Death of the Snooze Button?

With the first day of school looming, it is impossible to ignore that start-of-semester reality: the dreaded alarm clock. There is evidence to support the compulsion to hit the snooze button: teens require at least 8.5 hours of sleep a night, a goal that is difficult to reach when homework, sports, and club meetings force bedtimes into the early morning hours.  

Some school districts, however, are addressing this problem by starting high school later. (The national high school start time clocks in at 7:59.) While more than 1000 schools have embraced this change, others hold out. Check out our pro-con list below and let us know your thoughts.

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Vitamin D Essentials

Sometimes reading about dietary vitamins can sound a lot like alphabet soup. Given the time of year, I thought it might be appropriate to talk about one vitamin that often accompanies discussion of sunny weather: Vitamin D, which is important for strong bones and a hearty immune system.  

It is true that exposure to the sun's UVB radiation allows our own bodies to manufacture vitamin D. However, research from Skincancer.org indicates that only five minutes of high-intensity sun exposure a day are needed for maximum vitamin D production. What happens after that? Sun burn, probably.

In fact, the best ways to get vitamin D are through diet and supplements. Pair a big glass of skim milk with breakfast, chow down on oily fish (like salmon), or pop a go-down-easy liquid gel to ensure proper levels.