Archive for the ‘Aging’ Category

Anti-Aging Hoaxes

There have been claims of magical anti-aging elixirs and potions for centuries. They are ALL hoaxes. Nobody has found the fountain of youth. Nobody can concoct a mixture that will make you stay young and beautiful forever. There is exactly ONE way to stop the aging process, DIE!

Now, just because it isn’t possible to find a way to stay young forever doesn’t mean that the shysters and crooks out there aren’t going to be selling one, or many. We would all love to be able to grow older while continuing to look and feel youthful, and because that would be a dream come true, the crooks are out there selling the dream.

Some of the stay-young-forever schemes are elaborate, and some of them are just laughable. Some of them are on TV in the form of commercials for face cream that imply that using a particular product will give you the clear, beautiful, and youthful skin of the 18-year-old model in the commercial.

The anti-aging schemes come and go. Some of them are just a flash in the pan that doesn’t last long, but some of them hang around for years like the spa/clinic of Dr. Ana Aslan in Bucharest, Romania. It may still be around. The “magic” elixir was called Gerovital H3. The main ingredient as it turns out is procaine or Novocain, a numbing agent used by dentists.

There IS a way to keep from looking and feeling older than your years. The secrets are just a simple, well-balanced diet that includes fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains and fish, plenty of water, and daily exercise, as well as good dental care, skin care, and a positive and happy outlook on life in general. There isn’t anything magical about it, but it does work, unlike the magical anti-aging hoaxes.

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Your Life After 40

Aging and Memory Loss

There are lots of things that can cause memory loss other than growing older. Depression can cause memory loss, and memory loss can also be one of the common side effects of certain medications. Alcoholism is certainly one cause of memory loss. Strokes and head injuries can also result in memory loss.

Some memory loss is natural. Memories are stored in different ways and in different parts of the brain. Short-term memory consists of information that just been recently acquired ó like the name of a person to whom you have just been introduced. Recent memory consists of information that was acquired in the recent past ó like what you had for breakfast. Long-term memory consists of facts and information that you acquired much earlier in life ó like memories of childhood. We begin losing brain cells somewhere around the time that we are 20 years old, and some memory loss is absolutely normal.

Recent memory is the area that is usually affected first. You might forget where you left your car keys, or you might not be able to recall the name of a person that you met last month. This kind of memory loss is not anything to worry about. Until and unless memory loss begins to affect daily life, minor memory loss is simply nothing to worry about.

Dementia is caused by the loss or destruction of brain cells. Dementia is not a normal part of the aging process. Dementia can be caused by a stroke, a head injury, or a brain tumor.

Most people think of Alzheimer’s disease as just a disease of the elderly. The fact is that anyone can get Alzheimer’s at any age, but the risk does increase with age. Alzheimer’s disease is not a normal part of aging.

Forgetting the name of a person you recently met or forgetting where you left your car keys does not constitute serious memory problems. But if you suddenly can’t remember how to do something that you have done a million times before (follow a recipe, drive a car, etc.), you do need to see your doctor.

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Your Life After 40

The Advantages of Aging

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the prospect of growing old, and I must admit that I’m really not all that alarmed. My mother just celebrated her 80th birthday last month. I went to see her on her birthday, but she didn’t have much time to spare me. We did squeeze in lunch, but she was getting ready for her next “big adventure,” as she called it.

My mother has lots of big adventures. Sometimes her big adventures involve travel, and sometimes they involve taking up a new hobby. Sometimes her big adventures happen in her kitchen, where she is trying out a new recipe. A big adventure can be taking her grandson down to the pond to “see what the fish are doing,” taking a yoga class, or touring a foreign country.

While we were having lunch on her 80th birthday, I asked my mother what it felt like to be 80 years old. She thought about it for a minute, and she said, “It feels pretty much like being 79 years old” and then she promptly ordered a double chocolate sundae for lunch. I said, “Mom, do you think that you should have a double chocolate sundae for lunch? Don’t you think you should have a nice plate lunch with meat and vegetables instead?” She just laughed. She said, “I probably should, but I’ve been eating meat and vegetables all my life, and I WANT a double chocolate sundae.” That was the end of the discussion.

My mother has the getting-older thing down pat. She enjoys life, each and every day of it. She is interested, and she is interesting. I have no doubt that she has plenty of aches and pains, but she just doesn’t talk about them. She talks about life with enthusiasm and gets excited about her next big adventure, whatever it might be! You GO, girl!

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Your Life After 40

Menopause and Aging

Many women face the prospect of menopause with a great deal of fear. They don’t necessarily fear the end of their menstrual cycles, they actually look forward to that aspect of menopause with joy , but they fear the changes that will occur that will make them look older.

It IS true that after menopause, many women gain weight and lose muscle tone. Their skin wrinkles more quickly, as well. But these changes aren’t written in stone. They don’t have to happen unless the woman lets them happen without putting up a fight.

Herbs:
Most women are very fearful of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and with good reason. There is solid evidence of an increased risk for breast cancer for women who opt for HRT. However, the synthetic hormones used in the usual hormone replacement therapies aren’t the only choice. Black cohosh, chaste tree, and dandelion are only three of a long list of herbs that have been successfully used for many centuries to replace the hormones lost after menopause. Talk to an herbalist.

Exercise:
After menopause, exercise becomes more important for a woman than it has ever been before in her life. At least 15 minutes of exercise every single day is important to stimulate the heart, blood circulation, and breathing.

Diet:
Because the metabolic rate decreases after menopause, many women will gain from 10 to 15 pounds and some women will gain even more, even though their diets don’t change. After menopause, it is of even greater importance that you become very aware of the caloric value of the foods that you eat. Just some simple substitutions can decrease your daily caloric intake by enough that you won’t gain weight.

Avoid the sun:
The sun’s rays do more damage to the skin than any other single factor ó including menopause. Avoid direct sunlight altogether if possible, and when you do go out, be sure that you apply a good sunscreen and wear sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat.

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Your Life After 40

Aging Isn’t an Excuse

Have you ever met people who are old before they are old? And have you also met people who are old in body, but young in heart and mind? Me too.

Age isn’t an excuse, and it shouldn’t be used as an excuse to stop participating in life. Age really IS a state of mind, and how you see yourself is a self-fulfilling prophecy, as well. If you think you are old, then you are old, and it doesn’t matter how old you are. On the other hand, being young works the same way.

I had one grandmother of each variety. One grandmother traveled the world. She sent me postcards from exotic places, and when she visited, she could tell stories about her adventures that would leave me breathless. I wanted to grow up to be just like her. My other grandmother complained about everything. To hear her tell it, she never slept a wink, and her body hurt somewhere all the time. She was grouchy and grumpy, and I really hated it when she came to visit us.

I was grown before I realized that the OLD grouchy, grumpy grandmother was actually 10 years younger than the “go everywhere, see everything, have the time of your life” grandmother.

The differences between them were not health-related, and the differences didn’t have anything to do with their financial situations, either. One grandmother CHOSE to be old. She was uninterested and uninteresting. The other grandmother REFUSED to be old. She was interested and she was interesting, and she enjoyed life. Age wasn’t an excuse for her, and it will never be an excuse for me, either.

The fact is that staying in life and participating in life keeps your mind young and agile. Age isn’t an excuse to sit down and start complaining. Get up and get going!

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Your Life After 40

Yoga for Anti-Aging

According to the concept of yoga, a person’s age is not determined by the number of years that they have lived on this earth, but rather by how flexible their spine is. The gentle stretching and positions of yoga help the spine to remain or even regain flexibility. Yoga slows down the aging process by firming up the skin, removing tension from the body, strengthening the abdominal muscles, eliminating the likelihood of a double chin, improving the quality of loose arm muscles, correcting poor posture, and most of all by improving the flexibility of the spine.

Practicing yoga provides mental benefits and emotional benefits as well as physical benefits. Practicing yoga stretches and positions will make you more mentally alert and improve your mental flexibility right along with improving your physical flexibility. The practice of yoga will also help to combat stress and depression.

Some of the anti-aging advantages offered by yoga are long life, increased resistance to diseases, increased vitality, rejuvenation of glands, looking young, and improvement in vision and hearing.

Amazingly, some of the inverted yoga postures often even change gray hair back to its natural color. Yoga will prevent hair from turning prematurely gray, and, as we all know, gray hair is one of the symbols of old age.

Yoga is nothing if not a “low-impact” exercise program. The practice of yoga consists totally of slow and graceful movements as you assume the various postures. There is nothing really strenuous or hard about yoga, and yet it is excellent physical exercise that will provide additional mental and emotional benefits at the same time.

There are many yoga studios today in every major city, and if there isn’t a yoga class that meets close to where you live, there are yoga instructional tapes, videos, and DVDs available online.

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Your Life After 40

Age Spots

YUCKY! There just isn’t anything that looks much worse that those ugly age spots that appear on the back of the hands, on the forearms, neck, chest, or the face. Some people call them “age spots,” while others might refer to them as liver spots, sun spots, lentigos, or lentigines. But all of those names refer to the very same thing. An age spot is a generally circular area of the skin that is darker than the skin around it. Age spots aren’t raised like a mole, they are just simply an area of skin that is a different color.

Age spots are caused by excessive exposure to the sun, heredity, or poor skin care. Sun exposure combined with aging, as you can imagine, is the primary cause of age spots.

It is so much easier to just avoid getting age spots than it is to fade them once they are on your skin. One thing that you can and should do to help at least lower the possibility of age spots is to be very careful not to be overly exposed to direct sunlight. We can’t avoid ever being exposed to sunlight, and we wouldn’t want to totally avoid it. A certain amount of sunlight is important for good health, but we can use sunscreen with a SPF of at least 30 when we go outdoors. Too many people forget to apply sunscreen to their hands, particularly to the backs of their hands. We can wear protective clothing and a good large brimmed hat, as well.

If you already have age spots, don’t despair. There are treatments available that can fade them, and there are treatments such as laser treatment that can actually eliminate them entirely. You will find products on the shelves of your local pharmacy and discount department store to help fade age spots, and these products are generally very safe and easy to use.

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Your Life After 40

Aging While Staying Mentally Alert

Dementia is all too common among older people. Seniors become forgetful. They can’t remember where they put things. They start forgetting important dates and appointments. They forget to eat or forget to take important medications. Sometimes older people become confused and don’t know where they are. But does it have to be this way? Well, maybe to a degree, and maybe at some point in life as the brain ages. But actually, dementia can be put off for a long time by simply actively taking steps to prevent it.

The first active step to take in helping to prevent dementia is eating a balanced diet. Too often, older people lose interest in food. Many older people live alone, and the idea of actually cooking a balanced meal every day just seems to be too much work and not worth the effort. They

will just open a can of soup or skip the meal altogether. But eating a balanced diet every single day can help to delay or even prevent dementia. The same diet that is heart healthy is also mind healthy. Add supplements if the diet isn’t supplying all of the necessary nutrients as well as plenty of antioxidants.

Another active step to take in helping to prevent dementia is staying physically active. Not many older people are going to run in the Boston Marathon, but just a simple 15-minute walk each day can help to keep the blood circulating and keep both heart and mind strong.

Socializing can also help to prevent dementia. Sometimes older people have only a television for company. They just look and listen until they doze off. Not paying attention and not participating becomes a habit that is conducive to bringing on dementia.

Engaging in mentally challenging activities like working crossword puzzles or learning a new skill will keep the mind active and healthy, too.

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Your Life After 40

Aging and Hair Loss

The thinning of hair as we age is so common that it is considered a natural part of the aging process. Both men and women can suffer from hair loss, but hair loss is more often associated with aging men. Hair loss occurs differently, however, for men than it does for women.

When a man’s hair begins to thin, the top of his head may become completely bald while there is still hair on the sides, front, and back of his head. This is sometimes called “male-pattern baldness.” A woman’s hair tends to just get thinner all over her head, and it is rare for a woman to become completely bald just because of natural hair loss.

There are three layers of skin ó an outer layer, called epidermis, which consists of epithelial cells; the dermis, which consists of connective tissue; and the hypodermis, which consists mostly of fat cells. Very simply put, hair loss occurs because a substance in the body, dihydroxy-testosterone (DHT), sends a signal to the cells in the hair follicles that cause these cells to divide less, so that the production of hair slows or stops.

Until recently, the only options open to those with thinning hair or baldness had were to get a toupee or a wig or just learn to live with a bald head or thinning hair. Today, however, there are other options.

There are many products on the market today that will help to not only stop hair loss but actually cause hair to regrow. These products can be found on the shelves of your local pharmacies or discount department stores, and there are a variety of choices. There are products for both men and women.

Hair transplants can also be done today. There are a variety of hair transplantation options available. Consult your physician to get more information.

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Your Life After 40

How Seniors Stay Fit

Just because people get older that doesn’t mean that they somehow quit worrying about staying fit. Some do quit worrying about it, of course. Those are the ones that you see out walking in the air conditioned comfort of the local mall for their health AFTER they’ve had a heart attack.

As people age, their choices for physical exercise change. Those choices don’t necessarily decrease, but they become different. Joints become arthritic, and bones become thinner and more prone to break; so rather than high-impact aerobic exercises, seniors opt for low-impact aerobics or water aerobics. Recreational walking replaces jogging for the same reason.

Many seniors enjoy such physical activities as bowling or golf. When they engage in such sports, they get what we like to call a “twofer.” The “twofer” is physical exercise and social interaction.

Seniors enjoy joining exercise groups that are age specific. They know that they can hold their own with others who are their age, and they don’t want to be embarrassed by not being able to keep up with younger people. There are many active vacation packages offered specifically for seniors that are very physically challenging, such as camping, hiking, and even mountain climbing.

The exercises that most seniors participate in to stay physically fit are recreational walking, golfing, fishing, and bowling, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA). And you’ll find recreational walking clubs, golfing tournaments, fishing tournaments, and bowling leagues that are specifically FOR seniors if you want to mix exercise and socializing.

It’s been proven over and over and over again that STAYING physically fit is a better option than trying to get physically fit after a hair-raising trip to the emergency room. Before you start any exercise program, however, you need to get your doctor to pronounce you healthy enough.

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Your Life After 40

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