Science in this week's hot topics: Playing with your phone for 8 minutes before bed can make you excited for more than an hour

2022, Week 9, Issue 7, Total Issue 23

I wanted to go to a barber shop today to get a haircut, but when I looked at several shops, they were all empty. What's going on? Here are the most popular scientific topics we selected from Weibo and WeChat hot search lists this week:

#February 2nd Dragon Raises its Head#

#Playing with the phone for 8 minutes before going to bed makes you excited for more than an hour#

#How harmful are trans fatty acids#

Scroll down to view↓↓↓

1. The Dragon Raises its Head on February 2

As of March 4, the Weibo topic has been read 1.15 billion times ★★★★★

On February 2, the rain has just stopped and the grass sprouts and vegetables grow at the same time. A young man in light clothes and fine horses rides a fine horse in spring. The cross is in a straight line. The second day of the second month of the lunar calendar is also commonly known as the day when the dragon raises its head.

In terms of solar terms, the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar often falls during the Rain Water, Waking of Insects, and Spring Equinox, so it is also called the "Spring Farming Festival", representing that a year's farming activities are about to begin.

In addition, February 2 is also called "Outing Festival". It is said that since the Tang Dynasty, people in Chang'an would go outing in groups on this day. People would also carry baskets and shovels to dig fresh shepherd's purse as a side dish. As an auspicious day, most of the food on February 2 is named after "dragon", such as eating dumplings is called "eating dragon ears", eating rice is called "eating dragon seeds", eating wontons is called "eating longan", eating noodles is called "supporting dragon whiskers", and even steamed cakes are made into dragon scales on the surface, called "dragon scale cakes". In many places, there is also the custom of frying and eating beans, which expresses people's good wishes for the dragon's blessing, good weather, and a good harvest.

Hotspot sources:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Rs57JioigAH6Ae7ubNDLjA

Image source: Tuchong Creative

The editor has something to say: Friends, are there any local customs on the "Second Day of the Second Month"?

2. Playing with your phone for 8 minutes before bedtime can make you excited for more than an hour

As of March 4, the Weibo topic has been read 530 million times ★★★★★

According to a sleep data survey of more than 2,000 people conducted by a sleep assessment platform in the United States (sleep junkie), 78% of people claimed that they had "retaliatory sleep procrastination", that is, they had to play with their mobile phones for a while before going to bed, and as a result, they slept later and later, and felt tired when they woke up the next day.

A medical study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research believes that the blue light emitted by mobile phone screens will stimulate optic nerve cells. As long as the body is exposed to blue light for 8 minutes, it will keep the body excited for more than 1 hour, causing confusion in the biological clock. The biological clock confusion here actually refers to circadian rhythm disorders.

Circadian rhythms are collectively referred to as daily rhythms of physiology and behavior, which are mainly managed by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus. The SCN receives light signals from the optic nerve cells in the retina. When the sun rises in the morning, the optic nerves in our eyes sense the morning light, and then the SCN triggers cortisol and other hormones to wake people up. When night falls, the SCN controls the pineal gland to produce melatonin, which makes people feel sleepy and eager to sleep. Therefore, the role of the SCN is to help all organs in our body synchronize with the external day and night cycle. However, artificial lights emitted by electric lights, computers, and mobile phones may make the SCN think that it is still daytime, especially when the lights have been turned off and ready to go to bed. Turning on the phone will cause the SCN to restart the "day mode", so playing with the phone before going to bed is equivalent to saying to your body organs: "Sleep, get up and have fun"!

Hotspot sources:

https://s.weibo.com/

Image source: Tuchong Creative

The editor has something to say: The donkey in the production team can’t be used like this. It just “slept for eight minutes” and got up to work.

3. How harmful are trans fatty acids?

As of March 4, the Weibo topic has been read 26.28 million times ★★★★☆

Trans fatty acids are mostly formed by hydrogenation of vegetable oils, which is an artificial process in which the liquid unsaturated fats in vegetable oils are hardened through hydrogenation and turned into solid or semi-solid oils.

After processing, the cis-unsaturated fatty acids in vegetable oils are transformed into trans fatty acids (fatty acids are chains composed of 4 to 24 carbon atoms, and there are two forms, cis and trans). The purpose is to prevent the oil from deteriorating and improve the taste and flavor. Therefore, trans fatty acids are used by many food manufacturers. Common cocoa butter substitutes, shortening, margarine, non-dairy creamer, etc. on the market are all made from hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Since trans fatty acids are difficult to digest or degrade after entering the human body, they will remain in the blood, increasing the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol that is bad for the body, leading to various cardiovascular diseases (such as heart disease, high blood pressure) and obesity, and also affecting memory. Therefore, the state stipulates that the daily intake of trans fatty acids should not exceed 1% of the daily calories, which is about two grams.

However, in packaged foods, we usually see the content of trans fatty acids as 0, but in fact this 0 does not necessarily mean 100% absence, because according to my country's standards, if the content of trans fatty acids is less than 0.3g/100g, it can be marked as 0, so everyone should still look carefully at the ingredient list. In addition, fast food such as French fries and cream cakes also contain trans fatty acids to a greater or lesser extent, with a content of 0.8% to 33.9%, and these sweet foods are the favorite foods of children and teenagers, and long-term consumption can easily lead to obesity.

Hotspot sources:

https://weibo.com/

Image source: Tuchong Creative

The editor has something to say: There are too many temptations for children nowadays..

In conclusion:

① "Dragon" refers to the eastern blue dragon seven stars in the twenty-eight stars. At the beginning of the first month of the second spring of each year (the Big Dipper points to the east), the "Dragon Horn Star" rises from the eastern horizon, so it is called "Dragon Raising its Head";

② Although many of us like to use electronic devices to relax or entertain ourselves at night, watching TV or using mobile phones before going to bed is really not good for sleep. It is recommended to stop playing electronic products 30 minutes before going to bed and prepare for sleep;

③ The current additives in products sold through regular channels are within a reasonable range, but you should be careful to eat less, because it is not only harmful to the human body, but also takes a considerable amount of time to be metabolized in the human body.

Author: Fish

Source: Interesting Science

The picture is from the copyright library, and the picture content is not authorized to be reproduced