- Not brushing or flossing regularly? You could be hurting your body’s ability to fight off Alzheimer’s disease. What you need to know Fortune
- Health Alert Allentown: Gum Disease and Teeth Health Impact Your Brain Size. Doctor Explains 69News WFMZ-TV
- Long-term high fluoride exposure during adolescence causes hippocampal impairments News-Medical.Net
- Mirrorlights: Gum disease linked to buildup of Alzheimer’s plaque formation: Study Bangalore Mirror
- The connection between the plaque on your teeth and Alzheimer’s disease WKYC.com
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Tag Archives: regularly
Even in your 20s, you should have a doctor you can see regularly
Allison Ruff, a primary care doctor and clinical associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, thinks it’s essential.
“The truth is: Things really do happen. And if you get an illness, it gives you someone to see,” she said. “Having a relationship with a primary care doctor gives you someone to call when you need someone, even if you thought you never would need someone.”
Richard Chung, an adolescent and young adult medicine specialist at Duke Health, agrees. “Many health issues, especially in this earlier time of adulthood, may not be obvious to the person … and yet they do have health impacts both today and also into the far future,” Chung says. “And so getting a checkup … is a great opportunity just to confirm that these issues are not starting up for a particular young person.”
A variety of chronic conditions can start to develop in your 20s — or even earlier — that can be harmful long term if left untreated.
For example, more than one-fifth of adults in the United States between ages 18 and 39 have high blood pressure. Although it may not cause problems in the short term, if left untreated, it can lead to other serious conditions such as heart disease, kidney disease and stroke later in life. Luckily, doctors can easily screen for high blood pressure at appointments and can recommend lifestyle changes and medication if needed.
Similarly, nearly one-quarter of adults 18 to 44 have prediabetes, which without treatment generally develops into true diabetes. Fortunately, as with high blood pressure, prompt recognition and lifestyle changes can help prevent the downstream consequences. If caught too late, however, some of the health effects may be irreversible.
These are just a few examples of why a young adult can benefit from a visit to a doctor at least every few years.
If you find yourself going to the doctor for the first time since you saw your pediatrician, here is what you can expect:
Routine checkups are fairly standard, meaning that you generally know what to anticipate. As soon as you check in for your appointment, you can expect to fill out screening tests. For example, you may be asked to fill out a questionnaire about signs or symptoms of depression. Next, a medical assistant will take your pulse, blood pressure and temperature, and measure your height and weight.
Once the doctor enters the clinic room, the visit usually starts by getting to know you and addressing any specific concerns you may have. “If you came to the office not just to establish care but because one of your loved ones is prodding you to get something taken care of or have someone look at a mole, or you’re having a lot of anxiety or you’re interested in preventing pregnancy — whatever that may be — we’ll address that first, get it off your mind,” Ruff said.
You should also be ready to talk about your medical history. “What is their health history?” Chung said. “What conditions have they been diagnosed with in the past? What injuries or procedures or other facets of their health history should we know about so we can understand who they are and what they might need? If they are taking medications or over-the-counter treatments of any sort, that’s all relevant, so that we have a full context for then assessing and making recommendations that day.”
It’s equally important to know about the health of your family members. “So do all of your family members have heart disease, or is it common for people to get a certain kind of cancer really early? And then we’ll address what we can do to prevent that for you,” Ruff said.
Lastly, the doctor will ask about your “social history.” In this portion of the visit, the doctor will ask about behaviors that contribute to health.
It’s “really important that young folks know we do this at every visit … we really need to understand their overall health habits,” Ruff said. “So are you smoking? Are you vaping? What does your relationship with alcohol look like? And it’s important for folks to know: It’s okay to have a relationship with alcohol, it’s okay to have an active sex life. … We want to make sure that you’re doing these things and participating in these behaviors as safely as you can.”
After completion of the history comes the thorough head-to-toe physical exam. Chung said the goal is to “make sure none of these signs of potential health problems are there.”
Near the end of the visit, the doctor will work with you to determine the next steps.
“The health-care provider will make a recommendation around what might be needed on that day to keep that young person well. So that could be updating immunizations, it could be getting certain screening lab tests, or just kind of making recommendations around health behaviors or other things,” Chung said.
While many screening tests are not recommended until later in life, there are still several recommended tests for younger adults.
People in their 20s with cervices need Pap smears every three years, although the interval may be shorter if you’ve had abnormal results in the past. Those who are sexually active can expect routine screening for sexually transmitted infections, many of which may be asymptomatic, and it’s recommended that everyone is screened for HIV at least once in their lives and in many cases for hepatitis C, as well.
Depending on your risk factors, your doctor may recommend other blood tests that check for such diseases as diabetes and high cholesterol.
You can expect fewer vaccines than in childhood, although it’s not too late to catch up on vaccinations you may have missed, such as the one against human papillomavirus.
You’ll also need a tetanus booster every 10 years, and it is strongly recommended that everyone get a flu vaccine every year. Of course, the doctor will ask whether you’ve had all recommended doses of the coronavirus vaccine. Depending on your medical conditions, your doctor may advise other vaccines or screening tests.
Ruff drove home the importance of yearly checkups even for young people: “I think having a primary care doctor who you can go to, who knows you, who can answer basic questions, treat you for everything from a cold to cancer, it’s important. And I think having that relationship is super important.”
Netana Markovitz is a resident physician in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess/Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Half of older Americans with hypertension don’t check their BP regularly
The findings stem from data from a nationally representative sample of 2,023 people ages 50 to 80, part of the University of Michigan’s ongoing National Poll on Healthy Aging. Some participants had high blood pressure only, while others had such health issues as diabetes, heart disease, heart failure or kidney disease.
High blood pressure can lead to those conditions and others, such as vision loss, memory problems, dementia, stroke and even death, but the researchers noted that home monitoring has been linked to better and lower blood pressure readings.
A blood pressure test measures the force that the heart uses to pump blood throughout the body. Test results are expressed in two numbers, with the first representing the amount of pressure that the flow of blood puts on artery walls as the heart beats (called systolic blood pressure) and the second number representing the pressure on artery walls while the heart rests between beats (diastolic pressure).
The American Heart Association considers a reading of 120/80 to be normal blood pressure and consistent readings of 130/80 or higher to indicate high blood pressure. About 70 percent of U.S. adults 65 and older have high blood pressure, but many do not know they have it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This article is part of The Post’s “Big Number” series, which takes a brief look at the statistical aspect of health issues. Additional information and relevant research are available through the hyperlinks.
Regularly Exercising With Weights Linked to Lower Risk of Death
Summary: Regular weight training exercise is associated with a reduced risk of death, a new study reports. Incorporating aerobic exercise with weight-based exercise adds to the protective effect.
Source: BMJ
Regularly exercising with weights is linked to a lower risk of death from any cause, with the exception of cancer, finds research carried out in older adults and published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
And ensuring that a weekly exercise routine includes both weights and aerobic activities seems to have an additive effect, the findings suggest.
Current guidelines on physical activity for all adults recommend at least 150 weekly minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity, or a minimum of 75 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic activity, or an equal combination of the two—usually referred to as MVPA (moderate to vigorous physical activity).
All adults are also recommended to incorporate activities that work all the major muscle groups. Yet while aerobic exercise is consistently associated with a lower risk of death, it’s not clear if working out with weights might have similar effects.
In a bid to plug this knowledge gap, the researchers set out to evaluate separately and jointly the potential impact of exercising with weights and aerobic activities on the risk of death among older adults.
They drew on participants from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. This began in 1993 and includes 154,897 men and women aged 55–74 from 10 different cancer centres in the United States.
In 2006, 104,002 of the participants were additionally asked if they had exercised with weights over the past year, and if so, how often they had done so—anything from less than once a month to several times a week.
And they were asked about the frequency and duration of both moderate and vigorous intensity physical activity over the past year.
Moderate intensity was described as ‘activity where you worked up a light sweat or increased your breathing and heart rate to moderately high levels’ and vigorous activity as ‘activity strenuous enough to work up a sweat or increase your breathing and heart rate to very high levels’.
Four activity groups were generated based on total weekly minutes of MVPA: (1) inactive, 0 minutes; (2) insufficient aerobic MVPA, 1–149 minutes; (3) sufficient, 150+ minutes of moderate, or an equivalent amount of vigorous, activity; and (4) highly active, 301 or more minutes of moderate, or an equivalent amount of vigorous, activity.
In all, the responses of 99,713 people were included in the final analysis, 28,477 of whom died over an average of 9½ years of monitoring. Their average age at the start of the monitoring period was 71, and the average weight (BMI) was 27.8 kg/m2 which is defined as overweight.
Nearly 1 in 4 (23%) respondents reported some weightlifting activity; 16% said they exercised with weights regularly between one to six times a week. Nearly a third (32%) were sufficiently aerobically active, either meeting (24%) or exceeding (8%) the guidelines on MVPA.
Exercising with weights and aerobic MVPA were both independently associated with a lower risk of death from any cause, as well as from cardiovascular disease, but not from cancer.
Overall, working out with weights in the absence of MVPA was associated with a 9-22% lower risk of death, depending on the amount: for example, using weights once or twice a week was associated with a 14% lower risk.
Similarly, among those who didn’t exercise with weights, aerobic MVPA was associated with a 24-34% lower risk of death from any cause, compared with those who reported neither MVPA nor exercising with weights.
But the lowest risk of death was seen among those who said they did both types of physical activity.
For example, the risk of death was 41-47% lower among those who said they met most recommended weekly levels of MVPA and who exercised with weights once or twice a week than it was among those who were physically inactive.
Educational attainment, smoking, BMI, race and ethnicity didn’t significantly change the associations observed, but sex did: the associations were stronger in women.
This is an observational study, and as such, can’t establish cause, added to which it relied on personal recall and included data from a single point in time. Specific details on training intensity, training load, volume (sets and repetitions), and for how long participants had been exercising with weights weren’t available, all of which may have influenced the findings.
The study focused only on weights, but there are other types of muscle strengthening exercise, say the researchers, citing callisthenics, which include push-ups and squats; Pilates; and plyometric exercises, which include tuck jumps and burpees.
Using weights can make a body leaner: total lean mass is independently associated with a lower risk of death, say the researchers by way of an explanation for their findings. And if done in a gym, could also be very sociable—another factor associated with a longer, healthier life.
“Our finding that mortality risk appeared to be lowest for those who participated in both types of exercise provides strong support for current recommendations to engage in both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities,” they write.
“Older adults would probably benefit from adding weightlifting exercises to their physical activity routines,” they conclude.
See also
About this exercise and longevity research news
Author: BMJ Media Relations
Source: BMJ
Contact: BMJ Media Relations – BMJ
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Closed access.
“Independent and joint associations of weightlifting and aerobic activity with all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial” by Charles E Matthews et al. British Journal of Sports Medicine
Abstract
Independent and joint associations of weightlifting and aerobic activity with all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial
Objectives
Both aerobic moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and muscle-strengthening exercise (MSE) are recommended, but the mortality benefits of weightlifting, a specific type of MSE, are limited.
Methods
In the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial, we used Cox proportional hazards regression to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for the associations between weightlifting and mortality, adjusting for demographics, lifestyle and behavioural risk factors. The sample included 99 713 adults who completed the follow-up questionnaire that assessed weightlifting who were subsequently followed up through 2016 to determine mortality (median 9, IQR 7.6–10.6 years).
Results
Mean age at the follow-up questionnaire was 71.3 (IQR 66–76) years, 52.6% female, with mean body mass index of 27.8 (SD 4.9) kg/m2. Weightlifting was associated with a 9% lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR=0.91 (95% CI 0.88 to 0.94)) and CVD mortality (0.91 (95% CI 0.86 to 0.97)) after adjusting for MVPA. Joint models revealed that adults who met aerobic MVPA recommendations but did not weightlift had a 32% lower all-cause mortality risk (HR=0.68 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.70)), while those who also reported weightlifting 1–2 times/week had a 41% lower risk (HR=0.59 (95% CI 0.54 to 0.64)), both compared with adults reporting no aerobic MVPA or weightlifting. Without adjustment for MVPA, weightlifting was associated with lower cancer mortality (HR=0.85 (95% CI 0.80 to 0.91)).
Conclusion
Weightlifting and MVPA were associated with a lower risk of all-cause and CVD mortality, but not cancer mortality. Adults who met recommended amounts of both types of exercise appeared to gain additional benefit.
Napping regularly linked to high blood pressure and stroke, study finds
“This may be because, although taking a nap itself is not harmful, many people who take naps may do so because of poor sleep at night. Poor sleep at night is associated with poorer health, and naps are not enough to make up for that,” said clinical psychologist Michael Grandner in a statement. Grandner directs the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic at the Banner-University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, and was not involved in the study.
Study participants who typically napped during the day were 12% more likely to develop high blood pressure over time and were 24% more likely to have a stroke compared with people who never napped.
If the person was younger than age 60, napping most days raised the risk of developing high blood pressure by 20% compared with people who never or rarely nap, according to the study published Monday in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal. The AHA recently added sleep duration as one of its eight essential metrics to optimal heart and brain health.
The results held true even after researchers excluded people at high risk for hypertension, such as those with type 2 diabetes, existing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep disorders and who did night-shift work.
“The results demonstrate that napping increases the incidence of hypertension and stroke, after adjusting or considering many variables known to be associated with risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke,” said Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
“From a clinical standpoint, I think it highlights the importance for health care providers to routinely ask patients about napping and excessive daytime sleepiness and evaluate for other contributing conditions to potentially modify the risk for cardiovascular disease,” said Zee, who was not involved in the study.
Longer naps are worse
The study used data from 360,000 participants who had given information on their napping habits to the UK Biobank, a large biomedical database and research resource that followed UK residents from 2006 to 2010.
People in the UK study provided blood, urine and saliva samples on a regular basis, and answered questions on napping four times over the four year study. However, the study only collected nap frequency, not duration, and relied on self-reports of napping, a limitation due to imperfect recall.
“They didn’t define what a nap should be. If you’re going to be sleeping for an hour, two hours, for example, that’s not really a nap,” said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
“A refreshing power nap that’s 15 to 20 minutes around noon to 2 p.m. is 100% the way to go if you’re sleep deprived,” said Dasgupta, who was not involved in the study. “If you have chronic insomnia we don’t encourage napping because it takes away the drive to sleep at night.”
Most of the people in the study who took regular naps smoked cigarettes, drank daily, snored, had insomnia and reported being an evening person.
Many of these factors could impact a person’s quality and quantity of slumber, Dasgupta said. Poor sleep causes “excessive daytime fatigue which can result in excessive napping during the day,” he said.
“I do believe napping is a warning sign of an underlying sleep disorder in certain individuals,” he added. “Sleep disorders are linked to an increase in stress and weight regulation hormones which can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes — all risk factors for heart disease.”
Eating These Foods Regularly May Help Prevent Dementia, New Study Finds — Eat This Not That
When it comes to ensuring that you’re eating a proper diet, you might find yourself focusing on things like the number of calories you’re consuming in order to keep your weight in check or what health-boosting nutrients can be found in the food that you choose to eat.
At the same time, you might not be as focused on whether or not your meals offer you antioxidants. That is, however, something you may want to start doing considering the fact that eating foods that are rich in antioxidants may help to prevent dementia, according to a new study.
Published recently by the Neurology journal, the study saw 7,283 participants who were 45 years old or older undergo interviews and tests to determine the level of antioxidants in their blood. After an average of 16 years, the researchers found that those who had higher levels of antioxidants called lutein and zeaxanthin in their blood were better able to avoid dementia.
“I am not surprised by the findings, as people who eat more antioxidants are healthier overall,” Lisa Young, PhD, RDN, author of Finally Full, Finally Slim, nutritionist in private practice, and adjunct professor at NYU, tells Eat This, Not That!. In this case, Young explains that “antioxidants help protect the brain from oxidative stress, which may cause damage to the cells and ultimately cognitive decline.”
To make sure that you’re benefitting from antioxidants, Young suggests eating foods like fruits and vegetables, including “green, leafy” options such as kale and spinach, which contain both lutein and zeaxanthin.
Young adds that you should “vary your color” for the best results, Young points out that the study’s findings are “another reason to eat more colorful produce!”
To find out more about adding antioxidants into your diet, be sure to read 15 Most Antioxidant-Packed Fruits & Veggies—Ranked!.
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Desirée O
Desirée O is a freelance writer who covers lifestyle, food, and nutrition news among other topics. Read more
Eating Blueberries Regularly May Reduce Risk of Dementia
Blueberries have a high level of an antioxidant called anthocyanins that defend the plants from threats and can provide benefits to humans including improved metabolic function.
University of Cincinnati studies effects of blueberry supplementation in at-risk, middle-aged population.
The old adage says that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) shows the potential benefit of a different fruit for your health.
Researchers led by UC’s Robert Krikorian, PhD, discovered that adding blueberries to the daily diets of certain middle-aged populations may reduce the chances of developing late-life dementia. The findings were published recently in the journal Nutrients.
Research approach
For several years, Krikorian’s team has been researching the benefits of berries for people at higher risk of
Anthocyanin-rich foods include blueberries, raspberries, black rice, and black soybeans, among many others that are red, blue, purple, or black.
These same properties that help blueberries survive also provide benefits to humans, Krikorian said, such as reducing inflammation, improving metabolic function, and enhancing energy production within cells.
Previous berry studies Krikorian led focused on older populations, but with this research, the team wanted to study middle-aged individuals in order to focus on dementia prevention and risk reduction.
Krikorian explained that about 50% of individuals in the U.S. develop insulin resistance, commonly referred to as prediabetes, around middle age. Prediabetes has been shown to be a factor in chronic diseases, he said.
“We had observed cognitive benefits with blueberries in prior studies with older adults and thought they might be effective in younger individuals with insulin resistance,” said Krikorian, professor emeritus and director of the division of psychology in the UC College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience. “Alzheimer’s disease, like all chronic diseases of aging, develops over a period of many years beginning in midlife.”
Study details and results
The researchers enrolled 33 patients from around the Cincinnati area between the ages of 50-65 who were overweight, prediabetic, and had noticed mild memory decline with aging. Krikorian said this population has an increased risk for late-life dementia and other common conditions.
Robert Krikorian, PhD. Credit: Photo/University of Cincinnati
Over a period of 12 weeks, the patients were asked to abstain from berry fruit consumption of any kind except for a daily packet of supplement powder to be mixed with water and consumed either with breakfast or dinner. Half of the participants received powders that contained the equivalent of one-half cup of whole blueberries, while the other half received a placebo.
Participants were also given tests that measured certain cognitive abilities that decline in patients with aging and late-life dementia, such as executive functions like working memory, mental flexibility, and self-control.
Krikorian said those in the blueberry-treated group showed improvement on cognitive tasks that depend on executive control.
“This was evident as reduced interference of extraneous information during learning and memory,” Krikorian explained.
Patients in the blueberry group also had lower fasting insulin levels, meaning the participants had improved metabolic function and were able to more easily burn fat for energy.
Krikorian said the blueberry group displayed an additional mild degree of higher mitochondrial uncoupling, a cellular process that has been associated with greater longevity and reduced oxidative stress. Oxidative stress can lead to symptoms like fatigue and memory loss.
“This last finding was exploratory but points to an interesting, potential mechanism for blueberry benefits,” he said.
Moving forward, Krikorian said he is interested in better understanding the exact mechanisms of blueberries that help to improve cognitive performance and metabolic function. But the main takeaway from the current study is that regular blueberry supplementation into at-risk middle-aged diets may lower the chances of developing late-life dementia.
“The sample size is an obvious limitation of the study, so it will be important to reproduce these findings, especially by other investigators,” Krikorian said. “In the meantime, it might be a good idea to consume blueberries on a regular basis.”
Reference: “Blueberry Supplementation in Midlife for Dementia Risk Reduction” by Robert Krikorian, Matthew R. Skelton, Suzanne S. Summer, Marcelle D. Shidler and Patrick G. Sullivan, 13 April 2022, Nutritents.
DOI: 10.3390/nu14081619
This research was funded by the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council of Folsom, California. This organization also provided the blueberry powder and placebo powder research products. The research authors declare no conflict of interest. The funding organization had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript or in the decision to publish the results.
Men who regularly us ED medication are at an 85% increased risk of developing vision problems
Regular use of erectile dysfunction (ED) medicine may increase a man’s risk of developing vision issues at some point in his life, a new study finds.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, found that men who use ED medication like Viagra and Cialis are a staggering 85 percent more likely to develop eye issues that could cause vision problems – including blindness – than other men.
While the risk of going blind, or suffering any other issue as a result of erectile dysfunction medicine, remains extremely low, researchers are warning that this may be an understated side-effect.
Around ten percent of men will develop ED at some point in their life, and these medications are very common remedies for it.
Men who use Viagra and other erectile dysfunction medications are 85% more likely to suffer a variety of potential eye issues (file photo)
Researchers, who published their findings Thursday in JAMA Ophthalmology, performed a massive study that included data from over 200,000 men.
They gathered health insurance claim data from men that had not experienced an eye issue in the year before they started ED medication.
The team searched for men who reported serous retinal detachment (SRD), retinal vascular occlusion (RVO), ischemic optic neuropathy (ION).
They found that ED medication recipients were 2.58 times as likely to report a case of SRD, which they describe as a ‘collection of fluid behind the retina with no tears or breaks’ in a statement.
Rates of RVO, which is a ‘blood clot in the veins or arteries of the retina’ were 1.44 times higher among ED patients who received medication.
ION, which compromises the body’s blood supply to a person’s optic nerve, and can even lead to blindness, was 2.02 times as likely in recipients of the drug.
While the likelihood of developing any of these conditions was still very low, researchers are alarmed by their findings.
‘These are rare conditions, and the risk of developing one remains very low for any individual user. However, the sheer number of prescriptions dispensed each month in the U.S.—about 20 million—means that a significant number of people could be impacted,’ Dr Mahyar Etminan, an associate professor in the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences at UBC, said in a statement.
‘Regular users of these drugs who find any changes in their vision should take it seriously and seek medical attention.’
Researchers can exactly determine the mechanism of this increased risk, and note that they have only proved correlation, not yet causation.
The believe that the way the drugs impact a person’s blood flow is responsible for the eye issues, though.
Around half of men in their 50s suffer from ED. Usage of drugs like Viagra (pictured) has rocketed in recent years as a result
‘These medications address erectile dysfunction by improving blood flow, but we know that they can also hinder blood flow in other parts of the body,’ Etminan said.
‘So although our study doesn’t prove cause-and-effect, there is a mechanism by which these medications could conceivably lead to these problems.
‘The totality of the evidence points toward a strong link.’
ED is a very common issues in men, especially as they get older.
SingleCare reports that Men over the age of 40 are three times as likely to experience ED when compared to younger men.
Half of men in their 50s will suffer from ED, and around 30 million Americans are experiencing it currently.
The most popular drug to treat the condition is Viagra, which is developed by Pfizer, and it has seen a surge of use in recent years.