Weekly News

• Anesthesia: A very good article involving a side effect of surgery was offered in the Wall Street Journal. Many of you may have heard that after surgery people may have some confusion. In fact, it is more delirium, a very serious and expectedly reversible condition. what researchers are finding is that the condition is related to duration and depth of sedation. It is also less fleeting that originally thought. I have seen the phenomena in my professional work and it was as if the person described in the article was the person I had worked with, when in fact, it was not. Some best practice guidelines are promoting a change in the ICU in response to increased problems. What I wanted to add here is that when the statement was made that the problem is worse with older patients it was NOT because they were older it was because they - "multiple risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic heart failure...." That is just one more reason for you to choose a health promoting life style. The pills or interventions may keep you alive but that doesn't mean you'll feel like being here.
• Healthy Everywhere: How can you eat well where you live, work, worship, learn and play? By setting the example yourself. We do model the behavior of those around us, especially if the “others” are esteemed by us. It’s a simple bit of social norming and you might as well be the one to start. If you’re a program manager it is almost derelict not to. People can eat poorly if they choose, however, if meetings and office events provide fruits and veggies then it will likely permeate church and social events as well. So eat low calorie high nutrient foods in reasonable amounts through out the day vs. sitting down to high fat high cal meals once or twice a day that leave you overloaded, lethargic and lazy.
• Continued Physical Activity: The major players in sports medicine are gearing more services towards older persons who are physically active and wish to remain so. Persons like my mother (78) and many of my running pals who are 60+. Some colleges and health organizations are looking at those over 50 even some 40 somethings. The goal is to keep this already fit cohort in the shape they are used to. It will certainly reduce health and nursing home costs for them! It is in keeping with my personal goal to live an active life until I am dropped into the grave. I do not aspire so much to run marathons or win races, but to avoid an early death or an incapacitating slow one. What appears to be a common theme in the field is that cardio activities should continue, balance training should be added and attention to the messages from ones body adhered to. That last bit is to avoid injury because apparently no matter the fitness level, the older body does need more time to recuperate.
• Social Marketing: Here is interesting food for thought from a presentation I attended this past week. More often than not, when a company presents a new and improved version of its well known product we run out and buy it. Think Windows Programs, new running shoes, shampoos, etc. (we get pissed when it’s a new version that costs a fortune and the other one has barely been used, but that is the exception yes?) We don’t generally get MAD at them for using the newest science and advances in technology right, because we want the better product. So how come we get so damn bent out of shape when the researchers tell us that they learned the key for longer life and it’s eating this food and exercising this way. So what it was low carb yesterday, they LEARNED more about that, they were wrong, this is better… Would you rather that the nutritionists didn’t tell you that meat and potatoes could be related to heart disease? Would you rather not know that wheat bread is easier on the pancreas and that smoking in fact will kill you? Maybe you would rather be oblivious, but then, well, why the heck are you reading my blog! Ha ha
• The Pilling of America Rages On: Before I go off on this again, I have to tell you that people I love very much take pills to keep their blood thin, their cancer away and their blood pressure down. These medications may protect their system from the damage that high blood pressure and plaque could cause and I am grateful to the scientists who created these drugs. Would they and I wish they rather not need them, OF COURSE> They are expensive, they interact with other things and they have side effects. This week we hear more about Avandia (diabetes drug) and heart attack risk, we hear that the anti clotting or blood thinning drug that would compete with Plavix is stuttering in trials. Plavix itself is doubling the net income for its maker. The drug makers are working on drugs that one takes FOREVER, to prevent that second heart attack for example. I cannot promise you that watching your weight AND your nutrition, (choosing what you put in your body) while also engaging in daily exercise of some sort will keep you from getting ill, but I can tell you that in aggregate, that in groups of people, that is exactly what proper nutrition, weight and exercise does. It prevents the FIRST heart attack. And if I have one, don’t you dare use that to keep you from living well, because my point is still that in general and in groups, the norm is NOT that people who live well have heart attacks.
  
  Well? Get up and go do something. :)
  As I wish you wellness