July « 2009 « Silver Buzz Cafe

The Effect of Aging on Hearing

Loss of vision and hearing are considered major disabilities. Previous articles have covered the effect of aging on vision, smell and taste. This one looks at how aging affects hearing and what we can do about it, both as the person experiencing the problem and as people trying to communicate with a hearing impaired person. [...]

In Pursuit of Peace - The Hospice Option

Despite advances in modern medicine and science, people still contract illnesses with no known cure. If it’s possible to remain at home then that is often the best choice as the patient can be close to family and friends and doesn’t have to cope with unfamiliar surroundings. Hospices focus on caring, not curing. The organization strives to provide the highest quality of life for whatever time remains. [...]

Understanding Physical Therapy

When we have aches and pains, or movement becomes difficult as a result of aging, illness or injury, we tend to think of medication or surgery as a solution to a problem. Physical therapy can often be an alternative or supplement to other treatments. Physical therapists also play a very important part in rehabilitation programs. [...]

The Effect of Aging on Vision

All of our senses deteriorate as we age. Most of our perception of the world around is is driven by our hearing and vision. Total loss of either one, especially vision, requires specialized training and is regarded as a severe impairment. Luckily, most vision problems can be corrected with lenses or surgery and scientists are working on ways to restore both with a combination of technologies. [...]

DASH - A Lifestyle, Not Just Another Diet

A recently published study by John P. Forman, M.D., M.Sc. and colleagues examined the connections between combinations of low-risk lifestyle factors and the risk of developing hypertension. This article looks at the benefits of adopting a diet that they evaluated as a part of the study – the DASH diet. [...]

The Effect of Aging on Smell and Taste

Most of the pleasure we derive from food and wine, apart from preparing and serving it, comes from our senses of smell and taste. Unfortunately, both deteriorate with age. Besides affecting ones enjoyment of the environment, personal relationships (who wants to smell bad?) and fine dining, a diminished ability to taste and smell has several potentially dangerous consequences. [...]

Functional Foods – Fad or Future?

I’d never heard of functional foods until I read an article about trends in the food industry. A functional food is any natural or processed food that claims to have benefits, usually involving health, beyond pure nutritional value. The functional food and drinks market was worth $26.4bn in the United States and Europe in 2005. It has been growing at over 4% per year, exploiting consumer’s desire to self-medicate. Heart health is a major growth area for the food manufacturers. [...]

Why the Right Amount of Sleep Is Important

We all know that sleep is important to us. It allows our body to rest and lets our brains process information that our senses receive during the day. So, understanding how to get a good night’s sleep is extremely important. After all, we spend about a third of our lives asleep! A number of sleep problems have been directly linked to other health problems. [...]

Setting Up Advance Medical Directives

An advance medical directive is a legal document that conveys your specific wishes regarding your care in the event that you become unable to make decisions for yourself. This can happen to any of us at any time, so it’s important to make your decisions early. There are many books on this topic and we’ve listed several informative sources on the Useful Links page. You can also buy software that will help you draft a directive. When you think you have it right you should discuss it with your regular physician and have it checked by a lawyer before storing it with your Will, making your family aware of its location and making your healthcare insurer and providers aware of its existence. [...]

Avoiding Deep Vein Thrombosis While Traveling

Travelers have become increasingly aware of the danger of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) on long flights. In fact, any travel that involves sitting for more than four hours at a time can lead to this condition. Recent research has shown that flu vaccines appear to lessen the risks of DVT. You can take several simple steps to reduce the risk of DVT while traveling. [...]

Vitamin D Supplements – Fact or Fiction?

We’ve noticed a lot of articles about vitamin D supplements on the Internet, television and traditional press lately. There are clear, scientifically proven links between vitamin D deficiency and softening of the bones, a condition known as rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Many of the recent articles about vitamin D appear to link back to claims made and widely promoted by a Non-Profit Organization called the Vitamin D Council, but they’re funded by vitamin D supplement manufacturer Biotech Pharmacal, making their objectivity suspect. [...]

Research Proves That Dogs Can Detect Cancer

Two researchers at Cambridge University Veterinary School conducted a highly controlled, double blind and peer reviewed study of the suspected phenomenon and verified that dog can, indeed, detect at least one kind of cancer. [...]

Alternatives to Nursing Homes

I recently wrote1 about the effort that some European organizations are making to enable seniors to stay in their own homes for as long as is practicable. In other cases2, modern residential care facilities are trying to create an environment that is close to being at home, allowing limited cooking, gardening and so on, [...]

Relax – You May Only Have White Coat Hypertension

It’s now recognized that “White Coat Hypertension” is a real effect. Some people, whether or not they have higher than normal blood pressure in their normal surroundings, experience mild anxiety. Their blood pressure rises as soon as the nurse and measuring apparatus arrive, so the readings aren’t representative. That can cause misdiagnosis. Some people even feel faint when they feel their heart beating. [...]

President Obama signed the second part (reconciliation) of the health care reform bill on March 30, 2010. That's great, but the provisions that will cover the uninsured haven't clicked in yet.

Our elected officials started work on the proposed health insurance reform bill on July 30, 2009. Harvard researchers estimate that 122 Americans die every day as a result of not having health insurance.

So, the estimated number of uninsured Americans who have died while the politicians in the Senate and Congress played politics and delayed new benefits for the sake of the health care insurers is

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