Two keys to strong bones: Calcium and Vitamin D

Although bone-weakening osteoporosis is quite common among older people, it isn't an inevitable part of aging. There's a lot you can do to shield your bones from this disease.

The best insurance against osteoporosis is building the highest bone density possible by your 30s and minimizing bone loss after that. But if you're already in midlife or beyond, there is still much you can do to preserve the bone you have and perhaps even to replace lost bone. Daily weight-bearing exercise, like walking, is the best medicine. Getting enough calcium and vitamin D are two other critical strategies for keeping bones strong.

Calcium

Calcium is an important nutrient for building bone and slowing the pace of bone loss. But it's not a single magic bullet, and some scientists suggest that too much calcium or dairy products may be unhealthy. Keep in mind that in addition to calcium, there are other nutrients and foods that help keep your bones strong — most importantly vitamin D, but also vitamin K.

How much calcium? The recommended daily intake for calcium is 1,000 milligrams (mg) a day for adults up through age 50 and 1,200 mg a day for people ages 51 and older, when bone loss accelerates. With age, the intestines absorb less calcium from the diet, and the kidneys seem to be less efficient at conserving calcium. As a result, your body can steal calcium from bone for a variety of important metabolic functions.

Because some research suggest that high calcium intake may increase the risk of prostate cancer, men should avoid taking calcium supplements or taking too many calcium-rich antacids.

Vitamin D

In building bone, calcium has an indispensable assistant: vitamin D. This vitamin helps the body absorb calcium, and some researchers think that increasing vitamin D can help prevent osteoporosis. Milk sold in the United States is fortified with vitamin D. Vitamin D is also prevalent in fortified breakfast cereals, eggs, and vitamin supplements. Some brands of yogurt are fortified with it, as well as some juices.

If possible, a small amount of sun exposure can help your body manufacture its own vitamin D — about five to 30 minutes of sunlight between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. twice a week to your face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen will enable you to make enough of the vitamin. People with fair skin that burns easily should protect themselves from skin cancer by limiting sun exposure to 10 minutes or less.

Food and sun exposure should suffice, but if not, some experts advise getting 1,000 IU of vitamin D daily from a supplement.

 Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.

SLEEPING MORE AND THE RISK OF DEMENTIA

Older persons who begin sleeping more than nine hours a night may face a higher risk of dementia down the road, a new study suggests. The researchers estimated that the risk of dementia grew by almost 2.5 times for those who found themselves recently needing extra sleep. The chances of dementia rose sixfold for people without a high school degree who suddenly needed to sleep nine hours or more, the study contended. The study authors said this finding hinted that education might somehow offer a bit of protection from dementia.

People with dementia often suffer from disrupted sleep, “but we don’t know much about whether these changes come first,” said study co-author Matthew Pase. He’s a neurology fellow at the Boston University School of Medicine.

Dementia “is by no means a certain fate” in those who find themselves sleeping longer as they age, Pase said. The new study only found an association between added sleep and dementia, not cause and effect. Still, Pase thinks monitoring sleep habits might be a good idea in certain cases. “If someone reported recently becoming a longer sleeper, they could undergo a memory assessment,” he suggested.

Past research in this area compared people who already had dementia to those who didn’t have it, instead of tracking people over time, he noted. The new study tried a different strategy, Pase said. “We asked a very basic question: How does one’s sleep duration relate to being diagnosed with clinical dementia in the future?”

The researchers looked at seniors in the Framingham Heart Study, which has tracked people and their descendants in a Massachusetts community since 1948. The researchers followed two groups of older people — all over 60 — from 1986-1990 and 1998-2001 onward. Nearly 2,500 people were included in the study. Their average age was 72. Fifty-seven percent were women. Over 10 years, 10 percent of the participants were diagnosed with dementia, with the wide majority thought to have Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers didn’t find any heightened dementia risk in people who’d been sleeping nine or more hours a night for more than an average of 13 years.

But those who’d begun sleeping more than nine hours recently had nearly double the risk of dementia compared to other people — 20 percent of the new long-sleepers were diagnosed with dementia.

These people also appeared to have smaller brain volumes, Pase said. Pase said it appears that the extra sleep is a sign of something else, not a direct cause of dementia. It could indicate chemical changes that are happening in the brain, he said. Or, he said, the development of dementia could make people more tired. Dementia tests may be appropriate for older people who notice they’re sleeping longer, Pase said. But he doesn’t recommend people try to wake up earlier.

“They shouldn’t restrict sleep,” he said. “There are no implications for treatment based on our findings.” Dr. Jiu-Chiuan Chen is an associate professor with the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He wasn’t involved with the study, but said the research seems valid. Chen agreed that there’s no need to offer any special treatment to older people who start to sleep over nine hours, because it’s not yet clear what’s going on.

The study appeared Feb. 22 in the journal Neurology. Article courtesy of © 2017 HealthDay.

6 Ways Sleep Deprivation is slowly destroying Your Health

Oftentimes we rely on coffee and a miracle to get us up and out the door in the morning. But when this becomes an everyday deal, your body may be in trouble. We may not notice if we get lack of sleep because our schedules are so jam packed that we have no other options. Catching a few extra z’s in the morning may mean skipping breakfast, skipping a workout, or not waking up to take your kids to school — not exactly options. We may even get used to the side effects of no sleep that we are unaware just how ingrained they’ve become in our daily lives. This includes: mood swings, diminished productivity, weight gain, puffy eyes and face, no sex drive, and drowsiness.

Combined lack of sleep from a tight schedule to lack of sleep from our computers, phones, TVs and any other screens we stare at during the day. A story in The New York Times reports that blue-spectrum light, the light that is emitted from energy-efficient light bulbs as well as electronic gadgets, actually inhibits our production of melatonin. So while we scroll through Instagram or Facebook on our phones immediately before falling asleep, we are actually hurting the chances of getting a good night’s rest.

Living with no sleep is detrimental to our health and, quite possibly, our longevity. Read on to see how skimping on sleep is sabotaging your health, and what you can do to turn your bad sleep habits around.
1.      You could develop serious depression

Adults need seven to nine hours of sleep per night, but the average American often falls short. When we lack sleep we are increasing our risk for depression because normal sleep is a restorative state. When we lose sleep, we are more irritable and have more tension, which can cause stress in our jobs and relationships. When we are irritable and unhappy, we workout less. Lack of activity is related to mood swings and other mood problems. This vicious cycle can lead to a very depressive life.

2.      Memory loss

When we are tired, we often stumble on our words, put the keys in the refrigerator or mess up simple daily tasks because we fail to pay attention. Sleep deprivation can actually lead to permanent cognitive issues, at least according to one study. A story about the research in ScienceDaily says, “However, in older adults, memories may be getting stuck in the hippocampus due to the poor quality of deep ‘slow wave’ sleep, and are then overwritten by new memories, the findings suggest.” Our brain can literally deteriorate the less sleep we get, especially as we age.

3.      Increased risk of stroke

Many equate risk of stroke to a sedentary lifestyle filled with other vices like cigarettes and fatty foods. Yes, this is true. But those who get fewer than six hours of sleep per night may be four times as likely to have a stroke.

4.      Hurt your heart

Another study in 2011 showed that lack of sleep can actually increase the risk of strokes and heart attacks. Also the stress of too little sleep can cause the body to release more chemicals and hormones that lead to heart disease.

5.      Increased cancer risk

People who sleep less than six hours a night are at a greater risk for cancer. One study showed that a shorter duration of sleep significantly increases the risk of colorectal cancer. Less than six hours of sleep also showsan increased recurrence of breast cancer, especially among post-menopausal breast cancer patients

6.      Kill you at young age

This is the scariest of them all. There’s been a lot of research about the link between mortality and sleep deprivation, and the news is not good for those who aren’t getting enough rest. According to a meta-analysis, those who get the least amount of sleep are more likely to die.

Is it too late? No! Make it a priority to get more sleep each night. Put your phone down, go to sleep at the same time every night and wake up at the same time, eat healthy, drink water, and stay positive. It’s never too late to start a healthy habit and reset your internal clock.

Article courtesy of Harvard Health publications

 

 

ANOTHER WAY TO THINK ABOUT DEMENTIA

While Alzheimer's disease continues to be the most recognized type of dementia, older men should also be mindful about the second most common: vascular dementia.

In vascular dementia, memory problems result from damage to large and small blood vessels in the brain. It develops when cholesterol-clogged blood vessels can't deliver enough oxygen to the brain. Small blockages deprive some brain cells of oxygen, which causes a series of small strokes that kill brain cells. This can lead to episodes of confusion, slurred speech, and problems thinking or remembering.

"About 15% to 20% of dementia cases in older adults are vascular dementia," says Dr. Anand Viswanathan, associate professor of neurology at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. "However, the brain damage is often so small and subtle that most people don't notice it."

Vascular dementia gets confused with normal aging since symptoms can mirror "senior moments," like forgetting a name or just-learned information. Adding to the confusion, trademark signs of dementia like memory loss are not always present, as they are with Alzheimer's. And some symptoms of vascular dementia may be more prominent than others depending on the area and extent of brain damage. For instance, you may have difficulty calculating numbers, while your critical thinking and planning skills remain fine.

Risk factors and treatment

If you or anyone in your family notices these symptoms, see your doctor for a complete evaluation. Brain imaging can often detect blood vessel problems characteristic of vascular dementia. Several factors put people at a greater risk. These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease. Your risk also rises if you are overweight or smoke. Symptoms of vascular dementia can stay the same or worsen over time, but once the damage is done, treatment options are limited. Drugs available for Alzheimer's are sometimes helpful, but at best they offer temporary and modest protection of thinking skills and memory.

Good for heart and brain

The best treatment for vascular dementia continues to be prevention. "What is good for the heart tends to also be good for the brain," says Dr. Viswanathan. "Since the risk factors for vascular dementia are heart-related, adopting many heart-healthy habits like losing weight and not smoking may offer the best protection." Here are some other suggestions:

Reduce high blood pressure. A study published online May 10, 2016, by Stroke reviewed the medical records of more than four million people and found that high blood pressure was associated with a 26% higher risk of vascular dementia from ages 51 to 70. Your doctor can suggest dietary changes to help lower blood pressure, or prescribe medication, if needed.

Lower cholesterol with statins.

High levels of "bad" low-density lipoprotein cholesterol can increase your risk of stroke. A study in the Nov. 19, 2016 issue of The Lancet predicted that cholesterol-lowering statin therapy could lower the absolute risk of a stroke among an average man in his 60s from 8% to 6.5% over a 10-year period. The drugs also are effective at reducing the risk of a recurring stroke. (Consult your doctor about whether statins may be an option.)

Exercise more. Researchers writing in the 2016 Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences tracked 2,000 people, ages 60 or older, for 10 years and found an association between higher physical activity and a lower risk for dementia. Specifically, they found that physical activity affected the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain involved with short-term memory.

Dr. Viswanathan recommends adding moderate-intensity exercise to your routine, either daily or several times a week. "It could vary from walking a mile a day to playing tennis to cycling," he says. "Tailor it to your interests, which can help you stay motivated."

 

Watch the alcohol. Alcohol intake has a mixed message for vascular dementia. On one hand, a glass of red wine can relax blood vessels and thus improve circulation. However, excessive amounts of alcohol can trigger atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heartbeat that can increase your risk of stroke by five times, according to the American Stroke Association. "For most older men, just a single serving of alcohol per day can offer the cardiovascular benefits they need," says Dr. Viswanathan.

Stay mentally engaged. Your brain is like a muscle. "Working the mind can improve brain blood flow similar to how exercise stimulates blood flow in muscles," says Dr. Viswanathan. Try to stimulate your mind on a regular basis: solve word puzzles, play card games, or learn a new skill.

Article courtesy of Harvard Health publications