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Main Page  »  Aging
View Article  Insomnia and What Else? The Melatonin Connection

What a fascinating hormone Melatonin is turning out to be.

Over the past decade or so, Melatonin has been investigated for its role in treating cancer, as well as playing a role in its development, particularly with flight crews.

The latter is especially interesting when you consider that Melatonin has often been recommended for jet lag - I personally found it very helpful on my trips to Europe.

A recent Spanish study takes this a step further, and links low Melatonin levels to aging and inflammation. 

When I consider how many older people come to me complaining of insomnia, and the number of those who also have inflammatory conditions, and I correlate that with the fact that cancer risk rises as one ages -  a little supplementation with Melatonin begins to sound like a really good strategy.

My article on Melatonin

Melatonin Supplements

 

View Article  D-fense against Falls

Another interesting study in the long list of reasons why Vitamin D is important, pointing out yet again that we are not generally getting enough of it.

Researchers report that among the elderly study participants, of the group taking the high dose (800 IU) vitamin D supplement, only 20% of the participants  fell, versus 44% of the placebo group.

A litle time spent in the sunshine each day enjoying life could make quite a difference, it seems!

More evidence that vitamin D may cut falls amongst the elderly

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View Article  Water of Long Life - seniors and hydration

There is a great deal of advice out there about water :  from drinking an ounce for every pound of half your body weight, to nonsense!  you need no extra water.

See my motto above.

Nothing quite beats a good study, and here is a report of two which indicate that many elderly people, having lost the impulse to drink water, are dehydrated and suffering both physical and cognitive consequences.

Summary of studies here.

While it still comes as a surprise to have to think of myself as an elderly person, let me add on a personal note that I do have to REMIND myself several times a day to drink a glass of water.  I have found that filling a container with water and putting it in the fridge each day serves as an aide memoire. If it is still full at the end of the day, I have not had enough to drink.  Just a suggestion.

More about hydration

View Article  Sweet lips that never tell a lie ...

It's hard to believe that any woman would care about the appearance of her labia (latin for lips) unless somehow influenced to do so.  My own attitude to that entire area has always been if it's functional, it's fine!

Yet it would appear that fine-tuning the appearance of female private parts is burgeoning into the latest plastic surgery bonanza."

The perfect vagina - yours for the asking.

Ironic juxtaposition - carrying the appearance of female private parts to extremes.

View Article  Iron Filings

New research on iron and Alzheimer's disease is absolutely fascinating.  If you have too high a level of iron, it exacerbates the disease; lowering iron levels in affected persons helps.  But too little iron chronically can also apparently be a factor in developing the disease ... 

Read the research here

and remember :  if you are a man check your iron levels before using supplements at any age.  If you are a woman, once you have stopped menstruating, the same advice holds good.

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View Article  Positive Aging Indeed


 

I have been receiving an interesting newsletter for some time now, which you may care to subscribe to.  It is called "Positive Aging", and you can sign up for it here

I particularly enjoyed this edition, from which I have excerpted the following:

ELDER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Counteracting the prevailing cultural bias that creativity
is the provenance of the young, many periodicals now mention
the great accomplishments achieved by those 60 and over.
Here is a sample of some of the achievements of older people
we have recently discovered:
*Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex at 70 and Electra at 90.
*Michaelangelo began work on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome at 70.
*"Grandma Moses" took up painting as a hobby at 76.
*Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of Little House on the
Prairie, published her first book at 65.
*Benjamin Franklin helped write the Declaration of
Independence at 70 and was named CEO of Pennsylvania at 79.
*Mother Teresa continued her missionary work until her death at 87.
*Arthur Rubinstein gave one of his greatest piano
performances at New York's Carnegie Hall at 89.
*Golda Meir was named prime minister of Israel at 71 and
held that office for 5 years.
*Mahatma Gandhi led India's opposition to British rule at 77.
*Frank Lloyd Wright completed New York's Guggenheim Museum at 89.

View Article  Live fast, die old

 

It would seem that all mice have to do to live a really long time, is eat less than their peers and have a fast metabolism.  In other words, if you burn calories efficiently and ingest fewer of them, it may translate to a longer life. Interestingly, I recall reading somewhere the observation that in prison of war camps during World War 11, those most likely to survive were those who carried the least body fat going in.

Read the report here: Live fast, die old

View Article  A possible cause of Alzheimer's
Would the threat of Alzheimer's become less frightening if a cause were found?  And a treatable one at that? I  think so!  This new and fascinating study finds a connection between a bacterium called Chlamydia pneumoniae, consequent inflammation,  and the dreaded brain plaque.

Read the report here

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View Article  Ideal Retirement
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View Article  Food versus age
Science appears to be closing in on what makes diet so important in longevity, and it is a process which ...   more »