Category: blog

• • ANTIOXIDANT: We have all heard this word, we even know that the more we eat, the better off we are. Does anyone know why?  Is it okay of I shed a little light? I am not a scientist and may not explain with perfect exactness, but I will try to simplify. Knowing this information will empower you and help encourage the desire to consume better foods.

   

  Let’s start by looking at The Statue Of Liberty. She came to us as a beautiful shiny copper statue. Over the years, oxidation caused the statue to loses it shine and become a beautiful blue-green color. No complaints here! This example helps us understand the power of oxidation. The same thing that occurred to The Statue of Liberty, occurs in our cells. When there are too many toxins in our body and not enough antioxidants to combat them, our cells become damaged. Damaged  cells lead to an increase risk of many disease, including cancer, diabetes,and  heart disease. Antioxidants protect our cells, they are our little army guys taking the hit and becoming oxidized so our cells can remain healthy. Consuming antioxidant rich foods, not supplements, has proven to be very effective in lowering risks of disease and also helps slow the aging process. If we can keep our cells healthy and alive as they continue to replenish we increase our health and longevity.

   

   

     After comparing many lists and reading quite a few articles, I have compiled my top ten powerful antioxidant rich foods list. These are foods I like to consume, there are many powerful fruits, veggies, and legumes that contain large amounts of antioxidant powers. If you are filling your plates with a lot of colorful produce you are doing great! 

   

  1. Blueberries

  2. Red Kidney Beans (surprised? I was!)

  3.Blackberries

  4. Kale and spinach (leafy greens!)

  5. Pinto Beans

  6. Strawberries

  7. Apple (granny smith or red delish)

  8. Brussels Sprouts

  9. Broccoli

  10. Red Bell Peppers

   

  If some of these foods are not your favorites or you haven’t tried them out yet, no time like the present! 

One of medicine’s most remarkable achievements is the use of X-rays to see inside the body without having a surgeon wield a scalpel. Before medical X-ray machines were available, people who were in an accident and had serious injuries would often need exploratory surgery to find out what was wrong,” says CAPT Thomas Ohlhaber, U.S. Public Health Service, a physicist and deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Division of Mammography Quality and Radiation Programs.

“But today, if you’re brought to the emergency room with severe injuries, within a few minutes you can be X-rayed, often with a sophisticated computed tomography, or ‘CT,’ unit, have your injuries assessed, and be treated quickly before you progress to a much more serious state,” says Ohlhaber.

X-rays are used for much more than identifying injuries from accidents. They are used to screen for, diagnose, and treat various medical conditions. X-rays can be used on just about any part of the body—from the head down to the toes—to identify health problems ranging from a broken bone to pneumonia, heart disease, intestinal blockages, and kidney stones. And X-rays cannot only find cancerous tumors, but can often destroy them.

Along with their tremendous value, medical X-rays have a drawback: they expose people to radiation. FDA regulates radiation-emitting products including X-ray machines. But everyone has a critical role in reducing radiation while still getting the maximum benefit from X-ray exams.

What are X-rays?

X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation that can penetrate clothing, body tissue, and internal organs. An X-ray machine sends this radiation through the body. Some of the radiation emerges on the other side of the body, where it exposes film or is absorbed by a digital detector to create an image. And some of it is absorbed in body tissues. It is the radiation absorbed by the body that contributes to the “radiation dose” a patient gets.

Because of their effectiveness in the early detection and treatment of diseases, and their ready access in doctor’s offices, clinics, and hospitals, X-rays are used more today and on more people than in the past, according to the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.

• In the early 1980s, medical X-rays made up about 11 percent of all the radiation exposure to the U.S. population. Current estimates attribute nearly 35 percent of all radiation exposure to medical X-rays. (Nuclear medicine procedures, which use radioactive material to create images of the body, account for about 12 percent of radiation exposure, and natural sources of radiation in the environment that we’re exposed to all the time make up approximately 50 percent.)
• Radiation dose per person from medical X-rays has increased almost 500 percent since 1982.
• Nearly half of all medical X-ray exposures today come from CT equipment, and radiation doses from CT are higher than other X-ray studies. Source: National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements

X-ray Risks

The risks of medical X-rays include

• a small increase in the chance of developing cancer later in life
• developing cataracts and skin burns following exposure to very high levels of radiation

The small risk of cancer depends on several factors:

• The lifetime risk of cancer increases as a person undergoes more X-ray exams and the accumulated radiation dose gets higher.
• The lifetime risk is higher for a person who received X-rays at a younger age than for someone who receives them at an older age.
• Women are at a somewhat higher lifetime risk than men for developing cancer from radiation after receiving the same exposures at the same ages.

The risk of cataracts and skin burns are mainly associated with repeated or prolonged interventional fluoroscopy procedures. These types of procedures show a continuous X-ray image on a monitor (an X-ray “movie”) to determine, for example, where to remove plaque from coronary arteries.

“The benefits of medical X-rays far outweigh their risks,” says CDR Sean Boyd, U.S. Public Health Service, an engineer and chief of FDA’s Diagnostic Devices Branch. “And everyone involved with medical X-rays can do their part to reduce radiation exposure—whether they’re a consumer or patient, doctor, physicist, radiologist, technologist, manufacturer, or installer.”

Steps for Consumers

Consumers have an important role in reducing radiation risks from medical X-rays. FDA recommends these steps:

Ask your health care professional how an X-ray will help.How will it help find out what’s wrong or determine your treatment? Ask if there are other procedures that might be lower risk but still allow a good assessment or treatment for your medical situation.

Don’t refuse an X-ray. If your health care professional explains why it is medically needed, then don’t refuse an X-ray. The risk of not having a needed X-ray is greater than the small risk from radiation.

Don’t insist on an X-ray. If your health care professional explains there is no need for an X-ray, then don’t demand one.

Tell the X-ray technologist in advance if you are, or might be, pregnant.

Ask if a protective shield can be used. If you or your children are getting an X-ray, ask whether a lead apron or other shield should be used.

Ask your dentist if he/she uses the faster (E or F) speed film for X-rays. It costs about the same as the conventional D speed film and offers similar benefits with a lower radiation dose. Using digital imaging detectors instead of film further reduces radiation dose.

“Recent findings from a long-term research project by Harvard Medical Shcool links egg consumption with increased risk for Type 2 diabetes. Subjects who ate an average of one egg per day were 58 to 77 percent more likely to develop the disease than those who do not consume chicken ova.  The study of 57,000 adults found that the high cholesterol content in eggs raises blood sugar and insulin levels, leaving those with a genetic dispostion to diabetes at greater risk for developing the disorder.  However, the results also suggest that any foods high in cholesterol are likely to promote the development of diabetes, and researchers recommend that those at risk for the disease limit cholesterol in their diets.  While all animal products are high in cholesterol, plant foods are naturally cholesterol-free.  Research done by Dr. John McDougall and others indicates that Type 2 diabetes can be prevented and reversed with a vegan diet.”

Is your medicine cabinet filled with expired drugs or medications you no longer use? How should you dispose of them?

Most drugs can be thrown in the household trash, but consumers should take certain precautions before tossing them out, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A few drugs should be flushed down the toilet. And a growing number of community-based “take-back” programs offer another safe disposal alternative.

Guidelines for Drug Disposal

FDA worked with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to develop the first consumer guidance for proper disposal of prescription drugs. Issued by ONDCP in February 2007 and updated in October 2009, the federal guidelines are summarized here:

• Follow any specific disposal instructions on the drug label or patient information that accompanies the medication. Do not flush prescription drugs down the toilet unless this information specifically instructs you to do so.
• Take advantage of community drug take-back programs that allow the public to bring unused drugs to a central location for proper disposal. Call your city or county government’s household trash and recycling service (see blue pages in phone book) to see if a take-back program is available in your community. The Drug Enforcement Administration, working with state and local law enforcement agencies, is sponsoring National Prescription Drug Take Back Days throughout the United States.
• If no instructions are given on the drug label and no take-back program is available in your area, throw the drugs in the household trash, but first: take them out of their original containers and mix them with an undesirable substance, such as used coffee grounds or kitty litter. The medication will be less appealing to children and pets, and unrecognizable to people who may intentionally go through your trash. Put them in a sealable bag, empty can, or other container to prevent the medication from leaking or breaking out of a garbage bag.

FDA’s Deputy Director of the Office of Compliance Ilisa Bernstein, Pharm.D., J.D., offers some additional tips:

• Before throwing out a medicine container, scratch out all identifying information on the prescription label to make it unreadable. This will help protect your identity and the privacy of your personal health information.
• Do not give medications to friends. Doctors prescribe drugs based on a person’s specific symptoms and medical history. A drug that works for you could be dangerous for someone else.
• When in doubt about proper disposal, talk to your pharmacist.

Bernstein says the same disposal methods for prescription drugs could apply to over-the-counter drugs as well.

Why the Precautions?

Disposal instructions on the label are part of FDA’s “risk mitigation” strategy, says Capt. Jim Hunter, R.Ph., M.P.H., senior program manager on FDA’s Controlled Substance Staff. When a drug contains instructions to flush it down the toilet, he says, it’s because FDA, working with the manufacturer, has determined this method to be the most appropriate route of disposal that presents the least risk to safety.

Drugs such as powerful narcotic pain relievers and other controlled substances carry instructions for flushing to reduce the danger of unintentional use or overdose and illegal abuse.

For example, the fentanyl patch, an adhesive patch that delivers a potent pain medicine through the skin, comes with instructions to flush used or leftover patches. Too much fentanyl can cause severe breathing problems and lead to death in babies, children, pets, and even adults, especially those who have not been prescribed the drug. “Even after a patch is used, a lot of the drug remains in the patch,” says Hunter, “so you wouldn’t want to throw something in the trash that contains a powerful and potentially dangerous narcotic that could harm others.”

Environmental Concerns

Despite the safety reasons for flushing drugs, some people are questioning the practice because of concerns about trace levels of drug residues found in surface water, such as rivers and lakes, and in some community drinking water supplies. However, the main way drug residues enter water systems is by people taking medications and then naturally passing them through their bodies, says Raanan Bloom, Ph.D., an environmental assessment expert in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Most drugs are not completely absorbed or metabolized by the body, and enter the environment after passing through waste water treatment plants.”

A company that wants FDA to approve its drug must submit an application package to the agency. FDA requires, as part of the application package, an assessment of how the drug’s use would affect the environment. Some drug applications are excluded from the assessment requirement, says Bloom, based on previous agency actions.

“For those drugs for which environmental assessments have been required, there has been no indication of environmental effects due to flushing,” says Bloom. In addition, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, scientists to date have found no evidence of adverse human health effects from pharmaceutical residues in the environment.

Nonetheless, FDA does not want to add drug residues into water systems unnecessarily, says Hunter. The agency reviewed its drug labels to identify products with disposal directions recommending flushing or disposal down the sink. This continuously revised listing can be found at FDA’s Web page on Disposal of Unused Medicines.

Another environmental concern lies with inhalers used by people who have asthma or other breathing problems, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Traditionally, many inhalers have contained chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s), a propellant that damages the protective ozone layer. The CFC inhalers are being phased out and replaced with more environmentally friendly inhalers.

Depending on the type of product and where you live, inhalers and aerosol products may be thrown into household trash or recyclables, or may be considered hazardous waste and require special handling. Read the handling instructions on the label, as some inhalers should not be punctured or thrown into a fire or incinerator. To ensure safe disposal, contact your local trash and recycling facility

If you begin your day with a steaming cup of joe, you could be protecting your health as well as jump-starting your morning. Research shows coffee may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. But to get the most benefit, you will have to fill your cup again, again, and again.

Coffee and Type 2 Diabetes: What Research Says

There have been many scientific studies indicating a link between regular coffee consumption and a decreased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital conducted one of the biggest, long-term studies on the subject. They found the more coffee people drank, the greater the protection against diabetes.

The study followed 41,934 men for 12 years and 84,276 women for 18 years. At the beginning of the study, the participants did not have type 2 diabetes. They were asked to answer questions about their coffee-drinking habits (regular and decaffeinated) every two to four years. Over the years, 1,333 new cases of type 2 diabetes were reported among the men and 4,085 among the women.

Men who reported drinking more than six cups of regular coffee a day cut their risk of developing type 2 diabetes in half when compared to non-drinkers. Women who reported drinking that much cut their risk by nearly 30 percent. Decaffeinated coffee also showed benefits, but the results were weaker.

Another study also suggests the more you drink, the better. Researchers in Finland, the country with the highest coffee consumption in the world, found that the risk of developing diabetes was significantly lowered in people who drank at least 10 cups a day. People who drank fewer cups of coffee had the same risk as non-drinkers.

Coffee consumption may also help people who are already living with type 2 diabetes, a new study published in the journal PLoS found, because the caffeine in coffee may protect against diabetes-related memory loss and cognitive decline. Poorly controlled diabetes is linked to memory loss, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease, and researchers believe this new data could help control these issues.

Coffee and Type 2 Diabetes: What’s Brewing?

What’s in coffee that could provide protection against type 2 diabetes? Researchers haven’t pinpointed the magic bullet as of yet. But the Harvard study said both regular and decaffeinated coffee contains loads of antioxidants like chlorogenic acid (one of the compounds that provide coffee’s flavor) and magnesium. These ingredients can improve your body’s sensitivity to insulin and may help lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to the study.

Caffeine’s role in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes among coffee drinkers has been unclear. In fact, a recent study at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health suggests caffeine may not be a major player. Researchers followed more than 28,000 postmenopausal women for 11 years. They found that women who drank at least six cups of coffee, particularly decaffeinated, had a 33 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes than non-drinkers.

Should you head for the nearest coffee shop even if you don’t normally drink coffee? Not necessarily. “I don’t think we have enough data to suggest that people who are not currently coffee drinkers should necessarily start,” says Sue McLaughlin, RD, CDE, president of health care and education at the American Diabetes Association. “More study is needed to determine why and how the study results occurred and to determine recommendations going forward.”

Coffee and Type 2 Diabetes: Understand the Drawbacks

Should you head for the nearest coffee shop even if you don’t normally drink coffee? Not necessarily. “I don’t think we have enough data to suggest that people who are not currently coffee drinkers should necessarily start,” says Sue McLaughlin, RD, CDE, president of health care and education at the American Diabetes Association. “More study is needed to determine why and how the study results occurred and to determine recommendations going forward.”

McLaughlin also doesn’t suggest that people up their coffee intake to what she calls “a (potentially) therapeutic dosage of six or more cups per day.” She notes that just one 6-ounce cup of regular coffee contains 103 milligrams of caffeine, a substance “that has been shown to increase blood pressure in some individuals.”

It’s important to watch what else you’re putting in the cup. “Adding calorie-laden sweeteners or fat-containing or carbohydrate-containing creamers to your coffee could be defeating the potentially beneficial effects of drinking the coffee itself,” McLaughlin adds.

Coffee and Type 2 Diabetes: Other Ways to Reduce Your Risk

Perhaps one of the best ways of reducing your risk of type 2 diabetes is by doing what doctors have been preaching for years. McLaughlin says the Diabetes Prevention Program, a major clinical study in the United States, found that by following just two healthy lifestyle habits can cut your diabetes risk by almost 60 percent:

• Exercise for at least 150 minutes a week
• Follow a reduced-fat and low-calorie diet that promotes modest weight loss of 5 to 7 percent.

The fresh beginning that every new year offers prompts many of us to make sweeping changes for the good of our health. While the results are certainly worth the effort — living longer, reducing your risk of disease, and improving your energy level and outlook — you don’t need to make a dozen changes at once. In fact, setting the bar too high can sometimes cause you to miss it altogether.

“Small changes are much easier to integrate into our lives than larger ones. It is lifelong ‘integration’ we want, not change per se,” says Michelle Segar, PhD, MPH, a healthy living motivation expert and associate director of the Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy Center for Women and Girls at the University of Michigan.

The lifestyle changes you choose to make might range from improving your health profile to boosting your self-image to reducing the stress in your life. Whatever you want to work on, you can create a plan of action that will be achievable, says family medicine practitioner Mack T. Ruffin IV, MD, MPH, the Max and Buena Lichter Research Professor of Family Medicine and associate chair for research programs at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor. Acknowledge what you want to change, set a long-range goal, let other people know about your goal, and then set measurable, clear mini-goals to get there, says Dr. Ruffin.

While many of Ruffin’s patients have weight loss goals, others might want to gain control over alcohol or tobacco use, get more sleep, manage a chronic disease more effectively, spend more time with family, and even take better care of their financial health. Each of these big goals can be tackled with a small-changes approach.

As you’re deciding on what you need to address in your life to improve your health, create a timetable that’s realistic for you as well. Radical changes — or those that you attempt to accomplish overnight — are rarely successful. Instead, start with a 12-month plan. Here are a dozen healthy habits that you can choose to include in your plan. And giving yourself a full month to incorporate each of these individual changes means you have the whole year to make meaningful improvements.

Healthy Habits to Boost Your Self-Image

Want to feel great about yourself? Start practicing these healthy habits, one month at a time. They’ll be a boost for you and those you love:

• Practice kindness. Think actively about how you can be kind to yourself, says Susan Smalley, PhD, professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles and founder of the Mindful Awareness Research Center, also in Los Angeles. “Notice if a harsh or critical voice sneaks up on you, and when it does, observe it with some curiosity and some kindness,” she suggests. A regular mediation practice can also help you become more aware of your thoughts without judging them.
• Focus on your strengths. Often we obsess over what we see as flaws in ourselves, but rather than harp on your tendency to be impatient or your weakness for hot fudge, remind yourself of what you do well. Having a hard time coming up with your good attributes? Think about the compliments other people have given you — your intelligence, your generosity, your unique sense of style. Make a list and carry it with you.
• Cut out sugar for a boost. You may quickly see positives changes in your overall self-image. That’s because eating concentrated sweets causes a rapid spike in blood sugar and an ensuing crash that can leave you moody and fatigued. “We see this all the time in our bariatric surgery patients. Post-operatively they haven’t lost any weight yet, but they feel better about themselves and the world,” says Joseph Colella, MD, director of robotic surgery at Magee-Women’s Hospital and St. Margaret’s Hospital at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pennsylvania. He attributes this in part to the fact that their bodies go sugar-free at this stage. You can try this out without major surgery — just cut out added sugars in your diet and see if your mood and sense of self improves, he says.
• Acknowledge your achievements. Even if it’s just a small personal pat on the back, let yourself enjoy reaching both big and little goals you set for yourself. Acknowledging how far you’ve come can really make a difference in whether you stick with it over the long run.

Small Changes to Stop Stress

In today’s fast-paced world, stress is inevitable, but you do have control over how much you let stress affect you. Try incorporating these small changes on a monthly basis to get through the year in a better state of mind:

• Practice mindfulness. According to research published in the journal Psychosomatics,mindfulness training is one way to manage your stress. Similar to meditation in practice, it helps you focus in the moment and, among cancer patients involved in the study, resulted in a drop in cortisol, the stress hormone. Rather than dwelling on the past or something you’re anxious about, “bring your attention to the present moment throughout the day,” advises Dr. Smalley. Simply observe, don’t criticize or edit events, and try to keep your thoughts from wandering off into your stress cycle, she explains. Use everyday activities to help you. “Every time you wash your hands, use that as a reminder to bring attention to the present,” suggests Smalley.
• Smile every day and laugh as much as possible. Besides the fact that it feels good, laughter helps increase health and well-being, and smiling provides an open invitation to people around you to connect and be happy.
• Get exercise and sleep. Healthy habits, such as getting enough sleep and being physically active, both help keep stress under control. If you know you don’t get enough of either, aim for about one more hour of sleep and 30 minutes (at least) of physical activity most days of the week. Integrate this into your plan in increments — ten minutes more of each in the first week, five more than that in the second, and so on.

Small Changes to Improve Your Overall Health

Healthy changes go beyond the staple goals of weight loss, and many are easier to accomplish. These small lifestyle changes can net big results if you incorporate them into your yearly plan:

·
• Get a checkup. To determine the most important lifestyle changes for you, you need to know your “numbers,” including blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. A yearly checkup is an easy first step toward better health.
• Get one more hour of sleep. Dr. Segar works with women of all ages to improve their health and believes that sleep is the foundation of all other positive changes. “Sleep not only influences our fuel for daily living, but when we don’t get enough of it, we often don’t have sufficient energy to make consistent decisions that favor health,” she says. And, as noted, getting enough sleep also helps cut down on stress.
• Cut 100 calories a day and add 1,000 steps. These are two small changes that, over the course of a year, can add up to big health benefits. Keeping track of your calorie intake will help you to be more mindful of what you’re putting in your mouth. Up the number of steps you take by walking more during your lunch breaks or choosing the stairs over an elevator. “If we all did this, we’d be healthier,” says Ruffin.
• Sit less during the day (and evening). According to a longitudinal study published in theBritish Journal of Sports Medicine, if you don’t get the recommended amount of physical activity for your age at some point during the day, the more you sit, the greater your health risks. Among the women who participated, those who didn’t exercise and who sat eight or more hours a day had an increased risk of dying after nine years, and that risk rose for those who sat for more than 11 hours a day. Make it a goal to take more frequent breaks from sitting by setting a timer to remind you to get up for at least five minutes every hour.
• Get in the habit of rewarding yourself with healthy gifts. When you’re setting health goals, like eating better, losing weight, or being more active, the most common mistake is rewarding good behavior with something you’ve been withholding, like chocolate cake, says Dr. Colella. This can cause you to slip back into old, unhealthy habits. Instead, be creative about your rewards. Plan a fun activity, like an afternoon of ice skating or a movie with friends, as a reward for weight loss. When you reach a fitness milestone, buy snazzy new workout gear instead of giving yourself some time off from the gym.

This year, make your healthy lifestyle resolutions more manageable: Focus on small, achievable changes that, over time, will add up to a big difference in your life.

When you get sick, you go to the doctor to get better. But do you ever go to the doctor when you aren’t sick? If the answer is no, it’s time to rethink your healthy aging strategy and schedule a doctor’s visit with the goal of staying healthy.

Preventive elder care involves regular exams, check-ups, and screening tests to get an update on your health. Recent research shows that older adults who live in areas with high concentrations of primary care doctors are less likely than those in areas with fewer doctors to be hospitalized for illnesses such as asthma and diabetes. If there are any warning signs of disease, regular preventive care will spot them early, which means earlier treatment and fewer complications. And while more regular appointments may cost you in the short term, they’ll save you time, worry, and money down the road. Plus, you’ll feel better and enjoy life longer.

Preventive Elder-Care Screenings

Here is a list of preventive elder care exams and tests that promote healthy aging:

• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Your annual exam. Your family doctor can check your weight, measure your body mass index (BMI), talk about any health problems or symptoms you’ve been experiencing, and order blood tests and any other screenings you need.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Blood pressure test. Blood pressure will be checked during your annual visit with your family doctor, possibly more often if you have high blood pressure.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Breast cancer. Women should be screened for breast cancer through regular breast examinations, an annual mammogram, and possibly a breast ultrasound – a sophisticated imaging test.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Cervical cancer. Regular pap smears for women should continue into your senior years, with the frequency determined by the results. You may be able to stop pap smears after age 65, again depending on what your doctor thinks is best.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Cholesterol screening. This is a blood test to measure cholesterol levels in the blood. Your physician will run this test periodically depending on your risk factors.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer screening starts at age 50 (earlier if you are at an increased risk due to a family history of colon cancer). Your doctor will determine how often this screening needs to be repeated, based on your results.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Diabetes screening. This blood sugar test is generally done at least every three years.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Osteoporosis. The U.S. Preventive Task Force recommends bone density screening for all patients over the age of 65, and from age 60 if you’re at an increased risk. Some of these risks include low body weight, non-traumatic fracture, or taking high-risk prescription medications.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Prostate cancer. Men should talk to their doctors about the right screening schedule for this disease if you are in a high-risk group.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Thyroid function. Thyroid function screening, a test for hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) or hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), is recommended in your senior years.

Anyone who has risk factors for certain health conditions, like specific cancers or tuberculosis, may need additional screening tests.

Elder-Care Health Strategies

In addition to health screenings, there are proactive steps you can take to improve your chances of aging well, including developing a strategy to maintain your health:

• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Work closely with your family doctor to find out how to stay healthy, prevent health problems, and catch illness early.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Discuss lifestyle changes you can make, such as eating better, quitting smoking, and starting (or maintaining) an exercise routine.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>If you don’t have a complete record of your family medical history and the illnesses close relatives have, start putting one together.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Keep a list of all of your immunizations and ask your primary care physician what shots would be good for you to have.
• http://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/css/bullet_green.gif); background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 8px; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: hidden; background-position: 0px 0.7em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;”>Know the risk factors for common diseases and your individual risk.

Staying healthy is a collaborative effort between you and your doctor, but it starts with you and your