Most recent international health newscast in addition to examination from our health explore band.

2) Renal system— from birth to about age 30 the kidneys actually increase in weight, then a reversal of that process begins to take place. A cumulative decline of 20 to 30 percent is not unusual by age 80. In simpler terms, the kidneys filter waste more slowly as we age. Some women in their 40s who have had children may begin to experience a leakage of a few drops of urine whenever they cough or sneeze. That problem can be corrected with some basic exercises which strengthen the stretched pelvic muscles.

3) Coronary heart disease— after the age of 45, the leading cause of death is heart disease. According to research scientists, one American man in five develops symptoms of heart disease by the age of 60. Statistics show that from the age of 40 to the age of 60, heart disease claims more lives than does stroke, bronchitis, and cancers of the lung, stomach, and breast, combined.

Up until menopause women are far less vulnerable to coronary heart disease than men. Estrogen may work as a protector by affecting the “good” cholesterol (HDLs) which keeps the “bad” cholesterol under control. By age 65, women begin dying of heart disease as often as men do.

Studies have shown that a lifelong low-fat diet and exercise program can help prevent coronary heart disease. And it is never too late to change. Regular exercise and good eating habits can give both men and women protection from heart disease, even in the most vulnerable years.

4) Functional capacity— as we get older, our ability to generate energy for work and play decreases. By age 40, many men and women find that hills seem a little steeper and that they run out of energy quicker. While the aging process plays a part in this “slowing down”, sedentary lifestyles are also often at least partly to blame. Many people in their 40s are under more pressure and stress than they were at 20, and they devote less time to exercise. Research has shown that stress can lead to lethargy and that regular exercise can help people cope better with stress.

As part of a decade-long study, sedentary women from 35 to 65 were enrolled in a program of aerobic exercise. At the end of 10 years, their functional capacities were a full 6 percent higher than when they began.

In another study, a group of men and women with an average age of 90 worked with weights and increased their muscle sizes by 10 percent and nearly tripled their strength. The results seem to indicate that proper training can build muscle and increase or maintain functional capacity at any age

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Comments (0) Mar 24 2009

Even though restrictions on the levels of lead allowed in paint, cookware and other products are stricter than ever, thousands of Americans still suffer from lead poisoning. Lead poisoning has been linked to decreased coordination and mental abilities, as well as damage to the nervous system, kidneys and red blood cells.

Here are several things you can do to help “lead-proof” your home and reduce your exposure:

1) Don’t remove any paint that you suspect may contain lead. Get an expert to test and remove the paint. (Current estimates indicate that nearly 75 percent of American homes built before 1980 have some lead-based paint.)

2) If you have any questions about lead testing or removal, contact your local health department or call the Toxic Substances Hotline

3) Test your drinking water for lead.

A new, fast and effective home test can help you detect the presence of lead in your dishes and cookware. The home test uses swabs, which change color if lead is present. Although the swabs won’t indicate how much lead is present, all dishes or cookware that test positive should not be used for either food or drinks.

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Comments (0) Mar 24 2009

The most important part of any effective plan to control stress is learning how to relax. The following technique was designed by medical experts to promote deep muscle relaxation. With regular practice, the technique can provide you with such muscle relaxation in as little time as two minutes. For best results, it is recommended that you practice this technique once or twice a day before meals, or at least one hour after you have eaten.

1) The first step is to find a quiet, peaceful place where there are no distractions. Be sure to wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes. You should take off your shoes, and undo any belts or tight buttons.

2) Lie down on your back with your feet about 18 inches apart. Your hands should rest on the floor, palms upward and about a half foot from your sides.

3) Once you have settled into position, begin tensing and then relaxing each part of your body. Start with your feet, then proceed with your legs, buttocks, abdomen, back, chest, shoulders, arms and hands, head, and face. You should tense each part in its turn as hard as you can, then let it relax.

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Comments (0) Mar 24 2009

Chew Your Food Slowly To Eat Less At Mealtimes

One way to ensure that you eat less at mealtime is to eat slowly. By eating slower you provide extra time which lets your body know when it has received enough fuel and doesn’t require any more. One of the most natural and healthful ways to slow down eating is to consume more fiber. Fiber is not only satisfying but it provides mouthfuls that must be chewed thoroughly. In other words, when eating fiber, you must take your time. The end result is that you’ll eat less food than you would if you hurried through your meal. Fiber also requires a lot of room in the stomach, which reduces the appetite and makes you feel full longer.

Water And Your Appetite

One of your best weapons in the “battle of the bulge” is water. Many times we think we are hungry when we are actually thirsty. Sipping water throughout the day— especially when you feel a craving for food—may satisfy your hunger and help you avoid unnecessary eating.

Exercise Is A Must To Lose Weight

Any weight control program must include regular exercise. It doesn’t necessarily have to be vigorous exercise like aerobics, jogging, or swimming. A brisk 20 to 30 minute walk can be very helpful as well as increasing the rate that excess calories are burned off. Here are some common exercises and the number of calories that are expended practicing each one for an hour at a time:

1) Brisk Walking (4 mph)— 440 calories expended in one hour.

2) Jogging (5 mph)— 740 calories expended in one hour.

3) Bicycling (6 mph)— 240 calories expended in one hour.

4) Running in place— 650 calories expended in one hour.

5) Jumping Rope— 750 calories expended in one hour.

6) Swimming (25 yards per minute)— 275 calories expended in one hour.

7) Tennis (singles)— 400 calories expended in one hour.

Recent research indicates that aerobic exercise may reduce fat first and quickest in the stomach. A study conducted at the University of Washington monitored a group of men participating in an intensive six-month aerobic program. The men lost 20 percent of their abdomen fat— practically twice the amount of fat reduction in their arms and legs.

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Comments (0) Mar 24 2009

Most people already know some of the worst offenders in this group— candy bars, soda, and potato chips. All of those foods are either loaded with fat or sugar, and high in calories.

Candy bars are heavy with saturated fat and calories, but as long as you are also eating a well-balanced diet, they are not especially bad for your health. However, a more sensible and healthful alternative is low-fat or no-fat candies, such as jelly beans, gumdrops, marshmallows, and hard candies.

Sugar is the big culprit in soda. Drinking one can of soda is about the equivalent of eating 10 packets of sugar and washing it down with water. Soda will also make you thirstier than you were before you drank it, because your body will require more fluids to dilute that much sugar. As an alternative to soda, try a 16 ounce drink made from equal parts of your favorite fruit juice and flavored seltzer. This 16 oz. drink has only about 55 calories (1 12 oz. can of soda has about 128 calories) and the sugar will appease your appetite.

Even if the label states “no cholesterol”, potato chips get as much as 60% of their calories from fat. In just one ounce of potato chips (10 or 12 chips) there are about 150 calories and 9.8 grams of fat. And most corn chips are just about as bad. Instead of chips, try snacking on baked tortilla chips. There are only about 110 calories and 1.4 grams of fat in an ounce of tortilla chips that are baked instead of fried.

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Comments (0) Mar 24 2009

In our eagerness to correct the old misconceptions, we do need to be wary of falling into the trap of replacing one assumption with another — that all older people want to continue to be sexually active and that every one of us will have sexual needs until the day we die. One thing is true. We are all individuals. Some people will keep their interest in sex as they get older, but there are others who are quite happy to lose the urge as other aspects of their lives take precedence. Of course there are still others who never liked it much anyway and that’s not likely to change.

What might change is the way you want to express your sexual feelings. Harold is in his sixties. He explains, ‘In many respects the peaks of intense sexual feelings are not as keen as in my younger years and I’ve certainly slowed up. Although I still have orgasms, touching, companionship and just being close have become much more important than in my youth.’

One of the inevitabilities of growing old is the prospect of separation from your partner because of illness or death. Losing the person who has shared your most intimate moments is devastating. If you ask someone who is recently widowed what they miss the most, it’s often the little things like the Sunday morning cup of tea, or curling up on the lounge to watch television, asking their opinion on a flower arrangement or tucking up in bed together on a stormy night.

Molly, widowed at fifty-two, and now in her seventies frankly says, ‘I’d vomit if another man touched me. When I was young I was brought up to believe that you had one partner for life arid if anything happened to him that was the end of your sex life for good. You just can’t change the sort of ingrained idea that it would be somehow unfaithful to his memory to start seeing someone else. My friends tried to match-make me with any Tom, Dick or Harry but I just wasn’t interested. I found the most difficult time to cope was in bed at night. I would just miss knowing he was lying next to me in the bed. Sometimes even now I wake up and think I can hear him breathing. I was grieving so much at the time that sex was the last thing on my mind. When I started getting over the grief I never seemed to get my interest back. When I get miserable I get by with a hot bath and putting lots of pillows in the bed. I get a lot of affection and love from my daughter and my grandchildren.’

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Comments (0) Mar 23 2009

For some people, sexual stimulation of any sort is unpleasant. Sexual aversion is the extreme lower end of the libido scale. Far beyond indifference or simple disinterest, sexual aversion is a feeling of revulsion at any genital contact and can cause anxiety serious enough to lead to full-blown panic attacks. The reasons for this are necessarily complex because our reactions (whether positive or negative) to any sexual situation are the sum total of a lifetime of experiences. Such serious negative reactions might follow bad sexual experiences in the past, like child sexual abuse or rape. If a child is given negative messages about sex in their formative years, like being punished for masturbation, they can learn that sexual feelings are dirty or wrong. For others it’s not so much sex itself but the consequences that can lead to aversion. An accidental pregnancy or abortion can leave you feeling pretty negative. If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to pick up a sexually transmitted disease it can turn you off sex, particularly if the disease or its treatment was especially painful or unpleasant, like herpes, pelvic inflammatory disease or genital warts.

Anxieties about touching around the vagina can lead to a problem called vaginismus. This is when the muscles around the opening of the vagina go into a spasm that is so tight that intercourse hurts or is simply impossible. This can put a big strain on the relationship and more anxiety means more spasm. Vaginismus is a problem where treatment has a high success rate.

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Comments (0) Mar 23 2009

Childbirth is an intensely moving experience. For parents, it feels like the climax of pregnancy and labor but it’s really just the beginning. Any couple will tell you having a baby really changes things. Where there was a partnership of two, now there is a third party. Loved, yes. Wanted, yes. Cute, absolutely!

But whichever way you look at it, having a baby means bringing a third person into your relationship and that is bound to be one of its greatest tests. It can be a complete disruption or an opportunity to rediscover each other — emotionally and sexually. Fran said, ‘Greg and I were together for seven years before we had Amy. I thought I knew everything about him but seeing him as a father showed me a whole new side to his character. I used to love to just watch him hold her and talk to her, and the way she responded to him. I fell in love with him all over again.’ Now while this may be the ideal outcome, having a new baby does force both partners to reassess their sexuality in the context of their whole relationship. It is a major landmark.

Just how much a relationship is affected will depend on the state of the relationship before the pregnancy. It’s not unusual to hear of couples having a baby to try to patch up a shaky relationship. These ‘Bandaid babies’ do no more than hide the damage for a while, distracting them from the real issues. Unless the underlying problems in the relationship are dealt with, this solution is doomed to be temporary and ultimately unsuccessful.

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Comments (0) Mar 23 2009

It can be particularly difficult for someone who has been in a relationship for many years. A woman in her late fifties said, ‘My husband left over five years ago and I have been on my own ever since. Earlier this year I met a man through some mutual friends and we started seeing each other regularly. It may seem a bit silly at my age but I am thinking about having sex with him. I know he is interested. Obviously I don’t need to worry about contraception anymore but I have heard about it being important to use condoms these days. Trouble is, I have never seen one and I am too embarrassed to go into a shop and buy them.”

Thinking about new relationships after years with the one partner can be nervewracking. It’s not just the safer sex issues but the etiquettes of dating, and the skills that go with getting to know another person intimately. People in this situation know how Rip Van Winkle must have felt. Facing decisions and social situations for the first time in decades would be like emerging from a time machine.

This can be doubly difficult if you don’t have a trusted and respected friend or family member to talk to. For both men and women it is hard to admit to ignorance or relative inexperience.

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Comments (0) Mar 23 2009

One condition that is not usually thought of as a sexually transmissible disease is the abnormal Pap smear. I have called it a sexually transmissible disease because over the past few years certain strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV or wart virus) have been implicated as a cause of precancerous and cancerous changes of the cervix and, like warts anywhere on the body, these are contagious. The reason the test is so valuable is that it can detect the changes in these cells before they become cancerous. Some women hate the idea of exposing their genitals to this kind of examination, but most seem to see it as a necessary inconvenience. One thing most women don’t expect is an abnormal result, and it can be a major trauma for them sexually. One British study actually looked at the effects of an abnormal Pap smear needing treatment and found that it influences most aspects of a woman’s sexual attitudes and responses, including less intercourse, decreased sexual arousal and fewer orgasms. More importantly they found that these women often became hostile towards their regular partner.

One of the tricky things about genital warts in men is that they can be hard to find. We need to use a technique called the ‘vinegar test’. Vinegar is a chemical called acetic acid and when it is applied to the skin of the genitals, warts will show up white. It may take magnifying equipment to see them properly and you really have to know what you’re looking for, so this is not a test you can do at home (in case you’re tempted to go and soak your penis in vinegar to prove a point). Doctors get all sorts of reactions to this like, ‘Now I know how a cucumber feels in a salad’ or ‘Aren’t you going to throw in some olive oil and a few herbs?’.

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Comments (0) Mar 23 2009