Tag Archives: Robert Preidt

Alzheimer’s research eyes rogue proteins

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Education, Health, Senior Living, ,
Researchers believe that Alzheimer’s disease may be a double-prion disorder in which two rogue proteins destroy the brain. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


With findings that might alter the path of Alzheimer’s research, scientists say misfolded forms of two proteins appear to spread through patients’ brains similar to an infection.


The findings suggest that Alzheimer’s is a “double-prion” disorder. This discovery could help lead to new treatments that focus directly on prions, according to researchers from the University of California, San Francisco.


A prion is a misshapen protein that can force other copies of that protein into the same misfolded shape and spread in the brain.


It’s best known for its role in bovine spongiform encephalopathy—”mad cow” disease—and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a degenerative brain disorder.


In the new research, the university team analyzed the brains of 75 Alzheimer’s patients after death and found self-propagating prion forms of the proteins amyloid beta and tau. Higher amounts of these prions were associated with early-onset Alzheimer’s and younger age at death.


Alzheimer’s patients have amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain, but efforts to treat the disease by clearing out these inactive proteins have failed.


These new findings suggest that active amyloid beta and tau prions could drive Alzheimer’s and offer targets for effective treatment, according to the researchers.


“I believe this shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that amyloid beta and tau are both prions and that Alzheimer’s disease is a double-prion disorder in which these two rogue proteins together destroy the brain,” said study senior author Dr. Stanley Prusiner, director of the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases.


Prusiner won a Nobel Prize in 1997 for discovering that prions were responsible for mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.


Prion levels also appear linked to patient longevity, he noted.


“We need a sea change in Alzheimer’s disease research and that is what this paper does. This paper might catalyze a major change in AD research,” Prusiner said in a university news release.


For this study, the researchers used recently developed laboratory tests to rapidly measure prions in human tissue samples. They can reveal infectious prion levels in just days.


These tests “are a game-changer,” said study co-author William DeGrado, a UCSF professor of pharmaceutical chemistry.


In order to develop effective therapies and diagnostics, scientists must target the active prion forms, rather than the large amount of protein in plaques and tangles, DeGrado said.


The researchers hope that measuring the prion forms of amyloid beta and tau might lead to the development of drugs that either prevent them from forming or spreading, or help remove them before they cause damage.


The study was published recently in the journal Science Translational Medicine.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


Daytime drowsiness a sign of Alzheimer’s?

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Senior Living, ,
Growing evidence suggests that lack of sleep may play a role in Alzheimer’s, and that getting enough sleep may be one way to reduce the risk of the memory-robbing disease. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Feeling drowsy during the day might mean you have an increased risk for Alzheimer’s, new research suggests.


The long-term study included 123 adults with an average age of 60 when the study began. The findings showed that those who were very sleepy during the day had a nearly threefold increased risk of developing brain deposits of beta-amyloid, a protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease.


The findings add to growing evidence that lack of sleep may play a role in Alzheimer’s, and that getting enough sleep may be one way to reduce the risk of the memory-robbing disease, according to the researchers.


“Factors like diet, exercise and cognitive activity have been widely recognized as important potential targets for Alzheimer’s disease prevention, but sleep hasn’t quite risen to that status—although that may well be changing,” said study leader Adam Spira. He’s an associate professor in the department of mental health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore.


“If disturbed sleep contributes to Alzheimer’s disease, we may be able to treat patients with sleep issues to avoid these negative outcomes,” he added in a Hopkins news release.


It’s unclear why daytime sleepiness would be associated with beta-amyloid protein accumulation in the brain, Spira said. And the study did not prove that sleep actually causes beta-amyloid to build up in the brain.


But it may be that poor sleep due to sleep apnea or other factors causes the formation of beta-amyloid through an unknown mechanism, and that these sleep disturbances also cause excessive daytime sleepiness.


“However, we cannot rule out that amyloid plaques that were present at the time of sleep assessment caused the sleepiness,” Spira said.


Animal studies have shown that restricting night-time sleep can lead to more beta-amyloid protein in the brain and spinal fluid, and some human studies have linked poor sleep with greater levels of beta-amyloid in the brain.


Sleep problems are common in Alzheimer’s patients, and beta-amyloid accumulation and related brain changes are thought to harm sleep.


“There is no cure yet for Alzheimer’s disease, so we have to do our best to prevent it. Even if a cure is developed, prevention strategies should be emphasized,” Spira said. “Prioritizing sleep may be one way to help prevent or perhaps slow this condition.”


The study findings were published in the journal Sleep.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

The hidden fallout of stroke

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Senior Living, ,

Pay attention to bone health, particularly if you have limited mobility. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Stroke survivors often face limited mobility, which quadruples their odds of osteoporosis, broken bones and falls. But most are never screened for these problems, new research reveals.


“Our study adds to previous research that found despite an increased risk, only a small number of people who have recently had a stroke are tested and treated for osteoporosis,” said lead author Dr. Moira Kapral. She is director of general internal medicine at the University of Toronto.


Impaired mobility can result in bone mineral density decline, which is associated with osteoporosis. The condition weakens bones and increases risk of fractures.


In this study, researchers looked at more than 16,500 Canadian stroke survivors, aged 65 and older, from Ontario.


Of these patients, only 5% had undergone bone mineral density testing, 15.5% had been prescribed medications for osteoporosis within the year after their stroke and only a small percentage were prescribed medications for osteoporosis for the first time.


Patients most likely to have bone mineral density testing tended to be younger, female and to have had low-trauma fractures in the year after their stroke.


Patients were more likely to be prescribed medications for osteoporosis after their stroke if they were female, already had the bone-thinning disease, had previously broken bones, had previous bone mineral density testing, or had fallen or broke bones after their stroke.


The study was published recently in the journal Stroke.


“This study offers more evidence that there is a missed opportunity to identify people with stroke at increased risk of fractures and to initiate treatment to prevent bone loss and fractures,” Kapral said in a journal news release.


Less than one-third of older U.S. women are screened for osteoporosis.


The maximum treatment rate for some high-risk patients is about 30%, the researchers pointed out.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


Watch out for your lookers

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, , , ,
To ensure your sunglasses provide adequate protection from the sun’s rays, consider asking your eye doctor to have a look at them. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Sunglasses need to be more than just fashion accessories, an eye expert advises.


“Think of sunglasses as sunscreen for your eyes,” said Dr. Dianna Seldomridge, clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.


“Your eyes need protection from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet rays, just like your skin,” she explained. “Make sure your eyes are protected year-round. Harmful UV rays are present even on cloudy days.”


You should choose sunglasses that block 99% to 100% of both UVA and UVB radiation from the sun. You may be confused by labels that say the sunglasses provide 100% protection from UVA/UVB radiation, while others offer 100% UV 400 protection. Both will block 100% of the sun’s harmful radiation, the academy said in a news release.


If you’re skeptical of the UV protection label on sunglasses, take them to an optical shop or an ophthalmologist’s office, Seldomridge suggested. Most have a UV light meter that can test the sunglasses’ UV-blocking ability.


Consider buying oversized or wraparound-style sunglasses. The more coverage they provide, the better they protect your eyes, she said.


An important note: Dark lenses don’t block more UV rays than lighter lenses.


And you don’t have to pay a lot to get sunglasses that provide good eye protection, Seldomridge said. Less expensive ones marked as 100% UV-blocking can be just as effective as those that cost more.


Consider polarized lenses, which reduce glare from reflective surfaces (such as water or pavement). This doesn’t provide more protection from the sun but can make activities like driving or being on the water safer or more enjoyable.


Don’t forget sunglasses for your children, Seldomridge advised. Their eyes are just as susceptible to the sun’s harmful rays as yours and it’s a good idea to get them into the habit of wearing sunglasses at an early age.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.



BMI, meet DNA

3-bottom, Community Health, Food, Health, How-To's, Senior Living, ,
Why do some folks manage to lose significant weight with casual dieting, while others will lose nary a pound with a strict plan? It often comes down to genetics, researchers say. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


While some people fight the “battle of the bulge” for a lifetime, others seem to effortlessly stay slim. And now scientists say it all boils down to genetics.


Certain DNA helps decide whether weight gain is a torment or not for people, British researchers report.


“It’s easy to rush to judgment and criticize people for their weight, but the science shows that things are far more complex,” said study leader Sadaf Farooqi.


Instead, “we have far less control over our weight than we might wish to think,” said Farooqi. She’s a professor at the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge.


One U.S. expert agreed.


“We stigmatize people based on weight and subconsciously blame them for not taking care of themselves,” said Dr. Mitchell Roslin, chief of obesity surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “We state they lack willpower, but instead, this study shows that the most thin and the heaviest have genetic dispositions that control their body weight.”


Of course, any number of factors affect weight, including eating habits and exercise levels. But some people stay thin despite unhealthy lifestyles, while others struggle with overweight and obesity despite their best efforts, the British team noted.


Prior studies on “obesity” genes have focused on people who were already overweight or obese.


But the new study also focused on thin people (those with a body mass index of 18 or below), trying to discover why they often have an easier time staying slim.


To do so, the Cambridge group analyzed the DNA of more than 1,600 thin, healthy Brits. They then compared that data with the genetics of nearly 2,000 severely obese people and more than 10,000 normal-weight people.


The investigators spotted several common gene variants already linked with obesity. They also found new genetic regions tied to severe obesity, and some others linked to “healthy thinness.”


The researchers then added up the contribution of the different genetic variants to calculate each person’s “genetic risk score.”


“As anticipated, we found that obese people had a higher genetic risk score than normal-weight people, which contributes to their risk of being overweight,” study co-author Ines Barroso, of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said in a university news release.


“The genetic dice are loaded against them,” Barroso said.


Thin people also had fewer genetic variants known to raise the odds of being overweight, according to the study published recently in the journal PLoS Genetics.


Farooqi’s conclusion: “Healthy thin people are generally thin because they have a lower burden of genes that increase a person’s chances of being overweight and not because they are morally superior, as some people like to suggest.”


These “thin genes” appear to be passed along through generations, the study authors added. About 74 percent of the thin people in the study had a family history of people being thin and healthy.


Does all of this mean that less genetically gifted people should just shrug and give in to becoming obese? Not so, said nutritionist and weight-management expert Michelle Milgrim.


“While genetics may play a leading role in determining our ‘weight destiny,’ there is a growing body of research to suggest that how we live our lives is as important as our genetic predispositions,” said Milgrim, who manages employee wellness at Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y.


“Staying active, sitting less, cutting out processed and fast foods and focusing on eating a balanced diet of whole foods are general healthy recommendations for everyone, despite your genes,” she said.


In the meantime, the Cambridge researchers said their research might someday end up helping everyone stay thin, regardless of their personal DNA.


“We already know that people can be thin for different reasons” Farooqi said. “Some people are just not that interested in food whereas others can eat what they like, but never put on weight. If we can find the genes that prevent them from putting on weight, we may be able to target those genes to find new weight-loss strategies and help people who do not have this advantage.”


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.



Measles—an emerging travel trouble

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Travel, , ,
A big part of your checklist as you prepare for a trip overseas: Make sure you’re up to date on your measles vaccination. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Due to waning vaccination levels in some areas, measles outbreaks are back with a vengeance.


But many globe-trotting Americans may not realize the problem is worldwide. Therefore, making sure your measles vaccination is up to date is paramount before jetting off.


In fact, U.S. outbreaks of measles “are usually started by foreign travelers importing the virus to the U.S.,” according to Dr. Len Horovitz. He’s a specialist in pulmonary illnesses at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.


“This is exacerbated by lack of vaccination in many foreign countries,” Horovitz said. And according to a regularly updated list of measles “hotspots” from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “this is clearly a global epidemic,” he said.


“Asia, Africa and the Middle East lead the list, but in Europe the Ukraine and Romania have had reports of outbreaks,” Horovitz noted. “Also included on the outbreak list are Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Bulgaria and Lithuania.”


Besides ruining a dream vacation, measles is very contagious and can be spread quickly to others, experts warn. And even if you think you got the shot in childhood, it’s smart to check and see if your immunity has waned, Horovitz said.


That’s especially true for some of the baby boomer generation.


“It’s well-known that vaccines between 1963 and 1967 were less effective and immunity can fade over the age of 50, even if you’ve had the disease,” Horovitz explained. “So one cannot assume immunity to measles, mumps or rubella in any adult.”


A simple blood test can gauge your immunity.


Horovitz said he’s been “testing patients for immunity in the last 10 weeks. All are adults and I’ve uncovered two or more patients each week who need booster vaccination. That’s 23 non-immune adults so far in a solo practice.”


According to Horovitz, one large commercial lab that tests for immunity to measles, mumps and rubella found that as many as 9%-13% of specimens lacked immunity to one or more of the three viruses.


So while getting kids vaccinated is crucial, “there’s also clear evidence that there is a significant number of non-immune adults in the U.S.,” Horovitz said.


Meanwhile, the measles situation in the United States continues to be dire.


“The 2018-2019 measles epidemic has been documented as one of the worst on record since 2000,” Horovitz said. “In April 2019, the CDC reported 695 cases in 22 states. The largest outbreaks were in Washington state and New York State.” He pointed out that 2018 saw a 300% increase in cases.


Some patients should not receive measles vaccination (including those with multiple sclerosis), so it’s better to assess a patient’s need for re-vaccination rather than just giving a booster to any patient requesting it or traveling to a country where measles is common, Horovitz said.


“A simple blood test with 24-hour turnaround time will reveal the immune status and need for vaccination. Patients who don’t require a booster should not be vaccinated, but a surprising number will require it,” he said.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.



Could antibiotics up heart disease risk?

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Senior Living, , ,

Research suggests antibiotic use be kept to as short a period as possible, given the potentially adverse effects of prolonged use. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Antibiotics can be lifesaving, but using them over a long period might raise the odds of heart disease and stroke in older women, a new study suggests.


Researchers tracked the health of nearly 36,500 U.S. women over an average follow-up of nearly eight years. During that time, more than a thousand developed heart disease.


The study found that women aged 60 and older who used antibiotics for two months or longer were 32% percent more likely to develop heart disease than those who did not use antibiotics.


Women aged 40 to 59 who took antibiotics for longer than two months had a 28% higher risk than those who did not take the drugs, said a team led by Lu Qi. He directs the Tulane University Obesity Research Center in New Orleans.


Said another way, the results mean that for older women who take antibiotics for two months or more, 6 per 1,000 would go on to develop heart disease, compared with 3 in 1,000 among those who did not take the drugs.


There was no increased risk of heart disease among women aged 20 to 39 who took antibiotics, according to the study published recently in the European Heart Journal.


“This is an observational study and so it cannot show that antibiotics cause heart disease and stroke, only that there is a link between them,” Qi said in a journal news release. “It’s possible that women who reported more antibiotic use might be sicker in other ways that we were unable to measure, or there may be other factors that could affect the results that we have not been able take account of.”


However, the researchers did take into account other factors, including age, race, sex, diet and lifestyle, reasons for antibiotic use, overweight or obesity, other diseases and medication use.


The most common reasons for antibiotic use among women in the study were respiratory infections, urinary tract infections and dental problems.


So what could be the link between antibiotics and heart risk?


One possible reason could lie in the fact that antibiotics do alter the balance of gut microbes, destroying good bacteria and increasing the proportion of viruses, bacteria or other microbes that can cause disease, Qi suggested.


“Antibiotic use is the most critical factor in altering the balance of microorganisms in the gut,” he said, and “previous studies have shown a link between alterations in the microbiotic environment of the gut and inflammation and narrowing of the blood vessels, stroke and heart disease.”


Study first author Yoriko Heianza is a research fellow at Tulane University. She noted that, as the women in the study aged, “they were more likely to need more antibiotics, and sometimes for longer periods of time, which suggests a cumulative effect may be the reason for the stronger link in older age between antibiotic use and cardiovascular disease.”


According to Qi, the take-home message from the new study is that “antibiotics should be used only when they are absolutely needed. Considering the potentially cumulative adverse effects, the shorter time of antibiotic use, the better.”


Dr. Eugenia Gianos directs Women’s Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She wasn’t involved in the new research but said the findings are “interesting and warrant further analysis.”


Gianos agreed that the study couldn’t prove cause and effect.


“It is very possible that patients who require antibiotics for an infection have a worse underlying infectious or inflammatory process and that the systemic effects of these diseases are what cause cardiovascular disease,” she reasoned.


But the interplay between antibiotics, the gut’s “microbiome” and the cardiovascular system could be important as well, Gianos said.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


The functional fern

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, , ,
Researchers say they’ve genetically modified a species of ivy to filter out harmful pollutants. Other common houseplants are likely next. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


A common houseplant to help keep your home’s air cleaner and safer?


Scientists report they have genetically altered pothos ivy to filter certain hazardous chemicals from household air.


Many people use HEPA air filters to reduce levels of allergens and dust particles in their homes. But the molecules of the chemicals benzene and chloroform are too small to be trapped in these filters, the University of Washington researchers explained.


Chloroform is present in small amounts in chlorinated water. Benzene—a component of gasoline—can accumulate in homes through showering or boiling water, or by keeping cars or lawn mowers in attached garages, the study authors noted.


Both benzene and chloroform exposure have been linked to cancer.


“People haven’t really been talking about these hazardous organic compounds in homes and I think that’s because we couldn’t do anything about them,” study senior author Stuart Strand said in a university news release. He’s a research professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering.


“Now we’ve engineered houseplants to remove these pollutants for us,” Strand said.


The researchers genetically modified pothos ivy to remove chloroform and benzene from the air around it. The altered plants produce a protein called 2E1 that transforms chloroform and benzene into molecules the plants can use for growth.


When placed in glass tubes with either benzene or chloroform gas, the modified plants reduced chloroform levels by 82 percent after three days, and the gas was almost undetectable by day six. Benzene levels dropped by about 75 percent after eight days, the researchers said.


These lab tests used much higher levels of the gases than would be found in homes, but it’s likely that the plants would lower home levels of the gases as fast, or even faster, the study authors said.


The researchers said they’re now adding another protein to pothos ivy that can break down formaldehyde, a gas found in many wood products and tobacco smoke.


The research was published recently in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Allergic to red meat? Blame a tick

3-bottom, Community Health, Education, Food, Health, Senior Living, , , ,
Based on new findings, scientists suspect people are more likely than first thought to develop a red meat allergy if they’re bitten by a tick. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Certain tick bites can cause a red meat allergy—and now scientists are shedding new light on the condition, known as alpha-gal syndrome.


Alpha-gal is a sugar found in most mammal blood, but not in humans.


“Our original hypothesis was that humans developed the allergy after being exposed to alpha-gal through a tick that had fed on a deer, dog or other small mammal that has alpha-gal,” said researcher Scott Commins.


When people develop an allergic immune response to alpha-gal, it can lead to a red meat allergy, explained Commins, who is an associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.


“This new data suggests that ticks can induce this immune response without requiring the mammal blood meal, which likely means the risk of each bite potentially leading to the allergy is higher than we anticipated,” he said in a university news release.


In this study, scientists did a series of laboratory experiments with human immune cells and saliva from four species of ticks: Lone Star, deer, Gulf Coast and American dog. Some had fed on blood containing alpha-gal, others had not.


As expected, saliva from Lone Star and deer ticks that had recently fed on blood containing alpha-gal caused an immune cell reaction. But saliva from ticks that had not recently fed on blood also triggered a reaction, the findings showed.


“These results suggest that more tick bites than we initially suspected could pose a risk for developing red meat allergy,” Commins said.


However, no saliva from the Gulf Coast or the American dog ticks caused a reaction, according to the report.


The study was presented Saturday at an American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology meeting, in San Francisco. Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.


There is no treatment for alpha-gal syndrome, other than avoiding foods and products that cause a reaction, the researchers noted.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.



Healthy fats in Mediterranean diet won’t boost weight

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Food, Health, How-To's, Senior Living, , , ,
Study shows a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetable fats such as olive oil and nuts had little effect on body weight or waist circumference compared to people on a low-fat diet. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


An eating plan that includes healthy fats such as olive oil and nuts isn’t likely to cause weight gain, a new study finds.


That’s good news for people who’d prefer to try the Mediterranean diet—which includes healthy fats—over a diet that’s low in fat. And the study authors suggest that current health guidelines may be creating an unnecessary fear of these healthful fats.


“More than 40 years of nutritional policy has advocated for a low-fat diet, but we’re seeing little impact on rising levels of obesity,” said study lead author Dr. Ramon Estruch, of the University of Barcelona in Spain.


“Our study shows that a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetable fats such as olive oil and nuts had little effect on body weight or waist circumference compared to people on a low-fat diet. The Mediterranean diet has well-known health benefits and includes healthy fats, such as vegetable oils, fish and nuts,” Estruch explained in a journal news release.


However, he also pointed out that not all fats are created equal. “Our findings certainly do not imply that unrestricted diets with high levels of unhealthy fats such as butter, processed meat, sweetened beverages, desserts or fast-foods are beneficial,” Estruch added.


The study included more than 7,400 women and men in Spain, aged 55 to 80. The study participants ate one of three eating plans: an unrestricted-calorie Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil; an unrestricted-calorie Mediterranean diet rich in nuts; or a low-fat diet meant to avoid all dietary fat.


All the participants had type 2 diabetes or high heart risk. More than 90 percent were overweight or obese, the study authors noted.


After five years, total fat intake fell from 40 percent to 37 percent in the low-fat diet group, and rose in both Mediterranean diet groups, from about 40 percent to 42 percent. The percentage of proteins and carbohydrates decreased in both Mediterranean diet groups, the findings showed.

People in all three groups lost some weight: an average of almost 2 pounds (0.88 kilograms) per person in the olive oil group, 1.3 pounds (0.60 kg) in the low-fat diet group, and 0.9 pounds (0.40 kg) in the nut group, the researchers said.


Waist circumference did increase slightly in all three groups, though less so in those on the healthy fat diets. The low-fat group had an increase of about a half-inch (1.2 centimeters) per person. The olive oil group saw an increase of about one-third of an inch (0.85 cm), and the nut group only saw an increase in waist circumference of 0.14 inches (0.37 cm), the study authors reported.


The report was published June 6 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.


“The fat content of foods and diets is simply not a useful metric to judge long-term harms or benefits,” Dariush Mozaffarian, professor in the School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University in Boston, wrote in an accompanying commentary.


“Energy density and total caloric contents can be similarly misleading. Rather, modern scientific evidence supports an emphasis on eating more calories from fruits, nuts, vegetables, beans, fish, yogurt, phenolic-rich vegetable oils, and minimally processed whole grains; and fewer calories from highly processed foods rich in starch, sugar, salt, or trans-fat,” Mozaffarian explained.


“Dietary guidelines should be revised to lay to rest the outdated, arbitrary limits on total fat consumption. Calorie-obsessed caveats and warnings about healthier, higher-fat choices such as nuts, phenolic-rich vegetable oils, yogurt, and even perhaps cheese, should also be dropped,” Mozaffarian wrote.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Night owl? Check the family tree

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, , ,
Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Can’t sleep at night? Perhaps genetics is to blame.


In a new study, dozens of gene regions linked to insomnia have been pinpointed—and researchers also report a link between insomnia and heart disease.


American and British investigators analyzed data from more than 450,000 people in the United Kingdom—29 percent of whom reported frequent sleeplessness—and identified 57 gene regions associated with insomnia.


Those links were independent of known insomnia risk factors such as lifestyle, caffeine consumption, depression or stress.


“Our findings confirm a role for genetics in insomnia symptoms and expand upon the four previously found (genetic regions) for this condition,” said study lead author Jacqueline Lane. She’s a researcher at the Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.


“All of these identified regions help us understand why some people get insomnia, which pathways and systems are affected and point to possible new therapeutic targets,” Lane added in a hospital news release.


Researchers also found evidence that increased insomnia symptoms nearly doubled the risk of coronary artery disease. They were also linked to depression and a reduced sense of well-being.


“Insomnia has a really significant impact on millions of people worldwide. We’ve long known there’s a link between insomnia and chronic disease. Now our findings suggest that depression and heart disease are actually a result of persistent insomnia,” said co-lead author Samuel Jones. He’s a research fellow at the University of Exeter in England.


Lane said these results open possibilities for future medications.


“All of these identified regions are possible new therapeutic targets for insomnia,” she said. “And 16 of these regions contain known drug targets.”


This in turn could have an effect on heart disease, as “the new causal relationships indicate the potential usefulness of insomnia therapeutics as possible treatments for coronary artery disease and depression,” Lane said.


The study was published online recently in Nature Genetics.


Insomnia affects 10 percent to 20 percent of people worldwide, and studies have suggested that about a third of the risk of insomnia is inherited.


Previous research has suggested that insomnia increases the risk of anxiety disorders, alcoholism, major depression and heart disease, but little has been known about the mechanisms involved in that increased risk.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Foundations of fitness

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Kids Activities, , ,
Children are more apt to engage in fitness activities if they’re receiving encouragement and support from parents. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Kids can start becoming couch potatoes as early as age 7, a new study reveals.


A review of 27 studies published between 2004 and 2018 in different countries found high rates of decreasing physical activity among children and teens.


While many teens quit playing sports, overall activity starts to decline during early school years among kids who were once active, said study author Irinja Lounassalo. She’s a doctoral student in sport and health sciences at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland.


So, “being physically active in childhood and adolescence may be of high importance since it can postpone the time of becoming inactive later on,” Lounassalo said.


While the percentage of inactive people increases with age, certain groups actually increase their activity levels in adulthood and old age.


“In the future, special attention should be paid to these individuals who increase their physical activity, because it is important to understand how potential lifelong inactivity could be turned into activity,” Lounassalo said.


Among children and teens, parental support for an active lifestyle helped increase activity. For teens, less time in front of the television was associated with regular activity.


For adults, quitting smoking brought increased activity. And among older adults, regular activity was associated with a lack of chronic illnesses, a lower death rate and good physical functioning.


“Since physical activity behavior stabilizes with age and inactivity is more persistent behavior than activity, interventions should be targeted at children early in life before their habits become stable,” Lounassalo said.


Parents can help by supporting physical activity in the schools and extracurricular sports clubs for kids, she said.


“Building publicly available sport facilities and safe bicycling and walkways might help in increasing opportunities for being active regardless of age, nationality, gender or educational level,” Lounassalo said.


The study was recently published in the journal BMC Public Health.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.



Want happiness? Spread kindness

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, How-To's, Recreation, Senior Living, , ,
Random gestures of kindness and thoughtfulness are the surest, simplest ways to bring happiness back into your own life. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


A sure-fire antidote to the blues is to focus on others, a new study suggests.


“Walking around and offering kindness to others in the world reduces anxiety and increases happiness and feelings of social connection,” said study author Douglas Gentile, a professor of psychology at Iowa State University.


“It’s a simple strategy that doesn’t take a lot of time that you can incorporate into your daily activities,” he said in a university news release.


For the study, Gentile and colleagues had students walk around a building for 12 minutes and use one of three approaches.


Loving-kindness: This is where you look at others and think, “I wish for this person to be happy.”


Interconnectedness: In this approach, you look at others and consider how they are connected to one another.


Downward social comparison: This is considering how you may be better off than each of the people you encounter.


The study also included a control group of students who were told to look at people and focus on what they see on the outside, such as clothing, makeup and accessories.


Before and after going for their walk, all students were assessed for levels of anxiety, happiness, stress, empathy and connectedness.


Compared to the control group, those who practiced loving-kindness or wished others well felt happier, more connected, caring and empathic, as well as less anxious. The interconnectedness group was more empathic and connected.


Students who compared themselves to others felt less empathic, caring and connected than those who extended good wishes to others.


There was no benefit with downward social comparison, according to the study published online recently in the Journal of Happiness Studies.


“At its core, downward social comparison is a competitive strategy,” said study co-author Dawn Sweet, an Iowa State senior lecturer in psychology. “That’s not to say it can’t have some benefit, but competitive mindsets have been linked to stress, anxiety and depression.”


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.



Sound the asthma alarm

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Kids Activities, Senior Living, , ,
A possible warning sign that your asthma is out of control: You’re using a quick-relief inhaler more than twice a week. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Summertime can bring asthma sufferers a lot of misery, but lung experts say watching for warning signs of breathing trouble can guard against serious complications.


“As the leading organization working to save lives by improving lung health, we think it’s crucial for people with asthma to know as much as they can about the disease,” said Dr. David Hill, volunteer medical spokesperson at the American Lung Association.


“This includes the fact that changing seasons have a major impact on asthma. Being prepared for the summer and understanding warning signs can help prevent serious complications,” he said in a lung association news release.


Summer can bring increased pollen in the air, hot temperatures and associated ozone and particle pollution—all of which can trigger asthma symptoms.


There is no cure for asthma, but it can be controlled and managed.


Key warning signs that asthma may not be in control include needing to use a quick-relief inhaler more than two times a week, waking at night with asthma symptoms more than two times a month and having to refill a quick-relief inhaler more than two times a year.


If you have any of these warning signs, you should see your health care provider to improve management of asthma symptoms, such as reducing exposure to asthma triggers, the lung association advised.


Asthma affects about one in 13 people in the United States, including more than 6 million children, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


It is the most common childhood disease but can start at any age. The rate of asthma nearly tripled between 1980 and 2010.


Research shows that rising temperatures due to climate change are leading to longer and more intense allergy seasons, according to the news release.


The lung association offers a free, online learning course about asthma triggers, how to identify and reduce them, action plans for flare-ups, how to respond to a breathing emergency, asthma medication education, and an asthma management plan outline.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


Headed outdoors? Lather ’round the lashes

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, How-To's, Recreation, Senior Living, ,

Don’t think that low-SPF moisturizer is a safe substitute for higher-SPF sunscreen lotion, researchers caution. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Even though many moisturizers now contain sunscreens, people may not put them on their faces as carefully as they do sunscreen lotions, new research suggests.


“Moisturizer is not as well applied as sunscreen,” said lead author Kevin Hamill, a lecturer in eye and vision science at the University of Liverpool in England.


“Therefore, if planning prolonged sun exposure, we advise sunscreen be used,” he added. “If using moisturizer, we advise one with SPF (sun protection factor): any SPF is better than none but it should not be considered the equal of sunscreen.”


For this study, researchers exposed 84 volunteers to ultraviolet radiation and photographed them using a UV-sensitive camera on two separate visits. The photos were taken before and after participants applied SPF30 sunscreen to their face on one visit or moisturizer on the other visit.


Coverage was worse for the moisturizer (nearly 17% missed) than the sunscreen (11% missed), the findings showed. This difference was mostly due to less coverage of the eyelid regions—21% missed with moisturizer and 14% missed with sunscreen.


Most participants were unaware they had worse coverage with moisturizer than with sunscreen, according to the study published online April 3 in the journal PLoS One.


The study authors noted that particular attention should be paid to the eyelid area when applying any SPF cream.


In addition, other methods of protecting eyelids, such as UV filter sunglasses, should be considered, they suggested in a journal news release.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

The shadowy side of sunshine

3-bottom, Community Health, Food, Health, How-To's, Senior Living, , , ,
Patients need to be informed about the risks of unfettered use of vitamin D, researchers warn. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Vitamin D is the healthy “sunshine” vitamin, but it can have a dark side, one Canadian man discovered.


A team of Toronto physicians reported on the case of a 54-year-old man who developed kidney damage after taking extremely high doses of vitamin D.


It’s a cautionary tale for consumers, medical experts say.


“Although vitamin D toxicity is rare owing to a large therapeutic range, its widespread availability in various over-the-counter formulations may pose a substantial risk to uninformed patients,” said study co-author Dr. Bourne Auguste. He’s a clinical fellow in home dialysis at Toronto General Hospital and the University of Toronto.


As reported recently in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the man was seen by doctors after he returned from a holiday in Southeast Asia, where he spent much of his time sunbathing. Vitamin D is naturally synthesized by the skin upon contact with sunlight.


Testing showed that the man had elevated blood levels of creatinine, a marker for kidney damage or malfunction. The patient was then referred to a kidney specialist and underwent further testing.


Doctors learned that the man had been prescribed high doses of vitamin D by a naturopath—even though he did not have vitamin D deficiency and no history of bone loss.


Over 30 months, the man had taken eight to 12 drops of vitamin D—a total of 8,000 to 12,000 International Units, or IUs—per day.


The typical recommended daily allowance of vitamin D is 400 to 1,000 IU, with a higher amount (800 to 2,000 IU) recommended for adults at high-risk of osteoporosis, and for older adults.


The patient far exceeded those dosages, however, and that led to extremely high levels of calcium in his blood. It’s those high blood calcium levels that triggered his kidney damage, Auguste’s team said.


“Patients and clinicians should be better informed about the risks regarding the unfettered use of vitamin D,” the study authors concluded.


Dr. Maria DeVita directs nephrology—kidney medicine—at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Reading over the case report, she said that “overuse of the vitamin, as is true of many supplements, may have dire adverse effects.”


DeVita said, “Vitamin D is necessary for the development and maintenance of strong bones, (but) the take-home message is too much of a good thing is not good.”


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Lore of the snore

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Senior Living, , ,
A sleep schedule allowing for fewer than seven hours of sleep each night is likely to lead to serious health problems. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Mistaken beliefs about sleep are common and pose a significant health threat, a new study warns.


Among these myths: some people only need five hours of sleep, snoring is harmless and a drink before bedtime helps you fall asleep.


“Sleep is a vital part of life that affects our productivity, mood and general health and well-being,” lead investigator Rebecca Robbins said. “Dispelling myths about sleep promotes healthier sleep habits which, in turn, promote overall better health.”


Robbins is a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of population health at NYU Langone Health in New York City.


For the study, the researchers reviewed more than 8,000 websites to identify the 20 most common beliefs about sleep.


One of the top myths was the claim of some people who insist they can get by on five hours of sleep a night. The study authors said this poses the most serious health risk due the effects of long-term lack of sleep.


Robbins and her colleagues suggested creating a consistent sleep schedule and getting at least seven hours of shut-eye a night.


And don’t assume your snoring is no big deal—that’s another myth, the study team said. While it can be harmless, snoring can be a sign of sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing stops and starts repeatedly during the night. Left untreated, it can lead to heart problems and other illnesses.


The researchers also dispelled the notion that a drink before bed can help you sleep. Alcohol actually makes it harder to achieve deep sleep, which is crucial for proper daytime functioning, they explained in a news release from NYU Langone.


The study was published online recently in the journal Sleep Health.


Study senior investigator Girardin Jean-Louis, a professor in the departments of population health and psychiatry at NYU Langone, said the public needs to be better informed about the importance of sleep.


“For example, by discussing sleep habits with their patients, doctors can help prevent sleep myths from increasing risks for heart disease, obesity and diabetes,” he said in the news release.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Stay sun smart—shun the rays

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, How-To's, Senior Living, , ,

An ounce of prevention truly is worth a pound of cure: A severe sunburn in your youth can nearly double your chances of developing melanoma later in life. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Only half of Americans routinely protect themselves from the sun when outdoors, a recent American Academy of Dermatology survey found.


Those who don’t practice sun safety put themselves at increased risk for skin cancer, which is the most common cancer in the United States, despite being one of the most preventable cancers.


One in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer at some point in their life, the AAD estimates.


Just one serious sunburn in childhood or the teen years can nearly double a person’s risk of developing melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, later in life.


“Exposure to the sun’s harmful UV rays is the most preventable risk factor for skin cancer, and there are many simple things you can do to protect yourself from the sun,” AAD President Dr. George Hruza said in an academy news release.


Seek shade when possible, especially between 10am and 2pm when the sun’s rays are strongest.


Wear protective clothing, such as a lightweight, long-sleeved shirt, pants, a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses.


Apply a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher to all skin not covered by clothing. Reapply every two hours or after swimming or sweating.


“It’s also important to remember to protect parts of your body you think might not be getting any sun,” Hruza said.


“Areas like the tops of your hands, bottoms of your feet or the part in your hair may not immediately come to mind when it comes to sun protection, but they are still vulnerable to dangerous sun damage,” he explained.


Skin cancer is highly treatable when caught early, so it’s important to do regular skin self-exams and look out for ABCDEs—the warning signs of melanoma:

  • Asymmetry: One half of the spot is unlike the other half.
  • Border: The spot has an irregular, scalloped or poorly defined border.
  • Color: The spot has varying colors from one area to the next, such as shades of tan, brown or black, or areas of white, red or blue.
  • Diameter: Melanomas are usually greater than 6 millimeters (about the size of a pencil eraser) when diagnosed, but they can be smaller.
  • Evolving: The spot looks different from the rest or is changing in size, shape or color.

“If you find any new or suspicious spots on your skin, make an appointment to see a board-certified dermatologist,” Hruza said. “Spots that are changing, itching or bleeding could be a sign of skin cancer, and the earlier skin cancer is detected, the easier it is to treat.”


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


Life in the fast lane

3-bottom, Community Health, Health, How-To's, Senior Living, ,

The speed at which you can tackle a flight of stairs is a fairly reasonable indicator of your muscle power. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


If you want to celebrate many more birthdays, new research suggests you should speed up your weight-lifting routine.


Boosting muscle power, which is different than muscle strength, translated into longer lives, the Brazilian scientists said.


What exactly is the difference?


For example, climbing stairs requires muscle power—the faster you climb, the more power you need. But holding or pushing a heavy object only requires muscle strength.


“Rising from a chair in old age and kicking a ball depends more on muscle power than muscle strength, yet most weight-bearing exercise focuses on the latter,” said researcher Claudio Gil Araujo. He’s director of research and education at the Exercise Medicine Clinic—CLINIMEX, in Rio de Janeiro.


“Our study shows for the first time that people with more muscle power tend to live longer,” Araujo said in a European Society of Cardiology news release.


The study included nearly 3,900 adults, aged 41 to 85, with an average age of 59, whose maximum muscle power was assessed.


Over an average follow-up of 6.5 years, 10% of the men and 6% of the women died.


Participants with maximal muscle power above the median for their gender had the best survival rates. Compared to those above the median, those in the lowest and second-lowest quarters below the median had a 10 to 13, and 4 to 5 times greater risk of dying during the study period, respectively.


The study was to be presented soon at a European Society of Cardiology meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. Research presented at meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.


“We now show that power is strongly related to all-cause (death). But the good news is that you only need to be above the median for your sex to have the best survival, with no further benefit in becoming even more powerful,” Araujo said.


“For strength training at the gym, most people just think about the amount of weight being lifted and the number of repetitions, without paying attention to the speed of execution,” Araujo said. “But for optimal power training results, you should go beyond typical strength training and add speed to your weight lifts.”


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Take caution while spring cleaning

3-bottom, Community Health, Health, How-To's, Senior Living,
Repeat exposure to harmful cleaning agents can cause serious health problems later in life. To reduce risk, wear protective clothing and properly ventilate your work area. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


While it’s a regular ritual, spring cleaning can become a dangerous chore for your health, experts warn.


Some cleaning supplies—air fresheners, rug cleaners, bleach, oven cleaners and floor polish—have dangerous chemicals such as volatile organic compounds.


These chemicals become vapors that can irritate the nose, throat, eyes and lungs, said Dr. Timothy Craig, an allergist and immunologist at Penn State Health.


“The nose provides a helpful warning signal,” he added in a health system news release. “If someone’s nose becomes irritated while cleaning, it’s safe to assume his or her lungs will be irritated, too.”


“For most people, using chemical cleaners occasionally would not create clinically significant reductions in lung function,” Craig said.


“But repeated exposure to harmful chemicals over a lifetime could lead to significant disability later in life, especially for people with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or Alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic disorder that may cause lung or liver disease,” he warned.


“We all clean with bleach and other chemicals from time to time,” said Dr. Ann Bogdan, a family health physician from Penn State Health Medical Group-Mechanicsburg. “But I encourage my patients to be careful when doing so.”


The doctors offer these six safety precautions while spring cleaning.

  • Don’t combine chemical cleaners. “In particular, never mix ammonia and bleach,” Bogdan said. This can result in dangerously toxic vapors.
  • While cleaning, be sure to have proper ventilation by opening a window or running a fan.
  • Wear rubber gloves. “Without them, you run the risk of developing redness or rashes on your hands,” Craig said.
  • Try using old-fashioned cleaners. “Diluted vinegar works well to clean windows and baking soda gives you scrubbing power,” Bogdan said.
  • Read labels and look for volatile organic compounds and other potential irritants, even in products labeled as “green” or “healthy.”
  • Look for products with the “Safer Choice” logo, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deems as “safer for human health and the environment.”

And their final advice: If you develop coughing, wheezing, throat soreness or eye watering while using chemical cleaners, step into another room or walk outside. If the symptoms persist even after leaving the room, call a doctor.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

FDA amps sleeping pill scrutiny

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Senior Living, ,
Sleep pills can produce daytime drowsiness that leads to accidents and other harmful outcomes. This has prompted the FDA to issue new warnings on the drugs. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Many Americans use prescription sleep meds such as Ambien, Lunesta and Sonata to get good shut-eye.


But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has slapped a tough new warning label on this class of drugs, due to dangers from daytime drowsiness the day after their use.


The move was spurred by 66 cases in which patients engaged in what are called “complex sleep behaviors” after taking the insomnia medications.


In 20 cases, behaviors ended up being fatal.


Causes of death ranged from carbon monoxide poisoning, drowning, falls, hypothermia or motor vehicle collisions (with the patient driving), and apparent suicide, the FDA said.


Forty-six other reports involved serious but nonfatal injuries among people who took prescription sleep meds and then engaged in sleepwalking, sleep driving and other activities while not fully awake, the agency said in a statement.


While no one was killed in those reports, injuries included accidental overdoses, falls, burns, near-drowning, exposure to extreme cold temperatures resulting in limb loss or near death, self-injuries such as gunshot wounds and even apparent suicide attempts.


As a result, the FDA is ordering new boxed warnings—the most prominent type of label warning—on eszopiclone (Lunesta), zaleplon (Sonata) and zolpidem (Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar, Intermezzo and Zolpimist).


“This warning is likely to affect a lot of people, as millions take hypnotics—sleep aids—at least occasionally,” said Dr. Steven Feinsilver, who directs the Center for Sleep Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.


Another expert said the warning was needed.


“These type of medications are well-known to trigger these (dangerous) events,” said Dr. Thomas Kilkenny, who directs sleep medicine at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City. “In a susceptible person there could be no control over what happens once the patient goes to sleep.”


In addition to the boxed warning, the FDA is requiring the addition of a “contraindication”—advice to not use these medicines for patients who have displayed complex sleep behaviors after taking them.


“We recognize that millions of Americans suffer from insomnia and rely on these drugs to help them sleep better at night,” FDA Acting Commissioner Dr. Ned Sharpless said in an agency news release.


However, “while these incidents are rare, they are serious and it’s important that patients and health care professionals are aware of the risk,” he added.


“These incidents can occur after the first dose of these sleep medicines or after a longer period of treatment, and can occur in patients without any history of these behaviors and even at the lowest recommended doses,” he said.


The association between this class of drugs and complex sleep behaviors has long been included in the labeling of these medications. The new labeling changes should make the warning even more prominent, however, reflecting the risk of serious injury and death, the FDA said.


For now, patients should stop taking these medicines and contact their health care provider immediately if they have engaged in activities while not fully awake or if they do not remember activities they’ve done while taking the medication.


The FDA offered additional advice to people who take sleep aids:

  • Don’t use the drugs in combination with any other sleep medicine, including non-prescription sleep aids.
  • Avoid alcohol before or while taking these medicines, due to raised odds for side effects.
  • If you still feel drowsy after waking, be aware that any insomnia medicine can lower alertness and interfere with driving or other complex tasks.

For his part, Feinsilver said the effectiveness of prescription sleep aids is “overrated” anyway.


Instead, he said, “most patients with chronic insomnia should be treated behaviorally. There often is no quick fix with sleeping pills.”


In the meantime, Kilkenny believes that with the new warning, “physicians hopefully will take greater care in prescribing these medications to patients and also take more care in following up after the prescriptions are written.”


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


The 10-minute battle

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, How-To's, Senior Living, , ,
An hour a week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity may reduce disabilities associated with arthritis. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Less than 10 minutes a day of brisk walking can help prevent disability in people with arthritis pain in their knee, hip, ankle or foot, researchers report.


Just one hour a week of brisk physical activity “is less than 10 minutes a day for people to maintain their independence. It’s very doable,” said lead study author Dorothy Dunlop. She’s a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.


“This minimum threshold may motivate inactive older adults to begin their path toward a physically active lifestyle with the wide range of health benefits promoted by physical activity,” Dunlop added in a university news release.


She and her team analyzed four years of data from more than 1,500 older adults in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio, and Pawtucket, R.I., who had pain, aching or stiffness in their lower joints from osteoarthritis but were initially free of disability.


The participants’ levels of physical activity were monitored using a wearable device.


An hour a week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity reduced their risk of disability, the study found.


Specifically, the activity reduced the risk of walking too slowly to safely cross a street by 85 percent. It reduced their risk of not being able to do daily living activities—for example, morning routine tasks such as walking across a room, bathing and dressing—by nearly 45 percent.


By the end of the four years, 24 percent of participants who did not get a weekly hour of brisk physical activity were walking too slowly to safely cross the street and 23 percent had difficulty performing their morning routines, according to the study.


About 14 million older Americans have symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, the most common type of osteoarthritis. About 2 in 5 people with osteoarthritis—most of whom have it in their lower joints—develop disability.


Federal guidelines recommend low-impact physical activity for older adults with arthritis and recommend that older adults do at least 2.5 hours a week of moderate-intensity activity.


But that amount of activity can be too much for inactive older adults with lower extremity pain, according to Dunlop.


“We hope this new public health finding will motivate an intermediate physical activity goal,” she said. “One hour a week is a stepping stone for people who are currently inactive. People can start to work toward that.”


The study was published recently in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


Unraveling Alzheimer’s

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Senior Living, , ,
Earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s means patients and families can plan for the future, including safety, care, legal and financial issues. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Brain scans can improve diagnosis and management of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study claims.


“The good news is that there are no side effects from any of these recommendations,” said Dr. Thoits, the division chief of neurology with Spectrum Health Medical Group.


Researchers assessed the use of PET scans to identify Alzheimer’s-related amyloid plaques in the brain. The study included more than 11,000 Medicare beneficiaries with mild thinking impairment or dementia of uncertain cause.


This scanning technique changed the diagnosis of the cause of mental impairment in more than one-third of the participants in the study.


The brain scan results also changed management—including the use of medications and counseling—in nearly two-thirds of cases, according to the study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association.


“These results present highly credible, large-scale evidence that amyloid PET imaging can be a powerful tool to improve the accuracy of Alzheimer’s diagnosis and lead to better medical management, especially in difficult-to-diagnose cases,” said study co-author Maria Carrillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer’s Association.


“It is important that amyloid PET imaging be more broadly accessible to those who need it,” she added in an association news release.


Funding for the study came from Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc., General Electric Healthcare and Life Molecular Imaging.


“We are impressed by the magnitude of these results, which make it clear that amyloid PET imaging can have a major impact on how we diagnose and care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive decline,” said lead author Dr. Gil Rabinovici. He’s a professor of neurology at the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but early diagnosis means that patients can receive treatment to manage symptoms and be directed to clinical trials for new drugs.


Early diagnosis also means that patients and families can plan for the future, including safety, care, legal and financial issues, and access resources and support programs, the researchers said.


In this study, the PET scans revealed that about one-third of patients previously diagnosed with Alzheimer’s had no significant amyloid buildup and their Alzheimer’s diagnosis was reversed.


But in nearly half of patients not previously diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the PET scans revealed significant amyloid plaque buildup, resulting in a new diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.


One-third of the study participants who had previously been referred to Alzheimer’s clinical trials showed no sign of amyloid buildup based on PET scans. Based on those results, doctors were able to ensure that nearly all (93%) of patients referred to Alzheimer’s trials were amyloid-positive, which is critical to these trials’ success.


“Accurate diagnoses are critical to ensure patients are receiving the most appropriate treatments. In particular, Alzheimer’s medications can worsen cognitive decline in people with other brain diseases,” Rabinovici said.


“But perhaps more fundamentally, people who come into the clinic with concerns about memory problems want answers. An early, definitive diagnosis may allow individuals to be part of planning for the next phase of their lives and to make decisions that otherwise would eventually need to be made by others,” he said.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Growing threat for vets: Heart disease

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Senior Living, Veterans, , ,
Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


More U.S. veterans are at increased risk for heart disease, a looming public health problem, researchers say.


They analyzed data from more than 153,000 people who took part in the National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.


Vets between the ages of 35 and 70 reported significantly more heart conditions than non-veterans, the data showed.


After age 70, non-veterans reported more, but the study’s author suspects that might be because fewer vets survived into old age due to heart disease.


“I think it’s sort of the first indication of a coming public health crisis for veterans,” said study author Ramon Hinojosa, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Central Florida.


“Because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, we have a relatively large, new younger generation of veterans who are going to survive for 30 or 40 years after their war experience,” he said in a university news release.


The study suggests that what’s known as the “healthy soldier effect” is no longer guaranteed. That’s the tendency for members of the military to be more fit and less overweight than same-age civilians.


Hinojosa said the change could be due the nature of modern warfare, changes in diet, leisure and exercise, more obesity among younger vets and higher rates of drinking, smoking and mental illness.


“It’s concerning to know that the physical benefits of military service seem to be not holding as well for the younger veterans,” he said.


“This suggests the health protective benefits of military service are not what they used to be,” Hinojosa said. “I think that should cause us to really look at what’s going on among the veterans after they leave military service.”


Being aware of this emerging problem can help health care providers offset the likelihood of early onset heart disease, Hinojosa noted.


The study was recently published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Contaminated pet food and treats can harm people too

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Food, Health, Pets/Animals, , , , ,

Tainted pet foods and treats may make more than your dog or cat sick. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

 

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

 

Tainted pet foods and treats may make more than your dog or cat sick, new data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggests.

 

Harmful bacteria can also make owners ill if they handle contaminated pet products improperly, and bacteria such as salmonella can spread from pets to people, the agency said.

 

“Ultimately, we’re hoping to learn ways FDA can help minimize the incidence of foodborne illness associated with pet foods and treats,” Renate Reimschuessel, head of the FDA’s Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network, said in an agency news release.

 

To collect the new data, the FDA worked with 11 veterinary labs across the United States to investigate pet infections reported by pet owners. One of the main focuses was salmonella infections.

 

Of almost 3,000 dogs and cats tested so far, fewer than 100 have tested positive for salmonella, the agency found.

 

“Pet owners should know, though, that almost half of the dogs that tested positive for salmonella showed no symptoms,” Reimschuessel said.

 

And a dog with no signs of illness can still be carrying salmonella, which can spread to people, she added.

 

The dogs that have tested positive for salmonella were more likely to have eaten raw pet food, Reimschuessel said. Raw food is not heated or cooked, which might explain why there was a higher likelihood of contamination, officials said.

 

There are a number of things pet owners can do to protect themselves, including checking the FDA’s list of recalled pet products. Other measures include:

  • Feed pets in areas that are easily cleaned and sanitized
  • Wash hands carefully after handling pet foods
  • Earmark specific utensils for use only with pet foods
  • Wash counters and any other surfaces that come into contact with pet foods
  • Keep dry pet foods in a sealed container in a cool, dry place
  • Never buy pet food in dented cans or damaged packaging

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Paws for peacefulness

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, , , , , , ,

There’s an infinite amount of calm and comfort to be had in the company of dogs, cats and birds. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

 

Cats, dogs, birds and other pets can help people manage their mental disorders, a study says.

 

Researchers from the United Kingdom asked more than 50 adults with long-term mental conditions about the role pets play in their social networks.

 

Sixty percent placed pets in the central and most important circle—above family, friends and hobbies. Another 20 percent placed pets in the second circle.

 

Many said the constant presence and close proximity of their pets provide an immediate source of calm. For some, a pet helps distract them from symptoms and upsetting experiences such as hearing voices or suicidal thoughts.

 

“You just want to sink into a pit … the cats force me to sort of still be involved with the world,” one patient said.

 

Another patient said: “I’m not thinking of the voices, I’m just thinking of the birds singing.”

 

The findings were published in the journal BMC Psychiatry.

 

“The people we spoke to through the course of this study felt their pet played a range of positive roles, such as helping them to manage stigma associated with their mental health by providing acceptance without judgment,” said study lead author Helen Brooks, from the University of Manchester.

 

“Pets were also considered particularly useful during times of crisis,” Brooks said in a journal news release.

 

“Pets provided a unique form of validation through unconditional support, which [the patients] were often not receiving from other family or social relationships,” she said.

 

Despite this, pets weren’t considered in the individual care plans for any of the people in the study, Brooks said.

 

The results suggest pets should be considered a main source of support in the management of long-term mental health problems, Brooks and her colleagues concluded.

 

Through open discussion of what works best for individual patients, the mental health community might better involve people in their own mental health care, she said.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Bigger family, lower cancer risk?

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, , ,

Do siblings lower your cancer risk? New study finds people with big families are less likely to develop the disease. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

 

If you come from a large family, you may have a lower risk of cancer, a new study suggests.

 

Researchers analyzed data from 178 countries and found that people from larger families were less likely to get cancer than those from smaller families.

 

The link between family size and cancer risk was “independent of income, levels of urbanization and age,” study senior author Maciej Henneberg said in a University of Zurich news release. He’s a guest professor in the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the university, in Switzerland.

 

Family size included not just parents and their children, but also members of the extended family in the household.

 

This protective effect of a large family was stronger in men than in women, according to the study published recently in the journal BMC Cancer.

 

It’s important to note, however, that the study only found an association between family size and cancer risk. It did not prove a cause-and-effect connection.

 

Family life can be stressful, but can also provide positive emotional environments that can boost a person’s resistance to diseases, including cancer, the researchers said.

 

Family members supporting one another in following a healthy lifestyle may also provide protection against cancer, the study authors added.

Eyes could be the window to predicting Alzheimer’s

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, Senior Living, ,

Eye tests could one day make it possible to screen people in their 40s or 50s for early signs of Alzheimer’s, and begin treatment to delay further progression of the disease. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

 

An eye exam might spot people with Alzheimer’s disease before they show any symptoms, researchers report.

 

“All of us have a small area devoid of blood vessels in the center of our retinas that is responsible for our most precise vision. We found that this zone lacking blood vessels was significantly enlarged in people with pre-clinical Alzheimer’s disease,” explained co-principal investigator Dr. Rajendra Apte. He is a professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

 

Previous studies have found that the eyes of people who had died from Alzheimer’s showed signs of thinning in the center of the retina and deterioration of the optic nerve.

 

In this new study, Apte’s team used a noninvasive technique called optical coherence tomography angiography to examine the thickness of the retinas and fibers in the optic nerves of 30 people, average age mid-70s, who had no symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

 

A form of the test is available at many eye doctors in the United States.

 

After the eye tests, PET scans and cerebrospinal fluid analyses revealed that about half of the study participants had elevated levels of the Alzheimer’s-related proteins amyloid or tau. So, even though they didn’t have any Alzheimer’s symptoms, these people were likely to develop the disease.

 

“In the patients with elevated levels of amyloid or tau, we detected significant thinning in the center of the retina,” Apte said in a university news release.

 

According to study first author Dr. Bliss O’Bryhim, “This technique has great potential to become a screening tool that helps decide who should undergo more expensive and invasive testing for Alzheimer’s disease prior to the appearance of clinical symptoms.” O’Bryhim is a resident physician in the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences.

 

“Our hope is to use this technique to understand who is accumulating abnormal proteins in the brain that may lead them to develop Alzheimer’s,” she added.

 

It’s believed that Alzheimer’s-related plaques can accumulate in the brain two decades before symptoms appear, so scientists are trying to find ways to detect the disease earlier.

 

Currently, PET scans and lumbar punctures are used to help diagnose Alzheimer’s, but these methods are invasive and expensive.

 

Further research is needed, but this eye test could one day make it possible to screen people in their 40s or 50s for early signs of Alzheimer’s, and begin treatment to delay further progression of the disease, the study authors suggested.

 

The study was published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum HealthBeat.

 

How to keep anger from getting the better of you

3-bottom, Area Education, Community Health, Education, Health, How-To's, Local Business, Senior Living, , , ,

If you’re arguing with someone, anger can be like earplugs. It keeps you from hearing what the other person is saying and finding middle ground. (For Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

 

Anger isn’t just an emotional reaction—it can affect you physically, too.

 

It’s been shown to raise your risk for heart disease and other problems related to stress—like sleep trouble, digestion woes and headaches.

 

That makes it important, then, to diffuse your anger. Start by figuring out what it is that makes you angry.

 

Researchers from George Mason University, in Virginia, studied just that, and identified 5 common triggers:

  • Other people.
  • Distress—psychological and physical.
  • Demands you put on yourself.
  • Your environment.
  • Unknown sources.

Anger was more intense, the investigators found, when people were provoked by issues with other people or by influences that couldn’t be pinpointed.

 

Once you’ve identified the sources of your anger, take steps to change how your deal with it, the researchers suggested.

 

Decades ago, people often were encouraged to let their anger out. Primal screams and pounding pillows were suggested tactics. Today? Not so much.

 

Studies have shown that therapies that involve letting anger out in a rage don’t really help. They might even make you more angry.

 

Still, it’s important to not keep anger bottled up. But, managing it can keep you from saying or doing things you might regret once the anger has passed.

 

What to do?

 

Start by becoming a calmer person in general. Practice a relaxation technique every day—yoga or mindfulness meditation, for instance.

 

Also develop an anger strategy that you can draw on when you’re in the moment. The idea is to interrupt your response to anger before it gets out of hand and to have a menu of healthier ways to express your feelings.

 

Tactics like time-outs, deep breathing and self-talk can help you calm down and think before acting. Longer-term, reducing your stress level and building empathy skills can help.

 

If you’re arguing with someone, anger can be like earplugs. It keeps you from hearing what the other person is saying and finding middle ground. So instead of acting defensive and trading barbs, hit the pause button.

 

Ask the person to repeat what was said. Then reflect on it before you speak again. Try to figure out the real reason for the argument.

 

This lets you channel the energy of anger into finding a solution.

 

When you’re in a situation you can’t fix—like being stuck in traffic on your way to an appointment—use your rational mind to put the situation in perspective. It’s inconvenient, but more than likely won’t affect your well-being long-term.

 

If you find that you’re angry at forces you can’t identify, consider talking to a mental health therapist. Working together should help you uncover the root of your unhappiness and anger.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

For school kids, vaccines are key

3-bottom, Area Education, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Education, Health, How-To's, Kids Activities, Our Cities, , , , , , , , , ,

The best way to treat diseases is to prevent them in the first place. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

 

Be sure to put vaccinations on your children’s back-to-school lists, whether they’re just starting school or heading off to college, experts say.

 

By protecting infants, children and teens from serious diseases, vaccinations also protect families, schools and communities.

 

“The best way to treat diseases is to prevent them in the first place, and the diseases on the vaccine schedule are all preventable for the vast majority of our population,” said David Kimberlin, vice chair of pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

 

“The scientific evidence and public health statistics are comprehensive and compelling—properly scheduled and dosed vaccines are safe and effective, and they’re the reason we don’t see diseases like measles or whooping cough running rampant across our country,” Kimberlin said in a university news release.

 

Kimberlin is the American Academy of Pediatrics’ liaison to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee on immunization practices.

 

Immunization requirements vary by state. All have a minimum requirement for dosing each school year to attend public schools. Many require an updated immunization certificate before a child enters any public school or child care center.

 

Here’s what else you should know:

  • All 50 states and the District of Columbia require vaccinations for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, polio, measles and rubella.
  • 49 states and D.C. also require mumps vaccination.
  • 48 states and D.C. require varicella (chickenpox) vaccination. (Montana and Pennsylvania do not).
  • 45 states and D.C. require hepatitis B vaccination to enter kindergarten. (Alabama, Maine, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota do not).
  • Some states require Hib (Haemophilus Influenzae Type b); PCV (pneumococcal); flu and hepatitits A vaccines to enter kindergarten.

Insurance covers school vaccinations. If you don’t have insurance, your state health department can direct you to services that offer low-cost and/or free immunizations, said Dr. Rachael Lee, an assistant professor in the university’s division of infectious diseases.

 

Vaccinations are available at doctor offices, pharmacies, health centers and local health departments.

 

College students require specific vaccinations and should check with their school to learn which ones they need, university experts said.

 

Life-threatening infections such as meningococcal disease are more common among college-age people, but can be prevented through full vaccination, the experts said.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Honey helps when kids swallow button batteries

3-bottom, Area Education, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Health, How-To's, Kids Activities, , , ,

Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

 

Children who accidentally swallow button batteries should immediately be given honey to reduce their risk of serious injury and death, according to a new study done with pigs.

 

“Button batteries are ingested by children more than 2,500 times a year in the United States, with more than a 12-fold increase in fatal outcomes in the last decade compared to the prior decade,” study co-principal investigator Dr. Ian Jacobs said in a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia news release.

 

“Since serious damage can occur within two hours of ingesting a battery, the interval between ingestion and removal is a critical time to act in order to reduce esophageal injury,” he noted.

 

Jacobs is a pediatric otolaryngologist and director of the hospital’s Center for Pediatric Airway Disorders.

 

When a swallowed button battery reacts with saliva and tissue of the esophagus, it creates a solution that dissolves tissue and can cause severe damage to the esophagus, airway, vocal cords and major blood vessels, the researchers explained.

 

The longer it takes for the battery to be removed, the higher the risk of serious injury.

 

The researchers used live pigs to test if a variety of liquids—including honey, juices, sodas and sports drinks—could provide a protective barrier between a swallowed battery and tissue until the battery is removed. They found that honey and a medication called sucralfate were the most effective.

 

The study was published online in the journal The Laryngoscope, and the findings are being incorporated into the latest National Capital Poison Center Guidelines for management of patients who’ve swallowed button batteries.

 

“Our recommendation would be for parents and caregivers to give honey at regular intervals before a child is able to reach a hospital, while clinicians in a hospital setting can use sucralfate before removing the battery,” Jacobs said.

 

But the researchers said these substances should not be used in children who may have sepsis or perforation of the esophagus, severe allergy to honey or sucralfate, or in children younger than 1 year old due to a small risk of botulism.

 

“While future studies could help establish the ideal volume and frequency for each treatment, we believe that these findings serve as a reasonable benchmark for clinical recommendations,” Jacobs said. “Safely ingesting any amount of these liquids prior to battery removal is better than doing nothing.”

 

The study’s other principal investigator, Dr. Kris Jatana, a pediatric otolaryngologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said the shiny metallic batteries should be stored where toddlers can’t get to them.

 

“Parents and caregivers should check all electronic products in the home and make certain that the battery is enclosed in a compartment that requires a tool to open and periodically check to ensure it stays secure over time,” Jatana said in the news release.

Other uses for honey

Honey is an artisanal food that can be used as a sugar substitute.

 

Lindsey Jelsma, PNP-PC, a pediatric nurse practitioner at Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, recommends honey for soothing a child’s cough. Jelsma noted, however, that children under the age of 12 months should not get honey—it carries the risk of infant botulism.

Injury and poison prevention

Keep coin lithium battery-controlled devices out of sight and reach of children.

 

Remote controls, singing greeting cards, digital scales, watches, hearing aids, thermometers, children’s toys, calculators, key fobs, tea light candles, flashing holiday jewelry and decorations all contain button batteries.

 

The Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital injury prevention team has compiled information and tips to help you with home safety to limit these dangers.

 

If your child ingests a button battery, call your poison center at 1.800.222.1222 and visit your local emergency room.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Pets soothe vets with PTSD

3-bottom, Area Education, Citizen Journalism, Community Health, Education, Health, Pets/Animals, Veterans, , ,

Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

 

Service dogs may help reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol in military veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder, a new study finds.

 

For the study, researchers compared a group of veterans with PTSD who had a service dog to a group of veterans on the waitlist to receive one.

 

“Our previous research suggests that the presence of a service dog reduced clinical PTSD symptoms and improved quality of life,” said study co-leader Maggie O’Haire. She is an assistant professor of human-animal interaction at Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, in West Lafayette, Ind.

 

“In this study, we wanted to determine if those beneficial effects also included changes in the physiology of stress,” O’Haire said in a university news release.

 

The researchers focused on cortisol, a biomarker involved in the stress response system, and one that is detected through saliva.

 

According to study co-leader Kerri Rodriguez, “military veterans with a service dog in the home produced more cortisol in the mornings than those on the wait list.”

 

Rodriguez explained that “this pattern is closer to the cortisol profile expected in healthy adults without PTSD.”

 

In addition, “having a service dog was also associated with less anger, less anxiety and better sleep,” she noted. Rodriguez is a human-animal interaction graduate student.

 

The findings are the first of their kind and offer insight into how service dogs may provide mental health benefits to veterans with PTSD, according to the study authors.

 

The researchers are now conducting a large-scale, long-term U.S. National Institutes of Health clinical trial comparing veterans with service dogs to those without.

 

The report was published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

 

Benefits of owning a dog:

  • Fight heart disease. Owning a dog has a positive impact on blood pressure, which is one of the main factors in heart attack and stroke, according to Thomas Boyden, MD, MS, Spectrum Health program director of preventive cardiology. The American Heart Association reports a link between pet ownership and lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Studies also show you’ll be more likely to survive a heart attack if you have a dog.
  • Relieve stress. “Being around pets, and dogs in particular, actually changes your body at a hormonal level,” Jared Skillings, PhD, ABPP, Spectrum Health chief of psychology said. Of course, it’s not a cure-all. “Getting a dog won’t cure depression or clinical anxiety, but it certainly can help.”
  • Reduce loneliness. Dogs provide unconditional love. They’re caring, excited to see you and glad to be by your side. Need to talk? “Dogs are good listeners and they’re not going to argue with you,” Dr. Skillings said.
  • Improve sociability. There’s also the added benefit of the camaraderie among dog owners. “Having a dog can connect people to other pet owners, which can reduce isolation, too,” Dr. Skillings said.
  • Inspire exercise. A study published in the journal BMC Public Health said the average dog owner walks 22 minutes more per day than those who don’t own a dog. Daily walks have lots of added benefits, from controlling chronic conditions to burning weight and improving moods.
  • Add purpose. Having a dog or any other pet can give you a reason to get going in the morning. Size doesn’t matter. In fact, cats, horses and birds can all have a similar effect. Even tiny pets—hamsters, mice, fish, insects—can imbue you with a sense of purpose. In one study, elderly people were asked to care for a cage of five crickets. After eight weeks, the people who had the crickets in their homes were less depressed and had better cognitive function than those in the control group.

Is stress or PTSD so common in your life that it feels normal? Do you experience stress or PTSD without even realizing it? For additional infromation, call 616.447.5820 or schedule an appointment with the Spectrum Health Medical Group Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine Program today.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.