Getting a good nights sleep is so important for your health. Without it you can become ineffective, sick and even overweight according to an article found on WebMD. ( 7 myths about sleep)

 If you are struggling with the inability to have a peaceful, restoring 6-8 hour a night sleep, your nighttime routine may be the culprit.You may not even have a “nighttime” routine. Perhaps you just fall asleep on the couch watching TV or just crawl into bed whenever you have finally gotten all your to do’s done.

This maybe the reason you are not getting the sleep your mind and body must have for good health.“People with longer-term [sleep] problems benefit more from cognitive behavioral therapy — essentially, retraining your perceptions of sleep and learning better sleep habits.”

Here’s some tips that may help you create a healthy routine.

1. Set a specific bedtime. Going to bed the same time every night can help.
2. Start winding down 20-60 minutes prior to this time. Start activities that you find relaxing, a warm shower or bath or light stretching maybe helpful, but no major exercise.
3. Avoid the computer and TV during your wind down time.
4. Stay away from caffeine and tobacco at least 6 hrs before sleep.
5. Have a light snack. According to an article found at the Mayo Clinic website a “high-carbohydrate, low-protein combination is thought to increase the availability of tryptophan to your brain, which helps it make more melatonin and serotonin.”Examples of these light snacks include.

• A small bowl of oatmeal or cereal with low-fat milk
• Yogurt with granola sprinkled on top
• Half bagel or crackers with peanut butter,
• 1 ounce of cheese or a slice of deli turkey on top
• Sliced apple with 1 ounce of cheese

Of course if your sleep problems are caused by stressful events like the loss of a job, there are some non-addictive sleep meds that can help. Check with your doctor for a sleep aid that will work for you.

According to NOF (National Osteoporosis Foundation), Osteoporosis is a major public health threat for 55 percent of the people 50 years of age and older. “In the U.S., 10 million individuals are estimated to already have the disease and almost 34 million more are estimated to have low bone mass, placing them at increased risk for osteoporosis.”

Osteoporosis is a disease of the skeleton in which bones become brittle and prone to fracture. In other words, the bones loses density. Osteoporosis is diagnosed when bone density has decreased to the point where fractures occur with mild stress.

A bone density scan, along with a patient's medical history, is a useful aid in evaluating the probability of a fracture and whether any preventative treatment is needed.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation provides a Risk Factor Questionnaire to help determine if you at risk. You can download this questionnaire  at

http://www.nof.org/osteoporosis/Risk_Factor_Questionnaire.pdf

Heart Disease is the number one cause of death in the US. There are ways that you can lower your chances of getting heart disease.One way is to eat a heart healthy diet which includes eating less fat, less sodium, fewer calories and more fiber.

At the Mayoclinic website you can find two days' worth of heart-healthy menus. These can be used as a template for healthy eating. Youngertoday.com also provides an in-depth report on Heart Healthy Diets.

Some Heart Healthy Diets include:
 
Mediterranean Diet. The Mediterranean diet is rich in heart-healthy fiber and nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. The diet consists of fruits, vegetables, and unsaturated "good" fats, particularly olive oil.
 
Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) from the National Cholesterol Education Program. Guidelines from the National Cholesterol Education Program include recommendations for preventing and managing high cholesterol levels in adults.
.
Low Fat Diets. Dietary guidelines recommend keeping total fat intake to 20 €“ 30% of total daily calories, with saturated fat less than 10% of calories. Low-fat diets generally restrict fat intake to 20% or less of total daily calories. The Ornish program, which is recommended for some heart disease patients, limits fats even more drastically.

Low Carbohydrate Diets. Diets that restrict carbohydrate intake include the Atkins, South Beach, The Zone, and others.

The DASH Diet. The DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) helps lower blood pressure and may have other heart benefits as well. Restricting sodium improves results.).

Calorie Restriction. Calorie restriction has been the cornerstone of weight-loss programs. Restricting calories appears to have beneficial effects on cholesterol levels, including reducing LDL and triglycerides and increasing HDL levels. A 2006 study reported that a low-calorie, but nutritionally balanced diet can help prevent an aging-associated change in heart function. Patients in the small study took in 1,400 - 2,000 calories a day for an average of 6 years.

Is their a healthy heart diet that has worked for you? Leave a comment and let us know.

The Dash Diet has been proven to lower blood pressure.

The Dash Diet was derived from a clinical study (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) funded "by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), with additional support by the National Center for Research Resources and the Office of Research on Minority Health, all units of the National Institutes of Health. DASH's final results appear in the April 17, 1997, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine."

Have you found relief?
Going through menopause can affect women so differently.
"In a number of studies, most women have reported menopause as a positive experience and have welcomed it with relief and as a sign of a new stage in life."
Others can suffer severely from depression, overwhelming hot flashes that leave them weak and continuous night sweats that result in little or no sleep night after night. It can be a period of time that is overwhelmed by irritability and a bottomless pit of negative emotions and self-doubt.

Why the wide diversity in the symptoms of menopause?
Although we may never know for sure,
"women from different ethnic and or cultural groups report different menopausal symptoms. For example, in one study hot flashes occurred in about 30% of Caucasians and 45% of African Americans. Hispanic women tended to complain of urine leakage, vaginal dryness, and heart pounding. Japanese and Chinese women experienced far fewer menopausal symptoms, except for forgetfulness. All groups complained about this symptom."

Even the ages of onset varies from woman to woman. The average age of a woman at menopause is 51.4 years. But it can start as early as age 40 and as late as the early 60's.

Treatments
They are treatments for some of the symptoms of menopause such as:
A Health Diet ,Exercise, and Natural remedies such as isoflavones (found in soy and red clover) and lignans (found in whole wheat and flaxseed One of the big questions facing women who suffer from the symptoms of menopause is the decision of taking HRT. Although Hormone Replacement Therapy seems effective in "relieving menopausal symptoms, including vaginal atrophy and dryness, hot flashes, sleep problems, and mild depression" there are risks. 
 
The adverse Effects of HRT.

Quitting is tough, but aging gracefully by looking younger, feeling fit and maintaining good health while still smoking is nearly impossible.

Wrinkles, baldness, premature gray hair, gum disease, tooth loss, cataracts, macular degeneration, hearing loss and incontinence are age-related conditions that occur at higher rates in smokers than non-smokers. The following data is provided by A.D.A.M.:

• "Wrinkles. Studies confirm that smokers are nearly five times more likely to develop more and deeper wrinkles as they age compared to non-smokers.
• Baldness and premature gray hair. Certain chemicals in smoke break down in hair cells, which leads to hair damage.
• Gum disease and tooth loss. A government study found that more than half of the cases of severe gum disease in adults in the United States may be due to cigarette smoking.
• Cataracts. Quitting smoking lowers the likelihood of needing cataract surgery in the future, although not to the level seen with non-smokers.
• Macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in older people. Symptoms of macular degeneration include a loss of central vision, which makes it difficult to read.
• Hearing loss, particularly high-frequency hearing loss. Some experts believe that losing the ability to hear high pitched sound in smokers may be due to a decrease in blood flow to the cochlea, the part of the ear that carries sound to the brain.
• Incontinence. One study of 600 women indicated that smokers and former smokers are twice as likely to develop incontinence as women who never smoked."

Okay you may say, but its too late for me to stop smoking now, the damage is done. Not True!  It is never too late to quit smoking. Quitting has immediate health benefits.

"Better Health After Quitting-

• 20 minutes -
   Blood pressure and pulse rates return to normal. 
• 8 hours -
   Levels of carbon monoxide and oxygen in the blood return to normal. 
• 24 hours -
   Chance of heart attack begins to decreases. 
• 48 hours -
  Nerve endings start to regrow. Your ability to taste and smell increases. 
• 72 hours -
   Bronchial tubes relax and the lungs can fill with more air.
• 2 weeks to 3 months -
   Improved circulation; lung function increases up to 30%. 
• 1 to 9 months -
   Decreased rates of coughing, sinus infection, fatigue, and shortness of breath; regrowth of cilia in the airways, increasing the ability to clear mucus and clean the lungs and reducing the chance of infection; overall energy level increases. 
• Long-Term Effects -
  After a year, risk of dying from heart attack and stroke is reduced by up to 50%."

Some of  the most effective method for quitting is a combination of nicotine replacement therapy, antidepressants (such as Zyban), and professional counseling.

What do you think?

Health Matters

Testing, Testing, Testing

The importance of having medical tests and screenings are so important to your health, especially because HEALTH MATTERS..

Some of the tests are not comfortable. Recently I had a colonoscopy that was certainly not comfortable. My family’s medical history includes rectal cancer so I am considered at high risk. Going through this discomfort once every five years seems a very small consideration to the benefit that comes from it.

Here are some Medical tests and Screenings that men and women should consider in the pursuit of good health.

MEN

• Diabetes Screening
• Colon Exam
• Prostate Exam
• Glaucoma Screening
• Blood Pressure Measurement
• Cholesterol Test

WOMEN

• Diabetes Screening
• Breast Cancer Screening
• Colon Exam
• Blood Pressure Measurement
• Osteoporosis screening
• Pap Tests (cervical cancer screening)

What do you think?