healthy living for women + their families
Among older people without depression, apathy may be an indicator of significant brain changes, according to new research.
“Just as signs of memory loss may signal brain changes related to brain disease, apathy may indicate underlying changes,” said Lenore J. Launer, PhD, with the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
To help manage your body weight, you need to reduce the amount of time you spend being sedentary. For many of us, that includes time (lots of it) spent in front of a screen, whether you’re watching TV, playing video games or using the computer. A sedentary lifestyle can easily lead to excess weight and even obesity, with its myriad health risks.
“Low-calorie” menus may not be so healthy after all, because they can lead people to eliminate good foods right away, a new study shows.
“People have come to expect low-calorie food to taste bad or not fill them up,” write authors Jeffrey R. Parker (Georgia State University) and Donald R. Lehmann (Columbia University). “We propose that by calorie organizing a menu, restaurants make it easier for people to use the general ‘low-calorie’ label to dismiss all low-calorie options early in the decision process.”
Researchers have come up with a way of measuring the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, and the discovery could lead someday to consistent diagnosis and even treatment for the condition.
Your skin changes with age. It becomes thinner, loses fat, and no longer looks as plump and smooth as it once did. Your veins and bones can be seen more easily. Scratches, cuts, or bumps can take longer to heal. Years of sun tanning or being out in the sunlight for a long time may lead to wrinkles, dryness, age spots, and even cancer. But there are things you can do to protect your skin and to make it feel and look better. Here are tips from the National Institute on Aging:
Dry Skin And Itching
Editor’s Note: Millions of us have just suffered through one of the coldest, snowiest winters ever. But now spring is here (even if it’s still snowing in some unlucky parts of the country). It’s great that winter’s over, but here’s the bad news: the spring allergy season is gearing up. Anyone who’s suffered from this common problem knows how irritating it can be. What’s more, if you have allergies, they’ll find you no matter if the weather is wet or dry.
Using the high altitude of Mount Everest, scientists have expanded our understanding of how low oxygen levels in the body are linked with Type II diabetes.
The research, led by investigators from the University of Southampton in the UK, was published in the journal PLOS One.
Beautiful Easter lilies can be deadly news for your cats, and the FDA is warning pet owners about the dangers.
The white, trumpet-shaped Easter lily, a popular gift and home decoration, symbolizes Easter and spring for many people. But you need to be careful about these blooms, including Tiger, Asiatic, Day and Japanese Show lilies.
A major new discovery confirms the role of some virus-fighting enzymes in cancer development.
The research furthers the understanding of the biological processes that cause cancer.
One group of genes, the APOBEC family, controls enzymes that fight off viral infections. But scientists have speculated that these enzymes are also responsible for a distinct signature of mutations that is present in approximately half of all cancer types.
Lower blood-sugar levels may make married people likelier to be angry at their spouse, new research shows.
In a 21-day study, researchers found that blood glucose levels, measured each night, predicted how angry people would be toward their spouse at that time.
After the study ended, people with the lower blood glucose levels were also shown in a lab experiment to be more willing to subject their spouse to unpleasant noises than those with higher glucose levels.
For most tobacco users, tobacco cravings or urges to smoke can be powerful. But you're not at the mercy of these tobacco cravings. When an urge to use tobacco strikes, remember that although it may be intense, it will be short-lived, and it probably will pass within a few minutes whether or not you smoke a cigarette or take a dip of chewing tobacco. Each time you resist a tobacco craving, you're one step closer to stopping smoking or other tobacco use for good. But it can be difficult.
Ugh…heartburn again? If that’s your mantra after meals or as you fall asleep, you may have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
In GERD, the valve between your lower esophagus and stomach weakens. This sometimes lets food and stomach acids back up into your esophagus. The result is usually a burning sensation behind the breastbone, or heartburn. But GERD can also cause other symptoms: hoarseness, chest pain, a dry cough, the sensation that food is caught in your throat.
A Problem For All Ages
In a new assessment of the state of medical malpractice, the American College of Physicians (ACP) said that although the cost of liability insurance has leveled off, doctors still “fear litigation” and “expect lawsuits.”
Molly Cooke, MD, FACP, president of ACO, also said that physicians feel “the psychological burden of navigating the complex medico-legal system.”
A sick, elderly patient who is considering risky surgery needs comprehensive help in the decision process, according to an analytical piece published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Laurent G. Glance, M.D, professor and vice-chair for research in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, said that a team approach would lead to better care that’s in accordance with the patient’s values.
Want to try eating smaller? These tips from choosemyplate.gov can get you off to a great start:
We’ve all been guilty of “portion distortion” – of believing that we’re eating a lot less than we actually are. Avoid that trap by figuring out how big your portions really are:
The doctor will then perform a physical examination, looking for signs of illnesses that can affect sleep, including Parkinson’s and heart disease. If your doctor feels more information is needed, he or she may refer you to a sleep center for more testing.
Medicare Patients And Low-risk Medicare patients who are getting home health care appear to benefit from medication management therapy conducted via phone, but that procedure doesn’t work for higher-risk patients, a new study shows.
The study, conducted by researchers from Purdue University, aimed to see which patients benefit the most from medication management via telephone.
Researchers have found that the snack food ingredient olestra speeds up toxin removal from the body.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Cincinnati’s medical school, was published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.
Olestra is a zero-calorie fat substitute found in low-calorie snack foods such as Pringles. Researchers said it could reduce the levels of serum polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in people who had been exposed to PCBs.
High PCB levels have been linked to hypertension and diabetes.
