Take a Facebook break

In the movie “The Social Network,” a fictional depiction of the founding of Facebook, tech entrepreneur Sean Parker, played by Justin Timberlake, remarks, “We lived on farms, we lived in cities, and now we’re going to live on the internet!”

Turns out, living on Facebook isn’t as healthy as living on a farm – not by a long shot. Two recent studies found that the more time people spent on Facebook, the more symptoms of depression they had. Researchers discovered that the reason for this was that people who were Facebook fans and fanatics spent more time comparing themselves to others – and worrying that they came up short.

But now a new study shows that you can reverse the emotional damage done by all that time on social media: Just take a break. Researchers divided study participants into two groups. The first kept up its usual Facebook activity, while people in the second quit Facebook for a week. After that time, people who had been heavy Facebook users and then stopped reported a better overall sense of well-being and life satisfaction, and folks with “Facebook envy” were especially rewarded with a better mental outlook.

So if you find yourself on social media frequently, especially if you cannot imagine an hour without checking it, take a break. Deactivate or delete the app from your phone. Taking a week to enjoy the countryside, to meet face-to-face with a friend (or friends) or to read a good book can do wonders for your self-confidence and happiness.

Insomnia? There’s an app

In Christopher Nolan’s 2002 thriller “Insomnia,” Al Pacino plays a detective who accidentally shoots his partner while trying to apprehend a suspect. His guilt, plus the never-setting Alaskan sun, rob him of sleep, even when he’s past the point of exhaustion.

But you don’t need nagging guilt and the midnight sun to suffer chronic insomnia. Fully one-third of Americans have trouble falling or staying asleep. Luckily, there’s a breakthrough treatment for chronic insomnia, called CBT-I (cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia).

The idea is to identify and replace negative thoughts and behaviors that contribute to poor-quality sleep with positive, sleep-inducing ones. And it works. Studies have consistently shown that CBT-I can help people fall asleep more easily, sleep longer and have a better quality of sleep. And it gets you off those sleeping meds, which can trigger all kinds of pseudo-awake, weird behavior and moods.

You even can do CBT-I by using an app in the comfort of your own home (although you can find a certified therapist and opt for a more personal touch). A few popular apps include Sleepio, SHUTi, Conquering Insomnia and GO!ToSleep (from Dr. Mike’s Cleveland Clinic). They all help you identify underlying issues, such as poor sleep habits, stress or negative thoughts associated with bed, and then help you tackle these problems. While you have to be committed to finding a solution to your insomnia for CBT-I to work, if you are, you may be enjoying sweet dreams within a few weeks.

Processed meat and asthma

The expression “hot diggity dog” can be traced back to at least 1928. As singer Al Jolson wrapped up his recording of “There’s a Rainbow ’Round My Shoulder,” he can be heard saying, “Hot diggity dog ... didn’t I tell you you’d love it?”

Americans love that hotdog, too, and not just at the ballpark. You spend $2.5 billion annually in supermarkets on the encased mystery meat.

But the health consequences of ingesting the processed and/or cured wiener are, well, not so hot. In 2015, the World Health Organization definitively linked eating 50 grams of processed meat a day to an 18 percent increase in colon cancer risk.

A study published in the journal Thorax found that cured meats literally can take your breath away. Researchers found that people with asthma who ate cured meat (bacon, salami, corned beef, pepperoni, pastrami and prosciutto treated with nitrites) at least four times weekly were 76 percent more likely to have worsening lung function over the length of the study, especially if they were overweight.

The problems may be from nitrites – preservatives that KO bacteria in cured meats but can cause inflammation and damage your body’s cells – or other factors in processed meats. But one thing’s for sure: If you want to hot-dog around the basketball court or down the slopes, you’ll breathe easier if you dodge nitrate-laden dogs, say “no” to lunchmeats and opt for vegetable proteins like nuts and beans, and lean proteins like skinless poultry and salmon.

This story was originally published January 15, 2017 at 8:28 PM with the headline "Take a Facebook break."