The abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that impairs health is one of the criteria that fulfills obesity. According to epidemiological data, obesity has become a worldwide public health problem that in turn would trigger additional pathologies such as cardiorespiratory dysfunctions, cancer, gastrointestinal disturbances, depression, sleep disorders, just to mention a few. Then, the search for a therapeutical intervention aimed to prevent and manage obesity has been the focus of study during the last years. As one can assume, the increased prevalence of obesity has translated to search of efficient pharmaceuticals designed to manage this health issue. However, to further complicate the scenario, scientific literature has described that obesity is the result of interaction between multiple events. Therefore, pharmacological approaches have faced a serious challenge for develop the adequate treatment. Here, we argue that a wide range of non-pharmacological/invasive techniques can be used to manage obesity, such as diets, cognitive behavioral interventions, exercise and transcranial direct current stimulation. Combining these techniques may allow improving quality of life of obese patients.

Obesity is a disease characterized by an excessive accumulation of fat in the body and it has been linked the enhancement of inflammation-related endogenous molecules, such as adenosine (AD). Since blueberries may induce anti-obesity effects, we tested the hypothesis that blueberries consumption contained in hypocaloric diet would decrease weight, BMI as well as glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides and AD levels in obese subjects. The baseline conditions of obesity-related variables were collected for all subjects prior the implementation of blueberries intake. Later, participants received a hypocaloric diet that included the consumption of blueberries (50 g/ day) during 30 days. We found that male obese subjects that consumed blueberries showed a decrease in weight, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides and AD whereas female obese subjects that ate blueberries in hypocaloric diet showed no differences in weight, BMI, glucose and triglycerides but displayed a diminution in cholesterol and AD levels. Data suggest that intake of blueberries seems to decrease some of the obese-linked parameters in male or female subjects. Importantly, blueberry consumption decreased the inflammation-related compound AD in both sexes.

No abstract

The sleep-wake cycle is a process regulated by multiple neurobiological mechanisms that in aberrant functioning provokes several sleep disturbances. Among the major categories of sleep disorders, insomnia represents one of the most reported in population. Pharmacological interventions aimed for treating this sleep disturbance include compounds such as antidepressants, antihistamines, sedative-hypnotics, among others. However, using pharmacological treatments increase undesirable side effects such as addiction to sleep-inducing drugs. Here, we review and summarize recent publications available in PubMed regarding the use of non-pharmacological/invasive means to control insomnia, including physical exercise and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Current data suggest that these two strategies efficiently manage insomnia, and in turn opens new approaches to develop therapeutical tools to diminish this pathology. Nevertheless, additional research is required to understand the neurobiological mechanism of action of physical exercise and tDCS in insomnia control.