Karen Weintraub

Q: Are whole grains as beneficial if they are ground up, for example, as in smoothies, or made into flour as in cereal? A: Whole grains are good, whether served whole or ground up, experts say, but with a few caveats. Some product labels will suggest that they contain whole grains when they really don’t, warned Maria Elena Rodriguez, a dietitian and diabetes expert with the Mount Sinai Health System. Read the label carefully and make sure that whole grains — and not sugar or

Q: Can nightmares or upsetting dreams cause a heart attack while sleeping? A: There are case reports of people with no previously known risks having a heart attack after a nightmare, though they appear to be quite rare. No studies have been done to determine just how rare nightmare-induced heart attacks might be, and experts do not know whether they may result from the pulse-racing effects of the frightening dream itself. Click here to read this on NYTimes.com Nightmares are

Tischbeinahe Q: There’s been lots of coverage lately about meeting exercise recommendations by completing small chunks of exercise throughout the day rather than one, continuous session. Does the same hold true for meeting sleep recommendations? A: No. Unfortunately, sleep does not work that way. Substituting periodic naps for one consolidated night of sleep creates severe sleep deprivation, said Dr. Daniel Buysse, a sleep expert and professor of psychiatry at the University