Women’s Health Category
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
Other research suggests the health benefits of social support. One study, published in the journal Cancer, followed 61 women with advanced ovarian cancer. The women with lots of social support had much lower levels of a protein linked to more aggressive types of cancer, and higher levels of a protein that boosted the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
In 1989, David Spiegel, MD, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, published an influential paper in Lancet, showing that women with breast cancer who participated in a support group lived twice as long as those who didn’t and reported much less pain. Sheldon Cohen, PhD, a psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University, has shown that strong social support helps people cope with stress. Other studies have demonstrated that less connected people tend to die sooner after having a heart attack than people with a strong social network and that having a large social network may even reduce chances of catching a cold, even though you’re probably exposed to more viruses when spending lots of time with others.
“Friends help you face adverse events,” Dr. Sheldon Cohen says. “They provide material aid, emotional support, and information that helps you deal with the stressors. There may be broader effects as well. Friends encourage you to take better care of yourself. And people with wider social networks are higher in self-esteem, and they feel they have more control over their lives.”
Take advantage of these findings by increasing your social network! There are plenty of people out there to strike up a friendship with and plenty of health benefits to look forward to as your friendships blossom.
Tina Turbin
Tags: Advice, Friendship, girlfriends, Health, tina turbin, Tina Turbin researcher, Women's Health
Posted in Advice, Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, Friendship, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Natural Alternatives, Relationships, Women's Health, Women's Issues | 26 Comments »
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
Step climbing is a great way to exercise for heart health while taking it easy on your joints. If you own a stair-climbing machine at home, you can use it while watching your favorite TV programs instead of sitting on the couch. You can also climb real stairs. This can be convenient for people who work in a large office building, as they can bring their tennis shoes and fit in a thirty-minute workout during lunchtime. Another alternative is to use a step platform and use it with a low-impact step aerobics DVD. Make sure to choose a DVD that’s specifically geared toward low-impact.
Tina Turbin
Tags: Baby Boomers, Exercise, Health, low-impact exercise, stairclimbing, tina turbin, Women's Health
Posted in Advice, Author, Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, Exercise, Health, Motherhood, Women's Health | 31 Comments »
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
What should you look for in a good friend whose companionship will bring health and happiness to you instead of just raising your blood pressure? There are a few things you should ask yourself before befriending someone. First of all, make sure to choose a friend who has positive things to say to you. Every once in a while, a good friend may need to tell you something that might be tough to hear—“hard truths”—but these remarks should be very infrequent and you should generally walk away after spending time with them feeling better about yourself.
Also, look for friends who are living life in a responsible manner. Otherwise, the stress of their own lives due to their bad habits and poor decisions will surely stress you out. Nobody is perfect, but avoid befriending people who are making bad life decisions such as abusing drugs, having extramarital affairs, and engaging in criminal activity, for instance. Every once in a while, a good friend may make a bad decision; this doesn’t mean you should abandon the friendship, but help them instead. However, my best advice is that if you meet someone and find right off the bat that his life is out of control, it’s best to refer him to help and save your energy for friends who are overall positively contributing to society.
Having lots of friends can boost your immune system, help you survive longer after a heart attack, fight serious illnesses such as cancer, and increase your life span. With such positive advantages, you should make sure to increase your number of friends, but also keep in mind the importance of avoiding stressful, low-quality friendship and seeking out positive companionship.
Tina Turbin
Tags: Aging, anti-aging, Baby Boomers, Friendship, girlfriends, Health, tina turbin, Women's Health
Posted in Advice, Baby Boomers, Friendship, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Natural Alternatives, Relationships, Women's Health, Women's Issues | 27 Comments »
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
A woman asked about any relationship to her celiac disease and her fatty liver infiltration as well as low blood platelets. Here are some references to read about this as well as some advice worth looking into if this is a concern of yours.
A big cause of fatty liver is thought to be fructose http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18395287
Soft drinks have been looked at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19765850
CD can cause elevated liver enzymes and liver disease http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com/liverdisease2
Another reference: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/175472-overview
One lady wrote in and shared all this: I can tell you that two celiac friends of mine had low platelets and they both improved with taking vitamin K, the natural one not the synthetic one, 1 capsule a day (I think it is 100 MICROgrams). Within a few months their blood tests came back up. Possibly try the vitamin K but not if you have a clotting disorder. It is only the MDR dose anyway you would get in a multiple vitamin and is going to be a lot safer than some chemo drug.
I’m pretty sure I read that fatty liver is a deficiency problem, something like inositol. You aren’t going to get this info from an MD, you’ll have to go search on the net or look in some really good nutrition/alternative
medicine books.
I’m not sure if you know this, but low platelets can be called”idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura” or “immune” t.p. Google will bring lots of info, some of it old. I think the immune name is newer, because I think they now think it’s an autoimmune disease.
Hope this helps! Tina Turbin
Tags: celiac, celiac disease, gluten, gluten allergies, tina turbin
Posted in Advice, Gluten-Free, Health, References, Uncategorized, Women's Health | 16 Comments »
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010
Start looking at the glass half-full! Keeping oneself in a good mood is likely to stretch your life span. Studies show that people with a positive way of looking at things—even just regarding the aging process—can increase their life span by seven years. Stress and negativity can lead to overall bad health, affecting the heart, immune system, and endocrine system. Choose whatever healthy mood-boosters you know work for you—such as reading a good book, baking cookies, or taking a relaxing bath.
Tags: Advice, Baby Boomers, Health, immune system, mood-boosting, relaxation, stress, tina turbin, Women's Health
Posted in Advice, Author, Baby Boomers, Exercise, Friendship, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Natural Alternatives, Women's Health | 32 Comments »
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
Having friends certainly makes you feel good. Now studies are showing that they may in fact be good for you! According to a recent Australian study, there’s evidence that friends may actually help your life last longer.
The study, which was conducted by the Centre for Ageing Studies at Flinders University, followed about 1500 older people for 10 years and found that those with a large network of friends were outliving those with the fewest friends by 22 percent. By contrast, close relationships with children and relatives had almost no effect on longevity. Lynne C. Giles, one of the researchers, emphasized that family ties are important; they just seem to have little effect on longevity.
So why is this? Good friends are there to discourage you from unhealthy behavior, such as excessive drinking and smoking, and to encourage a healthy lifestyle by supporting you in activities such as following a balanced diet and exercising. The companionship they offer is also important in fighting stress, depression, and low self-esteem, Their emotional support can back you up in taking healthy risks such as going back to school for a degree in a new field, opening a business, or having children, all of which can vastly improve the quality of life and thus decrease overall stress.
Tina Turbin
Tags: Aging, anti-aging, Baby Boomers, Friendship, girlfriends, Health, longevity, quality of life, tina turbin, Tina Turbin researcher, women, Women's Health, women's issues
Posted in Advice, Baby Boomers, Friendship, Health, High Quality of Life, Natural Alternatives, Relationships, Women's Health, Women's Issues | 29 Comments »
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
Recently, I’ve begun talking about how important it is for women to maintain balanced hormones as they age. Hormones are essential to every cell in the body. When they’re out of balance, you yourself are out of balance!
Getting more sleep is the most effective way of naturally increasing growth hormones. Usually seven to eight hours of sleep is sufficient. Go to bed a little earlier or get up later by getting certain morning activities out of the way the night before, such as showering and packing your lunch before bed.
A diet change is also an effective way to change the balance of your hormones. Eliminate all artificial sweeteners, making sure to take fish oil and vitamins D, B and CoQ10 in your daily supplements, and avoiding foods that stress your adrenals such as alcohol and caffeine. As you age, you may also need to begin avoiding dairy and wheat products, as the body can becomes less able to process them, causing physical stress. I maintain a gluten-free diet and find that my hormonal levels have benefited from this diet change.
Exercise helps to stimulate the body’s production of hormones, making you feel better. Going for fast-paced walks for at least thirty minutes three times a week can make a big difference, especially if you’re usually sedentary.
It is becoming clearer with increased research that hormone levels have a lot to do with how a person feels physically, mentally, and emotionally. It’s also becoming clear that not regulating these hormones can have serious effects on your health and well-being. Try these natural remedies to bring balance to your hormones!
Tina Turbin
Tags: Aging, Baby Boomers, diet, Exercise, Health, hormonal imbalance, hormones, nutition, tina turbin, Tina Turbin researcher, vitamins, Women's Health, women's issues
Posted in Advice, Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, Exercise, Health, Natural Alternatives, Women's Health, Women's Issues | 26 Comments »
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
The National Sleep Foundation offers a few tips which I’ll pass along. First, make sure bedtime is a routine and relaxing affair; keep your bedroom quiet, dark, and cool. Make sure to exercise regularly, but make sure you don’t exercise in the evenings, as this can interfere with your ability to fall asleep. Next, avoid caffeine for at least eight hours and alcohol for a few hours before you go to sleep. You may not think your cola from dinner at five o’clock is disrupting your sleep at midnight; not only can it prevent you from falling asleep, but it can interrupt your sleep throughout the night. Finally, make your bedroom your bedroom, removing work, paperwork, computers, and the TV; by associating your bedroom only with sleep, you’ll find it much easier to get a good night’s sleep.
I truly believe that the quality of your sleep determines the quality of your waking life. Just as you can’t afford to not eat right and exercise, it’s imperative to handle any sleep problems you may be having.
Tina Turbin
Tags: Advice, Baby Boomers, diet, Exercise, Health, helpful tips, nutrition, sleep, tina turbin, Tina Turbin researcher, Women's Health
Posted in Advice, Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, Exercise, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Natural Alternatives, Women's Health, Women's Issues | 13 Comments »
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
First, remember that it’s never too late to start. No matter your age or your fitness level, you can get started now and soon see your work pay off. Remember, though, to check with your doctor before starting an exercise regime if you’re currently experiencing any health conditions such as high blood pressure.
Start off gently. In your first workouts, remember you’re a beginner and don’t overdo it. Start off by warming up and stretching every time you exercise, and gently cool off after each work out as well.
Find what works for you. What really gets you going? Do you like to go for a jog with the dogs and reflect upon your day, or do you prefer competitive games with others such as one-on-one basketball? There are a variety of ways to get exercise, and every woman is different—going to the gym, doing laps in your pool, or working out to DVDs. Discovering the ways you love to get active can be lots of fun.
Studies show that keeping variety in your exercise is the key to keeping your body challenged and keeping you interested in working out. How would you like to eat the same thing for dinner every night? Exercise isn’t very different.
Make sure to have a high-protein snack of about 200 calories before your workout in order to stay energized, and drink water before, during, and after your workout. Taking your multi-vitamin and supplements such as calcium and magnesium will deliver to the body the nutrients it needs for exercise. A healthy diet and exercise go hand in hand.
With the above tips, soon you’ll be enjoying a regular exercise regimen just like I do—as well as the incredible benefits such as increased happiness, more energy, and improved self-esteem.
Tina Turbin
Tags: Advice, anti-aging, Baby Boomers, Exercise, Health, helpful tips, tina turbin, tips, Women's Health
Posted in Advice, Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, Exercise, Goals, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Natural Alternatives, Women's Health, Women's Issues | 15 Comments »
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
If you’ve been keeping up with me for a while, you’ve probably heard me mention and quote the benefits of a GF multivitamin on the gluten-free diet. After all, it’s common sense health advice. Now there’s scientific evidence that shows that taking a daily multivitamin also increases longevity!
The study in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that with a daily vitamin supplement, telomeres were lengthened by 5.1%. Not just any vitamins were taken, but specifically the powerful antioxidants, Vitamins B12, C, and E. Telomeres are considered to be the anti-aging “key.” Part of the DNA, they’re found in every cell in the body. As cells divide, however, telomeres become shorter, which means that cells are getting “older,” and lengthening telomeres will lead to a longer, healthier life.
You can take B12, C, and E regularly in supplement form, but it’s important to also get these in your diet as well. Food sources of Vitamin B12 include grass-fed beef, salmon, tuna, and milk; vitamin C can be found in produce such as kiwi, strawberry, orange, grapefruit, and red and green bell peppers; and vitamin E can be found in spinach, broccoli, almonds, peanuts, olive oil and kiwi.
Here are the minimum daily values recommended in supplements for keeping telomeres long: 100 mcg of Vitamin B12, 3,000 mg of non-synthetic Vitamin C, and 200 to 400 IU of vitamin E in mixed tocopherols form, the last of which needs to be taken with food because it is a fat-soluble supplement, requiring fat in order to be absorbed.
Now you have no excuse not to take your GF multivitamin every day—not only is it “insurance” to make sure you’re getting all the nutrients you need, but it’s also an effective anti-aging method at minimum cost and maximum convenience!
Tina Turbin
www.GlutenFreeHelp.info
Tags: anti-aging, anti-aging key, gluten-free multivitamins, gluten-free vitamins, high quality of life, life span, longevity, multivitamins, supplements, telomeres, tina turbin humanitarian, Tina Turbin researcher, vitamin supplements, vitamins
Posted in Advice, Baby Boomers, Gluten-Free, Goals, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Natural Alternatives, Organize, Women's Health, Women's Issues | 16 Comments »
