Staying Young

“Age shouldn’t be a reason to slow down”

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age‘No One Wants To Be Old’: How To Put The ‘Non-Age’ in Nonagenerian

By Sharon Jayson, Kaiser Health News

June 26, 2017

“Wilhelmina Delco learned to swim at 80. Harold Berman is in his 67th year practicing law. Mildred Walston spent 76 years on the job at a candy company. And brothers Joe and Warren Barger are finding new spots in their respective homes for the gold medals they’ve just earned in track-and-field events at the National Senior Games.

These octogenarians and nonagenarians may not be widely known outside their local communities, but just as their more famous peers — think Carl Reiner, Betty White, Dr. Ruth (Westheimer) or Tony Bennett — the thread that binds them is not the year on their birth certificate but the way they live.

‘Age shouldn’t be a reason to slow down,’ said Joe Barger, 91, of Austin, Texas.

It never hurts to have longevity in your genes and few chronic health problems, but mindset plays a role in how people age, experts say. Some older adults have been termed ‘superagers’ for mental acuity despite their years because the typical age-related decline in brain volume is much slower.”

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“Real men wear sunscreen”

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sunscreenUse these helpful tips to protect yourself from the sun’s harmful rays

Healthy Living Made Simple, May/June 2017

“To no one’s surprise, sun exposure is the leading cause of skin cancer. Statistics from the Skin Cancer Foundation show that 65 percent of all melanoma cases are associated with exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays. That same research also shows men over the age of 40 have the highest annual exposure to UV radiation. Men over the age of 50 comprise the majority of people diagnosed with melanoma, and it’s also one of only three cancers with an increasing mortality rate for men.

Here are a few things to remember before tackling the yard, hitting the links or casting a line:  (Note:  Not just for men!)

Recreational precautions

  • Apply sunscreen before you play, reapply every two hours or at the ninth hole. Don’t forget to apply on exposed scalp, the backs of hands, neck and ears.
  • Try to tee off at sunrise or late in the afternoon to avoid the sun when it’s most intense (10 am – 4 pm).”

For more tips

Improve your digestion

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Improve your digestionStomach Trouble? 5 Steps Help Prevent Digestive Problems as You Age

Medications, inactivity, poor diet may all play a role

By Digestion Health Team at the Cleveland Clinic, June 13, 2017

“The ‘tummy aches’ you may have had as a child can evolve into a long list of digestive problems as you age. They’re annoying, but the good news is that things like acid reflux and constipation are irritations that you can treat. Often, simple lifestyle changes will do the trick.

‘Many older adults fixate on their gastrointestinal problems,’ says gastroenterologist Maged Rizk, MD. ‘The gastrointestinal tract ages with the rest of us. I tell patients not to get too upset by it.’

Older adults and digestive ailments

Medicine, inactivity and even gravity all can take their toll and contribute to digestive troubles as you get older, Dr. Rizk says.

Here, according to Dr. Rizk, are the main culprits and the symptoms they cause:

  • Multiple medications — These may cause a variety of gastrointestinal issues, including constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea and bleeding ulcers.
  • Inactivity and dehydration — These issues are more common as you age and they can make constipation worse.
  • Gravity — Over time the diaphragm can sink, causing decreased support where the esophagus joins the stomach (a hiatal hernia). And it typically causes heartburn and reflux. Medication often helps, but surgery is sometimes needed.
  • A weakened sphincter muscle, sedentary lifestyle and chronic constipation — These all may contribute to cause hemorrhoids, which are swollen veins in the lower gastrointestinal tract. Hemorrhoids are common in older adults.”

Read 5 steps to improve your digestion and more

Note:  I never thought I would be putting a picture of a toilet on this webpage. 🙂

First of many

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It happened at Twin Rivers Community Park yesterday at 4:00 p.m.  I arrived at the Park with my lawn chair, hat and camera in tow.  As I came around field #2, I heard my daughter yell, “Nanni.”  I turned and saw my daughter and her two small sons eagerly awaiting my granddaughter’s first t-ball game.

first of many
First game! (photo by slc)

We secured our spot just to the right of the first base dugout in the shade of a small tree.  The boys were busy digging in the dirt with a stick they had found.  My granddaughter, donned in a bright yellow ball cap, was sitting patiently on the bench in the dugout with her 11 member “Atlanta Braves” team.  In an effort to organize the little ball players, her dad assisted the coach by getting batting helmets on the players and a bat in hand.  The 4-5 year olds now looked like small bobble-head dolls as they walked out to the plate barely able to see under the helmet.

Weeks before the game, her mom told me it took awhile for Jovie (age 5) to pick out a pink and black ball glove.  You see, Jovie is left-handed therefore she bats left-handed, but she throws right-handed.

At the game, she was a natural.  She focused on her throwing, fielding, running and batting.  We were all so very proud.

first of many
Brother Waving to Sis on the Field (photo by slc)

Jovie’s mom and dad played t-ball as youngsters and it is great fun watching this new generation grow up with sports in their lives.  Playing sports brings families together and creates wonderful memories.

I am truly a blessed “Nanni” (grandma) and I treasure the memory of being at the first of many games to come.

Are you getting enough protein?

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Protein important to repairing, rebuilding muscle tissue

protein
authoritynutrition.com

By Marnie Walth, Bismarck Tribune

May 24, 2017

“One of my favorite wellness tips from my sister, Sherri, a sports nutrition guru, is to drink chocolate milk after a race or a hard workout. There’s nothing particularly extraordinary about chocolate milk other than it’s a delicious, convenient delivery system for what my body needs to repair and rebuild depleted muscle tissue — carbohydrates and protein.

Lowfat chocolate milk inexpensively delivers what expensive sports recovery drinks try to do — a drinkable four-to-one ratio of carbohydrate and protein grams. The 4:1 punch precisely provides the right dose of carbohydrates needed to transport sugar into muscles, where it becomes glycogen (energy storage) and protein to stimulate muscle repair and growth.

…There is perhaps less understanding around protein and its role in maintaining key body functions. In addition to building and repairing muscle tissue, protein is key to making enzymes, hormones and other body chemicals and is a building block of bones, cartilage, skin and blood.

Warning signs that you’re not getting enough protein include low energy, slow muscle recovery after exercise, hair loss, reduced strength, declining bone density and a weakened immune system.”

Read more about the RDA and protein-rich foods

Vitamin D supplements – Do you need them?

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Vitamin D only strengthens bone in those with significant vit D deficiencyVitamin D supplements

May 16, 2017

“An international study of older adults has found that mass, untargeted provision of vitamin D supplements provides little clinical benefit to many when it comes to the common bone disease,  osteoporosis. Instead, the study recommends targeting vitamin D supplements at individuals whose levels of this vitamin are markedly reduced.

The results of the study – carried out by researchers at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA – were announced today by Professor Ian R. Reid at ECTS 2017, the 44th European Calcified Tissue Society Congress being held in Salzburg, Austria.

Professor Reid said: ‘We know that severe vitamin D deficiency causes osteomalacia, yet trials in the community have not consistently shown that vitamin D supplements improve older adults’ bone density or reduce the risk of fracture. So we set out to determine whether a higher dose of vitamin D influences bone density or whether benefit is dependent on the level of vitamin D already present in the individual.'”

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Wine, olive oil, and afternoon naps…

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secret of long lifeThe secret to a long life? It’s all Greek to me

By Diane Carman, The Denver Post

May 12, 2017

“A few years ago, I read about the island of Ikaria in Greece where people ‘forget to die.‘ They routinely live into their 90s, making people all over the world wonder exactly what is their secret.

Most on Ikaria say they stay up late at night and sleep late in the morning. Unemployment is high, so there’s not much pressure to set the alarm clock.

They enjoy a glass of wine with lunch, followed by a lovely nap. They eat lots of fruits and vegetables from their gardens, all dressed with fresh local olive oil, and they shy away from dairy products, except for milk from the neighborhood goats.

In Greece, the secret to a long, healthy life appears simple: wine, olive oil and afternoon naps.

In the U.S., it’s money.

A study released in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Monday identified three Colorado counties — Summit, Pitkin and Eagle — as having the highest life expectancies in the country.

The lowest life expectancies were in Oglala Lakota County, home of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and one of the poorest counties in America.

So what is it about the lifestyles of the rich that makes them live longer?”

Read more about the secret of a long life