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What Does It Take To Have A Healthy Heart?

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Did you know that the number one cause of death in women over 50 is heart disease?Did you also know that there a number of things you can do to protect yourself from heart disease?

Here is a list of simple strategies to help you keep a healthy and happy heart.

We all know that exercise is good for us, no surprise here. So, exercise 30 minutes daily.

Why? Because exercise is vital and it does everything good for you.

Not only will you feel better, but you will also have more energy and burn some calories along the way (and who wouldn’t like that).
Exercise gives your heart the activity she craves, improves your mood, and stabilizes your blood sugar and can prevent or improve osteoporosis.

Turns out, exercise truly is that magic bullet [Read more…]

Acupuncture Rocks… For Owls?

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Owl Receives Life Saving Acupuncture Treatment

Even though I’ve been doing Acupuncture for over 20 years, as a patient and a provider, I still am amazed about how powerful this medicine really is.

See for yourself… no placebo here!

Menopausal Weight Gain

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I’m frequently asked if it is it normal to start gaining weight during menopause. By weight I mean anywhere from 10 to 35 plus pounds in a matter of months, without changing eating habits significantly.

Many women notice weight gain (average of 1 pound per year), especially around the waist at midlife. Unfortunately we cannot put all the blame on our diminishing hormones.

While our metabolism does slow with age and decreasing muscle mass, the main culprits appear to be diminishing physical activity and eating more than our bodies require.

Does genetics play a role? Well, sort of. We can be predisposed to waistline weight gain, but basically it only means we have to work harder to keep it off.

Will hormones help? In a word, no.

The concern about weight gain is that it puts you at risk for high cholesterol levels, elevated blood pressure, and insulin resistance/diabetes. All of this increases your risk for heart disease, which is a serious issue for women.

What can you do to prevent or reverse the weight gain? The simple, yet difficult answer is to increase your exercise and reduce your calories.

Increasing your exercise has a multitude of benefits. Not only does it help you pump up your metabolism and burn fat, but that muscle mass also strengthens your bones (not to mention the cardiovascular benefits and the prevention/control of diabetes). Most of all, you just feel good.

A healthy diet is essential. With a lower metabolism rate, we don’t require loads of calories; however, no one says you should starve yourself either.

Eat smaller portions (measure them), lots of fruits and vegetables and eat only when hungry. If you need to lose weight, you will need to have a deficit of about 500 calories daily for one week to lose 1 pound.

14 Ways to Improve your Sleep

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Improve your SleepSleep disturbance or insomnia is not uncommon in women starting at midlife. While this may be due to a physical concern, usually it’s not. Let’s discuss some things you can do NOW to improve your sleep.

  • Good sleep is a component of good health. Things that you do for good health are essential and will directly impact your quality of sleep. This means eating a healthy diet, regular exercise and good daily multivitamin/mineral supplements.
  • A healthy diet that is high in phytoestrogens such as fruits and vegetables may help if the cause of your sleep disturbance happens to be related to being perimenopausal. Apples, carrots, cherries, green beans, oats, peas, potatoes, soybeans and sprouts – just to mention a few!
  • Avoid stimulating agents such as nicotine and caffeine – that includes coffee, tea, soft drinks, and chocolate. Even one cup of coffee in the morning can affect sleep quality hours later. We, as women, tend to metabolize caffeine much slower than men. If you smoke or chew tobacco, quit. Short of that, avoid smoking/chewing within a few hours of going to bed.
  • Sleep in a dark room. (How bright is your illuminated clock?)
  • Develop a sleep routine: going to bed at the same time; rituals such as having a cup of relaxing tea and then washing up, and the like.
  • Avoid taking naps.
  • Is your sleeping space comfortable? Look at light, noise and temperature. How about your bed? Is it too firm or too soft?
  • Avoid late night heavy meals. However, a light snack at bedtime may be helpful.
  • Try relaxation – mediate, take a bath, listen to soft music, read a gentle book, get a massage.
  • Avoid the news and other violent or emotional stimulation before bed! It’s hardly relaxing!
  • Avoid alcohol late in the day. It can cause waking in the night and impairs sleep quality.
  • Limit your bed activities to sleep and sex.
  • If you cannot sleep – get up and do something until you can sleep.
  • If worries are keeping you awake, try journaling – it may provide a way for you to “release” the worry onto paper and thus relax and sleep.
  • There are natural supplements that can be tried. If you are a milk drinker, consider having a glass of warm milk. Milk when it is warm releases tryptophan, the same substance that was in that Thanksgiving turkey that had you napping. On the other hand, I recently read that warm milk also has substances that can keep you awake. Let your own body tell you what it likes about milk.

Other suggestions include valerian root, melatonin, passion flower and of course the chamomile, catnip, anise or fennel teas. Some companies package teas in their own formulations for sleep, such as “Sleepy Time”. Your local herbalist or health food store may also be able to give you suggestions. As with anything else, the key to try different things and see what you respond to.

If none of these suggestions work, I would recommend the following.

First of all, see your see your health care provider to ensure there is nothing physical that needs to be attended to. Keep a sleep diary for 3 months with the goal to see if there is some sort of pattern. Keep track of the time you go to bed, awaken, how often you are awake and/or up at night. Are you tired when you awaken in the morning? What time are you getting up? Is there something that is on your mind? Does any of this correlate with your cycles (if you still have them).

Use of sleeping medication is something that can sometimes be used to get your body back on track, but it’s not for long term use, and should only be used when other remedies have been ineffective.

 

For additional information you may want to check the sites below:

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-facts-information/video-libray

http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?id=DS00187

 

Hair – in all the wrong places

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Facial hair growth in women is something that many of us find concerning. Assuming that you are not genetically inclined to facial air (Mediterranean, Jewish and Eastern European ancestry) or have a family history of facial hair growth in women, it could be a number of things.

One of the most common is hormonal imbalance. Women have both estrogens and androgens (male hormones). As we age, the levels of both hormones naturally decline. However, the ratio between the differences declines and it can look as if we suddenly have more of the male hormones, and therefore stray hairs.

In addition, there are some medications that can stimulate the growth of stray, darker, coarser hair and include phenytoin, cyclosporine, anabolic steroids, combination medications with testosterone such as estratest, and minoxidil (used for high blood pressure as well as baldness in men).

Sometimes though, excessive facial/body hair can be a result of physical and medical issues. For example, polycystic ovarian syndrome and obesity (adipose tissue can produce androgens). Occasionally it can be related to adrenal tumors. In these cases one will see more than just the occasional stray hair on the face. If this is happening to you, see your health care provider.

So what can do you about it? Women have been looking for ways to permanently remove facial hair for years. However, there doesn’t seem to be an easy, fool-proof and permanent way to deal with facial hair.

Common treatments include: Makeup, Radio frequency, Hormones (estrogen and progesterone), Shaving, Waxing, Laser, Electrolysis and Vaniqua – a prescription cream. According to many dermatologists, electrolysis seems to be the only method for permanent removal. Vaniqua, which is relatively new in the past few years, does not seem to work for all women. I’m unsure at this time of its long term effectiveness, if you would need to reapply and for how long.

As with most things, there does not seem to be a one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of stray facial hair. You will most likely need to try various treatments and see what works for you. However, keep in mind if your facial hair seems excessive or you have concerns, please speak with your health care provider for further evaluation.

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