Healthy Aging: Body, Mind & Spirit

Be careful with the radiation in your life!

Having done extensive research into how we have been entirely too casual about the uses of x-rays and general radiation exposure in our nation’s history, I now wish to caution you to question every x-ray your doctor or dentist recommends.

Remember exposure to radiation from any source is not safe for the human cell at any level.

Need more proof?  There is ever increasing evidence that an increase in the cases of thyroid cancer in American women may be linked to too many dental x-rays.

This is not to say that we cannot learn phenomenal amounts from new technologies.  It’s just that there may be better methods of gathering the same information.

Please see this great new article about the various technologies being used to see the inner workings of our bodies.  Here’s the latest research into body scans. And remember MRI’s are not radiation based like x-rays and CT scans.  Try to minimize your exposure to radiation, because it isn’t completely safe at any level!

Do boomers still get high?

Check out the new article over at Boomer Cafe for more information on this.

Exciting new research on stroke recovery!

Did you hear about the new “melodic intonation therapy” for stroke victims?  Therapists are now using music therapy to re-learn the ability to speak.  What a GREAT IDEA!    Check it out!

What is an anti-inflammatory diet?

Within the human body, inflammation can be good or bad. It’s good when you stump your toe or cut yourself. Your immune system kicks in, quickly sending white blood cells along with other substances to jump start the healing process.

But inflammation is not so good when it becomes a chronic irritant within your body, especially one  that you aren’t fully aware of.  This invisible type of inflammation may increase your risk of developing many common illnesses like heart disease, auto immune ailments (lupus or rheumatoid arthritis) and even some cancers, diabetes, and stroke.

Here’s what scientists think is happening in your body when you go for years with chronic inflammation. The on-going inflammation damages your blood vessels thus increasing your risk for heart problems. In the case of cancer, chronic inflammation may damage your genes and increase the development of blood vessels that let cancer cells grow and spread.

Inflammation raises the level of what’s called C-reactive protein or CRP for short. The liver produces CRP during periods of inflammation, so it makes sense that in times of increased  inflammation, your CRP level will be elevated.  With a simple blood test, we can now measure inflammation levels.  The blood test is called the hs-CRP which stands for high-specificity C-reactive protein.

What can you do to control the inflammation level in your own body?  Change your diet!  A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirmed that eating a Mediterranean-style diet decreased your inflammation levels, particularly in people with metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of unhealthy medical concerns that include excess weight around your middle, abnormally high cholesterol and LDL levels, high blood pressure and raised blood sugar levels.

The Mediterranean diet consists of:

Less trans fats and saturated fats. These unhealthy fats found in meat and dairy products, not only raise your lousy cholesterol level (LDL) but also promote inflammation.  Eat less of these and replace them with healthy oils such as canola, olive and peanut oil which contain more monounsaturated fat, the healthier choice.

Much less sugar, corn syrup and other simple carbs. These toxins make your blood sugar level spike which leads to increased inflammation.  Read labels and cut down on all processed foods.  Eat more whole grains and high fiber foods such as beans, peas, lentils, and oatmeal.

More Omega-3 fats. Omega-3 fats which include fish such as salmon and tuna, canola oil, flaxseed and walnuts help counteract inflammation. Add nuts and avocados to your diet, because these are good sources of monounsaturated fat which appears to be anti-inflammatory.

Increase the number of fruits and vegetables that you eat each day. The antioxidants they contain such as vitamins A, C and E along with all the naturally occurring healthy phyto-nutrients seem to ramp down the inflammation process in the body.

How aging changes sleep patterns

Not sleeping well? It’s a common complaint.   Sixty-four million Americans report at least occasional bouts of insomnia, and the anxiety of waking up in the middle of the night can be maddening.

Psychiatrist Thomas Wehr has one consoling message for those who regularly wake up at 2 a.m.: This is likely the way our ancestors slept.

“There are historical records of people sleeping in two bouts at night,” Wehr explains. They called the first bout dead sleep, and the second was called morning sleep. The wakeful period in between was referred to as watch or watching.

Before the days of artificial lighting, a winter day could bring 14 hours of solid darkness. People lived from sun to sun.

Dr. Wehr was curious as to what might happen if he put busy Americans into that environment. How would they sleep?  His sleep study found that most of us sleep in two bouts of concentrated sleep — with a wakeful period in the middle, lasting a few hours.

“You might think that lying awake for two hours would be a kind of torture,” Wehr says. “But it wasn’t at all.”  The people in the sleep study described it as a kind of quiescent, meditative state.

Sleep Patterns

To many of us, the notion of staying in bed — or in the dark — for 12 hours may seem a ridiculous waste of time.   In modern culture, we’ve adapted to a more efficient way of sleeping, consolidating it all into one long stretch.

This works for most people, but as we age, sleep changes.  “Sleep tends to be more fragile in general as we age,” says Mary Carskadon, Director of chronobiology and sleep research at Brown University.

One way to assess the age-related changes in sleep is to look at brain waves.  “When we’re young, we have a lot of very high, slow brain waves at the beginning of the night,” Carskadon says.   “And that seems to be the best, most restorative kind of sleep.”

But as the decades go by, these peaks diminish. If adolescent brain waves are the Himalayas, then by early adulthood, we’re experiencing the Rocky Mountain peaks. And as we reach elderhood, think Appalachians or just foothills.

As we age, it’s easier to wake us, Carskadon explains, “because those high, slow waves are very protective for disturbances in the environment” — things such as a snoring partner, or a barking dog.

Getting Enough Zzzzzzzz

So, if interruptions in sleep are to be expected, what’s the best strategy for getting enough sleep?

One option is to embrace a longer night. This may work for people who have very flexible schedules, or for those who are retired.  “They can afford to spend more time in bed,” says Jack Edinger, a sleep expert at Duke University. He says the middle-of-night wake time may not be anxiety-provoking if you know you’re going to get another bout of morning sleep.

There’s also the siesta model — with naps in the afternoon. But for those of us who need to get up and work all day, there are strategies that can help people consolidate sleep.

One technique, according to Edinger, is to tightly restrict your number of hours in bed. This encourages more efficient sleep.  Edinger stresses that sleep requirements vary from person to person.  Six to nine hours is the normal range. But “there are people who fall outside that range and do just fine,” he says.

The important thing is to get a good handle on the dose of sleep YOU need, he says.  Then set your pattern — and stick with it.  Most of us will find that’s seven to eight hours. Recent studies suggest that people who get less than seven hours each night tend to be more susceptible to the common cold and weight gain.

How to help your skin age more beautifully

Here are the results of my latest research into how our diet affects our skin:

Skin, Diet and Aging

Vitamin C: It is best to get this from your diet as too much vitamin C can be dangerous.  Vitamin C is critical for collagen formation, which is the foundation of your skin.

One recent study found that Vitamin C protects DNA by fibroblast stimulation as well.  In fact, some researchers believe it may actually help to heal the skin.  One ACJN study in women found that participants with the highest levels of vitamin C were 11% less likely to look wrinkled.

Legumes and Vegetables: Dietary legumes and vegetables are associated with less skin aging and damage.

Lutein and Xeaxanthin: Lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, spinach, peas, kale and egg yolks all have an abundance of these two phyto-nutrients.  According to one recent study, spinach and kale had excellent results, “increasing skin hydration by 60 percent, skin elasticity by 20 percent and the amount of superficial lipids present in the skin by 50 percent after adjustment for placebo, all while decreasing the oxidation of those beneficial lipids by 64 percent.”

Saturated Fats and Meat: Avoid these bad boys!  They are associated with additional skin wrinkling.

Sugar: Table sugar is composed of a molecule of fructose and a molecule of glucose and both are hard on your skin.  A good skin formula to keep in mind is:

Sugar = Wrinkles

No wonder researchers have found that both glucose and fructose increase the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs).   What are they?  These are by-products of digestion of sugars.  Especially fructose, rapidly accelerate the pace of AGEs.  Worse than that, these AGEs also damage your collagen, which is the backbone of your skin. This has been demonstrated in a study where rats were fed a control diet and a high fructose diet.

Fish: Fish was found to be skin protective.  Fish helps with just about everything else from the heart to the brain.  Just watch out for high mercury levels.  Sushi has one of the highest!

Berries & Nuts:   ellagic acid, a phyto-nutrient found in berries and some nuts, was given to mice and found to be photo-protective against UVB radiation.  This chemical decreases wrinkles and inflammation, and promotes collagen development.

Tea, Prunes and Apples: These nutritional powerhouses were associated with less skin wrinkling.  Any dark colored fruit or vegetable is packed with antioxidants.

High Flavanol Cocoa:  One study (on women) showed that high flavanol cocoa thickens the skin, increases skin hydration and protects against UV damage.

Lycopene: The lycopene in tomato sauce and paste has been shown to be very protective of your skin from sun damage.   Researchers gave participants the equivalent of 5 tablespoons of tomato paste per day and noticed 33% less damage from UV radiation, which is roughly the equivalent of SPF 1.3.

CONCLUSION:

Simply by eating a diet filled with antioxidants, your skin will improve dramatically.  Try eating more spinach, egg yolks, blueberries, veggies including broccoli, olive oil, green tea, black tea and carrots nearly every day!  All have strong antioxidants that help to preserve your epidermal tissue.

Too much sugar is a cancer causing toxin

In case you missed the message in my previous post, eating too much sugar (in ANY FORM!) makes you fat, spikes your insulin levels, and is linked to premature aging, cancer and a compromised immune system.

Check out the latest research which suggests that more than a can of soda per week correlates with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

If you’re a daily soda drinker – like some 60 percent of Americans – you need to cut back. That daily soda could give you pancreatic cancer.   But it’s the high-level of mainlined sugar that is toxic to your system, so don’t think a switch to fruit juice will be any healthier.  Switch to antioxidant-rich teas, and then add a little stevia for that sweet taste!

People who drink at least two sugary sodas a week have an increased risk of developing cancer of the pancreas, and researchers suspect the culprit is sugar, a new study shows.

Analysis of data collected on 60,524 Singapore adults over a number of years, showed that those who drank two or more sugar-sweetened soft drinks a week, were at a 87% greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer compared with individuals who did not.  This study was just published in the medical  journal: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

Pancreatic cancer begins in the pancreas, an organ that creates digestive enzymes, hormones and insulin.  Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with 230,000 cases globally. In the United States, 37,680 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in a year and 34,290 die of it.  The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is only around five percent.

In a nutshell, there’s a definite link between pancreatic cancer and high-levels of sugar consumption.  My advice, cut back, lose weight and feel so much better!  Want to know how?  Check out this previous post for details. The biggest myth connected to sugar is that it gives you energy…WRONG!!!  It takes it away!

Beer and bone strength

Drink up!

Turns out beer can be good for you in a number of different ways. Certain beers may even help to build bone-mineral strength if they contain lots of silicon.  So raise a cold one every now and then to building strong bones!

Beating Dementia

Have you seen this BBC article yet?

It tells the latest evidence for lifestyle changes which might prevent dementia in the long run.  Some of these recommendations start as early as age 35!

Go learn how to save your brain!

Midlife Puberty for Women

Have you noticed changes in your skin, hair and unusual weight gain as you approached menopause?  These changes are all brought about by hormonal changes, especially your decreased capacity to produce estrogen as you age.

As your estrogen levels gradually decrease starting around age 40, you may notice your skin and hair thinning a bit and belly fat increasing more easily.  What can you do about these changes?

First, appreciate all that you have achieved through aging.  Think of the wisdom you have accumulated over the years.  Find ways to share your best qualities with the world, especially those younger than you.  You are approaching crone status.  Congratulations!

One of the purposes of estrogen up until now, has been to moisturize your skin and thicken your collagen.  You may choose to apply retinol cream to your face, neck and body.  This may help to replace the previous action of estrogen in your skin, thicken collagen, and increase skin elasticity.  To learn more about helping your skin out as you age, go here!

You may also notice a gradual loss of hair on your scalp, and increased hair on your armpits and face.  This is also a normal trait of aging.  Your ovaries are shriveling and will produce less estrogen in the future.

These are just a few of the reasons why I like to call midlife middlescence, because it is not so different than adolescence.

Webster’s defines it this way:

mid•dl•es•cence–noun: the middle-age period of life, esp. when considered a difficult time of self-doubt and readjustment. [Origin: 1960–65; b. middle and adolescence]

My own midlife experience has included various points of extreme disappointment and hopelessness which slowly transitioned into the very best time of my life. And that’s just in the past seven years! I definitely hit bottom, but bounced back nicely.

Desperation led to inspiration for me.  My midlife crisis was a time to reassess my life, and I found much room for improvement.  I began to question all of my previous assumptions about why I was here, and what I hoped to accomplish.  I required an essential  mid-course adjustment.

Why?  Because most of my previous plans had fallen through, or simply did not turn out to be as satisfying as I had hoped.   I needed to take a painfully honest look at my present circumstances and learn from past mistakes.   I decided to invite all of the intelligence, maturity, and integrity I had inside of me, to help improve my circumstances.

What do you want out of life that you simply aren’t getting now? Do you deserve to have more of what you want? Can you do better?  What is your true potential?

The only way to find out is to start living it today.

“The fifties are everything you are meant to be.” -Maya Angelou

To learn more about what I learned through my own transitions, please read my blog:  Midlife Crisis Queen, and my books: Midlife Magic: Becoming the person you are inside! and my Midife Change Workbook.