Category: harvardhealth_news_UNDEFINED

Men tend to lose as much as 3% to 5% of their muscle mass per decade after age 30, and the muscle-building hormone testosterone gradually declines after age 40. This makes it harder for men to build and maintain muscle as they age. One solution is a well-designed weight training program. Workouts should focus on all major muscles, but men should pay extra attention to leg muscles, which they rely on more for everyday movements as they age.

The American Psychiatric Association has recently added prolonged grief disorder to its official list of classified mental disorders. Someone may develop this disorder when someone close has died within the past 12 months. The person may experience intense longing for the deceased or preoccupation with thoughts about him or her. These feelings occur most of the day and nearly every day for at least a month. Recognizing the signs and seeking out help with talk therapy are the best approaches to help prevent it from evolving to depression.

Many people still struggle with healthy eating, even though they know the basic guidelines to follow. This often is due to misperceptions that following a healthy diet is too difficult and too expensive. Making small changes in one’s diet can help many people change their attitude about healthier eating and make it easier to embrace.

A good option for a simple but special Valentine’s day dinner is baked salmon (or another fish variety), along with a whole grain such as farro, two types of roasted vegetables, and chocolate-dipped strawberries for dessert.

People who fall asleep between 10 and 11 p.m. may be less likely to develop heart disease than those who start their slumber earlier or later.

A substance that binds to blood clots may one day offer a novel, less invasive strategy for finding dangerous clots in the heart and elsewhere in the body.

People who sip several daily cups of both coffee and tea may be less likely to have a stroke than people who don’t drink either beverage.

When a smart watch alert suggests that person’s heart rate is below 40 beats per minute, it could be an error, especially if no symptoms are present. But it could signal a heart problem called bradycardia that has many possible causes.

Stimulant medications, which are usually prescribed to treat attention deficit disorder in children, are being prescribed increasingly to older adults. These drugs may cause a short-term spike in the risk of heart-related problems, including heart attacks, strokes, and arrhythmias. Dietary supplements that promise weight loss or better physical or mental performance may contain prohibited, unlisted, and potentially dangerous stimulants.

Broken heart syndrome—an uncommon condition linked to severe emotional or physical stress that occurs mostly in women—may be more common than previously thought. The increase in diagnoses may reflect heightened awareness of all forms of heart disease in women. The condition may result from the surge of adrenaline that affects the heart’s muscle cells and blood vessels, causing the heart’s left ventricle to temporarily change shape. The heart resembles a Japanese clay pot used to trap an octopus, called a tako-tsubo, which is why broken heart syndrome was originally dubbed takotsubo cardiomyopathy.