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Making New Year’s resolutions work for you The New Year provides a great opportunity to reflect on our lives, health and wellness. Making a New Year’s resolution can give a person the push they need to make a positive change in their health habits. Dr. Sunil Kripalani, who is with Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, says it is important to set a reasonable goal that you feel confident you can accomplish. “Your goal may be to increase your physical activity, for examp...
My gravity-affected holy temple gets weaker quicker these days. Like an old steel horseshoe, I’m oxidizing, rusting. Feeding my temple the best fuel that will give my cells the juice needed to sustain, repair and replace my holy temple infrastructure so it can perform for me when I ask it to is vital. Much like an aging family car, we become more affectionately attentive to the quality of oil, additives and rustproofing as parts begin wearing. My wife and I have decided there’s no better time than the “now” to nourish ourselves the best we...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in January. This month’s focus is care coordinator services, with presentations by Annett Brookshire, a certified care coordinator since 2008. She will share her experience of growing from a caregiver into care coordinator. Jan. 3, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, with Annett Brookshire,1 p.m. Jan. 10, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, with Annett Brookshire, 1 p.m. Jan. 17, Caregiver support meeting at K...
You may have heard some of the following claims: gets rid of wrinkles, great for weight loss, gives your digestive system a rest, detoxifies your body and cures cancer – these are some of the health claims that proponents of "juicing" make. This popular part of the 60s and 70s health food movement seems to be back, with fresh juices standard fare in chic, health-focused eateries. With all dietary emphasis on eating more fresh vegetables and fruits and the many tantalizing health claims, you m...
I hope you’ve all had a great Thanksgiving and will have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year. I have been under the weather, but I have met a wonderful group of friends, who are “dog people”. I had been wondering what I could do for my adorable, sweet Portia. She is an Italian Greyhound, all of 15 pounds and the sweetest, smartest dog (without having had any training) I have ever been around. She loves people, cats and dogs and not necessarily in that order. My newly found frien...
Last year prices for Medicare held fairly steady, and of course, there was zero increase in your Social Security check. This year, the cost-of-living raise is tiny, at .03 percent (about $3 if your monthly benefit is $1,000). In fact, Part B premiums rose more than the COLA. Here’s a summary of the figures that have been released so far. Part A premiums (hospital, nursing, hospice, home health) According to Medicare.gov, most people get Part A coverage free of cost. However if you buy it, the monthly cost in 2017 will be $413 per month (up from...
Everyone is aware of the assault that your stomach takes from antibiotics. You might think cramps and diarrhea are bad enough, but at least those are transient problems. Brand new animal research suggests these drugs trigger Type 1 diabetes, especially when toddlers take them. Keep in mind that back in 2015, a Denmark study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism correlated the use of antibiotics to type 2 diabetes in adults. From all of this, and other research, I think it’s safe to conclude that antibiotic usage increa...
Using the nose to treat damaged knees Researchers are now reporting they have successfully harvested cartilage cells from patients’ own noses to produce cartilage transplants for treating bum knees in 10 adults. All the patients had cartilage that was damaged by injury. Two years after reconstruction, most recipients reported improvements in pain, knee function and quality of life. They also developed repair tissue in their knees that was similar in composition to native cartilage. R...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in December. This month’s focus is “How to Measure Vital Signs.”. Dec. 1, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Dec. 8, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Dec. 15, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Dec. 15, Caregiver support meeting at Anchor Point Senior Center, hosted by Paula Koch, 3 p.m. Dec. 29, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Support meeti...
I hope you are getting this before November 8, the date you must vote in order to exercise your privilege and duty as a citizen to choose a new president to govern our country for the next four or eight years. And I hope you have chosen wisely, especially seniors, who will be dependent on Social Security and Medicare for the rest of your lives. If all things were right in this world, we would not be depending on profit making insurance and pharmaceutical companies but we would all be safely...
Alaska Health Fair, Inc., closes out their Fall 2016 series of health fairs around the state this month, featuring free health screenings and education, low cost blood tests and more. These tests can help you learn about your health and detect potential problems early, when treatment or changes in personal habits can be most effective. A complete and comprehensive chemistry/hematology test is available for only $45; with 27 different panels for conditions ranging from diabetes, kidney and liver function, to anemia and tissue health, thyroid, pr...
One of the worst scenarios for families caring for someone living with Alzheimer’s disease is a loved one wandering or getting lost. It causes immediate panic and concern, and unfortunately happens all too often. In fact, nearly 50 percent of some of these family members have experienced a loved one with Alzheimer’s wandering or getting lost, according to a new survey conducted by Home Instead, Inc., franchisor of the Home Instead Senior Care network. Of those, nearly one in five called the police for assistance. To help families keep the...
Annoyance, inconvenience, or worse? Hearing loss happens so slowly and so subtly that we may think that all we need to do is adjust to it over the years. We’ll learn to live with it. So we’ll turn up the volume on the TV and radio. In conversations, we’ll be sure to focus so that we hear what people have to say. For others, we could be secretly relieved that we won’t get their every word. All kidding aside, it no longer makes sense to learn to live with it. Hearing loss doesn’t slow down as we get older. For those of us who are 65 years old...
Anchorage area hospice organizations are teaming up to offer a grief workshop, “Navigating the Holidays,” Nov. 10 at First Congregational Church, on 2610 E. Northern Lights Blvd., just east of Lake Otis Pkwy., 7 to 9 p.m. Coping with grief during the holidays can be especially challenging. Relatives, friends, social gatherings, spiritual and family traditions, shopping, decorating—all can be overwhelming. Planning can help. This workshop, organized by Hospice of Anchorage and Providence Hospice, will offer suggestions for handling the holid...
Grab some ginger ale A new study is suggesting that oral perceptions of coldness and carbonation may help to reduce thirst. Because thirst and its cessation contribute to how much fluid a person drinks, the current findings could help guide sensory approaches to increase fluid intake in populations at risk for dehydration, such as older adults. Hopefully, this study will help lead to improved beverage choices for older adults. Drinking fluids helps protect against dehydration, which occurs when...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in October. This month’s focus is on hospice and palliative care, with presenters from Hospice of the Central Peninsula. Nov. 1, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Nov. 8, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Nov. 15, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Nov. 16, Caregiver support meeting at Anchor Point Senior Center, hosted by Paula Koch, 3 p.m. Nov. 29, Caregiver support meetin...
Soap makers now have to get their junk out because plain soap works just as well and without risk. Manufacturers were ordered by the FDA to pull out 19 different chemicals from their body wash, hand soap, dish soap and other soaps. Hallelujah, these chemicals are pesticides which go down the drain and into our ecosystem. We kind of got all bug-phobic when soap makers started adding antibacterials like triclosan and fluorosan into soap. Fluorosan has a fluorinated and brominated backbone, and fluorine and bromine compounds are known to...
Alaska Health Fair, Inc., continues their fall series of health fairs around the state this month, featuring free health screenings and education, low cost blood tests and more. These tests can help you learn about your health and detect potential problems early, when treatment or changes in personal habits can be most effective. A complete and comprehensive chemistry/hematology test is available for only $45; with 27 different panels for conditions ranging from diabetes, kidney and liver function, to anemia and tissue health, thyroid,...
The open enrollment period for 2017 Medicare prescription drug plans is Oct. 15-Dec. 7. Plans change and people’s needs change, so it’s a good idea to review your options every year. A new plan may just save you money. You can read about them before Oct. 15 to be ready. To get more information, visit www.medicare.gov/part-d and click the button at left “Find health and drug plans”, or go to www.medicare.alaska.gov. As always, the staff at Alaska’s Medicare Information Office and their statewide volunteer network are primed to help you. June...
The Medicare Information Office has new materials in other languages. Contact office staff if you’d like rack card size brochures in English, Tagalog or Korean, or you can print out a flier on Extra Help, a prescription financial assistance program, off the office’s website. From medicare.alaska.gov, go to the ‘Publications & other resources’ link on the left side of the page, http://dhss.alaska.gov/dsds/Pages/medicare/medipublications.aspx....
Virtually reality may help prevent falls Researchers have found that combining virtual reality and treadmill training may be an ideal way to help prevent falls in older adults. The researchers report in the journal The Lancet that this type of intervention, which combines the physical and cognitive aspects of walking, could potentially be used in gyms, rehabilitation centers or nursing homes to improve safe walking and prevent falls in older adults. They said it may also help adults with...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in October. This month’s focus is “Managing Stress,” with a viewing of “Humor Your Stress,” presented by Loretta Roche, faculty member of Mind/Body Medical Institute in Boston,” and discussion of how to reduce stress during the holidays. Oct. 4, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Oct. 11, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Oct. 18, Alaska Day holiday: Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Cent...
Shakespeare chronicled the seven ages of man from infancy to old age in “As You Like It.” Anyone with adult children knows the Bard of Avon left out a critical stage – the stage when you zip your lip around your adult child, fearful of your words pushing them away. You don’t have to be a poet or a researcher to understand that parents and adult children experience tension long after the child’s emancipation. Here are a few caveats from a University of Michigan Institute for Social Research study, which examined adult children over age 22 wh...
What’s the point of progress? It’s to improve our quality of life. This is a push-me, pull-you process, balancing the frustration of the inevitable glitches of new technology as compared with the comfort of the familiar. Sometimes the time is ripe for a new way of looking at things, and other times we find there are excellent old-fashioned solutions to be revisited. This yin and yang of new and old progress applies to two intriguing ideas I came across recently in the parallel laboratories of the university and the household. In the past few...
Do you prefer flavored water to slake your thirst? Many folks are repulsed by water – your temple’s most important nutrient. Today, grocery store shelves moan and groan from the weight of a constellation of flavor-enhanced water and juices. They might help us stay hydrated, but convenience has its cost. Water is more than hydrogen and oxygen; it’s the source of all life. Without fresh, clean, hydrating water and nutritious fresh fruit, we’d perish. Please, read labels. Avoid artificial colors, chemicals, flavors and preservatives because...
