Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Year in Fitness: How Exercise Keeps Us Young


Scientists are only now beginning to understand the many microscopic changes that occur when we exercise. By Gretchen Reynolds Dec. 26, 2018





Some of the biggest news in exercise science this year concerned the tiniest impacts from physical activity, which does not mean that the impacts were inconsequential. It means they were microscopic.

We learned this year, for instance, that exercise changes how our cells communicate with one another, as well as how rapidly they age. This new research began to detail the many, pervasive ways in which working out alters the inner workings of our bodies and contributes to better health.

There were other, broader themes, too, in 2018’s fitness-related science, including about how older people can be enviably youthful if they are active and the unexpected roles that weight training may play in our health.

But for me, the most exciting exercise research in 2018 went small. A study that I wrote about in January, for instance, found that people’s blood contained more of certain vesicles, which are tiny bubbles filled with biological material, after aerobic exercise.


When the scientists subsequently isolated these vesicles in mice and tagged them with a dye that glows, they tracked where they went and discovered that most homed in on the liver. There, the vesicles entered the organ, dissolved and delivered a load of biological stuff, including snippets of genetic material that can supply messages to other genetic material.

In this way, the scientists speculate, the vesicles probably delivered a biological alert to the liver, letting it know that exercise was underway, and it might want to start releasing stored energy for use by other, working tissues, like the muscles.


This study is a bracing reminder that multiple far-flung bodily systems are involved when we move and they all must communicate, but the process is bogglingly complex and, for the most part, still to be mapped.

A similar message emerged from other studies I wrote about this year, although they delved into how, at a molecular level, exercise makes us healthier. It does, of course. People who exercise tend to live longer and with far fewer diseases and disabilities than people who do not.

But we do not fully understand the many underlying biological steps involved. A study I wrote about just last week examined one small piece of this puzzle, involving the levels of hundreds of different proteins in the bloodstreams of people who regularly exercise or not.


And there were differences. People who exercised had more and less of multiple proteins, which matters, since proteins spur other biological operations throughout the body. In effect, aspects of the exercisers’ everyday physiology appear to be unlike those of people who are sedentary.

So, too, the look and to some extent the “age” of their chromosomes may be different, according to another study I covered this year.

It found that sedentary, middle-aged people who took up aerobic exercise for six months developed longer telomeres in their white blood cells. Telomeres are the tiny caps on the ends of chromosomes that protect our DNA from damage during cell division. Telomeres shorten as a cell ages, until they are so abbreviated that the cell cannot function and often dies. Lengthy telomeres, on the other hand, are thought to denote relative cell youth and vigor.

In this study, aerobic exercise appears to have lengthened people’s telomeres, almost dialing back time.

If that finding doesn’t motivate all of us to want to move more, several other studies from this year that looked at exercising and aging using a wider lens probably should.

One, from March, showed that older cyclists had immune systems that resembled those of much younger people, as well as muscles that retained a youthful size and fiber content, even among the riders who were well into their 70s.

So, too, older recreational athletes displayed the muscles of much younger people in another study I covered, this one from November, and it found, too, that people who had been working out for decades had the aerobic fitness of whippersnappers 30 years their juniors.

Perhaps most encouraging, a study published in July tells us that it is not too late to benefit if we have managed to avoid exercising into midlife. In that experiment, middle-aged people who began a two-year-long program of regular aerobic exercise reversed the age-related stiffening of their cardiac arteries.

Almost all of this research focused on aerobic exercise. But a few studies this year also provided a plug for resistance workouts. One found that they were associated with a substantial reduction in the risk of experiencing or dying from a heart attack or stroke, even if people did not undertake aerobic exercise.

Another showed a very strong link between lifting weights and avoiding depression.

And a third, my favorite, indicates that the weight training can be quite brief but still beneficial. In this experiment, one set each of seven different resistance exercises led to the same overall gains in muscular strength and endurance as two or even three sets of the exercises, as long as people pushed themselves. The full, fast routine required only 13 minutes.

So, look for me in 2019 on the bike paths and running trails and, at least for 13 minutes at a stretch, in the gym. Healthy holidays.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/well/move/2018-year-in-fitness-how-exercise-keeps-us-young.html




6 Ways to Eat Better in 2019

Nutrition advice backed by research from the past year that might help shape better eating habits for the new year. By The New York Times Dec. 26, 2018





Below are some of our readers’ favorite nutrition stories from the past year, packed with information that may help you eat better in 2019.

How a Low-Carb Diet Might Help You Maintain a Healthy Weight

By Anahad O’Connor

A large new study published in the journal BMJ in November found that overweight adults who cut carbohydrates from their diets and replaced them with fat sharply increased their metabolisms. After five months on the diet, they burned roughly 250 calories more per day than people who ate a high-carb, low-fat diet, suggesting that restricting carb intake could help people maintain their weight loss more easily.

The new research is unlikely to end the decades-long debate over the best diet for weight loss. But it provides strong new evidence that all calories are not metabolically alike to the body. And it suggests that the popular advice on weight loss promoted by health authorities — count calories, reduce portion sizes and lower your fat intake — might be outdated. Read more >>>

The Key to Weight Loss Is Diet Quality, Not Quantity, a New Study Finds

By Anahad O’Connor

A study published in February in JAMA found that people who cut back on added sugar, refined grains and highly processed foods while concentrating on eating plenty of vegetables and whole foods — without worrying about counting calories or limiting portion sizes — lost significant amounts of weight over the course of a year.


The research lends strong support to the notion that diet quality, not quantity, is what helps people lose and manage their weight most easily in the long run. It also suggests that health authorities should shift away from telling the public to obsess over calories and instead encourage Americans to avoid processed foods that are made with refined starches and added sugar, like bagels, white bread, refined flour and sugary snacks and beverages, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Read more>>>

Which Kinds of Foods Make Us Fat?

By Gretchen Reynolds

For a diet study published this summer in Cell Metabolism, researchers randomly assigned one of 29 different diets to hundreds of adult male mice. Some diets supplied up to 80 percent of their calories in the form of saturated and unsaturated fats, with few carbohydrates; others included little fat and consisted largely of refined carbohydrates, mostly from grains and corn syrup, although in some variations the carbs came from sugar.


Yet other diets were characterized by extremely high or low percentages of protein. The mice stayed on the same diet for three months — estimated to be the equivalent of roughly nine human years — while being allowed to eat and move about their cages at will. The mice were then measured by weight and body composition, and their brain tissue was examined for evidence of altered gene activity.

Only some of the mice became obese — almost every one of which had been on a high-fat diet. Read more>>>

When We Eat, or Don’t Eat, May Be Critical for Health

By Anahad O’Connor

Nutrition scientists have long debated the best diet for optimal health. But now some experts believe that it’s not just what we eat that’s critical for good health, but when we eat it.

Editors’ Picks


A growing body of research suggests that our bodies function optimally when we align our eating patterns with our circadian rhythms, the innate 24-hour cycles that tell our bodies when to wake up, when to eat and when to fall asleep. Studies show that chronically disrupting this rhythm — by eating late meals or nibbling on midnight snacks, for example — could be a recipe for weight gain and metabolic trouble. Read more>>>

How to Stop Eating Sugar

By David Leonhardt

If you’re like most Americans, you eat more sugar than is good for you. But it’s entirely possible to eat less sugar without sacrificing much — if any — of the pleasures of eating. Surprising as it may sound, many people who have cut back on sugar say they find their new eating habits more pleasurable than their old ones. This guide will walk you through why sugar matters, how you can make smart food choices to reduce sugar consumption, and how you can keep your life sweet, even without so many sweets. Read more>>>

Is Eating Deli Meats Really That Bad for You?

By Roni Caryn Rabin

Meat and poultry are excellent sources of protein, B vitamins and certain minerals, but consuming even small amounts of processed meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer.

“We see a 4 percent increase in the risk of cancer even at 15 grams a day, which is a single slice of ham on a sandwich,” said Dr. Nigel Brockton, director of research for the American Institute for Cancer Research. Eating a more typical serving of 50 grams of processed meat a day would increase the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent, a 2011 review of studies found. Read more>>>

CreditEvan Cohen

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/well/eat/6-ways-to-eat-better-in-2019.html

Saturday, December 15, 2018

How to Avoid Back Pain: The Smart Way

Back pain is one of the conditions that most people experience especially when they reach adulthood. There are different consequences you will experience as a result of the pain you feel on your lower back. For others, they have to rest for the whole day whenever the pain strikes. This is one of the worst types of back pain that you will ever experience.
Imagine yourself staying in bed the whole day because of back pain. It does not only affect your productivity but also make you feel frustrated and depressed when it persists for a longer time. If you are experiencing this condition, you should know that this is one of the most common conditions people experience not only in America but also in different parts of the world. In fact, it has been reported that almost 55 million Americans are experiencing episodes of back pain.
It does not matter if you are already in the situation where you are struggling to fight the pain or you just want to prevent any future occurrence; there are different ways on how you can protect your back from this risk. Here are some smart ways for back pain relief:
Balance your diet
The food you eat can also aggravate or relieve your condition. This is something that is worth noting if you are looking for the right food to include in your plate. There are some foods that are anti-inflammatory and these are very helpful in relieving back pain. Some of the best examples of these foods are salmon, olive oil, flaxseed, nuts, ginger, green tea, and mackerel. These are the ones that you should be adding to your meals. This way, you can ward off the pain and even prevent back pain. On the other hand, there are also some foods that you should be avoiding. Some of these foods are processed foods and those that are high in saturated fat and those that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
Stretch
One of the main causes of back pain is being static for long hours. This is common for people who are sitting in front of the computer or those whose jobs require them to be inactive the whole day. If you are standing, sitting or even lying down for a longer time, you will realize how your back will also be affected. If this is the cause of your back pain, you have to consider getting up and walking around once in a while. You can also consider doing some simple stretches that will let you move your muscles.
Getting the right mattress
One of the best ways to deal with back pain is to invest on the right mattress. Do not go for a product that just looks comfortable and soft. The most important thing is to get a mattress that will be good for your back. Consider different factors such as your body structure and the size of the bed. For this, there are no recommended bed features for everyone because people have different needs. What is comfortable to one person may cause back pain for another. This is why you should know the perfect bed for you. If you are experiencing back pain, get a bed where you can sleep soundly.
Go with inversion therapy
Inversion therapy is one of the effective techniques that can help you deal with back pain. This strategy involves literally inverting the person to give the back a little rest. With inversion therapy, you will be suspended upside down to help relieve back pain and to stretch your spine. This method is actually supported by a theory that tackles how a change in the body’s gravity can help ease back pain. This is recommended for people who are experiencing chronic lower back pain, scoliosis among others. According to research, inversion therapy can help decrease inflammation, increase blood circulation and remove the fluid from the spine. As a result, you will have an improved spine and you can lessen back pain.
Avoid high heels
You may be thinking that high heels are important to make you have a better posture but it can actually cause back pain. This is why you need to avoid this as much as possible. You should choose the shoes with a height that is rightly proportioned for you to be able to walk and stand comfortably. If there are days when you cannot avoid using shoes with high heels, make sure that you are only going to use it for a short period of time. Prolonging your use of this type of shoes will just make you feel uncomfortable to the point of having back pain. Be selective of the shoes that you wear not only for your own comfort but also to avoid other conditions that will just result to bad effects in the future.
Back pain may be something that happens to the majority of people around the world but it can be avoided. By considering the different tips provided above, you can easily prevent the risk of back pain. Be smart especially in doing the common chores that you used to do. As you age, you have to consider that your strength and the quality of your bones and muscles also change. With this, you need to be more careful with how you move especially if you are lifting a heavy object.

Author Bio:
Katerina is a writer at inversiontableguides.net.  Which provides you world best inversion therapy. The main benefit of inversion therapy is its swiftness in relieving pain in your back. You can find many types of inversion tables and additional products made by different manufacturers. Inversion tables products available with best matches and customers specific needs.

Source: https://inspiyr.com/avoid-back-pain-smart-way/

Friday, December 14, 2018

How To Get Over An Ex For Good, According To An Expert

These seven tips will help you get on with your life.

April was probably the worst month of my life. Nay, definitely the worst month of my life. I ended a three-year relationship with the man I was fairly certain I was going to marry. And while the breakup was likely “for the best” (or so friends and family assured me), it certainly felt like the absolute, rock bottom, kick-you-in-the-face, worst shit-show debacle of my life so far. But sure, somewhere in there, I’m sure it was “for the best.”


Everything about ending a relationship is difficult. There’s the anxious build-up, the actual gut-wrenching conversation, and then the fallout with the exchanging of the things and the returning of the keys and all the other mind-f***ing events that remind you this person you were once happy with is no longer in your life.


Related: Should You Break Up With Your Partner? Here Are 5 Ways to Tell


And when your friends try to be helpful, the only thing they can say is, “It gets better with time.”


As much as it sucks to hear, it’s true that time is the only cure for heartache. That said, there are some very proactive things you can do to help pass the elusive amount of time—The Journal of Positive Psychology says 11 weeks; I say bullshit—until you are, in fact, actually “over it.”


Here are some tips on how to get over an ex.


You have to grieve


Before we jump in with the practical advice, remember that breakups really are a grieving process. Someone was in your life in a very intense and intimate way, and suddenly they are not. It’s not dissimilar to a death, so taking time to process it as a loss is completely normal. Don’t rush the process, even if it takes more than the so-called allotted 11 weeks.


Remove all Triggers

“Change the photos on your home and lock screen on your phone and laptop if they are [of] the two of you,” says Dr. Holly Richmond, somatic psychologist, marriage & family therapist, and AASECT Certified sex therapist. “Don’t visit the bar, restaurant, park, or any other place that you considered ‘your place’ for several months.”


Related: These 5 Adventurous Activities Will Improve Your Relationship


For at least the time being, it’s better to remove any trigger that will push you over into nostalgia and longing, which you are already going to be feeling. You don’t need a physical reminder.

Decide if social media is still a good idea

Sometimes the decision to “Remove Friend” or “Unfollow” is fraught with even more anxiety than the actual breakup itself. It might seem dramatic or extreme, but following your ex on social media can be a crutch, and can also be an easy way for you to fall into a black hole of cyber-stalking, which can lead to misunderstandings and hurt feelings (Case in point: “Umm….who is THAT?!”). Strongly consider removing your ex from your social media.


“This is a very personal decision,” says Richmond. “Some people are happy to see their partner moving forward and the new life they are creating, but for others it’s nothing less than torture, provoking jealousy, and regret.”


Purge the Negativity

After my breakup, I had a lot of feelings. They spanned the entire spectrum from happy memories to gut-wrenching depression to mind maddening rage. Your ex does not need to hear these feelings. They are yours to process and unloading them on your ex is no way to move on.


Instead, try writing out all the feelings. Write a letter to your ex and say exactly how you feel, what you needed, what you could have done better…say anything. Say it all. But do not, for the love of god, actually send it.


Related: How Happy Couples Tackle 3 Of the Most Common Relationship Fights


Reconnect with Yourself

After the purging of the negativity, it’s time to take a look around at what you have left. And let’s be real—you have a LOT left. Now is your time. You spent a long time being in a partnership and having to compromise and consider someone else’s feelings and time.


Now you don’t.


I don’t mean that to sound so negative. While it might be easy to get hung up on the loneliness factor, you should try to focus on the freedom factor. Now is your time to do anything you want to do before but couldn’t, because it didn’t benefit the relationship.


For me, Bali was the ultimate place in my mind to go with a partner, but that wasn’t possible in my most recent relationship. So after the grieving process and the purging of the negativity, the first thing I did was buy a plane ticket to Bali for the new year. Let’s face it: We’re not getting any younger. Why wait?


Ask for Help


Remember that breakups are just damn hard. There’s no way around that. So if you’re finding it’s tougher than you expected, there’s nothing wrong with asking for help. Your friends are there to listen. Use them. And if you need to take it a step further, there’s no shame in seeking professional help from a therapist.


Talking it out and hearing how those around you survived their colossal heartaches—because they’ve certainly have had them—will help put your own pain into perspective.


Related: Science Says These 4 Traits Can Predict How Long Your Relationship Will Last


Change the Perspective


One of the most liberating ways to get over an ex is to try to change the perspective. Reassess the challenges, as well as the gifts.


“One of the best pieces of advice I remember hearing was from the impeccably, wittily sharp—and sardonic—Dan Savage on the Savage Love Cast,” says Richmond. “He said, ‘Every relationship you ever have will end, until one doesn’t.’ This perspective offers a new lens about our growing process.”


Related: 5 Tips For Couples That Constantly Break Up and Get Back Together


Richmond recommends trying to view this relationship as a necessary step in your own personal growth, and the growth of your partner.


“It forces us to reconsider our internal story, that berating narrative in our head, of failed relationships,” she says. “For many of my clients, they realize the relationship didn’t fail, it just ended. The end was necessary and healthier than staying together. It ended to offer them a chance to do things differently next time.”


Originally published on menshealth.com

Source: https://www.mh.co.za/sex-women/get-over-an-ex/

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Is Aerobic Exercise the Key to Successful Aging?

Aerobic activities like jogging and interval training can make our cells biologically younger; weight training did not have the same effect.



Aerobic activities like jogging and interval training can make our cells biologically younger, according to a noteworthy new experiment. Weight training may not have the same effect, the study found, raising interesting questions about how various types of exercise affect us at a microscopic level and whether the differences should perhaps influence how we choose to move.
There is mounting and rousing evidence that being physically active affects how we age, with older people who exercise typically being healthier, more fit, better muscled and less likely to develop a variety of diseases and disabilities than their sedentary peers. But precisely how, at an interior, molecular level, exercise might be keeping us youthful has not been altogether clear. Past studies have shown that exercise alters the workings of many genes, as well as the immune system, muscle-repair mechanisms and many other systems within the body.

Some researchers have speculated that the most pervasive anti-aging effects of exercise may occur at the tips of our chromosomes, which are capped with tiny bits of matter known as telomeres. Telomeres seem to protect our DNA from damage during cell division but, unfortunately, shorten and fray as a cell ages. At some point, they no longer safeguard our DNA, and the cell becomes frail and inactive or dies. 

Many scientists believe that telomere length is a useful measure of a cell’s functional age.
But researchers also have found that telomeres are mutable. They can be lengthened or shortened by lifestyle, including exercise. A 2009 study, for instance, found that middle-aged competitive runners tended to have much longer telomeres than inactive people of the same age. Their telomeres were, in fact, almost as lengthy of those of healthy, young people. But that study was associational; it showed only that older people who ran also were people with extended telomeres, not that the exercise necessarily caused that desirable condition.

So for the new study, which was published in November in the European Heart Journal, many of the same scientists involved in the 2009 study decided to directly test whether exercise would change telomeres. They also hoped to learn whether the type and intensity of the exercise mattered.
The researchers began by recruiting 124 middle-aged men and women who were healthy but did not exercise. They determined everyone’s aerobic fitness and drew blood to measure telomere length in their white blood cells (which usually are used in studies of telomeres, because they are so readily accessible). They also checked blood markers of the amount and activity of each person’s telomerase, an enzyme that is known to influence telomere length.

Then some of the volunteers randomly were assigned to continue with their normal lives as a control or to start exercising.

Others started a supervised program of brisk walking or jogging for 45 minutes three times a week, or a thrice-weekly, high-intensity interval program consisting of four minutes of strenuous exercise followed by four minutes of rest, with the sequence repeated four times.
The final group took up weight training, completing a circuit of resistance exercises three times a week.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/well/move/is-aerobic-exercise-the-key-to-successful-aging.html

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Older Americans Are Flocking to Medical Marijuana

the new old age
Oils, tinctures and salves — and sometimes old-fashioned buds — are increasingly common in seniors’ homes. Doctors warn that popularity has outstripped scientific evidence.
Shari Horne, at home in Laguna Woods, Calif., with her cat, Lilah, takes medical marijuana products for pain relief.CreditRozette Rago for The New York Times
Image
Shari Horne, at home in Laguna Woods, Calif., with her cat, Lilah, takes medical marijuana products for pain relief.CreditCreditRozette Rago for The New York Times
Shari Horne broke her toes a decade ago, and after surgery, “I have plates and pins and screws in my feet, and they get achy at times,” she said.

So Ms. Horne, 66, applies a salve containing cannabidiol, derived from the cannabis, or marijuana, plant. It eases the pain.

The salve didn’t help when she developed bursitis in her shoulder, but a tincture of cannabidiol mixed with T.H.C., the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, provided relief.
Using a pipe, she also smokes “a few hits” of a cannabis brand called Blue Dream after dinner, because “I think relaxing is healthy for you.”
Many of her neighbors in Laguna Woods, Calif., a community of mostly older adults in Orange County, where she serves on the City Council, have developed similar routines.
“People in their 80s and 90s, even retired Air Force colonels, are finding such relief” with cannabis, said Ms. Horne. “Almost everybody I know is using it in one form or another” — including her husband Hal, 68, a retired insurance broker, who says it helps him sleep.
In fact, so many Laguna Woods seniors use medical cannabis — for ailments ranging from arthritis and diabetes nerve pain to back injuries and insomnia — that the local dispensary, Bud and Bloom, charters a free bus to bring residents to its Santa Ana location to stock up on supplies. Along with a catered lunch, the bus riders get a seniors discount.

Physicians who treat older adults expect their cannabis use to increase as the number of states legalizing medical marijuana keeps growing.

After the midterm elections, when Utah and Missouri voters approved medical use, 33 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, along with ten states that also have legalized recreational use.
Though the federal government still outlaws cannabis, classified as a Schedule I drug along with heroin (meaning that it has no therapeutic value), public support has swung sharply in favor of legalization, polls have found.

That support may rise as the baby boomers, often no strangers to marijuana, succeed their more leery parents as the oldest cohort. People aged 50 to 64 are more likely to report recent marijuana use than their elders.
Bud and Bloom, a dispensary in Santa Ana, Calif., picks up senior customers on a chartered bus. The riders get a discount and a catered lunch.CreditRozette Rago for The New York Times
Image
Bud and Bloom, a dispensary in Santa Ana, Calif., picks up senior customers on a chartered bus. The riders get a discount and a catered lunch.CreditRozette Rago for The New York Times
“You might not like it,” Dr. David Casarett, chief of palliative care at Duke University Medical Center, tells fellow physicians. “You might not believe in it. But your patients are using this stuff.”
He and Dr. Joshua Briscoe, a psychiatrist at Duke also trained in palliative care, have mixed feelings about that.

Co-authors of a recent article on medical marijuana and older adults in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, they support legalization for medical use. They hope the federal government will reclassify cannabis (“a huge undertaking,” Dr. Briscoe admitted), reducing obstacles to much-needed research.

“We’re always searching for a better medication that can treat pain and a host of other symptoms without burdensome side effects, and cannabis is promising” as a treatment for a number of conditions, Dr. Briscoe said.
Their overview — along with a major report last year from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine — points out disorders for which cannabis does appear to have therapeutic effects.

But the researchers are uneasy about the fact that older people essentially are undertaking self-treatment, with scant guidance from medical professionals.
Cannabis consumers face a confusing array of options, including various strains and brands and many methods of ingestion: smoking, vaping, tinctures, edibles, topical creams or patches. Users can also experience potentially harmful side effects.

When Joy Kavianian, 55, a Laguna Woods resident with Parkinson’s disease, wanted to reduce her right-side tremors so that she could continue making ceramics, a cherished pursuit, she had lots of questions about cannabis.

“I didn’t know how this would mix with my other meds,” she said. “How would it affect my sleep? The only answer was to slowly introduce it and see.”
She has learned that a tincture, placed under her tongue about 40 minutes before she heads to the art studio, gives her four hours in which to work effectively. But that discovery took weeks of trial and error.

“The social support and legislation is outpacing the research,” Dr. Briscoe said. “If I want to say, ‘Take this dose for this condition and that dose for that one’ — the evidence just isn’t there.”
For older people, what does the still-limited evidence show?

The strongest case, Dr. Casarett said, is that cannabis can reduce neuropathic pain, sometimes caused by diabetes, shingles or chemotherapy, without the toxic effects of opioids.

Studies have also shown that cannabis alleviates the nausea and vomiting that often follows chemotherapy. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration has approved two synthetic T.H.C. drugs for that purpose, though some patients insist that smoking the real thing works better.
Cannabis appears to relieve muscle spasms in people with multiple sclerosis, though that research is less extensive, and to improve appetite for patients with cancer or AIDS, Dr. Briscoe said.
“Plenty of patients swear it’s the only thing that helps them sleep,” he added. But while drowsiness often accompanies cannabis use, the evidence that it reliably improves sleep remains modest. Its effects on anxiety and depression are also unclear.

And like any drug, cannabis has side effects, some of particular concern for older users, who metabolize medications differently from younger adults.

Dizziness, for instance, can lead to injurious falls. Marijuana use is also associated with an increased risk of motor vehicle accidents, so Dr. Casarett and Dr. Briscoe advise counseling older patients not to drive for six to nine hours after use, depending on ingestion method.
Moreover, “the jury is very much out about long-term cognitive effects in adults,” Dr. Casarett said. But there’s no evidence that medical marijuana users are at increased risk of abusing the drug.
Cannabis products in Ms. Horne's home, within easy reach. Her husband, a retired insurance broker, also uses them.CreditRozette Rago for The New York Times


Cannabis products in Ms. Horne's home, within easy reach. Her husband, a retired insurance broker, also uses them.CreditRozette Rago for The New York Times
Y. Tony Yang, a health services and policy researcher at George Washington University, recently predicted in a JAMA Neurology editorial that a June decision by the F.D.A. will have far-reaching consequences.

The agency approved Epidiolex, the first C.B.D. prescription drug to be legally sold in the United States, for reducing seizures in rare adolescent forms of epilepsy.
“A doctor can now prescribe this off-label for other uses, which is legal and common,” Dr. Yang said. “And on the research side, this could pave the way for controlled clinical trials for other purposes.”
Insurers may balk at covering off-label use, he conceded. Medicare, for instance, doesn’t cover medical cannabis, and it won’t cover drugs used off-label. The bus riders from Laguna Woods often pay $100 to $200 a month out of pocket for cannabis products, a financial struggle for some.
But riders like Catherine McCormick, who’s 53, find it a worthwhile expenditure. To lessen pain after knee replacement surgery, she was relying on high doses of ibuprofen, “too much wine” and several prescription drugs, including oxycodone, benzodiazepines and an antidepressant.

She weaned herself from them all in a few months, she said, by smoking cannabis. That’s made her a believer.

“I have more energy. I can walk,” she said. “I’m not in pain. I feel so much better.”
Correction: 

An earlier version this article incorrectly described cocaine as a Schedule I drug. In fact, it is a Schedule II drug.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/health/seniors-marijuana-cannabis-pain.html

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Six Simple Ways To Strengthen Your Personal Finances

Financial planning is very important both in the lives of salary earners, those running small, medium size and big businesses like creative professionals, freelancers, first-time entrepreneurs and those advancing through major transitions such as getting married, having kids, buying a new home, or planning for retirement.
If you are having serious issues with your finances, then you may have to consider debt consolidation. Debt consolidation simply means taking a loan that will enable you to pay consumer debts and lots of liabilities.
With careful financial planning, you can break through these events with ease. Here are six amazing ways you can really strengthen your personal finances plus close the gap in your financial goals. The good news is that millions of people have over the years used these simple ways to strengthen their personal finances.

Avoid Non-value Added Debts

It is senseless to borrow and use the funds to pay for a vacation or buy perishable items like phones, clothing and so on. When you borrow, you suppose to use the money to invest in something that will yield great returns sooner or later. These things lose value over a long period of time, and this is why they are generally referred to as bad debt or non-value added.
But you can take debts to grow your business or make investments in products and services that will generate a high return on investment both within the short and long-term such as investing in health, education, starting a business, buying a land or home etc. Don’t borrow to squander.

Maintain An Emergency Fund

This is money you set aside to handle emergent situations that may arise anytime. With this fund, you can easily pay for those things that weren’t included in your personal budget like major repairs, health issues, and layoff and so on. You can store your emergency funds in your money market account or savings- put them where you can have immediate access to the funds anytime you need them.

Pay Off Expensive Debt

Are you currently weighed down by any expensive debt? If your answer is in the affirmative, then this is the right time to plan on how you can pay them off. Plan to pay them off from annual performance bonus, salary increase, and accumulated savings. If you repay these expensive debts today, it will surely increase your financial situation and guarantee you peace of mind.

Attract A Personal Cheer Squad

Having a personal cheer squad will help you to grow your personal finances- this could be your friends or business partners. You can even do this together with them and share the dividends later. Having an accountability partner to monitor this exercise will help you to save good money on time.

Tracking Your Income And Expenses

You can’t grow your personal finances if you lack basic financial awareness. The main reason why you should track your income and expenses is to know how your money is coming. And more importantly, how you are spending it. It will help you to make your money work for you.
You can never become a millionaire or even multi-billionaire if you don’t know in simple terms the amount you make or spend.
People become rich by spending less than they make and investing the rest. If you really want to become rich, then you should desist from wasting money. To be on the safer side, get a notebook, and write down every penny you earn and spend. At least this gives you an idea to know where your money is coming from or going.

Build Adequate Protection

Life is filled with a lot of uncertainties. Thus, if you don’t have enough protection for your family, it could lead to many difficult times. It is important you identify the level of protection your family needs and get it through the right means.
Check out for affordable and convenient insurance covers your family needs, and do not make the mistake of mixing your investment with insurance. Other basic covers include home, disability, and health. You can never go wrong by getting adequate protection for your family.
Was this article really helpful? Kindly share your thoughts in the comment box below!
Author bio:
With over 10 years in the financial vertical, focusing mainly on debt, Kevin Tomlinson is an experienced writer with the best tips and tricks for dealing with the debt of any sort. Kevin works best with debt settlement, Debt Consolidation, Tax Debt Relief and Student Loan Debt.







Source: https://inspiyr.com/six-simple-ways-strengthen-personal-finances/

Saturday, December 1, 2018

What Are the Effects of Vitamin B12 Deficiency?

Q. What are the effects of vitamin B12 deficiency if left untreated?

A deficiency of B12, if left untreated, can lead to irreversible neurological problems.


A. A deficiency of vitamin B12 can cause neurological and psychiatric problems that “can progress if left untreated, and can lead to irreversible damage,” said Dr. Donald Hensrud, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Healthy Living Program. Fortunately, it can be reversed fairly easily with vitamin pills or injections.

Vitamin B12 is required for proper red blood cell formation, nerve function and DNA synthesis. It is naturally present in fish, meat, eggs and dairy products, as well as some fortified breakfast cereals and nutritional yeast products.

Strict vegans who avoid animal products can develop a deficiency of B12 over time if they don’t take a supplement. But two-thirds of cases occur in the elderly, who are susceptible because they may not absorb adequate amounts of B12 from foods but who are not routinely tested, Dr. Hensrud said.

Consequences of B12 deficiency can cause a range of symptoms that include fatigue, weakness, constipation, loss of appetite and weight loss. Other symptoms include difficulty maintaining balance, depression, confusion, dementia, poor memory and soreness in the mouth or tongue.

B12 deficiency may also result in a form of anemia called megaloblastic anemia, which can also result from a deficiency of folic acid, another B vitamin. If anemia is detected on blood tests, levels of both vitamins should be checked.

Neurological symptoms can, however, occur in the absence of anemia. Early treatment is critical to avoid potentially irreversible damage.

Older adults are susceptible to B12 deficiency because they may have decreased secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, which makes it difficult to absorb B12.

Also vulnerable to B12 deficiency are those with gastrointestinal disorders like celiac disease or Crohn’s disease; those who have had weight loss or other gastrointestinal surgery; and those who use certain acid reflux drugs or the diabetes drug metformin. Individuals with pernicious anemia, which affects up to 2 percent of older adults, are also susceptible.


Do you have a health question? Ask Well




Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/well/eat/what-are-the-effects-of-vitamin-b12-deficiency.html

Monday, November 12, 2018

Vitamin D and Fish Oils Are Ineffective for Preventing Cancer and Heart Disease

November 10, 2018 - By Roni Caryn Rabin

The largest study to test vitamin D and omega-3 pills in healthy adults found they did little to prevent cardiovascular disease, but hinted at benefits for groups including African-Americans.

In recent years, many Americans have embraced vitamin D and fish oil pills, their enthusiasm fueled by a steady trickle of suggestive research studies linking higher levels of vitamin D with lower rates of cancer and other ills, and fish consumption with reduced heart disease.
Now a large and rigorous government-funded randomized trial — the only such study of omega-3 fish oils ever carried out in healthy adults, and the largest trial ever done of high-dose vitamin D — has found the supplements do not lower cancer rates in healthy adults. Nor do they reduce the rate of major cardiovascular events, a composite of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from cardiovascular disease. The trial is of the kind considered the gold standard in medicine.

“It’s disappointing, but there have always been such high expectations that vitamin D can do all these different things,” said Dr. Clifford J. Rosen of the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in Scarborough, who was a co-author of an editorial on the studies in The New England Journal of Medicine. He said doctors had engaged in “magical thinking about vitamin D,” often testing their patients’ blood levels and advising them to take supplements.

“In terms of preventing cancer, I think the door is closed. I don’t think there is anything there,” Dr. Rosen said. The study also showed that omega-3 fatty acid supplements do not reduce major cardiovascular events or cancer, “period,” he said. “That’s what people should take home with them.”
The results hinted at some potential benefits, which would have to be explored in separate trials. Secondary analysis of the data found, for example, a reduction in cancer deaths for people who took vitamin D for at least two years, and fewer heart attacks in people who took fish oil. And people do need vitamin D in order to absorb calcium and for other bodily functions.

Regarding fish oil, Dr. Rosen asked, “Are there subgroups where it may be effective, or reduce heart attacks? It’s possible.

“But that’s got to be proven in another trial. If this were a drug being tested for approval by the F.D.A., it wouldn’t make it.”

Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, an investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who led the trial, said that since fish oil did not reduce strokes, it did not have an impact on the overall risk of cardiovascular disease, a measure that combined heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths. But she said another analysis looking separately at heart attack found a 28 percent reduction among those taking fish oil, with a 40 percent reduction in people who eat little fish and a 77 percent reduction in African-Americans. She said the 28 percent reduction was “pretty amazing. That’s what you see with statins.”

“The data have to be very strong before you go out and recommend to everyone in the world to take supplements, and we’re certainly not doing that,” Dr. Manson said. “We’re saying, ‘Talk to your doctor, especially if you have low fish intake or are African-American.’”
The National Institutes of Health funded the trial, which recruited 25,871 healthy American men and women age 50 or older, including 5,106 African-Americans. Study participants were split into four groups and randomly assigned to take supplements or placebos, and they were followed for 5.3 years on average.

One group took 2,000 IUs (international units) of vitamin D3 and 1 gram of omega-3s every day. A second group was given vitamin D and a dummy pill in lieu of omega-3. A third group got omega-3s and a vitamin D placebo. And the final group received two placebos.

Pharmavite LLC of Northridge, Calif., donated the vitamin D agents and matching placebos, and Pronova BioPharma of Norway and BASF donated Omacor, a fish oil sold under the brand name Lovaza in the United States.
The results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, are being presented Saturday at a conference of the American Heart Association in Chicago.

In many ways, the results are not surprising. The public has been barraged by a steady torrent of information about the health benefits of vitamin D in recent years, as studies have linked low levels of the vitamin to conditions as varied as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease and depression. Many primary care doctors now routinely test patients’ vitamin D levels and declare them deficient, and supplement sales have skyrocketed in recent years.
All along, however, critics have questioned whether vitamin D is merely a marker of overall health, and whether the threshold for deficiency was set too high. The so-called sunshine vitamin is synthesized in the body when skin is exposed to sunlight and is depleted by smoking, obesity, poor nutrition, and other factors. Certain foods, like fatty fish, eggs and fortified milk, also contain vitamin D.

The Institute of Medicine in 2011 concluded that most Americans get enough vitamin D and that deficiencies have been overstated. The group also noted that reports of potential benefits with higher blood levels have been inconsistent.
The United States Preventive Services Task Force similarly concluded there is not enough evidence to evaluate whether supplements of vitamin D prevent cancer or cardiovascular disease, or to make recommendations for or against screening.

As for fish oil supplements, the American Heart Association does not currently advise healthy adults who do not have heart disease to take omega-3 fish oil supplements, though it recommends eating fish frequently.

While the new study found few potential benefits from vitamin D or omega-3s in terms of cancer or cardiovascular disease, there was also little potential downside at the levels provided in the study. Participants did not report any serious side effects, such as bleeding, gastrointestinal symptoms or “fishy burps,” Dr. Manson said. She warned, however, against taking “megadoses” of either supplement. An excess of vitamin D can cause potentially serious health problems. Several studies of other supplements, like vitamin E and beta carotene, for example, found higher death rates in those who took high doses.
As for vitamin D and omega-3’s effects on other conditions, stay tuned. The researchers expect to publish additional findings about diabetes, depression, autoimmune disorders and cognitive function over the coming months, Dr. Manson said.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/10/well/live/vitamin-d-and-fish-oils-are-ineffective-for-preventing-cancer-and-heart-disease.html

Friday, March 30, 2018

Many Americans Try Retirement, Then Change Their Minds


Sue Ellen King had circled her retirement date on the calendar: March 8, 2015.
She had worked as a critical care nurse and nursing educator at University of Florida Health (UF Health) in Jacksonville, Fla., for 38 years; co-workers joked that she was there when the hospital’s foundation was laid, which happened to be true. So the send-offs went on for days — parties in the units where she had worked, a dinner in her honor, gifts including a framed photo signed by colleagues.

Ms. King felt ready. She’d turned 66, her full Social Security retirement age. She’d invested fully in the hospital’s 401(k) plan and consulted with a financial adviser. She and her husband, who had already retired, had paid off the mortgage on their three-bedroom ranch. They took a week’s trip to Hilton Head, S.C., to celebrate their impending freedom.
But her retirement lasted just three months. “I’d done all the preparation, except to really think about what life was going to be like,” Ms. King said. Days spent organizing recipes and photos, and lunching with friends, proved less engaging than expected.
So when her handpicked replacement needed a maternity leave, Ms. King jumped at the chance to return for three months. Now back at work in a part-time position she designed for herself, she calls herself “a failed retiree.”
Economists refer to this sort of U-turn as “unretirement.” (In “partial retirement,” another variant, an employee cuts back to part-time status but doesn’t actually leave the workplace.)

Unretirement is becoming more common, researchers report. A 2010 analysis by Nicole Maestas, an economist at Harvard Medical School, found that more than a quarter of retirees later resumed working. A more recent survey, from RAND Corporation, the nonprofit research firm, published in 2017, found almost 40 percent of workers over 65 had previously, at some point, retired.
“We definitely see evidence that retirement is fluid,” said Kathleen Mullen, a RAND senior economist and co-author of its American Working Conditions Survey. “There’s less of the traditional schedule: work to a certain age, retire, see the world. We see people lengthening their careers.”
A Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics supports that observation. It reported that the proportion of Americans over age 65 who were employed, full-time or part-time, had climbed steadily from 12.8 percent in 2000 to 18.8 percent in 2016. More than half were working full time.
Even more people might resume working if they could find attractive options. “We asked people over 50 who weren’t working, or looking for a job, whether they’d return if the right opportunity came along,” Dr. Mullen said. “About half said yes.”
Why go back to work? We hear endless warnings about Americans having failed to save enough, and the need for income does motivate some returning workers. But Dr. Maestas, using longitudinal data from the national Health and Retirement Study, has found that the decision to resume working doesn’t usually stem from unexpected financial problems or health expenses.
“It looks like something people are doing intentionally, instead of an oh-my-god response: ‘I’m running out of money; I have to go back to work,’” she said. “It’s much more about a choice.”
Longer lives, better health and less physically taxing jobs than in previous generations help provide that choice, Dr. Maestas pointed out. “You hear certain themes: A sense of purpose. Using your brain,” she said. “And another key component is social engagement.” Earning money, while welcomed, rarely proved the primary incentive.
Michelle Wallace, who lives in Broomfield, Colo., learned about purpose over 20 frustrating months. After decades in telecommunications, she said, she retired abruptly from a project management position in 2013, when her workplace turned chaotic and hostile.
Photo
Calling herself a “failed retiree,” Ms. King decided to work a night job 16 hours a week. Credit Charlotte Kesl for The New York Times
She’d saved enough to feel economically secure. But without a job, “I felt like I was free-floating, bobbing along on the ocean,” she said. “I felt very ungrounded.” Friends noticed her becoming more reclusive; her doctor increased her anti-depressants.
In 2015, she took a part-time job with a small business that supports government researchers. Now 69, she has no interest in retiring again. “As long as somebody wants me, I have a lot to contribute,” she said.
Most retirees who returned to work told researchers they had long planned to re-enter the work force. But among those who expected to remain retired but then changed their minds, Dr. Maestas has identified a subgroup going through “burnout and recovery.”

“Some people have a lot of stress, pressure and physical demands” in their jobs, she noted. “Their interactions with people at work could be strained or hostile.” After a restorative break, they can find work that suits them better.
Thana Christian, a social worker in Oakland, felt crushed by her workload at a county child protective services agency. She retired at 63, because “the job was killing me.”
For 18 months, she gardened and biked, took pottery and quilting classes, felt lonely but figured she would adjust. Then a chance conversation at the local senior center turned toward work. “It hit me like a thunderbolt, how much I missed social work,” she said. “That’s who I was.”
Online, Ms. Christian quickly learned that the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center needed on-call social workers, giving them the flexibility to set their own hours. Once hired, she tried various combinations and settled on working Mondays and Fridays.
“Two days a week doesn’t feel like work,” she said, now 66. “It’s an addition to my life.”
Researchers note that older workers have different needs. “Younger workers need the paycheck,” Dr. Mullen said. “Older jobseekers look for more autonomy, control over the pace of work. They’re less concerned about benefits. They can think about broader things, like whether the work is meaningful and stimulating.”
Of course, workplaces present challenges, too. Nearly as many older workers face repetitive tasks or physical demands as younger ones, the RAND survey found, and they report slightly less support from bosses and cooperation from colleagues.
Class and education matter, too. “People with less education are in more taxing jobs,” Dr. Maestas said. In the RAND survey, 60 percent of older college graduates who had retired said they would be interested in returning to the workforce for the right job. Just 40 percent of those without degrees felt the same way.
Still, two-thirds of older workers report satisfaction in work well done, a majority that includes Sue Ellen King.
Now 69, she puts on her scrubs twice a week, providing nursing education on the night shift from 7 p.m. until 2 a.m. She feels needed, but not overwhelmed.
“It’s perfect,” she said. “I get the ego reinforcement of having people appreciate what I do. And I appreciate the downtime — now that it’s not all downtime.”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/health/unretirement-work-seniors.html

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Turmeric May Protect Your Memory and Mood​




The bright yellow spice may help protect your brain, a new study finds


Turmeric — an Asian spice that gives curry its signature color — has made its mark as a “superfood.” Research has linked the ancient spice to a slew of health benefits, like reducing your risk of prostate cancer and heart disease, fighting bacteria and viruses, and even relieving pain.

Most of these benefits are tied back to curcumin, the compound behind turmeric’s vibrant yellow pigment. Now, a new study from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), suggests it may protect your memory and mood, too.

Researchers split 40 adults between the ages of 50 and 84 — all of whom had mild memory problems — into two groups. One group took 90 milligrams of curcumin twice a day, while the other group popped a placebo. Both groups performed cognitive tests throughout the 18-month experiment to measure their memory markers.
Thirty of them, half of whom were taking curcumin, also had their brains scanned at the beginning and end of the study to check for abnormal proteins called beta-amyloid and tau, both of which have been tied to Alzheimer’s disease.

At the end of the study, the curcumin group experienced a 28 percent improvement in their memory tests, while those popping the placebo didn’t see a significant change. What’s more, they also saw a slight boost in their mood compared to the placebo poppers.
The researchers can’t say exactly why curcumin might have these effects. But after analyzing the brain scans, they noticed that people taking curcumin had lower levels of both abnormal proteins, specifically in areas of the brain that influence memory and emotion.
Plus, curcumin is an antioxidant that might fight inflammation, explains study author Gary W. Small, M.D., director of the UCLA Longevity Center. The more inflammation you have in your brain, the more likely you are to experience cognitive problems and depression, he says.

Similar studies have not yet been performed in a younger, healthier group, says Dr. Small.
“However, other research shows that accumulation of amyloid and tau and elevated inflammation begins in some young adults and many middle-aged people, suggesting a potential benefit,” he adds.

The thing is, curcumin only makes up roughly 5 percent of turmeric, so you’d have to consume a large amount — way more than you probably sprinkle onto your food — to experience the benefits. In fact, you’d probably need to reach for a supplement to meet the amount used in the study, which you should only do after speaking with a doctor.
But it's still possible that even everyday consumption of turmeric can bring some benefit. “One study including over 1,000 Asian volunteers who did not have dementia showed that those who consumed curry occasionally, often, or very often had significantly better memory scores than volunteers who never or rarely consumed curry,” says Dr. Small.

So if you like the way turmeric tastes, go ahead and add it to your diet. Better yet, sprinkle it onto foods already proven to fight inflammation, like salmon and tuna, Keri Gans, M.S., R.D.N. C.D.N., told Men’s Health previously. Research overwhelmingly supports the anti-inflammatory effects of fatty fish, thanks to their concentration of omega-3 fatty acids.

Source: https://www.menshealth.com/health/turmeric-brain-health-benefits