May 1, 2017
PATIENT POWER Health Insights for Seniors, Loved Ones and Caregivers
Estrogen and Women’s Memory Brain scans on women done at NIH have found that those with non-typical estrogen fluctuations showed altered circuits while trying to do memory-related tests.
Walking Helps Brain We talk exercise, let’s talk walking! It seems the pressure waves that follow your foot’s impact makes it easier for blood to flow through your arteries, thus not depriving brain of oxygen.
Train Carefully, Not Intensely Yes, you need to exercise…for all sorts of reasons. Keeping heart healthy, staying mentally fit (with exercises you enjoy) and of course fighting bone deterioration. But be careful and don’t get too intense. A Canadian study found that female rowers whose exercise was high-intensity actually had a negative effect on what had been positive bone building.
Patient Power
Men Must Fight Osteoporosis That’s right. It says “Men.” And that’s not a typo. It’s just that many folks still don’t realize that osteoporosis—the loss of bone density—is not just a women’s health issue. Since May is National Osteoporosis Month, here are two questions for middle-aged/older men and their loved ones: • When was the last time (if ever) your doctor mentioned and explained osteoporosis to you? • When was the last time (if ever) your doctor spoke to you about testing your bone density? If neither of these ever happened, you shouldn’t be surprised. I can’t tell you how often I’ve chatted with bone density experts, dietitians and others who know about and try to prevent osteo (as I’ll abbreviate). They know general doctors often forget to chat this issue with male patients and you certainly almost never see the general media show osteo prevention geared towards men.
WM Medical Communications
May 2017/ Page 1