grow older better

Tag: health

  • Heat Waves Are Killers

    droughtEach year the earth is getting hotter and we are experiencing major heat waves and crop killing droughts.

    While we hear, usually well in advance, about taking precautions for tornadoes, hurricanes and blizzards – we don't seem to get the same warnings through the media about heat waves.

    BUT:

    Natural disasters such as hurricanes, blizzards or tornadoes might be more dramatic and attention grabbing than a heat wave, but in reality, the heat may be capable of claiming more lives than even these violent storms.

    The drama of hurricanes may be great TV but the deaths from heat are greater in number and do not get as much coverage.

    Maybe because heat pictures are less interesting?

    And deaths from heat are not pretty?

    And sadly – maybe because most heat related deaths are older poorer people?

    Living alone, being poor, and being in an apartment building, hot sun on apartmentsare factors in heat related deaths.  the poor are congregated usually in the not-too-good parts of cities and no matter what is the temperature, residents do not open their windows because crime tends to enter.

    Open windows are an invitation to crime. That's a sad statistic about modern cultures. And older, poorer people do not tend to use air conditioners because either they aren't supplied or they fear they won't be able to pay the high electric bill.

    Please – if you have poor or elderly people living near you – do check on them.

    Most towns and cities have a cooling center where they can spend the day and some may have night services.

    We have overnight warming shelters for the extremely cold temperatures. We should have equivalent cooling shelters for the extremely hot weather.


  • Inactivity is BAD

    sitting too many hours

    I posted about sitting more than 3 hours a day as being bad for us…

    then this came across my screen:

    Inactivity is BAD BAD BAD

    Inactivity is a major cause of death worldwide, with new research suggesting that a sedentary lifestyle is on par with both smoking and obesity when it comes to raising the risk for disease and mortality.

    Since posting the first bit of research I have tried to not sit as much and move around a lot more yet here I am sitting …. again.

    No matter how health conscious we are, it takes a whole lot more being conscious of how much sitting we do and how inactive we really are.

    All this research is forcing me to take a look at my lifestyle and make changes.

    I'm getting a new laptop and I plan on standing a lot more when I am on the computer…that's hard to do right now…

    And as it is summer and nice out, I am walking more, biking and kayaking – but sitting is still something I am doing too much of..

     

    Thoughts? Comments? Thank you….





  • Stop Sitting So Much – and So Badly

    sitting-at-desk

    Do you want to live longer and be healthier?

    Then sit less than 3 hours a day – and when you do sit –  sit with better posture.

     

    Recent research shows that sitting for long periods of time is unhealthy and that sitting for fewer than 3 hours a day may add up to 2 years to your life.

    A wave of new research indicates that sitting all day is actively damaging your health. By forcing a body designed for movement to hold a crushingly immobile position, sitting strains muscles, slows your metabolism, increases your risk of heart disease, and even shortens your life span. "Sitting is a health hazard on the order of smoking," says Marc Hamilton, PhD, a microbiologist at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

    Wow!

    From about the 1st grade on most US schools have kids sitting hours and hours a day. And often physical education or even outdoor recess time are among the first "extras" to go when budgets are tight.

    [Or when we teach to the tests.]

    Sitting badly

    Sitting itself is a problem as our metabolism slows to a halt when we sit – and then most of us sit in bad positions posture-wise when we do sit.

    Add to this that we sit more than 3 hours a day makes this sitting-issue a double-plus whammy.

    Get out of your chair and move around! work while standing and when you sit:

    Here is a better way to sit

     

    Comments? Thoughts? Thank you

  • Do You Want To Be Healthy? Then stop eating rocks and dirt!

    rocksLately there have been “big” news articles about the downside of taking supplements. I previously wrote about one study regarding older women.

    The latest news is that taking calcium supplements may lead to a higher incidence of heart attacks. So it is now suggested that one get calcium through food sources.

    My issue with all these studies is that they do not tell you what “supplements” the people were taking. This is important because there are “supplements” and there are supplements!

    And the problem with the “food” solution is that food is not food anymore – it’s pink slime, fillers and genetically modified yuk! [yup – my bias is showing]

    What can we do to get better nutrition?

    Try these tips

    Tip 1

    For starters, bake your current supplements in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Do the results look like baked food or do your supplements now look black and oozy?

    Black and oozy suggests they are made from rocks, petroleum and coal tar. And yes – that is allowed – and is what 95% of supplements in North America are made from!

    Tip 2

    Read the supplement labels and try pronouncing the words out loud. Do they sound like food words or chemical words?

    Tip 3

    If the results of Tips 1 and 2 scare you – then try Tip 3
    NutriVerus
    Buy vitamins that are food based! Bodies are made to process foods, not chemicals like the product to your right.

     

    And you always contact me about this product via my Mannatech business site….

    And the disclaimer – if you buy any products I mention on my sites or in my blog posts, I am an affiliate, and if you buy from my link – I do make some money. 

    And so can you!!

     

  • Obesity Is Linked To Changes In The Brain

    human_brain

    What are we doing to our brains?

    Our bodies?

     

    The hypothalamus is a small almond sized structure situated just above the brain stem and controls body temperature, hunger, thirst, fatigue, sleep, and circadian cycles. These are functions in the category of homeostasis – or balance.  Look what we are doing!

    Obesity appears to be strongly linked to structural changes in the brains of rats and humans, according to new research.
     
    During a study of high-fat diets in the brains of mice and rats bred to become obese, researchers found evidence of early and lasting injury to a specific part of the hypothalamus.

    Then using brain imaging, the researchers also found signs of similar damage in the same area of the brain in obese humans.
    No one has found a cause and effect – but interesting questions are being asked and further studies will be designed.

    If obesity changes what is basically the hunger thermostat – it might explain a lot about why people keep eating even when they know it may not be good for their health.

    And this study was done on rats and adults so another question would be what happens to young children who are gaining so much weight? If their brains are also changed in not-so-good-ways by the weight, what else might that affect developmentally?

    More questions that need answers!  But while we wait for more answers, please eat healthier foods and grow older better!!

     

    Thoughts? Comments?