Wednesday, April 20, 2022

16/8 Intermittent Fasting: A Beginner’s Guide

Intermittent Fasting Concept

Although it isn’t a silver bullet, research has shown health benefits from intermittent fasting, including weight loss, reduced inflammation, and improved immune system.

Are you looking to start 16/8 intermittent fasting? This beginner’s guide will give you all the information you need to get started. This post will discuss what a 16/8 intermittent fast is, the benefits of fasting, and how to make it work for you. It also will provide some tips on how to ease into fasting and make it a successful habit for your health.

What is a 16/8 intermittent fast?

A 16/8 fast is an intermittent fasting protocol where you restrict your eating to an eight-hour window each day. This leaves a 16-hour fasting period in which your body can burn stored energy, repair cells, and promote autophagy. Autophagy is the process by which your body breaks down and recycles old or damaged cells.

There are many benefits to intermittent fasting, including weight loss, increased energy levels, and improved brain function. Fasting can also help to increase your lifespan and protect against chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Intermittent Fasting Meal Planning Concept

Some research indicates that intermittent fasting could extend your healthy lifespan.

How can I make a 16/8 fast work for me?

If you’re new to fasting, it’s important to ease into it. Start by fasting for 12 hours per day and gradually increase your fasting period until you reach the 16-hour mark. It’s also important to plan your meals in advance and make sure you’re eating nutrient-rich foods that will keep you satisfied throughout the day.

To make your fast easier, try to schedule it around your daily routine. If you know you won’t be able to eat until noon, for example, make breakfast your last meal of the day and skip dinner. You can also drink plenty of water and herbal tea during your fasting period to keep your energy levels up.

Intermittent Fasting Research

Here are some of the latest research studies on intermittent fasting (not necessarily the 16/8 fast specifically) and time-restricting eating that have been featured on SciTechDaily.com:

Conclusion

In review, a 16/8 intermittent fast can be a great way to improve your health and well-being. There are many benefits to intermittent fasting, including weight loss, increased energy levels, and improved brain function. If you’re new to fasting, it’s important to ease into it, drink plenty of water, and eat nutrient-dense foods during your eating window.

The Surprising Health Benefits of Cold Water Therapy

Young Man Cold Water Bath Outside

Immersing yourself in cold water causes significant physiological and biochemical changes in the body, which may lead to health benefits.

Can immersing yourself in cold be beneficial to your health?

Cold water therapy, or cold immersion, is what it sounds like: immersing yourself in cold water so that your body temperature drops.

Examples of cold immersion include:

  • Cold showers or baths
  • Ice baths (immersion in water between 50 and 60 °F)
  • Cold pools or lakes (for swimming)
  • Taking a walk outdoors in the cold

Let’s look at the health benefits of cold therapy or exposing your body to the cold.

Woman Cold Water Pool Outside Winter

Exposure to cold may help activate your immune system.

Exposure to Cold Activates Your Immune System

Your immune system prevents you from catching cold viruses and other infections. Many people try to boost their immune systems with vitamins and supplements, but they don’t realize they could get better results by taking a walk in the cold or taking a cold bath. That’s because white blood cells, which fight infection, circulate in your body more quickly when you are exposed to cold temperatures. Exposure to cold may also help your immune system produce other infection-fighting warriors, including t-cells and antibodies.

Why might this be? Exposure to cold increases your resting metabolic rate and stimulates the release of catecholamines, compounds released by your nervous system that activate your immune system. Studies show that cold exposure modestly boosts the activity of the immune system. You could get these benefits by taking a dip in cold water or walking outdoors in cold temperatures.

Young Man Cold Water Bath Outside Winter

Cold water therapy may help alleviate stress and depression.

Cold Exposure May Help Manage Stress and Depression

Stress is a natural response to any challenge. It’s our body’s way of telling us to pay attention and be prepared to deal with a situation. Stress is meant to spur action, whether that means getting out of the path of a speeding car or doing your best on an important project. Stress serves a purpose but only in small doses.

When you’re stressed for too long or too many things simultaneously, it becomes difficult for your body to manage or recover from the effects. That’s when stress can affect your health and well-being. Some people with unmanaged stress develop depression.

Could immersion in cold water or cold exposure help with depression? One study found that taking a cold shower twice per day reduced symptoms of depression. Although it’s an area that needs more study, anecdotal studies show benefits, too. One way cold immersion may help depression is by activating your sympathetic nervous system so that you feel more energetic.

Cold Bath Tap

Post-workout soreness can be reduced through exposure to cold temperatures.

Cold Immersion Reduces Post-Workout Soreness

Who enjoys achy muscles after a workout? Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life when you first start working out or after an unusually tough exercises session. After you work your muscles in a way they’re unaccustomed to, it’s common to experience delayed onset muscle soreness. Research shows cold immersion reduces muscle soreness, which may help speed up your recovery time after a training session. The cooler temperature causes blood vessels to constrict (narrow), which reduces the swelling of tissue around the injury. The same thing happens when you apply a cold pack to an inflamed area. The cold reduces tissue swelling and pain. Cold is a natural anti-inflammatory without the side effects of anti-inflammatory medications.

Woman Cold Shower

Cold exposure may activates thermogenesis and increase your resting metabolic rate, which could help with weight loss.

Can Cold Therapy Help with Weight Loss?

Cold increases your metabolism and activates thermogenesis, in which brown fat burns calories to produce heat. This is one reason cold showers could be effective for weight loss. In addition, spending time in cold temperatures causes you to be more active because you move around more when you’re trying to warm up.

Some resources suggest that cold water therapy and cold therapy boost calorie burning. But is there any truth to this claim? Studies show that exposure to cold increases resting metabolic rate, which, in theory, could help with weight loss. However, few studies have looked at this issue, and there are other factors to consider. For example, does exposure to cold cause you to eat more and compensate for the calories you burned? It’s an intriguing area that needs more research.

Another way cold exposure could help with weight loss is by improving insulin sensitivity. One study found that 10 days of cold exposure boosted insulin sensitivity in diabetics by 43%. This should help with blood glucose control, too. With cold exposure, cells can better clear glucose from your bloodstream, and that’s a benefit for your metabolic health.

Young Man Cold Shower

Taking cold showers is a good way to introduce yourself to cold therapy.

How to Get Started with Cold Immersion

The best way to get started with cold therapy is to introduce yourself to cold showers. If you’re not used to cold showers, you’ll need to build up tolerance. Start by exposing your body to cold water for 10 seconds, followed by as much warm water as you want. Gradually increase the amount of time spent in the cold over a period of days or weeks, until you can commit to a full minute under an icy stream. Cold immersion is most effective when you maintain it for at least one minute, so shoot for that as your minimum target duration.

After a cold therapy session, cool down gradually. It’s never a good idea to start with extreme temperatures when first introducing your body to cold showers — this is especially true if you’re trying out an ice bath for the first time! Gradually cool the water down as your tolerance increases. This will help prevent shock and injury.

Man Cold Water Bath Outside Winter

Cold immersion might sound like a strange idea, but it could generate some nice health benefits.

The Bottom Line

Cold water therapy and cold immersion might sound like counterintuitive advice, but it turns out that taking a dip in cold water could have unexpected health benefits. If you’ve never tried cold water therapy or cold immersion, you may want to consider it. The benefits are numerous, and the costs are low. So go ahead, get in the bathtub or shower and see what happens. Check with your healthcare provider first, though.

References:

  1. Janský L, Pospísilová D, Honzová S, Ulicný B, Srámek P, Zeman V, Kamínková J. Immune system of cold-exposed and cold-adapted humans. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1996;72(5-6):445-50. doi: 10.1007/BF00242274. PMID: 8925815.
  2. “Cold Water Therapy: Benefits of Cold Showers, Baths ….” 08 Jul. 2020, healthline.com/health/cold-water-therapy.
  3. Shevchuk NA. Adapted cold shower as a potential treatment for depression. Med Hypotheses. 2008;70(5):995-1001. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2007.04.052. Epub 2007 Nov 13. PMID: 17993252.
  4. Bleakley C, McDonough S, Gardner E, Baxter GD, Hopkins JT, Davison GW. Cold-water immersion (cryotherapy) for preventing and treating muscle soreness after exercise. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012 Feb 15;2012(2):CD008262. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD008262.pub2. PMID: 22336838; PMCID: PMC6492480.
  5. “Cold Therapy Weight Loss Results – The Ice Barrel Review ….” crispell-snyder.com/cold-therapy-weight-loss-results-the-ice-barrel-review-get-colder-feel-better/.
  6. Hanssen MJ, Hoeks J, Brans B, van der Lans AA, Schaart G, van den Driessche JJ, Jörgensen JA, Boekschoten MV, Hesselink MK, Havekes B, Kersten S, Mottaghy FM, van Marken Lichtenbelt WD, Schrauwen P. Short-term cold acclimation improves insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Nat Med. 2015 Aug;21(8):863-5. doi: 10.1038/nm.3891. Epub 2015 Jul 6. PMID: 26147760.

Time Might Not Exist, According to Physicists

Quantum Time Flow Concept

Does time exist? The answer to this question may seem obvious: of course it does! Just look at a calendar or a clock.

But developments in physics suggest the non-existence of time is an open possibility, and one that we should take seriously.

How can that be, and what would it mean? It’ll take a little while to explain, but don’t worry: even if time doesn’t exist, our lives will go on as usual.

A crisis in physics

Physics is in crisis. For the past century or so, we have explained the universe with two wildly successful physical theories: general relativity and quantum mechanics.

Quantum mechanics describes how things work in the incredibly tiny world of particles and particle interactions. General relativity describes the big picture of gravity and how objects move.

Both theories work extremely well in their own right, but the two are thought to conflict with one another. Though the exact nature of the conflict is controversial, scientists generally agree both theories need to be replaced with a new, more general theory.

Physicists want to produce a theory of “quantum gravity” that replaces general relativity and quantum mechanics, while capturing the extraordinary success of both. Such a theory would explain how gravity’s big picture works at the miniature scale of particles.

Time in quantum gravity

It turns out that producing a theory of quantum gravity is extraordinarily difficult.

One attempt to overcome the conflict between the two theories is string theory. String theory replaces particles with strings vibrating in as many as 11 dimensions.

However, string theory faces a further difficulty. String theories provide a range of models that describe a universe broadly like our own, and they don’t really make any clear predictions that can be tested by experiments to figure out which model is the right one.

In the 1980s and 1990s, many physicists became dissatisfied with string theory and came up with a range of new mathematical approaches to quantum gravity.

One of the most prominent of these is loop quantum gravity, which proposes that the fabric of space and time is made of a network of extremely small discrete chunks, or “loops.”

One of the remarkable aspects of loop quantum gravity is that it appears to eliminate time entirely.

Loop quantum gravity is not alone in abolishing time: a number of other approaches also seem to remove time as a fundamental aspect of reality.

Emergent time

So we know we need a new physical theory to explain the universe, and that this theory might not feature time.

Suppose such a theory turns out to be correct. Would it follow that time does not exist?

It’s complicated, and it depends what we mean by exist.

Theories of physics don’t include any tables, chairs, or people, and yet we still accept that tables, chairs, and people exist.

Time Quantum Physics Concept Art

If time isn’t a fundamental property of the universe, it may still ‘emerge’ from something more basic.

Why? Because we assume that such things exist at a higher level than the level described by physics.

We say that tables, for example, “emerge” from an underlying physics of particles whizzing around the universe.

But while we have a pretty good sense of how a table might be made out of fundamental particles, we have no idea how time might be “made out of” something more fundamental.

So unless we can come up with a good account of how time emerges, it is not clear we can simply assume time exists.

Time might not exist at any level.

Time and agency

Saying that time does not exist at any level is like saying that there are no tables at all.

Trying to get by in a world without tables might be tough, but managing in a world without time seems positively disastrous.

Our entire lives are built around time. We plan for the future, in light of what we know about the past. We hold people morally accountable for their past actions, with an eye to reprimanding them later on.

We believe ourselves to be agents (entities that can do things) in part because we can plan to act in a way that will bring about changes in the future.

But what’s the point of acting to bring about a change in the future when, in a very real sense, there is no future to act for?

What’s the point of punishing someone for a past action, when there is no past and so, apparently, no such action?

The discovery that time does not exist would seem to bring the entire world to a grinding halt. We would have no reason to get out of bed.

Business as usual

There is a way out of the mess.

While physics might eliminate time, it seems to leave causation intact: the sense in which one thing can bring about another.

Perhaps what physics is telling us, then, is that causation and not time is the basic feature of our universe.

If that’s right, then agency can still survive. For it is possible to reconstruct a sense of agency entirely in causal terms.

At least, that’s what Kristie Miller, Jonathan Tallant and I argue in our new book.

We suggest the discovery that time does not exist may have no direct impact on our lives, even while it propels physics into a new era.

Written by Sam Baron, Associate professor, Australian Catholic University.

This article was first published in The Conversation.The Conversation

Angel Wing: Hubble Inspects a Vast Set of Galactic Wings

Angel Wing VV689 System

Hubble Space Telescope image of two merging galaxies in the VV689 system — nicknamed the Angel Wing. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Keel, Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt

Two merging galaxies in the VV689 system — nicknamed the Angel Wing — feature in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Unlike chance alignments of galaxies which only appear to overlap as seen from our vantage point on Earth, the two galaxies in VV689 are in the midst of a collision. The galactic interaction has left the VV689 system almost completely symmetrical, giving the impression of a vast set of galactic wings.

VV689 System

This is a wider field view of the image. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Keel, Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt

This angelic image comes from a set of Hubble observations inspecting the highlights of the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project. This crowdsourced astronomy project relied on hundreds of thousands of volunteers to classify galaxies and help astronomers wade through a deluge of data from robotic telescopes. In the process, volunteers discovered a rogues’ gallery of weird and wonderful galaxy types, some of which had not previously been studied. A similar, ongoing project called Radio Galaxy Zoo is using the same crowdsourcing approach to locate supermassive black holes in distant galaxies.

Noteworthy objects from both projects were chosen for detailed follow-up observations with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. In keeping with the crowdsourced nature of the Galaxy Zoo project, the targets for follow-up observations with Hubble were chosen via roughly 18,000 votes cast by the public. The selected targets include ring-shaped galaxies, unusual spirals, and a striking selection of galaxy mergers such as VV689.

Giant Ice Volcanos on Pluto May Have Formed From Multiple Cryovolcanic Eruption Events

Pluto Cryovolcanic Activity

New Horizons mission scientists have determined that cryovolcanic activity most likely created unique structures on Pluto not yet seen anywhere else in the solar system. The amount of material required to create the formations suggest its interior structure retained heat at some point in its history, enabling water-ice-rich materials to build up and resurface the region through cryovolcanic processes. The surface and atmospheric hazes of Pluto are shown here in greyscale, with an artistic interpretation of how past volcanic processes may have operated superimposed in blue. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Isaac Herrera/Kelsi Singer

Scientists on NASA’s New Horizons mission team have determined multiple episodes of cryovolcanism may have created some kinds of surface structures on Pluto, the likes of which are not seen anywhere else in the solar system. Material expelled from below the surface of this distant, icy planet could have created a region of large domes and rises flanked by hills, mounds, and depressions. New Horizons was NASA’s mission to make the first exploration of Pluto and its system of five moons.

“The particular structures we studied are unique to Pluto, at least so far,” said Kelsi Singer, New Horizons deputy project scientist from the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado, and lead author of the paper published on March 29, 2022, in Nature Communications. “Rather than erosion or other geologic processes, cryovolcanic activity appears to have extruded large amounts of material onto Pluto’s exterior and resurfaced an entire region of the hemisphere New Horizons saw up close.”

Pluto Sputnik Planitia

The region studied lies southwest of Pluto’s “heart,” Sputnik Planitia, and contains multiple large domes and rises up to 7 kilometers (about 4 miles) tall and 30 to 100 kilometers (18 to 60 miles) across, with interconnected hills, mounds, and depressions covering the sides and tops of many of the larger structures. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Isaac Herrera/Kelsi Singer

Singer’s team analyzed the geomorphology and composition of an area located southwest of Pluto’s bright, icy “heart,” Sputnik Planitia. The cryovolcanic region contains multiple large domes, ranging from 1 to 7 kilometers (about one-half to 4 miles) tall and 30 to 100 or more kilometers (about 18 to 60 miles) across, that sometimes merge to form more complex structures. Irregular interconnected hills, mounds, and depressions, called hummocky terrain, cover the sides and tops of many of the larger structures. Few if any craters exist in this area, indicating it is geologically young. The largest structures in the region rival the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii.

Even with the addition of ammonia and other antifreeze-like components to lower the melting temperature of water ices — a process similar to the way road salt inhibits ice from forming on streets and highways — the extremely low temperatures and atmospheric pressures on Pluto rapidly freeze liquid water on its surface.

Pluto Sputnik Planitia Studied

As part of their research, Kelsi Singer of the Southwest Research Institute and the New Horizons team proposed the names for two structures in the cryovolcanic region honoring aviation pioneers Bessie Coleman, the first African American and Native American woman to earn a pilot’s license, and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. The International Astronomical Union approved the names Coleman Mons and Ride Rupes in October 2021. Coleman Mons was key to understanding this region because it may be one of the most recently formed volcanic domes. Ride Rupes is one of the tallest and longest cliffs on Pluto and indicates there may be deep faulting in the area that could allow cryolava to flow up from the subsurface. The elevation values in this region range more than 8 kilometers (nearly 5 miles) from the highest areas in red/orange to the lowest areas in pink/white. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Kelsi Singer

Because these are young geologic terrains and large amounts of material were required to create them, it is possible that Pluto’s interior structure retained heat into the relatively recent past, enabling water-ice-rich materials to be deposited onto the surface. Cryovolcanic flows capable of creating the large structures could have occurred if the material had a toothpaste-like consistency, behaved somewhat like solid ice glaciers flow on Earth or had a frozen shell or cap with material that was still able to flow underneath.

Other geologic processes considered to create the features are unlikely, according to the team. For example, the area has significant variations in the highs and lows of the terrain that could not have been created through erosion. Singer’s team also saw no evidence of extensive glacial or sublimation erosion in the hummocky terrain surrounding the largest structures.

“One of the benefits of exploring new places in the solar system is that we find things we weren’t expecting,” said Singer. “These giant, strange-looking cryovolcanoes observed by New Horizons are a great example of how we are expanding our knowledge of volcanic processes and geologic activity on icy worlds.”

Images obtained in 2015 by the New Horizons spacecraft revealed diverse geological features populating across Pluto, including mountains, valleys, plains and glaciers. They were particularly intriguing because the frigid temperatures at Pluto’s distance were expected to produce a frozen, geologically inactive world.

“This newly published work is truly landmark, showing once again how much geologic personality Pluto for such a small planet has, and how it has been incredibly active over long periods,” said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute. “Even years after the flyby, these new results by Singer and coworkers show that there’s much more to learn about the marvels of Pluto than we imagined before it was explored up close.”

The paper “Large-scale cryovolcanic resurfacing on Pluto” is published in Nature Communications.

Reference: “Large-scale cryovolcanic resurfacing on Pluto” by Kelsi N. Singer, Oliver L. White, Bernard Schmitt, Erika L. Rader, Silvia Protopapa, William M. Grundy, Dale P. Cruikshank, Tanguy Bertrand, Paul M. Schenk, William B. McKinnon, S. Alan Stern, Rajani D. Dhingra, Kirby D. Runyon, Ross A. Beyer, Veronica J. Bray, Cristina Dalle Ore, John R. Spencer, Jeffrey M. Moore, Francis Nimmo, James T. Keane, Leslie A. Young, Catherine B. Olkin, Tod R. Lauer, Harold A. Weaver and Kimberly Ennico-Smith, 29 March 2022, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29056-3

Jupiter’s moon has splendid dunes

Rutgers study shows new way dunes can form on varied celestial surfaces

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

Dune 

IMAGE: POTENTIAL DUNES ON JUPITER’S MOON IO. AN ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT THE DARK MATERIAL (LOWER LEFT) IS RECENTLY EMPLACED LAVA FLOWS, WHILE THE REPEATED, LINE-LIKE FEATURES DOMINATING THE IMAGE ARE POTENTIAL DUNES. THE BRIGHT, WHITE AREAS MAY BE NEWLY EMPLACED GRAINS AS THE LAVA FLOWS VAPORIZE ADJACENT FROST. view more 

CREDIT: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/RUTGERS

Scientists have long wondered how Jupiter’s innermost moon, Io, has meandering ridges as grand as any that can be seen in movies like “Dune.” Now, a Rutgers research study has provided a new explanation of how dunes can form even on a surface as icy and roiling as Io’s.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, is based on a study of the physical processes controlling grain motion coupled with an analysis of images from the 14-year mission of NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, which allowed the creation of the first detailed maps of Jupiter’s moons. The new study is expected to expand our scientific understanding of the geological features on these planet-like worlds.

“Our studies point to the possibility of Io as a new ‘dune world,’” said first author George McDonald, a postdoctoral researcher in Rutgers’ Earth and Planetary Sciences Department. “We have proposed, and quantitatively tested, a mechanism by which sand grains can move, and in turn dunes could be forming there.”

Current scientific understanding dictates that dunes, by their nature, are hills or ridges of sand piled up by the wind. And scientists in previous studies of Io, while describing its surface as containing some dune-like features, concluded the ridges could not be dunes since the forces from winds on Io are weak due to the moon’s low-density atmosphere.

“This work tells us that the environments in which dunes are found are considerably more varied than the classical, endless desert landscapes on parts of Earth or on the fictional planet Arrakis in ‘Dune,’” McDonald said.

The Galileo mission, which lasted from 1989 - 2003, logged so many scientific firsts that researchers to this day are still studying the data it collected. One of the major insights gleaned from the data was the high extent of volcanic activity on Io – so much so that its volcanoes repeatedly and rapidly resurface the little world.

Io’s surface is a mix of black solidified lava flows and sand, flowing “effusive” lava streams, and “snows” of sulfur dioxide. The scientists used mathematical equations to simulate the forces on a single grain of basalt or frost and calculate its path. When lava flows into sulfur dioxide beneath the moon’s surface, its venting is “dense and fast moving enough to move grains on Io and possibly enable the formation of large-scale features like dunes,” McDonald said.

Once the researchers devised a mechanism by which the dunes could form, they looked to photos of Io’s surface taken by the Galileo spacecraft for more proof. The spacing of the crests and the height-to-width ratios they observed were consistent with trends for dunes seen on Earth and other planets.

“Work like this really allows us to understand how the cosmos works,” said Lujendra Ojha, a co-author and an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. “In the end, in planetary science, that is what we are trying to do.”

The paper also included authors from the University of Oregon, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.