_ Medical Care Doctors & Patients Making Decisions Together By Sondra Forsyth article Shared decision-making is a concept thatΓÇÖs gaining traction in medicine, particularly in areas of health care, where patients are presented with more than one reasonable treatment option. The programs, which feature patient-education tools such as online surveys and videos, have several goals. One is to help people thoroughly understand their choices and assure them that they are making informed decisions.
_ Mental & Emotional Health Should You See a Shrink? By article By Sherrie Campbell, PhD It is often the assumption that if you go to therapy that you have serious problems you cannot manage on your own and there is something fundamentally wrong with you. In reality, if someone is attending therapy, the person tends to be on the healthier side of self-love and self-awareness. Because seeing a therapist is stigmatized many people who want to seek help, either often they donΓÇÖt, or they keep their therapy private so they do not invoke judgment.
_ Aging Well Foods That WonΓÇÖt ΓÇ£FrailΓÇ¥ You By Sondra Forsyth article By Robert Ashton M.D. With aging comes frailty. The more frail we are, the more likely we are to get sick or die from chronic illnesses including heart disease, diabetes, and other leading causes of death. If you can slow the debilitating process, then you have a shot at living not only a longer life, but a healthier one too.
Prescription Drugs prescription medicines Safety Concerns About New Drugs By Sondra Forsyth article The authors of a study published in the August 2014 issue of Health Affairs contend that when the FDA approval process for medications changed in 1992 with the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), which allowed the FDA to collect fees to expedite drug approvals, the new process may have led to the release of drugs before they could be adequately evaluated for safety issues.
_ How Safe Are Your Dietary Supplements? By Jane Farrell article WeΓÇÖre bombarded daily by commercials that promise everything from weight loss to sexual fulfillment if we just buy the dietary supplement theyΓÇÖre advertising. But how do we know whether the substance is safe, let alone effective? Here, experts from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) outline what you should know about these supposed curatives:
_ Healthy Diet & Nutrition Dehydrated? These 7 Foods Will Satisfy Your Thirst and Hunger By Sondra Forsyth article By Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, RD, LD When heat and humidity soar, keeping your body hydrated matters more than ever. Did you know you can hydrate with whatΓÇÖs on your plate ΓÇö not just whatΓÇÖs in your cup? The following foods are heavy on the water content, according to the U.S. Department of AgricultureΓÇÖs nutrient database. In several cases, theyΓÇÖre also full of nutrients that will help you fight disease. So eat up, and beat the heat with your fork. 1. Cucumbers
_ Prostate cancer Prostate Cancer Risk Calculator Online By Sondra Forsyth article A free updated calculator to help men and their doctors assess their risk of prostate cancer is available online. Developed at the University of Texas Health Science Center, the tool has had a major upgrade in order to enhance how men and their physicians better understand a man's risk of prostate cancer. A description of the update's needs and benefits is described by the Health Science Center authors in a viewpoint published online August 4th in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
_ Women's Health and Wellness Female Boomers with Asthma Face Challenges By Sondra Forsyth article An article published in the August 2014 issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), outlines the challenges faced by older women in treating asthma, and offers practical solutions to improve their care.
_ Healthy Diet & Nutrition Tree Nuts Help Lower Blood Sugar Levels By Sondra Forsyth article Eating tree nuts appears to help lower and stabilize blood sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes compared to those on a control diet, according to a study done at St. MichaelΓÇÖs Hospital in Toronto and published July 30th 2014 in the online journal PLOS ONE. Tree nuts include almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, coconuts, hazelnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, walnuts, pine nuts and pistachios. They do not include peanuts, which are legumes.
_ Medical Care Debunking Myths About Robotic Surgery By Sondra Forsyth article By Keith Chisholm, MD Robotics-assisted surgery has become enormously popular, with physicians around the world performing 1.5 million procedures from hysterectomies to heart valve repairs in 2011.
_ Mental & Emotional Health ΓÇ£Experiential ProductsΓÇ¥ Boost Happiness By Sondra Forsyth article Material items designed to create or enhance an experience, also known as "experiential products," can make shoppers just as happy as life experiences. That is the finding of research done at San Francisco State University and published online July 24th 2014 in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.
_ Aging Well Exercise Health & Fitness Healthy Diet & Nutrition 7 Strategies to Optimize Your Growth Hormone By Sondra Forsyth article By Sara Gottfried MD ΓÇ£My husband and I had the most amazing sex in years,ΓÇ¥ Martha began, slightly cautious she was oversharing. When my facial expressions suggested otherwise, she continued:
_ The Science of Therapy: More Progress Needed By Jane Farrell article Although itΓÇÖs well known that therapy helps patients with psychological disorders, researchers arenΓÇÖt clear what changes occur in the brain to relieve some of the disorders, according to a newly published paper.
_ Aging Well ThereΓÇÖs No Place Like Home ΓÇô For Growing Old By Sondra Forsyth article ΓÇ£The stairs are getting so hard to climb.ΓÇ¥ ΓÇ£Since my wife died, I just open a can of soup for dinner.ΓÇ¥ ΓÇ£IΓÇÖve lived here 40 years. No other place will seem like home.ΓÇ¥ These are common issues for older people. And, you may share the often-heard wishΓÇöΓÇ£I want to stay in my own home!ΓÇ¥ The good news is that with the right help you might be able to do just that.
_ Exercise Six Tips to Avoid Germs at the Gym By Sondra Forsyth article ItΓÇÖs frustrating when youΓÇÖre going to the gym regularly, doing a great job at healthy living, and then you get sick ΓÇô and youΓÇÖre pretty sure the elliptical machine is the culprit. Your local 24-hour fitness center is like a daycare for adults: Like any enclosed space full of people, it can be a breeding ground for viruses and bacteria. Fortunately, we can tell you how to live a healthy lifestyle while youΓÇÖre working out. ItΓÇÖs not as hard as you think, and worth the extra effort!
_ Money Matters The Documents Every Woman Should Have By Jane Farrell article ThereΓÇÖs more to managing your money than the shoebox filled with crumpled receipts under your bed. According to Patrice C. Washington, Money Maven of the Steve Harvey Morning Show, organizing paperwork and keeping track of financial and legal documents is imperative to your financial well-being. ΓÇ£It is hard to stay on top of your finances if documents are scattered about,ΓÇ¥ Washington says. ΓÇ£On top of that, many women donΓÇÖt know which types of documents they need or even where to start.ΓÇ¥
_ Cancer Center 12 Things To Do after Your Cancer Diagnosis By Sondra Forsyth article By James Tamkin M.D. and Dave Visel This article originally appeared on DemosHealth.com. It is adapted from The Myeloma Survival Guide. As a newly diagnosed cancer patient, you are beginning a long, complicated, physically and mentally taxing journey. Here are twelve things to start doing now to make your journey a little easier.
_ Beauty & Style Skin Skin Health Are Your Skincare Products Making You Sick? By Sondra Forsyth article By Diane Blum Most of us put on gloves when we clean our bathrooms, as weΓÇÖre very aware of the dangers of toxic chemicals coming into direct contact with our skin. But what about all of the synthetic chemicals that we innocently apply to our bodies? Every day we absorb self-applied toxins, and most are no further away than our bathroom make-up counter. Shampoos, soaps, deodorants, and all the many ΓÇ£de-agingΓÇ¥ skincare products we women use. How do we know they are all safe?