Afternoon naps, dark chocolate and video games: Dr MICHAEL MOSLEY advises on health improvements - Daily Mail

In his caller book, Just One Thing, Dr Michael Mosley reveals elemental but effectual steps you tin instrumentality to amended your carnal and intelligence health. In today's extract, helium offers six much astonishing ways to get your assemblage and caput moving. Forget shuttle runs earlier dawn followed by a gut-wrenching wheatgrass smoothie: however astir acheronian cocoa and playing your teenager's PlayStation? Backed by science, his methods could alteration your life. 

Have a speedy snooze aft lunch  

If, similar me, you are a mediocre sleeper and often endure from a mid-afternoon slump, alternatively of grabbing a beverage oregon coffee, wherefore not instrumentality vantage of this dip successful vigor to person a small shut-eye?

You volition beryllium successful bully institution — Winston Churchill regularly recharged himself with an day nap, penning successful his memoirs that 'even if it lone lasts 20 minutes, it is capable to renew each the captious forces'.

He was intelligibly connected to thing due to the fact that caller probe suggests that a nap tin bash fantastic things for your caput and your body.

Not lone tin napping boost temper and well-being, but ample studies person shown a nexus betwixt regular napping and bully bosom health. An occasional daytime nap was associated with a 48 per cent little hazard of bosom attack, changeable oregon bosom failure.

If you (or your boss) are disquieted that an day snooze is simply a spot self-indulgent, you mightiness similar to cognize that it tin amended your reasoning skills, fortify your capableness to larn and beryllium much beneficial than taking connected an other 30 minutes' slumber during the night.

Dr Sara Mednick, a cognitive neuroscientist and slumber researcher astatine the University of California, says a 20-minute nap pushes the reset button, expanding alertness and attention, arsenic good arsenic sharpening centrifugal skills (particularly if you request to execute a task which requires coordinated musculus movements).

A 60-minute nap gives you capable clip to determination into a signifier called 'slow-wave' sleep, which tin assistance to heighten memory.

She likens this to a 'cardiovascular holiday', which gives your full strategy the accidental to calm down, and for your assemblage to recuperate its resources and retrieve from the accent of the day.

A 90-minute nap, peculiarly taken successful the morning, gives you entree to REM (rapid oculus movement) sleep.

'This enhances a originative authorities of caput due to the fact that the frontal lobe of your encephalon shuts down, allowing for freewheeling connections successful the brain,' she says.

The downside of a agelong nap — thing lasting much than 30 minutes — is that you whitethorn past find it harder to get to slumber successful the evening.

So astir of the experts I spoke to suggested that 20 to 30 minutes was the optimum magnitude of time, preferably successful the aboriginal afternoon, soon aft luncheon and nary aboriginal than 3pm.

Dr Sara Mednick, a cognitive neuroscientist and slumber researcher astatine the University of California, says a 20-minute nap pushes the reset button, expanding alertness and attention, arsenic good arsenic sharpening centrifugal skills (particularly if you request to execute a task which requires coordinated musculus movements).

A 60-minute nap gives you capable clip to determination into a signifier called 'slow-wave' sleep, which tin assistance to heighten memory.

She likens this to a 'cardiovascular holiday', which gives your full strategy the accidental to calm down, and for your assemblage to recuperate its resources and retrieve from the accent of the day.

A 90-minute nap, peculiarly taken successful the morning, gives you entree to REM (rapid oculus movement) sleep.

'This enhances a originative authorities of caput due to the fact that the frontal lobe of your encephalon shuts down, allowing for freewheeling connections successful the brain,' she says.

The downside of a agelong nap — thing lasting much than 30 minutes — is that you whitethorn past find it harder to get to slumber successful the evening.

So astir of the experts I spoke to suggested that 20 to 30 minutes was the optimum magnitude of time, preferably successful the aboriginal afternoon, soon aft luncheon and nary aboriginal than 3pm.

Be surrounded by location plants  

My bureau astatine location is wherever I walk a batch of clip and, recently, I've taken to filling it with plants. I've chosen precise hardy taxon specified arsenic aspidistra (which are astir unkillable), spider plants (ditto) and snake plants.

They person added immoderate much-needed beingness to the country — and to me.

Research suggests that location plants tin boost memory, productivity, temper and adjacent trim indoor aerial contamination — plus, of course, they look lovely. My involvement successful the powerfulness of location plants was archetypal piqued by the Clean Air Study conducted successful 1989 by Nasa scientists who were investigating ways to amended the surviving conditions for astronauts successful space.

They recovered that by putting definite plants successful an enclosed abstraction they could trim the magnitude of volatile integrated compounds (VOCs) successful the air. VOCs are chemicals typically released into the aerial by gathering materials, aerosol sprays and cleaning products.

One VOC, limonene, is often added to cleaning products to springiness a citrusy scent, but it tin respond with ozone successful the aerial to signifier an unpleasant substance called formaldehyde, which is traditionally utilized to sphere corpses. According to the American Lung Association, VOCs tin irritate the eyes, chemoreceptor and throat, origin trouble breathing and nausea and harm the cardinal tense strategy arsenic good arsenic different organs.

They are a recognised origin of 'sick gathering syndrome'. Many modern houses and offices tin person rather precocious levels of VOCs due to the fact that they are sealed to prevention energy.

When researchers successful Australia enactment location plants successful 60 offices with precocious levels of VOCs, they recovered the levels were swiftly reduced by betwixt 60 and 75 per cent.

They concluded that 'potted plants tin supply an efficient, self-regulating, low-cost and sustainable mode of dealing with indoor aerial pollution.'

In different study, Norwegian researchers introduced plants successful an office, a schoolhouse and a infirmary radiology section and recovered that radical reported less coughs, headaches and fatigue.

Plants tin besides trim c dioxide levels and boost humidity — 2 things that marque america humans consciousness better.

Whether it is acknowledgment to improved aerial quality, oregon conscionable the pleasance we get from having quality each astir us, determination is bully grounds that plants person a affirmative effect connected wellbeing, absorption and concentration.

Dr Tijana Blanusa, of the Royal Horticultural Society, who has spent years researching the interaction of location plants connected humans, says you request 5 oregon six plants successful a country to marque a difference.

Fast-growing, thirsty, 'physiologically active' plants thin to supply the astir benefits, specified arsenic bid lily and devil's ivy.

Other recommended plants are: mother-in-law's lingua (also known arsenic snake plant); spider works (extremely forgiving and casual to keep); ivy; aloe vera (elegant greenish spikes with narrow, green, fleshy leaves); and rosemary (rub a fewer needles betwixt your fingers and inhale the delicious aroma).

Play enactment video crippled for 30 mins

My 3 sons spent a ample chunk of their teenage years playing video games, which I ever thought was a monumental discarded of time.

Like astir parents, I saw these games arsenic horribly addictive, atrocious for your eyes and atrocious for your attraction span. But I was wrong.

Recent probe suggests that action-packed gaming tin beryllium bully for your encephalon — and adjacent for your eyesight.

Games person been shown to boost your moving representation (your quality to retrieve much than 1 happening astatine a time), your absorption and your quality to multi-task.

There is immoderate grounds that they tin adjacent alteration areas of the encephalon related to abstract reasoning and occupation solving.

Cognitive neuroscientist Daphne Bavelier from the University of Geneva is simply a specializer successful the interaction of video games connected behaviour.

'As a mum of three, I stock your concerns astir video games being atrocious for you,' she says, 'but arsenic a idiosyncratic I person been pleasantly amazed to spot however immoderate video games tin person a affirmative effect connected the encephalon and behaviour.

'The close games truly tin heighten however good you wage attention; they besides amended cognition [how good you spot and hear] and amusement marked betterment successful peculiar cognition and moving representation and the quality to multi-task.

I judge gaming truly tin marque the encephalon much businesslike astatine processing information.'

Action games that impact speedy decision-making, navigating astir environments and uncovering ocular targets are the best. They summation grey substance successful an country associated with abstract reasoning and occupation solving.

Gaming makes you amended astatine taking successful aggregate things astatine once, ignoring distractions and spotting details successful busy, confusing scenes. These kinds of skills are utile successful life, arsenic good arsenic for sidesplitting aliens.

But what astir the acheronian broadside of video games?

The games tin beryllium addictive: the much you play, the much you privation to play. But studies person shown that they don't needfully incite assertive oregon convulsive behaviour, arsenic antecedently suspected.

Nor bash they look to beryllium atrocious for your eyes. Professor Bavelier says young gamers look to person superior eyesight.

One survey recovered that spending an hr a time connected enactment games really improved a signifier of imaginativeness called 'contrast sensitivity'. This is your quality to separate betwixt shades of grey, and it people gets worse arsenic we get older.

So americium I excessively aged to effort gaming? Professor Bavelier recommends that older adults similar me, who are caller to gaming, commencement with driving games. 'Any crippled wherever you request to purpose astatine a way but astatine the aforesaid clip debar distraction and obstacles and besides cod points volition assistance to heighten attraction and attraction control,' she says.

And her studies amusement that, if you play for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, you should spot cognitive improvements successful astir 3 months.

Spend immoderate clip successful a greenish space

My woman Clare and I are fortunate capable to unrecorded by a wood and connected the borderline of easy accessible countryside. Which means that successful the day I'm capable to get distant from the machine and walk immoderate clip successful nature.

It is large conscionable to stop, look around, respire successful the odor of the trees, perceive to the sounds of birds and admit the signifier of airy passing done the leaves.

Pausing to perceive and announcement your situation shifts your absorption outwards, makes you much engaged successful the satellite astir you and little successful your ain thoughts.

Plenty of studies amusement that conscionable being successful greenish spaces tin assistance trim accent and anxiousness and besides boost your immune system.

The grounds is truthful convincing that the Japanese person created a contented of 'forest bathing' oregon 'having a wood shower'.

To get maximum benefit, you should purpose to link with each your senses: listening, inhaling, sniffing, touching and truly looking astatine the satellite astir you.

By taking heavy breaths erstwhile you are successful a wood, you volition beryllium inhaling phytoncides — the 'essential oils' fixed disconnected by trees.

These integrated chemicals support the trees from microbes and insects, but they person besides been shown to heighten temper and bolster your immune system.

'Spending clip successful a greenish abstraction has 2 main effects connected the immune system,' Professor Ming Kuo, of the University of Illinois Landscape and Human Health Laboratory, told me. 'It calms what needs calming and strengthens what needs strengthening.'

It not lone keeps our immune strategy tuned up and beardown but besides ensures that it does not overreact.

You get tiny but persistent benefits from adjacent debased doses of greenish abstraction immersion — for example, conscionable surviving successful a tree-lined thoroughfare and gazing astatine greenish views. But possibly the top benefits travel from my favourite pastime: walking successful the woods. So get extracurricular into a parkland oregon a spot of woodland whenever you get the chance.

Stand up for 2-3 minutes each hour

If you are a desk-based worker, by precocious day you volition person spent a batch of clip sitting down, which is truly atrocious for your body. Fortunately, there's a elemental solution: lasting up!

Spending much clip lasting is bully for your humor sugars and for your bones. It could adjacent amended your intelligence health.

We person known for a agelong clip that tons of sitting, peculiarly erstwhile done successful 1 agelong block, is atrocious for us. Back successful the 1950s, researchers highlighted a stark quality successful wellness betwixt autobus drivers (who beryllium each day) and autobus conductors (who utilized to basal astatine the backmost of the bus, giving retired tickets). They recovered the drivers were doubly arsenic apt to person bosom attacks arsenic the conductors.

Plenty of studies person shown that a sedentary manner increases your hazard of benignant 2 diabetes, bosom disease, ageing mostly and decease from each causes.

Yet galore of america walk 10 hours oregon much a time connected our bottoms. If you thrust for a living, your choices mightiness beryllium limited, but if your occupation oregon manner allows, effort to basal arsenic overmuch arsenic imaginable — it truly tin marque a large difference.

John Buckley, prof of applied workout subject astatine University Centre Shrewsbury told maine that erstwhile we beryllium for agelong periods our bodies spell into 'sleep' mode, shutting down galore of the important functions that support america healthy.

'As hunter-gatherers we were designed to beryllium moving astir of the day,' helium says. 'Sitting slows our metabolism and drops everything to a resting level. However, erstwhile you basal up, each your systems relation optimally, and gravity pulls your assemblage without you realising.

'This tiny but changeless unit helps america to support musculus spot and bony density, too.'

Our bodies request the constant, astir imperceptible summation successful musculus enactment that lasting provides.

The precise simplest question helps america to support our all-important humor sweetener nether control.

You mightiness anticipation you tin offset the evils of spending each time connected your bottommost with a sweaty travel to the gym aft work, but emerging grounds suggests that, unless you're doing 40 minutes of moderately vigorous workout each azygous day, you cannot undo the harm that sitting causes.

Even worse, if you beryllium for agelong periods each time you could beryllium decreasing the benefits of immoderate workout you do.

So basal whenever you tin passim your time and get into the wont of spending much clip connected your feet than connected your bottom.

• Invest successful a lasting desk. A caller proceedings recovered that, aft 12 months of utilizing a lasting desk, volunteers reported feeling little anxious, little fatigued and amended engaged with their work.

• Set a ping alarm connected your telephone to punctual you to basal up concisely each 30 minutes.

• When the telephone rings, basal up to instrumentality the telephone (better still, locomotion and talk).

• Initiate 'standing meetings' oregon 'walking meetings'.

• Stand connected nationalist transport.

• Put the distant power retired of scope truthful you person to get up each clip you privation to alteration channels.

• Stand up astatine each TV advertisement interruption and bash immoderate stretches oregon squats.

Adapted from Just One Thing: How Simple Changes Can Transform Your Life by Dr Michael Mosley, published by Short Books astatine £16.99. © Dr Michael Mosley. Order a transcript of Just One Thing from WHSmith.co.uk for lone £8.49 (RRP 16.99). To redeem online adhd merchandise to your handbasket and use the voucher codification 60663238 successful the promo codification box. Offer excludes transportation costs. Terms apply. Valid until 2/11/2022.