Aging and diet, exercise, health, companionship, sex and sugery

DIET

 The aging person should at the well-balanced diet we have advocated in Chapter 6. Many older people feel better when they take a multivitamin tablet or capsule daily. If this produces indigestion, ask your doctor to prescribe a diet that will provide the extra vitamins. Old people do better, whenever possible, taking small meals at frequent intervals rather than depending upon one or two large meals a day.

WEIGHT The older person does best to be on the thin side. This can be achieved by regulating intake of calories and by using regular exercise. (See page 65 on weight reduction.)

EXERCISE

 One of the truly important aids to vigorous healthy old age is regular daily exercise. Brisk walking is one of the best exercises.

Swimming another

 But the choices are limit- Aging less. Simply check your kind of exercise, what you enjoy most, with your doctor to determine that it falls within the capacity of your heart and lungs. And reread Chapter 8 on exercise.

HEALTHY EMOTIONAL LIFE

 Good physical condition is necessary for a good emotional life in old age because it is a rare person who can be happy when constantly bothered by chronic illness or pain. On the other hand, good physical condition does not guarantee emotional health. It is such a pity to find elderly people whose bodies are in good shape but who are mentally depressed, lonely, or dispirited from empty hours. Retirement from work is always a serious change and should be discussed with your doctor. If you are a "doer" and not a "sitter," it may be necessary for you to find a new job, full or part time; or if you prefer not to work or cannot find employment you like, then as a doer you need vigorous activities and work hobbies.

COMPANIONSHIP

 This is very important, and as friends and relatives move away or die, new human contacts should be sought in church groups, clubs, and social groups for older citizens. For those who do not work, the day can still be full if there are friends and relatives to visit, books to read, movies and television to see, radio to listen to-and time for exercise. Each season has its appropriate sports, and there is much enjoyment to be found. in viewing them on television or in person.

SEX

 Part of healthy emotional life of old age is sex. Good medical thinking today recommends that people continue sexual activity until they die. The enjoyments and also the health/Disease Scenarios benefits of an active sex life are set forth in detail and persuasively by Dr. David Reuben in his book, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (David McKay, Publisher, 750 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017).

SURGERY IN THE AGED

 With the great advances in surgery and anesthesia, even the very elderly today can be operated on safely. There is no need for an older person to be disabled by a hernia for fear of the surgery involved. And the same applies to cataracts and many other conditions that require surgery for correction. 

ADOLESCENCE and health issues

ADOLESCENCE

 Adolescence is a tempestuous phase of human development. In our first decade of life, we are children; in our third, we become adults; some- where in between, adolescence is initiated by the physiological event of puberty, which has a profound influence not only through the physical changes it brings but also through its impact on social interests, behavior, and emotional life. The adolescent is trying to discover himself and to move from dependent childhood to independence. He brings to this time of life his psycho- logical characteristics and whole personality configuration, of course, but no matter how fine and healthy, they are now under tremendous stress. Emotional conflicts are triggered because the still immature adolescent has not yet succeeded in mastering his now-increased instinctual drives; he experiences strong urges for immediate expression of both sexual and aggressive impulses. Society does not help him. It flaunts attractions of adult sex before him, caters to his whims in entertainment, but then prolongs his dependence far into the teens and even into the twenties, insisting that long years of education and training must precede marriage and family.

Teen- agers have much to contend with, not alone their own inner churnings but the contradictions and confusions of the world they live in.   The development of the sex organs is a natural event but nil without problems. Emotional illness must be guarded against, including schizophrenia, which often chooses its victims from this age group (see page 645). Every generation frets about adolescents who, seemingly, will go to the devil in no time at all unless they listen to their elders. Adolescents have rarely listened in the past; most have managed to come through all right. But more will come through with less difficulty if we understand the problems associated with this phase of life-problems, of course, for parents as well as the younger generation. This is a time for parental self-examination. It is important for parents to determine whether their responses to their teenager's behavior are really justifiable, or whether they are responses to their own anxieties.

They may exert inappropriate pressures on their adolescent sons and daughters to adopt certain social customs, prepare for certain careers, go to certain schools, and behave in a certain manner. It is certainly not easy for parents who have devoted themselves to caring for a child for 15 or 16 years to realize that he is no longer a baby but is now seeking to become what he must become, an independent, self-reliant human being. So adolescence is trying for both parents and teen-agers. Given under- standing on both sides, controversies in the home will be reduced to reasonable proportions.

They are not likely to be eliminated completely. Emotionally, the "birth" of an adult is scarcely less of an event than the actual, physical birth of a baby. But it is fully as rewarding. If parents make an effort to remember their own stormy adolescence, and if adolescents make an effort to understand parents' anxieties and dilemmas-and if they can talk freely to each other and even joke a bit about their respective problems-tensions will be markedly reduced. 

Blood and iron health care

There is much talk these days about "iron-poor" blood. You will recall that it is hemoglobin-a combination of protein and iron-which carries oxygen. When the number of red cells in the blood is not adequate or the cells do not contain adequate amounts of hemoglobin, the body is not able to get its proper supply of oxygen. Without the oxygen, the muscles and other tissues are not able to burn all their supplies of fuel. The body is unable to get sufficient energy. The condition is called anemia. If anemia is the result of inadequate hemoglobin, the problem may be overcome by good diet-and may be avoided the same way. As noted previously, foods rich in iron include meats, particularly liver, heart, and kidneys; also leafy green vegetables; enriched bread and cereal; egg yolk; potatoes; oysters; dried fruits; peas; beans.

And since hemoglobin also contains protein, good-quality protein foods in the diet help. It should be emphasized, too, that there are other types of anemia and other possible causes. And if you feel unduly fatigued and suspect that you have anemia, don't guess that it may be for lack of enough iron or enough protein or anything else. Find out-let your physician test to determine-exactly what, if any, kind of anemia it is and what should be done about it. There are certain diseases that are great enemies of the heart and circulatory system. They include high blood pressure, hyperthyroidism, rheumatic f ever, hardening of the arteries, diabetes, nephritis, and syphilis.  

How Dampness, Abnormal Air pressures and Abnormal Temperatures affect Industrial owrkers health?

DAMPNESS

Tankmen, vatmen, coal miners, and washers are among those who have to work exposed to almost constant dampness. As a result, they may suffer from coughs, respiratory troubles, rheumatic dis- eases, and skin changes. Such workers should be as completely protected as possible by waterproof clothing, rubber boots and gloves. In addition, efforts should be made to control dampness by drain channels through which excess water can be carried away.

ABNORMAL AIR PRESSURES

 Tunnel workers and divers do their jobs under unusually heavy air pressures. In going underground, tunnel workers travel in a chamber which descends slowly so there is a gradual increase in air pressure. If the descent is fast, the change in pressure is distressing. The first sensation is felt in the eardrums and can be relieved by swallowing. Extremely rapid decrease in pressure can produce the "bends" in which blood supply from different parts of the body is blocked off by small air bubbles. Decompression sickness is dangerous and can be fatal.

It may develop several hours after a diver has returned too rapidly to the surface. Treatment usually requires recompression and then gradual decompression. Rising rapidly to a high altitude, which means entering a lower air pressure situation, can be just as harmful. Ascent as well as descent should be gradual. Pilots who ascend too rapidly or take sudden dives may become dizzy, and the change in pressure may be violent enough to burst their eardrums. Commercial airliners are pressurized to avoid the effects of high altitudes.

ABNORMAL TEMPERATURES

Steelworkers, welders, furnace men, blacksmiths, and others may be exposed to very high temperatures which may lead to heatstroke, heat exhaustion, and cramps. Very low temperatures may cause frostbite, gangrene, or death. Insulation or air conditioning and protective clothing can help protect against temperature extremes and their effects. Additional salt, which can be taken in the form of tablets, is needed to make up for large amounts lost in perspiration. Relief periods-providing opportunity to return to normal temperature- are extremely important. Workers should be on the alert for symptoms and should ask for relief the moment any symptoms appear. They should also report any colds or other disturbances to the company doctor or their own physician. 

SPECIAL FARM AND RURAL WORKING PROBLEMS affects health

SPECIAL FARM AND RURAL WORKING PROBLEMS 

Although it is commonly thought that working on a farm or in a rural area is healthier than urban work, statistics indicate that this is not so, that illness and disability have much the same incidence in both places. In some rural areas, moreover, where doctors are few and hospitals poorly equipped, residents may have more health problems than do city dwellers. 

If you live and work in a rural area, you should know the facts about certain diseases that may occur in some rural areas: brucellosis (undulant fever), tularemia, and typhoid fever, tuberculosis of bones and joints, dysentery, malaria, hookworm.

Rural living provides no particular protection against tuberculosis and, indeed, farmers need to take every precaution listed and some extra ones as well. For example, milk in cities almost invariably is pasteurized, a precaution that helps prevent tuberculosis of the glands and bones, and other diseases such as undulant fever and septic sore throat. 

Unless a farmer goes to the trouble of pasteurizing the milk from his own cow, he and his family are in danger from these diseases. Many wise farmers set an example all might well follow: they either do their own pasteurizing or buy back some of the milk they sell to dairy plants after it has been pasteurized. Home pasteurization is described elsewhere in this blogs.

Farm Accidents The accident toll among rural Americans is high. While there is less danger than in the city from traffic, this is counterbalanced by the frequency of accidents during operation of farm machinery and by other hazards.  Because the accident rate is high and medical care may not be very lose by, every farmer should have a good working knowledge of first aid, and all farm vehicles should carry first-aid kits, including instruction booklets, even small wounds need immediate treatment because of the danger of infection. 

Any animal bites should be promptly washed with soap and water and treated, and they should also be reported to a physician and the animal should be checked for rabies. Tetanus (lockjaw) organisms thrive in the intestines of horses and other grass-eating animals and are therefore found around barns and in oil fertilized by manure. This disease, which can develop as the result of any deep wound such as one produced by stepping on a nail, is a constant threat to people in rural areas.

 It can be prevented by inoculations, and everyone, from childhood on, should be protected against tetanus by much inoculations. No deep wound, however trivial it may seem, should be neglected; an immediate injection of protective serum may make the difference between life and death. Be sure to read further on tetanus elsewhere in this book.

Sleep and Good health - Sleeping Pattern and Sleeping process

SLEEP

SLEEP IS fundamental to good health and yet, it would appear, many of us need a refresher course in sleeping. According to recent surveys, about half of all men and women in the United States have trouble sleeping at night, and about one fourth of the population use some form of sleeping medicine. Before considering how sound, healthy sleep may best be encouraged, let's get some basic understanding of this long-mysterious process which has come in for scientific exploration only in recent years.

How much sleep do you need? Have you ever really tested yourself over a period of time?

What is the nature of sleep?

Are sleeping patterns inborn or acquired habits?

What happens in sleep?

THE SLEEP PROCESS

As you have discovered when you do not get adequate sleep, sleep is necessary for both physical and psychological well-being. Even now, however, scientists are unable to explain why about one third of our lives must be spent in sleep and why in our sleep we dream. In trying to get sound insights into the mysteries of sleep, investigators in many sleep laboratories use volunteers to whose scalp they tape electrodes to detect tiny currents in the brain.

 Amplified many hundreds of thousands of times, the impulses are registered on graph paper as an electroencephalogram (EEG).

 In addition, equipment records pulse, eye movements, breathing, body movements, and muscle tensions while the in sleep, it is now known, is not a state of oblivion, of complete.

Rather, it is a progression of rhythmic cycles.  Equipment, scientists have been able to establish that sleep. That a newborn baby alternates between sleep and wakefulness at about hourly intervals; that gradually, as the child grows older, the cycles stretch out until eventually they becomes 90-minute cycles in adulthood.

 These 90-minute cycles are beyond conscious control. It used to be thought that we fall into deeper and deeper sleep during the night until we arrive at a turning point, and then sleep lightens progressively until we wake up. But it is now clear that this is not so. Instead, throughout the night, we shift from one gradation of sleep to another and are even awake several times during the night without necessarily remembering the wakefulness. 

HOW MUCH TO EAT - A word about food

FOOD CAUSES

It is better to eat no more than eighty per cent of your capacity. A Japanese proverb has it that eight parts of a full stomach  ache sustain the man; the other two sustain the doctor."

So one of the Zen masters is quoted in the book Three Pillars of Zen (Beacon Press, Boston, 1967)

The advice is relevant. That Americans generally consume too many calories for the amount of physical energy they expend is a matter of record and of increasing concern as the energy expenditure tapers off even more. Every five years, the National Research Council, which serves as scientific adviser to the United States government, publishes recommended dietary allowances.

After recommending, in 1963, a cut of 100 calories per day for men and women, it recommended another 100-calorie reduction in 1968. In its calculations, the Council uses a "reference" man and woman-each 22 years old, weighing 154 pounds and 127 pounds respectively, living in a mean temperature of 68 degrees, and engaging in light physical activity. 

Such a man, the Council now figures, needs 2,800 calories a day; the woman 2,000. The Council also recommends that caloric intake be cut below these levels with age-by 5 percent between ages 22 and 35, by 3 percent in each decade between 35 and 55, and by 5 percent per decade from 55 to 75.

This brings the figure for the woman, for example, to 1,900 by age 35, to 1,843 by age 45, to 1,788 by age 55, to 1,699 at 65 and to 1,614 at 75. These, of course, are general guidelines, leaving room for individual variations, and your physician may well have suggestions of value for you. It is a measure of good health, and a contribution toward maintaining it, to reach and keep a desirable weight. 

For that, an effective balance between food intake and energy output is needed. If you are currently at ideal weight (see table on page 61), your intake and output are in balance---which is fine if you are getting adequate amounts of exercise. Exercise, of right kind and in adequate amounts, is a vital element in health for many reasons (see Chapter 8). If you should need to increase your physical activity, you will need to increase intake to maintain desirable weight.

Human body reactions to Medicines and Foods Vs Medicines

REACTIONS TO MEDICINES

It may seem unbelievable but there are more than 250 diseases that can be caused by the very medicines designed to treat and cure illness. You may well ask, "Why is this possible?" The reasons are not difficult to understand. Over the past twenty-five years or so, many hundreds of new com- pounds have been developed for treating and preventing disease. Many are powerful and complicated substances.

Their very effectiveness depends upon their great potency and complexity. In some instances, trouble has come unexpectedly because a powerful A Special Word about medicine taking new agents was not tested fully under every conceivable circumstance. Thus, for example, thalidomide seemed to be an excellent and harmless tranquilizing agent in most people, but when it was used by pregnant women it had terrible effects on their unborn children. Another reason for drug-induced illness is that human beings do have tendencies to develop allergic or sensitivity responses. These vary considerably, just as they do for foods. One person may eat eggs until the hens scream for mercy-and enjoy them with impunity; another person, allergic to them, cannot eat one without developing some upset.

And so with other foods

Because of sensitivity problems, a medicine that is highly beneficial for 95 percent of the population may cause trouble, even potentially serious trouble, for the remaining 5 percent. A good example is penicillin, clearly a lifesaving drug. It has, indeed, probably saved well over a million lives since its discovery. But it also has caused severe sensitivity re- actions in scores of thousands of people and has taken the lives of thousands.

As you may have noticed, physicians today inquire carefully about possible previous sensitivity reactions to penicillin before administering or prescribing it. Just as some people, after repeated exposure, become allergic to rag- weed pollen or to poison ivy, so some, after being helped once or even several times by an antibiotic, may develop allergic reactions to the com- pound. Usually the problem is mild-skin rash, hives, or slight fever- and disappears once the drug is stopped. Occasionally, however, there are anaphylactic, or shock like, reactions which are life-threatening, and these can be overcome only if heroic measures-adrenaline and other injections-are used in time.

Still considered the single most valuable antibiotic,penicillin is a major allergy producer because it has been so widely used. It is estimated that 10 percent of Americans have become sensitized to the drug. Still another reason for undesirable reactions is that no drug is 100 percent specific-hitting the bull's-eye, so to speak. In the course of countering the problem for which it is being used, it may produce other effects, and these have to be reckoned with. Consider, for example, the gastrointestinal upsets-cramps, diarrhea, sore mouth, rectal itch-which may occur after use of many antibiotics.

They can come about because of an upset in the natural germbalance in the body. Many harmless bacteria are always present in the gastrointestinal tract. Some, in fact, are essential to digestion; some manufacture vitamins. When a potent antibiotic is introduced to fight infection, it may also decimate this normal bacterial population. Moreover, these friendly bacteria serve another purpose in the body.

Symptoms of Cancer - How to detect Cancer? Answer these questions

CANCER SIGNALS

Some signs and symptoms are commonly associated with cancer. They include: Any lump or thickening in the breast or elsewhere Any sore that does not heal Any persistent change in bowel or bladder habits Persistenthoarseness or coughing Persistent indigestion or difficulty in swallowing Any change in a wart or mole Any sudden weight loss Actually, none of the foregoing constitutes proof of cancer-only that cancer is a possibility which should be investigated without delay.

No sign or symptom-either severe or mild but persistent or recurring -should be neglected, it bears repeating here, on the grounds that it may not mean anything or that the doctor may say it's "just nerves." The preventively minded physician whom you see regularly for your checkups will welcome being consulted about such signals, will not pass them off lightly as "just nerves," will check thoroughly, and, if it should be just a matter of "nerves," will help you do something about the "nerves.

YOUR OWN HEALTH INVENTORY

In addition to regular periodic checkups by your physician and your alertness for danger signals, there is an additional line of defense, an extra safeguard, you can put to use in maintaining health. It consists of a simple inventory of your health, a checklist of statements. Taking the inventory at home will require only a few minutes once a month.

Mark your calendar now to remind you to refer to this chapter and the following statements on some convenient date each month, perhaps the first or fifteenth. If you cannot say "True" to anyone of the statements that follow, you should see your doctor as soon as possible. If you have a perfect "True" score, it is quite likely that your health is being maintained satisfactorily, and you need not see your physician again until your next scheduled examination.

1.            I have noticed no sore on skin, lips, or tongue that doesn't seem to heal.

2.            I am not aware of shortness of breath when walking on level ground or when performing any type of activity that never before made me short of breath.

3.            I am not bothered by indigestion, nausea, appetite loss, abdominal pain or cramps, or the recent sudden appearance of constipation or diarrhea.

4.            I have noticed no blood in bowel movements or urine.

 5.           I am not steadily losing or gaining weight and I am satisfied that my weight is suitable for me.

6.            I do not feel myself becoming nervous, irritable, or depressed. I have had no crying spells and no feelings of overwhelming sadness, worthlessness, mental apathy. I have no persistent feeling that any- body is against me. I do not feel a nervous breakdown coming on.

7.            I do not feel unduly fatigued after little effort, mental or physical. I have no feeling of being rundown.

8.            I have no pallor; my skin color has not changed.  

9.            I have no cough that has persisted longer than a month. I have coughed up no blood.

 10.         I have had no persistent hoarseness.

11.          My hearing remains as good as it has ever been.

12.          My eyesight, too, remains good; I have had no dimming or fogging of vision.

13.          I have no persistent headaches.

14.          I have felt no chest discomfort without obvious cause.

15.          I have had no prolonged aches in back, limbs, or joints.

 16.         There has been no swelling of my feet or ankles.

 17.         I have noticed no urinary changes.

18.          I sleep well. I have no tendency to wake up during the night and have difficulty falling asleep again.

 19.         I have no new persistent pain or any other new symptoms.

20.          I am not worried about the possibility of having a venereal disease. Special for women:

21.          I have noticed no vaginal bleeding at unexpected times.

22.          I have felt no lump in my breast, and I have not been worried about the possibility of cancer or tumor there or in any other part of my body.

23.          I am not troubled with hot flashes. Special for men:

21.          My urination has not been abnormal in any way recently-particularly in terms of difficulty in starting, stopping, dribbling, and pain.

22.          I am not ruptured and have no thoughts that I may be.

23.          I do not believe that I may have picked up some disease overseas during the war which may now be coming to the surface.

Important Note: If you cannot say "True" to one or more of the preceding statements, it does not necessarily mean that you have a serious problem. There may, indeed, be a clue to something serious-and because it is likely to be an early clue, the problem is very likely to be amenable to effective treatment. On the other hand, the problem may be mild, possibly even temporary. But let your physician make the diagnosis for you. He will almost certainly agree that it is good preventive medicine, in the best interests of your continued good health, for him to check up on the lead provided when you cannot say "True" to a statement. – 

Patient History and Physical Examination can be Physician’s tool to Prevent Diseases

Patient History and Physical Examination can be Physician’s tool to Prevent Diseases

One patient who experienced a slight change in urination-dribbling a little during the night- passed it off as a joke, kidding with his wife that somehow, though he was still a young and vigorous man, he had entered second childhood. He had actually developed an enlargement of the prostate gland. A year of delay made the operation he needed more difficult and led to a complication, kidney infection, caused by backing up of urine. In reporting symptoms to the doctor, don't grope for medical words; use simple English. Many diseases have strong psychological aspects, and symptoms may recede the moment you are in the doctor's office. Still, tell the doctor you have the symptoms even though it may seem silly to talk about them when they are not immediately present. You can be certain the doctor will understand the phenomenon.

THE PHYSICAL EXAMINATION 'Even as he shakes hands with you, an alert physician may pick up some clues. Are your hands warm and moist, with a fine tremor? These characteristics may suggest over activity of the thyroidgland. If the hands are cold and the skin is coarse and puffy, the thyroid could be under- active. Red fingertips may signal some abnormal flow of blood in the heart; flushing of the nail beds in time with the heartbeat may indicate another type of heart problem called aortic regurgitation. As he observes the body, the physician can learn a great deal. The color of lips and ears may indicate possible anemia.

The Promise and Nature of Preventive Medicine

 One leg is slightly shorter than the other-enough in some cases to account for a backache problem. He may note leg swellings traceable to a heart problem, and any enlarged glands, tumors, or abnormal pigmentation resulting from internal disease. In his examination, the physician will be looking to see if the body is symmetrical. Lack of symmetry is almost always a sign of some dis- ability or disease. If the left side of the neck looks different from the right, it may be because of a tumor which is pushing out on that side. If the thyroid is not symmetrical, it may be because of a benign tumor which has enlarged one lobe ofthe gland. In the retina at the back of the eyes, small blood vessels-arteries and veins-lie are almost naked, devoid of covering material.

And there, very quickly, with an instrument called the Ophthal-mo-scope, the physician by looking through the pupil of the eye can detect any blood vessel changes which may provide clues to diabetes or kidneydisease. Women need a breast examination for any tenderness, abnormal lump, or nipple discharge. During a vaginal examination, a smear of cells for the "Pap" test is usually taken; this is a test to detect early cancer in the area. Both men and women should have a rectal examination to detect any local disturbances. With an instrument, the Sigmoido-Scope, the physician can see and check the lower portion of the colon for any growths.

As a patient, you can help greatly by insisting that the physician do a thorough inspection, by reassuring him that you have no squeamishness. Some doctors feel that patients’ are resistant to rectal andgenital examination and omit these vitally important checks. 

Natural cure without medicines 1000 posts following

Medicines always cause some side effects and addiction that makes our body desperately needs medicine after once or twice taken. But Mother nature gives us many options to cure illnesses without any chemicals and medicines based on chemicals.

We will continue this blog dedicated to nature cure lovers, follow this blog for a complete solution for your health problems. Coming days will be very important to you to maintain a flawless healthier body.