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Posts Tagged ‘anti-aging’

Long before winter comes, black bears in the forest spend all their time eating everything they can sink their teeth into. During the summer, bears eat and eat and eat, trying to get as fat as they possibly can, and when the weather turns cold, they look for a place to curl up and then they sleep the winter away.

Now, the habits of bears might not seem like something you should try to follow. After all, doctors are always warning us humans that we shouldn’t overeat, and that we shouldn’t spend all of our time lying around, doing nothing.

But there is one part of the black bear’s habits that you should actually try to imitate, because it would be good for your health.

Black bears eat a lot of berries, of many different varieties, such as raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries.

Berries contain natural sugars and wonderful flavors. Unlike many other foods that are really good for you, but which don’t taste good, berries taste great.

And unlike many foods that taste great but which aren’t good for you, berries are among the most health friendly foods you can eat.

It’s only been within the last decade that scientists have started to pay a lot of attention to the health benefits of berries. And what researchers are learning about the health benefits of berries has a lot of exciting potential for human diets.

One of the first major experiments on the health benefits of berries took place at Tufts University about ten years ago.

Researchers were working with a group of aging rats. They fed them diets of various foods to see what the effects would be. Among the foods they tested were strawberries, blueberries, and spinach.

Now these rats were fairly old in terms of “rat years”. In fact, their age was equivalent to humans about 70 years old.

The foods the scientists tested were all very high in beneficial antioxidants, so the scientists wanted to see if any of these foods would boost the physical and mental capabilities of these aging rats.
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Although 73 percent of women know how to prevent heart disease, many are unaware of how to treat it once a diagnosis has been made.

In a survey of 1,979 women over age 35, only 55 percent said they understand how to treat heart disease. Respondents often incorrectly named prevention techniques such as exercise and healthy eating as treatment options, and less than 10 percent named actual treatments such as angioplasty and stent placement.

Hispanics and African-Americans, both considered high-risk groups for heart disease, were twice as likely as Caucasian women to say they did not know any treatments at all.

The survey was conducted by the “Healthy From the Heart” campaign sponsored by the National Women’s Health Resource Center and Cordis Corp. The campaign encourages women to learn about treatment options for coronary artery disease, the most common type of heart disease, so they can make better decisions if diagnosed.

“The good news is that women are aware that they are at risk for heart disease. The bad news is that they are overly confident in their ability to prevent it and treat it,” said Dr. Cindy Grines, an interventional cardiologist with William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oaks, Mich. “Women must realize that education is the key to conquering the threat of coronary artery disease. There are a variety of treatment options now available.”

The most common procedure for treating coronary artery disease is balloon angioplasty with a coronary stent. Angioplasty widens narrowed arteries by threading a balloon-tipped catheter through the arm or groin artery to the blocked artery in the heart. The balloon is inflated to compress the plaque against the artery walls, which in turn expands the blood vessel so blood can flow more easily.
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Billions are spent each year on cosmetic products that promise to delete wrinkles, lighten age spots, and eliminate itching, flaking, or redness. But the simplest and cheapest way to keep your skin healthy and youthful looking is to stay out of the sun.

Sunlight is a major cause of wrinkles, dryness, and age spots. Your skin does change with age. For instance, you sweat less which leads to increased dryness. Aging skin becomes thinner and loses fat, so it looks less plump and smooth. Underlying structures, veins and bones in particular, become more prominent. Your skin can also take longer to recover when injured.

These changes can be drastically delayed by staying out of the sun. Although nothing can totally undo sun damage, the skin sometimes can restore itself. So, it’s never too late to protect yourself from the harmful results of the sun.

5 Ways to Slow the Aging Process:

1. Wear protective clothing. A hat with a wide brim shades your neck, ears, eyes, and head. Look for sunglasses with a label saying the glasses block 99 to 100 percent of the sun’s rays. Wear loose, lightweight, long-sleeved shirts and long pants or long skirts when in the sun.

2. Check your skin often. Look for changes in the size, shape, color, or feel of birthmarks, moles, and spots. If you find any changes that worry you, see a doctor. The American Academy of Dermatology suggests that older, fair-skinned people have a yearly skin check by a doctor as part of a regular physical exam.
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