Baby boomers are those born between 1946 and 1964, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That means they are in their 40s, 50s or early 60s, and have particular health needs. Here's how they can improve their well-being.
Cutting daily calorie intake by 30 percent may put the brakes on the aging process, have beneficial effects on the brain, and result in a longer life span, according to a new 20-year study of monkeys published in the journal Science.
When the swine flu burst onto the scene in April, the bug arrived with a few particularly ominous signs: The flu was resistant to a class of drugs often used to fight flu in the past, and experts were surprised that a nonhuman virus could have such rapid human-to-human transmission. Why was swine flu resistant to current medicines, and was this strain a new supergerm?
For years, Alfonso Torress-Cook followed the rules in his quest to eliminate hospital-acquired infections. Patients at his hospital received large doses of antibiotics and were scrubbed down with alcohol-based soaps, as he and his colleagues aimed to kill every bacterium possible. Search and destroy was the mantra.
If you're feeling down, it can be hard to tell if you're experiencing a temporary case of the blues or a serious depression. Now a group of researchers say there's a relatively easy way to figure out whether some young adults are at greater risk of psychiatric problems or drug abuse -- just ask about their family.
Debra Bader was taking a walk in the woods with her 53-year-old husband one morning when suddenly he collapsed. At first she thought the situation was hopeless.
It's been nine years since Kim and Curtis Christiansen were married. Since then they've had their ups and downs, but they've remained close. But when Curtis began snoring about three years ago, Kim began sleeping on the couch.
A government advisory panel voted Tuesday to recommend eliminating prescription drugs that combine acetaminophen with narcotics -- such as Vicodin and Percocet -- because of their risk for overdose and for severe liver injury.
As friends of pop star Michael Jackson discuss the role prescription drugs may have played in his Thursday death, the serious health problems that can be triggered by drug interactions are again in the spotlight.
A friend of mine had a houseguest recently who, while sipping a cup of tea at her kitchen table late at night, broke out into nasty-looking hives all over his back. A quick inspection found that a tick had burrowed its way into his skin. After removing it with a pair of tweezers, she whisked him to the emergency room.
This week it was reported that Steve Jobs, the CEO and cofounder of Apple, underwent a liver transplant two months ago. One detail concerning Jobs's transplant seemed odd: The surgery took place at a hospital in Tennessee, some 2,000 miles from Jobs' home in northern California. Why Tennessee?
Alternative treatments are as varied as the regions of the world they come from. And while they attract skepticism from some Western medical practitioners, they are an undeniable part of global health.
Five years from now, there's an excellent chance you won't have the same health insurance you have (or don't have) right now. That's because members of Congress are gearing up to reform the U.S. health care system, and unlike in 1993 when then-first lady Hillary Clinton tried her hand at changing the medical system, this time the important players -- doctors, insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers -- seem to be on board. You heard a lot about health care reform this week, and you'll be hearing even more in the months to come. It's an incredibly confusing, complex issue, so in this week's Empowered Patient, we break it down for you with 10 frequently asked questions about health care reform.
Want to keep your wits sharp as the years go by? You're not alone. Most people are worried about losing their memory as they age, and a new study shows it's a valid concern: In fact, at 53 percent -- more than half of all people -- have at least a minor mental decline in their 70s and 80s, and about 16 percent develop more serious problems with memory and other mental functions as they age.
This year, an estimated 1.5 million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Many people may chalk up that misfortune to overspending or a lavish lifestyle, but a new study suggests that more than 60 percent of people who go bankrupt are actually capsized by medical bills.
Hope Murray thought her prayers had been answered.
It's shortly after 5 a.m. when the phone rings, and on the line is a clearly anxious and worried parent.
Although it may have been Jon and Kate Gosselin's unusual family that landed them a reality show, it is their marital problems-- to which much of their audience can likely relate-- that have made them a household name in recent weeks.
When Tiffany Wilson noticed a small growth on her left hip, she didn't think much of it.
It's a Tuesday morning and Dr. Eric DeJonge is headed to work. But unlike most physicians, DeJonge's office is his car and his patients are waiting for him in their homes, not in a large waiting room.
Jack Schwartz, 8, has had seasonal allergy symptoms in the past, but his parents never needed to give him medication.
Women with breast cancer in the United States have an average age of 63 when they are diagnosed, and the disease is more common in older women than younger.
The average potency of marijuana, which has risen steadily for three decades, has exceeded 10 percent for the first time, the U.S. government will report on Thursday.
Nineteen-year-old Stuart Wald is not likely to grow out of his schizophrenia, bipolar disease and attention-deficit disorder. But he will, with 100 percent certainty, grow out of the health insurance coverage he has through his father's employer -- and that day is just a few years away.
Do you want to keep your vision clear as the years go by? Put fish, olive oil, and nuts on the menu, but stay away from trans fats, according to new research from Australia.
If you didn't catch the white coat and the stethoscope, you might take Dr. Mike Miller for a middle-aged rocker, roaming the halls of the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
I walk every day, eat a healthful diet, and have no diabetes in my immediate family. I'm not model skinny (truth be told, I've been known to pack on a few extra pounds), but I'm certainly not a couch potato or junk food addict. So, imagine my surprise when a routine blood test showed that my blood sugar was elevated and I was officially prediabetic.
Stephanie White is a skin cancer expert. At 41, she's had all three types of the condition: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma.
One day recently, Cynthia Newton's 12-year-old daughter asked her for help with homework, but Newton didn't want to help her, because she was too busy on Facebook. So her daughter went upstairs to her room and sent an e-mail asking her for help, but Newton didn't see the e-mail, because, well, she was too busy on Facebook.
If you're looking to curb your appetite and improve your memory, you're probably exercising, eating healthier foods and trying to get some sleep.
Doing the environmentally correct thing can be a challenge. After all, there aren't many of us who actually have the time or enterprise to compost or the spare cash to replace the washer, dryer, or other appliances with the latest energy-efficient models.
Smoking is a lot like Russian roulette: You never know who will end up developing lung cancer and who won't. But Dr. Jian-Min Yuan, as well as other researchers from the University of Minnesota, say they are one step closer to determining a smoker's risk for developing the disease. In a study, they tracked the carcinogen and nicotine levels in nearly 500 smokers through a simple urine test and discovered a link between the level of a specific carcinogen and lung cancer. Their findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research conference.
Every week, Jackie Kaminer of Roswell, Georgia, buys fish for dinner at the local market. Although she knows it's full of nutrients -- including good-for-your-heart omega-3 fatty acids -- she's careful of the types of fish she brings home.
Moderate exercise can help patients with failing hearts feel better -- and it's safe, according to the largest-ever study of exercise in people with chronic heart failure, published Tuesday as two articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
For many, springtime means revamping exercise regimens, improving appearance, reading more books, taking on a new hobby, and improving dietary habits.
75 percent of U.S. adults are projected to be overweight or obese by 2015, according to researchers. Americans consume anywhere from 150 to 300 more calories than they did three decades ago and half of those calories come from liquid. A new study out of John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that reducing liquid calories, especially from sugar-sweetened drinks such as punches, fruit juices and sodas, helps people lose weight and keep it off.
If you have a stash of pistachios in your house, pistachio ice cream in your freezer or trail mix in your backpack, don't eat any of it.
When it comes to educating about cardiovascular health, Rani Whitfield is proving that it's not only what you say but how you say it.
The bad economy and downturn in the housing market aren't the only painful things for Realtor Anne Stephens. Her knees, hips and ankles hurt from arthritis.
For years, Donna Mitchell has tried to lower her cholesterol through diet and exercise. She's had limited success.
Men who are circumcised are less likely to get sexually transmitted infections such as genital herpes and human papillomavirus (HPV), but not syphilis, according to a study of adult African men published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Burger lovers beware: People who eat red meat every day have a higher risk of dying over a 10-year period -- mostly because of cardiovascular disease or cancer --than their peers who eat less red or processed meat, according to a new study of about half a million people.
A new study indicates that African-Americans suffer heart failure at a rate 20 times higher than their white counterparts.
Ordinarily, walking on a treadmill is no big deal for Carol Elam -- except when she's dressed in a hospital gown and attached to a heart monitor.
Amanda Wagner and Jessica Tuttle turn 50 this year, but they're not letting age hold them back from their favorite exercise: running. They've been lacing up their running shoes since their teens and show few signs of slowing down. Research on older runners suggests they may not have to.
Americans love to take their vitamins. More than 150 million Americans take dietary supplements according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a supplement industry trade group.
Dr. Jack Rodman's heart sank when he heard the news: One of his elderly patients with a heart condition had a stroke because she couldn't afford the medicines he'd prescribed her.
Obesity shaves two to four years off the average lifespan, while being very obese can shorten your lifespan by 8 to 10 years, according to a new analysis of 57 studies including nearly 900,000 people.
Pancreatic cancer patients who are obese may be 12 times more likely to have cancer that's already spread to their lymph nodes at the time of surgery than similar cancer patients who weigh less, according to a study released Monday in the Archives of Surgery.
Eighty-year-old Margie Graf is a health care success story, representing the kind of disease-preventing, cost-saving treatment the Obama administration envisions as it seeks to expand Americans' access to doctors.
CNN correspondent Sean Callebs has just finished a long assignment: living on food stamps during all of February. He tracked his experiences on the American Morning blog.
Do you remember the scene in the movie "Something's Gotta Give" where Jack Nicholson's character lies about Viagra to a doctor in the emergency room?
Been squinting a lot lately? Have to move your magazine six inches away from your eyes to read it? Vision problems creep up on you as you age. But good habits -- not unlike the ones you've already established to protect your heart, bones, and brain -- can help keep your eyes healthy. Try these simple tips to safeguard your vision now and for years to come.
On a recent afternoon, Pamela Rinchich quietly recalled how her cancer doctor abruptly canceled an appointment. Rinchich owed $268 from a previous visit: She didn't have the money and the doctor refused to see her until she paid.
Mark Wooten, 41, was devastated when his supervisor told him in November that he was being laid off from his job as a forklift operator in Norfolk, Virginia. It was the first time in his adult life he'd been out of work; just a month earlier, he and his wife, Caprice, had moved into a new apartment with their two 15-year-old daughters.
Erin Krebs, M.D., once had a patient who spent the first eight minutes of his appointment telling her everything that was wrong with the past four primary care doctors he'd seen -- including one she knew personally and considers a "lovely person." "We know that doctors are not perfect," said Krebs, an assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine. "But it's not a good start to spend a lot of time complaining about the past."
Attention, libation lovers: Middle-aged women who indulge in just a few alcohol-containing drinks each day may have a higher risk of cancer than those who drink less often, according to a report released Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The names of the weight-loss supplements say it all: 7 Day Herbal Slim, 2 Day Diet, and even 24 Hours Diet. Those are just three of dozens of different brands touted as all-natural ways to shed pounds, and lose them super fast.
If your pants feel tighter than usual, you might begin to suspect that you've gained a couple of pounds. But at what point should you begin to worry that the weight gain is serious? Could you be one of the approximately two-thirds of American adults who are either overweight or obese, with an increased risk for conditions like diabetes and heart disease? While no single measurement is perfect, here are a few ways to size yourself up.
Dr. John Di Saia was playing baseball with his son a few weeks ago, and just as he rounded second base, he tumbled to the ground, breaking his fall with his elbow.
Brain scans may identify which patients suffering from mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, are likely to progress to Alzheimer's disease, and who will probably not develop the disease, according to a new study. The findings, published in April 2009 issue of the journal Radiology, could help in developing new drugs for Alzheimer's. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, about 3.5 million have mild cognitive impairment.
Key structural changes have been identified in the brain images of some patients with mild cognitive impairment which could help determine who's at greatest risk for developing Alzheimer's disease.
Christina McMenemy's husband called her on a Monday afternoon last June to say he was coming home early. She was overjoyed -- some extra, unexpected time with her husband on a lovely summer day.
Two years ago, Karen Daniel was wider around than she was tall.
Having a CT scan of the heart to check for heart disease? You may want to ask how your hospital plans to conduct the test. A new study suggests that people who get the common heart test can get a dramatic range of radiation exposures.
Concerns about alcohol abuse have been making headlines this week.
For years after his NFL career ended, Ted Johnson could barely muster the energy to leave his house.
Lorna Irungu sits on a hospital bed looking extremely frail. She has lupus and her kidneys continue to fail.
Barbara Rademacher of Rogers, Arkansas, has found that she loves to document events on camera. Now, she's turning the camera around and focusing on improving herself for 2009.
Only about one in 10 workers who lose their job opt to keep their employer-sponsored health insurance through the safety-net program COBRA, most likely because the premiums are too expensive, according to an analysis released Friday by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that supports independent research on health care issues.
Stacey Rosenberg, a former marketing manger in Boston, knows the catastrophic feeling of a layoff. She has lost her job twice in the midst of the recession.
People with a stable mood and better capacity to handle stressful situations without anxiety have a reduced risk of developing dementia, according to a study published this week in the journal Neurology.
Americans are living longer because the air they breathe is getting cleaner, a new study suggests. The average drop in pollution seen across 51 metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2000 appears to have added nearly five more months to people's lives, according to a study published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
At 90, Melvin Seeman's daily objective is to enjoy every moment of life to its fullest.
In the midst of a frantic week in September filled with auditions and deadlines, New York casting director Michael Cassara had zero down time. So one day, when he felt a sore throat coming on, Cassara had his doctor beamed into his office.
You have access to more nutrition information than ever -- from magazines like Cooking Light to the Internet, newspapers, and television. When you add to that the hype about fad diets, the resulting information overload creates more confusion than clarity.
Famed for keeping people slim, healthy and living longer, the Mediterranean diet has followers all over the world.
Smoking is bad for you, and by now, most of us know it.
A new study by Canadian researchers, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that colonoscopies are still very effective in detecting colorectal cancer, but they're only good at doing so in cancers found on the left side of the colon, not on the right side.
Previous studies suggested that taking certain vitamins might lower the risk of getting prostate cancer. However, two new studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that men taking these supplements were just as likely to develop prostate cancer as those who weren't taking them.
Jeff Walker says from as far back as he can remember, he always wanted to be a father.
Many older adults in the United States are taking a confusing combination of medications, some prescribed by doctors and others picked up over-the-counter or in health food stores.
It's no secret that cold and flu season peaks in winter. And if you're looking for ways to stay well, one priority, say experts, is simple: Follow a wholesome diet, just as you should any time of year. But that can be a tall order during the busy holiday season, when hectic social schedules and family commitments often interfere with regular meals.
Women who have used the bone-building drug Fosamax are nearly twice as likely to develop the most common kind of chronically irregular heartbeat as those who have never used it. Patients, especially those with family history of heart problems, should talk to their doctor about whether the drug is the appropriate option for them. The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in April 2008.
Americans spend billions of dollars a year on supplements in hopes of making up for the lack of nutrients in our diets, staying healthy, looking young and extending our lifespan. But do they actually work? The National Institutes of Health doesn't specifically recommend any daily supplements because there is no research or studies that show unequivocally that a specific supplement works. However, there have been studies that prove certain supplements do not work, such as ginko (to help memory) and echinacea (to ward off a cold). There are a few dietary supplements that show some benefits: calcium supplements and vitamin D (to reduce the risk of osteoporosis), omega 3 supplements (to reduce the risk of heart disease) and folic acid supplements (to prevent major birth defects).
Age-related macular degeneration is a baby-boomer disease that, according to the American Medical Association, affects more than 10 million Americans. It is one of the leading causes of blindness for people over age 65. A study published in the July 2007 issue of Archives of Ophthalmology found that current smokers are four times more likely to develop this eye problem than nonsmokers.
Nearly one in five people in the U.S. has some form of osteoarthritis. The condition, which can affect joints, can cause severe pain and limit mobility. Arthroscopic surgery is a common form of treatment for OA of the knee, but studies on its effectiveness have shown varying results. A new study finds that arthroscopic surgery may not be the answer for many patients with OA of the knee.
Two of the most common diseases in the United States -- cancer and diabetes -- are not often linked together in the public mind. But they may have a stronger link than most people think. Cancer patients who already have diabetes have a greater chance of dying of the disease than cancer patients who do not have the blood-sugar disorder, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In early October, Starla Darling was just days away from giving birth to her second child. The 27-year-old mother from Polk, Ohio, had a well-paying job with good health insurance at the Archway Cookie plant in nearby Ashland.
Want to avoid a heart attack or stroke? In addition to well-known risk factors like diet and exercise, you may want to keep an eye on your vitamin D levels too.
Men who want to reduce their prostate cancer risk shouldn't bother popping antioxidant vitamins and supplements, according to two of the largest trials ever conducted on vitamins and cancer prevention.
On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Barb Lighthall was walking into church when her feet slipped out from under her and she hit her head on the parking lot's black ice.
A study says eating too much red meat can increase your chance of getting conditions that lead to heart disease and diabetes. Middle-aged people who ate at least two servings of meat per day increased their risk of metabolic syndrome by 26 percent. The research was published in the January 22, 2008, issue of Circulation.
A Mayo Clinic study, announced in January 2008, details an unprecedented method to predict brain aging disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, called ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, and Parkinson's disease. Investigators identified several gene mutations that predicted which people are at high risk for ALS and Parkinson's, which afflicts a million Americans. People with one set of genetic mutations were 2,000 times more likely than normal to develop ALS. Those with the other set are 400 times more likely than normal to suffer from Parkinson's disease. Researchers say this approach may be used to predict other complex diseases such as Alzheimer's, strokes, diabetes and cancer. They say, for example, if a test is developed that predicts someone is at high risk for diabetes, that person can change his or her behavior through exercise and diet to prevent the disease.
Prostate cancer is the second leading cancer killer in men. More than 200,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year alone. But an article in the November 1, 2007, issue of the journal Cancer says that certain dietary factors affect the development of the disease. The authors, Dr. Neil Fleshner and Dr. Alexandre Zlotta from the University of Toronto, say there is promising data to indicate that soy, selenium, green tea and other compounds may help prevent the disease.
The popular herb ginkgo biloba does not reduce the risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease, according to a study of more than 1,500 elderly patients who took the supplement. Often touted as a way to preserve aging memories, no large-scale, randomized clinical trial -- until now -- has thoroughly evaluated the safety and effectiveness of ginkgo biloba extract as a way to prevent dementia.
Peppermint oil, soluble fiber, and antispasmodic drugs can indeed help people with irritable bowel syndrome, according to an analysis of 25 years of research on the condition, which is characterized by bouts of diarrhea and constipation.
Everyone knows that being overweight increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer, but new research reveals that even normal-weight people aren't scot-free. A European study suggests that people with belly fat -- even if they're at a healthy weight -- have a higher risk of dying during a 10-year period than their same-weight peers without a spare tire. The report was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Americans love to take their vitamins. More than 150 million Americans take dietary supplements according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a supplement industry trade group.
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