Researchers from Pennsylvania University suggest that loud snoring can be caused by having a fat tongue. Scientists have long known that losing weight can help the condition, but now they know why. It explains why losing weight reduces the risk of obstructive sleep apnoea (阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停).
Improved symptoms are linked to slimming down the unexpected part of the body - opening the door to better treatments. Professor Richard Schwab, chief of sleep medicine at Pennsylvania University, said: "Most clinicians, and even experts in the sleep apnoea world, have not typically focused on fat in the tongue for treating sleep apnoea."Having a large neck was previously believed to be the culprit(引起问题的事物). Prof Schwab said: "Now we know tongue fat is a risk factor and sleep apnoea improves when tongue fat is reduced, we have established a unique therapeutic target that we've never had before.
In sleep apnoea the airways become blocked - leading to snoring . It blights the lives of four and two percent of middle aged men and women, respectively, in the UK. Long term, sleep apnoea is linked with a number of chronic diseases, including high blood pressure , heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke and depression.
Analyzing MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans of the throat and nose of obese patients, the researchers found reducing tongue fat is the key. They found that a reduction in tongue fat volume was the key factor. Weight loss also resulted in a smaller pterygoid - the jaw muscle that controls chewing. This is irrespective of whether they appear to fall into the typical "high-risk" obese categories, said Prof Schwab.
He added: "Primary care doctors, and perhaps even dentists, should be asking about snoring and sleepiness in all patients, even those who have a normal body mass index, as, based on our data, they may also be at risk for sleep apnoea."
Twenty-two million Americans suffer from sleep apnoea, in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts, causing patients to wake up randomly throughout their sleep cycles. One of the recommended treatments is CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), which has been free on the NHS since March 2008.
【小题1】What can we learn from Prof Schwab?| A．People with high tongue fat must be at high risk of obesity. |
| B．Sleep apnea improves when tongue fat is reduced. |
| C．Patients with a normal body mass index won’t develop sleep apnea. |
| D．Most clinicians focus on the fat on the tongue to treat sleep apnea. |
| A．The shape of tongue fat. |
| B．The harm of tongue fat. |
| C．The feature of tongue fat. |
| D．The cause of tongue fat. |
| A．harm | B．affect |
| C．benefit | D．cost |
How to Overcome Social Anxiety
Social anxiety is a common type of anxiety disorder.
A lot of people with social anxiety feel ashamed of getting help from a professional, but regular visits with a therapist(治疗专家) will help in so many ways. There are many therapists who specialize in dealing with social anxiety, so try to get help to properly deal with the anxiety attacks.
List down the things that stress you out
List down all your situations that can cause anxiety according to its levels you feel.
Create realistic and objective goals
Set a realistic and objective goal for every plan you make. Make sure that you are setting your goals correctly.
| A．Seek professional help |
| B．Try to hide yourself away from others |
| C．Start off by exposing yourself to the easiest ones |
| D．Above all, you'd better change the way you think |
| E．Many people are suffering social anxiety nowadays |
| F．Non-realistic targets may just bring you disappointment in the long run |
| G．People with it fear the negative or even positive evaluation of others around them |
Want to stay away from colds? Put on a happy face.
Compared to unhappy people, those who are cheerful and relaxed are less likely to suffer from cold, according to a new study. It’s possible that being happy helps the body fight illnesses, say the researchers from New York University.
“It seems that positive feelings may reduce the danger of illness,” said the study’s chief researcher Sheldon Cohen.
In an earlier study, Cohen found that people who were cheerful and lively caught coughs and colds less often. People who showed positive feelings were also less likely to tell their doctors that they felt ill.
In this study, Cohen’s study interviewed 193 adults every day for two weeks. During the interviews, the people told researchers about the happy or sad feelings they had that day.
After the two weeks, the people were given colds by doctors and had to stay alone in a room for six days.
The result showed that everyone in the study was equally likely to get ill. But for people who said they felt happy during the research period, their illness was less serious and lasted for a shorter time.
Cohen believes that when people experienced positive feelings, their body may produce a chemical that helps fight illness and disease. So if you are worried about your health, look on the bright side more often.
【小题1】What did the study find?| A．People who felt happy never got ill. |
| B．People’s feelings didn’t influence their health. |
| C．People with positive feelings had less serious illnesses. |
| D．People with good feelings became ill more easily. |
| A．advertisement | B．scientist’s diary |
| C．story | D．newspaper report |
| A．Smiles Can Fight Colds | B．Cause of Colds Found |
| C．The Danger of Colds | D．How People Get Sick |
More than 15 percent of Chinese youths have been found with mental problems, and about 30 million young people under 17 are suffering from depression, the Shang-based Wenhui Daily reported. The World Health Organization estimates that before 2020, the rate of children with mental problems will increase to 50 percent, and mental problems will become a major factor behind deaths and illness in the young worldwide.
Deng Xiaohong, the spokesperson for the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, said rapid changes are one of the reasons behind the rising number of youngsters with psychological problems. If these mental diseases are not addressed on time, occurrence of crimes, drug-taking and other dangerous behavior are expected to rise. Experts said mental diseases could be caused by many factors, such as the inability to handle interpersonal relations well, unstable emotions and pressures from an overload of studies. A number of experts have also said the one-child policy is another reason leading to poor mental health in the young. Children are said to be too “ spoiled” and “selfish” in a one-child family.
It’s reported schools in many cities are rolling out measures to help students maintain their mental well-being. Yin Jingmiao, a teacher of the Beijing No.105 Middle School, told China Daily that the school invites psychologists to provide counseling to students three times a month.” Students can be arranged to have 40-minute counseling sessions,” Yin said. The school also gives lectures on mental health to senior grade students before they take the national college entrance exams to help ease any anxiety arising from the tests.
【小题1】Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Efforts to Mark World Mental Health Day |
| B．Seriousness of Youngsters’ Mental Health Problems |
| C．How to Maintain Mental Well-being |
| D．Public Awareness on Youngsters’ Mental Disease Expected |
| A．mental health problems of the young are becoming a popular problem. |
| B．only young people are suffering from mental health problems. |
| C．mental problems will become as serious as deaths and illness. |
| D．the rate of children with mental problems will increase to 50 percent. |
| A．Inability to handle interpersonal relations. | B．Unstable emotions |
| C．Drug-taking and other dangerous behavior | D．Rapid social changes |
| A．To provide the students with counseling sessions. |
| B．To give an example showing how mental problems are dealt with. |
| C．To help ease the anxiety arising from the national college entrance exams |
| D．To call on other schools to learn from the No.105 Middle School |
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