Health: Body News.

BODY news

Sleeping Soundly

Listening to soft, relaxing music at bedtime can make people rest easier. ?Hui-Ling Lai, a professor of nursing from Taiwan doing research at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, recruited 60 people who had trouble sleeping. Half listened to their choice of sedative music for 45 minutes while in bed in the dark; the others went to sleep without music. Over three weeks, self-reported sleep quality steadily improved only for the music listeners, who fell asleep faster, slept longer and more deeply, and experienced less daytime drowsiness. They also had lower nighttime heart and respiratory rates. Lai suspects that relaxing music may aid sleep by reducing the bodyis levels of stress hormones.

46%

of adults surveyed said ?they are very pleased with their facial appearance.

Bug Repellent

Some people attract mosquitoes more than others, and investigating the reason why could lead to the creation of a novel bug spray. At Rothamsted Research Center in Hertfordshire, England, scientists observed mosquitoesi reactions to air tainted by the odor of volunteersi hands. Chemicals from people whose odors repelled the insects were then collected and analyzed, ?and when a mix of these was sprayed on people who normally attract mosquitoes, the bugs lost interest. (The smell was undetectable by the human nose, however.) According to the lead researcher, James Logan, trials are ?now under way to ...