grow older better

Category: Health

Obesity And Your Lifespan

More of we older people, more than previously thought, may be shortening our lifespans due to obesity issues.

The death toll of the nation’s obesity epidemic may be close to four times higher than has been widely believed, and all that excess weight could reverse the steady trend of lengthening life spans for a generation of younger Americans, new research warns.

There are some studies that showed that having extra weight as we age might be a sort of protection – but in recent years all the research I have read shows that obesity shortens lives – of adults, of teens and of children.

Me? I’d rather err on the side of not carrying around extra weight.

Comments? Thoughts?

Thank you…

09/25/2013
Heat Exhaustion: Does It Really Get Worse As We Get Older?

Good grief! I hope not!

I’ve had problems with hot weather and humidity since I was born.

I was the kid on the beach with a hat, long sleeved shirt, and long pants with zinc on my nose.

As a teen, I kind of went out there without parents around, and got too much sun and got burned many times – but you know you do that when you’re a teenager… and then you hope as an adult that you didn’t do “too” much that you now have problems…

So far, I’m okay.

But heat, especially when it is over 80 degrees F, starts me on a path to heat exhaustion. This is worse for me when I can not acclimatize.

I lived in Washington, D.C. for a long time, but there the temperature increases from May thru summer. I had issues some summers, but generally I survived all my D.C. summers.

Where I am now, in Oregon, we don’t get a chance to acclimatize. It goes from pleasant in the 70’s to near 100 in one day!

One day is about all I can take, so when it is brutally hot for 2 or more days, I have heat exhaustion issues.

I get nauseous, irritable, headachy, and dizzy. These symptoms and I are on such familiar terms, we recognize each other.

Have they worsened as I aged? I’m not sure, as I also changed the coast I was on, and reduced the humidity factor. I do note that the symptoms come on after a day of excessive hot, but they go away when it cools off.

I do pay attention to the weather and try to plan ahead – and one of these years, I will get an air conditioner….maybe when I am “old.”

How does the heat affect you?

Thoughts? Thank you….

07/02/2013
Beware: Medical Alert Impostors Targeting Seniors

The following alert came from the Oregon Atty. General, but it applies to anyone in any state who is a senior citizen or who knows any senior citizens.

Scammers are not picky as to what state they operate in.

Please pass this message along. Thank you.

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The Oregon Department of Justice has recently learned older Oregonians are receiving pre-recorded messages from medical alert imposters claiming to be from Life Alert, a personal emergency response and home medical alert system company.

The recordings sound like a real person claiming that either “someone has purchased a Life Alert system for you,” or that “you qualify for a free Life Alert.” Others may say they are calling from a shipping department to confirm a free order or to send you new Life Alert equipment.

Life Alert has confirmed the calls are not made by the company. (See Life Alert’s Fraud Alert online at http://www.lifealert.com/fraudalert.aspx.)

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum urges Oregonians to simply hang up the phone if they receive a recorded call saying they are with Life Alert or the “I’ve fallen and can’t get up” people. “DO NOT press a button to talk to sales person, and never give personal information or credit card numbers over the phone unless you have initiated the contact or you are sure you know who you are dealing with,” says Attorney General Rosenblum.

If you think you have fallen victim to these medical alert imposters, contact the Oregon Department of Justice online at www.oregonconsumer.gov or call 1-877-877-9392.

05/29/2013
Pets And Health

Many of us pet owners know that pets keep us saner, happier and healthier.

Now there is research that backs up our life experiences.

A recent study indicated that owning a pet, especially a dog, might reduce the risk of your having a heart disease.

Is it the constant walking, playing with, snuggling with or just having a living critter in your home that you have to take care of?

I know I have lost weight since getting my puppy – it’s the weight I put on after my old dog died.

It’s too easy to NOT take a walk in the early morning or late at night when you do not really have to…but with a puppy or a dog – those walks are necessary and are as good for you health-wise as they are for the puppy or dog.

So here’s to our pets… and if you are not a dog person, please do not go out and get one thinking it will be “good” for you…try taking care of a neighbor’s dog or puppy for a while first.

Pets come with lifetime commitments!!

Comments? Thank you!!

05/10/2013
Boomers: No Longer The Healthiest Generation

Baby boomer?

Better watch that lifestyle!

Wow – for years the thinking was that the exercise-conscious generation, who ate organic food and who tended to not smoke, were healthier than past generations.

But no – boomers are unhealthier!!

Never mind the fact that Baby boomers have been dubbed the Healthiest Generation, since they have the longest life expectancy of any previous generation, and that they were able to exploit advances in medical care and reap the benefits of public health campaigns highlighting the dangers of smoking and unhealthy diets. That moniker may simply no longer apply, since it turns out that they have higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol than members of the previous generation

This is a far different version of where we are going as a culture then we previously thought. Will we, the older-than-boomers stay healthy enough to help take care of the generation after us?

Will their kids also be unhealthy?

Our national obesity levels indicate that today’s children may not live as long as did their parents. We are in fact shortening their lifespans!

And now we see it is creating potential disabilities in the boomer generation.

Where does this all lead in terms of aging? public policy? health guidelines?

I don’t know – but it shows boomers and the rest of us all need to make BIG changes to get and keep being as healthy as we can….

I am a believer in the idea that anyone can make changes at any time in their lives.

BUT – the time to start is

RIGHT NOW

Comments? Thank you!

04/03/2013