Prediabetes + Inactivity = Diabetes
Prediabetes, a condition identified by the American Diabetes Association in 2002, refers to an impairment in the body’s ability to maintain blood proper glucose levels. Because this impairment is not as severe as the impairment of diabetes, prediabetes offers clinicians and their patients an opportunity to halt the process of impairment before it worsens and…
Read MoreHave a chronic health condition? Get these vaccines.
It may be flu vaccine season, but it is also a perfect time for seniors to review which vaccines they have received — and which they still need. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all seniors receive the following four vaccines: The seasonal flu vaccine (recommended for all ages, every year)…
Read MoreA Vaccine for Alzheimer’s?
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was first described by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1906. Examining the brain of a woman with a strange combination of memory loss, unpredictable behavior, and difficulties with language, he found two distinct sets of abnormalities. The first were unusual clumps of tissue; the second were tangles of fibers. Today, we know the…
Read MoreArthritis and the Eyes
Arthritis is known as a disease that affects the joints. However, arthritis can also affect other parts of the body, including the heart, the lungs, and even the eyes. Dry Eyes Dry eyes are the most common eye problem for people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Although eye dryness might seem relatively minor, eye lubrication prevents…
Read MoreAging and the Thyroid Gland
As we age, many things start to slow down. One of them is our thyroid gland. In particular, the thyroid releases less T3 and T4 hormones in older people. And even the hormone that is released is usually less effective than it is in younger people. As a result, older people have a greater risk…
Read MoreShocking News about the Deadly 2017 Flu Season
Remember last year’s flu season? It was bad, the worst in decades. It even made the news when California emergency rooms were so overwhelmed with flu patients that they were forced to set up “surge tents” in their parking lots in order to handle the onslaught. It wasn’t just optics; the numbers broke records. Nearly…
Read MoreHeart-Healthy Foods: What’s True, What’s False, and What We Just Don’t Know
It seems as though every day you read something new about the health properties of a specific food. The problem is that every day the verdict changes. Caffeine: is it good for your heart or bad for your heart? What about dairy products? Another day, another opinion. In an effort to make sense of the…
Read MoreDiabetes by the Numbers
Today Is World Diabetes Day, a day designated by the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to increasing global awareness of this disease. Since 2006, it is also an official United Nations Day. In honor of World Diabetes Day (which occurs every year on November 14, the birthday of one of…
Read MoreWhat is Broken Heart Syndrome?
It happens all the time in the movies: an older person clutches their chest in response to shocking news. Far from being merely a dramatic moment, this condition known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy (or in layman’s terms, broken heart syndrome) is very real. The condition, first described in the 1990s, made its way into the news…
Read MoreA Tech Giant Enters the Medicare Market
Google has become a household word, as a noun and even as a verb. But the multinational tech giant specializes in a variety of internet services and products has recently expanded into another market that, with the aging of the baby boomers, is also becoming a household word: Medicare. Alphabet, the parent company of Google…
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