_ Too Hot For Your Health By Jane Farrell article Almost every summer, there is a deadly heat wave in some part of the country. Too much heat isnΓÇÖt safe for anyone, and itΓÇÖs even riskier if youΓÇÖre older or have health problems. ThatΓÇÖs why itΓÇÖs important to get relief quickly, and even better, to prevent overexposure in the first place. Being hot for too long can cause several illnesses grouped under the designation hyperthermia:
_ Mental & Emotional Health Say Yes to NO! By Sondra Forsyth article By Jaime Kulaga, Ph.D., LMHC No has gotten this bad reputation. “No, you can’t do that.” “No, it’s too hard.” “No, I don’t have time.” “No, I’m too old.” “No, I’ll do it some other time.” I am sure that you have said some of these statements before. And, yes, when it comes to stopping a life dream, skipping out on a risk, or self-sabotaging with the word “No,” ….YES that IS negative. In fact, saying “No” all the time could skew people’s opinions of you, making them think you are a pessimist or have a negative attitude. I get it.
_ 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.
_ Medical Care Pharmacists Could Boost Drug Adherence By Sondra Forsyth article Community pharmacists can dramatically help their patients stick to their prescription regimens, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. The findings, published on August 4th 2014 in Health Affairs, suggest also that greater adherence to medications can lead to a reduction in emergency room visits and hospital admissions, thereby lowering health care costs for a variety of chronic conditions including diabetes and asthma.
_ Is It A Sore Throat - or Strep? By Jane Farrell article If youΓÇÖre not sure whether youΓÇÖve got strep throat ΓÇô or just a sore throat ΓÇô the experts at the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have some answers. Sore throats, which can be either mild or severe, have a variety of causes. Some of them, the CDC experts say, include viruses, bacteria, allergens, irritants, post-nasal drip and fungi. But whatever the reason, the result is the irritating and painful condition known as sore throat. Most cases will heal without treatment. But others, including strep throat, may need antibiotics.
5 Surprising Reasons a Good Relationship Is the Best Stress Reliever in the World By blog The stress response was our secret weapon for success through most of human history. It saved our lives, making us run from predators and enabling us to take down prey. The problem is that we are no longer responding to a wild animal attack that might occur once every six months, but instead we are dealing with hundreds of stresses every day. Human beings are turning on the same life-saving physical reaction to cope with aging parents, unhappy teenagers, costly gasoline, increasing food prices, traffic jams, and job insecurity.
_ Vision Health How to Know You Need Bifocals or Progressives By Sondra Forsyth article A gradual loss of the ability to see well up close is a natural part of aging. The condition is called presbyopia, from the Greek for ΓÇ£elder eyeΓÇ¥. If you already wear glasses or contact lenses for distance vision because you have myopia, the medical term for nearsighted, youΓÇÖll need to switch to a new prescription. Options include bifocals, vari-focals, and progressives. For contacts, you could also choose monovision in which one eye is corrected for distance and the other is corrected for close work.
_ Healthy Diet & Nutrition Controversy Over Changes to Food Labels By Sondra Forsyth article To help Americans make better decisions about what they eat, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year proposed significant changes to the Nutrition Facts label found on nearly every food product in the U.S. An July 2014 article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS), explains the suggested updates ΓÇö and the fight that has ensued.
_ Osteoarthritis Omega-3 Lessens Severity of Osteoarthritis By Sondra Forsyth article Mice consuming a supplement of omega-3 fatty acids had healthier joints than those fed diets high in saturated fats and omega-6 fatty acids, according to Duke Medicine researchers. The findings, published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases on July 11th 2014, suggest that unhealthy dietary fats ΓÇô not just obesity ΓÇô may contribute to worsening osteoarthritis.
_ Sex Restarting Your Sex Life By Jane Farrell article Normal aging brings physical changes in both men and women. These changes sometimes affect the ability to have and enjoy sex. A woman may notice changes in her vagina. As a woman ages, her vagina can shorten and narrow. Her vaginal walls can become thinner and also a little stiffer. Most women will have less vaginal lubrication. These changes could affect sexual function and/or pleasure.
_ Aging Well Caregiving 3 Tips for Choosing an Assisted-Living HomeΓÇ¿ for Your Parents By Sondra Forsyth article By Peder Johnsen Seventy percent of people age 65 and older will need long-term care at some point in their lives, according to a 2014 study by CareScout, a division of Genworth Financial Services. But that doesnΓÇÖt mean they have to sacrifice quality of life. In fact, a person who needs some assistance with day-to-day living will often find he or she is much happier in a good assisted-living community with an atmosphere that reminds them of their former home.
_ 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.
Simple Minded By blog This is the seventh blog in a series. To read the earlier entries, click here: Archive: The ThirdAge Romance Saga of Sally Franz. The great thing about living in a place that is a vacation destination is that everyone finally wants to come visit me. Not so when I lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma or Tarboro, NC. Not saying those places don't have their peculiar charm, but living next to a national park trumps azaleas and magnolias (in 104 degree heat) big time.
_ 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:
_ Warm-Weather Food Safety By Jane Farrell article ItΓÇÖs the height of picnic and barbecue season, but these festivities can quickly go sour if your food isnΓÇÖt safe. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), each year about 1 in 6 Americans get sick from tainted foods. Most foodborne illnesses last only a short time. At the same time, foodborne diseases kill about 3,000 people nationwide each year. Those especially at risk include infants, older people, and people with weakened immune systems.
_ Heart Health Women With a Heart Attack Fare Worse Than Men By Sondra Forsyth article While awareness campaigns may be getting women to go to the hospital more quickly during a heart-attack, a new look at hospital data shows women have longer hospital stays and are more likely than men to die in the hospital after a heart attack. For the study published online July 21st 2014 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers from Yale School of Medicine analyzed 230,684 hospitalizations for heart attack in patients age 30 to 54 from a total of 1.1 million hospitalizations reported in a national database from 2001 to 2010.
_ 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.
My FatherΓÇÖs Stay at GodΓÇÖs Hotel: A Slow-Medicine Approach to Healing Mental Illness By blog ItΓÇÖs been a long journey to come to peace with my fatherΓÇÖs life and how it has impacted my own. I was born on December 21, 1943 in New York City. My parents had tried to conceive for many years, but had been unsuccessful. They finally were successful when my father was 37 and my mother was 35 following a procedure where my fatherΓÇÖs sperm was injected mother, a radical approach back then.