grow older better

Tag: depression

  • Januarys, Birthdays, and A Little Rant

    birthday

    Is it because it is January?

    Or is it because my birthday is this month?

     

    Every January, I get a five dollar coupon for a local restaurant that has good food.

    But I also get mail from a company that wants to sell me cremation services.

    Next up, I know I will get the annual blurb from my Medicare advantage program with all the nonsense about how to take care of my aging body.

    I gather they send this to everyone as if we are all the same because we happen to be over 65.

    It is usually chock full with good information like making sure your floors do not have any clutter on them.

    Well, duh! What happens when you have young cats, a puppy, and are a genetic-clutter person?

    They also tell me to be concerned if I get depressed and give me a telephone number to call – because we all know that anybody over 65 is bound to get depressed.

    Wish instead they offered advice on safety guides for riding your bike when you’re getting older, or a class for making sure you know what you’re doing when you’re skiing, or maybe how to go kayaking or running or something like that – instead of telling me to put bars in my bathroom and be sure to clear my floor.

    Maybe if they offered advice about going out and being active and being social they wouldn’t have to worry so much about those grab bars in your bathroom and depression.

    And yes I do know about depression, which is why I feel like and say something here. But depression can strike at any age and there are ways to avoid being depressed and two of them are by being active and being social.

    That’s why I write this blog, because I know that people over 60, over 65, and over 70 aren’t all sitting home worrying about putting putting grip bars and stuff in their bathrooms or cleaning floors.

    They are doing something else with their lives!

    Thoughts? Comments?

    Thank you.

  • Another Reason To Love Your Coffee

    coffee

     

     

    In my lifetime, coffee has been seen as bad for you, and good for you, and all points in between these two extremes.

    As with most food research, I used me as my own subejct…and I figured it was good for me….

     

    I love coffee…I have been drinking it since way back in high school.

    Over the years, I cut back on the amount I drank, but I never stopped, and never will stop, drinking coffee!!

     

    Now we see that coffee may keep us from getting depressed and committing suicide. 

    In this study of over 43 thousand men…..

    Suicide was the cause of death for 277 people over the course of the study, though researchers made a surprising discovery: the risk of suicide for adults who drank between 2-4 cups of coffee each day was 50 percent lower than adults who drank decaf, very little or no coffee.

    Their conclusions:

    Researchers explained that coffee and caffeine stimulate the central nervous system, acting as a mild anti-depressant by boosting the brain’s production of neurotransmitters including noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin, chemicals all associated with depression. This, they add, could help explain why the results of past studies have linked coffee to lowered risks of depression.

     

    So here’s to a happier life – filled with just the right amount of java …… and friends to drink it with….

     

    coffe and friends

     

     

    Thoughts?

    Comments?

    Thank you!

  • Depression and Pets [a cure?]

    cats in a bath tub

    Some of you know that I lost both of my pets last Fall – one died of old age and the other tragically.  I was a mess and I was depressed….for a long time…

    When I was ready – I adopted two kittens – thinking that two would not make me the source of all fun ;) and yup that was the correct thing to do.

    The female kitten [Sassy black ]was about 3 1/2 months and the male [Smokie gray] about 2 1/2 months when I adopted them in late December.

    After getting over being sick and then getting adjusted to a  new place they have taken over my house! 

    Including the bath tub

    And I am not depressed!!

     

    cross posted from http://graywolfproductions.com

  • Is happiness related to age?

    friends help you be happy
     
    The quick answer is a resounding NO!

     
    Age is not related to happiness because  happiness has nothing to do with being a specific age. 
    What happiness does have to do with are the following 3 life circumstances:
    • enthusiasm about life and living
    • minimizing depression
    • being healthy
    And these three circumstances are interrelated.
    Enthusiasm is that child-like quality of wonder or passionate interest in life which, sadly, we seem to let diminish as we age. Henry David Thoreau once remarked: “None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”
    Enthusiasm is seeing each new day and each new moment as a gift – a wondrous event; one that has such potential that we can be awe struck.
    Remember when your child was a baby? Everything was new and fun. Your child sat and stared at a flower, the cat or dog, or at you! And I bet you spent hours watching your baby sleep.
    Your young child was engrossed for hours pulling the petals off roses – smelling them or eating them. Ditto the dandelions and grass. Or listening to you read the same story over and over and over as if it had never been heard before.
    What happens that as we age we lose much of our enthusiasm? Many think it’s our education system and/or the current state of stress in modern families. Children just don’t seem to be allowed to spend those hours with the roses or with the parent reading – everyone is just too busy to allow it to unfold like that.
    But even for children who can stay enthused by the world around them, the prevalent culture of TV and school soon start to diminish this.
    Minimizing depression
    Maybe losing our enthusiasm as we age increases the incidence of depression? If each day brings wonder and excitement – it’s hard to be depressed. You get out of bed eager to see what the day has in store. You walk, you meet with friends, you go to work or you sit happily by yourself thinking about what a great thing it is that you are alive and happy about all that you can do! 
    Being healthy
    If you are healthy it is easier to be enthusiastic and to minimize depression. But it works the other way too. If you are enthused and have minimal depression – you do things that make and keep you healthy. 
    We live in a wonderfully and intricately interconnected body and mind.
    Stop and think why we label this phenomenon of enthusiasm as “child-like enthusiasm.”   I never hear “adolescent-like enthusiasm” or “adult-like enthusiasm” as if these are not possibilities.

    Go and find that stop and smell those rosesenthusiasm you had way back when and don’t worry if others say you are acting “like a child.”  

     

     

    Stop and smell those roses! 

    It will help you grow older better. 

  • Good news; Bad news day

    Good news

    Simple blood test could predict Alzheimer’s risk
    Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:39am EDT

    By Julie Steenhuysen

    CHICAGO (Reuters) – Researchers have developed a simple blood test that may be able to predict whether mild lapses of memory could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease.

    In a study published on Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine, an international team of researchers describe 18 cell-signaling, or communication, proteins found in blood that predicted with 90 percent accuracy whether a person would develop Alzheimer’s disease.

    Bad news

    Depressed at work? Get a new career
    Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:26pm EDT

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Child care workers, home health care aides and other people who provide personal services have the highest rates of depression among U.S. workers, according to a new survey to be published on Monday.

    It found that 10.8 percent of personal care and service workers and 10.3 percent of food preparation and serving workers — both usually low-paying jobs — experienced one or more major depressive episodes in the past year.

    It’s good that we may be able to predict Alzheimer’s early – but unless we also figure out better how to treat it or avoid it – I am not sure I’d like to know if my memory lapses are an early signal – what if they aren’t?

    I found out last year that I have some odd white spots in my brain – they are usually related to MS and other conditions but I was told by the neurologist not to worry as it turns out that more people have these than they used to think…and since I bike and ski I certainly have no balance problems…

    But now that I know they are there? I have a nagging something in my head about them.

    And the depression? It seems to be more prevalent in those professions where we find more women – care giver careers.
    Are women more depressed or do these profession tend to appeal to those who get depressed?

    Lots of questions that need answering.

    In the meanwhile if you are depressed – see someone to find out why – it may be situational..

    or as the news said – get a new career…

    If you have read other of my posts – that’s a great idea for many reasons –

    glyconutrients, healthy aging, growing older, aging, nutrition, exercise, eating properly,