MMRF new web site

Check the Multiple Myeloma Reseach Foundation's new web site.

http://www.themmrf.org/

Sleep to lose weight

It's possibly the world's most effortless and effective diet is simpler than author Michael Pollen's pared-down manifesto to "Eat food. Not much. Mostly plants" and far easier to swallow than the Grapefruit Diet.

Ready?

Go to bed. Sleep for eight hours.

It sounds simple, so simple that six staff members at Glamour magazine gave it a go and, in the February edition, revealed they lost an average of four kilograms each without changing anything else — how much they exercised, or how much or what they ate.

And a compelling body of research increasingly shows that, scientifically speaking, sleep as a diet aid works.

In fact, the connection between sleep, diet, stress and Canada's burgeoning weight problem — 11.3 million obese or overweight and counting, says Statistics Canada — has become a focal point for sleep researchers internationally, more so after 2004 when scientists at Stanford University in California connected lack of sleep to the alarming rise in obesity in western countries.

In their 15-year study of 1,024 volunteers with sleep disorders, they found those getting less than four hours of sleep a night were 73 per cent more likely to be obese.

While our high-fat, high-sodium, high-everything diet certainly has much to do with our national pudginess, Dr. Helen Driver, an adjunct professor of medicine at Queen's University and president of the Canadian Sleep Society, also puts the blame on sleep-killing technology.

"Edison has a lot to answer for when he invented the light bulb, because everyone started spending less time asleep," she says. "It's a technology issue; people have computers and TVs in their bedrooms, they eat or read e-mail before they go to bed. The result is they don't get a restful sleep. But I would say that if you're sleep-deprived and you follow good sleep hygiene, you will lose weight without changing much else."

How?

A lack of sleep triggers a wave of reactions in the human body that starts with the hormones leptin, ghrelin and cortisol and ends with waking up exhausted and craving fat and carbohydrates, says Dr. Joseph De Koninck, director of the University of Ottawa's Sleep Research Laboratory.

"There is no question that the hormones that control appetite are affected by the loss of sleep," De Koninck says.

And it's worse if you eat just before bed, he adds.

"People stay up late watching TV, they're on the Internet and e-mail, they get hungry and eat something high-calorie. If you eat, your sleep is more fragmented because your body is digesting."

The lack of deep, restorative rest also causes a drop in the satiety hormone leptin, which means that even after you do eat the next day, you won't feel full.

Meanwhile, the hunger hormone ghrelin rises, setting the stage for overeating.

The third hormone cortisol is strongly related to the body's daily, or circadian, rhythm, "and it's involved with metabolic regulation," explains Driver. "So stress and lack of sleep are intertwined, too."

In fact, for the busy Glamour testers — most of them are mothers — the hardest part of the Sleep Diet was going to bed at the same time every night.

The trouble is we're just not getting enough 40 winks in the first place.

Researchers at the University of Chicago also studied the sleep patterns of 669 middle-aged adult volunteers in 2006, and found that while we may bed down an average 7.5 hours a night, women actually sleep for just 6.7 of them, while men get 6.1 hours.

"The average number of hours actually spent asleep has been reduced," says Driver."

It should be up to eight hours, but it's not and it's having a negative effect."

But by learning new sleep habits — and getting any sleep disorders addressed — "You will lose weight if you get the proper amount of sleep," says De Koninck. "Your hormones will be positively affected and you will not overeat."

Sleep diet details:
- Set your bedtime. First, calculate how much sleep you need by working out when you need to get up, and counting back 7.5 hours.

Then every day, go to bed 15 minutes earlier — most people need between 7.5 and nine hours of sleep — until you notice you're waking up refreshed and without the help of an alarm clock.

At that point, you've found the optimum number of sleep hours for you.
- Keep a sleep journal. Track when you go to bed, when you awaken, any restless periods and when you ate or exercised before retiring. Also, avoid napping during the day for more 30 minutes.

"Do not be one of those people who allows bedtime and awakening time to drift," warn researchers at the University of Maryland. "The body gets used to falling asleep at a certain time, but only if this is relatively fixed."
- Other tips: Dr. Helen Driver advises getting at least a half an hour of exercise during the day — but not within a few hours of bedtime — keeping the bedroom solely for sleep or sex and developing a pre-sleep routine that could include a bath, music or reading.

"Get into a regular routine for going to bed. Cut out caffeine in the afternoon, and don't go to bed too hungry or too full. Alcohol should be in moderation and never as a sleep aid."

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

FDA grants orphan drug status to Keryx

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. reported that the FDA gave its developing multiple myeloma drug KRX-0401, or Perifosine, orphan drug status.

The company said a late-stage study is expected to start by the end of 2009.

Health info too small to read

Most pamphlets containing health facts don't meet the CNIB's legibility guidelines, study finds

By Chris Zdeb, Edmonton Journal

Health pamphlets are more about looks than legibility, it seems: Most can't be read by the people they're designed for.

A new University of Alberta study found only 23 per cent of 388 leaflets collected from pharmacies and clinics in the metro Edmonton area met the legibility recommendations of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

Cheryl Sadowski, an associate professor in the faculty of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, who did the study, suspected as much. Working at a seniors' clinic part time, she's watched printed information on subjects such as safety, and more sensitive topics such as elder abuse and erectile dysfunction, being handed out to seniors who'd take one look and say, 'Oh, I can't even read this.' Some bring in the brochures or information sheets the pharmacy gave them with their medication and admit they've never read them because the print is too small.

"This is a generation that doesn't do a lot of advocacy for themselves, doesn't complain, so when we get them at the clinic complaining, you know the problem must be really bad," Sadowski says.

"We know that starting in your 40s, people's vision changes as they get older, yet so much of the printed material made available to older adults isn't taking that into consideration."

It's an issue that's growing in importance as the population ages, says Ellie Shuster, CNIB director of regional communications. The CNIB has been advocating for larger type for years.

"We believe 12-point is sort of the minimum type size for an aging demographic. Fourteen point is the standard at the CNIB."
( The Journal uses 10-point type.)

Sadowski's study found only 33 per cent of the brochures collected by pharmacy student Adriana Chubaty were printed in at least 12-point and most were printed in smaller than 10-point.

One leaflet providing information for patients with cataracts and age-related macular degeneration used a squint-inducing six-point type size, the size used in the Edmonton and area phone book.

"In my opinion, people shrink the type to fit the amount of space they have to print on and it's cheaper to do a three-panel brochure than a four-panel brochure," Shuster says.

Brian Steeves, one of several people waiting for a downtown medical clinic to open one day last week, says he's had to use a magnifying glass to read some of the information that comes with prescription medication.

"I think the print should be read with your naked eye, never mind glasses," he says.
Lyn Zinkiew says sometimes she's had to read prescription information to her boyfriend, who finds the print too small.

"I've had some elderly people who have stopped me in stores to help them read something on over-the-counter medication bottles," Zinkiew says.

"Why can't they make the print bigger for something as important as medication?" Zinkiew says. "They should have better leaflets to hand out or a handout with bigger print that you can get at the counter when you purchase the medication."

If people can't read information easily and quickly, they may not bother and they could miss something important, such as which medications shouldn't be taken with others. Their doctor or pharmacist may have told them, but having
something written is useful to refer to in case they forget.

With hundreds of pamphlets on pharmacy racks, it's understandable that pharmaceutical companies want an eye-catching design that will make theirs stand out, Sadowski says.

"Lots of pamphlets are stylized, almost marketing-driven rather than information-focused," she explains. "But if you want to educate people about reflux, for example, you're more likely to sell your reflux drug to people that can read about it. I think most of the producers of this information haven't really thought through that the people their literature is aimed at can't read it."

There's quite a bit of research these days on health literacy. People are concerned about people who speak English as a second language, the jargon used in medical settings, but it doesn't matter if you make something health-literate if the print is too small to read or printed on a busy background," Sadowski says.

Australia has legislation that stipulates how health literature must be written, but it hasn't worked perfectly, Sadowski says. Neither she nor Chubaty thinks similar legislation is necessary in Canada at this point, but guidelines are difficult to find, and the organizations that developed them need to make them more accessible for companies publishing leaflets, they say.

If all else fails, there's always the aging boomers who, unlike their elders, are less likely to tolerate pamphlets they can't read, and demand better, Sadowski says.

The study was published in the May online edition of Age and Aging, the journal of the British Geriatric Society.

Health Canada is developing guidelines for the labelling of pharmaceutical products. It is also looking at package design and look-alike/ sound-alike health product names to help prevent confusion over medication, a department spokesperson says.

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal