In the News stress keys our fight or flight response

http://www.wsj.com/articles/stress-raises-cholesterol-more-than-you-think-1454958788

Every day in my social media connections I get a flow of information about health. Many times it's just a repeat I'll things I've already heard or read. At least once a week I take a look at what's in the health knows in the papers. They're also very good sources on the Internet. But there are a lot of stories on the Internet that need fact checking and can be misleading. 

Most major newspapers now have a video reports that go along with the written articles. If you'd like to see you here your news this can be very good. In health articles many of these reports contained reporters questions any answers from experts. 

I was reading an article in Wall Street Journal concerning stress and cholesterol levels. Stress triggers sugar in our blood that will increase the cholesterol level. The doctor interviewed suggest two things that we can to lower our stress and cholesterol levels.

Thanks to Dee Moore I learned to like the WSJ. I also follow the Tribune, NYT, LA Times and Washington Post. 

“Dr. Kopecky, of the Mayo Clinic, advises patients to think of three things they are thankful for when they go to bed or wake up in the morning, to help reduce stress. 

(In interview he said every 30 minutes get up and move for 30 seconds. This will help improve your blood sugar and help reduced the cholesterol in your blood. A third thing he said in the interview was to find some time in the day several times to relax.”)

The interview information that he gave was not in the article, but it was in the video portion. I know from personal experience that a reporter will not give you verbatim what you may have said an interview, but if you could hear a tape of it, you as a reader could hear the whole thing. I don't think it's a misquote that happens in a friendly article, just a human difficulty of recalling. We tend to write what we think we hear. 

If you haven’t subscribed to electronic newspaper, consider it. Listen to the video reports that you want. The total experience is pretty cool. Keep walking

Can we help ourselves in the fight of dementia?

When I started this blog there were three things that are likely to take our lives were heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Strokes and dementia also come within those three categories. There seems to be a correlation between heart disease and dementia and strokes. One of the diseases Alzheimer's disease and other dementia there are over 44 million people are living with this condition. These aging diseases we would like to see how we can delay them, deal with them better, or even find cures. 

The good news is that we are living longer but along with that we have to go through many of these diseases. 150 years ago most of us didn't live long enough to have these problems. We look back at our family history and these diseases come up. It raises the question is there anything I can do that can help me deal with these things better than my relatives. 

My life experiences, reading many different scientific sources tells me that we've gotten better in our medicine and treatment of these diseases. We can't kid ourselves it is not just lifestyle changes. There have been many improvements, and technology, healthcare that help against the fight of these things. The cure we aren't there yet, we have recovery, remission, delays and in someways we can return to normal life for a longtime.  

CNN reported the following information. I've added to each point after the topic sentence and a number six. There is no guarantees that we can avoid dementia but there is every indication that we can delay it and maybe even avoided altogether.

When it comes to dementia here are some ideas that might help us: 

1. Look after your heart. Become familiar with the American Heart Association's diet recommendations. Taking care of your heart also helps you deal with cancer and diabetes and now they say dementia. 
2. Be physically active. Move throughout your day. Don't just sit around the get up and move every half hour or so. Be physically fit enough to take a 30 minute walk. Most people at 50 can do this. The older we are and start walking it may take a little bit time to get up to shape to do this. A 30 minute walk or even a 20 minute walk boost our immune system, helps control our blood sugar, raises are good cholesterol, cleans out our arteries and veins, helps our lungs, the increase blood flow to her extremities and is wonderful for brains and our feet. Get up pedometer and try to walk 5,000 to 10,000 steps every day. Do strength training at least twice a week, and work on your flexibility.
3. Follow a healthy diet. Learn to eat a portion diet with a three-quarter plate. Avoid seconds and practice moderation. For example limit your coffee to 2 cups, or beer and wine to one or two. Drink more water. I have looked at several studies that indicate in dementia people lived too long under-hydrated. One of the things that happens we get older is our bladder control is not as good. Instinctively we will avoid drinking so that we don't have to use the bathroom at night. But this is no good for our brain and joint health. Water by the way puts liquids into the joints and you can help you move better. So take time to read about water intake. Fruits and veggies servings remember this line, five is fine, nine is divine.
4. Challenge your brain. Keep learning and developing new pathways for your brain. Walking also helps your brain grow as you age.
5. Enjoys social activity. 25% of us deal with depression from 62 on. Loneliness happens to many seniors. So get out and enjoy people, make new friends. Dealing with loss can be very difficult as we get older. We need to keep renewing new friendships. From my experience I think it's a good idea to include a psychiatric professional to your medical team. This doesn't mean that you're nuts, but just like our organs and body has more difficulties so does our nervous system and brain. Choosing a blue sky over a blue mood is easy for me. 
6. Develop a spiritual life. You maybe set in your ways and find change hard but don't lose hope. Church life, worship, prayer, bible study have all been shown to help us as we age. This poem is true

To dwell above 

With the Saints of love 

That will be glory. 

But the dwell below 

With the Saints I know 

That is a different story.

Yes it's true there's no perfect church and doggone it, Christians do the craziest things. But I like to think it's an exact craziness we need. The expectations are for people to be perfect and yet we need a place where we can be human and grow. Most of all we need a place to learn about the Lord and hope that he's still working with us. There is nobody who is perfect in health.  Keep walking

Flashback to Liberia and the present Ebola crisis.

It has been 36 years since I lived in Liberia served as a missionary involved in educational and the medical ministries over seeing pastoring a church and planting churches in villages. Our school was in elementary school and our clinic was run by 2 nurses. Medical services in Liberia have not changed that much. There may be more doctors today. Today there is one doctor for every 71,429 people. I believe the number was little bit worse back then. 

The two American missionaries who received treatment in North Carolina, Dr. Brantley and Nancy Writebol we're working in an SIM hospital just outside of Monrovia. When I lived in Liberia SIM hospital though small if you were treated there your chances of surviving were probably the best. Their efforts not prevent them from coming down with the disease.

They just set up two locations to specialize in the care of the Ebola patients. The JFK hospital is the main Government hospital in the country. The other location sounds to me like the rubber plantation at Firestone where they would've had a small hospital. Firestone is American Company and through the years I've been generous with their care for their workers and community. 

One of the first symptoms or complaints of Ebola is a head ache and

flu like symptoms. Without a lab it's complicated because these are also the symptoms of malaria and other tropical diseases. Keep in mind how few doctors there are around and labs and lab techs. When we were there we had to use our eyes and common checklist for basic diseases. We did not use rubber gloves that I recall back then but with the two different outbreaks in the 80s and today I think rubber gloves would've been very common. Part of my job was to be a gofer to get the medical supplies that we needed. It is like a business and you got to think ahead. Any epidemic would challenge any planning. Being there  that I can see other problems that they would've had. Medical supplies sent to Africa often gets caught up into the black market. 

Where we lived is right by the L in the work Liberia on the map. There are no confirmed cases at our

location means there is no longer any medical service in that location. When we were there we served an area about the size of a Will County where I now live. We had to leave before the wars began in 1979.

Imagine working in the isolation suits in tropical heat in the 90s. This time year is the rainy season in jungle locations your water which comes from the Rainwater. In the dry season your water comes from the local streams which you have to boil and filter. Liberians themselves have very poor sanitation practices. 

For people coming in to Liberia right now to help out with the epidemic they will enter a place far different from where they came. In viral war they will need great courage. They will have to engineer the best hygiene they can and manage the medical war that may lack planning and managing. 

Ebola they say will run another 6 months which will be in the 1st part of the dry season. Right now be ready for rain every day. Nobody in the news has talked about the rainy season and the impact it makes. Most roads are very difficult this time of year. 

Be thankful that here in US we have one Doctor for 408 people. We have problems but think what it would be like if we had one doctor for every 71,000 of us. Keep walking

Commercials a good time to move - Lose 50 lbs in a year

Well searching the web today I came up with a couple different ideas I think you might find interesting. One of them this talking about moving while we watch TV. I have to admit that I don't do it enough or should do it more. Liz Vaccariello, writing for Reader's Digest shares how.

Well are you trying to prevent kidney stones going to health day if you have diet design help you're the lower your blood blood pressure what they call it the Dash diet, – dietary approaches stop hypertension it may also prevent kidney stones. Go to the following link for information. http://news.health.com/2014/03/01/diet-to-reduce-blood-pressure-may-also-stave-off-kidney-stones/

"TV going to active time could be allowed if some of us could show as much as 50 pounds in one year! How about a few sit ups or push-ups during commercials? How about a 5 pound dumbbell lifting overhead 15 times with the charm for a 60s second break? If that seems like too much, at least, don't ever take a commercial sitting down. Use every commercial is a cutie get up and move move.

Try to stand and move as much as possible while you find yourself waiting. Depending on where you are, you could march in place, do a few laps around by your house, try a few stretches, or climb a flight of stairs." Tips from by Liz Vaccariello 

The idea here is that if we move throughout today even that a little bit more in the evening when we're inclined to be sitting watching. We are actually helping ourselves to lose weight and to be more healthier with our blood circulation moving and giving less time for us to be sedimentary. New research suggests even having the time of exercise may not be enough but finding ways to move throughout the day and actually be very healthy. So keep walking

Fat man looks at what is in the health news

fit people can form clots know the signs

A perfect day for me, browsing the net and having some interesting reads. Here are some of my finds:

There is nothing wrong with caring about your kids, it may lead to happiness Recently I read an article about those who care for their parents living longer than those who don't or those who don't have someone to look out for. Turns out caring for its own sake is healthy for us.- http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/why-helicopter-moms-might-get-the-last-laugh-204223686.html
http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/are-caregivers-healthier/?_r=0

This article was all over the news which points out statins help the fight against prostate cancer -

http://news.health.com/2013/11/05/statin-use-linked-to-lower-prostate-cancer-death-risk/

Should I work out with a cold? Above the Neck OK, below the neck rest . I think if your body is talking to you, take it easy

http://www.fitsugar.com/Can-I-Work-Out-Cold-32309172

For those of you who are fitness buffs here is an article to be aware. Blood clots can actually form rather quickly, know the signs

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/outrun-danger-why-fit-women-blood-clots-170300249.html

 

If you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis aerobics can ease pain and increase function. My arthritis I know is different but both aorobis and strength training work.

http://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/features/areobic-exercises-for-ra?src=RSS_PUBLIC

If you have a health concern keep in mind the net can be helpful. Keep walking

 

 

 

 

Good news coffee drinkers

Many of us love coffee and the good news coffee in moderation is very good for us. Meridan Zerner a registered dietitian from Cooper Aerobics writes,

 "that the polyphenols in the coffee bean in combination with caffeine provide substantial reduced risk in cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and some forms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease.

While coffee can be wonderful, it can also propose a challenge when we begin to “doctor” our cup. The biggest offenders are half and half and flavored creamers. These are filled with saturated fat which is a high contributor to heart disease and inflammation."

A low fat creamer and one sweetener helps those who don't drink their coffee black to be healthy. You can read her article at

http://cooperaerobics.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/a-healthier-cup-of-coffee-a-better-start-to-your-day/

The New York Times, Paula Span reported on how we are improving care with people

From a Nancy Hermes

with C.O.P.D. and reducing hospital days. Because it is almost exclusively connected  to smoking, there is a feeling "you did this to your self buddy". This doesn't help anything but slow down research and treatment.
We know if we quit smoking we can help our care. But there are those who smoke anyway. The article goes on to say we are improving our care and that is helping those stay out of hospitals more often. If you or your loved ones suffer from C.O.P.D. I encourage you to read the article.

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/

Habits that hurt us are hard to break. I am working this summer to reduce inches on my body. My goal is to be the not so fat man walking. I was encouraged by Gary Player posing for the ESPN magazine at 77. Player has lived healthy all his life and wants to encourage people to follow his example. The magazine won't reveal his private parts and I think we will evidence of being 77. But the point is we will see a body that still has muscle and can move. I read an article Gary was reported in the Wall Street Journal where he believed health was 75% diet. His exercise routine involves about an hour a day and with reasonable modifications that is something we could aspire to in retirement.  

Diet and exercise change as we get older has the goal to improve our lives. Are we willing to do that? Keep walking