THE VITAMIN D RIDDLE I take a vitamin D supplement every day—800 international units (IU). Why? Because it’s what I’ve been hearing for years that a senior should be taking. Until now, I didn’t much question this beyond doing some research for my post Dietary Supplements—Do They Work? last February. Vitamin D is necessary for building strong bones. Your body can only absorb calcium, the main component of bone, when this vitamin is present. Your body forms vitamin D naturally after exposure to direct sunlight; When ultraviolet (UV) rays hit your skin it triggers production of a chemical in your...
EXERCISE MIGHT BE THE BEST MEDICINE FOR AVOIDING ALZHEIMER’S Even though we aren’t sure what causes Alzheimer’s disease, scientists do give us various suggestions to help ward it off. My dear mother died from Alzheimer’s 17 years ago and ever since—especially because of my increased genetic risk of developing it—I’ve paid close attention to new research on how to cut risk. Here’s some basic info on the disease from Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org) “Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other cognitive abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer’s accounts for...
MAKE A SPLASH—WATER WORKOUTS ARE FOR NEARLY EVERYONE During winter I regularly visit the Ventura YMCA indoor pool to get in my swimming laps in training for triathlons later in the year. To me, a poor swimmer anyway, going back and forth from one end of the pool to the other is slow and boring. However, next to the lap pool is the Therapy Pool. Here, there’s often an aqua class happening with some 30 plus persons—mostly seniors—having a high old time. These folks are actually enjoying getting their water exercise! In talking with different people after the classes, I...
ADD SOME SPICE TO YOUR LIFE FOR SUPER HEALTH BENEFITS Certain spices can add loads of flavor to your food while also boosting your health. Plus they can help reduce the amount of salt and fat in your recipes while adding next to no calories. Most spices have strong flavors and come from tropical plant and tree parts—seeds, fruits, roots, buds, stems and bark—and are usually available in dried forms. Here are excerpts from the February 2016 Harvard Health Letter article Can everyday spices make you healthier? “Spices are underused, but it would be very easy to take advantage of...
WAIT, WAIT…DON’T TELL ME!—NOVEL WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY We all have “senior moments” of forgetfulness—what an object is called, where we left our cell phone, where we put our keys. That’s because, along with everything else, our memories age. However, a healthy lifestyle will greatly support your mind and encourage your brain to grow new neurons, a process known as neurogenesis. Here are some thoughts from the July 2017 Harvard Health letter, 4 tricks to rev up your memory: “In terms of brain function, everyone has a decline over time in all areas, with the exception of vocabulary,” says...
DOES OUR CIRCADIAN CLOCK PROMOTE HEALTHY EATING? Lately, I’ve been seeing more news on circadian rhythm. For instance, the July 2018 issue of Scientific American—The Clocks Within Our Cells and the July-August 2018 issue of Fitness Journal—Is it Time to Eat Yet? Often referred to as the “body clock,” circadian rhythm is a cycle that tells our bodies when to sleep and eat and regulates many physiological processes. This internal body clock is affected by environmental cues, like sunlight and temperature. A growing body of research is examining the adverse health effects a disrupted circadian rhythm can have. In fact, researchers studying chronobiology...
WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW YOUR “FITNESS AGE”? You know your chronological age, but how about your “fitness age”? Studies of fitness and lifespan suggest that a person’s fitness age, which is primarily a measure of cardiovascular endurance, might be a better predictor of longevity than chronological age. Your body’s capacity to transport and use oxygen during exercise is based on the concept of VO2 max, which is the most precise measure of overall cardiovascular fitness. Here’s more information on how your fitness age is measured and what it says about your lifespan excerpted from the July 17, 2015 issue...
FIT! SENIOR FITNESS CLUB For the past year I’ve gathered background knowledge on a variety of different fitness gyms and programs. I’ve been a member of several larger California gyms over the years including the Channel Islands YMCA in Ventura and recently 24 Hour Fitness in Oxnard. These facilities are open to all ages and, of course, include seniors as members. Especially at the Y, certain aqua classes, Golden Zumba, Silver Sneakers and core & balance classes are aimed at seniors. BodyPump and tai chi classes also attract a large number of older members. As part of my research into...
NOTHING LIKE A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP Lately, I’ve had trouble getting a full night’s sleep. It seems that if I go right to sleep after lying down, I wake up at 2:30 am and lie there for an hour before finally dozing off again. If it takes me half an hour to fall asleep, maybe I can go to 3 am before waking. Anyway, it’s hard to get those 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night that I keep hearing I should have. So now I take over-the-counter sleep aids like Unisom Sleep Tabs (doxylamine succinate), which is an...
SKIN CANCER—KEEPING YOUR SKIN IN THE GAME Yesterday I saw my dermatologist for my quarterly skin checkup. Nothing new, thank goodness. Besides these regular appointments, I keep a continual skin watch on myself. You see I had melanoma 20 years ago. I lived in Portugal for three years in the mid 1990s and didn’t bother having a physical exam. When I got home and finally went in, the doc spotted a lesion with an irregular border on my back. “Oh, oh, we need to biopsy this,” he said. Sure enough it was the melanoma variety of skin cancer and it...
