Category: Healthwatch
HealthWatch: Keeping Your Mind Sharp in Retirement
Seniors who stay active mentally may be able to help keep their mind sharp longer. When it comes to brain power, much like your muscles, the use it or lose it concept applies, says Dana Anspach, CEO and founder of Sensible Money in Scottsdale, Arizona. Retirees who engage in life-long learning keep their brain engaged by challenging themselves to learn new skills. Its important to find things youre curious about and dive in. And in retirement, you have the time to do it. Taking classes in retirement can also be a way to meet new people with similar interests and socialize. You can go lots of places to learn. You can purchase CDs or DVDs. You can learn from great teachers, Frank says. We have a sense of community. You will meet people in classroom and continue conversing after class. Were all teaching and learning together. Some colleges, including Pennsylvania State University and Colorado State University, allow seniors to audit classes tuition-free. Other universities, such as Boston
HealthWatch: Healthy Cooking Habits
3 Easy Tips for Healthier Cooking When it comes to healthy cooking, a lot of focus goes into choosing good ingredients loaded with the nutrients you and your family need. But the truth is, the way you prepare food can be just as important as what you buy. Certain cooking techniques will help maximize your foods nutrition, while others will minimize the intake of less healthy elements like added sodium and unhealthy fats. Here are three simple ways you can easily adjust your cooking for a healthier lifestyle! 1. Treat Your Vegetables Right Boiling and overcooking certain vegetables robs them of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. By steaming them instead, you will preserve more nutrients in vegetables than boiling, stir-frying, or even blanching. For canned vegetables, you can lower their sodium content by up to 40% by rinsing them in water. However, rinsing can also remove some of the Vitamin C from some canned vegetables. Using no- or low-sodium canned foods is an even easier way to
HealthWATCH: Staying in Shape Post-Retirement
Once we retire, we tend to bask in our newfound free time, but few of us realize that we should be spending part of that time exercising. Some fitness buffs may treat retirement as a chance to double up on their favorite activities, but for the rest of us, the challenge becomes extracting the most benefit in the least amount of time. Consistency is the key, said Michele Stanten, a certified fitness instructor in Coopersburg, Penn. Some people who are gung-ho at first try to do an hour of exercise, find its too much, and stop. Its more effective going out for 10 minutes one day, then 10 minutes the next day. Build up gradually and be consistent. Stanten consults with SilverSneakers, a free fitness program for seniors that comes with qualifying Medicare plans. It includes access to participating gyms at more than 14,000 locations across the U.S., along with instructor-led yoga, dance and other fitness classes. Regardless of your goalto gain muscle mass, lose body fat, lower your cholesterol,
HealthWatch: What Are Screens Doing to Our Eyes and Our Ability to See?
In todays society, if youre not sleeping, chances are youre looking at some type of screen. Whether its a computer monitor, a television, a handheld tablet, a GPS or our smartphones, we spend 10-14 hours a day staring at a screen. Many of us are familiar with the problems this can cause, such as headaches, dry eyes, eye muscle strain, and even blurred visionbut few of us know what can be done to correct it. The easiest thing to do would be to avoid screens as much as possible. However, for those of us who use our cellphones and computers every day for work, its impossible to avoid screen-time. So what are our options? One option is to adjust the brightness on your screen. Dr. Joshua Dunaief, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvanias Perelman School of Medicine also recommends shifting your screens color scheme away from blue and toward the yellow end of the spectrum. While some research has linked too much blue light exposure at night to insomnia, even daytime exposure
HealthWatch: Drink Water to Feel Less Bloated
When you feel bloated, drinking water sounds as if it would only make matters worse, but can often help, according to James Lee, MD, gastroenterologist with St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California. Especially if youre on a high-fiber diet, for instance, your body will need more water to work more efficiently, says Dr. Lee. Water mixes with water soluble fiber and makes it into a gel-like substance. This affects the motility of the gut and reduces the symptom of bloating. Drinking more water can relieve bloating caused by dehydration. When youre dehydrated, your body clings to the water your body does have, causing you to puff up. So next time youre feeling a little bloated, reach for a drink! It may make you feel better. Source: Health.com
HealthWatch To Lose Weight, Eat More
With the holidays over, many of us make New Years resolutions -and chief among them is often losing weight. Theres no lack of advice -and it all seems to focus on calories in vs. calories out. Which is important, but this year you may want to try eating more now to eat less later. It sounds counterintuitive at first, but it makes sense when you think about it. Youre hungry, and grab a 100-calorie snack pack of cookies or pretzels. Its only 100 calories, so how bad can it be for you? But as you know, its more likely to make you hungrier than if you ate something more substantial. According to Amy Goodson, RD, dietitian for Texas Health Ben Hogan Sports Medicine, eating small amounts of carbohydrates does nothing but spike your blood sugar and leave you wanting more carbs. She goes on to recommends a protein such as peanut butter or string cheese with an apple. They are higher in calories per serving, but the protein and fat helps you get full faster and stay full longerand you end up eating
2017 - Q3 Healthwatch
3 Tips For A Healthy Summer Its finally summer! Something we wait for all year in Cleveland. And, while you should definitely take some time to have fun, recharge, and spend time with family and friends, here are three health tips that will help you have a healthy summer! 1. Eat More Berries: An easy way to improve your diet this summer, is to have a cup of mixed fresh berries every day. Theyre full of antioxidants, which may help prevent damage to tissues and reduce the risks of age-related illnesses. Theyre also high in fiber, which helps keep cholesterol low and may even help prevent some cancers. 2. Drink alcohol for your heart! Ok, this one comes with a caveat. No one needs to be encouraged to have a drink during the hot summer months, but dont overdo it. Research shows that drinking alcohol in moderation defined as about two drinks a day can help protect against heart disease. 3. Plant a garden: Gardening is a great way to reduce stress. It helps you focus, beautifies your
Healthwatch: Winter 2017
In a Japanese study that examined how to make the most of a nap, people who took a coffee napconsuming about 200 milligrams of caffeine (the amount in one to two cups of coffee) and then immediately taking a 20-minute restfelt more alert and performed better on computer tests than those who only took a nap. Why does this work? A 20-minute nap ends just as the caffeine kicks in and clears the brain of a molecule called adenosine, maximizing alertness. Adenosine is a by-product of wakefulness and activity, says Allen Towfigh, MD, medical director of New York Neurology Sleep Medicine. As adenosine levels increase, we become more fatigued. Napping clears out the adenosine and, when combined with caffeine, an adenosine-blocker, further reduces its effects and amplifies the effects of the nap. To read the full article, please go to Health.com.
Healthwatch
New Brain Training Technique Used at the Olympics This years summer Olympics in Rio gave way to a brand new form of fitness. Halo Sport, a set of headphones designed to stimulate the brains motor cortex, was used by several of the athletes who competed in this years games. The company behind this invention, Halo Neuroscience, compare it to the way good nutrition supports a healthy body and strong muscles. Click the link below to see the full article, as well as a video of the Olympic athletes who used it and their reactions. http://www.labroots.com/trending/neuroscience/3905/brain-training-olympics
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