Did you know?

Dec 2009

H1N1 or the "Swine Flu"

If you are sick with influenza-like illness (fever >100'F plus cough or sore throat and runny nose, body aches, headache, chills, fatigue, vomiting, and diarrhea): stay home and keep away from others as much as possible for at least 24 hours after fever is gone without fever reducing medicine. If your symptoms are severe (shortness of breath, productive cough, high fever), you should be seen by a health care practitioner, or go to the ER. If you are pregnant, a recent report noted that one third of pregnant women with confirmed cases of pandemic H1N1 were hospitalized (mostly with severe respiratory distress). Pregnant women have a death rate from H1N1 flu six-times greater than any other population group! So, pregnant women should call their obstetrician or nurse-midwife if they have influenza symptoms. Additionally, it is quite possible for an individual to experience both seasonal influenza and H1N1 influenza simultaneously or in tandem with serious results.

Whooping Cough

Whooping cough (Pertussis) vaccine wears off after about 10 years. Everyone ages 19-65 should be revaccinated. Ask your primary health care provider for a combination vaccine that also protects against tetanus and diphtheria, which also wears off after 10 years.

- from University of California, Berkeley, Wellness Letter.

Muscle Pain

Cherry juice relieves muscle pain. Runners who drank pure tart cherry juice immediately after a long run had 23% less pain than those who drank a placebo cherry drink. Tart cherry juice has strong anti-inflammatory properties that also could help fight arthritis and heart disease. Tart cherry juice comes from the Montmorency (sour pie), cherry and may have properties similar to anti-inflammatory medications.

- from Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon, presented at the American College of Sports Medicine Conference.

Sleep vs Making Love

51% of people would prefer to catch up on sleep than make love. A decade ago, only 31% preferred sleep!

- from a survey of 12,500 people in 12 countries, conducted by Westin Hotels & Resorts.

Cognitive therapy helps control overactive bladder

In a recent study, women who suffered from overactive bladder - difficulty holding urine in the bladder until making it to a toilet - and incontinence listened to 15 minute audio recordings twice a day for two weeks. The recordings were designed to help the women recognize the link between the bladder and the brain. They featured visualization, such as strengthening the connection between the brain and the spinal cord to help control the bladder, as well as relaxation exercises. The women's average number of overactive bladder incidents per week decreased from 42 to 16!

-by Aaron Michelfelder, MD, Loyola University, Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine, and leader of a study published in the Journal of Urology.

High Blood Pressure and Memory

High blood pressure can lead to memory problems in people over age 45 years. Every 10 point increase in diastolic pressure raises the odds of cognitive problems by 7%. Talk with your doctor about maintaining a healthy blood pressure.
- from Georgios Tsivgoulis, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham, lead author of a study of almost 20,00 people, published in Neurology.

Eat less, Remember more

Overweight people who reduced their calorie intake by 30% a day scored 20% higher on a word-based memory test than they had before dieting. The dieters had lower levels of glucose and insulin in their blood - factors liked in earlier studies to improved brain function.

- from a study of 50 people, average age 60, by researchers at University of Munster, Germany, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Challenging your brain

Games on your cell phone are better for your brain than crossword or sudoku puzzles. Why? They have a timing component. As you age, your brain faces more challenges with short-term memory and the cognitive tasks of paying attention and juggling multiple abilities. It's important to challenge these skills, and playing games against a clock provides a better brain workout than puzzles and board games.

- Cynthia Green, PhD, president, Memory Arts, LLC, New Jersey. www.memoryarts.com

Hot Flashes last longer than thought

Hot flashes — also known as vasomotor symptoms — affect up to 75% of women during the menopausal transition. For some women, these symptoms are no more than mildly annoying; for others, they can be extremely bothersome and may involve drenching sweats day and/or night, palpitations, anxiety, and confusion. Lifestyle measures may help — keeping the thermostat turned down, dressing in loose layers, drinking ice water, and avoiding hot or spicy foods, for example. But severe symptoms may require medication. The most effective treatment is hormone therapy — estrogen with or without a progestin. Deciding whether to start hormone therapy might be easier if women knew how long they were likely to be experiencing hot flashes. Current health information suggests that symptoms typically go on for six months to two years, but no investigation has actually lasted long enough to collect data on these symptoms — from start to finish — in a given cohort of women. Until now. An Australian study, published in the journal Menopause (May/June 2009), tracked women from premenopause through the menopausal transition and reported that hot flash duration averaged more than five years — well above previous estimates.

Investigators with the Melbourne Women’s Midlife Health Project analyzed data from 438 women ages 45 to 55 who were still menstruating when the study began in 1991. Subjects were interviewed annually and completed health questionnaires, including questions about bothersome hot flashes. After 13 years of follow-up, the researchers found that hot flashes lasted, on average, 5.8 years in HT users and 5.2 years in nonusers. They also noted links between high exercise levels and shorter hot flash duration.

- from the Harvard Women’s Health Watch, Volume 16, Number 10