Learn Why Early Treatment of Mild Cognitive Impairment Is Helpful

Older people are advised to look for early signs of dementia, as Alzheimer’s disease may be avoided or slowed down with early intervention. Consider one of the newer pills on the market, as well as signs you have mild cognitive impairment.

One of the most terrifying aspects of aging is the threat of Alzheimer’s disease, which is a vicious condition involving loss of both memory and quality of life. There is not much good news surrounding this condition, except when researchers find a way to possibly slow down the onset or even prevent it from occurring.

CerefolinNAC is just one option that some seniors may wish to try, as it features folate, which many people with dementia are lacking. Of course, if you wish to try to avoid Alzheimer’s disease the all-natural way, you can increase folate through leafy green vegetables. However, taking a pill with the correct dose may be easier for many, especially since most insurance companies cover it, and there is even a generic version on the market to make it more affordable. The main point of taking CerefolinNAC or similar medications is to prevent mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from turning into Alzheimer’s disease.

MCI is the point between normal aging and full-blown Alzheimer’s disease. If your memory has been slipping over the last several years, and you are well into your 40s or older, you should consider what is normal and what is not. Examples of behavior typical of people as they age include increased likelihood of misplacing keys, and temporarily forgetting words or names. Everyone makes these minor mistakes, and you can only expect them to get worse as you age.

On the other hand, some behavior is not part of normal aging, but a precursor to dementia. For example, if you find lost items in places they do not belong, forget whole conversations, or cannot remember the names of your friends or family, you likely have MCI. At this point, your life is not affected as much as that of an Alzheimer’s patient, but it is more affected than the typical older person.

About 50 percent of people with MCI go on to develop dementia, but taking action now with either a pill or dietary changes can slow the progression or stop it entirely. For this reason, it is important that you talk to your doctor about MCI, as early diagnosis and treatment may give you some extra years.

 

(Thanks to therealbrute for the beautiful smile)

Preventative Services Help to Ensure a Healthy Life

Going to the doctor is not just something you do when you are taken ill. Doctors also offer preventative medical services that can help you to remain as healthy as possible. Here we look at what preventative services are all about.

You may have heard the term preventative services when it comes to health. The world of doctors and medicine is not just about treating illnesses and sicknesses but also about finding ways to keep you healthy and to prevent health issues from starting in the first place.

Your physician can devise a program for you that will enable you to remain healthy. The program will be composed of relevant preventative services that will be specially tailored to your family history, medical history and your age.

A preventative service can take many forms. It might be as simple as advice from your physician or it might be a medical test. Tests are also sometimes referred to as screenings. There are many tests available to screen for potentially life threatening events such as heart attacks, strokes and diabetes. Screenings can be used to check specific areas of your body to make sure they are healthy (such as a pap test, blood tests or a thyroid test) or they might be a test that checks a patient’s overall level of health.

Other services that are preventative in nature include a blood pressure check, a test of cholesterol levels and being weighed on the scale. Immunizations (also sometimes referred to as shots) are also an effective means of warding off many diseases. Immunizations are a necessity for both children and adults. Some shots are effective for as many as 10 years while others such as flu shots are required on an annual basis.

There are some special tests that are geared at preventing problems form cropping up at certain periods of time during an individual’s life. For instance pregnant women need to be closely checked to make sure their health and the health of their baby is fine. Another example is special tests ordered that are age-related, such as tests for those who are over the age of 50 years.

Staying Fit When There is Little Time for Exercise

Having little time to fit exercise into your schedule cannot be used as an excuse to not keep fit when there are lots creative ways to do so. Here we look at some of the small but significant ways to add more exercise time into your life.

Finding time to exercise can be a challenge when you seem to work all of the time, not just at your job but at home as well! The good thing is that there are lots of ways to fit physical activity into your day that don’t involve going to the gym.

Take your children for a walk in the park or around the neighborhood. If you prefer get out the bicycles or tricycles and you trot along beside your kids. If you have young children then take a walk with the stroller or put them around in a wagon. In the winter months when there is snow on the ground a toboggan can replace the wagon.

Doing chores around the house will provide you with exercise and will burn calories and help to increase your metabolism. Do your dusting, mopping, sweeping and vacuuming and do not be afraid to be vigorous about it! If finding the motivation to perform housekeeping duties is not always in you then put on some music to add some enjoyment to the tasks!

Doing outdoor work can also provide you with the exercise you require. When you garden, mow the lawn, rake the lawn, clean out the garage and wash the car you expend energy doing this. For that reason you should roll your sleeves up and keep doing it!

Do some stretching exercises or even some light yoga moves when you are cooking supper, chatting on the phone or listening to the radio. When you are watching television use the commercial breaks to your advantage. Instead of groaning because you hate commercials do some sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks, lungs or jog right there in front of the television. This will really get your blood pumping!

Houston Orthopedic surgeon Dr Warnock treats children and adults with orthopedic injuries and cares for athletes of all ages. He specializes in knee surgery and shoulder surgery. To learn more about Dr. Warnock and his commitment to patient care visit http://www.warnockmd.com or call us at 281-807-4380 today.

One More Reason To Wash Your Hands

We have known for years the many benefits of washing our hands regularly, but for contact lens wearers, it is even more important to keep your hands free of bacteria.

You’d have to have lived most of your life underneath the cool shade of a giant rock to have missed the bulletin: frequent hand washing is a good thing. Using an anti-bacterial soap, you can eliminate many of the germs and bacteria you come in contact with on a daily basis and help prevent the spread of disease. But if you are a contact lens wearer, the choice to wash your hands is even more important.

It happens time and time again. You get contacts, and for the first few months to a year, you’re extremely careful with them. You take them out each night, carefully rubbing them with cleaning solution, before dropping them in your case for safe keeping. You change them out directly on schedule and you never miss a chance to go see the eye doctor. But then things change. You start to get complacent. Taking your contacts out every night turns into a hassle, so you just leave them in. Some people are lucky enough to get away with this pattern of lackadaisical eye care for years, while some are unfortunate enough to run into problems right away.

Whichever category you fit in, however, you should always wash your hands before handling your contacts. Washing your hands before you put them on your lenses can reduce the amount of bacteria on the surface by nearly 80%, according to some studies. This greatly reduces your chances of getting an eye infection. Now go take your contacts out. It’s been three weeks!

Protecting Your Eyes In The Summer

Everyone knows by now to protect their skin when they go out in the sun, but with the summer months upon us, do you know that protecting your eyes is just as important?

A lot of people look forward to the summer months all year. Finally, there’s a reprieve from the freezing cold temperatures of winter (and even spring, in many areas of the country). Time to get outside and do those outdoorsy things that make us feel alive again. It’s time for fishing, hiking, swimming, boating, playing sports. Whatever you like to do, it’s usually more fun when the weather is warm and the sun is shining brightly.

Of course, there is a dark side to this time of year. Doctors have warned for ages about the effects of excess sunlight on our skin, but what many don’t realize is that those same ultraviolet rays that can lead to skin cancer can also lead to problems with your eyes. Both cataracts and increased frequency of macular degeneration have been linked to sunlight exposure. You can’t very well put sunscreen on your pupils, so we have to rely on the next best thing: sunglasses.

As you might have guessed, not all sunglasses are cleared equally. That cheap pair you bought at the gas station might be trendy in an ironic way, but if they don’t provide UV filtering, they aren’t protecting your eyes from much more than glare. Invest a bit more money into a good pair of shades—ones that specifically tout themselves as blocking out UV rays—and you’ll know your eyes are better protected when you leave the house. For those with eyeglasses, flip down shades and prescription sunglasses may be the answer.