Donald Trafton shares better health tips for any age.
An entire industry has developed around sleep. Sleep affects your mind, body and emotional well being. It is the most important thing you can do to maintain good health . . . so it is worth some study. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it depends on your age. Teenagers need 8–10 hours per 24 hours, adults could get by with 7 hours or need up to 9 hours of quality sleep per 24 hours. These…
We put more stress, more wear and tear on our feet than we probably realize. “A person who lives to age 80 may walk an estimated 110,000 miles, equivalent to more than four times around the Earth at the equator. That long journey can take a toll on your feet.” Yet few of us put any consciousness on the care of our feet. We open ourselves to some very painful, debilitating foot ailments (like plantar fasciitis, flat feet, and osteoarthritis). Here’s…
It’s summer here in Arizona, and it’s hot! Time to be mindful of our drinking water intake. You may have heard that 64 ounces (eight 8-ounce glasses) is the correct amount for adults, but the Mayo Clinic quoting a report from The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, says men should drink about 15.5 cups (124 ounces) and women should drink 11.5 (92 ounces). BTW, coffee/tea or other liquids do count. Turns out, how much is enough is…
We all just want to be happy, right? I encourage you to read this article to see how easy it can happen for you. It can be pretty fast too… If you don’t need it, I am pretty sure you can help someone else who does. So just read it, pass it on, and feel really good. 5 Rituals To Keep You Happy All The Time By Eric Barker I really want to hear from you about this. What’s your…
America has a social connection problem and it could be lethal. The U.S. Surgeon General has just released an alarming advisory titled: The Healing Effects of Social Connection. This important research establishes that the lack of social connection (loneliness) is an independent risk factor for death, including deaths caused by diseases such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and dementia, as well as suicide. Some of the key takeaways: – Humans are wired for social connection, but…
When people learn how well I’m handling health and aging, they frequently ask about my views on alcohol consumption. In the past few years, we have seen so many new alcohol-based drinks introduced in the marketplace, it’s worth a look at the pros and cons: To start with, alcohol is a Neurotoxin. A neurotoxin negatively affects the nervous system and nerve cells, potentially causing long-term damage…not just to the brain, but to the immune system, the skeletal system, the reproductive…
We are losing the battle against cancer. “In the next few years, cancer will become the leading cause of death in the United States. Later in this century, it is likely to be the top cause of death worldwide. The shift marks a dramatic epidemiological transition: the first time in history that cancer will reign as humankind’s number-one killer.” This article from Harvard Public Health goes on to explain that while great strides have been made in curing infectious diseases…
We’ve all got a morning routine. How we start our day, sets the tone for the whole day. We pretty much do and think the same things in the same way, everyday, from the time we wake up. Many of us start the day with a ringing alarm clock, a big cup of coffee and a quick check of our email. But if you analyze the morning habits of very successful people, that’s exactly what they don’t do. Most of…
Instinctively we know that having fun is good for our health and well-being. But, as it turns out, many of the activities we would label “fun” are not as beneficial as we would hope. Many of the things we do with our leisure time, like bingeing on television, scrolling the news, or posting photos to social media, do not produce the positive heath effects we crave. “People often use the word “fun” to describe anything they do with leisure time,…
Of course you’ve heard of free radicals, but you need to know more. I’m sure that my skin would look at least 10 years younger if only I’d paid more attention to free radicals in the past. Free radicals are highly reactive and unstable molecules. They are made by the body naturally as a byproduct of normal metabolism. But, the body will also generate free radicals in response to environmental attacks, such as tobacco smoke, ultraviolet rays, air pollution, and…