Clinical Depression In Stroke Victims

Shouldn’t a stroke victim expect to be depressed? Yes, of course, but there’s a rub. Just because it seems normal for a person who has just had a stroke to feel depressed, doctors sometimes don’t treat the depression. However, researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found that brain injury during stroke may cause not only paralysis but depression as well – and unless the depression is treated, it may not go away.

While doctors have long known that depressions, some lasting for many months, may follow brain injury, there has been little effort up to now to treat them. One reason is that it’s been taken for granted that disabilities as a result of a stroke would make anybody feel depressed Another reason is that there has been little direct neurological evidence to indicate some particular abnormality that could be corrected.

Clear the Clutter!

Want an easy way to simply your life and clear your head? Clear the clutter.

I learned this trick recently when I put my house up for sale. My agent told me to store at least a third of my possessions to make the house look less cluttered to buyers.

So, I emptied closets and bookshelves and put furniture into storage. And guess what? I didn't miss a thing (except the tea kettle).

When you acquire fewer possessions, you not only save money on purchases, but you also reduce maintenance and storage costs (not to mention the inevitable moving costs).

You don't need a remodeled kitchen with more cabinet space if you have fewer gadgets. Who needs a popcorn popper or a crepe pan? A skillet with a lid will handle most cooking tasks. What about more than one set of dishes or table linens? White dishes are timeless.

Classic Cereal's Good for Health

Good old-fashioned cereal -- like corn flakes and shredded wheat -- lives up to its healthy reputation. Doctors say a single bowl of cereal a day can sharply reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke.

The key ingredient in cereal, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is folic acid. The right levels of this substance, he said, could save more than 50,000 American lives every year.

The reason for the good news, Dr. Manilow said, is that the folic acid in cereals reduces homocysteine in the body. Homocysteine is an amino acid which clogs the arteries and causes heart disease.

Circadian Rhythms Cycle

There’s more truth than you may think to the old saying “there’s a time for everything, and everything in its time.” Researchers have found that the body has a host of rhythms affecting its chemistry. These determine how you feel and how well you function. Called circadian rhythms (from Latin meaning “about a day”), these “clocks” regulate such diverse body indicators as blood pressure, temperature, pulse, respiration, blood sugar, hormones and heartbeat. Because body functions can vary as much as 80 percent depending on the times of day, an early morning blood pressure reading can be deceptive on its own.

Celeb Fit Tip: Here's How Heidi Klum and Cameron Diaz "Sculpt" Their Bodies

Can you think of two leaner, fitter celebs than Heidi Klum (the supermodel mama who never ceases to amaze me with her upbeat attitude and healthy lifestyle) and super-gorgeous Cameron Diaz? Other than good genes, here's how they keep their bods toned, and how you can too...

According to People magazine, Heidi and Cameron are fans of Exhale, a "mind-body" spa in New York and Los Angeles--especially its Core Fusion classes, which mix pilates, yoga and core conditioning to "sculpt" their bodies.

Celeb fitness programs always seem so out of reach for the rest of us, don't they. Either because of the location or the money factor (hey, we all could look great with personal trainers and enough money to hang out at spas all the time! So I was pretty thrilled to see that Exhale has a fitness DVD out. "Exhale: Core Fusion Body Sculpt DVD" ($14.99), taught by founders Elisabeth Halfpapp and Fred DeVito, delivers five 10-minute exercises that promise to "target and tighten" your muscles.

Can You Think Yourself Slim? Maybe, Say Experts

Gals, on a scale of 1 to 10, what's your body confidence level today? What your answer may say about your future weight gain, or loss ...

I was reading on Oprah.com recently about a fascinating concept: The idea that we can "think" ourselves slim. No, no, I don't mean that you can do this without diet and exercise, but the latest evidence seems to suggest that how we feel about our bodies can affect how we look.

For example, in the book The Body Has a Mind of Its Own, the author talks about how often, for many women, the secret for lasting weight loss success is owning their new bodies. So if you've dropped some weight, and yet still see yourself as overweight, you're more likely to regain the pounds.

Can Calcium - and a Chair - Strengthen Our Bones?

Absolutely, even for post-menopausal women whose bones have become so fragile they can fracture easily. Until recently, bone weakening caused by osteoporosis was assumed to be 1) irreversible without medication 2) a part of the aging process, and 3) a condition that only affected very old people. But all three assumptions are false.

Bone fragility can be reversed – and without medication. In a remarkable study, women in their eighties actually increased bone-mineral content significantly by sitting in chairs and doing simple exercises thirty minutes a day, three times a week. The exercises increased the flow of blood and filled the bones with fresh supplies of calcium.

Can Being Cold Actually Cause A Cold?

Glamour is up in Vancouver this week (well, one of us is) to watch some of our favorite U.S. women snowboarders grab their medals (go Gretchen, Hannah, Kelly and Lindsey!). The weather is mild and rainy in the city of Vancouver--but it's a chilly 32 degrees, wet and snowy in Whistler, the mountain where we're watching one of the downhill men's events today. The prospect of being really wet and cold made me think of a question we've heard from a lot of readers in the past: Can simply being out in the cold actually give you one?

The answer is no, not really. But, according to women's health expert Pamela Peeke, M.D., whom I've interviewed on this subject before, suddenly switching from hot to cold then back again could stress your immune system, making you eventually more likely to succumb to a virus that wiggles into your nose, mouth or eyes. (Yep, your eyes--viruses can get in via any mucus membrane-y area.) One more little note: If it's supercold and dry, my doctor--and my mom--recommend wrapping a scarf around your mouth and nose and breathing through the material. Otherwise the frigid, dry air can irritate your airways, making you feel congested. Stay warm!

Bye Bye Vicodin and Percocet? The Government May Ban Them

Have you ever taken Vicodin or Percocet--or their generic equivalents? I have, though both tend to make me a little woozy (I don't handle narcotics well). Even despite that, these drugs were the best at zapping my post-baby and post-operative pain. But, are they soon to be outlawed?

A world without Vicodin or Percocet? It may be coming soon, say experts. Yesterday, a Food and Drug Administration panel voted 20-17 to yank prescription drugs that mix acetaminophen with "other painkilling ingredients" off the market.

The reason? Many health experts are worried about the risk of liver damage that is often associated with acetaminophen (brand name: Tylenol), which the FDA says is the leading cause of liver failure in this country.

Breakfast At Your Desk: Would You Ever Eat This Odd, But Healthy, Thing for Breakfast?

I know someone who doesn't have cereal, oatmeal, toast, or any of the usual things people have in the morning. Nope. She eats this ...

Soup!

She loves soup in the morning--minestrone, roasted red pepper and tomato, clam chowder, you name it--and has it with her morning coffee. What do you think of this? Are you a brothy girl in the a.m. hours?

Would you ever eat soup for breakfast?(polls)

Me? I will admit, soup is the last thing I think of in the morning, but you know what? If I could train myself to crave vegetable soup at a.m., it wouldn't be half bad. Why not start the day with fiber-rich veggies and a nice warm broth (soothing)? And, people who start their meals with broth-based soups, according to research, eat less at each meal. Why not try this at breakfast? Hmmm. (P.S. Starting each meal with a salad has the same healthy weight effects, but somehow salad in the morning just doesn't do it for me. You?)

Bravo for the Broad Bean

The oft-maligned broad bean could be a life saver. Scientists say research indicates the vegetable that many of us unhesitatingly push to the side of the plate has definite health-enhancing properties.

Researchers at London's Hammersmith Hospital and the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine say substances called lectins found in broad beans can lead to actual changes in the makeup of cancer cells. According to the medical journal Gut, lectins help malignant cells act more like normal cells.

"It is well known that diets high in fruits and vegetables protect against many types of cancer, including bowel cancer," says Prof. John Calam, who headed the research team. "The lectin effect may be one of the reasons why."

Another Red Wine Plus Against Heart Disease

The claim that red wine helps in the battle against heart disease has received another scientific boost. But as with most everything else, moderation is the key.

A research team at Cambridge's Papworth Hospital in England devised a study on the premise that red wine contains a high proportion of polyphenols, which inhibit the deposit of fat in blood vessels. These are found in grape skins, which are discarded in the manufacture of white wine.

The study involved giving 30 healthy, nonsmoking men either a half-bottle of the red, Cabernet Sauvignon, a white French table wine with polyphenols dissolved in it, or polyphenol capsules alone every day for two weeks. Another group received a drink made with 10-percent vodka.

Dental Questions With A Professional

e has offices in Manhattan and Dubai, a patient list that reads like a Who’s Who in Hollywood, and, well, he’s kind of adorable.  Dr. Michael Apa, DDS, sat down with ThirdAge to discuss proper dental hygiene and why our teeth are the untapped fountain of youth.
Q:  What are the things that we should do every day not only for nice teeth now, but for nice teeth in the future?
A:  Hygiene is number one.  You’d be surprised how many people don’t know proper hygiene protocol.  If I was going to give percentages, I would say that 80% of the population doesn’t know how to brush properly – and that’s being nice.  We’re all scrubbers.  Using an electric toothbrush (twice a day) is important, followed by floss and a high-fluoride rinse.  Say, brushing takes away 50% of bacteria, flossing takes away another 20%, a rinse takes away a good 30%.  You really should hit all three.
Also, regular hygiene visits with a dental office at least twice a year.
Q:  What products do you use/recommend?
There’s something new that’s big in research in dental schools right now:  MI-Paste.  I recommend it to my patients who have flossing cavities – the little cavities between your teeth from food getting stuck.  The food collects bacteria, bacteria creates acid, acid breaks through the tooth causing those little tiny cavities.  The only way to not get them is to put a piece of floss on them to break up the acid on the tooth.  If you rub MI-Paste on your teeth after you brush, floss and use fluoride, it re-calcifies up all those tiny cavities.  If you use it long enough it will arrest the development of the decay and you’ll never have to drill them.
I also recommend a high-flouride mouthwash, never anything with alcohol.  I stick with the old-school Act fluoride rinse.  Also, brush with something like PreviDent, which is again high-flouride.
As far as bleaching products, I recommend anything with potassium nitrate.  Potassium nitrate is what’s in Sensodyne toothpaste.  Flouride and potassium nitrate are much gentler on your teeth than straight bleach.  I recommend Crest 3D White 2 Hour Express Whitestrips.  The seal on these stays on your teeth much better than the older Whitestrips.
Q:  Receding gums can be really aging on a person.  Is there anything we can do about them?
Don’t scrub your gums – that takes gum tissue away.  Use proper brushing technique, and always use an electric toothbrush with soft bristles.  The other thing is grinding your teeth – it causes abfraction lesions.  A night guard can help with that.
Q:  You’re known as the “master of the scalpel free facelift.”  What’s the one procedure you perform that guarantees a youthful smile?
A:  The mark of a good aesthetic dentist is to understand why a person looks the way they do.  Some of it is growth and development; some of it is aging.  There’s things that can be done about both.  Diagnosis is key in creating something that looks great.  Over time people grind and put pressure on their teeth.  The first thing to go is the lower front six; they start to crowd.  The second is the sides; they collapse.  The third thing is your bite falls down on itself.  You want to decrowd, expand and raise the bite.  Imagine what that does to your skin?  It puts fullness back in your face.  Think about what people look like when they take their dentures out:  all the support collapses.
 I do something called Facial Aesthetic Design.  It takes into account growth and development, environmental factors, understanding the diagnosis of why they are the way they are and trying to artistically recreate what I think they should be.  It’s about how your nose relates to your mouth and how it relates to your chin.  Depending on where those parts are, there’s a normal range of where your teeth should be and that’s what I’m trying to do.
Q:  How does Facial Aesthetic Design differ from the old-school Chiclet-like veneers?
A:  That’s diagnosing tooth problems on a tooth basis and recreating new teeth, which doesn’t necessarily address the patient.  There used to be this proportion formula for the length of a front tooth.  They said,  “This is how long the front tooth is supposed to be,” and then there were formulas based on that to build the rest of the teeth.  I’m saying that, that doesn’t really give you a 3-dimensional positioning of where those teeth are supposed to be as according to how you really want the teeth for that patient.  It’s more understanding—that’s what it comes down to in the end.
Q:  How much do they cost?
A:  It depends.  We charge on average between $25-60,000, depending on what needs to be done.  The full kit and kaboodle is between $50-60,00.  A cosmetic case where we’re just changing the top 10 teeth is between $25-30,000.
There are other people in other parts in the country who definitely charge less.
But tally your botox up for 10 years and tell me what’s more expensive.  You fix your teeth once and it’s like resetting the clock for your face—there’s no added fees, you get them done and you take care of them as if they were their own teeth.  That’s that.
Q:  I read somewhere that you feel that “good dental work can render cosmetic surgery unnecessary?”  How can dentistry fix things like smile lines, thin upper lip and thin hollowed cheeks?
 A:  When creating a new smile, the dentist must understand how the soft tissue, (lips and cheeks) rest on the teeth.  The position of the upper front teeth will contribute to most of the support of the upper lip.  That means, if you want to roll the lip out, or plump it, you can push the two upper teeth out.  Conversely, if the patient has something called lip incompetence, inability to close the lips at a resting position, you can bring the upper teeth in.
Smile lines can be erased by broadening the smile to give support to the corners of the mouth.  Thin, hollowed cheeks can appear fuller by building the smile out wider.  This works simply due to the fact that over time the sides of the mouth collapse, hollowing the cheeks out (along with losing cheek fat).  Although we can’t add cheek fat dentally, we can bring the teeth to the position they were originally before collapse, and thus will give fullness to the cheeks.
Q:  Who has your favorite smile of Baby Boomer women?
A:  Diane Lane.  She has a great natural smile.