Obesity, diabetes, smoking, and high blood pressure can compromise the health of your heart and your brain. Interventions such as dieting, exercising, and quitting smoking can improve the health of both organs.
Although a long life span is great goal, a long “health span” is even better.
Women need no longer suffer pain and discomfort from varicose veins, thanks to new, less invasive treatments.
A few factors that boost the odds of having a stroke can’t be changed, like age and family history. But there are a surprising number of things that can be done to prevent stroke.
Exercise prevents flare-ups of low back pain caused by muscle strain or spasm. Exercise daily to make back muscles more strong and flexible. When back pain is due to a problem in the spine, do not start new exercise without talking to a doctor.
People who live in parts of a city with high air pollution are at higher risk of stroke than residents of the same city living in less polluted areas.
Body mass index (BMI) is easy to measure and is a good rough instrument for determining whether a person is overweight or obese. But it does not account for individual differences in body shape and muscularity.
Statin drugs reduce bad cholesterol and lower the overall risk of heart attack and stroke substantially. Not all muscle side effects people experience while taking statins are because of the drug. Statin effects on memory are not proven.
Changes in memory occur with aging. Being more mindful of age-related changes and compensating for them can help a person perform daily memory tasks. It helps to pay attention and associate the new information with sounds, sights, and mental images.
A combination of two osteoporosis drugs-denosumab (Prolia) and teriparatide (Forteo)-increases bone mineral density in women at risk for fractures better than either drug alone.