The trial’s results are now the first solid confirmation that lowering blood pressure reduces the risk of both mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a degree of brain decline that’s considered the gateway to dementia, and probable dementia. […]
While there are many ways people can change their behavior to lower their risk of heart disease and cancer–such as eating a healthy diet, exercising and avoiding or stopping smoking–there are few similar steps that have been scientifically proved to reduce the risk of degenerative brain disorders like Alzheimer’s. Genes play a prominent role in determining who will develop the disease, and age is also a major factor–neither of which are under human control.
The [SPRINT MIND study] provides the strongest evidence yet that there may be something in people’s control that lowers their risk of cognitive decline.
“Controlling blood pressure is not only good for the heart but good for the brain,” says [Dr. Jeff Williamson, chief of geriatric medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine and the leader of the study]. “This is the first intervention of any kind that has proven in a randomized trial to reduce the risk of mild cognitive impairment.”
Nicholls surveyed the latest medical research on sleep, interviewed many of the researchers involved, and underwent intense sleep therapy to treat his own condition. […]
The simplest thing is to work on something called “sleep stability,” which is very common advice in insomnia clinics […] Sleep stability means pinning your bedtime to the same time every night, even on weekends, and waking up at the same time every morning, even on weekends. The key is to settle into a groove or a cycle that your body understands and responds to. Once you do this, it’s really quite amazing. You’ll sleep better, feel better, have more energy, and worry less.
[…] it’s not true that everyone needs eight hours of sleep a night. […] Everyone varies, and this is why you need to find out how much your brain needs. And you do that by keeping a sleep diary over a week or two, and just taking an average of how many hours you are actually sleeping. […]
I think most people don’t understand the importance of light and how we consume it. Artificial light is completely at odds with our biology.
[…] minimizing exposure to artificial lights like smartphones and TV screens and increasing exposure to natural lights like dawn and dusk helps sync our internal clock and prepare the brain for sleep […]
Let’s cut to the chase–psychologist Ron Friedman told the Harvard Business Review that most people “typically have a window of about three hours where we’re really, really focused.” Our own data backs this number up as well. When we analyzed over 225 million hours of working time, we found that the average knowledge worker (someone who deals with information for a living, like a writer, developer, designer, or manager), is only productive for 12.5 hours a week. That’s roughly 2.5 hours a day. […]
If you planned your day assuming you would have eight hours of time for productive work, and you end up with just over one hour, it’s going to be really frustrating.
Even worse, you’re going to keep adding more and more to your plate, thinking you have all this extra time to do “core work” each day.
It’s upsetting. But it’s also human nature.
For decades, psychologists have called this behavior the Planning Fallacy–our bias toward being overly optimistic when it comes to how much time is needed to complete a future task. In other words, we’re notoriously bad at looking into the future and figuring out how long a task will take us. […]
One of the most frustrating things about the modern workplace is not feeling like you’re making meaningful progress. And while you might get paid for 40 hours of work each week, you can’t realistically schedule 40 hours of work. We all have biases that get in the way of scheduling our days properly. Only by understanding and acknowledging them are we able to set ourselves up for success.
Study findings indicate that the benefits of midlife cardiorespiratory fitness extend well into the later part of life.
“The benefits of cardiorespiratory fitness extended well into the later part of life for employed, middle-aged men without cardiovascular disease, and were significantly related to longevity over 4 decades, according to a study published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
A team of Danish researchers sought to investigate the associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and very long-term prognosis in a study with 46 years of follow up. Study participants were middle-aged, employed men without cardiovascular disease from the Copenhagen Male Study (N=5107; mean age, 48.8±5.4 years). Participants were stratified into 4 age-adjusted VO2max (maximal oxygen consumption) categories: above upper limit of normal (5%), high normal (45%), low normal (45%), and below lower limit of normal (5%). VO2Max levels were estimated using a bicycle ergometer, and restricted, multivariable, mean survival time models of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality were performed using Danish national registers.”
Welcome to the new midlife crisis. Clichés like buying a red sports car and hair transplants have been ousted by going vegan, cutting back on alcohol and participating in extreme sports, according to a new study. […]
Men, especially, are prone to set health and lifestyle goals at 40, when they’re likely to embrace veganism (24 per cent) and engage in competitive tests of true grit like Tough Mudder obstacle courses at which contestants must plunge themselves in ice water (The Arctic Enema) and risk being shocked by live wires (Electroshock Therapy) while competing (31 per cent). […]
“Entering a new decade is one of many triggers that can prompt us to think about our health,” Jake Williams, lifestyle health advisor at Bupa Health Clinics, told The Telegraph.
However, the dread creeps in earlier for women, who tend to make health-motivated changes at 30. The reckoning typically takes the form of changing eating habits, joining a gym or hiring a personal trainer.
Despite the fact that Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia in older people, there is not a single drug available to treat the condition. (Getty Images/Cultura RF)
Alzheimer’s researchers, patients, and investors were eagerly anticipating the results of a phase 2 study on a potentially promising new medication, called BAN2401, from the drugmakers Biogen and Eisai.
On July 5, the companies released a summary of the findings from a trial of the drug involving 856 patients with early Alzheimer’s, showing the medication could slow the progression of the brain-ravaging illness. On Wednesday afternoon, they presented more details about their findings at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Chicago.
The results have sparked cautious optimism. “Millions of people have Alzheimer’s, and right now it’s a death sentence. So any time we see positive results from a trial that appears to show disease modification, that gives us hope,” said Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs at the Alzheimer’s Association. “But it’s a cautious hope.” […]
If the results are indeed solid, and the drug is approved for market, it could mean people with early-stage Alzheimer’s might be able to keep the disease at bay. It could also mean that we finally have an actual treatment for the disease, and not just its symptoms, available for patients. […]
The results are still preliminary and not yet peer-reviewed or published. […] The drug still needs to pass a phase 3 clinical study and FDA scrutiny. […]
Edd and Cynthia Staton say moving to Ecuador rescued their retirement savings, which had been crushed in the financial crisis of 2008.
Dream retirements can vary, from relaxing on the front porch to swimming in a pine-circled lake.
What most dreams don’t include? Money worries.
Yet that’s a top anxiety in retirement, with most people concerned about paying for health care.
But there’s another way. Instead of staying home and trying to cut costs so you can survive, why not move overseas?
You could save millions on your cost of living, according to a report from InternationalLiving.com, which surveyed several couples who found overseas bargains when they relocated. Cheaper housing. Cheaper health care. Cheaper meals out. Cheaper travel. And maybe best of all, cheaper luxuries. […]
“The cumulative increase in self-esteem going from childhood to young adulthood to midlife was much larger than I expected,” says Richard Robins, a psychology professor at the University of California. […]
Scientists recently combed through numerous studies of self-esteem to chart the average changes that occur from childhood to old age. […]
The team analyzed 331 studies that assessed self-esteem, collectively covering more than 164,000 people between 4 and 94 years old. Self-esteem is measured with questionnaires in which respondents state to what extent they agree with statements such as “I feel that I’m a person of worth, at least on an equal basis with others” or “I wish I could have more respect for myself.”
The investigators discovered that self-esteem tended to rise slightly from ages 4 to 11, remain stagnant from 11 to 15, increase markedly from 15 to 30, and subtly improve until peaking at 60. It stayed constant from 60 to 70 years old, declined slightly from ages 70 to 90, and dropped sharply from 90 to 94. (Fewer studies addressed the oldest and youngest age groups—just a couple each for the 4 to 6 range and 90 to 94 range—so the evidence is weaker for the tail ends of the spectrum.) The results were published in the journal Psychological Bulletin. […]
CBS News recently published a “Guide to Hearing Aids” article that provided several useful links for readers to learn more about hearing loss in America, how to get tested yourself, and information about hearing aid technology and where to get it.
The article states that about 40 million Americans are affected by hearing loss and foretold how that number will increase as years go by, and yet a disproportionate amount of those who suffer from hearing loss do not use a hearing aid. Why?
“[…]only about 20% of adults who have hearing loss actually use a hearing aid, due to cost (the majority of insurance companies don’t cover hearing aids), medical consultations needed, or embarrassment over wearing them.” (CBS News)
Optimistically, that number may increase since hearing aids have gotten smaller over the decades and technology has improved and that trend should continue. Additionally, as the article points out, the recently-signed Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act will provide newer (and easier) ways for the hearing-impaired to access devices to assist hearing once it goes into effect.
Read the full article and peruse all the useful links here: “Guide to hearing aids.”
Ron Scolamiero of Marshfield, Mass., takes four pills of the prostate cancer drug apalutamide daily. New studies show it is one of two drugs that can stave off pain and the need for chemotherapy. (Credit: Kayana Szymczak)
They are among the most challenging prostate cancer patients to treat: about 150,000 men worldwide each year whose cancer is aggressive enough to defy standard hormonal therapy, but has not yet spread to the point where it can be seen on scans.
These patients enter a tense limbo which often ends too quickly with the cancer metastasizing to their bones, lymph nodes or other organs — sometimes causing intense pain.
Now, for the first time, researchers have results from two independent clinical trials showing that two different drugs help these patients — giving them about two more years before their cancer metastasizes. That means two additional years before pain and other symptoms spread and they need chemotherapy or other treatments. […]
The trial’s results are now the first solid confirmation that lowering blood pressure reduces the risk of both mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a degree of brain decline that’s considered the gateway to dementia, and probable dementia. […]
Let’s cut to the chase–psychologist Ron Friedman told the Harvard Business Review that most people “typically have a window of about three hours where we’re really, really focused.” Our own data backs this number up as well. When we analyzed over 225 million hours of working time, we found that the average knowledge worker (someone who deals with information for a living, like a writer, developer, designer, or manager), is only productive for 12.5 hours a week. That’s roughly 2.5 hours a day. […]
