Bonitas Member Magazine 2018 - B-Living Issue 1 | Page 6

HEALTH bits Boost your brainpower by chewing gum If you don’t have time for your morning coff ee or if you’re having an especially busy morning and need to focus, try chewing a piece of gum to improve alertness. Researchers at Coventry University have found that chewing mint-flavoured gum can dramatically decrease feelings of tiredness, while other studies have suggested that chewing gum can improve memory by up to 35 percent. Balance hormones with spearmint tea For ladies suff ering from hormonal problems, including acne or facial hair, research has shown that spearmint tea can be an eff ective natural treatment that has anti-androgen properties, which are often responsible for hormone imbalances. Turkish researchers found that drinking two cups of spearmint tea a day reduced levels of male sex hormones in the body, which could be good news for women currently relying on medicine to help control excessive hair growth or acne. Mondays may be bad for your heart Did you know heart attacks occur more often on Mondays than any other day of the week? This fi nding comes from a European 10-year study that found Mondays’ heart attack death toll is 20% higher than other days of the week. The reasons for this are not clear, but some people consider it’s stress associated with a return to work that causes the attacks. Page 5