Your health: That's what we look like?

Your body in detail

Don't get all self-conscious, but your body is strange-looking. At least it is at a microscopic level, says The Washington Post.

In his new book, “The Human Body: Close-up,” Firefly Books, John Clancy zooms in on our organs, compiling more than 300 images of the human body snapped at high magnification.

They look amazing — but not particularly human. At times, leafing through the book feels like paging through images of deep-sea exploration. The rod and cone structures in our eyes and the cilia in our throats resemble the flora that sprout up on a coral reef.

At 300x magnification, hair follicles seem like the sci-fi version of a redwood forest. The deeper we go, the more abstract it gets.

And it's all right there, inside us.

Weight-loss benefit

Losing weight reduces the risk factors for many diseases, especially cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. Shedding just 10 pounds, for example, can lower blood pressure. Weight loss also lowers blood sugar and improves cholesterol levels.

Now, it looks like a new benefit can be added to the list. Losing weight can reduce urinary incontinence in women who are overweight or obese, according to Harvard Medical School. In a randomized trial funded by the National Institutes of Health, moderate weight loss in a group of heavy women who undertook a six-month diet and exercise program cut the frequency of urinary incontinence episodes by nearly a half.

Improving sleep

Quitting cigarettes and spurning alcohol before bed may help remedy poor sleep quality, according to a Japanese study.

Pack-a-day smokers get 10 minutes less sleep a night than nonsmokers, researchers at Kyoto's Doshisha University found, according to Bloomberg.

Alcohol also is a poor sleep aid, according to the sleep foundation. The chemical disrupts one's ability to enter the deeper, more restful stages of sleep, it says. The study of adult men found that those who consumed at least 60 grams of alcohol a day, or the equivalent of 1½ liters of beer, were likely to wake 1½ times more during the night than those who limited intake to less than 20 grams.

The research suggests simple lifestyle changes could yield longer, more restful sleep, said Atsuko Nakazawa, head of Doshisha University's health center. The stimulating effects of nicotine, tobacco's addictive component, may delay sleep and cause nightmares and problems waking, according to the U.S. National Sleep Foundation in Arlington, Va.