Topic: health
... a selection of compelling articles found in newspapers, magazines, and online resources that focus on topics of special interest to those 50+.
Did You Know Medicare Enrollment Is Earlier This Year?
It is that time of year again: Medicare enrollment period starts earlier this year...on October 15 and runs through December 7.
Continue ReadingHealthy (and Yummy) New Program: Dining With Diabetes
Don't Miss! Sign up now. Shari Tedford RN, BAN of Johnson County Health Department shares info on terrific program for people with diabetes. Continue ReadingSummer Workout
Have fun. Get fit.Great program in Independence, MO for Adults. Continue Reading
Professional Education for Nurses, Social Workers, and others
Attention: Nurses, social workers and other healthcare professionals...Don't miss this outstanding continuing education program on cancer care for older adults.Continue ReadingSpecial event for cancer patients and the people who love them
PATIENT EDUCATION:
Please join The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for a patient program on cancer treatment for older adults.
Continue ReadingTurning 65? It's a Special Birthday!
Need Help with Your Prescriptions?
Our Senior Advocacy program is designed to help you understand Medicare issues clearly.
Call our program manager David Hooper at 816-444-1121 ext 104.
Continue Reading50 WAYS TO BOOST YOUR NOODLE: Want to keep your brain in shape? Work it!
By: Heather Boerner | Source: AARP.org
One of the best ways to stay sharp is to exercise that muscle between your ears, research indicates. And discussions with some of the top scientists studying the brain reveal that you can work your noggin in many different ways, every day.
Here are 50 of them:
1. Snack on almonds and blueberries instead of a candy bar. As they lower blood sugar, healthy snacks can improve cognition. In this case, the omega-3s in the almonds and the antioxidants in the blueberries can keep your brain functioning correctly.
2. Ballroom dance like the stars. Dancing is a brain-power activity. How so? Learning new moves activates brain motor centers that form new neural connections. Dancing also calms the brain's stress response.
3. Love the crunch of croutons on your salad? Try walnuts instead. Omega-3s in walnuts have been found to improve mood and calm inflammation that may lead to brain-cell death. They also replace lost melatonin, which is necessary for healthy brain functioning.
4. Take your dog—or yourself—for a walk. Walking for just 20 minutes a day can lower blood sugar. That helps stoke blood flow to the brain, so you think more clearly.
5. Add Chinese club moss to your daily vitamin regimen. Taking less than 100 micrograms of the herb daily may protect your brain's neurotransmitters and keep synapses firing correctly, tests suggest. But this herb is powerful, so check with your doctor for drug interactions. Click Continue Reading to view the full article.
Keep Your Knees Healthy
Eleven million men and women over 45 will suffer from knee pain this year.
Here's how to avoid becoming one of them
Three years ago Linda Morse tossed a tennis ball gracefully overhead, reached for it with her racket, planted her left leg on the hard tennis court for leverage, and felt something snap. "It was one of those 'Oh, no' moments," says Morse, now 73. "Most people I know who play tennis have some kind of knee trouble, and now, I just knew, I did, too."
In a typical year more than 6 million men and women 62 and older—and another 5 million between their mid-40s and early 60s—will visit a doctor because of knee pain. Knees are one of the most commonly injured joints and the most likely to be afflicted with arthritis. Strange twinges or clicking noises are familiar complaints as well, along with—more dramatically—pain, swelling, and a tendency for the joint to seize up. Click Continue Reading to view the full article.
Continue ReadingVolunteering can be powerful 'medicine'
And, for the more than 1 million Americans with the chronic condition rheumatoid arthritis (RA), volunteering may help them better manage the disease. RA is an autoimmune disease that affects the joints and can cause pain, disability and leave people feeling limited or isolated by their disease. Women are two to three times more likely to have RA than men, and the disease is most commonly diagnosed between the ages of 30 and 50.
A new nationwide initiative - Hand in Hand for RA - aims to change that by demonstrating to people living with RA that they can do more. In fact, results of a recent survey showed that a majority of people with RA want to be more active and not feel limited by their condition. Moreover, four in 10 want to give back through volunteering or public service to prove they are not limited by their RA.
"It's the first time that we are bringing together people living with a form of arthritis like RA who would otherwise be held back a little bit by their condition, and give them an opportunity to help out in their community," says Seth Ginsberg, co-founder and president of CreakyJoints, a grassroots arthritis group and a supporter of the Hand in Hand for RA campaign. "We want people to go to the handinhandforRA.com Web site where they can find resources or share their stories of things they've done in the past, and help out a little bit." Click Continue Reading to view the full article. Continue Reading
