Bones and Aging

I know I've talked about osteoporosis before. A recent article pointed out that many women who are not Caucasian feel they are not at risk for the disease. This is really a myth. Asian women are the same as Caucasian women in terms of the percent who get osteoporosis. But more importantly, there is a very high percentage of Asian women who have low bone mass putting them at higher risk for the disease.

While the percentage of Hispanic women who get the disease is lower, they still have a fairly high percentage who have low bone mass and are at risk. African Americans have a lower percentage who actually get the disease, but they too have a fairly high percentage with low bone mass.

The ones who often get left out of these statistics are men. There are significant numbers of men who either have osteoporosis or at risk for the disease.

Driving Aids for Older People

I couldn't find that it is actually out yet, but I read about an option that will be available in cars from General Motors. The technology is a new windshield that uses lasers, infrared sensors and a camera to help objects stand out that might go unnoticed.

The example they gave was during foggy conditions, a laser projects a blue line on the windshield that follows the edge of the road. It will be interesting to see how this develops. Maybe that those who are not so old could benefit from this technology as well.

Staying Healthy as You Age

I've talked about this before, but since I'm kind of on the keeping you young as you age this month, here's another piece to it. Keeping yourself mentally active is just as important as keeping yourself physically active.

A study done at the University of Illinois for people in their 60's and 70's indicated that being trained and playing video games helps the brain become more agile, with memory and reasoning ability also improving.

There are some free games on the AARP site to help your brain. Give them a try. They are on the top left of this page click here

Get Moving To Stay Young

You all know that exercise is important to good health. But did you know that exercise may actually slow the aging process? There was a study published in 2008 that found that exercise may actually protect the body against the aging process.

So no matter what age you are, start moving, walking, swimming, or whatever exercise is your favorite. You can start taking control of your health by moving!

Medications

One of the biggest problems in the elderly is the number of medications that they take on a regular basis. You don't have to be elderly to forget whether you have taken a medication or not. I would venture to guess that most everyone reading this at one time or another had to stop and think and maybe count the number of pills in the bottle to see if they had missed a dose.

My suggestion is be organized with your medication. Put it in a pill reminder box with the days of the week. If you are on an antibiotic and that is your only medication, put however many doses you need for the day in that day's bin.

Another suggestion is to always have a written list of the medications that you take in your wallet or purse. If you ever end up in the emergency room, this could save your life!

Balance in Seniors is A Risk

You may not know that the leading cause of death by accidental injury in people over 65 is falls. Seems kind of silly right. How could that be. Well, usually when a fall happens, the is a fracture of a bone somewhere in the body. Hip fractures account for many of these fractures and a hip fracture in someone over 65 has a high mortality. About 75% of those people will have a complication as a result of the fracture and 50% of those will actually die.

I just read about an interesting way to help reduce falls in the elderly. This new technology is based on the scientific work done to help astronauts regain their balance after being in space for a period of time. The new device is called the iShoe and is an insert that goes in the shoe.

I could not find them available as yet, but this could be a huge health benefit for seniors.

10 Healthy Foods for Less #10

My last healthy food that is inexpensive is yogurt. Yogurt should be the live culture variety as this contains the bacteria which are healthy for the gut.

Yogurt also contains lots of calcium which is helpful for bone health. Watch the amount of sugar content in the variety that you buy. This can be one of the problems with yogurt.