Live Younger Now!

“Getting active may be good for your brain.  In a study of o9ver 1,300 adults, researchers learned that those who exercised moderately in midlife were 39 percent less likely than other to have mild cognitive impairment, a state between dementia and the normal mental decline that happens with age.  And in participants who did moderate exercise later in life, the odds of having the condition dropped by 32 percent.  Another study found that high-intensity aerobic exercise helped adults with mild cognitive impairment improve their condition more than a stretching program did.”  Source: Archives of Neurology, Jan 2010

According to the May 2010 Diabetes Forecast, there are food we should be eating but are probably not.  Here is the list: beets, sardines, brussels sprouts, pumpkin seeds,  and kale.  For more information on these super foods and recipes read the article.

“Midlife fitness pays.  Researchers who studied date on more than 13,500 women le3arned that of those who survived to age 70 and beyond, the ones who exercised more when they were middle-aged were less likely to have one of 10 major chronic diseases, heart surgery, physical limitations, or cognitive impairment.  Even just walking made a difference in long-term health outcomes.  What’s more, the benefits showed up in both lean and overweight women.” Source: Archives of Internal Medicine, Jan 25, 2010

“The older you get, the harder it is to fall asleep and stay asleep.  But that’s completely normal, according to researchers in the United Kingdom.  They studied 110 people who had no sleep disorders and found that adults ages 66 to 83 slept 43 minutes less per night than 20 to 30 year olds.  How often participants woke up during the night increased and how much time the spent in deep sleep decreased, with age. despite getting less sleep, older adults were less likely to be drowsy during the day than the young participants.  According to the study’s authors, knowing daytime sleepiness isn’t normal in seniors could help doctors spot sleeping disorders.” Source: Sleep, Feb 1, 2010 – for information regarding natural sleep inducing herbs click here.

“They may drive you nuts at times, but a study says kids may drive down your blood pressure, too.  Researchers asked 198 married men and women to wear a blood pressure monitor for 24 hours.  They found that parents’ systolic blood pressure (top number0 was 6 points lower than that of non-parents, while their diastolic blood pressure (bottom number) was 3 points lower.  The link was strongest in women: Mothers scored nearly 12 and 7 points lower in systolic and diastolic pressure, respectively, compared with women without children.  The researchers hypothesize that parent derive meaning and purpose from life’s little stressors.” Source: Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Jan. 14, 2020

“Omega-3 fatty acids from fish may help keep cells young.  Scientists measured the blood levels of these healthy fats in study participants, all of whom had heart disease, as well the length of telomeres in their white blood cells.  Telomeres are pieces of DNA that protect the ends of chromosomes and tend to shorten with age; recent findings suggest that longer telemeres mean healthier people.  Over five years, people who started out with the most omega-3s had the slowest rate of chromosome shrinkage.  More research is needed to confirm the link and explain how the fish fat can protect cells.” Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan. 20, 2010 – click here for more information about omega-3 fatty acids.

“Men who skimp on sleep may be sabotaging their fitness goals.  Researchers who studies the eating and sleeping habits of 15 men learned that after a couple of nights getting only four hours of sleep, the men were less physically active–and worked out at a lower intensity–than when they logged eight hours.  But contrary to the researchers’ hypothesis, the sleep deprived men didn’t eat more.”  Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Dec. 1009

“Getting active may be good for your brain.  In a study of over 1,300 adults, researchers learned that those who exercised moderately in midlife were 39 percent less likely than others to have mild impairment, a state between dementia and the normal mental decline that happens with age.  And participants who did moderate exercise later in life, the odds of having the condition dropped by 32 percent.  Another study found that high-intensity exercise helped adults with mild cognitive impairment improve their condition more than a stretching program did.”  (Archives of Neurology, January 2010

This study of 3055 postmenopausal women (aged 50–70 y) assessed serum vitamin D [25(OH)D] and potential predictors of 25(OH)D levels. 57.1% of the women had deficient levels of 25(OH)D. Calendar season, waist circumference, physical activity, race-ethnicity, sun exposure, and age were variable predictors of of vita…min D status but vitamin D intake from diet and supplements accounted for the greatest amount of explainable variation.

Surf the Web.  Older people who began to spend time roaming around the Internet experienced improvements in mental activity in as little as a couple of days.  After seven days of doing Internet searches for an hour a day, the MRI brain scans of participants without prior Internet experience showed greater mental activity during Web browsing than they had at the study’s start. (Presentation at the Society for Neurosciences annual meeting)