene expression.
Comparing untrained and trained mice, Handsin’s team examined the changes in gene expression in response to exercise. Surprisingly, they discovered that a relatively small number of around 250 genes were altered in trained resting muscles compared to untrained muscles. However, after intense exercise, approximately 1,800 to 2,500 genes were regulated. The response of specific genes and the degree of regulation depended largely on the training condition.
Untrained muscles activated inflammatory genes in response to endurance training, which could lead to muscle soreness from small injuries. In contrast, trained muscles exhibited increased activity in genes that protect and support muscle function, allowing them to respond differently to exercise stress. Trained muscles were more efficient and resilient, enabling them to handle physical loads better.
The researchers found that epigenetic modifications, chemical tags in the genome, played a crucial role in shaping muscle fitness. Epigenetic patterns determine whether genes are turned on or off, and the patterns differed significantly between untrained and trained muscles. The modifications affected important genes that control the expression of numerous other genes, ultimately activating a distinct program in trained muscles compared to untrained muscles.
These epigenetic patterns determine how muscles respond to training. Chronic endurance training induces short and long-term changes in the epigenetic patterns of muscles. Trained muscles are primed for long-term training due to these patterns and exhibit faster reactions and improved efficiency. With each training session, muscular endurance improves.
The next step for researchers is to determine whether these findings in mice also apply to humans. Biomarkers that reflect training progress can be used to enhance training efficiency in competitive sports. Additionally, understanding how healthy muscles function is crucial for developing innovative treatments for muscle wasting associated with aging and disease.
In conclusion, the study conducted by researchers at the University of Basel has unveiled the mechanisms through which muscles adapt to regular endurance training in mice. The insights gained from these findings may have implications for human performance and health. Furthermore, understanding muscle function can aid in the development of treatments for muscle-related conditions.
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