For those in search of safe, non-medicine sleep aids (助手), sound machines are a popular choice. The National Sleep Foundation recently found that 5% of Americans sleep with a “sound conditioner”. It can be a fan, phone app, or other noise-producing machines.

Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona, says a sound conditioner is a lifesaver if you live where loud nighttime noise is common. But even if your bedroom is very quiet, sound machines can still be helpful if you’re the type of person unsettled by a total absence of noise, or if you’re a light sleeper who wakes from even the softest sound.

Research supports the idea that a little background sound can help people fall asleep. For a study in the journal Sleep Medicine, the researchers asked sleepers to listen to recorded hospital sounds either with or without a white noise machine. They found that those who slept with the white noise machine were hardly affected by the hospital sounds, while others who slept without white noise were easily awakened.

There’s also so-called “pink noise” and “brown noise”, which can sound similar to white noise. “I don’t think there’s enough evidence yet to say one type is better than another,” says Michelle Drerup, a sleep psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic. “I know from talking with my patients that some people prefer natural sounds, like a rainstorm. But others don’t want a sound at all when they sleep,” she says. “It all comes down to the individual (个人).”

For some, the best sound might be none. “Biologically (生物学上), you don’t need this sound to sleep,” says Michael Grandner, “and if you use it every night, you can get so used to it that you can’t sleep without it.” Most sleep experts agree. “I wouldn’t suggest people use sound machines to sleep unless they’re reporting difficulties with outside noises,” an expert says.

Why are people interested in eating raw foods or whole foods? One reason is that eating these types of food reduces the risk of acid accumulation in your body.

Raw and whole foods are usually digested more efficiently than cooked and refined foods. When we cook foods, we destroy the natural enzymes(酶) that are part of the food in its raw form. These enzymes were intended by nature to help us digest the food. When we consume food without these natural enzymes, our bodies either digest the food improperly or allow too many nutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream. In both instances, the result is obesity. When too many nutrients are absorbed at once, the body grows fat. Improperly digested food moves slowly through the digestive tract, where it becomes increasingly acidic. To protect its vital organs from this acidic waste, the body changes the acid into fat and stores it safely away from the organs.

Processed foods contain chemical elements, which might confuse the appetite mechanism that tells us when we’ve had enough to eat; as a result, people often overeat. Processed foods also upset the digestive cycle. The body will either identify these foods as allergens and then store them safely away from the organs as fat, or the remains of undigested food will become acidic and enter the bloodstream as acid waste, which will stick to the blood vessel walls and block the passage of vital oxygen and nutrients heading for the body’s cells. The body’s metabolism (新陈代谢) becomes inactive, and the result is weight gain and obesity.

The accumulation of acid in the digestive tract makes digestion increasingly inefficient. When that happens, even healthy foods can become acidic and the food allergies will become more common.

To stop this vicious circle in its tracks, people need to consume food and supplements that will neutralize the acid already accumulated in body. Eating the right types of raw and whole foods can help. It’s also important to restore your enzyme balance. You need to identify and avoid the foods that cause acid accumulation and consume the foods that increase enzyme production. If you truly want to change and help your body heal itself, you need to take an active approach.

Tackling lonely emotions

Do you feel lonely? The World Health Organization (WHO) recently addressed loneliness as a pressing health threat. 【小题1】

Loneliness is a state of mind marked by feelings of isolation despite wanting social connections. So people who are lonely usually experience the emotional pain of not being connected with others. 【小题2】 People who enjoy spending time by themselves continue to maintain positive social relationships that they can return to when they want connection.

Social isolation impacts the health and well-being of all age groups across the world. 【小题3】 Between 5 and 15 percent adolescents experience loneliness, but the numbers are likely to be underestimations, said the organization.

Social disconnection in adolescence can lead to poorer education outcomes, since young people who have experienced loneliness in high school are more likely to drop out of university. Lack of social connection carries a risk of early death equivalent to other better-known risk factors such as smoking, obesity and air pollution, or potentially even greater. 【小题4】 but previous studies have shown that loneliness has been linked to anxiety and depression and can increase the risk of heart disease by 30 percent. A 2015 study looked at the immune systems of its participants who were identified as lonely. It showed that they tend to have more inflammation(炎症) and less immunity. 【小题5】

To tackle this crisis, the WHO launched the Commission on Social Connection, which held its first leadership meeting to outline solutions to build social connections at scale.