Don’t Fall!

Exercises to increase balance are very important as people age.  Grab a chair —hold on with one finger to stabilize yourself as you begin each balancing exercise  —as your balance becomes better and stronger  let go of the chair (focus on an object in front of you) while performing the exercises— when you become advanced,  close your eyes as you hold your balance to the count of 10.

Before you begin—stand up tall and straight—  as you press your feet into the ground lift your arches to engage your inner thighs—shoulders relaxed— pull abdominals into spine gently—hold onto the chair gently with one finger.  Do each exercise 10 times, holding on the last count for 10.

Also, a good idea is to lift one leg while standing in line or even washing dishes to boost your balance.

Working balance and calf muscles.

Advanced

Advanced

Stop! Look And Listen

Woolly Bear

Woolly Bear Becomes The Isabella Tiger Moth

There’s an amazing world in your backyard, outside your window and flying in the air around you. With watchful eyes and keen ears we can enter this world and get away from the hustle and bustle anytime we want. What therapy!

So Much Life On A Little Patch Of Earth—Carol Kaesuk Koon NYT

…Our unimpressive lawn became a kaleidoscope of mysteries, just one square foot of it boasting multiple species of grasses, one species of dandelion, countless other unknown plants that quickly came and went, and no end of insects, algae, mosses, worms, bacteria and fungi.

Every beam of slanting light, every breath of wind, every flitter of movement revealed something unseen. A droplet of rain splashed on the deck, a potential marvel of aquatic life. A newly noticed stain on the fence proved to be a burgeoning lichen.

For those, like children, with eyes open wide, rarities can abound.

On any given day, of course, you’re not likely to spot an unexpected guest. But one day it will happen. While you slice a grapefruit or fold laundry or sit at the computer, something unbelievable will be creeping or flittering through your life. Look for it, just in case.

Female Twelve Spotted Skimmer

Swallowtail Butterfly

Lightning Bug

Honeybee

Trees Work Wonders

Why Trees Matter—Jim Robbins  NYT

…We have underestimated the importance of trees. They are not merely pleasant sources of shade but a potentially major answer to some of our most pressing environmental problems. We take them for granted, but they are a near miracle. In a bit of natural alchemy called photosynthesis, for example, trees turn one of the seemingly most insubstantial things of all — sunlight — into food for insects, wildlife and people, and use it to create shade, beauty and wood for fuel, furniture and homes…

I always knew that a walk in the woods soothed the soul— in the article quoted above I found out that the Japanese have a name for it “forest bathing”.  I love that.

… In Japan, researchers have long studied what they call “forest bathing.” A walk in the woods, they say, reduces the level of stress chemicals in the body and increases natural killer cells in the immune system, which fight tumors and viruses. Studies in inner cities show that anxiety, depression and even crime are lower in a landscaped environment…

There But For Fortune Go You Or I

Health Care is a basic human right.  In 2014 the United States will join the other 32 developed countries  in the world that have universal health care.  Unless, the Supreme Court deems Obamacare unconstitutional and overturns the law. This would be a travesty.

Please read—Down The Insurance Rabbit Hole by Andrea Louise Campbell-–about why the Affordable Care Act is necessary.

ON the second day of oral arguments over the Affordable Care Act, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., trying to explain what sets health care apart, told the Supreme Court, “This is a market in which you may be healthy one day and you may be a very unhealthy participant in that market the next day.” Justice Antonin Scalia subsequently expressed skepticism about forcing the young to buy insurance: “When they think they have a substantial risk of incurring high medical bills, they’ll buy insurance, like the rest of us.”

May the justices please meet my sister-in-law. On Feb. 8, she was a healthy 32-year-old, who was seven and a half months pregnant with her first baby. On Feb. 9, she was a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the chest down by a car accident that damaged her spine. Miraculously, the baby, born by emergency C-section, is healthy…

Mammograms Cause Overdiagnosis

Women have to take their health options into their own hands whether it be birth control, pregnancy, child birth, hormones or mammograms –they can not just listen to their doctor.  They need to research their options and yes, as my good friend likes to say, “follow the money”.

A New Norwegian Study finds that…

Up to a fourth of breast cancers found through mammograms are harmless and would not cause noticeable disease during the women’s lifetimes, a new study from Norway suggests.

Such women are said to be overdiagnosed, because their cancers would not have caused symptoms or death. Overdiagnosis is a problem because women may receive tests and treatment they did not actually need.

Women should be informed about the benefits and risks of breast cancer screening, including the risk of overdiagnosis, so they can decide if they want a mammogram.

In the new study, Kalager and colleagues analyzed cases of invasive breast cancer that occurred in Norway between 1996 and 2005, a time period over which the country began a breast cancer screening program for women ages 50 to 69.

About 7,800 women were diagnosed with breast cancer during the 10-year study period. Of these, the researchers estimated between15 percent and 25 percent were overdiagnosed — in other words, between 1,169 and 1,948 women would never have faced illness due to their cancers…

Breast Cancer and Hormones…Again

Hormone Replacement Therapy

Hormones cause breast cancer.

It is already known that taking pills that combine estrogen and progestin — the most common type of hormone therapy — can increase breast cancer risk. But women who no longer have a uterus can take estrogen alone, which was thought to be safe and possibly even slightly beneficial in terms of cancer risk.

The new study suggests otherwise, if the pills are used for many years. It tracked the health of about 60,000 nurses and found that use of any kind of hormones for 10 years or more slightly raised the chances of developing breast cancer…

Birth Control Pills

Don’t Forget To Wash Your Hands…With Soap!

The Norovirus is the major cause of the “stomach flu” or viral gastroenteritis. About 23 million people a year are infected with the norovirus.

It is spread through the fecal oral route and also through vomit particles.

Symptoms include stomach pain, diarrhea and or vomiting. A person is contagious 24 to 48 hours before their symptoms occur, during the illness and up 2 weeks after the symptoms have subsided.

The norovirus can live in water up to 60 days, on hands at least 2 hours and on surfaces, such as formica, for 4-6 weeks!

Recently 95 people were sickened in Syracuse, NY and the outbreak was traced back to one restaurant.

The best prevention is proper hand washing with soap and water.  NOT  hand sanitizers, they do not kill the virus.

If a person in your family is infected, clean the bathroom and kitchen with a solution of bleach (alcohol does not kill the virus) to contain the illness. A good habit even it no-one is sick.

Also, a best practice is, to flush the toilet with the lid down—a “toilet sneeze” reaches 6-8′ and can contaminate the bathroom.

Recent studies conclude that we are over sanitizing and that anti-bacterial soap is unnecessary and that hand sanitizers don’t actually clean your hands properly.

Children should be encouraged to “go out to play” so that they will come in contact with microbes that will stimulate their immune system.

Use Regular Soap!

Good For Your Body Your Mind And Your Soul

EXERCISE! EXERCISE! EXERCISE!  All medications have known and unknown side effects.

Exercise in any form  (aim for 30 minutes each day) helps fight obesity, Type II Diabetes, breast cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease, high blood pressure and dementia. And it makes you happy.

It also “Jogs The Brain”

If It Ain’t Broke…Don’t Fix It

Obsessive Compulsive Medical Exams!

EARLY diagnosis has become one of the most fundamental precepts of modern medicine. It goes something like this: The best way to keep people healthy is to find out if they have (pick one) heart disease, autism, glaucoma, diabetes, vascular problems, osteoporosis or, of course, cancer — early. And the way to find these conditions early is through screening.

The basic strategy behind early diagnosis is to encourage the well to get examined — to determine if they are not, in fact, sick. But is looking hard for things to be wrong a good way to promote health? The truth is, the fastest way to get heart disease, autism, glaucoma, diabetes, vascular problems, osteoporosis or cancer … is to be screened for it. In other words, the problem is overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

We would all be better off if the medical system got a little closer to its original mission of helping sick patients, and let the healthy be.