10 Discoveries That Made Us Healthier in 2015          by Max Lugavere

1. Your brain is directly connected to your immune system   Researchers determined that the brain is directly connected to the immune system by lymphatic vessels previously thought not to exist. The finding, validating the importance of reducing inflammation in the body, and therefore the brain, could have profound implications for the treatment and prevention of many neurological diseases including depression, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Lewy body dementia, multiple sclerosis, and autism.

2. Using an iPhone before bed screws up your sleep

we now know that using light-emitting e-readers (aka tablets and other backlit mobile devices) in the hours before bed acutely suppresses melatonin production in the brain. That’s a hormone that not only is responsible for helping regulate your circadian clock to help you fall asleep, but is also involved in the expression of many genes, some of which may keep cancer at bay. 

3. Eating spicy food may help you stay alive longer

A study found that people who ate spicy foods almost every day had a 14 percent lower risk of death during a seven-year follow-up compared with those who consumed them less than once a week. The active ingredient in chili pepper, capsaicin, has been shown to have a range of health-promoting effects, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer effects.

4. Even diet soda makes you fat

It turns out that many artificial sweeteners, aside from being metabolized into compounds that could be potentially neurotoxic, havesimilar hormonal effects in the body to consuming the real thing — sugar. 

5. Saturated fat isn’t bad for us. Sort of. 

A study found no association between saturated fat intake and death from all causes. Consumption of trans fat — that horrific, industry-created franken-sludge — was associated with a 34 percent increase in death from all causes

6. The thinking that caused us to fear fat was flawed

7. Lowering carb intake could likely reduce heart disease

A study found that low-carb diets were superior to low-fat diets for reducing cardiovascular risk and promoting weight loss in overweight adults.

8. It’s smart to give cognitive decline the FINGER (study)

We now know that for adults who adhere to a lifestyle protocol that includes dietary advice, social support, and physical exercise, even the most at-risk among us can delay their own cognitive decline, regardless of age. 

9. Your biological age is more important than your chronological age 

You actually have two ages — your chronological age, determined by your birth year, and your biological age, determined by your lifestyle choices. Your biological age is the one you should really be concerned about — it’s the one you have control over.

10. Extra-virgin olive oil is a brain-health rock star​