_ Alzheimer's Disease and other Dementias Brain Health Pomegranate Tx for AD, PD, & RA By Sondra Forsyth article The onset of Alzheimer's disease can be slowed and some of its symptoms curbed by a natural compound that is found in pomegranates, according to the findings of a two-year project headed by scientist Dr. Olumayokun Olajide, at the University of Huddersfield in the UK. Also, the painful inflammation that accompanies illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson's disease could be reduced by the pomegranate drug. The study was published in August 2014 in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.
_ Stroke ThirdAge Health Close-Up: ΓÇ£I Felt Like I Was Buried AliveΓÇ¥ By Sondra Forsyth article As told to Sherry Amatenstein, LCSW On October 17, 2010 shortly after her 49th birthday Allison OΓÇÖReilly didnΓÇÖt feel like herself. The McLean, Virginia author of Out of Darkness explains, ΓÇ£My left arm hurt all day. I took Advil. That night the room started spinning, my ears were ringing, and I felt really sick.ΓÇ¥
_ Sleep Health Why the Elderly Have Trouble Sleeping By Sondra Forsyth article As people grow older, they often have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, and tend to awaken too early in the morning. In people with Alzheimer's disease, this common and troubling symptom of aging tends to be especially pronounced, often leading to nighttime confusion and wandering.
_ 5 Food-Drug Interactions You Want to Avoid By Sondra Forsyth article By Leah Shainhouse You have heard it again and again: Adapt to a healthy lifestyle. If you make sure to eat well, a plethora of diseases can be prevented or managed. However, there are times when you walk into your doctorΓÇÖs office, either for a routine check-up or for some sort of ache or pain and you have no choice. You walk out with another prescription, whether it is to help lower your cholesterol, control your blood pressure or fight off an infection.
_ Relationships & Love Connection is the Key to Positive Personal Relationships By Sondra Forsyth article By Lynne DΓÇÖAmico, PhD You can improve communication without improving a relationship, but you canΓÇÖt create connection without improving a relationship. Communication has been hailed as a ΓÇ£holy grailΓÇ¥ to interpersonal relationships, and is routinely promoted as the way to improve relationships between spouses, children, parents, and work colleagues. As years of research show, communication is definitely an important dimension of any relationship. But communication isnΓÇÖt the key to fixing relationship problems. Connection is.
Why Our Minds Are Velcro for the Bad, but Teflon for the Good By blog Most everyone has at least one traumatic memory embedded in their brains. One that still resonates for me was the time my mother left me alone when I was six years old to take the baby sitter home. When I looked apprehensive, she told me not to worry. ΓÇ£IΓÇÖll be right back,ΓÇ¥ she said smiling brightly and drove off. As it got dark I became more and more frightened that something had happened to her and she wasnΓÇÖt coming back. By the time she returned I was totally terrified. She found me standing outside wailing. She scolded me and took me inside.
_ Multiple Sclerosis: 5 Things You Should Know By Jane Farrell article MS can happen to just about anyone. The central nervous system disorder affects your brain and spinal cord. But it spares the nerves and muscles that lead away from the spinal cord. Nearly 350,000 people in the United States have MS. MS is a long-term illness. Infection-fighting white blood cells enter the nervous system and cause injury by stripping off the myelin sheath that protects nerves. When this happens, the nerves cannot conduct electricity as well as they should. This causes symptoms.
_ Caregiving Managing Dementia Related Personality Changes By Sondra Forsyth article AlzheimerΓÇÖs disease causes brain cells to die, so the brain works less well over time. This changes how a person acts. Here, from the National Institute on Aging, are suggestions that may help you understand and cope with changes in personality and behavior in a person with AlzheimerΓÇÖs disease. Common personality and behavior changes you may see include: ΓÇó Getting upset, worried, and angry more easily ΓÇó Acting depressed or not interested in things ΓÇó Hiding things or believing other people are hiding things
_ Mental & Emotional Health Risky Work Scenarios Make Women Anxious & Less Competent By Sondra Forsyth article Risky situations at work increase anxiety for women and hurt their job performance, according to a study done at Stanford University and presented at the 109th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association in August 2014 in San Francisco. On the other hand, study author Susan R. Fisk found that anxiety did not raise anxiety levels for men and that menΓÇÖs job performance was unaffected.
_ Using a Computer to Help Treat Mental Health By Jane Farrell article Experts are developing a genetic computer model that may eventually predict whether a patient going to suffer from a mental illness, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The researchers, from the University of Texas, Arlington; the University of Illinois; and the Beijing Genomics Institutes in Wuhan, China, published their findings in the journal Biomed Research International.
_ Brain Health Digital Literacy Reduces Cognitive Decline By Sondra Forsyth article Congratulations, ThirdAge fan! The fact that you are at your computer reading this means that you are among the digital literati ΓÇô and that accomplishment promises to lower your risk of cognitive decline as you age. Researchers led by Andre Junqueira Xavier at the Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina in Brazil have found that the ability to engage, plan, and execute digital actions such as web browsing and exchanging emails can improve memory. The results were published in July 8th 2014 in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Medical Sciences.
_ Grandparenting Kid's & Teen Health Mental & Emotional Health Parenting Can Fiction Heighten Empathy? By Sondra Forsyth article If you read stories to your grandchildren and also read fiction for your own pleasure, you may be improving the ability of both the children and yourself to understand what other people are thinking or feeling. ThatΓÇÖs the finding of a study presented on August 7th 2014 at the American Psychological Association's 122nd Annual Convention in Washington D.C. by psychologist Raymond Mar from York University in Canada.
Can A Person Ever Be Fully Prepared to Care for Someone with Alzheimer's? By Jane Farrell blog Earlier this year, I attended a caregivers conference at the University of Minnesota. The morning keynote speaker was absolutely terrific ΓÇö an engaging, informed speaker who was also funny and self-deprecating.
_ Mental & Emotional Health How We Form & Change Habits By Sondra Forsyth article Much of our daily lives are taken up by habits that we've formed over our lifetime. An important characteristic of a habit is that it's automatic-- we don't always recognize habits in our own behavior. Studies show that about 40 percent of people's daily activities are performed each day in almost the same situations. Habits emerge through associative learning. "We find patterns of behavior that allow us to reach goals.
_ Pain Management If You've Been Diagnosed with Shingles By Jane Farrell article Shingles is a disease that affects nerves and causes pain and blisters in adults. ItΓÇÖs caused by the same varicella-zoster virus that causes chickenpox in children. After you recover from chickenpox, the virus doesnΓÇÖt leave your body, but continues to live in some nerve cells. For reasons that aren't totally understood, the virus can become active instead of remaining inactive. When it's activated in adults, it produces shingles. Most adults live with the varicella-zoster virus in their body and never get shingles.
_ Healthy Diet & Nutrition Fast Food Redeemed: Beyond Burgers and Fries By Sondra Forsyth article By Dr. Kevin J. McLaughlin Across the United States, North America and throughout the world, the impact of the fast food industry has really overtaken our collective culinary culture. It has driven demand, competitive pricing for fast meals and disease rates right through the roof in the U.S. To put it bluntly, fast food is one of the main reasons why Americans are getting fatter, sicker, and living with high morbidity as they age. This trend is also occurring within a much younger demographic than ever before.
_ Sex The Foods of Love By Jane Farrell article By Eve Marx Aphrodisiacs are aromatic foods, recipes and potions believed to be sexual and sensual enhancers found in nature. Many of these potent love tools and libido lifters have been in use for centuries. There are dozens of known aphrodisiacs in the world. Is it time for you to learn about some of them? Essential oils that do more than smooth
_ The Mathematics of Happiness By Jane Farrell article Scientists have developed a mathematical model to measure happiness, and that may eventually lead to better treatments for mood disorders. Researchers from University College London used the equation to analyze the happiness of more than 18,000 people worldwide. As a result, they found that moment-by-moment happiness is due not only to how well things are going but whether they are going better than a person expected.