WOMEN AND WELLNESS

 

Wellness is about improving and maintaining your quality of life through physical, mental, social and emotional/spiritual wellness.  Finding the right balance and making informed decisions about your, or your family's, health is one of the many important roles that you fill.  By staying up-to-date on health changes throughout life, you can live healthier, reduce stress and simply enjoy a better day, every day.

Article Summaries

From powerful magnifiers and super-amplified telephones to stylish walking sticks and clever arthritis tools, Gold Violin is the one-stop shop to help you stay active and independent.

Since its beginning more than 20 years ago, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October has been dedicated to increasing awareness of breast cancer issues, especially the importance of early detection. And because older women are the primary risk group for breast cancer, it’s important to stay current with screening guidelines. Are you up-to-date with your screenings?

Can you really eat more food and lose more weight? When it comes to breakfast, the answer appears to be yes. A study of obese women found that those subjects who ate a high-calorie meal in the morning that contained both carbohydrates and lean protein, and even some chocolate, lost almost five times as much weight as women on a restrictive, low-carbohydrate diet.

Because women make up about 80 percent of osteoporosis cases, most screening guidelines currently recommend bone density testing for women only. But a lot of men get the bone-wasting disease too, and osteoporosis rates among men are expected to increase 50 percent over the next 15 years. For this reason, the American College of Physicians (ACP) has developed a new clinical guideline on screening for osteoporosis in men.

Eating a Mediterranean-style diet has already been shown to protect against heart disease. New evidence suggests it may also thwart type 2 diabetes. A study of more than 13,000 adults from Spain found that those who stuck very closely to a Mediterranean diet reduced their risk of diabetes by 83 percent.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, a new study finds that women who are overweight or obese can reduce their risk of heart disease by exercising more. These results, the researchers conclude, “highlight the importance of counseling all women to participate in increasing amounts of regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight to reduce the risk of heart disease.”

Keeping muscles strong as we age is important for maintaining independence and preventing falls. But older women have a harder time than men replacing muscle that's lost naturally as they age, say U.S. and British researchers in the journal Public Library of Science One. Because of this, the findings suggest, older women need to be sure they eat plenty of protein-rich foods such as eggs, fish, chicken and lean red meat and to do resistance training to keep their muscles strong.

The research is in: exercising your mind is just as important as exercising your body. A number of brain fitness programs have come onto the market to help individuals stay sharp. Genworth Financial brings you Vigorous Mind, one of the leading organizations in this rapidly-evolving category, to save you 10 percent on My Vigorous Mind, a web-based brain wellness suite.

If you’re not taking a calcium supplement, you may be missing out on a critical tool in the fight against osteoporosis. An analysis of 17 research studies involving more than 52,000 people proves it. For those over 50, calcium supplementation may cut the overall risk of bone fractures by as much as 24 percent and slow bone loss by 54 percent.

All couples fight. But two recent studies have shown that fighting between spouses–both how they fight and how often they fight–may have a profound impact on their health.

Anyone who has gone through cancer treatment knows it takes its toll on the entire family. A new study confirms the emotional impact cancer can have on the patient’s spouse.

With more young mothers now in the workforce, more grandparents are stepping up to help care for their grandchildren. Past research has suggested that such caregiving can exact a toll on grandma’s or grandpa’s overall health. But a new study of almost 13,000 grandparents shows otherwise.

Up to now, ovarian cancer has been called a “silent killer” because symptoms were thought to occur only when the cancer had progressed too far to effectively treat. But that thinking changed recently. Three health organizations have identified a set of symptoms that may indicate early-stage ovarian cancer. They are urging women who have these symptoms for more than a few weeks to see their doctors.

You’re irritable, anxious or tense. You can’t seem to concentrate on anything. You’re sad, you’re angry, you’re exhausted—in fact, you’re all these things within the span of five minutes. There are a number of health issues that could be causing your emotional distress. One of them is menopause.

Most women believe that cancer is their number-one health concern. But few are aware that their next greatest risk is heart disease.

In 1997, the American Heart Association (AHA) conducted a nationwide poll of American women's attitudes toward the major threats to their health and their knowledge of heart disease and stroke. At that time, to the AHA's way of thinking, the results were disappointing. Cancer, believed 61 percent of the women surveyed, was the greatest threat to their long-term health. Only 7 percent of respondents were aware that cardiovascular disease (CVD) was the leading killer of both men and women in the United States.

With so much focus on our weight, our diet, and our exercise habits, it's easy to forget about something like our breast health. That's why National Breast Cancer Awareness Month was created. It takes place every October, and its goal is to encourage women to take advantage of breast cancer screenings. That means now is a great time to learn how to protect yourself from breast cancer.

Every five years, the experts at the American Cancer Society (ACS) take a long, hard look at their cancer screening guidelines. The ACS examines all the latest research, treatment options, and technological developments that have come on the scene over the past five years. Then it decides if the guidelines in place need updating.

Memory loss is normal as we grow older. But research suggests that post-menopausal women can slow this memory loss by using estrogen replacement therapy (ERT).

Ask most women what their biggest health risk is, and you’ll likely hear breast cancer or ovarian cancer. What you won’t hear is the correct answer: heart disease. Yes, heart disease kills more women than breast and ovarian cancer combined.

There's been great success at spreading the word about the importance of mammograms. So most women know that regular mammograms, though not perfect, are the best method available to detect breast cancer early. Early detection allows more treatment options and a better chance to beat the disease.

 

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