_ CaregivingDaughters, Not Sons, Are the Caregivers By Sondra Forsyth articleResearchers at Princeton University found women appear to provide as much elderly parent care as they can, while men contribute as little as possible. The study was presented in August 2014 at at the 109th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco.
_ 5 Food-Drug Interactions You Want to Avoid By Sondra Forsyth articleBy Leah Shainhouse You have heard it again and again: Adapt to a healthy lifestyle. If you make sure to eat well, a plethora of diseases can be prevented or managed. However, there are times when you walk into your doctor’s office, either for a routine check-up or for some sort of ache or pain and you have no choice. You walk out with another prescription, whether it is to help lower your cholesterol, control your blood pressure or fight off an infection.
_ Relationships & LoveConnection is the Key to Positive Personal Relationships By Sondra Forsyth articleBy Lynne D’Amico, PhD You can improve communication without improving a relationship, but you can’t create connection without improving a relationship.Communication has been hailed as a “holy grail” to interpersonal relationships, and is routinely promoted as the way to improve relationships between spouses, children, parents, and work colleagues. As years of research show, communication is definitely an important dimension of any relationship. But communication isn’t the key to fixing relationship problems. Connection is.
_ Cholesterol Drug Good for Diabetic Women’s Hearts By Sondra Forsyth articleThe cholesterol-lowering drug fenofibrate cuts cardiovascular disease risks by 30 per cent in women with type-2 diabetes, according to a study done at th University of Sydney in Australia and published in August 2014 in Diabetologia.A release from the university quotes study chairman Professor Tony Keech as saying, "The finding is good news for women. The study shows that fenofibrate reduced the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, or having a stroke or other adverse cardiovascular event by 30 per cent in women and 13 per cent in men."
_ Medical CareDoctors & Patients Making Decisions Together By Sondra Forsyth articleShared decision-making is a concept that’s gaining traction in medicine, particularly in areas of health care, where patients are presented with more than one reasonable treatment option. The programs, which feature patient-education tools such as online surveys and videos, have several goals. One is to help people thoroughly understand their choices and assure them that they are making informed decisions.
_ Medical CareThose with Not Long to Live Still Get Screenings for Cancer By Sondra Forsyth articleA substantial number of older patients with limited life expectancy continue to receive routine screenings for prostate, breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer although the procedures are unlikely to benefit them, according to the authors of a study done at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by Trevor J. Royce, M.D., M.S. and colleagues.
_ Heart HealthGood Neighbors May Curb Heart Attack Risk By Sondra Forsyth articleAlthough some studies suggest that the factors such as area violence and noise can negatively affect cardiovascular health, few studies have looked at the potential health enhancing effects of positive local neighborhood characteristics. This prompted the authors of an article published in 2014 in BMJ to track the cardiovascular health of over 5000 US adults with no known heart problems over a period of four years, starting in 2006. Their average age was 70, and almost two thirds were women and married (62%).
_ Stay Safe During Lightning By Sondra Forsyth articleHere’s advice from the Centers for Disease Control to help you protect yourself and your loved ones from lightning during a thunderstorm:The weather forecast calls for a slight chance of thunderstorms, but you can only see a few fluffy white clouds overhead. So you and your tennis partner grab your racquets and balls and head for the tennis court.You spend a few minutes warming up and then—wait! Is that thunder you hear? Was that a lightning flash?
_ Sleep HealthPoor Sleep Ups Suicide Risk in Older Adults By Sondra Forsyth articleReported poor sleep quality independent of a depressed mood appears to be associated with an increased risk for suicide in older adults, according to e study done by Rebecca A. Bernert, Ph.D. of the Stanford University School of Medicine, California and colleagues and published online in JAMA Psychiatry August 13th 2014.
Brain HealthElasticity of Brain Arteries & Aging Well By Sondra Forsyth articleIn an effort to identify how the elasticity of the arteries in the brain correlates with aging well, researchers at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign used optical methods developed in their lab to map out the pulse pressure of the entire brain’s cortex.
_ Mental & Emotional HealthOlder Adults Weathered the Recession Well By Sondra Forsyth articleThe "Great Recession" may have put a dent in many older adults' pocketbooks, but a study presented at the 109th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association in August 2014 in San Francisco found that more than 40 percent reported a decrease in "financial strain" between 2006 and 2010.
_ MenopauseMany Menopausal Women Go to Anti-Aging Docs By Sondra Forsyth articleFeeling that conventional doctors did not take their suffering seriously, women instead sought out hormonal treatments for menopausal symptoms from anti-aging clinicians, according to a sudy done at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
_ CaregivingManaging Dementia Related Personality Changes By Sondra Forsyth articleAlzheimer’s disease causes brain cells to die, so the brain works less well over time. This changes how a person acts. Here, from the National Institute on Aging, are suggestions that may help you understand and cope with changes in personality and behavior in a person with Alzheimer’s disease.Common personality and behavior changes you may see include:• Getting upset, worried, and angry more easily• Acting depressed or not interested in things• Hiding things or believing other people are hiding things
_ Pets Vitamins + SupplementsShould Your Pet Take Supplements? By Sondra Forsyth articleOur pets are like our family, right? Even pet food manufacturers now refer to “pet owners” as “pet parents” in their marketing! This humanization trend has been fueled by us Baby Boomers who are refocusing our discretionary spending on our pets rather than spending it on feathering our now empty nests. So it’s no wonder we “pet parents” are now pondering the question of vitamins and other supplementation for Fido and Fluffy. But what’s the real scoop of pet supplements? Good idea or bad?
_ Mental & Emotional HealthDepression Often Untreated in PD By Sondra Forsyth articleIn light of the revelation that the late Robin Williams had early Parkinson’s Disease when he committed suicide on August 11th 2014, a study published in the August 2014 issue of the Journal of Parkinson's Disease is of particular interest. Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago in collaboration with the National Parkinson's Foundation (NPF) found that although depression is known to be a common symptom of Parkinson's disease, the mood disorder often remains untreated for many patients.
_ Heart HealthMayo Clinic Challenges Cholesterol Guideline By Sondra Forsyth articleA Mayo Clinic task force has challenged some recommendations in the updated guideline for cholesterol treatment that was unveiled by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) in 2013. The task force concludes, based on current evidence, that not all patients encouraged to take cholesterol-lowering medications such as statins may benefit from them and that the guideline missed some important conditions that might benefit from medication.
_ FluHigh-Dose Flu Vaccine Best for Elderly By Sondra Forsyth articleHigh-dose influenza vaccine is 24 percent more effective than the standard-dose vaccine in protecting people ages 65 and over against influenza illness and its complications, according to a study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville TN and published August 13th 2014 in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
_ Mental & Emotional HealthRisky Work Scenarios Make Women Anxious & Less Competent By Sondra Forsyth articleRisky situations at work increase anxiety for women and hurt their job performance, according to a study done at Stanford University and presented at the 109th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association in August 2014 in San Francisco. On the other hand, study author Susan R. Fisk found that anxiety did not raise anxiety levels for men and that men’s job performance was unaffected.