Wellnews by Scott LaFee

Early birds get the worm and better spots in line for those 4 a.m. department store sales, but they're apparently not much use later in the day.

Researchers at the University of Liege in Belgium asked 16 volunteers who routinely get up very, very early and 16 people who routinely stay up very late to spend a week following their normal sleep pattern. Both groups then spent two nights sleeping similar hours in the lab, spending much of their waking time undergoing cognitive testing.

The scientists report that for 1.5 hours after waking, both early birds and night owls appear equally alert, with no difference in attention-related brain activity. But after 10.5 hours of being awake, the night owls were measurably more alert. In mental tests requiring sustained attention, they performed much better. MRI scans showed that a region of the brain called the suprachiasmatic area — home to the body's circadian clock — remained more active in those who stayed up late.

Night owls received an alertness boost from the suprachiasmatic area that helped keep them going, while early birds were much quicker to respond to signals saying it was sleepy-bye time.

BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

American women are 2.53 times more likely to suffer from constipation than American men, and 3.35 times more likely to suffer from bunions. On the other hand, American males generally have a 5 percent greater risk of contracting hemorrhoids than females.

NUMBER CRUNCHER

A 3-ounce serving of top sirloin beef (lean, trimmed to 1Ú4-inch fat and broiled) contains 497 calories, 149 from fat. It has 16.6 grams of total fat or 25 percent of the recommended total fat intake for a 2,000-calorie daily diet.

It also contains 238 milligrams of cholesterol (79 percent); 176 mg of sodium (7 percent); zero carbohydrates; zero dietary fiber; and 81 grams of protein.

MEDTRONICA

Women's eye health

womenseyehealth.org

Two-thirds of blindness and visual impairment occurs in women; three-quarters of impairment is preventable or correctable.

If you're a woman, look here for causes of vision loss, prevention, treatment and the basics of eye care.

MEET GERM

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium only a human can love, if only because humans alone have it. First identified in the early 1900s but not cultured until 1983, the bacterium reportedly infects half of the people in the world. It is the only human pathogen adapted to living in the harsh acidic environment of our stomachs.

There, it can cause significant problems. Among them: gastritis, peptic ulcers and stomach cancer. Development of disease, however, can require years. The bacterium infects through the mouth. Treatment usually involves a combination of antibiotics. There is no vaccine.

PHOBIA OF THE WEEK

Athazagoraphobia — fear of being forgotten or ignored or forgetting

OBSERVATION

The great secret of doctors, known only to their wives, but still hidden from the public, is that most things get better by themselves; most things, in fact, are better in the morning.

— American physician and essayist Lewis Thomas (1913-1993)

CURTAIN CALLS

In A.D. 54, the Roman emperor Claudius choked to death on a feather he had been using to tickle his gullet, hoping to induce vomiting while attending a banquet.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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