According to this article in the New York Times, Bowing to Body Clocks, N.B.A. Teams Sleep In, players in the N.B.A. may get as few as five to six hours of sleep per night for a few nights in a row when traveling for games and on game day, in particular. It’s very likely that this is the same for other traveling professional (and other) athletes.

Game days are often filled with early practices or meetings, meaning the athletes must get up fairly early, not leaving time for resting up. Then, later in the day, they are expected to perform at peak performance. After the game, their day doesn’t end as they change out of sports gear and into PR mode, talking to reporters, signing autographs, and so on. That can make for a very late night, which makes for a very long day.

We all know that when we’re tired, we don’t perform as well as when we’re refreshed. A study done in 2001 and published in the journal Laryngoscope, looked at sleepy drivers and their ability to respond to sudden events. The authors wrote:

The consequences of even 1 to 2 hours of sleep loss nightly may result in decrements in daytime functions resulting in human error, accidents, and catastrophic events.

The researchers studied eight men and eight women who were divided into sleep deprived and alcohol challenged groups. The sleep-deprived group was divided again into acute sleep deprivation (only one night without sleep) and chronic sleep deprivation (2 hours less than usual sleep time, every night for seven days).

While playing basketball isn’t quite at the risk level of driving, the take away from this is that we do not and cannot perform as well if we’re sleepy than if we’re well rested.

Sleep can also help us learn more effectively and remember what we’ve learned. In the NYT article:

A key function of sleep is to restore neurons in the brain, a process that is critical to learning and mastering new information, [Dr. Charles Czeisler, the director of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the chief of the sleep medicine division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston] said. If players practice a new play, then get a sound night of sleep, they will be 20 percent better at performing it, Czeisler said. But with insufficient sleep, he said, “you simply never get that improvement.”

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Post from: EveryJoe

NBA Players Encouraged to Get More Sleep

The circumcision issue is a hotly debated one, regardless of the part of the world you live in. In countries with high rates of HIV infection and AIDS, some research has been done that has suggested a relationship between a drop in HIV infection and male circumcision – as much as 50% to 60%, according to some reports. However, with male sexuality being such a strong issue and the relationship between a man’s penis and his feeling of sexuality, many men would not be willing to get a circumcision to prevent a disease which, seemingly has nothing to do with them.

Research such as this may take a lot of further proving, but could be a small step in convincing men that circumcision may not be a bad thing for all men.

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Post from: EveryJoe

Women OK with Circumcised Men

Researchers studied 1,346 smokers out of 7,128 eligible subjects. To be eligible, smokers had to smoke at least 10 cigarettes per day. The study subjects were divided into five groups and received one of the following treatments:

• nictotine patch only
• nicotine lozenge only
• bupropion SR (oral medication) only
• nicotine patch plus lozenge
• bupropion SR plus lozenge

The results showed that combination therapies seemed to offer the best results. After six months, 29.9% of the smokers who took the buproprion SR combined with the nicotine lozenge were still not smoking as were 26.9% of smokers who used the  nicotine patch and lozenge. Among the solo treatment, or monotherapies, 16.8% of those with bupropion alone, 19.9% with lozenges alone, and 17.7% with patch alone were still not smoking after six months.

The study findings were published in the recent issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

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Post from: EveryJoe

Combo Therapy Best to Quit Smoking

Canadian hockey fans know the man, some U.S. fans may as well. He’s been called everything from a Saturday Night Hockey buffoon to an savvy hockey strategist. Well, maybe the second is stretching it a bit, but some people really do feel that Cherry knows what he’s talking about.

Ok, just who is Don Cherry? Although Cherry played a decent career in minor hockey, he only played one game in the NHL, for the Boston Bruins. Back in the American Hockey League, where he had played, Cherry coached for three years. He must have known his stuff, because he was voted Coach of the Year during that time. After that, he became a coach for the same team he played that one NHL game, the Bruins. After several years of coaching in different capacities, Cherry became a hockey commentator for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and now has a regular spot on Hockey Night in Canada, called Coaches’ Corner.

There are many reasons why some people can’t stand Cherry. He’s extremely outspoken and his opinions are the gospel to him. But, the thing is – when Cherry speaks, people listen. They may not always agree, but they listen.

Concussions, damage to the brain tissue because of trauma, are a big problem in many sports, particularly contact sports like ice hockey. The more aggressive the play, the higher the risk of sustaining a concussion.

Cherry has long been saying that hockey players don’t respect each other enough. One hand, he’s derisive about “sissy” playing, on the other hand, he is all about respecting each other and not deliberately hurting each other.

But, will he speak for concussion prevention? See for yourself in this article, Should Don Cherry lead fight against hits to the head?

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Post from: EveryJoe

Don Cherry a Concussion Prevention Voice?

Features of cluster headaches are (MayoClinic.com):

• Start suddenly, without warning
• Excruciating pain, generally located in or around the eye, but may radiate to other areas of the face, head, neck and shoulders
• One-sided pain
• Restlessness
• Excessive tearing
• Redness in the eye of the affected side
• Stuffy or runny nasal passage in the nostril on the affected side of your face
• Sweaty, pale skin (pallor) on the face
• Swelling around the eye on the affected side of your face
• Reduced pupil size
• Drooping eyelid

Occasionally, someone with cluster headaches will experience the more typical migraine symptoms of auras, nausea, and/or sensitivity to light or sound.

Up to now, there hasn’t been much in the way of treatment to offer people who experience cluster headaches. They come on too quickly to take a migraine medication that may be taken prophylactically, to prevent a migraine from developing. Other medications for migraines, such as Imitrex or Zomig do provide some relief for some people, but not everyone.

It has also been known that providing oxygen for breathing can help eliminate cluster headache pain. Researchers have been trying to perfect this and there has been some promising research.

Researchers studied 109 patients with a history of cluster headaches. When they experienced a cluster headache, they were either treated with high-flow oxygen, 100% oxygen that was delivered by face mask at 12 litres per minut, for 15 minutes or they received a placebo treatment with air.

By the end of the study, the researchers were able to assess the findings of 57 patients who had episodic cluster headaches and 19 who had chronic cluster headaches.

The findings showed that 78% of the patients who received oxygen had some sort of relief (adequate or all) after only 15 minutes of breathing the high-low oxygen. Only 20% patients who received the air placebo said that they had good results.

As researchers continue to follow this train of study, perhaps a good treatment for cluster headaches isn’t that far behind.

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Post from: EveryJoe

Cluster Headaches: the Man Migraine

Two studies out of Harvard University have suggested that daily coffee consumption may decrease the risk of developing prostate cancer. One of the studies was presented this week at a conference of the American Association for Cancer Research. This one showed that that men who drank the most coffee  (six or more cups per day) were 59% less likely to develop aggressive, fatal prostate cancer than non-coffee drinkers. Interestingly, it isn’t likely the caffeine in the coffee, because some of the coffee drinkers drank decaffeinated coffee but came up with similar results.

According to Melody Hart, N.D., Ph.D of ChicagoHealers.com:

Harvard research studies also found that downing one to three cups of America’s favorite caffeinated morning beverage can reduce diabetes risk by single digits.

At least six studies indicate that people who drink coffee on a regular basis are up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease.

Other research show that compared to not drinking coffee at least two cups daily can translate to a 25% reduced risk of colon cancer, an 80% drop in cirrhosis of the liver risk, and nearly half the risk of gallstones.

There’s also some evidence that coffee may help manage asthma and even control attacks when medication is unavailable, stop a headache, boost a mood and even prevent cavities.

Plus coffee has a lot of antioxidants such as chlorogenic acid and tocopherols and minerals such as magnesium.

A group of compounds called quinines that when induced to lab rats increases insulin sensitivity, and that improves the body’s response to insulin.

Of course, as with all studies, we have to take this slowly. This shouldn’t be a quick go-ahead to increase your daily one cup per day consumption to six, particularly if you’re highly stressed or have high blood pressure. Too much coffee makes some people very jittery and there’s a draw back that can happen when you stop drinking it on a regular basis: withdrawal.

Let’s wait and see what other studies have to say, but in the meantime, enjoy the coffee you are drinking.

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Post from: EveryJoe

Prescription for Health: Drink Coffee

Men with advanced prostate cancer who are receiving hormone therapy to reduce their androgen levels (androgen deprivation therapy) may begin experiencing hot flashes as a result of the treatment. In fact, it’s so common that it affects up to 80% of men receiving this treatment. In addition to the discomfort that can result in poor quality of life from lack of sleep and so on, the danger to uncomfortable side effects, like hot flashes, lies in people becoming reluctant to take the medication they know is causing it. This could result in poor treatment and poor outcomes.

In searching for a treatment to minimize the hot flashes, researchers studied 311 men who had at least 14 hot flashes per week after finishing a six-month course of hormone therapy.

The researchers randomly assigned the men to one of three different medications: cyproterone, medroxyprogesterone, and the antidepressant venlafaxine and the subjects took the medications for 12 weeks.

The results of the study, published in an early issue of the Lancet Oncology, found that although one, cyproterone, was more effective than the other two, but because of the type of medication it is, may not be a good choice for men with prostate cancer. The make up of the medication may interfere with other hormone-based treatments.

The other two medications also relieved hot flashes, with medroxyprogesterone being the better one.

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Post from: EveryJoe

Help for Hot Flashes in Men

Anyway, the issue of penile length is important and so is the ability to have sexual relations. As a result, many men are afraid to have surgery that may have anything to do with their penis or their sexuality. When the surgery is to be done for prostate cancer, reluctance to have it can extend the time before treatment can be done, allowing the cancer to take a greater hold.

Unfortunately, researchers have found that it can happen that a man’s penis becomes shorter after undergoing a radical prostatectomy. This is called post-surgery penile length shortening (PLS). The researchers don’t know what causes it, but theories include the scarring that takes place internally, pulling the penile tissue in towards the body.

A radical prostatectomy is the surgical procedure that removes all of the prostate gland and some of the surrounding tissue.

A study of 126 patients involved measuring penile measurements immediately before surgery, when the urinary catheter was removed, and at 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery. The men were asked about their sexual function at the time of surgery and at 3, 6 and 12 months using the erectile function domain of the International Index of Erectile Function.

What the researchers found was that most of the shortening that did occur, occurred at the time the catheter was removed after surgery. In some men, some shortening occurred later, but not as much or as often as when the catheter came out.

The study findings were published a few years ago in the Journal of Urology. The reason why it comes up again now is another small study (only 6 men) looked at the men’s responses to this shortening.

None of the six men were able to maintain an erection that allowed them to have sexual intercourse, however, they reported being resigned to the fact that their penis had become shorter. The authors of the study point out that this could be because the men were no longer able to have an erection and wonder if they would feel the same if they were.

Interestingly, the overall feeling of the study was that the men were ok with their outcome, considering that they were able to beat the cancer as a result. This study was published in the European Journal of Oncology Nursing.

So, maybe more men will become less concerned with length and more concerned with health?

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Post from: EveryJoe

Shorter Penis After Radical Prostatectomy?

Wrestlers are big men – they have to be to weigh in at certain classes. That weight has to be a stress on the body, no matter how fit they are. Much like the defensive linemen in football, their weight may lead to health problems.

Eki Fatu isn’t the first professional wrestler to die before the age of 40 years. According to a Yahoo News piece, here are some of the young deaths over the past 10 years:

• Chris Benoit, 40, 2007, committed suicide iafter murdering his wife, Nancy, and son Daniel
• Eddie Guerrero, 38, 2005, died of a heart attack
• Owen Hart, 33, 1999, died in Kansas City after a stunt went wrong during a live television shoot
• Andrew “Test” Martin, 34, 2009, died after an Oxycontin overdose

Fatu had violated drug policy a few years ago, while part of the WWE and in 2007, he refused to undergo drug rehab. Often, when an athlete dies young, drugs are one of the suspected causes, although this hasn’t been claimed as yet.

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Post from: EveryJoe

Wrestler Eki “Umaga” Fatu Dies

Many things contribute to the development of certain cancers and not taking care of your health is one of the major contributors. We know that smoking causes lung cancer and increases the risk of mouth and throat cancers. We know that high-fat diets contribute to colorectal cancers. Too much sun causes skin cancer, and so on.

We also know that many cancers are treatable or manageable when they are caught early enough. But, for a cancer to be detected early, you have to go to the doctor for regular check ups, cancer screening, and to investigate signs and symptoms that could be pointing to cancer.

What it seems is happening in Scotland is a combination of the above. Many men aren’t taking care of themselves and many aren’t seeing doctors when they need to. The result? Poorer health and increased risk of developing cancer.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the  most commonly diagnosed cancers in the United Kingdom, after breast cancer (number one), are:

• Prostate
• Lung
• Colorectal
• Bladder

In the U.K., more than one in four people die from cancer, accounting for 30% of all deaths in men and 25% in women.

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Post from: EveryJoe

More Scotsmen Die of Cancer of All UK Men