Heart Health 5 Common Questions About Sex and Your Heart By Jane Farrell article By Steven Nissen, MD Cleveland Clinic Patients often ask me: Is sex good for your heart? The question seems simple. The answer is complicated, in part because of the limits of what research can tell us. But we do have a strong sense that sex fits in with a heart-healthy lifestyle. Below are answers to five common questions. 1. Is sex exercise?
_ Marriage For Older Couples, HusbandΓÇÖs Health & Happiness Is Crucial By article A husband’s agreeable personality and good health appear crucial to preventing conflict among older couples who have been together a long time, according to a release written by Jann Ingmire about a study done at the University of Chicago and published in March 2014 in the Journal of Marriage and Family. The researchers found that the health and happiness of wives play less of a role in limiting marital conflict, perhaps because of different expectations among women and men in durable relationships.
_ The Personal Records You Need to Keep By Jane Farrell article We don’t like to think about suddenly becoming seriously sick or disabled. Yet it’s extremely helpful to review what you and others need to know if that happens. To have your “affairs in order” will help your family and caregivers as well as you yourself. The federal National Institute on Aging has a list that will help you and other family members be prepared for a sudden crisis. (And if you are caregiving yourself for a family member, it might be a good idea to tactfully bring up this subject.)
_ Marriage Happy Couples Can Resolve Fights By Jane Farrell article Just in time for Valentine’ s Day 2014, Baylor University psychologist Keith Sanford, Ph.D. reports that being critical, angry, and defensive isn't always a bad thing for couples having a big disagreement — provided they are in a satisfying relationship. In that case, they likely will have a "big resolution" regardless of how negative they were during the discussion, according to his study, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
_ Heart Health Spousal Supportiveness = Better Heart Health By Jane Farrell article Supportiveness from a spouse can help people fare better in their overall cardiovascular health, according to a new study. The findings, by researchers from the University of Utah, show that when partners perceive the support they get from each other as ambivalent – sometimes helpful, sometimes stressful – their levels of coronary artery calcification (CAC) tend to be high. The findings were published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Midlife Bloggers Want a Seat at the Table By blog It is that time of year again. Almost daily, I receive an invitation or update in my inbox about upcoming blogging conferences. Since I started blogging three years ago, I’ve attended my share of blog events, from small gatherings with only a handful of attendees to huge conferences with thousands of bloggers from far-flung locations. However, last year I opted out of blogging conferences and this year doing the same.
Holidays in Reflection By blog As the Holidays wind down and we slide into 2014 and a whole brand new year, I contemplate all the things I have wanted for Christmas over the past years. And now my Santa Wish List takes on a different tone from “gimme” to “leave me alone”. Christmases of yore: 5 years old: a bicycle with training wheels, paints 10 years old: Life-size Patty Play Pal (Cut off all her hair within a week), books, candy
The Love Code: 3 Things You Must Know for a Lifetime of Joy, Intimacy, and Great Sex By blog I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want a joyful, intimate, sexy, relationship that lasts forever. But we sure seem to have a difficult time making relationships work. According to relationship expert John Gottman, the divorce rate is between 43 percent and 67 percent depending on the study. That’s not very encouraging.
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.
Why Is My Husband Depressed and How Do I Help Him? By blog What we call depression has likely been around since before recorded history and has been recognized for thousands of years. Aretaeus of Cappadocia (circa 81-138 AD) is credited with the first clinical description of depression. Hippocrates, the Greek physician of antiquity, was well aware of the disease of depression and called it melancholia. Whatever we call it, depression is becoming an increasingly significant problem for men and the women who love them. Women can be frustrated and wonder why is my husband depressed?
_ 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
_ Retirement Why I'm Taking Early Retirement By Jane Farrell article By Judy Kirkwood For me, the sixties are more fabulous than the fifties. For one thing, beginning at age 59 1/2, as a sneak preview, you can access your IRA savings – if you have any -- with no penalty other than the regular tax (do it before and you’re hit with an additional 10 percent penalty). At age 62 you can apply to receive early Social Security benefits. At 65, we have Medicare and can perhaps drop our expensive healthcare insurance if we’ve been paying privately – depending on who is elected and what happens in Congress.
_ Relationships & Love John Edwards Is Guilty--Of VIolating Human Decency By Jane Farrell article To me the most compelling news to surface in John Edwards’ trial for alleged violation of campaign finance laws is the scene described last week of Elizabeth Edwards ripping off her blouse and bra and confronting her husband with evidence of her scarred life (physical and emotional - she had a double mastectomy and was battling a recurrence of her cancer). “You don’t see me anymore,” she cried, as ex-aide Christina Reynolds recounted in the federal courthouse in Greensboro, North Carolina.
_ Wills & Estates The Best Estate-Planning Tips By Jane Farrell article If you don’t have a will, you are not alone. Half of Americans don’t have a will, a living will, or financial and medical powers of attorney. Yet we know a will and other estate documents would ease our family’s burdens if something happened to us.
_ Divorce The Post-Divorce Valentine's Day By Jane Farrell article Who dreads Valentine’s Day more than single women with no romantic interest in their lives? Recently divorced women. But there is hope for a new kind of Valentine’s celebration. On a day when “I love you, darling” is shoved down our throats, maybe we should be expressing our gratitude to those who stuck by us through the valley of depression, or making the day special for our children or grandchildren.
What's The Matter With Him? By blog "He used to be the nicest guy you could imagine, now he's become moody and mean." I hear this bewildered concern from women all over the world. "She used to be gentle and caring, now she treats me like her worst enemy." Men are equally frustrated and confused. Millions of women and men are finding that something strange is happening to them when their relationship moves into midlife.
I Walked My Daughter Down the Aisle By Sondra Forsyth blog On a blazingly beautiful July afternoon in 2003, I walked my daughter down the aisle. Well, actually, it was a hill since the ceremony was on the grounds of a lodge in Montana's Glacier National Park. The point, though, is that she was on my arm and not her father's.
The Irritable Male Syndrome And Male Menopause By blog "He used to be the nicest guy you could imagine, now he's become moody and mean." I hear this bewildered concern from women all over the world. "She used to be gentle and caring, now she treats me like her worst enemy. Men are equally frustrated and confused. Millions of women and men are finding that something strange is happening to them when their relationship moves into mid-life.