_ Exercise 5 Best Tips to Get Started Doing Yoga By Sondra Forsyth article By Judi Bar, E-RYT 500, and Dawn Lorring, PT, MEd, MPT, CSCS, SCS Some people think as they get older, they just get less flexible. But yoga can counteract this tendency and do so much more to keep you feeling good.
_ 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.
_ Heart Health Painless AFib Treatment By Sondra Forsyth article A technique called cardiac optogenetics achieves defibrillation without the pain of electric shocks, according to research presented on July 4th at Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology (FCVB) 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. The meeting is organized by the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in collaboration with 13 European cardiovascular science societies.
High blood pressure / hypertension Blood Pressure Monitoring Kiosks Aren't for Everyone By Sondra Forsyth article Convenience can come with tradeoffs. The next time you put your arm in the cuff at a kiosk that measures blood pressure, you could get an inaccurate reading unless the cuff is your size.
Life in a Sandwich By blog About a third of all AlzheimerΓÇÖs and dementia patient caregivers are living their lives ΓÇ£sandwichedΓÇ¥ between caring for their loved one and raising their own children or grandchildren. With women often having their children later, and with so many young adults moving back into the nest, more families are finding themselves dealing with multi-generational caregiving challenges.
_ Aging Well Caregiving Medical Care Long-Term Care Must Be Improved By Sondra Forsyth article As millions of Americans struggle to help loved ones with dementia, policymakers should consider more ways to improve long-term services and supports for the soaring numbers of people with the debilitating condition and their caregivers, according to a new RAND Corporation study done in June 2014. Thereport also offers possible ways to achieve those goals.
_ Friendship Friends and Your Health By Jane Farrell article Friendships can have a major impact on your health and well-being, but it's not always easy to build or maintain friendships. Understand the importance of friendships in your life and what you can do to develop and nurture friendships. What are the benefits of friendships? Good friends are good for your health. Friends can help you celebrate good times and provide support during bad times. Friends prevent loneliness and give you a chance to offer needed companionship, too. Friends can also: Increase your sense of belonging and purpose
_ Heart Health A Better Assessment Tool For Heart-Disease Risk By Jane Farrell article An international team of researchers has created a heart disease risk assessment tool designed to better evaluate the likelihood of heart disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. People with rheumatoid arthritis are twice as likely as the average person to develop heart problems.
_ Depression LInked to Quicker Progression of Alzheimer's By Jane Farrell article Late-life depression could be a major risk factor for developing AlzheimerΓÇÖs more quickly than those who arenΓÇÖt depressed. The finding was presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. ΓÇ£Our results clearly indicate that mild cognitively impaired subjects with depressive symptoms suffer from elevated amyloid-levels when compared with non-depressed individuals,ΓÇ¥ said the studyΓÇÖs principal scientist Axel Rominger, MD, from the department of nuclear medicine at the University of Munich in Germany.
_ Caregiving Early Palliative Support Helps Cancer Caregivers By Sondra Forsyth article Dartmouth researchers have found that those caring for patients with advanced cancer experienced reduced depression and felt less burdened by caregiving tasks when palliative support services were offered soon after the patient's diagnosis. The team presented the findings at the American Society of Clinical Oncologist (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago on June 3rd 2014.
_ Sleep Health Sleeping in Sync When the Wife is Happy By Sondra Forsyth article A study done at the University of Pittsburgh suggests that couples are more likely to sleep in sync when the wife is more satisfied with their marriage. Results show that overall synchrony in sleep-wake schedules among couples was high, as those who slept in the same bed were awake or asleep at the same time about 75 percent of the time. When the wife reported higher marital satisfaction, the percent of time the couple was awake or asleep at the same time was greater.
Aging Well Latest Developments in Aging Research By Sondra Forsyth article The 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Aging Association (AGE), held May 30th to June 2nd 2014 at the Westin Riverwalk Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, featured the latest scholarship and research findings in the field of aging research from more than 70 leading experts. The event has long been recognized as a launching pad for researchers to share cutting-edge discoveries into the underlying mechanisms of the causes of aging as well as the possible breakthroughs in finding ways to increase healthspan.
_ Exercise Night Owls Tend to Be More Sedentary By Sondra Forsyth article A study done at Northwestern University in Chicago suggests that night owls are more sedentary and feel that they have a harder time maintaining an exercise schedule. The research abstract was published in June 2014 in an online supplement of the journal Sleep, and presented on Wednesday, June 4th in Minneapolis at SLEEP 2014, the 28th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.
_ Women's Health and Wellness Preventive Surgery Can Have Serious After-Effects By Jane Farrell article Women with the cancer-causing BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations have a number of serious issues that need to be monitored following preventive surgery, researchers say. A study from the University of Pennsylvania examined the after-effects of a preventive hysterectomy - known as risk-reducing salpingo-oopherectomy (RRSO).
_ Prostate-Cancer Radiation Has Some Dangers By Jane Farrell article Prostate-cancer patients who have received radiation treatment appear more likely to develop bladder or rectal cancer, new research shows. And while the number of cases is relatively low, investigators said that patients should still be monitored for those illnesses. ΓÇ£Overall the incidence of these cancers is low. But when men have received radiation treatments, itΓÇÖs important to evaluate carefully any symptoms that could be a sign of bladder or rectal cancer,ΓÇ¥ says senior study author Kathleen A.
Aging Well Seniors Have Roomies, Too By Jane Farrell article By Judy Santamaria, MSPH Most of us know that loneliness isn't good for us -- but as we age, many of us find our circle of friends and family diminishing in size for various reasons. Sometimes consciously, sometimes not, loneliness can creep in, and begin to affect our spirits in a less-than-healthy way. Recently, I've been hearing about some really interesting ways seniors are stacking the deck in their own favor to combat loneliness associated with aging, and I wanted to share a few of them with you here.
_ Hep C Not a Survival Threat for HIV+ Patients with Ca By Jane Farrell article Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia analyzed data from HIV+ patients diagnosed with lymphoma, collected over 17 years, to better understand how Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection influences survival outcomes. Study leader Stefan K. Barta, MD, MS, MRCP presented the group's findings at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in June 2014 in Chicago.
_ Travel Germs on a Plane By article If youΓÇÖre planning a summer trip that involves air travel, be sure to bring along plenty of hand sanitizer. According to data presented in May 2014 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, disease-causing bacteria can linger on surfaces in airplane cabins for up to a week.