A celebration is often the result of an accomplishment, a special event , or honoring memories.  These are good things, but do we really need the “special” to warrant a

celebration? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to delight in the relatively mundane?  Some of the happiest folks I know are those who relish just being able to get out of bed in the morning.  We can celebrate our health, good or bad, by reflecting on what a true miracle it is that all these billions of cells are working in concert to allow us to walk, run, think, eat, love, write, and even occasionally complain.  In celebration of simply being alive, I have compiled a list of rambling recommendations collected over the years to promote, extend, repair and rekindle your health.  Let the celebration begin!

   

People who rarely spend time outside (elderly, housebound) are at a greater risk for osteoporosis due to a lack of vitamin D, which is increased in sun exposure.  400 IU a day in supplement form can help prevent brittle bones.

Taking 400 micrograms of folic acid a day before getting pregnant can reduce the likelihood of neural tube defects in the baby (spina bifida, etc.)

Exercise 30 minutes every day.  The more and bigger the muscles used, the less time needed to achieve fitness (cross country skiing best, walking is good, using the channel changer is bad.)

The more colorful your meals the better. Bright colored fruits and veggies contain greater anti oxidants and other protective substances.

Use herbs (Black Cohosh) and vitamins (E) to control mild menopausal symptoms.  Many are scientifically valid and may work for you.

It’s not brain surgery; to eat healthy go low fat, low sugar, high fiber and balanced.

Eliminate soft drinks.  An extra can of soda a day can add 15 pounds in a year.

Almost half of all doctor visits are stress related.  A great tool for stress management is regular, aerobic exercise.

The solution to permanent weight loss is not dieting, it is getting fit.  Only muscles burn fat, and only muscles that are used!

If you are pressed for time, three ten minute exercise sessions can be as helpful as a single thirty minute segment.

Most women over twenty need to take some extra calcium (500mg) The better the bones before menopause, the better they are afterwards.

Eating habits are formed at an early age.  Teach children as early as two to be aware of good and bad food choices.

Don’t focus on weight.  Your per cent body fat and/or your Body Mass Index (BMI) are better measures of health.  Throw away the traditional scales and get a device that calculates body fat and BMI.  They are reasonably priced and accurate.

A good doctor will always encourage and support getting a second opinion…so in important decisions, do just that.

Don’t limit yourself by thinking that health is strictly physical.  Wellness is a balance of mind, body, and spirit.

Don’t skimp on preventive care.  The Pap test and mammogram have saved millions of lives.

If you have a strong family history of ovarian cancer (in mother or sister) demand a yearly sonogram and CA-125 blood test to check your ovaries.  It is far from a perfect screen, but it is the best available so far.

Young women (ages 9-26) who are not yet sexually active should strongly consider getting vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). It is the single biggest cause of pre-cancer and cancerous changes in the cervix.

Acupressure has been effective for the nausea associated with early pregnancies. The most common device used is “Sea Bands”, an elastic band that applies pressure to a point on the wrist.

Caffeine consumption is one of the leading causes of bladder problems in women.  Eliminating caffeine from the diet may reverse symptoms of incontinence, frequency, and urgency.

Some women in the menopause need testosterone supplementation along with estrogen and progesterone to help with a lagging sex drive.

Many herbal medicines and treatments can interact with prescription drugs.  When getting your yearly checkup, don’t forget to tell your doctor about any supplements or herbs you take on a regular basis.

Before any surgery, always stop taking Ginkgo, Ginseng, Garlic, or vitamin E.  They can increase bleeding and lead to problems with the surgery.

Always bring two things to every doctor’s visit: a written set of questions and a list of your current medications.

20 percent of cancer deaths are related to obesity.  Maintaining a healthy weight may be your best guard against developing cancer.

Aerobic exercise might be better for your brain than your body.  Early studies show that exercise can cause damaged brain cells to regenerate, possibly thwarting diseases like Alzheimer’s.

The average person makes about 250 decisions about food every day and most people don't have a clue as to what influences their choices. Consciously think about what you are eating and you will generally eat less.

A massage once a week can not only reduce muscle fatigue and soreness, but it can be just as good for stress management as a session with a counselor.

The quickest way to get fit with exercise is to WALC.  Wind sprints (just periodically increase the intensity of the exercise) Aerobic (this type of exercise burns fat) Lift (lifting weights builds muscle, which in turn increases metabolism) Cross train (vary your exercise regimen and you will get fit faster).

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     Men and women are different.  I realize this may not be a ground breaking revelation but aside from certain anatomical variations, the differences are not always noticeable.  

     Women certainly have a different hormonal milieu than men, and some of the internal variations can be directly attributed to such; however, laying everything at the feet of the hormonal hooligans is both simplistic and unfounded.  In other words, men and women are not solely their hormones, but a complex interaction of gender specific, unique physiology.  Let’s look at some examples.

Women are at a greater risk of developing problems from alcohol use than men.  This applies to simple health risks as well as severe consequences.  The National Institutes of Health state that, based on current research, female alcoholics have death rates 50 to 100 percent higher than those of male alcoholics, including deaths from suicides, alcohol-related accidents, heart disease and stroke, and liver cirrhosis.  Even though there are more male alcoholics than female, the women fare worse overall.  This is related to how alcohol is metabolized in the female system.  Women are more likely to develop liver damage from excessive alcohol consumption even when compared to similar intake for males.  In addition, having more than 2 drinks a day can increase the risk for breast cancer for a woman.  Why do these differences exist?  In general women have less body water than men of similar body weight, so that women achieve higher concentrations of alcohol in the blood after drinking equivalent amounts of alcohol.  In addition, women have smaller quantities of the enzyme dehydrogenase that breaks down alcohol in the stomach. A woman will absorb about 30% more alcohol into her bloodstream than a man of the same weight who has consumed an equal amount.  There is a push by many organizations, especially on college campuses to educate women as to these differences.  The consequences later in life can be substantial.

     For years medical research on heart disease and risk factors was done exclusively on men.  The vast majority of major work done in the earlier decades purposely excluded women for reasons ranging from potential pregnancy to volunteer recruitment.  What resulted is a plethora of data that is extremely useful, but biased.  Only with the advent of multiple studies including women have researchers realized that heart disease risk factors, occurrence, and prognosis are different for men and women.  Heart disease has taken a back seat to breast cancer, for example, largely due to media attention and breast cancer awareness programs; however, heart disease is the leading cause of death in women over 50.  A woman is more than ten times as likely to die of cardiovascular disease as she is to die of breast cancer. This is partly due to the fact that the survival rate for breast cancer is quite high, whereas over 40% of women do not survive their first heart attack.   Women’s hearts are anatomically different from men, and they also function differently.  A woman’s heart on average is smaller than a man’s, and it also tends to have smaller blood vessels supplying it.  Researchers from Columbia University and New York Presbyterian Hospital believe that women also have a different rhythmicity to the pacemaker of their hearts, which causes them to beat faster. These same researchers believe that it may take a woman's heart longer to relax after each beat. Some surgeons also hypothesize that the fact that women have a 50 % greater chance of dying during heart surgery than men could be related to some fundamental difference in the way women's hearts work.   These differences have led to a bias in how physicians viewed heart symptoms in women.  Several studies indicated that if a woman and a man presented to an emergency room with identical symptoms, the man would be more likely to be evaluated for heart problems than the woman.  Luckily with the new data, this trend is reversing and early disease is being suspected and detected in women, hopefully reducing both death and disability.

     Most would agree that men and women think differently.  This may have a physiologic basis as research indicates that men’s and women’s brains are structurally different.  There are variations in grey and white matter, which leads to differences in things such as verbal abilities and connectivity between the two sides of the brain.  These anatomical peculiarities can lead to a number of behavioral differences once thought to be social or environmental. 

     It’s important to understand there is no advantage or disadvantage with these variations, it’s just that being aware of the differences may help in promoting each individual's health. 

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