 by Renata Smith, MPH We already know that lack of sleep is bad for your health. Chelsea Jenter and Elizabeth Cespedes highlighted how screen time limits sleep and that poor sleep is associated with obesity, poor cognition, and children’s behavior. Much of this prior literature has focused on the impact of television screen time on children’s sleep, especially the presence of TVs in children’s bedrooms. But what about small screens (smart phones, iPads, iPods, etc.)?
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 by Avik Chatterjee, MD When I first met him, Mr. Smith had just moved into a motel room re-purposed as a homeless shelter, with his four children. He was anxious and distracted, his eyes darting from me to the door, to the children’s clothes folded up on the bed.
“This morning I had to get my kids to school, meet with my housing worker, figure out why MassHealth won’t accept my application, and to top it all off, I know my blood pressure and blood sugar are out of control. Doc, I won’t lie to you, life’s been so difficult this past year, I haven’t taken my medications at all.”  The FDA recently released two new regulations that provide instructions to restaurants, grocery stores, vending machines and other food establishments for how they will have to comply with the law compelling them to post calories on menus. The idea motivating this law and regulations is that if consumers are aware of the calories of their purchases, they may make lower calorie choices. Is this true? Does the posting of calories or other nutritional information affect consumer choice? And if so, does the nature of the posted information make a difference?
 by Kristina Lewis, MD Ask 10 friends or patients who have successfully dieted in the past year what their strategies were, and you’re likely to get 10 different answers. With choices ranging from Atkins and Ornish to the dubious blood type diet, there are so many unique weight loss strategies available that it is difficult to keep track of them all. Despite the cornucopia of options for weight loss, it turns out that the secret to long-term weight loss maintenance involves far less variety. Keeping weight off is not about jumping on board with the latest trend. It has more to do with making some simple changes and sticking with them for the long haul. As it turns out, when thinking about how to keep weight off, “boring” may be the best strategy.
 by Chelsea Jenter, MPH Your thoughts, beliefs, and expectations about what you are eating may actually influence how your body processes food. The idea that weight loss is just a numbers game – calories in versus calories out – may not be as simple as we once believed. Previous blog posts by Stephanie Linakis and Avik Chatterjee refer to the challenges and complexity of diets and food choices. A 2011 study in Health Psychology further complicates things by suggesting that your mindset about the food you are eating can influence how full or hungry you are after you eat it.
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