_ Age-Related Obesity Explained By article If you’ve found that you’re packing on more pounds as the years go by even if your calorie intake and activity level remain about the same, you’re not alone. Now research published in the January 2014 issue of The FASEB Journal shows that as we age, the thermogenic, or heat-producing, activity of brown fat is reduced. Brown fat is a "good" fat that helps burn "bad" white belly fat. The researchers also discovered a possible metabolic on/off switch that could reactivate brown fat.
Brain Training Works ΓÇ£With a CatchΓÇ¥ By Jane Farrell article Do online exercises, games, software, and apps designed to “train your brain” really work? University of Oregon psychologists say, yes, but "there's a catch." The catch, according to Elliot T. Berkman, a professor in the Department of Psychology and lead author on a study published in the January 1st 2014 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, is that training for a particular task does heighten performance, but that advantage doesn't necessarily carry over to a new challenge.
The Two Secret Ingredients Most Men Lack That Keep Them From Becoming Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise By Jane Farrell blog “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” This quote is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin since it appeared in his Poor Richard’s Almanack, though the idea was likely around much earlier. Most of us could use some help with our health, our money-flow, and our wisdom. There are many things that can help us achieve our goals, but I think there are two things that are vitally important, but are often neglected in our liv
Keeping Passion Alive, Part V: Love 2.0, Seven Secrets for Life-Long Sex and Intimacy By blog Editor's note: This post is the fifth in Jed's series about keeping passion alive in your relationship. Click here to read the previous posts.
Two Fears That Are Bad for Your Health By blog If you suffer from chronic health problems, your distress may be rooted in the fear of poverty and the fear of criticism. These two terrorists can keep you stuck in a job or business you hate, and relationships that drain the life out of you. To get past these gatekeepers to healthy living, confront your fears head on. Once you look at what you fear and why, you can take the action that moves fear out of the way.
The Truth About Relaxation Techniques By Jane Farrell article The National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), advocates relaxing as an antidote to stress but offers some guidelines so you can avoid ineffective strategies:
_ Divorce Getting Past Betrayal By Jane Farrell article By Judy Kirkwood “The most important thing about me was that for quite a chunk of my life I was divorced. It was a fact that stayed with me even after I remarried. I have now been married to my third husband for more than 20 years. But when you've had children with someone from whom you're now divorced, that split defines everything; it's the lurking fact, a slice of anger in the pie of your brain.” Nora Ephron
Why I Hate Exercising in the "Great Outdoors" By Sondra Forsyth blog I recently ran across yet another article extolling the virtues of working out in "nature." The author made gushing references to the wonders of sunshine, fresh air, gentle breezes, and a change of scenery. She did not, however, mention dangerous UV rays or ragweed or pollution or disease-bearing bugs or sudden thunderstorms or blistering heat. As far as I'm concerned, the list she ignored is a very good argument for sticking with indoor exercise – mall walking, dance classes, Pilates, the gym, or simply exercise videos right in your own home.
Your Man and Stress: Saving His Sanity and the Only Brain He'll Ever Have By blog Although we have known for some time that stress can cause damage to the heart, the gastrointestinal tract, and other parts of the body, we have recently learned that stress can actually damage the brain. J.
_ What You Might Not Know about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome By Jane Farrell article By Judy Kirkwood An estimated 12 million Americans suffer from the painful nerve disorder of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). We’ve heard the term so much that it might start to seem as if CTS is simply something you should live with. But investigators are working on new ways to prevent and cure it.
_ Mental & Emotional Health Emotional Recovery After Public Trauma By Jane Farrell article By Judy Kirkwood Horrific events like the shootings in a Colorado movie theater and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin affect not only those directly or peripherally involved, but also many people who only hear about them on the news. “Such events leave most of us feeling vulnerable, helpless, sad and anxious,” says Linda Ligenza, a consultant to the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. These killings, unlike those in war, happened in ordinary and familiar settings. This could have been me, we think.
_ Overactive Bladder (OAB) & Incontinence Managing "Urge Incontinence" By Jane Farrell article By Judy Kirkwood If you experience the urge to urinate day and night, even though you just went to the bathroom, you may have Overactive Bladder (OAB). A collection of urinary symptoms, the most prominent being an uncontrollable urge to urinate even though the bladder isn’t full, OAB affects millions of Americans. Although up to 40 percent of American women and 30 percent of men have been identified with OAB, there may well be more people who suffer from it because people don’t like to discuss this kind of problem.
_ Alternative Health My Acupuncture Treatment By Jane Farrell article Earlier this year I completed a six-week trial of acupuncture to see if it would banish the pain in my butt from Piriformis syndrome, an inflammation of the sciatic nerve. It didn’t fix that, but it did do something else that I hadn’t experienced with massage or chiropractic treatment (and certainly not with ibuprofen). And I did feel better.
_ Exercise ThirdAge Health Close-up: Pilates By Jane Farrell article By Judy Kirkwood I’m doing Pilates machines workouts by the process of elimination. I’ve tried and given up just about everything else. For the last year, my friend’s words have echoed in my guilt chamber: “Just pay the money and do Pilates machines classes. They work!”
_ Senior Health Medicare Provision Helps Boomers Stay Well By Jane Farrell article By Judy Kirkwood If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as Ben Franklin noted long ago, shouldn’t our health system reward and emphasize prevention rather than the cure? In fact, just a few days ago the Obama administration hired a PR firm to conduct a public education campaign about the utilization of preventive benefits and services included in the Affordable Care Act.
_ Overactive Bladder (OAB) & Incontinence Urinary Health Dr. Marie's Help for Incontinence By Sondra Forsyth article A 2008 article in the New England Journal of Medicinearticle revealed that 25 percent of perimenopausal women and 40 percent of postmenopausal women report leakage of urine. ThirdAge medical expert Marie Savard, M.D., author of "Ask Dr. Marie," says that the main causes of this annoying condition are decreased estrogen levels and aging pelvic muscles that are losing strength. She adds that obesity can exacerbate the condition, as can asthma, diabetes, a chronic cough, and medications such as diuretics, antihistamines, and antidepressants.
Mental & Emotional Health What We've Learned On ThirdAge Forums By Jane Farrell article Join the discussions of thirdage.com articles and other topics on our Forum. Click on the orange FORUMS link on the subjects banner at the top of our home page or click the “Join the Conversation!” link at the bottom of most articles. Take a look at the funny, wise and wonderful conversations you’ve been missing:
_ Mental & Emotional Health When You Love An Addict By Jane Farrell article How many times have I heard variations of this in the last two weeks? “I can’t understand why Whitney Houston would overdose/abuse drugs/get so drunk, when she had been through treatment and achieved sobriety, a child who needed her, a great career, people who loved her, and such a strong faith.” In fact, I was sitting next to a Miami news anchor at dinner the other night who said the same thing.