Dogs Can Help You Live – and Live Longer Can living with a dog improve your life? It certainly appears canine companionship might extend it. The results come from a Swedish study at Uppsala University which used the longstanding public health advantages of that country. All the Swedish population between the ages of 40-80 were surveyed. Out of those […]
Fighting Dementia Using Your Eyes and Ears
Dementia scares people. Rates are rising. New evidence shows decreased vision and hearing make dementia more likely. One study out of Stanford found people who had vision loss and did not seek treatment showed five times the cognitive decline rate, and over nine times the Alzheimer’s rate as those without problems, through a period of eight and a half […]
It’s Not Only The Lonely
Do only the lonely die young, or does social connection and support affect most measures of health and longevity? Yes, it’s true: the less social connections you have, the greater the tendency towards illness of many kinds – physical and mental. Even if you don’t feel lonely at all. But how big an effect? For […]
Rediscovering social support (and how it aids health – 4/04/12)
Social Survival What keeps people living a long life? A system of living that gives the body the right information at the right times to properly regenerate itself. We know what many parts of that system are. Food is one. Nutritional variety – whether the fruits, vegetables, and olive oil based diet of Mediterranean countries, […]
Going to the dogs – for your health (1/11/12)
Who Lives, Who Dies My internist cousin says he knows who will live and die among his older patients: those who own dogs. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provisionally agrees. They believe the data show that dog (and cat) ownership can lower: Blood pressure Feelings of loneliness Cholesterol and triglyceride levels While increasing – […]