Sea Crest Health Care Center

An age old dilemma, – which is more powerful and important – brains or beauty?  Would you rather be hideously ugly and brilliant, or stunningly beautiful and unable to carry a conversation?

Of course none of us really wants to be either of those things.  We want to be brilliant and stunningly beautiful.  And rich.  And happy.  And living on an island with a cabana boy named Juan who fulfills our every desire…

Maybe that part is just me.

We have all been lead to believe that we should want it all and that we can get it all and if we don’t want and have it all, there is something wrong with us.  However, I now have some scientific proof that the choice between brains and beauty is more real than you may have thought!

In late April, the Wall Street Journal published an article, entitled “A Case for those Extra 10 Pounds”, that said that, while the recommendations are to control calories and make healthy diet choices, it seems that there is actually some benefit that comes from being 10-15 pounds overweight.  A little extra weight can lead to a lower risk of osteoporosis and even make you look younger.

Bring on the ice cream!

Just as I was really settling into my celebration of the joys of science, a new study came out that says that extra fat is linked to smaller brain volume, and potentially linked to Alzheimer’s Disease.  Lucky for me and my desire to continue to eat ice cream, it is unclear whether smaller brains lead to extra fat or vice versa.  I am pulling for the first one.  The idea of fat causing my brain to shrink is disturbing in more ways than one.

So extra fat causes Alzheimer’s, and too little fat causes osteoporosis.  A little extra fat will keep my face unlined and youthfully full, but may cause me to eventually forget my name. Am I willing to give up the ice cream to reduce the risk of dementia?

Is it wrong that I am not sure which way to go on this?

There is a definite association between “covert coping” in the face of unfair treatment in the workplace. Men who tend to walk away from conflict at work could be setting themselves up for a myocardial infarction and cardiac death.

In a prospective study of Swedish workers, those who used “covert coping” techniques when they felt they had been unfairly treated were more likely to have an MI or die of ischemic heart disease. Constanze Leineweber, PhD, of Stockholm University in Sweden, and colleagues  in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, expanded on research indicating  that covert coping – or  walking away from a conflict and dealing with the anger “indirectly and introvertly” – increases cardiovascular risk factors. They cautioned that the study didn’t pin down a causal relationship between covert coping and cardiovascular disease. Instead, they said, it raises “an interesting hypothesis, which needs to be confirmed or refuted by future studies.” The researchers analyzed data from a long-running prospective cohort study in Stockholm, the Work, Lipids, and Fibrinogen study, dubbed WOLF for short.

Covert coping was measured by questionnaire, in which the participant was asked about how he or she dealt with unfair treatment from either a boss or a fellow worker. The questionnaire did not measure whether or not the participant experienced unfair treatment at work nor how often covert coping mechanisms were used.

The participants were asked whether they sometimes, often, seldom, or never:

Let things pass without saying anything
Walk away
Feel bad — developing a headache, for instance
Get into a bad temper at home

The results yielded a covert coping score that could range from 8 to 32; the researchers stratified covert coping as low if the score was 8 through 14, medium if it was 15 through 18, and high if it was 19 or more.

They also categorized immediate responses – to the first two options – as low, medium, or high.

Compared with those who had low covert coping scores, the researchers found:

When the unfair treatment came from a boss, those who sometimes or often walked away were three times as likely to have an MI or ischemic death. (The hazard ratio was 3.05, with a 95% confidence interval from 1.23 to 7.58.).

Letting things pass showed a nonsignificant trend to more cardiovascular outcomes for those who did so more often. When the unfair treatment came from a co-worker, the pattern was similar, except that those who said they seldom walked away also had a significant risk for cardiovascular outcomes. The hazard ratio for those who seldom walked away was 4.08, compared with 4.45 for those who said they did so sometimes or often. Both ratios were statistically significant. Neither of the delayed reactions had any association with cardiovascular outcomes – feeling bad or becoming ill-tempered at home – either for unfair treatment from a boss or a co-worker.

Future research, Leineweber and colleagues said, should look at “whether interventions designed to reduce covert coping would alter risk of myocardial infarction and cardiac death.”

It starts with neglecting one’s hygiene, nutrition and medications, and can lead to death within the year. According to data compiled by the Chicago Health and Aging Project (CHAP), an older person’s risk of dying within the year increases six-fold when he or she starts to ignore his or her physical and medical needs.

The CHAP?study took place from 1993-2005 in three Chicago neighborhoods and the 9,318 participants were ages 65 or older. Among that population there were 1,544 reported cases of self-neglect (mean age of 73.2 years old) and in the average follow-up within almost a year, there were 927 deaths (47.8%) in that group.

Elder abuse of any kind also generated a greater mortality rate, with a 61.6% death rate within an average of 2.7 years.

By the self neglect cases,  the increased mortality rate wasn’t affected by whether or not the senior’s cognitive or physical functions were impaired. However by confirmed abuse cases there was a significant difference – increased mortality was not associated with elder abuse of high functioning seniors, demonstrating that this group was more likely to recognize abuse and seek help.

As the Baby Boomer generation ages, there is a swelling populaton of people suffering from osteoarthritis. Arthritis pain seems to go hand in hand with insomnia, with joint pain keeping awake 60% of those with osteoarthritis

A new study, reported in the Aug. 15 issue of Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, finds that cognitive therapy has a beneficial effect on osteoarthritis patients and insomniacs – assisting them in their quest for a good night’s sleep.

Cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia or CBT-I,was given by an experienced clinical psychologist who taught participants cognitive restructuring techniques that helped change unrealistic beliefs and irrational fears regarding sleep or lack of it.

Handwritten sleep logs kept by participants documented their sleep patterns, and pain level was graded by the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and the Body Pain Subscale (SF-PAIN) question from the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 Pain.

Results showed that after CBT-I treatement, patients were falling asleep faster than before, and remained sleeping approximately 37 minutes longer. CBT-I seems to be an effective tool for treatment of osteoarthritis in conjunction with other pain management techniques, and may also work well with other chronic pain conditions.

The irony is quite delicious:  Scientists believe they have indeed found the Fountain of Youth and it is found right at the entry of our mouths- as long as we seriously restrict our calorie intake while maintaining all essential nutrients?

For the first time, researchers have shown that restricting calories in primates maintains their youth and prevents age-related disease.

According to a  long-running study by  Richard Weindruch, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin Madison, and colleagues running study of rhesus macaques, suggest that a similar effect might occur in humans and open the door to drugs that would mimic so-called caloric restriction, “We now have proof of efficacy of caloric restriction in primates,” Dr. Weindruch said, and  once the mechanisms are understood, it may be possible to develop “mimetics”– drugs that would have the same effect, but without the need for altering human diets.

Our diet controlled monkeys did extraordinarily well on calorie-restricted diets:

None of the animals on caloric restriction — even those with compromised metabolic function at baseline — had impaired glucose homeostasis.

The incidence of neoplasia was reduced by 50% in the animals on caloric restriction, compared with controls.

The incidence of cardiovascular disease was reduced by half in the diet-controlled monkeys, compared with controls.

They had  significantly slower rates of age-associated brain atrophy in some regions than controls.

The researchers also monitored when age-associated diseases appeared and found that caloric restriction reduced disease onset significantly.

Monkeys on the restricted diet appeared and acted biologically younger than their counterparts in the control arm and physically looked considerably better.

“Not only do the animals stay biologically younger longer, they look younger longer,” Dr. Weindruch said.

Dr. Sierra’s institute is sponsoring a study on calorie restriction in humans — the so-called CALORIE study — but he noted that “you have to be a special type of person to subject yourself to this . . . it’s a self-selected group.” Conducting a calorie restriction study in people in general “would be difficult, let’s put it that way,” he said.

You think?

by Nechama Drillick

You’ve been given fair warning – the more socially active you are, the slower you’ll age. Research data in the June 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine reveal a direct connection between social activity and physical function.

The study focused on a group of 906 adults who averaged age 66.5 and were free of stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia at the onset.

Everyone’s activity level was scored on a range from 1 to 4.17, with a mean baseline of 2.6.

Participants who volunteered, played bingo, ate out with friends, attended church and partook of other activities with greater frequency had a slower decline in motor function than those who were more socially withdrawn.

“For each point below the mean social activity score at baseline, the average rate or decline in global motor function was 33% more rapid,” they wrote. “In terms of declining motor function, a 1-point decrease on the social activity scale was equivalent to being five years older at baseline.”

And that age difference of five years translated into a 40% increase in the risk of death and more than a 65% increase in the development of a disability.

There you have it. There are significant benefits to being a social butterfly as opposed to a wallflower. Staying socially fit is an essential part of staying young.

By: Nechama Drillick

Advanced dementia is something that the average healthy person has a hard time imagining unless they are the caregiver of a loved one in that condition. Researchers in Boston recently documented the ravages of this incurable state on video. After showing this heartwrenching movie to adults over age 65, many had the same reaction; if they were faced with such serious loss of cognitive function they would not want their lives aggressively prolonged. The conclusion of researchers (published in the current BMJ journal) – people should make decisions about their future care while they are fully informed and healthy, and have them legally documented.?Otherwise, once one reaches the point of incapacity, other will make those significant decisions for you, regardless of your wishes.

This footage underlines the importance of surrounding one’s self with devoted loved ones, especially in one’s old age. The knowledge that your family will sincerely and patiently see to your comfort, well-being and dignity provides one with the security to face the vulnerability of old age and its possible side effects head on.

VIDEO LINK
http://www.bmj.com/video/care_preferences_dementia.dtl

Is it a question of “Beauty OR Brains” that influences one’s success in the work force?

New research conducted by Timothy Judge, PhD, a management professor at the University of Florida, suggests replacing that “OR” with an “AND.” His research appears in the May issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association.

Attractiveness will definitely be integral to your landing jobs, but one’s intelligence quotient gives one the edge when climbing the salary ladder.

“Little is known about why there are income disparities between the good-looking and the not-so-good-looking. We’ve found that even accounting for intelligence, a person’s feeling of self-worth is enhanced by how attractive they are, and this in turn, results in higher pay.”

Judge and his team analyzed data from the Harvard Study of Health and Life Quality. 191 men and women between the ages of 25 and 75, each interviewed three times, six months apart beginning in 1995, answered queries about household income, financial strain, education, and also evaluated how happy or disappointed they were with their achievements up to that time. After completing several intelligence and cognitive tests to gauge mental ability they had their photographs taken.

Scientific researchers averaged the results of six ratings of each person’s attractiveness, relative to their age and gender.

Significantly, the researchers found that physical attractiveness had a significant impact not only on how much people got paid, but how educated they were and how they evaluated themselves. They found that people who were rated as good-looking made more money, were better educated, and more confident.

But a person’s intelligence affected their income more than their looks did.

“We can be somewhat heartened by the fact that the effects of general intelligence on income were stronger than those of facial attractiveness,” Judge and colleagues write. “It turns out that the
brainy are not necessarily at a disadvantage to the beautiful, and if one possesses intelligence and good looks, then all the better.”

It became readily apparent that good-looking people do tend to highly assess their worth and capabilities, which may lead to less financial stress and more money.

“Moreover, the effects of self-concept are particularly noteworthy. Its effects on income are stronger than those of attractiveness and nearly as strong as those of intelligence. The influence of core self-evaluations on both income and financial strain underlines the critical role it can play in both objective and subjective life success,” the researchers say.

Validation is not just a feel-good exercise, but a key ingredient to the successful life.

So we gals thought we had an inherent biological superiority when it came to longevity. It now appears that women, though likely to live longer than men, are are up to two and a half times more likely to suffer from disabilities

Researchers at the Duke University Medical Center found that women, 65 and over, are more likely to suffer arthritis and obesity which account for up to 48% of the gender gap in disability, and most often, loss of their independence in their old age.

“The reason for this discrepancy in disability has not been well understood, but we found that chronic health conditions that women experience in greater numbers than men may explain part of that gap,” says Harvey Jay Cohen, MD, senior author of the study and director of Duke’s Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development.

Women have a natural tendency to gain more weight than men over their life span, but they may be more motivated to work harder to maintain a healthy weight “if they realize that those extra pounds make it more likely that they will be disabled in later years, potentially becoming a burden to their children or requiring a nursing home.”