_ Alzheimer's Disease and other Dementias Brain Health Pomegranate Tx for AD, PD, & RA By Sondra Forsyth article The onset of Alzheimer's disease can be slowed and some of its symptoms curbed by a natural compound that is found in pomegranates, according to the findings of a two-year project headed by scientist Dr. Olumayokun Olajide, at the University of Huddersfield in the UK. Also, the painful inflammation that accompanies illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson's disease could be reduced by the pomegranate drug. The study was published in August 2014 in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.
_ Stroke ThirdAge Health Close-Up: ΓÇ£I Felt Like I Was Buried AliveΓÇ¥ By Sondra Forsyth article As told to Sherry Amatenstein, LCSW On October 17, 2010 shortly after her 49th birthday Allison OΓÇÖReilly didnΓÇÖt feel like herself. The McLean, Virginia author of Out of Darkness explains, ΓÇ£My left arm hurt all day. I took Advil. That night the room started spinning, my ears were ringing, and I felt really sick.ΓÇ¥
Energy Therapies Offer Support in Healing for Cancer Survivors By blog Reiki and Healing Touch are two energy therapies designed to support and nurture your body, mind, spirit and emotions. For cancer survivors, energy therapies work in harmony with your standard medical care and treatment. Reiki is a touch therapy that promotes relaxation and enhances healing within the body. Reiki therapy is done in a relaxed setting (seated or lying) by gentle touch on specific areas of the body.
_ Antibacterial Soap May Be Unhealthy By Jane Farrell article Antibacterial soap may not have the health benefits you thought: A new study shows that washing with the soap exposes hospital workers to a high level of the potentially unsafe levels of the chemical triclosan.
Coming Next Week! August 25th to August 29th 2014 By Sondra Forsyth article HereΓÇÖs a sneak preview of the articles, slideshows, and blogs weΓÇÖll be posting during the coming week on ThirdAge, the biggest and best site for ΓÇ£boomer and beyondΓÇ¥ women since 1997. As always, weΓÇÖll bring you the latest information from top experts about maintaining a healthy body, mind, and spirit as you navigate both the challenges and the joys of being a ThirdAger.
_ Sleep Health Why the Elderly Have Trouble Sleeping By Sondra Forsyth article As people grow older, they often have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, and tend to awaken too early in the morning. In people with Alzheimer's disease, this common and troubling symptom of aging tends to be especially pronounced, often leading to nighttime confusion and wandering.
_ Pain Management Which Alternative Headache Remedies Are Safe? By Jane Farrell article Depending on the severity of their condition, headache sufferers may take over the counter medications or prescription remedies. Many ΓÇ£alternativeΓÇ¥ treatments are available as well. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), researchers are continuing to study the effectiveness of these treatments. While some of these widely-touted remedies may not work as advertised, others are effective. Here, from the NCCAM, is a rundown of the current research on alternative remedies for headaches:
_ Yoga Can Sharpen Your Mind By Jane Farrell article Regular practice of yoga can improve older adultsΓÇÖ performance of cognitive tasks, according to new research. Investigators from the University of Illinois found that eight weeks of hatha yoga classes, three times a week, led to speedier and more accurate performance on tests of information recall, mental flexibility and task-switching than before the patients had taken the yoga class.
_ The Newest IBS Medicines By Jane Farrell article Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is an often misunderstood and underdiagnosed condition that affects about 15.3 million people in the United States. No one remedy works for all patients, so thereΓÇÖs a great medical need to develop new therapies for IBS, Andrew Mulberg, M.D., a gastroenterologist with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said in one of the agencyΓÇÖs ΓÇ£Consumer UpdateΓÇ¥ articles.
_ 5 Food-Drug Interactions You Want to Avoid By Sondra Forsyth article By Leah Shainhouse You have heard it again and again: Adapt to a healthy lifestyle. If you make sure to eat well, a plethora of diseases can be prevented or managed. However, there are times when you walk into your doctorΓÇÖs office, either for a routine check-up or for some sort of ache or pain and you have no choice. You walk out with another prescription, whether it is to help lower your cholesterol, control your blood pressure or fight off an infection.
_ Relationships & Love Connection is the Key to Positive Personal Relationships By Sondra Forsyth article By Lynne DΓÇÖAmico, PhD You can improve communication without improving a relationship, but you canΓÇÖt create connection without improving a relationship. Communication has been hailed as a ΓÇ£holy grailΓÇ¥ to interpersonal relationships, and is routinely promoted as the way to improve relationships between spouses, children, parents, and work colleagues. As years of research show, communication is definitely an important dimension of any relationship. But communication isnΓÇÖt the key to fixing relationship problems. Connection is.
_ 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.
_ Medical Care Those with Not Long to Live Still Get Screenings for Cancer By Sondra Forsyth article A substantial number of older patients with limited life expectancy continue to receive routine screenings for prostate, breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer although the procedures are unlikely to benefit them, according to the authors of a study done at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by Trevor J. Royce, M.D., M.S. and colleagues.
_ Heart Health Good Neighbors May Curb Heart Attack Risk By Sondra Forsyth article Although some studies suggest that the factors such as area violence and noise can negatively affect cardiovascular health, few studies have looked at the potential health enhancing effects of positive local neighborhood characteristics. This prompted the authors of an article published in 2014 in BMJ to track the cardiovascular health of over 5000 US adults with no known heart problems over a period of four years, starting in 2006. Their average age was 70, and almost two thirds were women and married (62%).
The Comparison Trap By blog If you are like most women, you spend way too much time comparing yourselves to others, wishing you were young-er, smart-er, pretty-er, thin-er, creative-er, rich-er, and the list goes on and on. Instead of embracing your own unique gifts, you covet those of your friends or co-workers. Instead of loving who you are, you allow your shameless self-critic to sabotage your thoughts with ΓÇ£youΓÇÖre not good enough,ΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£you need to be more, do more, appear more and give more.ΓÇ¥
Camp Reunion in Paradise By blog New Hampshire in the summer. Wolfeboro, on Lake Winnipesaukee to be exact. Picture if you will a pristine setting of pines and large granite boulders along the edge of a lake that is so clear you can see the white sand bottom until you run out of sunlight. It has 228 islands, it is 182 miles around the lake but only 63 miles if driving. The road cuts out a lot of coves and peninsulas. And it is 20.8 miles long and at the widest 9 miles. The surface area is 72 square miles. Found in the central part of New Hampshire, the lake is about 504 feet above sea level.
Why Our Minds Are Velcro for the Bad, but Teflon for the Good By blog Most everyone has at least one traumatic memory embedded in their brains. One that still resonates for me was the time my mother left me alone when I was six years old to take the baby sitter home. When I looked apprehensive, she told me not to worry. ΓÇ£IΓÇÖll be right back,ΓÇ¥ she said smiling brightly and drove off. As it got dark I became more and more frightened that something had happened to her and she wasnΓÇÖt coming back. By the time she returned I was totally terrified. She found me standing outside wailing. She scolded me and took me inside.
_ Progress in Fighting Tough Tumors By Jane Farrell article Spanish researchers have found the strongest proof yet that inhibition of a gene could be used to fight cancerous tumors. Research led by the Vall dΓÇÖHebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Barcelona, found that the inhibiting mutations of the Myc gene could be accomplished via the drug Omomyc. That inhibitor was designed by Laura Soucek, Principal Investigator of VHIO┬┤s Mouse Models of Cancer Therapies Group. The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.