Look, it isn’t easy making GIFs on the computer without the right applications, so it’s giving us a headache thinking of the work that goes into each of these graffiti-turned-GIFs by an artist named INSA. Especially the one you see above, because the…
SHEAR YASHUV, Israel (AP) — A missile fired by the Lebanese Hezbollah group struck an Israeli military convoy on Wednesday, an apparent retaliation for a deadly Israeli airstrike in Syria that killed six Hezbollah fighters earlier this month.
Israel, which reported unspecified casualties on the Israeli side, responded by firing at least 50 artillery shells into Lebanon in a significant escalation along the volatile border. The United Nations said a U.N. peacekeeper was killed in southern Lebanon, in an incident likely related to the border flare-up. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said there were Israeli casualties in the attack, but did not elaborate. The military said it was responding with aerial and ground strikes on Hezbollah positions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would respond “forcefully.”
In a statement, Hezbollah said its fighters destroyed a number of Israeli vehicles that were carrying Israeli officers and soldiers and caused casualties among “enemy ranks.”
It said the attack was carried out by a group calling itself the “heroic martyrs of Quneitra,” — suggesting it was in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on the Golan Heights on Jan. 18 that killed six Hezbollah fighters and an Iranian general.
The Israeli military said an anti-tank missile hit an Israeli military vehicle near the Israeli-Lebanese border on Wednesday, and said residents of the area had been ordered to remain in their homes.
An hour later, mortars were fired at several Israeli military locations on Mount Dov and Mount Hermon, the Israeli military said. No injuries were reported in that attack. The military said it responded with fire toward Lebanese positions, and evacuated Israeli visitors from a ski resort in the area.
The flare-up recalled the beginning of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, which was sparked by a Hezbollah attack on an Israeli military vehicle along the border and the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli military said there was no indication of any Israeli soldiers captured in the attack.
But the latest salvos raised the possibility of renewed fighting along the Lebanese-Israel border, which has remained mostly quiet since a monthlong war in the summer of 2006. Since then, Israel has responded with airstrikes and artillery fire following a number of rocket attacks and shootings but the violence remained contained.
Wednesday’s attack took place near Mount Dov and Shebaa Farms, a disputed tract of land where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet.
Hanna Bikel, a spokeswoman for Ziv Hospital in Safed, said four to six people with light wounds from the strike were on their way to the hospital. She declined to say whether they were soldiers or civilians.
Two Lebanese officials said the Israeli shelling targeted the border villages of Majidiyeh, Abbasiyeh and Kfar Chouba near the Shebaa Farms area.
U.N. spokesman Andrea Tenenti said a peacekeeper was killed in circumstances the U.N. was still investigating.
One of the Lebanese officials said the incident is believed to be a “sophisticated Hezbollah operation” targeting Israeli vehicles along the border.
Families living on the border of the villages fled further within, fearing they’d be hit, said the officials, who are based in south Lebanon. Celebratory gunfire echoed in Shiite-dominated areas of Beirut, while in some areas, nervous parents hurried to pick up their children from school and hunker home.
Netanyahu, speaking at an event in southern Israel, warned that Israel’s enemies would face a fate similar to Hamas, the rulers of the Gaza Strip who fought a brutal 50-day war against Israel last summer.
“To anyone who is trying to challenge us on the northern border I suggest looking at what happened here, not far from the city of Sderot, in the Gaza Strip. Hamas was dealt its heaviest blow ever since its founding and the Israel Defense Forces is prepared to act forcefully in all areas,” he said.
___
Karam reported from Beirut. Daniel Estrin and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem and Diaa Hadid in Beirut contributed to this report.
If you like soggy food that never seems to brown, just keep doing what you’re doing. But, if you’ve been working, sweating, and slaving away in the kitchen and can’t figure out why perfectly good recipes keep letting you down, we are here to help with some simple words to live by.
Give your food some space.
Never ever will root vegetables, overloaded in a pan in the oven, caramelize and crisp the way you want them to. It just won’t happen. Instead, the vegetables will sweat, like old men in a steam room. And no matter how high you turn the heat under your skillet, if that pan is jam-packed with meat, it will never sear to a crisp brown crust. It’s going to get wet and gray. That’s just the hard truth of the matter.
We get why you overcrowd. Cooking in batches takes longer. Pulling out another baking sheet means one more dish to wash. But, it also means the difference between a blah meal and one you’d pay good money for at a swanky restaurant.
When a pan, baking dish, cookie sheet or what have you, is packed with ingredients, there’s no room left for the moisture that’s released from food to escape as steam. Instead, it gets trapped underneath all the other food, collecting as liquid and making everything soggy. In some cases, that collected liquid can hover just above the boiling point, which means you are steaming instead of roasting or searing. That’s sog city, folks.
The same crowding principle is true for baking. If a perfectly baked cookie is what you’re after, give them room to grow and do their thing. The only time this all-too-common cooking mistake is okay with us is when it results in one giant cookie, because, awesome.
Not all foods will reward your mistake with a giant heap of deliciousness. Certain foods fair worse than others. If you’re cooking mushrooms, eggplant, beef or zucchini, DO NOT CROWD. You will be sorry.
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WASHINGTON — Syrian President Bashar Assad, unpopular at home, suddenly appears to have many fans in the U.S.
Assad, who has killed thousands in his brutal four-year fight against protesters and internationally backed rebels opposing his rule, is receiving better press in the U.S. than he has in years, prompting concern among some observers of Syria’s conflict — including important American allies and lawmakers — that the Obama administration is preparing to soften its demand that he relinquish power because it sees him as helpful in its fight against the Islamic State group.
Officials at the White House and State Department deny such a change in policy. They say President Barack Obama and his team continue to believe that Assad must go through political negotiations with the internationally recognized Syrian opposition.
Yet suggestions of a policy shift keep coming, playing into Assad’s purposes as they threaten to divide the international community. They are particularly distressing, said one Western diplomat from a country involved in the fight against ISIS, because U.S. partners have not heard anything certain on how the U.S. sees Assad’s removal being accomplished.
“We didn’t have from the American authorities so far a sign as clear or as definitive about a change of policy [as] the one we read,” the Western diplomat told HuffPost.
The apparent U.S. shift is sowing confusion among the anti-Assad Syrian rebels, who are intended to become the lynchpin of the U.S. effort against ISIS strongholds in Syria. For the rebels, cooperation with Assad is unimaginable.
The recent spate of news coverage suggesting the U.S. may be more comfortable with Assad began with a New York Times report a week ago that noted a conspicuous change in Secretary of State John Kerry’s phrasing about Assad. Kerry has regularly been endorsing Assad’s removal, but he omitted that call in a Jan. 14 statement. Instead, the secretary spoke positively about a U.N. effort for ceasefires in Syria and Russian-led negotiations, both of which Assad’s opponents see as beneficial for the dictator, and demanded that Assad take responsibility for his people, just as a less controversial leader might.
Leslie Gelb, the former chair of the Council on Foreign Relations, added to the swirl of conflicting messages by publishing an essay Thursday in which he cited anonymous administration sources to suggest that Obama was personally open to cooperating with Assad. “There is a battle underway inside his administration,” Gelb suggested, between supporters of the Syrian opposition groups that Obama endorsed in his State of the Union address and realists open to collaboration with Assad.
The Huffington Post has learned that Obama and his closest advisers privately demonstrated an unwillingness to directly threaten Assad as recently as last month, even though taking a step that could have done so would have provided the U.S. an important tactical advantage against ISIS: the use of a strategically located Turkish air base.
Diplomacy by retired Gen. John Allen, the envoy to the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State, and Vice President Joe Biden brought the U.S. close to securing an agreement with the Turks by early December. Under the deal, U.S. officials indicated to Turkey that the U.S. would meet Turkey’s demand for help setting up a no-fly zone in northern Syria. The no-fly zone would ease pressure on moderate forces hostile to both Assad and ISIS, and would allow some of the millions of refugees currently living in southern Turkey to move. In exchange, the Turks would welcome U.S. jets to their base.
The Washington Post reported on Jan. 18 that an agreement had yet to be reached because Washington and Ankara could not agree on the geographical location of the no-fly zone. The Turks pushed to have it closer to a rebel stronghold Assad is trying to capture, Aleppo. The Post’s story suggested that “the White House agrees that Assad’s departure is an important goal” even as it focused on ISIS.
But sources familiar with the matter have now told The Huffington Post that the deal seemed doomed from the start: Gen. Allen was told that top administration officials would not budge on the idea of a no-fly zone if it would provoke a fight with Assad, and that he had to convey that message to the Turks, costing him credibility.
That revelation bolsters the skepticism about Obama’s approach to Assad. The White House deferred questions about the incident to Allen’s spokesperson, who did not respond to a request for comment.
Media reports over the past week have fueled suspicions that Washington’s consensus on Assad is changing. The Times, for instance, suggested in an editorial Sunday that “the brutal dictator is still clinging to power and the United States and its allies are going to have to live with him, at least for now.” The editorial trumpeted the logic that supporters of some kind of U.S. detente with Assad have long embraced: “the greater threat now is not Mr. Assad but the Islamic State.”
The Wall Street Journal came out with its own editorial, deploring what it suggested were leaks from the Obama administration about the value of cooperating with Assad. The Washington Post’s editorial page editor on Sunday called the claim “the latest, and saddest, indication of Obama’s capitulation to […] oldthink” about the value of propping up dictators in the Middle East.
Regional news outlets have issued their own criticisms of the perceived change in policy: The Washington bureau chief of Al-Arabiya, a Middle Eastern news channel tied to the anti-Assad government of Saudi Arabia, blasted Obama on Saturday for what he called a “betrayal” after the president failed to condemn Assad or those advocating a U.S. invasion of Syria in his State of the Union address.
Obama “may be immune to any moral anguish,” wrote Hisham Melhem. “But he cannot escape Syria’s sorrows being part of his legacy.”
Assad, meanwhile, closed out the week with a high-profile chance to air his side of the story, as he prepared to partake in a Moscow conference to negotiate an end to his country’s civil war. The moderate U.S.-backed political opposition declined to attend the conference.
Foreign Affairs magazine released an extensive interview with the Syrian president at midnight on Sunday, hours before the Moscow talks were to begin.
Assad told the outlet he questioned the U.S.’s will to fight ISIS and characterized its regional allies in the ISIS fight — particularly Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the three countries that have offered to host U.S. bases where moderate Syrian rebels can be trained — as supporters of both ISIS and al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra.
He proceeded to use Obama’s own previous critique of the moderate Syrian opposition to deride the group and to present himself as a vital partner for Washington.
“If you want to say I want to make war on terrorism, you have to have troops on the ground. The question you have to ask the Americans is, which troops are you going to depend on? Definitely, it has to be Syrian troops,” Assad said, referring to the remnants of his national army.
Assad’s opponents said they see that offer as deceitful at best and, at worst, taboo.
“Assad is neither willing nor able to deliver on any of the U.S. objectives in Syria which the administration has articulated to date,” Randa Slim, an Arab democracy expert at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told The Huffington Post in a Monday email, pointing to his regime’s military and economic weakness as well as its severe lack of legitimacy.
The Western diplomat said he was still unsure if the U.S. was going to shift its position on Assad. But he warned of the consequences of such a move.
“We can’t see a future with Bashar, who is responsible for the deaths of 200,000 of his people,” the diplomat said. “It’s just not an option. … [For the U.S. to support that] would have a huge impact. A lot of countries in Europe or in the Middle East are not there.”
Are you a Patriots fan? Send this to your friends who are rooting for the Seahawks, and then read about how Seattle food could give New England food a run for its money.
It’s time to take stock of the great region of New England and celebrate everything it gets right in life, like its food. For those of you who aren’t quite sure, New England is made up of the small, but great, states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. (No, New York is not part of the cluster.)
To our fellow Americans who were born in any of the other 44 states, we acknowledge that you also have great food traditions to offer. No one does fish tacos like San Diego does. And the best bacon is found in the South, no question. But New England, well, it’s been around the longest, has the deepest history, and knows how to take full advantage of its tiny, yet plentiful coast. It’s home to some of the country’s most beloved foods — ahem, Ben & Jerry’s — but also has some well-guarded secret treats that require a trip to the region to experience. (Maple Creemees or bust.)
Without further ado, here are 22 food reasons why New England is winning at life — edited down from a 1,001, for your reading pleasure.
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In a previous post I listed almonds as one of six foods I eat every day. I adore them, and aside from being delicious and filling, research on the health and weight-loss benefits of these gems just keeps piling up. A new Penn State study concluded that swapping a carb-y snack for an ounce and a half of almonds (about 33 whole nuts) helped lower “bad” LDL cholesterol, as well as reduce both belly and leg fat (impressive!).
While it’s super easy to eat them “as is” (think: adding them to yogurt or sprinkling them on a salad), there are plenty of other ways to incorporate almonds into meals and snacks. Here are five of my favorite simple, healthy combinations.
In Smoothies
If you have a powerful blender you can use whole almonds, but almond butter easily whips into any smoothie. In addition to adding nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and bonus protein, the good-for-you fat in almonds boosts the absorption of antioxidants from the produce in your drink. I have dozens of favorite blends, but one of my go-tos lately is a cherry-chocolate-almond combo made with: a cup of frozen cherries, handful of fresh spinach, half a cup each of almond milk and water, tablespoon of almond butter, scoop of pea protein powder, tablespoon of organic non-alkalized cocoa, half teaspoon of vanilla extract and dash of cinnamon. Heavenly.
As A Crust For Lean Protein
Rather than breading proteins before cooking, you can use almonds as a crust. For a super simple version, just toss crushed almonds or almond flour (sometimes called almond meal) with herbs of your choice, brush your protein with Dijon mustard or dip into a lightly beaten egg, press with the almond mixture, and bake (400° F for eight to 10 minutes is about right for white fish). Serve over a bed of steamed greens with a small portion of whole food starch, like roasted fingerling potatoes. Delish!
As A Crumble Topping
After warming either fresh of frozen fruit on the stove top, I cover it with a crumble made from two tablespoons of almond butter mixed with a quarter cup of raw or toasted rolled oats, seasoned with either pumpkin or apple pie spice. (It’s a little messy, but the easiest way to make it uniform is to get right in there with your fingers rather than trying to use utensils.) It’s ridiculously good on any of your favorite fruits, such as a freshly sliced apple or pear sautéed in a little water and lemon juice, warmed frozen berries or cherries, or a slightly mashed mini banana.
In A Sauce
I had a blast creating more than 100 new recipes for my upcoming book Slim Down Now, and one of my favorites includes a sauce I make from almond butter, thinned with organic low-sodium vegetable broth, and seasoned with fresh grated ginger, garlic, turmeric and crushed red pepper. It’s awesome paired with a generous portion of steamed or sautéed veggies, a lean protein (like shrimp or black-eyed peas) and a small portion of a healthy starch such as gluten-free buckwheat soba noodles or brown rice. Seems decadent, but this healthy dish will leave you simultaneously feeling light, energized and satisfied.
Added To Savory Dishes
I add chopped, sliced or slivered almonds to hot dishes including stir frys, grains like wild rice and quinoa, cooked veggies (who doesn’t love green bean amandine), and even soups like squash, lentil or tomato. Finely chopped almonds also add flavor and texture to chilled vegetable, grain, bean or fruit dishes, like vinegar-based slaw, and cold ginger broccoli, three bean or seasonal fruit salads. Like a great pair of jeans, almonds go with just about everything!
More from Health.com:
11 Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Belly Fat
17 High-Protein Snacks You Can Eat On the Go
14 Ways to Add Quinoa to Your Diet
5 Genius Ways to Use Almonds originally appeared on Health.com
INDIAN WELLS, CALIF. — Like so many other parents of picky eaters, Victoria Phillips cooked two dinners every night: one with “kid foods” like chicken nuggets or macaroni and cheese, and then a more grown-up dish for her and her husband once the children had gone to bed. It had fresh vegetables and healthy proteins in it, but was finished way too late in the evening for the couple to feel nourished and relaxed after work.
“Two meals every night was just exhausting and not sustainable,” Phillips told The Huffington Post. “I’m a working mom full-time, so it’s just busy, busy.” But now Phillips is taking steps to make dinner a singular event for the whole family, thanks to a brief bootcamp with James Beard award-winning chef Tony Mantuano, who owns Spiaggia and Bar Toma in Chicago.
“My kids like pasta, so [Tony] taught me how to make a pasta dish that brought in salmon and fresh vegetables,” said Phillips, also from Chicago. “These are things that they normally wouldn’t try, but they would try the pasta — so when I brought it all together, they’re more apt to try something new and different.”
The two were paired up for the America Cooks With Chefs competition, which pitted six teams made up of a “home chef” and celebrity chef against each other to create a delicious, easy and healthy dinner under 800 calories. After meeting with their mentor chefs in late 2014, the home chefs got a chance to showcase what they learned at the 2015 Clinton Foundation Health Matters Summit in Indian Wells, Calif. last Sunday, where they served bites of their 800 calorie-and-under dinner to hundreds of conference attendees who then voted on their favorite dish of the night.
In the end, Mantuano and Phillips’ easy, “made under” version of an Italian American meal — tender, flaky salmon, al dente orecchiette pasta and barely-sauteed zucchini and cherry tomatoes — bested the five other dishes at the conference.
See Phillips’ and Mantuano’s award-winning recipe below.
Ingredients
Instructions
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the zucchini to the pot and cook for three minutes or until tender, but not falling apart. With a slotted spoon or hand strainer, carefully remove the zucchini from the pot shaking off any excess water and transfer to a large bowl.
2. To the bowl, add the garlic, cherry tomatoes, basil, oregano, vinegar and 3 tablespoons olive oil. Stir gently to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with foil to keep warm and set aside until ready to use.
3. Bring the pot of salted water back to a boil. Add the pasta to the pot and cook, stirring frequently until the pasta is al dente, about two minutes less than what is recommended on the box. Drain the pasta and transfer to the bowl with the zucchini mixture. Toss well to combine and allow the pasta to absorb the sauce. Quickly cover with foil to keep warm.
4. Meanwhile, heat a large non-stick saute pan over medium-high heat. Rub the remaining tablespoon of olive oil on the flesh side of the salmon filets and season with salt and pepper. Place the filets in the preheated pan, skin side up, cover tightly and cook until the bottom has a toasted brown crust, three to four minutes. Remove the cover and gently peel away the skin.
In the New Year, many of us go after this health and wellness thing in earnest. But since it’s a new — or at least not continuous — pursuit for so many of us, it can be hard to know how to integrate our new regimes into our well-mannered lives. Enter Mind Your Manners, our just-in-January series on all things health and etiquette.
There are certain questions and comments that, however innocuous, almost always come off as offensive. The age-old example: Asking someone if they are pregnant. First of all, it’s none of your business. Second, you might be giving someone a complex rather than a compliment.
Steven Petrow, manners columnist for The Washington Post and USA Today, puts this question firmly in the “do not pass go, do not collect $200,” category. “If she’s never told you she’s pregnant, how could you possible know for sure?,” he says. “You can’t and that’s why it’s always wise to wait until she confides in you. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had well-meaning people write me for advice after they asked a friend if she was pregnant only to be told: “No, I’m not!”
What else is nobody’s business? We’ve rounded up a few questions that make up just the tip of the rudeness iceberg.
“Can I touch your belly?”
There is a distinct group of people living among us who think it’s perfectly normal to just reach out and touch a pregnant belly, for instance. If you find yourself looking up at your screen right now and going “What do you mean that’s weird?,” then let this be your definite answer: Stop it.
“I’ve heard this frequently from friends and letter writers. Where are people’s boundaries? How is it that complete strangers feel it’s okay to touch your belly?” Petrow says. “Let me say clearly: It’s not. Even if you mean well. If you’re the one who’s pregnant and you see someone about to reach out, my advice is, first, to say firmly: “Please don’t.” If that doesn’t stop them, cross your arms over your belly and take a step back. Body language can be more powerful than words.”
“Were your twins ‘natural’?”
Parents, in general, are catnip for the boundary-less. And anyone who diverges from a rude person’s idea of what a “traditional family” is will be subjected to awkward, occasionally offensive interrogations.
Petrow rattles off just a few. “I think every gay parent-to-be gets asked these kinds of questions: Who’s the ‘real’ mother? How did you do it? Whose egg? How much did you pay the surrogate? The best answer to all of these questions, whether gay or straight, is very simple: “When I’m ready to answer, you’ll be the first to know.” Don’t call folks out for their unbridled curiosity – but definitely shut them down.”
“I couldn’t help but notice — have you gained weight?”
You might have noticed a theme here: The rudest questions generally involve commentary about one’s body. Weight gain is another topic that just shouldn’t be approached, ever.
“Unless it’s a spouse, child or other close relative, I’d stop you in your tracks and say, “Don’t.” It’s just not your business –and don’t you think that person knows they’ve gained some weight?” Petrow says.
If you’re somehow still on the fence, Petrow asks to try to think the conversation through. “I can imagine a conversation going like this: “I’m worried about you — you’ve gotten fat.” The friend replies: “Who asked you your opinion?” Believe me, they don’t need you to bring it up.”
Still utterly convinced that you really, really need to ask about a loved one’s body? “For those in your inner circle, here’s how you do it: Very, very, very carefully. Start with, “How are you feeling?” Again opening a door but not asking the impertinent question,” Petrow says. “Maybe they’ll ask you for help — in the form of advice or a referral. Be ready to help with that. But more likely they won’t. At least then. Maybe the next time.”
“You look SO much better now! How much weight did you lose?”
If your friend or family member has lost weight or transformed their appearance in some way, a compliment might feel like a neg, often implying that they looked bad before. Petrow advises keeping your comments upbeat and positive, yet still a little more on the cautious side.
“I always like to say: “Did you get a new hair stylist? You look terrific.” That’s innocuous enough for anyone to take the compliment and enough of an open door for that person to disclose her weight loss, plastic surgery, or new found lease on life.”
When it comes to other people’s bodies, though, remember this:
Gif via Gurl.com
YOLA, Nigeria (AP) — Islamic extremists are rampaging through villages in northeast Nigeria’s Adamawa state, killing, burning and looting with no troops deployed to protect civilians, fleeing villagers said Wednesday.
More than 40 people have been killed in seven villages as houses and mosques have been burned down and businesses and homes looted this week, according to Emmanuel Kwache and state legislator Adamu Kamale. “They don’t spare anything: they slaughtered people like rams and they burned down our houses after looting food,” Kwache said. “There’s no presence of troops, some residents are hiding on top of hills, while those that could not run were abducted, particularly youths and women.”
Kamale said he has appealed in vain to authorities to send troops since the attacks began on Friday. On Monday, he said, the militants moved from villages to the town of Michika.
In Maiduguri, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Michika, people fleeing militant attacks in neighboring Borno state say that Boko Haram fighters warned they are preparing “a big grave” for them in Maiduguri and that “there will be no mercy.” Maiduguri is the biggest city in the northeast where troops repelled a daring offensive by hundreds of militants Sunday. At least 200 combatants were killed, according to residents and security forces.
“They kept saying they were chasing us so that we can all run into the big grave they are preparing for us in Maiduguri”, said Aishatu Ba’malum, who fled from Monguno, a northeast town taken by the militants on Sunday.
Ba’malum, who lost her husband in the chaos of her flight, is among more than 200,000 people taking refuge in Maiduguri.
The city of 2 million residents appears to be surrounded. Three roads lead to areas held by Boko Haram. The militants are believed to be attacking the fourth road leading to the northern city of Kano, according to residents too scared to leave though they fear an imminent attack.
The extremists who denounce democracy are increasing attacks as Nigeria prepares for Feb. 14 elections. Some 10,000 people died in the 5-year insurgency in the past year.
By Esther Crain for Men’s Journal
Quality shut-eye is some of the best medicine available. It leads to more energy, helps you handle stress and improves overall well-being. Your system also benefits in countless little-known yet important ways when you get the seven to eight hours nightly that experts recommend. Sleep is your body’s time to heal, recharge and restore itself. Skimp on it, it that sleep debt affects every body function, from your memory to your mood to the number of sick days you take and even your risk for a heart attack, says Shalini Paruthi, M.D., a sleep specialist and spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. In case you need more convincing, here are the 11 biggest ways sleep gives your body a major assist.
Sleep keeps your heart healthy.
Add sleep deprivation to the list of risk factors that can leave you spending a lot of time in a cardiologist’s office. “Poor sleep quality is linked to heart health problems, from high blood pressure to heart attacks,” says Paruthi. Here’s why: Regularly shortchanging yourself on sleep can lead to a surge in stress hormones such as cortisol. The uptick in stress hormones compels your ticker to respond by working harder, and it doesn’t get the rest it needs, says Paruthi.
It prevents you from packing on pounds.
A good night’s rest won’t necessarily result in losing weight, but it can keep you from adding unwanted pounds. First, sleeplessness cranks up production of the hormone ghrelin, which boosts appetite, says Michael Breus, Ph.D., sleep specialist and author of The Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan. “It also leads to a decrease in the hormone leptin, which signals feeling full,” says Breus. And by making you more stress-prone and low-energy, lack of sleep reduces your ability to fight junk food cravings. Give in to the office vending machine, and that candy bar will send your blood sugar surging, then crashing, leaving your appetite raging all over again.
It lowers your odds of a car crash.
Because a sleep debt slows your reaction time and reduces your ability to focus, “driving a car when you’re low on sleep is just as dangerous as driving drunk,” says Paruthi. Research backs this up: People who regularly sleep six to seven hours per night are twice as likely to get in an accident as those who usually score at least eight hours, according to a study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Catch less than five hours, and your odds of a crash quadruple, reports the study.
Sleep strengthens your immune system.
Want to stay off the injury list and take fewer sick days? Make a habit of getting high-quality rest to keep the immune cells and proteins of your immune system in fighting shape. That, in turn, improves your ability to beat back colds, the flu, and other infections. Sleep also makes vaccines more effective. “After getting a shot, people with sleep issues don’t develop the same antibody response as well-rested people, and that leaves them more susceptible,” says Paruthi.
It keeps your brain from frying.
Remember that 1980s PSA that compared a cracked egg to your brain on drugs? Well, that sizzling egg is similar to your brain on sleep deprivation. While getting proper sleep is linked to improved concentration and higher cognitive functioning, even one sleepless night sets you up to feel fuzzyheaded, scattered and unfocused the next day. Your memory recall isn’t as sharp, and everything you do is in slow-mo, says Paruthi. That puts your job at risk. “You’re more likely to make mistakes at work, for example, but less likely to realize it and correct them,” she says.
It fires up your sex life.
Steady, quality shut-eye keeps testosterone levels high, prevents erection problems and ensures that you’re never too exhausted for sex. Cheat yourself out of sleep, however, and you cheat yourself out of great sex. Research shows that men who sleep less than six hours nightly have lower levels of testosterone, says Paruthi, and flagging testosterone can sink sex drive.
It can prevent headaches.
If you get stress headaches, scoring plenty of rest will help keep them from striking, says Paruthi. Sleep deprivation also plays an indirect role in making your head hurt as well by making you less able to cope with stress and anxiety, two things that can trigger a throbbing skull, even when you’ve had plenty of R&R.
It keeps you in top form at the gym.
Quality sleep is like nature’s sports supplement, improving your speed, hand-eye coordination, reaction time and muscle recovery. Thing is, even short-term sleep deprivation messes with these, throwing off your performance at the gym. Also, a 2013 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that sleep deprivation reduced muscle strength and power the next day, particularly if your workout was later in the afternoon.
It boosts your mood.
Think about the last time you slept really well: You probably woke up feeling brighter and optimistic, had more energy and drive and were less likely to let little challenges — like bad traffic or a heavy workload — lead to anger and frustration. Well, subpar sleep habits can have the opposite effect. “Even one night of sleeplessness can makes you cranky and irritable the next day,” says Paruthi. You’re also more vulnerable to stress and anxiety. All of these can make it harder to fall asleep the next night, so you become trapped in a cycle of sleeplessness and bad mood. The escape plan: vowing you’ll go to bed at a decent hour, and letting your system recharge and restore itself.
Sleep increases your pain threshold.
If you want to tough out physical pain, hit the sack. That’s the suggestion of a 2012 study from the journal Sleep, which divided study subjects into two groups, one that slept nine hours nightly and another that slept an average seven each night. Researchers then tested how long each participant could hold their finger to a radiant heat source. Subjects in the nine-hour group withstood the heat about 25 percent longer. It’s not clear why more sleep led to more pain tolerance, but the findings echo similar results in other studies and suggest that a long night’s sleep is a potent pain reliever.
It bolsters your relationships.
Considering that sleep deprivation contributes to crankiness and a crabby mood, it’s no wonder poor sleepers have more problems with their partner, including a greater likelihood of disagreements and a reduced ability to have empathy, says Paruthi. “Your sleep habits have a wider effect on the people around you than you think, contributing to relationship satisfaction and happiness,” she adds.
More from Men’s Journal:
6 Ways to Sleep Better
10 Products to Help You Get a Better Night’s Sleep
10 Bedtime Rituals for Better Sleep
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