By Jose Sonik

Can’t think clearly? Maybe it’s your blood pressure. North Carolina State University at Raleigh researcher Dr. Allaire has found a link between high blood pressure and mental function. Very simply, seniors with high blood pressure have poorer cognition than those with healthy blood pressure. “High blood pressure” means over 130.

by Lydia Yolen

Does your age shock you? Do you feel younger than your years describe? You’re not alone. A study of seniors found that, on average, men feel 13 years younger than they actually are, while women felt more like 7 years younger.

The gap between perceived and actual age narrowed during periods of ill health, and increased when the subject was happy and active.

Stay young; enjoy life.

By Edna Milay

A recent study demonstrates a proven way to lower breast cancer risk and occurrence by half.

Sounds too good to be true? It’s not, because a huge proportion of breast cancer cases can be traced to something women voluntarily do: take replacement hormones.

Women who took estrogen and progestin post-menopause to replace hormones doubled their risk for breast cancer. Even more dramatic, when they stopped taking hormones, their risk subsided within two years.

This is not to say that everyone taking hormones should drop them immediately. The risk increases with time, so short-term use is not likely to result in cancer.

by Natalia Freeman

Excess weight is bad for your heart. You know that – but do you know why?
Fat changes the way your body metabolizes your food. Sugar that might be available as energy is packed away as fat, and fat is harder to break down for energy. Your entire metabolic system is out of whack. This, in turn, affects the entire body, including the blood vessels. Without the right sort of energy arriving at the right speed, the system begins to experience strain. And strain is what causes poor health. The vascular issues that can arise affect the heart and blood vessels, leading to weakness, poor circulation, and failure.
Often, obese people are placed on many medications – for diabetes, for heart conditions, for atherosclerosis, for hypertension… Many – if not all – of these conditions exist because of the excess weight causing system strain. It can be reversed. But, just as it takes time to reach an unhealthy state, it takes time to reverse it. A strictly adhered-to diet can, in a few years time, reduce or eliminate the necessity of a good portion of the drug cocktail.

There’s a link between the mind and the body. If you think you’re ill, you can make yourself ill, and if you think you’re well, it can help you recover. All of this is part of the well-documented though poorly understood placebo effect.
But some mind-body connections are more physical. And it is both documented and understood how depression, stress, and anger can lead to high cholesterol and diabetes.
The most obvious connection is the affect it has on behavior. When people are stressed, they eat more, particularly unhealthy foods; smoke more; and exercise less. The result is lethargy and poor health which can lead to hypertension and diabetes.
But there’s also a hormonal effect. Negative emotions increase the circulation of fight-or-flight hormones. In the short term, these hormones increase our cognition and performance. But in the long-term, they begin to damage the system, reduce happy hormones, and damage blood vessels. The results aren’t pretty.
What to do if you’re under stress? Relax. Try a massage or day spa, or exercise, even if you don’t feel like it. Exercise is great for both the mind and body. If necessary, seek therapy or medical intervention. In the long run, it can prevent physical deterioration and poor health.

by Staff

Clostridium difficile.

The name might be unfamiliar, but the pathogen is on the rise. There has been a sharp increase in the prevalence of C. diff in hospitals around the country, according to a survey taken in 648 hospitals in 47 states.

As many as 13 out of every 1,000 patients tested positive for Clostridium difficile, with 94% showing symptoms of the accompanying disease: diarrhea, fever, appetite loss, nausea, and stomach pain. About 4% of patients will die from the disease.

How does this compare to C. diff levels in the past? Between 2000 and 2005, the number has more than doubled.

This may be partially due to prescription techniques. C. diff isn’t affected by most antibiotics, so broad spectrum antibiotics, which kill all other bacteria, give C. diff room to grow and thrive. Whenever possible, physicians should prescribe narrowly targeted antibiotics, to prevent C. diff from expanding unchecked.

Based on an article by Jacob Goldstein in the WSJ