Author: Sondra Forsyth

Sondra Forsyth is Co-Editor-in-Chief of ThirdAge.com. She is a National Magazine Award winner with scores of major magazine bylines and twelve books to her credit. Her most recent book is “Candida Cleanse: The 21-Day Diet to Beat Yeast and Feel Your Best”. Sondra was Executive Editor at “Ladies’ Home Journal,” Features Editor at “Cosmopolitan,” and Articles Editor at “Bride’s”. A former ballerina, she founded Ballet Ambassadors, an arts-in-education company in New York City, and served as Artistic Director for 16 years.

Cosmetic Procedures: Red Flags Not to Ignore

  As more and more cosmetic procedures become readily available and mainstream, it seems as if everyone is having something done. However, easy access to treatments and procedures comes with concerns. As captured on the popular TV show “Botched,” things can go very wrong with serious, even life-threatening consequences. Anyone conducting cosmetic procedures can call… Continue reading Cosmetic Procedures: Red Flags Not to Ignore

Limiting Children’s Recreational Screen Time to Less Than 2 Hours a Day Linked to Better Cognition

Limiting recreational screen time to less than two hours a day, and having sufficient sleep and physical activity is associated with improved cognition, compared with not meeting any recommendations, according to an observational study of more than 4,500 US children aged 8-11 years old published in September 2018 in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health… Continue reading Limiting Children’s Recreational Screen Time to Less Than 2 Hours a Day Linked to Better Cognition

Harvest and Dry Flowers for Year-Round Enjoyment

Enjoy your flower garden’s beauty all year long.  Harvest and dry a few flowers to use in flower arrangements, craft projects or as gifts for friends and family. Pick the flowers when they are at peak bloom and blossoms are dry. Cut flowers for drying mid-day when they contain less moisture in order to reduce… Continue reading Harvest and Dry Flowers for Year-Round Enjoyment

Sugar Content of Most Supermarket Yogurts Well Above Recommended Threshold

Yogurt may be an “unrecognized” source of dietary sugar, particularly for young children, who eat a lot of it, according to researchers who published their results in the online journal BMJ Open in September 2018. A release from BMJ notes that the evidence suggests that yogurt and other fermented dairy products aid digestive and overall… Continue reading Sugar Content of Most Supermarket Yogurts Well Above Recommended Threshold

Making Happiness Last Longer

For most people, the sense of happiness derived from a luxurious vacation, a good movie or a tasty dinner at a restaurant may seem short-lived, but what if it were possible to extend these feelings of enjoyment? Researchers from the University of Minnesota and Texas A&M University decided to explore whether the way people frame… Continue reading Making Happiness Last Longer

5 Tips When Looking for a New Job Over the Age of 40

When I look in the mirror, for the first 5 seconds I still see a twenty- year -old. Then the visible wrinkles around my eyes and jowls provide a friendly reminder that I’m not twenty anymore. At that moment in the mirror, I challenge myself physically as I don’t feel like I’m over forty, and… Continue reading 5 Tips When Looking for a New Job Over the Age of 40

Sleep Problems? Only Your Dentist May Know for Sure

Have problems sleeping? You may have a little-known condition called upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS), and your dentist may be the first one to diagnose it. That’s because your teeth may show evidence of grinding, and the dentist’s check of your mouth and back of throat might indicate the tongue, uvula, adenoids or other structures could be… Continue reading Sleep Problems? Only Your Dentist May Know for Sure

Research Shows That Busy People Make Healthier Choices

Busyness is often thought of as a modern day affliction, but it can also help you delay gratification and make decisions that benefit you in the longer-term, according to 2018 research from the global business school INSEAD. (“INSEAD” is originally an acronym for the French “Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires” or European Institute of Business… Continue reading Research Shows That Busy People Make Healthier Choices

Disaster Preparedness for Your Pet

Pets are family. Do you have a plan for your pet in an emergency? Including pets in emergency plans helps your family’s ability to respond to an emergency. Be prepared: make a plan and prepare a disaster kit for your pet. Leaving pets out of evacuation plans can put pets, pet owners, and first responders… Continue reading Disaster Preparedness for Your Pet

Hardwired for laziness? Tests Show the Human Brain Must Work Hard to Avoid Sloth

If getting to the gym seems like a struggle, a University of British Columbia researcher wants you to know this: the struggle is real, and it’s happening inside your brain. A release from the university explains that the brain is where Matthieu Boisgontier and his colleagues went looking for answers to what they call the… Continue reading Hardwired for laziness? Tests Show the Human Brain Must Work Hard to Avoid Sloth

Post Summer Blues? 5 Ways to Boost Your Mood This Fall

For many people the end of summertime means back to school and back to the grind. Companies launch into their 4th quarter which means the summer slack off season is done and it’s time to get serious as we close out the end of the year. Between the dip in temperatures, shorter days, work and… Continue reading Post Summer Blues? 5 Ways to Boost Your Mood This Fall

Heart Failure Patients with Mitral Regurgitation Benefit from Minimally Invasive Procedure

A multicenter clinical trial has found that a minimally invasive procedure called transcatheter mitral valve repair significantly reduced hospitalizations and mortality for heart failure patients with moderate-to-severe or severe functional mitral regurgitation. Findings from the Cardiovascular Outcomes Assessment of the MitraClip Percutaneous Therapy for Heart Failure Patients with Functional Mitral Regurgitation (COAPT) trial were published… Continue reading Heart Failure Patients with Mitral Regurgitation Benefit from Minimally Invasive Procedure

Diagnosing and Treating Resistant Hypertension

Resistant hypertension affects 12 percent to15 percent of patients treated for high blood pressure according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA). The statement, published in the Association’s journal Hypertension, provides a comprehensive overview of how to diagnose and treat the condition based on a review of available scientific information. A… Continue reading Diagnosing and Treating Resistant Hypertension

Anti-Inflammatory Diet Linked to Reduced Risk of Early Death

Adhering to an anti-inflammatory diet was associated with lower risks of dying from any cause, dying from cardiovascular causes, and dying from cancer in a study published in September 2018 in Journal of Internal Medicine. A release from the publisher notes that in the study of 68,273 Swedish men and women aged 45 to 83… Continue reading Anti-Inflammatory Diet Linked to Reduced Risk of Early Death

Tips for Ensuring Safe School Lunches

September is National Food Safety Education Month and with kids back in school, now is a good time for parents to become knowledgeable about how to prevent foodborne illness from school lunches—whether packed at home or purchased in the school cafeteria. Stop Foodborne Illness, the leading national advocate for safe food, is shining the spotlight… Continue reading Tips for Ensuring Safe School Lunches

A Psychiatrist’s Take on Why We Can’t Get Rich

We hate to lose. Ever search for hours for something you lost, and spend a fortune in time when you could have replaced it cheaply and easily? Or replace it only to find it later, and hate yourself for replacing it? Marketers and businesses know how to exploit our fear of loss — just think of eBay’s… Continue reading A Psychiatrist’s Take on Why We Can’t Get Rich

Mixed Chemicals in Beauty Products May Harm Women’s Hormones

As we go about our daily lives, we are exposed to many different chemicals that could have negative effects on our hormones. These hormonal changes have been linked to several adverse health outcomes such as breast cancer and cardiovascular disease. Therefore, understanding chemicals that influence hormone levels is important for public health–and particularly for women’s… Continue reading Mixed Chemicals in Beauty Products May Harm Women’s Hormones