Category Archives: health

Arthritis Signs for Knees

Posted on by autocreate740

Adjusting to the signs of aging is not intuitive.  In recent years, I have learned to read, listen to other seniors, and constantly pay attention to the signs my body gives me.

An article in the New York Times Well section brought to my attention that early signs of arthritis could be creaking and popping sounds.  Yes!

The condition for noises in the knees is called Crepitus by medical professionals. To date professionals are actually undecided whether these noises in the knees signal the beginning of Arthritis.  So, what should we be aware of?  Here are some guidelines: Continue reading →

Hearing Loss & Dementia

Posted on by autocreate740

How often have you found yourself questioning whether you heard something correctly, or have asked someone to repeat themselves? Does it happen in a crowded room?  Are you turning up the volume on your TV more often?

  • Hearing loss that occurs gradually as you age (presbycusis) is common. About 25 percent of people in the United States between the ages of 55 and 64 have some degree of hearing loss. For those older than 65, the number of people with some hearing loss is almost 1 in 2. Source: Hearing loss – Mayo Clinic

In my research the following information gave me a more serious approach to thinking about hearing loss and why I should pay attention.

  1. People with mild, moderate and severe hearing loss are 2, 3 and 5 times more likely to develop dementia respectively than people with normal hearing.Even after taking into account other factors that are associated with high risk of dementia, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, age, sex and race, hearing loss and dementia are still strongly associated.  Source: Dementia and hearing loss – hear-it.org
  2. The findings concerning hearing loss and dementia suggest that it might be possible to delay the onset of dementia through the use of hearing aids and paying more attention to the prevention and early identification of hearing loss.Source: Hearing aids, cognition and dementia – hear-it.org

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Are there benefits to positive thinking?

Posted on by autocreate740

I’m not one to make light of the fact that for some seniors aging is a difficult challenge. Loss of the ability to function the way we could when we were younger; loss of friends and companions; sickness.  All of these things add to enormous stress, and sometimes despondent feelings.  But what if thinking positively could help us out?  Should we at least try to find a way to cultivate this habit?

♣ An article in the New York Times suggest that our thoughts can do “far more than raise one’s spirits”.  How about if thinking positively could boost your immune system, alleviate depression, lower your blood pressure, give you better weight control.  Would you try it?

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Not taking your meds? Caution!..

Posted on by autocreate740

I must admit that I am guilty of not taking my medications sometimes.  It’s not intentional really, but it does happen. It could seem like a simple thing missing, or not taking your meds. Right?  It turns out that it could actually be life threatening !  Yes!

Following is a summary of a New York Times article. You can check and find out whether you are using these excuses for not taking your meds. Non-adherence to taking prescribed medications results in
50 % of prescriptions for chronic diseases not being taken as prescribed, typically people take only half of their prescribed doses.

  • Approximately 125,000 deaths and 10 percent of hospitalizations are the cause of non-adherence to prescriptions. If the drugs are not taken correctly they do not work.
  • A third of kidney transplant patients don’t take their anti- rejection medications. In addition, heart attack patients do not take their blood pressure meds.  Moreover, children with asthma do not use their inhalers at all, or consistently.

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