UF Health Podcasts

Getting regular, quality sleep can be a challenge. For better or worse, there’s a thriving market of supplements to help.

One of the most popular sleep supplements is magnesium, an essential mineral used for more than 300 different processes in our body. It supports the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, while also regulating blood sugar, digestion and more.

Several small studies explored magnesium’s impact on sleep, finding that participants had less insomnia while falling asleep faster and staying asleep longer.

Should you find yourself toying with the idea of trying the supplement, always pay attention to the recommended amount. Adults ought to get anywhere from 310 milligrams to 420 milligrams of magnesium each day. Although pills exist, your diet can suffice — especially by way of dark, leafy greens, beans, nuts and whole grains like shredded wheat and fruits.

When shopping for this supplement, it’s important to consider the compounds. Magnesium glycinate, for example, is most often used for sleep. This is because glycine is the amino acid involved in sleep mechanisms — plus, it’s gentle on your stomach. By contrast, magnesium citrate can cause the inverse … and send you straight to the bathroom.

Experts say there is generally little harm in trying magnesium supplements for many people. However, it’s recommended to speak with your doctor before starting magnesium if you have kidney, cardiovascular or gastrointestinal disease, or low bone density.

You should not consume more than 350 milligrams of supplementary magnesium, as this can lead to toxicity and symptoms such as low blood pressure, vomiting and even difficulty breathing.

Everything in moderation … except good sleep.

Eating your fruits and vegetables is one of the easiest ways to care for your health. But new research suggests we might need to pay a little more attention to how these nutritional staples are grown.

Scientists from the University of Southern California presented research at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research that showed young adults who eat healthier than the general population might be at a higher risk of developing non-smoking lung cancer. But before you triumphantly purge your fridge of leafy greens, keep listening.

Researchers believe this link is due to the pesticides that commercially grown vegetables are treated with, a theory supported by the high rates of cancer that occur among agricultural employees who are frequently exposed to pesticides.

The team found that young women who did not smoke were diagnosed with lung cancer more often than men in the same group. The women also consumed more fruits and vegetables, eating about one extra serving of leafy greens and legumes a day than the average adult in America.

Though rates of smoking across the country have declined since the ’60s, nonsmokers under the age of 50, often women, are increasingly diagnosed with lung cancer. The subtype of this nonsmoking lung cancer is biologically different from the kind of lung cancer you get from smoking.

Moving forward, researchers plan to measure pesticide levels in participant urine to get a better idea of which ones are associated with lung cancer. And, though it’s still a good idea to eat your vegetables, organic options might be worth exploring until we know more.

When it comes to testing bear-resistant camping equipment, the bears have the last word.

To be labeled “bear-resistant,” products have to pass bear-assisted tests, and the grizzlies at Washington State University’s Bear Research, Education, and Conservation Center are happy to oblige — and have been since 2022.

To warrant a bear-resistant rating, a product must weather 60 minutes of bears’ active efforts to breach it. Bears are wily, and each has its preferences when it comes to breaking and entering.

The testing process has benefits all around. Bear-resistant products reduce bears’ habituation to humans, and testing provides enrichment and physical activity for resident bears. And if a product can survive all this and still work for humans, it’s likely market-ready.

The oddest of odd animals on earth has to be the platypus. It’s a duck-billed mammal with flippers and a beaver-like tail and is one of only five species of mammals that lay eggs. The females make milk but have no nipples, and the males have venomous spurs on their hind legs. They’re exquisitely sensitive to electrical fields and use special sensory organs in their bills to detect prey in mud and murky water. They also glow under ultraviolet light.

Now, researchers have found that platypuses have pigment-producing intracellular structures more like those in birds than mammals. These help give birds their bright iridescent colors, but the reason for their presence in platypuses — a first in mammals — remains unknown.

It’s just one more mystery to solve in the perplexing platypus.

Despite being touted as a surefire means of adding to one’s risk of dementia, loneliness might not actually be the driver of cognitive decline we believe it to be.

A robust study from the Taylor and Francis group surveyed 10,000 people over the course of seven years and found that folks who reported feelings of loneliness had a slightly poorer memory than those who didn’t — but their memory didn’t worsen any faster than those who said they felt socially connected.

The data was sourced from a long-running study called the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Participant ages ranged from 65 to 94 years old and included people from 12 different European countries like Germany, Spain and Slovenia. Researchers did not include those who already had a history of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, or those who struggled with completing daily tasks at the beginning of the survey.

To test people’s memory, the team asked participants to recall information both immediately and after a pause; in one instance, they tried to remember as many words as they could from a list of 10 in 60 seconds. The highest levels of loneliness were from respondents in Southern European countries, who were typically older, female and in poor health. Still, their cognitive functioning did not decline any faster than those who reported feeling low amounts of loneliness.

In some ways, this finding offers a possible reprieve for those of us struggling to find connection. And, encouragingly, researchers noted that although loneliness was defined as a fixed trait in the study, reality tends to be much different; that is, feelings of loneliness can shift over time.

The odds of surviving cardiac arrest drop like the setting sun as day turns to night.

Cardiac arrest is always a medical emergency, regardless of the time of day. Mere seconds count. A new study, however, shows that the odds of surviving one fall during the night. And researchers aren’t exactly sure why.

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating effectively, leading to death within minutes without immediate treatment. It is often caused by an electrical disturbance in the organ.

American researchers analyzed a national registry of 874,000 people who experienced cardiac arrest from 2013 to 2024. They examined arrests that occurred outside a hospital.

The team found that a cardiac arrest between 11 p.m. and 6:59 a.m. led to a 16% drop in the adjusted odds of surviving with good brain function. That’s compared with people whose hearts stopped during the other hours of the day.

The odds of death actually started increasing at 8 p.m., with the worst outcomes between 1 and 6 a.m.

What especially surprised researchers is that the odds haven’t really improved over the years, even as emergency medicine has gotten better.

Study authors thought slower ambulance response times at night might be to blame. In fact, response times are only a minute longer at night. While every minute counts, the study notes that this alone can’t fully explain the phenomenon.

Indeed, even when the arrest occurs with 911 responders already present, the nighttime penalty persists.

One way to reduce the risk of any heart trouble is to watch your diet and stay physically fit. It will also help you sleep soundly, whatever the hour.

While pet-proofing our homes, potential exposure to heavy metals often escapes our notice — but it can make our pets really sick.

Zinc intoxication usually results from swallowing pennies minted after 1982 when they became copper-coated zinc disks. Pets may also chew galvanized wire in their crates or lick zinc-containing diaper creams or sunscreens.

Lead poisoning often occurs when pets ingest paint chips in homes built before 1978, when lead paint was banned. Toys, fishing lures and ammunition may also contain lead.

Copper toxicity is generally due to inadvertent feeding of high-copper diets. Specific dog breeds may also have genetic problems metabolizing copper.

If you think your pet has ingested or encountered potentially toxic heavy metals, contact your veterinarian right away.

A class of weight-loss medications known as GLP-1s has revolutionized the ongoing battle against the waistline.

GLP-1s are drugs that mimic a natural gut hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1, which your body releases after you eat. The drugs boost insulin, slow stomach emptying and reduce appetite, helping control blood sugar and, usually, weight.

They’re often prescribed for people with diabetes.

A recent large study by European and Australian scientists shows that these medications are also effective at something else: improving mental health.

Diabetes and mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorder, have always been intertwined, complicating the treatment of both.

The study used a massive Swedish database that tracks the health of the nation’s residents. They followed 100,000 people, including 20,000 taking GLP-1 medications, from 2009 to 2022.

The researchers found that people taking the weight-loss drug suffered fewer psychiatric-related hospitalizations and sick leave. This was especially true for the GLP-1 semaglutide.

Depression risk for those prescribed semaglutide decreased by 44%, and anxiety disorder risk fell by 38%. In the meantime, suicidal behavior fell for those taking GLP-1s generally.

Researchers say the study didn’t reveal why these effects are seen or whether biological factors are at work. But they say improved body image can be beneficial to mental health. And people with diabetes might experience less stress from managing their blood sugar.

GLP-1 medications are becoming an essential tool in the battle against obesity. Perhaps this will include mental health, too.

Creative benefit packages are becoming more common in today’s workplace. Some companies are offering back-up care, which refers to temporary support for family members when regular care plans fall through. Along with children and seniors, some plans now include family pets, too.

In a recent survey of over 1,000 full-time employees with pets, about 75 percent had missed at least one day of work in the previous year to cover pet care, and over 25 percent had missed six days or more for the same reason.

Some companies that source back-up care say that around 50 percent of their corporate clients now cover the cost of pet walkers, sitters and emergency pet boarding for their employees. It’s a welcome perk for pet parents who can’t be home.

Tetanus is caused by bacteria that live in soil and manure, lying in wait to infect wounds, surgical sites and umbilical stumps in horses and livestock. So, it’s important to clean wounds well and monitor healing — but small wounds can easily go unnoticed.

Signs of tetanus include muscle spasms that may progress to a classic sawhorse stance. Affected animals can have trouble breathing and swallowing and are sensitive to sound and touch. Prolonged intensive treatment may save some, but about half don’t survive.

Fortunately, tetanus is easily preventable with vaccination. Horses should get an annual tetanus vaccination, while cattle and small ruminants are protected by the CD&T vaccine. If your animal gets hurt or has surgery, ask your veterinarian if a tetanus booster is recommended.