HAIR-TRIGGER DIABETES

          Check the state of your pate: Young men with thinning hair are at greater risk of diabetes, according to a new study.  Researchers at the Institute of Endocrinology, in Prague, analyzed the blood of two dozen men and found that those who began balding before 30 were more likely to be insulin resistant—than men with hair to spare.  Tests also showed that as the baldies’ levels of follicle-stimulating hormone decreased, their insulin resistance increased, meaning a hormone deficiency may have been at work.  If you see scalp in your 20s, get fasting blood glucose test: Levels over 100 milligrams per deciliter signal trouble.

SOCK IT TO INSOMNIA

          Why pop a pill when you can dress to drift off?  Socks may help you fall asleep faster, say Dutch researchers, who measured how long to look for eight healthy people to fall asleep on six different occasions, changing what they wore and did prior to lights-out.  The only factor that mattered: pulling on a pair of socks.  Compared with when they were barefoot, people who wore socks conked out 27 percent faster.  “Increased in the temperature of your feet signal neurons in your brain that cause you to fall asleep,” says lead author Roy Raymann, Ph.D.  Wait until just before bed; people who warmed their feet early didn’t see the same benefit.

ALLERGY LITE

We may be in the dark ages of allergy treatment.  In a study by the Asthma Foundation of Western Australia, when mice were exposed to ultra-violet (UV) light and to a known allergen, they had fewer symptoms than rodents not exposed to light.  UV rays may suppress immune cells that trigger attacks.  Scientists hope to harness the benefits of UV light while avoiding its pitfalls.