ΓÇ£White Coat EffectΓÇ¥ on BP Is True By Jane Farrell article Doctors routinely record blood pressure levels that are significantly higher than levels recorded by nurses, according to the first thorough analysis of scientific data on the so-called “White Coat Phenomenon”. The study was done at at the University of Exeter Medical School in the UK and published in March 2014 in the British Journal of General Practice.
40 Steps to Making a Bed... And Other Lessons in Caregiving By blog One recent morning, a clinical manager who helps train aides at the home care agency where I work, shared with me a lighthearted comment that she'd overheard from one of her newest trainees. "Who knew making a bed was so complex?" the aide had said. That got me thinking -- and counting.
_ Money Matters Is It Smart To Buy A Condo? By Jane Farrell article Editor’s Note: As we get older, many of us think about downsizing from a house to a condo, because it’s easier to manage our lives in a simpler place. And we’d like to save as much money on home repairs as possible, because fixed incomes and Medicare don’t cover all essential expenses. Sometimes, though, the decision to buy or lease a condo isn’t as clear-cut as you’d like. Here, from a top expert, are some smart questions to ask yourself before making a move.
Caregiving Caregiving Challenges: Bathing and Personal Hygiene By article By Diane Blum As Alzheimer’s progresses, poor hygiene can often become more than just an unpleasant issue. It can have medical consequences, such as bacterial infections including UTIs. Gastroenteritis and other health issues can also occur, some quite serious to an immune system weakened as Alzheimer’s progresses.
_ Stretchable Antenna for Wearable Health Monitors By article Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new, stretchable antenna that can be incorporated into wearable technologies such as health monitoring devices to keep track of blood pressure, oxygen in the blood, and pulse rate. The paper is published online in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
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?
_ Why Food Is Your "Frenemy" By Jane Farrell article By Sherrie Campbell Is food your “frenemy?” Food can be the best friend and comfort you have when you are down or just want to feel something because you are bored. Yet after you eat, you’re consumed with self-loathing. Suddenly, food is the enemy. This is no way to live or to let something outside of you have this much control over how you feel about yourself. It’s not a simple issue, but you can start having a better relationship with food – and yourself – if you understand all the complexities involved:
Aging Well Beauty & Style Exercise The Secrets to Banishing Back Fat By article By Soriyya Bawa When it comes to anti-aging fitness, the back area can sometimes be one of the hardest areas to tone. According to anti-aging fitness gurus, a lot of women forget to include the muscles in their upper and middle back in their total body workouts, resulting in poor posture and the visible appearance of back fat. Poor lifestyle habits and ill-fitting clothing often contribute further to the problem.
_ Smart Phone Could Help Doctors to Diagnose Illness By Jane Farrell article Along with all their other functions, smart phones may soon be able to diagnose diseases in real time. Researchers from the University of Houston are developing a diagnostic system that could be read using only a smart phone and a $20 lens attachment. This new device, like essentially all diagnostic tools, relies on spotting specific chemical interactions between something that causes a disease – a virus or bacteria, for example – and a molecule that bonds with that one thing only, like a disease-fighting antibody.
_ Osteoporosis Osteoporosis and Strength Training By Jane Farrell article By Neil Short, Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach Osteoporosis is called the “silent disease” and for good reason. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF), more than 50% of women over the age of 50 have it, and few will know until they fall and break a bone. And it doesn’t stop there. The NOF estimates that a full 20% of seniors who break their hip will die within one year from complications due to surgery or recovery, and most end up in nursing homes well before their time.
_ Sleep Health How to Keep Your Body from ΓÇ£Falling BackΓÇ¥ By Jane Farrell article By Julia Samton, MD
_ Avoiding Hospital Readmission After Surgery By Jane Farrell article Patients with post-surgical complications are likelier to be readmitted within 30 days than are those that don’t have the complications, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery. The research also found that using a simple online tool can help health-care practitioners predict which patients are at high risk of readmission.
_ Dress in Blue Day: Colon Cancer Awareness By article Friday, March 7th 2014 is the annual National Dress in Blue Day. The event takes place in conjunction with National Colon Cancer Awareness Month. A release from The Colon Cancer Alliance reports that one in 20 Americans will be diagnosed with colon cancer, leading to more than 50,000 deaths every year. That’s why the organization is urging individuals, businesses and community groups across the country to participate in the nationwide Dress in Blue Day.
10 Things You Should Expect From Your Doctor By article By David Longworth, MDof the Cleveland Clinic You just waited two hours for a doctor who’s running late. Once in the office, the doctor zips through a jargon-filled speech, orders a test, writes a prescription and sends you on your way. You leave in a cloud of confusion, realizing that you never even asked a question.
_ Is Your Hearing Getting Worse? By Jane Farrell article From NIH SeniorHealth.gov. Hearing loss, a common yet complex problem, involves both the ear’s ability to detect sounds and the brain’s ability to interpret those sounds, including speech. Several factors have to be taken into account to determine how much of an effect hearling loss will have on quality of life. They include: *the degree of the hearing loss *the pattern of hearing loss across different frequencies (pitches) *whether one or both ears is affected
How to Love an Angry Man: Understanding and Helping Your Partner By blog We all get angry at times. When we feel we’re threatened we react with anger. But we know people who get overly angry or their anger causes problems with their relationships at home or at work. I was one of those people. I wrote two books about how it impacted me and how I learned to help myself and my clients: The Irritable Male Syndrome: Understanding and Managing the 4 Key Causes of Depression and Aggression and Mr. Mean: Saving Your Relationship from The Irritable Male Syndrome.
_ Curbing Antibiotic Rx for UTIs in Hospitals By article A simple change in how the hospital laboratory reports urine culture results may help improve antibiotic prescribing practices and patient safety, according to a proof-of-concept study conducted in 2013 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto and published online in March 2014 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
High-Calorie Diet Could Slow Lou GehrigΓÇÖs Disease By Jane Farrell article Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS), commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rapidly progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder affecting the nerve cells that control muscle movement. Patients gradually lose the ability to control the body's muscles, including those that control breathing. This leads to respiratory failure and death on average about three years after patients are diagnosed.