wake

Science and longevity experts are clear about what time you should wake up

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For years, the culture of effort and extreme productivity has sold us the “five o’clock club“like him Holy Grail of successtaking as examples to CEOs, influencers or personal development gurus who point out the need to wake up at five in the morning. However, science focused on aging has a very different message: waking up too early is not only not productive, but it can shave years off our life. The experts. Sebastian La Rosaa doctor specializing in longevity, already pointed out that the optimal time to wake up is in a very specific window: between 6:45 and 7:00 in the morning. And the reality is that the scientific literature supports its claims based on clinical experience quite well. Without going any further, an analysis that lasted for 20 years in large groups of people revealed that the lowest point of mortality risk is exactly around seven in the morning. From this point on, extremes (as often happens in biology) are quite expensive. The extremes. Get up constantly after 8 in the morning raises the risk of mortality from all causes by a staggering 39%. But being a night owl and waking up super early every day isn’t good for your health either. This is what they saw from the data extracted from the UK Biobankwith a sample of more than 433,000 people, showing that the evening chronotype (going to bed late and getting up late) has a 10% higher risk of mortality total compared to early risers, impacting more harshly on people over 63 years of age. More tests. On the other hand, a massive study from the University of Exeter found that people who wake up naturally between five and seven in the morning reduce their risk of premature mortality by between 20 and 25%. This fits perfectly with the recommendation to go to sleep between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. to achieve 7 or 8 hours of restful sleep and protect, in the process, cardiovascular health. The golden rule. While 7:00 a.m. seems like the evolutionary magic hour, researchers at Harvard and other pioneering institutions have reached an even more important conclusion: consistency is the most important factor. In this way, having irregular sleep schedules, such as going to bed and getting up at very different times each day, increases the risk of mortality between 20 and 48%. In fact, the regularity of the sleep-wake cycle has been shown to be a stronger predictor of mortality than the total number of hours slept. This forces the scientific consensus to establish that sleeping between 6 and 8 hours is ideal, with exactly 7 hours being the figure linked to greater survival in large population cohorts. But if we choose to sleep less than seven hours or more than eight hours, the body can become unbalanced and increase the risk of death. Hacking the internal clock. Behind all these statistics there are pure cellular mechanics. In animal models, it has been proven that having “high amplitude” circadian rhythms, with very marked differences between daytime alertness and nighttime rest, directly correlates with greater longevity. When this biological clock is altered by living behind sunlight, we alter metabolic pathways critical for aging such as via mTOR, sirtuins or IGF-1. Exposing yourself to natural light as soon as you wake up around seven in the morning is the signal that the brain needs to set this complex hormonal mechanism in motion, mitigating oxidative damage and preventing cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Images | muntazar mansory In Xataka | If you fall asleep in less than five minutes, you don’t have a “superpower”: it’s a warning signal from your brain

The key is not to sleep well, it is to wake up correctly.

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Getting up in the morning is, sometimes, the greatest effort What a person does when they leave the warmth and comfort of their bed. Above all, when it was it’s raining and it’s cold. However, the first hour after opening your eyes marks the beginning of a day full of energy if used well. This natural moment of the body surpasses any rapid stimulus. Cortisol skyrockets, making it the perfect fuel for doing certain things that will make you lazy later. Of course, not waking up in the appropriate way can cause the rest of the day you crawl. The morning peak that activates the body. As and as he explained Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman on the podcast Modern Wisdom“the peak of cortisol in the morning is essential. If it does not occur, the body responds with more stress later and it is difficult to regain calm in the afternoon.” OK to the studio carried out by a group of researchers from different universities in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, your body works like a well-tuned clock: from early morning, cortisol begins to rise to reach a certain level that causes you to wake up. Researchers from the US and Mexico discovered that this cortisol peak is maintained for about 45 minutes, in which it draws energy from the sugars stored in the liver and puts the brain in alert mode, ready to face whatever comes without that feeling groggy in the morning. If you take advantage of this peak to stretch, walk or do any physical activity during that time, it will be much easier for you. create new habitsbecause the mind retains that moment better and assimilates it in a positive way. Enhance awakening. According to the expert, cortisol levels when you wake up are even higher than those recorded when experiencing stressful situations. However, in this awakening contextis natural behavior and should even be enhanced because that peak is what allows energy to be accumulated for the rest of the day. “The morning routine of natural light and hydration prepares the brain and body for the day,” Huberman said. One of the neuroscientist’s recommendations is to expose yourself as much as possible in natural light during that first hour. Open the window, go out to the balcony or take a short walk. That exposure sends a signal to the brain and prepares it to leave the state of drowsiness and start your “day mode”. In addition, the expert recommends drinking a good glass of water to compensate for the hours without drinking and rehydrate the body, and then start some gentle stretches or walk for a few minutes. Huberman recommends delay the first coffee about 90 minutes, since caffeine can interrupt that natural regulation of cortisol levels. Disrupting sleep routines does not help. A investigation from the University of South Australia studied the impact of changes in circadian cycles in cortisol levels, finding evidence that changes in sleep schedules imbalanced cortisol levels upon awakening. This meant that either the participants they woke up in the middle of the night or ate at odd hours and that, when they had to do so, their cortisol levels were insufficient to bring the brain out of its state of drowsiness, being out of adjustment throughout the day. Therefore, maintain sleep schedules Regular exercise helps the body know when it is time to raise cortisol levels to begin the awakening phase and prepare the brain to face the rest of the day. Getting ready to sleep. In the same way that Huberman suggests a certain preparation to have a more efficient awakening, he also recommends taking some measures to face the end of the day. “For the last hours, you should do the opposite: darken the environment, avoid stimulants and limit hydration,” explained the neuroscientist. In this sense, the expert highlighted that exposure to screens alters that hormonal pattern that means that cortisol levels must be low to allow you to fall asleep and initiate what he called the “maximum reset”: achieving a phase of deep sleep in which the brain eliminates the metabolic waste it generates during the day. through the glymphatic system. “Conscious breathing and visualization, such as mentally walking through a well-known place, are powerful tools for calming the mind before sleep,” Huberman explained in his interview. In Xataka | Neuroscientists believe they have found the trick to solving the most complicated problems: taking a nap Image | Unsplash (Adrian Swancar)

Science has something to say to all those who drink coffee as soon as they wake up

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Having a coffee for many is something that It is essential to start the day. It is something that in our country has become a cultural habit, but it is also a very relevant pharmacological event. Since although many people’s day doesn’t start until this coffee, our body already has its own “start-up” system built in as standard that we could be affecting. A good debate. Recently has arisen an idea that has set a precedent: Ingesting caffeine immediately after waking up interferes with the body’s natural biology. Specifically, with cortisolwhich is the stress hormone that allows us to wake up in the morning and sustain us throughout the day. Given this, It is recommended to wait between 60 and 90 minutes to drink your first cup of coffee.. Although… How much truth does this have? If we analyze the most recent clinical literature and population studies, we discover that Coffee in the morning is, in fact, a powerful ally for cardiovascular healthbut its maximum effectiveness depends on fine synchronization with our hormones. Natural injection of energy. To understand the effect of coffee on our body, we must first understand what happens when you don’t drink it. When you open your eyes, your brain doesn’t turn on like a switch, but instead starts a chemical cascade known as Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR). This is essential, since upon waking up, cortisol begins to increase and reaches its maximum peak approximately 30 to 60 minutes after opening the eyes. A hormone that is essential to activate us, and that is released in large quantities, for example when we are stressed or there is danger. A limbo of signals. In this way, if we introduce caffeine right into the body when cortisol is rising, we may be generating unnecessary overstimulation, increasing nervousness or so-called jitters. Furthermore, caffeine (despite the fact that it hurts for some) does not provide real energy to our body, but what it does is block the adenosine receptors, which is responsible for making us feel tired. In this way, when we wake up, there is still some of this signal in the body and if we block it suddenly and too soon, when the effect of the coffee wears off, this accumulated adenosine suddenly binds to its receptors and causes the famous mid-afternoon fatigue. What science knows. To date, there are no controlled clinical trials that compare the long-term cognitive performance of a group of people who drink coffee immediately versus another who waits 90 minutes. But what we do know is that there is a tolerance effect. A study published in PMC points out that in regular coffee consumers, the cortisol response to caffeine is significantly attenuated. That is, your body has already gotten used to that morning “hit” and the hormonal interference is much less than in an occasional consumer. In this way, when we remove the morning coffee, it may be much more difficult for a person to properly start their body as they lack that ‘drive’ to which their body has become accustomed. The night battle. Where the science is clear is in the use of caffeine late in the day. A study in Science Translational Medicine showed that a double espresso three hours before bed delays the circadian clock by about 40 minutes, seriously affecting sleep quality. Is it worth waiting? If you are one of those who feel intense anxiety after the first coffee or if you experience an unbearable drop in energy at two in the afternoon, the recommendation to wait 90 minutes has physiological plausibility and can be a valuable personal experiment. By delaying caffeine, you allow cortisol to do its job and residual adenosine to be cleared more naturally so you don’t have that unpleasant mid-afternoon tiredness. However, for the healthy general population accustomed to coffeethere is no evidence that taking it as soon as you wake up is harmful. We are only left with that effect of dependence on coffee that interferes with the internal ‘caffeine’ of awakening that our body produces. This is why the 90-minute rule is more advice based on clinical observation and biological logic than on robust studies. In Xataka | We knew that coffee was good for our health, but now we have discovered that it is a great ally of our microbiota

European cookies notices have been a nightmare. We may finally wake up from her

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It was supposed to “accept cookies” would facilitate life. He is actually doing us lose 575 million hours a year. Cookies consent banners have become a Absolute nightmare For Internet users, but the European Commission (CE) is rethinking its regulations. Let’s cross fingers. What happened. A note sent to a discussion group of the European Commission was sent on September 15. This document, filtered by politician, reveals that the EC is considering how Modify cookies regulations in force so that it is much less annoying and intrusive to users. The browser can take care of it. There are apparently two options on the table. One, including more exceptions that would make cookies consent banners appear only on certain websites and situations. The other, even more interesting, is to ensure that each user could establish universal preferences through the browser to apply automatically every time they visit a website. That would not have to accept or reject them all suddenly, or select which cookies we accept or reject every time we visit a site, but do it transparent and instantaneously. A little history. In 2002 the European Union launched A directive on the privacy of electronic communications. This regulation required user consent for the use of cookies. In 2009 a law called E-Privacy Directive to force websites to achieve user consent before loading those cookies on their devices. The demand It was consolidated in May 2018 with the activation of the General Data Protection Regulations (RGPD) of the European Union. Good intentions turned into nightmare. Although the measure was well intentioned and was aimed at protecting the rights and privacy of Internet users, its implementation has converted it in something unbearable that makes the experience of insufferable web navigation. As Peter Craddock, Keller and Heckman’s lawyer, “too consent basically kills consent.” Or what is the same: The remedy is worse than the disease. Plans. This hell is now one of the key points of a European strategy to simplify the regulation that affects technology. Commission officials want to present an “omnibus” text in December in which many of the current regulations would be relieved. There was a previous attempt. In 2017 There was a proposal For an electronic privacy regulation that theoretically was going to simplify these cookies consent notices. However, the petition was abandoned in February of this year because the proposal was too complex and covered from online advertising to national security. THE GDPR TO RESCUE. A way to partially solve the problem would be Integrate that regulation of cookies within the general regulation of data protection (RGPD or GDPR for its acronym in English). This regulation adopts a more flexible philosophy based on risks, so that cookies banners theoretically apply only to a subset of the websites visiting users. In Xataka | You thought to be navigating in unknown and erasing cookies on your Android mobile. Goal I saw everything you did

Creatine is the Queen of Gym. Now science investigates if you can also wake up your brain when you don’t sleep

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Creatine is, together with Powder proteins Already the Ashwagandha, one of the star supplements if we do physical activity Intense. It is one of the most studied supplements and evidence on improvements in physical function are clear. However, in recent years he is calling attention to areas far from the gym thanks to its potential benefits for cognitive function. And now there are those who are studying the effects of creatine in People with lack of sleep. Creatine and brain. The operation of creatine is simple. It is a compound that we produce naturally, mainly in the liver, but that we can also obtain thanks to certain meats and fish. The problem is that in vegan lifestyles or within the framework of intense training, supplementation becomes very interesting To increase those immediate reserves of energy Recently, the Texas A&M University He discovered that creatine is not only useful in the muscles, but also in the brain, with studies pointing to positive effects on the Recovery of brain injuriesin reducing the sensation of fatigue and as a neuroprotective agent by showing potential to reduce mitochondrial dysfunction, being a key factor in the neurodegenerative diseases. Neurogenesis. Creatine plays a very relevant role in the formation of New cells and brain tissuesalso in the creation of neurons in the embryonic phase. And that prominence is what encouraged research on creatine functions in the brain. As we read in BBCwithin the tests that are being done, one is that of Ali Gordjinejad, researcher at the Forschungszentrum Jolich Center in Germany. As we discussed before, they have been carried out, and they are still doing, studies that relate the role of creatine in the brain beyond that embryonic phase, and something that disrupts the usual functioning of the brain is the sleep deprivation. That is where Gordjinejad wondered if creatine can have a role in the short -term memory and brain recovery in People with sleep deprivation. This would be interesting for people who must travel at night, emergency service workers or students who hurry before exams. The analysis. To do this, his team recruited 15 people and divided them into groups. One was given a creatine supplement and another placebo. The shot was at 6:00 p.m. and, until 9:00 in the next morning, he tested the cognitive performance of those people every two and a half hours. He analyzed his reaction times or short -term memories and discovered that the processing speed was higher in the group that took creatine. Gordjinejad Consider That, in that stress situation for the body and, above all, the brain, the organ needs energy available quickly, taking it from phosphocreatine deposits that have been filled just before exercise. Would act exactly as it does when we are doing a Intense exercise To endure, for example, one more repetition. Controversial. The researcher believes that his findings show the potential of creatine to help overErebro starts its repair mechanisms. Now, although there are very forceful studies, this is somewhat less due to an important detail: the participants in the study took 10 times the recommended daily dose of creatine. Gordjinejad himself points out that it is such a high dose that it should not be taken by people with kidney problems, but even if you are perfectly healthy, that dose can cause stomach pains or problems in the following deposits. You have to continue studying. What the researcher is clear is that we must continue to investigate until finding evidence that supports his theory or, on the contrary, help to leave it aside (that is also the scientific purpose, in short). In following trials, he will try with smaller doses, and is something that will allow creatine to relate more evidently to cognitive function. Because, as we said, Its muscle benefits in exercise They are evident and well supported by science, but when we talk about the performance of this supplementation in the brain, various researchers have agreed that you have to standardize amounts of creatine in the analysis and, above all, update those studies. A clear example is that of researcher Terry McMorris, which in 2024 and after reviewing 15 studies, concluded that there is no clear evidence that supports that creatine improves cognitive function, being the main problem that many of these studies were carried out almost a century ago and in unstricted situations. In what McMorris and Gordjinejad shake hands is in the belief that it is an area in which it is worth continuing. Images | l ch In Xataka | If the question is how to increase protein intake every morning, the answer is “proffee”: throwing it into coffee

A huge blue spiral appeared in the sky of Europe at 9 at night. It was the wake of a spacex rocket

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It is hard to believe, but the last night were not aliens either. If you were looking at the sky at 20:55, European central time, you could see a bright blue spiral illuminating the night. It was a Spacex rocket. A strange show. In United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland either Ukraine. From The clean skies of Sierra Nevadain Granada. Virtually all of Europe has managed to capture the spiral light that crossed the sky last night. They soon appeared photos on social networks. People asked what that strange phenomenon was. It is not a usual show, although it has already been seen in Hawaii, Alaska either Iceland. A Falcon 9 of Spacex. Neither a missile, nor a satellite, nor a galaxy about to swallow us. Nor a UFO. The object had a name and surname because it was a Falcon 9 rocket of Spacex by recentrating in the earth’s atmosphere. He had taken off from Cabo Cañaveral, east of the United States, two hours before. The Spy Nrol-69 satellite of the American National Recognition Office (NRO) had put in orbit. And he was returning to the earth to disintegrate in the atmosphere in a controlled way. What caused the spiral. Before a controlled reentry, the 13.8 -meter length rocket rotates to get rid of the fuel that is still in its deposits; A process called passivity. The low temperatures instantly froze the propellants released by the rocket, which added to the turn movement and the position of the sun caused the light show over Europe. The turn is what made it look like a spiral, and the sunlight was what illuminated the frozen wake. Nothing to do with the incident of Poland. In February, the second stage of a Falcon 9 rented without control over Europe. Several pieces of the rocket fell into populated areas of Poland, without causing damage (except the dismissal of the president of the Polish Space Agencyfor its management of the incident). In this case, and as is usually the case, the second stage of Falcon 9 successfully turned on its engine to fall controlled in the atmosphere, far from populated areas. They were the light conditions and the flight profile that made its wake visible in the European night sky, without further consequences than the scare of some European spectators. Images | Jay in Kyiv, High Calar Observatory In Xataka | Elon Musk has revealed the plan after Starship explosions: v3 earlier than expected, but with half a capacity

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