The perfect woman of the periods before World War II were strikingly different from our "ideal" model/actress today. Although fads changed over the years -- idealized chest sizes became larger and smaller, waist sizes ranged from corseted wasp waists to quite fleshy -- female ideals always included substantial hips and thighs.

   Actual men, especially working-class men, have frequently held a different practical taste than women, the upper-classes, artists, and fashion editors. With respect to individual taste, men seem to prefer women who have prominent secondary sex characteristics (breasts, hips, soft skin, lack of body hair, spacing between the inner thighs at the crotch) and who look healthy. Moreover, both men and women look for different physical charactersitics in a potential lifemate than in a more casual relationship. Women, for example, who are sexually attracted to masculine facial features (strong jaw, heavy beard, squarish face), generally will prefer somewhat less masculine features in a potential husband. One theory is that a woman will seek a man who looks like he will bond with the family; another rather more cynical theory is that a sexually attractive man is more likely to attract and be tempted by other women. Women who like angelic features (large liquid eyes, little facial hair) will similarly prefer features closer to the norm for a husband. You can no doubt devise theories to explain this as well as the "experts".

    The taste for heavier women is fairly easy to understand -- getting enough food was still a major challenge for working people, a high level of caloric activity was the norm, and health was more likely to be compromised by malnutrition than by obesity. Tiny corset waists, when they were popular, were generally the province of the rich.

   But the point is, until recently, women almost universally were not distressed by normal female weight distribution in the haunches. They may have fretted over their chests -- at various times of history padding to expand, bandaging to compress, or accentuating with difference brassiere and bodice types -- and they may have fretted over their waists, even to the point of painful and disfiguring corsets. But the unhealthy practice of finding hips and thighs unattractive seems to belong almost exclusively to modern times. (Not to say that the shape of hips has not been important. This relates to youth and health rather than taste, and Western women have often sought to raise and tighten the hip area, even to the extreme of the late Victorian bustle.)

   Primarily for women. We try to recommend books that are oriented to both genders, but Apples & Pears is such a help for so many women, and so relevant to the waist-hip ratio, that we decided to highlight it here.

   Although most women understand intuitively whether their bodies tend to store fat around their waists (forming an apple shape) or lower down around their hips, thighs, and buttocks (forming a pear shape), few women understand the dramatic impact body shape has on their current health and risk of future disease. Marie Savard gathered decades of research to demonstrate that these two categories of women-apple-shaped and pear-shaped-are as physiologically different from each other as women are from men.

   Every aspect of a woman's life is affected by her shape, including her ability to lose weight, her fertility, severity of menopausal symptoms, response to birth control pills and hormone replacement, emotional volatility, body image, and long-term risks of breast cancer, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, osteoporosis, and eating disorders. This book offers women specific medical monitoring, hormonal choices, nutritional and exercise recommendations based on body shape and individualized health goals. It is easy to read and it seems to be a huge help to a number of women.

-- reviewed by Emma Roberts

   Cortisol, manufactured in the adrenal gland, is an important hormone with widespread physical effects. Normally, it begins to rise in the morning before we wake up and peaks in mid-morning, then declines slowly all day. (It is partially regulated by light and dark, due to a special connection between the retina and the hypothalamus.) The lowest level occurs about 3-5 hours after we go to sleep. It is one reason why most people feel alert and refreshed in the morning, and then taper down. When produced normally, it is highly beneficial; it puts us in a "productive" mode during working hours, then switches us to a "maintenance and repair" mode during resting hours.

   Like its more powerful, shorter-term cousin adrenaline, cortisol is released in reaction to stress as well as in the normal day-night cycle. Under prolonged or chronic stress, the adrenal cortex will continue to produce and higher amounts of cortisol almost indefinitely, with ill effect on long-term health.

   Cortisol creates nearly the opposite effect of insulin: it promotes breakdown of fat cells, and discourages lowering of blood sugar and retention of blood sugar as fat. This may help explain why late-night eaters tend to be fatter than those who eat early in the day. It increases blood pressure. It also lowers activity in our immune system; in fact, under the name "hydrocortisone", cortisol is often given to treat autoimmune problems, such as gout and inflammation. It lowers bone growth and changes nerve chemistry so that the nerves are ready to fire quickly -- a reason extremely agitated people will tend to shake.

   For reasons not fully understood, overproduction of cortisol increases fat storage in the upper body. At the same time, it lower HDL (good) cholesterol production and raises harmful blood lipids.

   Excess cortisol is thus partly responsible for the problems caused by long-term stress: heart disease, diabetes, insomnia, nervousness, high blood pressure, illness due to lowered immunity, osteoporosis, muscle breakdown, etc. You need cortisol to be productive during working hours and to protect you during times of danger; you also need daily periods of low cortisol levels, so that your body can repair itself and stay healthy.

    If you need to work night shifts for more than a few days, it is especially important to try to help your body adjust its daily cortisol cycle. Sleep in the darkest room you can manage, and try to work in bright ambient light. Try to make the period before you sleep the most stress-free part of your day. Above all, do all you can to get enough sleep. Think of your waking time like a train trip: do you want a train that averages 60 mph for 16 hours, or one that averages 30 mph for 18 hours? Refusing to let your body stop for its required 8 hours of maintenance (or whatever your individual sleep need may be) every day will, ultimately, result in less total productive output -- not to mention misery and ill health.