You’ve probably heard or read that eating less can help you live longer. I had, too, but never with a good explanation of just why that would be. It turns out that medical researchers didn’t really know why, but now they think they do.

As the news story explained, it is not enough just to eat less. Starving yourself will not work. You have to lower your calorie intake but keep the same level of nutrients.

The only way I know of to do that (assuming you don’t live on junk food) is to take vitamins and other nutritional supplements. How about you?

12-inch car subwoofer (sub bass) speaker. Image via Wikipedia

Noise really does harm your health. New medical research shows what we all know intuitively.

Many cities have banned the so-called “boombox cars” with huge speakers that dominate the whole neighborhood with sound. That is, the laws say the sound of your stereo should not be heard more than 50 feet from your car. Some cities have also banned the use of subwoofers, the subsonic speakers that make your windows vibrate and can cause structural damage to buildings.

The laws are a good idea, but it is hard to get them enforced. Apparently most police officers either disagree with the laws or consider them too trivial to bother with.

Earlier studies had shown that the human brain can cope with only three noise sources, and only for a short time. Concentration is impaired, and eventually the brain just shuts down, and we can no longer think. It’s not just being “overly sensitive,” though some are more affected by sound than others. It is a physical process that we need to be aware of.

Researchers have now found that continous or repeated noise over 50 decibels can damage your heart.