There has been explosive interest in the last few years in eating like our ancient, pre-agricultural ancestors: following a hunter-gatherer pattern that would have been the norm in the Paleolithic Era (the “stone age”). The idea behind this is that agriculture has only been around for about 10,000 years, which is barely a blip on the evolutionary time scale.
Regular readers and patients know the importance of a good night’s sleep to health. Low quality sleep, and getting fewer than seven hours of sleep per night, have been associated with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, as well as shorter lifespan. Two recent studies highlight some of the hidden thieves of sleep in our modern world.
Earlier this year, I outlined some of the amazing health benefits associated with regular coffee consumption. These include a decrease risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and endometrial cancer; pain reduction as among its benefits too.
Now, new research from the Mayo Clinic (1) makes us pause and reflect on how much is too much of a good thing.