Its that time of year again, when the creepy crawlies, ghosts, ghouls and goblins come out to tempt you away from your diet with their sweet treats. Also known as the spookiest of holidays, Halloween. So, what can you do to indulge in the treats without feeling guilty? A Halloween themed workout of course!

TruBe, Londons leading On-Demand Fitness app, who allow customer access to the largest network of on-demand personal trainers, have put together a fun and motivating exercise routine that you can do from the comfort of your home, after all, one day off from the gym wont hurt - right?

Daria said: Halloween workouts should be fun and easy. This can be as simple as walking with the kids while theyre out trick or treating.

If you want to spice up your traditional workout regime, why not try the Halloween special?

Routine

Three reps of the below:

10 squat with pumpkin

13 press up dunk apples

Walk the plank challenge (hold for a minute)

Flying bat (make flapping movement with two 5kg dumbbells in hands for one minute)

Zombie alive (straight leg sit-ups x20)

Creepy crawlies (sprawls x15)

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Chloe Twist, a qualified Personal Trainer from OriGym Centre of Excellence said: If youre looking for an intense and well-rounded workout to try in the gym this Halloween, our personal favourite here at OriGym is the PUMPKINworkout.

P - Push-Ups

Push-ups are a scary one to start with, as pretty much everyone finds them taxing (even those who workout twice daily). However, theyre a great full-body workout and youll be glad to know that this workout only requires ten of them (in the first circuit, at least)

REPS: 10

U - Upright Rows

Your arms may be a little sore from the push-ups, but it is a Halloween workout after all. Grab a pair of dumbbells and get ready to work your biceps, trapezius, and deltoids.

Upright rows are great for the upper body and are a nice addition to bicep curls if you want to switch up the muscles that youre working.

REPS: 10

M - Mountain Climbers

If you think that mountain climbers are an easier alternative to push-ups, then youve probably never tried them before

They cover many main muscle groups, and some of the muscles worked include the abs, obliques, glutes, hip flexors, quads, hamstrings, back, deltoids and triceps.

REPS: 20 (its getting scary now)

P - Prowler Sled Push

Following the theme of exercises that attack your entire body, we chose the prowler sled push as the second P in the pumpkin workout.

This time, the full-body exercise isnt just relying on your own bodyweight. Youll have to shift whatever weight you choose to load the sled with!

REPS: Perform 2 x 40 yards

K - Kneeling Rope Slam

Battle rope slams are deceiving. Kneeling rope slams are even more so. They may look easy on the surface, but trust us, theyre extremely deceptive.

With this exercise, youll blast your arms and core, especially since youre taking the pressure off your lower body.

REPS: 15 slams

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Best workout to do at home: The simple 7 move routine to blast fat - Express.co.uk

Heart attacks typically happen when the inside of one or more of a persons coronary arteries become narrowed due to a gradual build-up of artery-clogging plaque. If the blood supply to a portion of the heart is completely cut off by a blockage, the result is a heart attack. LDL cholesterol, a waxy substance found in a person's blood and in their cells, is the main source of artery-clogging plaque.

According to a new study published in Journal of Nutrition, the researchers found that eating one avocado a day was associated with lower levels of LDL cholesterol in overweight or obese adults - major risk factors associated with high cholesterol and heart attacks.

"We were able to show that when people incorporated one avocado a day into their diet, they had fewer small, dense LDL particles than before the diet," said Penny Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor of nutrition, who added that small, dense LDL particles are particularly harmful for promoting plaque buildup in the arteries.

She continued: "Consequently, people should consider adding avocados to their diet in a healthy way, like on whole-wheat toast or as a veggie dip."

Specifically, the study found that avocados helped reduce LDL particles that had been oxidised.

READ MORE:Heart disease: Best exercise to lower the risk of developing the deadly condition

Oxidation is a normal chemical process that takes place in the body everyday. When this process happens, however, this has been shown to play a role in developing cardiovascular complications, such as heart attacks.

Similar to the way oxygen can damage food - like a cut apple turning brown - the researchers said oxidation is harmful for the human body.

"A lot of research points to oxidation being the basis for conditions like cancer and heart disease," Kris-Etherton said.

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She added: We know that when LDL particles become oxidised, that starts a chain reaction that can promote atherosclerosis, which is the build-up of plaque in the artery wall. Oxidation is not good, so if you can help protect the body through the foods that you eat, that could be very beneficial."

The researchers recruited 45 adult participants who were overweight or obesity for the study. All participants followed a two-week "run-in" diet at the beginning of the study. This diet mimicked an average American diet and allowed all participants to begin the study on a similar nutritional page.

Next, each participant completed five weeks of three different treatment diets in a randomised order. Diets included a low-fat diet, a moderate-fat diet, and a moderate-fat diet that included one avocado a day. The moderate-fat diet without avocados were supplemented with extra healthy fats to match the amount of monounsaturated fatty acids that would be obtained from the avocados.

According to the American Heart Association, monounsaturated fats can help reduce bad cholesterol levels in your blood which can lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.

After five weeks on the avocado diet, participants had significantly lower levels of oxidised LDL cholesterol than before the study began or after completing the low- and moderate-fat diets. Participants also had higher levels of lutein, an antioxidant, after the avocado diet.

According to the British Heart Foundation, heart attack symptoms can vary but the most common signs of a heart attack are:

Chest pain or discomfort that suddenly occurs and doesnt go away. It may feel like pressure, squeezing or heaviness in your chest

Pain that may spread to your left or right arm or may spread to your neck, jaw, back or stomach

Feeling sick, sweaty, light-headed or short of breath.

Pain levels can also vary from person to person, notes the health body, as for some people the pain or tightness in their chest is severe, while other people just feel uncomfortable, or pain similar to indigestion.

It added: Heart attack symptoms can persist over days, or they can come on suddenly and unexpectedly.

If you suspect the symptoms of a heart attack, dial 999 immediately and ask for an ambulance, warned the NHS.

Read more:
Heart attack: Eating this superfood once a day can lower your risk - Express

FROM putting recruits through their paces in SAS Who Dares Wins to climbing Mount Everest - Ant Middleton knows a thing or two about fitness.

The ex-military man, 38, has also starred on the front cover of Men's Health and has made a career out of pushing his body to its limit.

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Here, Ant, who is the face of Garmin, talks us through his top tips to getting in shape - without splurging your hard-earned money on an expensive gym membership.

He told The Sun Online the key is balance when it comes to both dieting and exercise.

As someone who does most of his exercise in the harsh outdoors, Ant says it's a myth that the gym is the only place you can get fit.

In an exclusive interview, Ant says: "You also dont need a gym membership to stay in shape, just go out into the garden or a local park and do some circuits training.

"Anything that raises your heart rate will help keep you in shape."

It may sometimes be tricky to fit a workout into your busy week, but Ant says making a plan for your fitness schedule can really make a difference.

He also emphasises not to worry if you do miss out on exercise days sometimes.

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Ant says: "This is obviously not always possible but if you plan to work out seven days a week, you will probably end up working out four days a week which is definitely enough to stay in shape.

"If you plan for four days and it doesnt work out, because life just does get in the way sometimes (!), you will start to miss out on exercise days."

He may look as though he's solid protein, but Ant urges those wanting to lose weight to focus on "balance".

"I think you just need to listen to your body, I personally eat a lot of carbs and protein but this isnt necessarily right for everyone," he tells The Sun Online.

"As long as you have a balanced diet, you cant really go too wrong."

Ant is keen to emphasise the importance of working on your mental as well as your physical health.

Ant, who runs Mind Over Muscle day camps across the country, says: "Physical and physiological simulation comes hand in hand, if one suffers it tends to have a detrimental effect on the other.

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"We must challenge ourselves psychologically on a daily basis, as well as physically at least every other day, even if it just walking the dog or walking to the shop for that pint of milk.

"Physical activity has always been part of my life and once it becomes routine in your life thats when it becomes a lifestyle and you cant do without it."

Dieting can not only be draining but also have a negative impact on your mental health if you're trying to lose weight.

"I lead a sustainable lifestyle and tend not to diet, even when I lose extreme weight," Ant says.

"I let my body gradually build its way back up to the weight that I function efficiently at on a day to day basis."

Ant says if you're trying to shed the pounds or boost your fitness, not to rush.

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He says: "Its all a gradual process, these extreme weight drops and gains arent good for the body so I let natural run its course."

Ant recommends investing in a fitness watch which can help you track your progress.

Ant says he's a fan of the Garmin Fenix 6 watch as it means he can plan running routes wherever he is in the country.

The watch also comes with other features including full topographic maps and GPS, as well as PacePro which gives you a full view of elevation changes when out running or training.

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Ant says: "I have had a relationship with Garmin for the past 15 years, since I was in the military to now, the brand is always evolving and changing with the times which is something I love about it.

"One feature that has always helped with my training is the GPS system.

"It means I can go on a run wherever I am in the country and they will create a route for me, so handy when you are on tour and still trying to keep fit."

Link:
Weight loss: Ditch the gym AND fad diets Ant Middletons easy tips to get in shape - The Irish Sun

While there were many views about weight in the Who Are You Calling Fat? house, they all came from the same place. All nine contributors explained theyve been looked at as lazy, and stigmatised. When this happens, people respond differently.

Its not the fault of the individuals that they are the size they are.

There are both nature and nurture causes of weight gain. In terms of nature, hundreds of genes play a role in your body weight. Some people might be hungrier, some will find food rewarding, some will respond to stress by eating.

Basically, some people will find it more difficult to say no to food than others.

Nurture plays a part too it could be culture, education, social-economic class all of those have an impact.

One view expressed in the Who Are You Calling Fat? house is that weight doesnt impact your health. But science doesnt tell us that. Yes, someone who carries more weight could be healthier than someone whos lighter, but thats down to an individuals fat cells whether theyre big enough to contain all the fat or if theyre going to spill into the liver and muscles (which is what causes problems).

While its true that someones body size is not an indicator of their health, we do know that obesity increases your risk of having certain conditions. For example, obesity is believed to account for 8085 percent of the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Obesity is also linked to coronary heart disease and some cancers.

If you want to lose weight and keep it off you need to find a plan you can stick to which rules out extreme diets as you cant stay on them for ever. Theres not going to be a magic diet that suits everyone, you just have to find an eating and lifestyle plan that suits you for the long term.

Before embarking on any weight-loss plan you have to ask yourself why youre doing it. Is it because you want to be skinny or healthy? Lots of us will never be skinny, and setting unattainable goals wont help. Trying to lose enough fat so you can become healthier that should be the focus.

Watch episode one of Who Are You Calling Fat? on BBC Two on Monday 28 October at 9pm and episode two at 9pm on Tuesday 29 October.

See more here:
What it's really like to live with obesity or identify as fat - BBC News

By Allison Apfelbaum

Special to the Reporter

Fall brings change, but change can be a good thing. What would you like to change about your current health routine? It takes about 30 days to create a habit, and until then change can be uncomfortable. Will you take the challenge with me over the next few months before the new year and start a resolution right now? How about making your exercise routine a habit? It means sticking to the goals of fitness you may have started in January and have now let go due to your busy schedule. Lets talk about what a fitness routine looks like.

First of all, why dont you set some activity goals. Some people exercise to lose weight, while others want to gain strength. I think that exercise does so much more than that. Working out is the No. 1 antioxidant for the brain. Exercise increases brain-derived nerve growth factor, which makes new neuronal connections in the brain. It can help slow down brain degeneration and prevent dementia. That is extremely amazing in my opinion. Exercise is also an antioxidant for every cell in the body. We cannot help but be exposed to oxidation through pollution, pesticides, alcohol, sugar, fried foods and normal aging for example. Working out is also an important way the body detoxifies. As you sweat, the liver releases toxins and they get released through the glands. Increasing detoxing can aid in balanced hormones, regulate digestion, increase clarity of mind and skin health.

Physical fitness doesnt have to take place inside or even at a gym. If you are moving your body, you are exercising. I suggest picking something you like to do and then putting it on your schedule. If you plan for success, you are more likely to succeed. Think about it, look at your schedule in the beginning of the week and pick three days you can do something active. Aim for about 30 minutes of time, it can be morning, mid-day or night. During the session, challenge yourself every day a little bit more. If you begin walking, try jogging a little or walking uphill, then go back to walking again. Variety helps your muscles continue to get stronger. Try varying your routine and the type of exercise. One day you can do strength training, one day walk/running, or join a class that varies the workouts. Routine is not always a good thing, muscles do get complacent.

I see many patients give up after a few weeks if they arent seeing progress on the scale. I want to encourage you to not focus on the number of the scale, but rather how you feel. If you feel great, and are fitting into smaller sizes of clothes, progress is happening. Progress can take weeks or months before you see any results, and even longer for others to take notice. Be patient with yourself, and dont give up.

However, most of your progress happens in the kitchen. Eating a clean healthy whole food diet with enough protein will give your muscles the tools they need to get stronger. As muscles get stronger, metabolism increases and burns fat more efficiently. Trust the process. Decrease extra calories by cutting out sugar, alcohol, and empty carbohydrates. Try to get energy from healthy plant-based fats, brightly colored vegetables and lean protein from fish and poultry. If you are too tired to exercise, change your diet so you have more energy. It is possible to train yourself to exercise as part of who you are. Imagine that you cannot possibly live without it. Your body loves you, so let it move and stretch and become as strong as it wants, you deserve it.

Dr. Allison Apfelbaum is a naturopathic primary care doctor at Tree of Health Integrative Medicine clinic in Woodinville. To learn more go to http://www.treeofhealthmedicine.com, or call 425-408-0040 to schedule an appointment.

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Staying fit through the holidays - Bothell-Kenmore Reporter

Animal sociability through microbes

Accumulating evidence suggests that the microbiota living in and on animals has important functions in the social architecture of those animals. Sherwin et al. review how the microbiota might facilitate neurodevelopment, help program social behaviors, and facilitate communication in various animal species, including humans. Understanding the complex relationship between microbiota and animal sociability may also identify avenues for treating social disorders in humans.

Science, this issue p. eaar2016

Increasingly, it is recognized that the microbes resident in the gastrointestinal tract can influence brain physiology and behavior. Research has shown that the gastrointestinal microbiota can signal to the brain via a diverse set of pathways, including immune activation, production of microbial metabolites and peptides, activation of the vagus nerve, and production of various neurotransmitters and neuromodulators in the gut itself. Collectively, this bidirectional pathway is known as the microbiota-gut-brain axis. In the absence of a microbiota, germ-free and antibiotic-treated mice exhibit alterations to several central physiological processes such as neurotransmitter turnover, neuroinflammation, neurogenesis, and neuronal morphology. Perhaps as a result of these neurological alterations, the behavior of rodents lacking a microbiotaespecially social behavioris remarkably different from that of rodents colonized with bacteria. Conversely, supplementation of animals with certain beneficial live bacteria (e.g., Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus) can lead to notable improvements in social behavior both in early life and in adulthood. Collectively, these results suggest that microbial signals are important for healthy neurodevelopment and programming of social behaviors in the brain. Although research on the functional and ecological implications of the gut microbiota in natural populations is growing, from an evolutionary perspective it remains unclear why and when relationships between microbes and the social brain arose. We propose that a trans-species analysis may aid in our understanding of human sociability.

Sociability comprises a complex range of interactive behaviors that can be cooperative, neutral, or antagonistic. Across the animal kingdom, the level of sociability an animal displays is variable; some are highly social (e.g., primates, termites, and honey bees), living within cooperative communities, whereas others have a mostly solitary existence (e.g., bears). Consequently, although studies on germ-free and antibiotic-treated animals have yielded insights into how the microbiota may influence social behaviors, they are perhaps too reductionist to fully appreciate the complex relationship between symbiotic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and host sociability when considering a broader zoological perspective. Some social interactions have evolved to facilitate horizontal transmission of microbiota. Observations across both invertebrate and vertebrate species suggest that factors such as diet and immunity generate selection pressures that drive the relationship between microbiota and social behavior. Although microbiota may influence behaviors endogenously through regulation of the gut-brain axis, some animal species may have evolved to use symbiotic bacteria exogenously to mediate communication between members of the same species. Hyenas, for example, produce an odorous paste from their scent glands that contains fermentative bacteria that is suggested to facilitate social cohesion among conspecifics. This complex relationship between animals and microbiota raises the hypothesis that microbes may have influenced the evolution of the social brain and behavior as a means to propagate their own genetic material.

Understanding the factors that affect the development and programming of social behaviors across the animal kingdom is important not only in terms of rethinking the evolution of brain physiology and behavior, but also in terms of providing greater insight into disorders of the social brain in humans [including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), social phobia, and schizophrenia]. Evidence for a link between the microbiota and these conditions is growing, and preclinical and emerging clinical data raise the hypothesis that targeting the microbiota through dietary or live biotherapeutic interventions can improve the associated behavioral symptoms in such neurodevelopmental disorders. Larger clinical trials are required to confirm the efficacy of such interventions before they are recognized as a first-line treatment for neurodevelopmental disorders. Although such connections between gut bacteria and neurodevelopmental disorders are currently an intriguing area of research, any role for the microbiota in the evolution of social behaviors in animals does not supersede other contributing factors. Rather, it adds an additional perspective on how these complex behaviors arose.

The bidirectional pathway between the gut microbiota and the central nervous system, the microbiota-gut-brain axis, influences various complex aspects of social behavior across the animal kingdom. Some animals have evolved their own unique relationship with their gut microbiota that may assist them in interacting with conspecifics. The relationship between the gut microbiota and social behavior may help to explain social deficits observed in conditions such as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and could potentially lead to the development of new therapies for such conditions.

Sociability can facilitate mutually beneficial outcomes such as division of labor, cooperative care, and increased immunity, but sociability can also promote negative outcomes, including aggression and coercion. Accumulating evidence suggests that symbiotic microorganisms, specifically the microbiota that reside within the gastrointestinal system, may influence neurodevelopment and programming of social behaviors across diverse animal species. This relationship between host and microbes hints that host-microbiota interactions may have influenced the evolution of social behaviors. Indeed, the gastrointestinal microbiota is used by certain species as a means to facilitate communication among conspecifics. Further understanding of how microbiota influence the brain in nature may be helpful for elucidating the causal mechanisms underlying sociability and for generating new therapeutic strategies for social disorders in humans, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

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Microbiota and the social brain - Science Magazine

By Anne DeGrace

In James Hoggans book Im Right and Youre an Idiot: the Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean it Up, he suggests that one of our most pressing problems is the pollution of the public square, where a smog of propaganda, adversarial rhetoric, and polarization is stifling discussion and debate, creating resistance to change, and thwarting our ability to solve our collective problems. If you were anywhere other than under a rock this past federal election you know exactly what hes talking about.

Hoggan interviewed thinkers from across the globe in order to gain perspective. He talked to Noam Chomsky, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Dalai Lama among others, and he collected their thoughts in one enlightening volume published in 2016 (available on our shelves at 302.2). In 2017 he came through Nelson as part of a speaking tour and addressed a packed house at the Nelson United Church.

Of course the respectfully listening audience was predisposed to civil discourse, and yet heard some surprising takes on this timely topic. I took notes, bought the book, and applied its lens to our municipal election last fall and to our recent federal election. And I heard more of Im right and youre an idiot through the course of those two events from electors and candidates, both than Id have wished.

Id like to think we are a little kinder when it comes to local politics, yet Donna Macdonald, who served 19 years on Nelson city council, talked about the need to combat miserablism in her memoir Surviving City Hall. She talks about all the places where boundaries are crossed including 2 a.m. calls from disgruntled citizens and she has good advice for anyone running for elections and those who elect them: listen to one another.

We are less kind in federal elections, when we feel a distance from our targets, which unfortunately gives some folks license to verbally abuse candidates (and the candidates to abuse their rivals). A current case in point is the threats and misogynistic graffiti aimed at Catherine McKenna, who was environment minister during the Liberals last term of office.

This state of events could, in part, be spillover from the U.S. climate of toxic discourse, but also the fallout of social media anonymity. In the book Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle (302.231), the author posits that when we turn to our devices instead of one another, the cost is loss of empathy.

Theres an event coming up at the library thats set to test our civility, and I hope we can hold ourselves to a high standard something more like: this is what I think; what do you think?

On Thursday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. Nelson at Its Best and the Nelson Public Library present a follow-up to last years candi-dating event, in which voters were invited to sit down with municipal candidates for illuminating micro-conversations. Council-dating: Checking In, One Year Later is an opportunity to check in with Nelson city council to see how the first year of office has gone.

This kind of event invites civility, encourages listening, and is founded on respect. It recognizes the working relationship between our elected representatives and ourselves. There will be speed-dating conversations as well as a chance to hear from councillors as they respond to audience questions. The evening includes an overview of the citys strategic planning process.

Participants can write congratulatory or critical apples and onions on sticky notes, messages that council can take for feedback information keeping in mind the inherent gentleness of these fruits and vegetables. Because at the end of the day we all need a good diet of civility.

Anne DeGrace is the adult services co-ordinator at the Nelson Public Library. Check This Out runs every other week.

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CHECK THIS OUT: A diet of civility - Nelson Star

Morning sickness is common, occurring in about 70% of pregnancies, according to the Cleveland Clinic. So if you are feeling nauseated early in your pregnancy, you arent alone.

TODAY Parents talked to healthcare professionals to understand exactly what morning sickness is all about, and how to cope with it.

Morning sickness is typically characterized as a pregnant woman feeling nauseated each day, and possibly vomiting once or twice. The common condition can happen at any time throughout the day, despite being commonly known as morning sickness. It typically begins in the morning, though, due to having an empty stomach.

Cases involving daily nausea and vomiting once or twice are considered normal. It is usually not harmful to the fetus, although obviously vomiting daily has a serious impact on a womans life.

These significant disturbances are not something women have to deal with on their own, says Alison G. Cahill, vice chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists committee on Obstetric Practice. "We don't want our patients to suffer. We want them to tell us that they aren't feeling well so we have the chance to try and help them feel better," she tells TODAY.

Mild morning sickness cannot be cured, but it can be managed with behavioral modifications to ones diet and lifestyle. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists suggests trying one or more of the following:

Morning sickness usually begins before nine weeks of pregnancy. Nausea is one of the first signs of pregnancy for many women, so the symptoms may start before confirming the pregnancy.

Trending stories,celebrity news and all the best of TODAY.

While morning sickness can last several weeks or months, for most it ends or improves by the second trimester. In a few cases, nausea and vomiting lasts throughout the entire pregnancy.

Dr. Higgins says no one knows why some women have morning sickness worse than others. The following factors may increase risk of severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists:

Unrelated medical conditions also cause nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, including an ulcer, food-related illness, thyroid disease or gallbladder disease. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says the following symptoms are a sign it may be something else:

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, battled severe morning sickness, known as hyperemesis gravidarum, with all three of her pregnancies. Comedian Amy Schumer cancelled part of her tour due to it. It can happen to anyone, famous or not.

Treatment is required for those diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, the most severe form of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, occurring in about 3% of pregnancies, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. It is diagnosed when a woman has lost 5-10% of her weight during pregnancy and has other problems related to dehydration. Treatment is required to stop the vomiting and to restore body fluids, and sometimes a hospital stay is needed.

Noticing weight loss is one of the ways for women to know they might have hyperemesis gravidarum, according to Dr. Erin Higgins, MD, OB/OGN at Cleveland Clinic. She says blood work will show more signs.

If behavioral modifications do not relieve the symptoms, tell your healthcare professional, as there are medications that are safe to take during pregnancy to help control the nausea and vomiting, according to Dr. Higgins. Consult your doctor before taking any, as your healthcare team will be able to determine the best treatment plan for your personal situation.

In some severe cases and for those with hyperemesis gravidarum, it may be necessary to stay in the hospital until symptoms are under control. In some cases, this may include lab tests, an IV to receive fluids and vitamins, medication, or tube feeding.

Nausea and vomiting are not the only early signs of pregnancy. Other signs include missing a regular period, tender or swollen breasts, increased urination, and fatigue. Less obvious signs may include moodiness, bloating, mild cramping, constipation, food aversions, and nasal congestion.

Related video:

Excerpt from:
Morning sickness: What it is, and what to do - TODAY

The brain waves generated during deep sleep appear to trigger a cleaning system in the brain that protects it against Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Electrical signals known as slow waves appear just before a pulse of fluid washes through the brain, presumably removing toxins associated with Alzheimer's, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Science.

The finding could help explain a puzzling link between sleep and Alzheimer's, says Laura Lewis, an author of the study and an assistant professor in the department of biomedical engineering at Boston University.

During deep sleep, waves of cerebrospinal fluid (blue) coincide with temporary decreases in blood flow (red). Less blood in the brain means more room for the fluid to carry away toxins, including those associated with Alzheimer's disease.

"Some disruption to the way sleep is working could potentially be contributing to the decline in brain health," Lewis says.

The finding also suggests that people might be able to reduce their risk of Alzheimer's by ensuring that they get high-quality sleep, says William Jagust, a professor of public health and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the study.

Scientists are already testing other lifestyle changes, like diet and exercise changes, to protect brain health. And sleep should be "high on the list" of measures worth trying, he says.

The study comes after decades of questions about the link between sleep and Alzheimer's.

Studies show that people with Alzheimer's often have sleep problems. And there's growing evidence that people with sleep problems are more vulnerable to Alzheimer's.

But there has never been a good explanation for this connection.

"It's been known for a long time that sleep is really important for brain health," Lewis says, "but why it is was more mysterious."

Lewis and a team of researchers wanted to solve the mystery.

So they found a way to use cutting-edge MRI techniques and other technologies to watch what was going on in the brains of 11 sleeping people.

One of the things they monitored was cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, the liquid that flows through the brain and spinal cord.

"And that's when we discovered that during sleep, there are these really large, slow waves occurring maybe once every 20 seconds of CSF washing into the brain," Lewis says.

These waves were a bit like the oscillations of a very slow washing machine.

Earlier studies of animals had found that the flow of CSF increases during sleep and helps carry away waste products, including the toxins associated with Alzheimer's.

But Lewis' team was able to see this process occur in the brains of people in real time. And that led to another discovery.

"Before each wave of fluid, we would actually see a wave of electrical activity in the neurons," Lewis says. "This electrical wave always happens first, and the CSF wave always seems to follow seconds later."

The finding suggests that the electrical wave was triggering each wash cycle.

And the brain wave in question was a very familiar one called a slow wave. Slow waves appear when a person enters the state known as deep sleep, or non-rapid eye movement sleep.

And they play a role in both memory and brain disease, Lewis says.

"It's already known that people with Alzheimer's disease have less of these electrophysiological slow waves, so they have smaller and fewer slow waves," she says.

The new study suggests that this reduction in slow waves is reducing wash cycles in the brain, which would limit the brain's ability to clear out the toxins associated with Alzheimer's.

"It would make sense that if there's large waves of fluid, of CSF, that that might in turn cause mixing and dispersion with other fluids in the brain and help with this waste removal process," Lewis says.

Lewis' team made one more discovery about sleeping brains. As the flow of cerebrospinal fluid increases, blood flow decreases.

Less blood in the brain means more room for CSF to carry away waste.

The study's findings fit nicely with other research on sleep and Alzheimer's disease, Jagust says.

He was part of a team that studied the relationship between slow-wave sleep and a toxin called beta-amyloid, which accumulates in the brains of people with Alzheimer's.

They found something a bit disturbing.

"It's a vicious cycle where amyloid decreases sleep, and decreased sleep results in more amyloid," Jagust says.

The new study results suggest that the increase in amyloid could be the result of less waste removal in the brain, he says.

But Alzheimer's, like heart disease, is likely to have more than one cause, Jagust says.

"There are a bunch of things that are probably contributing to people's likelihood [of] getting Alzheimer's," he says, "and I think sleep is going to turn out to be one of them."

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Simone de Beauvoir famously wrote that "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman," a claim I could imagine making writer and critic Andrea Long Chu roll her eyes.

At the very least, Chu has an update: "Everyone is female," she writes in the appropriately titled Females, her first book, "and everyone hates it."

Chu has earned a reputation over the past few years as one of the sharpest new thinkers on gender and sexuality with her essays on, among other topics, transgender identity, feminism and television. (She has also picked up a rather loyal following on Twitter, where she treats her mental health, PhD candidature and pop-culture diet all with equal wit and consideration.) In Females part memoir, part theoretical intervention Chu explores and defends this claim about universal femaleness, perhaps as much to herself as to anyone else.

Of course, the "female" identity on which the book is based is admittedly less a biological condition than an existential one. Chu describes it as an experience "defined by self-negation" that includes "any psychic operation in which the self is sacrificed to make room for the desires of another." In other words, to be female which, remember, we all are is to not express your own desires, identity, personality but rather those of others, impressed upon you. And gender, it follows for Chu, is what people do to deal with the terrible fact of being female.

If that sounds dramatic or provocative, that's largely Chu's style. In 2018, she wrote a powerful essay in the magazine n+1 about transness and the history of feminist organizing that theorist Sandy Stone credited with launching a "second wave" of transgender studies; later that year, Chu wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times about transgender people's rights to medical care. In both cases and in much of her writing Chu meticulously frames the popular debate about transgender people, then positions her own point of view on another plane entirely. She's just as bored by those known colloquially as trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or TERFs, who deny transgender people's identities outright as she is by the common refrain that transgender people are simply "born in the wrong body" (as when Caitlyn Jenner joked to Diane Sawyer that God gave her "the soul of a woman"). At a moment when society is largely starting to gain a vocabulary for talking, albeit in less-than-nuanced ways, about transgender civil rights, Chu's refusal to support any mainstream narratives have made her a somewhat controversial figure.

But she simply isn't interested in straightforward, respectable answers. What most of these narratives don't account for, she argues in Females, is desire, in all its messy, definitional power. Chu asks: Instead of something stable and inherent known and knowable, and inescapable right down to our very souls what if gender is an extension of who we want to be? What if this quality of wanting didn't separate transgender people from cisgender people, but were instead a universal condition of gender itself?

Chu writes ferociously and exactingly about the nature of desire: what it makes us do; who it makes us become; grounding these questions in the culture of everyday life. Desire is how Fight Club and The Matrix get twisted in the hands of the internet "manosphere" into models of male supremacy; it's what lies beneath feminist disagreements about pornography from the '90s and why they play out today both in the alt-right and in Hollywood movies; it's there in the scrupulous beauty routines of a famous trans YouTuber. "Most desire is nonconsensual," she admits in a chapter of Females about pornography, and all the ways we try to engage with it hide from it, ignore it, indulge it indelibly shape us. Desire, for Chu, is gender's centrifugal force; it's what makes us all so female to begin with.

Chu puts these cultural products in conversation with the work of revered theorists: Sigmund Freud; Catharine MacKinnon; Andrea Dworkin; and Shulamith Firestone. But no one is so close to Chu's heart in Females as Valerie Solanas, the author and artist famous for writing the SCUM Manifesto, a radical text bent on eliminating the male sex (and for shooting and nearly killing Andy Warhol in 1968). Females started as an essay about Solanas' play Up Your A-- which Solanas hoped, desperately and unsuccessfully, that Warhol would produce and lines from the play anchor each chapter. Solanas didn't just give Chu an entrypoint into her first book; it was after encountering Solanas' work, Chu writes, that she began to come to terms with being transgender. (At the end of one chapter, she reflects on being told about a pornographic video in which two characters are seduced by a professor who reads SCUM, "turning them into lesbians." Chu says the plotline "made instant, perfect sense. It's what Valerie did to me.")

Solanas is often written off as an extremist, or an unfortunate and problematic accident of the second wave but it's heartening to watch Chu take her seriously, taking her to task while looking at her legacy with generosity and scrutiny. If Chu knows that Females' central organizing thesis is wildly untenable, it's in Solanas' spirit that she pursues it nonetheless. "Valerie would make statements not because they were accurate or true, but simply because she wanted to," Chu writes; later, "We share this, I think: a preference for indefensible claims, for following our ambivalence to the end."

In the end, Females is not a polemic; it's not a guide to escaping the tyranny of our supposed powerlessness in the face of desire. Instead, it is one woman's attempt to make sense of a time when the possibilities for identity feel terrifying and punishingly limitless, wondering what it might look like to accept our inescapable femaleness even if we don't always play by its rules, Chu argues, it might help to know how the points are scored. Beneath the veneer of Females' provocation, those indefensible ideas, it is a surprisingly tender book that aims to tend to a universal ache: the frayed knot of selfhood, desire and power through which, Chu argues, we might try to see ourselves and each other more clearly.

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