Upside Of Aging

Talking With Your Doctor

 

Here are some questions to ask your physician when you have an appointment. Keep in mind that YOU are the first step to getting quality health care (see my previous post). The point is to keep asking questions until you understand what is wrong with you and what needs to happen so that you can get better.

 

Understand your diagnosis

What is wrong with me?

What do I need to do to get better?

Where can I find more information about my condition?

 

If you need any tests, ask your doctor:

How will the test be done?

How accurate are the results? What is the percentage of false positives?

What are the benefits of the test?

What are the risks of the test?

How am I going to find out abut the results?

What should I do if I don't receive the results

 

If you receive a prescription for a new medicine

What is the name of the medicine?

What is it suppose to do?

When should I take the medicine and how much should I take?

What are the side effects?

What are the numbers for its effectiveness?

 

If you need surgery:

What kind of operation do I need?

Why do I need this surgery?

What are the benefits of this surgery?

What are the risks of the surgery?

How long will it take to recover?

What happens if I don't have the operation?

Are there other treatments I could have instead of the operation?

Where can I get a second opinion?

 

Save and print these questions out when you need them.

If you have other good questions for your doc will you share them with us.

Just type them out in the comment box.

 

To your successful aging.

Ruthan Brodsky

Take Charge of Your Health Care

No matter what takes place in politics and the politics of public health reform there are actions you can take to insure that you receive quality health care.

Keep in mind that quality health care can help you stay healthy and recover faster when you become sick. My mother always thought that getting good care meant seeing the doctor right away, being treated like a queen by the office staff, and having the doctor spend a lot of time with her.

Granted, those things are important but clinical quality care is more important to me. It's like taking my car into service. The service rep can be charming and friendly and have coffee and cookies available, but I want a good mechanic. I want my car's problem fixed or I want to prevent a problem from happening.

• One of the most important things you can do to receive quality health care is to search for and find health information and use that information to take an active role in making decisions about your care.
• Work with your doctor and other members on your health team to make decisions on your health care. That could mean working with your dentist, podiatrist or personal trainer.
• Ask questions: what does the scientific evidence has to say about your condition?
• Do your homework and go online or to the library and find out more. Make sure the information comes from a reliable source.

In my next post I'll list a bunch of questions to ask your doctor.

Above all, keep in mind, that YOU are the first step in quality health care. Don't wait until someone is doing it for you.

To your successful aging.

Ruthan Brodsky

Reducing Stress - Your Health Depends On It

"Working Mothers Are Doubled Stress" was a common headline not more than 10 years ago. If you were a stay-at-home mom you weren't suppose to have the same stress load as another woman who was working. If you were retired you were described as having little or no stress. The assumption was your retirement funds and Social Security provided enough funding for the rest of your life. You had the luxury of playing golf and bridge for the rest of your days.

I'm convinced those stereotypic descriptives can be thrown out the window today.

Two More Outdated Nutritional Assumptions

In my last post I wrote about soy and olive oil not as good as we think they are.

Assumption Number Three: Vitamin C prevents Colds

Truth be known, and then this is not absolute, taking vitamin C supplements may shorten colds slightly but the results vary widely. Other than that, no matter what Linus Pauling wrote, extra vitamin C in the winter at high doses will not help colds stay away. Taking an extra 1,000 mg a day of vitamin C for a few days won't hurt you but it is not a magic potion for warding off colds.

Assumption Number Four: Antioxidants prevent cancer and heart disease.

When the reports of the first research studies were published it all sounded so promising. Damage caused by renegade oxygen could trigger cancer, injure arteries, hamper vision and accelerate aging. Antioxidants, such as beta-carotene and vitamins C and E could neutralize the damage before it took hold. So far the clinical trials haven't produced success.

Even so I am always reading about some new skin discovery to prevent aging that contains one or more of the anti-oxidants. Either they know more than I'm reading or they companies are betting they we all still believe this outdated assumption.

For instance, I was a firm believer that vitamin E was just about a guarantee against cardiovascular disease. Was it just a few years ago when the research said that just isn't so?

That's not to say that antioxidants are useless. The mistake, I'm told, is to assume that if antioxidants work, it is because they are antioxidants. Vitamin C, for example can be an antioxidant in one setting and pro-oxidant in another. If vitamin E and selenium protect the prostate it may not be because they're antioxidants but are working though a different pathway.

To say that a food is rich in antioxidants is not at all significant; it has no real impact.

No matter what your age, the world is full of surprises.

To your healthy aging.

Ruthan Brodsky

Two Outdated Nutritional Assumptions

There is so much information that's now available that it becomes difficult to figure out what is good, what is bad, and what just isn't so. That's what I'm writing about in the next couple of posts: about nutritional information that just isn't so but the belief that they are 'I know for a fact' continues to stay with us. Most of the time they are promising theories that just didn't bear up because of the lack of evidence.

Number 1 assumption: Soy foods prevent breast cancer and hot flashes

My mother had breast cancer and I know how scary it can be from her perspective and now from mine because I'm a higher risk. It is easy for me to latch on to something that seems to make sense and will prevent me from getting breast cancer. So far, however, the evidence is very weak that the plant estrogens or phytoestrogens found in soy can prevent breast cancer.

As for hot flashes, most of the studies found that soy or plant estrogens from supplements like red clover, have very little impact on hot flashes and other menopause symptoms. The same is true for an impact on prostate cancer. The research on reducing PSA levels has had mixed results.

Number 2 assumption: Olive oil is the healthiest oil

The healthiest oil is probably fish oil but you can't use it on your salad. Olive oil is certainly one of the good oils but I think it is unclear whether it is the best.

Just about any oil that is high in unsaturated fats, whether it is polyunsaturated or monounsaturated is associated with a decreased risk of heart disease. In fact canola oil may be better than olive oil because it is lower in saturated fat. Canola oil, however, has more of a polyunsaturated fat called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) than olive. ALA is an omega-3 fat that may help lower the risk of heart disease.

However, ALA may also raise, albeit slightly, the risk of prostate cancer but the research isn't complete. Actually, red meat and dairy fat are also sources of ALA and more consistently related to higher prostate cancer risk.

My advice, switch off between canola and olive oil.

I welcome your comments about these nutritional assumptions. Were you a believer that they were facts? Do you know any nutritional assumptions that you think are outdated? I'd like to share them with our readers. I have a few more and I'll write about them in my next post.

To your healthy aging success.

Ruthan Brodsky

Put Potassium in Your Diet

You spend 20 to 40 percent of the total energy that is required to keep you alive just continually pumping potassium into your cells and sodium out of your cells. Without potassium, your brain would not be getting messages from your nerves because nerve impulses would not travel and muscles would not start contracting.

What you need to know

Potassium is an element and an electrolyte that is essential for the growth and maintenance of your body .It is a mineral that helps keep the kidney to function normally. Potassium is crucial to heart function and plays a major role in skeletal and smooth muscle contraction, making it important for normal digestive and muscular function, also. One of its primary roles is keeping a normal water balance between your cells and body fluids.

It may be the seventh most plentiful mineral on earth, but potassium is scarce in American diet. More potassium in our diets could help protect us against high blood pressure, strokes, kidney stones and bone loss.

Having too much potassium in the blood is called hyperkalemia.

Having too little is known as hypokalemia.

Keeping the right potassium balance in your body depends on the amount of sodium and magnesium in your blood. Too much sodium, very common in our diets because we use so much salt, may increase your need for potassium. Diarrhea, excessive sweating, poor eating habits as well as diuretics for blood pressure and heart disease can all cause potassium deficiency.

Fruits and vegetables are your best sources, especially of potassium citrate, which may prevent kidney stones and bone loss. Good food sources for this include bananas, orange juice, avocados, cantaloupes, tomatoes, potatoes, lima beans, flounder, salmon, cod, chicken, and spinach. Make sure they are on your grocery list and in your refrigerator bins.

To your success at healthy aging.

Ruthan brodsky

Strength Training for Newbies

Those who know recommend that you do strength training at least twice a week to make gains in muscle and bones. The estimated time to train is 30 to 45 minutes because you need to do one or two sets of six to 10 exercises. It is also suggested that the intensity be high and the weight should be such that you can lift 10 to 12 times in good form. If you cannot lift it correctly then rest before you do another set.

There is no set rule about which weight to start off with even for women. It may be a 5 pound weight for a bicep curl for a 50 year old woman and then she would be up to 8 pounds in a few weeks. The theory is if you cannot progress to heavier weights you are not building muscle. Working out with a 3-pound weight week after week will not make you stronger.

You also need to work on different exercises because you have different muscles. A bicep curl is good but you also want to do an overhead press which gets at the triceps in the back of your arms and the deltoids in your shoulders. Most people can purchase a few weights and do these programs at home. The concern about doing strength training at home is that many people do not push themselves so they can increase their strength and muscle mass.

There are many sites on line that have instructional videos for the exercises with no charge. By the same token, most communities have a senior center which offers many fitness programs and use of the facilities at very affordable rates. They usually offer a swimming program, aerobic room and weight training.

Combining aerobic exercise and strength training is important as we get older because of the loss of muscle. Sometimes it is an effort to get to the gym or work out at home, but the results are worth the effort.

Do you have any tricks that motivate you to workout and go to the gym? I know I could use a good motivator now and then. Please share your stony with u.

To your success at positive aging.

Ruthan Brodsky

More Strength, Better Lifestyle, Fewer Falls

Right now I cannot think of anything negative to write about strength training. Even if you already have diabetes, one work out will improve your blood sugar control and maybe even lower your blood pressure.

Just as important, especially for women, strength training improves balance significantly. When muscle mass is lost, bone density also decreases and it becomes obviously rather quickly that living independently as you age is at risk because lack of balance usually indicates taking falls. How's this for a statistic: the typical woman who lives into her 80s will need anywhere from five to ten years of assistance because she is too frail. The same is true for men who live into their nineties.

The sad note to this is that some elderly stop doing their activities because they are afraid of falling. As a result, their ability to perform their daily activities and to take care of themselves comes spiraling down. At the same time, gaining muscle strength can reduce arthritis pain and keep the elderly more active. For instance, those with moderate to severe arthritis have weak muscles. Therefore, if you have arthritis in your knee joint it is likely that the hamstring is weaker than your quadriceps making the muscles out of balance. When the hamstring gets strengthened through exercise, the knee works better because the muscles can help absorb more of the shock when walking. The result is less pain.

The fact is strength training is important for everyone. By their 40s, as women approach menopause, they start to lose some of their bone and muscle. Men start to lose, also. The beauty is that strength training can actually increase muscle mass so that if you are exercising you are going to be like a younger person who has not been exercising that much. Strength training is one way to push back the clock.

If you are someone who does strength training and enjoys doing it, tell us your secret. It is a struggle for so many we welcome your expert advice.

To your success at positive aging.

Ruthan Brodsky

Muscle and Strength Training Matter for Healthy Aging

It is not unusual for many folks in their mid years to complain that they're eating less and weighing more. For many it is also more difficult to find the time to exercise because of one chronic pain or other that is draining energy.

The good news if you have an hour a week, 2 hours would be better, you actually can reverse some of those and other problems that creep up as you get older.

Strength-building exercises build more than strength. They boost your bone density, your metabolic rate, balance and self confidence. What's even better than trimming some of your flab, strength training can curb depression, reduce sleep problems, high blood sugar, arthritic pain and the risk of heart disease. Besides that it does not cost very much to do.

There are not many solutions this good in life so pay attention!

First you need to know that we start losing about a quarter pound of muscle every year by the time we are in our late 30s. By the time we are 80, we have lost about a third of our muscle mass. Sarcopenia is the name given for loss of muscle mass. The debate about whether it is natural due to the aging process or caused by poor nutrition and inactivity remains active.

We need muscle to keep us strong and mobile. Muscle tugs on bone to help bone stay young. It also burns more calories than fat burns so our metabolic rate should increase which makes it easier to keep our weight on target.

Muscle is also where most of our blood sugar or glucose goes. When we eat food, glucose goes into the bloodstream and most of it gets deposited in the muscle as stored glycogen. When we don't activate our muscles because we're not moving around, the muscle cells become resistant to the insulin that the pancreas secretes. In other words, insulin can't do its job. What makes matters worse is if our muscle cells are resistant to insulin we are at higher risk of heart disease. To cap it all off, if resistant leads to more glucose moving around in the bloodstream, we probably have diabetes.

I hope you followed my map. Where are you on this journey? What are you doing for strength training?

To your success at positive aging,

Ruthan Brodsky

Dance and Get Fit

Let's face it. Walking and jogging on the treadmill can be boring. If you try and break up the monotony by watching TV or reading you are probably slowing down and not getting the real benefit of cardio effort.

Dancing, on the other hand, can be fun. First, you have to dance to music and most of us have some sense of rhythm and rhythmic music makes us move and smile. Think about those times you were at a wedding, just sitting and listening to the band, but your feet were tapping and your head was bobbing to the rhythm. In fact, everyone at your table was keeping in time to the music with some kind of movement.

Not only can dancing provide a healthy aerobic workout, it can also create an opportunity for social interaction. There are aerobic dance classes at most centers. You can take a line dancing class, meet new people and get some exercise. If you can convince your friend, the two of you can take ballroom dancing lessons, meet other couples and get some exercise. Or you can buy a DVD, grab your spouse off the couch and start dancing in your own home.

The aerobic nature of dancing provides conditioning for your heart and lungs and increases your body's efficient use of oxygen. Any movement is better than none but the key to dance as an aerobic activity is to keep moving long enough and fast enough to increase your heart rate and make you perspire.

Tip One: If you are coming to a class for the first time, show up early and let the instructor know you're a beginner. That way the teacher can take some extra time with you or at least make sure you're in a spot where you can see what's taking place.

Tip Two: Start off with a simple class with a name like Beginning Ballroom or Basic Square Dance. When you start to get bored of basic, then you can try for something more advanced like belly dancing or swing.

Have you taken any dancing lessons? Are you dancing long enough to count it as aerobic exercise? Share your story with us and type it in comments.

To your success in life,

Ruthan Brodsky