Google has rolled out Flu Trends (www.google.org/flutrends), which uses computers to process millions of Internet searches people make for keywords that might be related to the flu — for instance “thermometer” “cough,” or “fever.” Flu Trends displays the results on a map of the U.S. and shows a chart of changes in flu activity around the country. Historical flu trend data are also overlayed. The x-axis of the graph represents the months of the year. Flu activity is represented in the y-axis. The data is meaningful because the Google division that created Flu Trends found a strong correlation between the number of Internet searches related to the flu and the number of people reporting flu symptoms.

Source:
http://www.google.org/flutrends

Reliable study of more than 1,200 Japanese adults with high blood pressure found that people who slept for less than 7.5 hours each night were more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke or die of cardiac arrest over a 4-year period. Man women who slept less than 7.5 hours per night experienced a 68% higher risk of heart attacks, cardiac arrest or strokes.

“Short sleepers” — people who fail to have a blood-pressure dip that normally occurs overnight were at even higher risk.

Waiting for latest study to appear in PubMed.gov

Other studies …

Eguchi K, Ishikawa J, Hoshide S, Pickering TG, Schwartz JE, Shimada K, Kario K. Night Time Blood Pressure Variability Is a Strong Predictor for Cardiovascular Events in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.  Am J Hypertens. 2008 Oct 2.