Healthy Aging: Body, Mind & Spirit

Women may exhibit different heart attack symptoms

In women under 55, instead of chest pains, the symptoms of heart attack may include more generalized pain in different parts of the body, including the jaw, neck, shoulder, back and even stomach.   Recognizing that younger women may be less likely to present with the typical chest pains of a heart attack could help them seek the treatment they need in a more timely manner.

For women who are concerned about being able to spot the signs of a heart attack, the majority of sufferers do experience chest pains, but women should be aware of their risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking and high blood pressure.   Those who are at increased risk should become more familiar with other heart-attack signals, such as persistent pain in parts of the body other than the chest.

Baby Boomers and Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C has surpassed HIV as a killer of U.S. adults, and screening all “baby boomers” could be one way to stem the problem, according to two new government studies.

One half to two-thirds of us do not realize we have it until cirrhosis sets in. That’s because the initial infection causes no symptoms in most cases.   Instead, the virus silently damages the liver over the years, and people may only discover they are infected when they develop irreversible liver cirrhosis.

Get a blood test today and learn more from Reuters here!

Why do we continue to eat too much?

Here comes another magic pill to save the two-thirds of Americans who are overweight or obese at this point. The latest fantasy is that Qnexa will come in and save the day, because without it we apparently will continue to eat ourselves to death.   I see gigantic profits for this drug company, because you will need to stay on this drug FOREVER to keep your weight down.

Since I found the much-needed training and self-discipline to lose my extra weight, I find myself outraged daily by the risks some will take to lose weight.

We apparently can find NO self-control or discipline and instead choose to use very scary drugs and surgeries, rather than simply making the decision to stop indulging ourselves daily.

When others ask me how I lost the weight, the first thing I say is, “You have to really want it.“   One woman my age responded with, “Oh, but I LOVE pasta!“  Ah, but do you love pasta more than life itself?

Most of us have a serious starch addiction.   Think of it as a heroin problem, because it will kill you in the long run just as surely as heroin will, except that it’s worse because this is something we need to consume everyday.

Can you make the decision today to only eat about one-third as much starch, sugar, and fat as you have been eating, and replace those calories with high quality protein, vegetables and fruit?

Losing weight requires that we each make some hard, conscious choices, not excuses about how we eat.   Sure, it’s easy to blame it on your mother, commercialism, your unique metabolism, but that does not change the fact that unless you decide to stop eating so much and make radically different food choices, your chosen lifestyle will most certainly kill you.

The next question is how much and how long do you want to live?  If you see obesity as a slow way of killing yourself because you don’t enjoy your life, get help!   This is an entirely different issue which can only be resolved through counseling.

We all think there must be some secret, magic formula to living healthy.   I often recall a conversation I had with a friend decades ago.   This friend was in great shape in college, and had lost sixty pounds while still in high school.   So I asked, “How did you do it?“   His excellent answer was: “I stopped eating so much!“

Slow walking may predict future health problems

Now here’s some scary research from the BBC!

Ever since I read this yesterday I’ve been taking special interest in how fast everyone around me walks!

Women and heart disease

The cardiologist Dr. Oz says: “The sad truth is that the ailments I operate on are usually preventable.”  And more and more of them are found in his women patients.

Learn more here!

More positive news for coffee drinkers!

Drinking two cups of joe each morning may help lower your chances of developing depression.

New research shows that drinking just two cups a day may reduce depression, and the more coffee you drink the less you may feel depressed.

Coffee is also known to reduce your risk of developing many other diseases by blocking the chemical processes of diabetes, Parkinson’s, inflammation, and some cancers.

But keep your coffee consumption to the morning hours, or it may negatively effect your sleep cycle!

Antidepressants versus a placebo

New research shows that for those minimally depressed, taking an antidepressant provides only a minimal effect which is “clinically insignificant.”

For those, the chemical ingredients are not as important as the “expectations of healing.”   Expectations are POWERFUL!!!

Learn more on 60 Minutes this upcoming Sunday night (Feb. 19th).

Is massage the BEST anti-inflammatory?

A new study found, regular massage reduces the expression of inflammatory cytokines in the muscle cells and promotes the growth of mitochondria, the energy-producing units in cells.   Massage involves the same pain-relieving mechanism found in conventional anti-inflammatory drugs.

See the video here from CBS news.

Men can inherit heart disease from their dads

Men can inherit heart disease from their father, say scientists who have tracked the condition to the Y chromosome that dads pass to sons.

By studying the DNA of over 3,000 men they found a particular version of the sex chromosome increases the risk of coronary artery disease by 50%.

Learn more from the BBC.

Parkinson’s brain cells replicated in a lab

Scientists in the US have successfully made human brain cells in the lab that are an exact replica of genetically caused Parkinson’s disease.   This breakthrough means they can now see exactly how mutations in this gene causes the disease in an estimated one in ten patients with Parkinson’s, offering a realistic model to test new treatments on.  This is a “game-changer.”

Learn more from the BBC.