Healthyways

It’s tough to stay positive when you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. And, then get stuck in a windowless work environment. Shorter days and dreary winter weather can bring us down. There are even some of us that suffer from a type of seasonal depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder.
I was interviewed by the nationally syndicated show, Daytime TV, a couple of years ago, about how to stay positive this winter. You can watch my interview on my GoDrJo channel at YouTube.

In the video, you’ll discover 5 tips that are research-driven to help you feel better on these dark, dreary days! Here they are:
1. Listen to Uplifting Music and Stories
You know how your brain can sometimes get stuck on the last song you played before you shut off the car? Well, let that be something fun and uplifting. Instead of listening to the news during your entire morning routine and commute, switch it up. Play some uplifting music just before you arrive to work.

Or maybe some uplifting story. How about NPR’s Story Corp? (also available on the app store). Or the Good New Network? What fun app do you use?

2. Get 30 Minutes of Daylight Every Day
Do you harder time getting out of bed in the winter months? You’re not alone. Part of the reason may be because we’re not getting enough sunlight. The sun’s rays provide so many health and mood benefits. Sunlight provides essential Vitamin D to keep us healthy. And, there’s a relationship between very low vitamin D levels and depression and other mental disorders.

Sunlight also helps us to regulate our sleep patterns so we go to sleep easier – and wake up more refreshed. And all it takes is getting 30 minutes of daylight exposure each day. Could you take a brief walking break outside during your lunch time? How else can you structure your day to see some sunlight?

3. Get Lost in a Hobby
Do you find your job and family responsibilities to be overwhelming? We all feel that way at times. A good way to feel good is to practice a hobby.

Do you have a hobby? If not, think back to a time when you did. Remember how time would just fly when you lost “in the zone”? And then feel accomplished in the end? One of my hobbies is sewing. I’m currently reupholstering a double chaise lounge chair. And, just last night, I stapled on the last bit of the fabric. What a great feeling of pride.

4. Hang Out with Positive People
Did your holiday commitments include family members that bring you down? Or maybe it’s the people that you work with that drive you crazy. Maybe you can’t do much about that. But, when it comes to your friends…the people you hang out with…choose those that are positive and fun.

In addition to being fun, positive people tend to practice healthy habits such as exercise, choosing healthy foods, and knowing how to destress. And, the good news is that you don’t have to live in the same town as you do.

Three of my closest friends live across the country from me. And, we connect by phone during our commutes. One relationship goes back 30+ years! What about you? Do you have positive, uplifting friends? And, if not, why not? Try meetup.com (or the app) to find people who share your passions – whether it’s running, going to the theater, or playing cards.

5. Repeat Positive Affirmations
You may not realize it, but we all talk to ourselves and provide constant commentary on what we observe. If you listen in, you’re probably more likely to spout comments of doubt or negativity. Things like: “What was I thinking?”, “Oh, I shouldn’t have eaten that…I have no willpower”, “I better get my act together or I’m going to get fired.”

If you want to feel better, you’ll have to start thinking better. Even if you don’t believe it right now, start repeating positive messages to yourself. If you want to stay more focused at work try, “I am clear-headed and focused. I’m on target to achieve my goals.” Trying to lose weight? Repeat, “I enjoy healthy foods. I love to walk.” I know…these might sound silly at first, but you’ll eventually start to live what you repeat to yourself.  For more information on staying positive,

From boxing to wellness studios, here are the best approaches to get fit for the current year.

From "chilly yoga" to Zumba classes, wellness drifts regularly travel every which way, yet finding better approaches to remain dynamic can mean beginning off the new year with a sound new propensity.

In case you're searching for new and intriguing approaches to get with regards to shape this year, we have you secured.

We conversed with wellbeing experts, who said something regarding the best wellness drifts that will probably be assuming control over your rec center, wellness studio, or notwithstanding family room this year.

Exercising at home

Working out is no longer solely resigned to hitting the gym. Tom Holland, MS, an exercise physiologist from Connecticut, said home workouts will continue to be popular in the new year. Many Americans are creating home gyms, or using streaming technology to exercise under their own roofs.

“Getting started doesn’t require a large amount of space or investment,” Holland said.

ClassPass Live and Our Body Electric let you follow a live class being streamed elsewhere.

Shorter workouts
“Science tells us that no workout is too short, that every minute matters,” Holland said.

Three 10-minute bouts of exercise have the same benefits as one continuous 30-minute session. Wherever we’re exercising, some of us may be doing it in shorter spurts — and that’s okay, Holland added.

High-intensity interval training, or HIIT, also follows this trend.

“People are trying to become more efficient in their workouts, but also the science behind high-intensity interval training shows you can get comparable results and sometimes even better results when your heart rate is surging versus long duration exercises,” said Imran Jawaid, co-founder of Sanabul, a brand of athletic gear.

“There is real science to reducing rest and compressing more work into a shorter period of time,” noted Kemaro Miller, a personal trainer at Belleon Body NYC. “It’s brilliant at burning fat while strength training and crushes long slow cardio in terms of effectiveness.”

Miller said the new year will bring more emphasis on fusing HIIT with workouts such as yoga, strength straining, Zumba, and Pilates.

Boxing
When it comes to what workout trend more of us will be trying, that will be boxing, according to Jawaid. Combat sports in general are becoming more of a part in mainstream culture in part due to rising popularity of mixed martial arts, or MMA.

“Boxing workouts are a great way of getting an intense workout but also feeling like a fighter,” Jawaid told Healthline. “I think people feel a sense of empowerment when they emulate certain movements of fighters.”

Second to boxing is spinning, Jawaid said. The controlled aspect of pedaling typically means less injuries than other recent trends such as CrossFit.

Smart training
Having a fitness wristband to track calories and steps is one thing, but workouts will get even smarter in 2019, says Von Collins, an ACE-certified professional with Complete Tri, said that smart treadmills and other fitness equipment that features streaming apps is quite a game changer.

Smart training lets you, for example, ride a bike while seeing the course on a tablet. The bike changes to reflect hills or other obstacles, plus many smart training platforms let you compete with other users. You can do workouts, time trials, or even go for rides with friends who might live miles away.

“Up until now, the technology to stream workouts at home in a fully integrated way has been best described as clunky,” Collins said. “It is becoming much more streamlined, much more plug-and-play, which opens the entire market up beyond the hardcore junkies and to the masses.”

Analysts locate a higher danger of coronary occasions amid the 3 months after a disease. The body's resistant reaction, they propose, may clarify why contaminations "trigger" heart assault and stroke.

The term cardiovascular disease (CVD) covers a scope of conditions: from heart assault and coronary illness to stroke, hypertension, and heart disappointment.

Upwards of 84 million individuals in the Assembled States are living with one of the conditions above, and 2,200 individuals bite the dust each day subsequently.

A few components may raise the danger of cardiovascular conditions. A portion of these elements are modifiable, for example, smoking, elevated cholesterol, and hypertension. Different elements, for example, sex, race, age, and family ancestry, can't be changed.

Be that as it may, there are additionally various "intense" hazard factors, or triggers, that can prompt CVD. Some exploration has connected urinary diseases and pneumonia, for example, with the danger of having heart assaults and stroke.

A new study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, zooms in on the link between infections and adverse cardiovascular events.

Dr. Kamakshi Lakshminarayan, a neurologist and associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, is the senior author of the study.

Studying infections and coronary events risk

Dr. Lakshminarayan and colleagues examined 1,312 people who had had a coronary event such as a heart attack, or myocardial infarction, and compared them with 727 people who had had an ischemic stroke.

The study included both outpatients and people who were hospitalized to receive treatment for their infection.

The researchers looked for infections that these people developed up to 1–2 years before the cardiovascular event. The most commonly reported infections were urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and respiratory infections.

Overall, the study found that approximately 37 percent of the participants with heart disease had developed an infection in the 3 months leading up to the coronary event. Among people with stroke, this number was almost 30 percent.

In the first 2 weeks after having an infection, the risk of a stroke or a heart attack was the highest.

Though the analysis found this link among both inpatients and outpatients, people who received care in the hospital were more likely to have a coronary event.

Immune response may elicit coronary events

Although the study was observational, the scientists speculate on the mechanism that may explain the results.

During an infection, explains Dr. Lakshminarayan, the body's immune system produces more white blood cells to fight it off. However, this immune response also makes small blood cells, called platelets, stickier.

In a healthy body, the role of platelets is to bind to a damaged blood vessel and create a blood clot. This is very useful for accidental cuts, for example, but too many platelets, or platelets that are too sticky, can raise the risk of blood clots.

"The infection appears to be the trigger for changing the finely tuned balance in the blood and making us more prone to thrombosis, or clot formation," says Dr. Lakshminarayan. "It's a trigger for the blood vessels to get blocked up and puts us at higher risk of serious events like heart attack and stroke."

In an accompanying editorial, Juan Badimon — who was not involved in the research — explains why the risk of a coronary event may have been higher in the hospitalized group. He says that for these people, the infection might have been more severe.

"And if the infection is that severe, we can assume a stronger inflammatory response will result in a higher cardiovascular risk," he said in an interview.

Badimon is a professor of medicine and the director of the atherothrombosis research unit at Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Cardiovascular Institute in New York City, NY.

Turkey and ham. Pureed potatoes and sauce. Your mother's uncommon stuffing and auntie's fish meal. Gracious, and keep in mind the potato plate of mixed greens.

You'll be unable to enter the Christmas season without eating — a great deal. Furthermore, however to a great degree delectable, these conventional family top choices likewise accompany a heavy sticker price of salt, sugar, and, obviously, fat — none of which do much for heart wellbeing.

Considering the idea of the occasion sustenance fest, the American Heart Affiliation as of late thought of a rundown of solid heart hacks for occasion formulas, including tips like supplanting salt with herbs and flavors and utilizing unsweetened fruit purée rather than spread when heating.

Too much turkey and stuffing can end up hurting your heart

Dr. Nicole Weinberg, a cardiologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in California, does see consequences to holiday overindulgence. She said there’s an increase in emergency room visits for congestive heart failure starting with Thanksgiving, what she calls “the saltiest meal of the year.”

The rich, salty foods and holiday stress may also lead to increased blood pressure and more heart attacks.

“It kind of kicks off over Thanksgiving, and I do think the hospital admissions go up during the holiday time,” Weinberg said.

Despite the risks, holiday traditions may prove difficult to change.

“I think it’s a good concept to not necessarily throw off your game [simply] because it’s the holidays,” said Weinberg. “I kind of admire the quest. I just feel like it’s the hardest one of the year.”

Dr. Ethan A. Yalvac, a cardiologist at Hoag Hospital in California, said overeating doesn’t have to be one of our holiday traditions.

“We have this unfortunate cultural acceptance of weight gain and indulgence — this idea that we will let diet and exercise fall by the wayside in November and December, and then fight our way back to health in January,” Yalvac said. “This is a fallacy.”

Jessica Bennett, RD, clinical dietitian at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, said most holiday recipes use large amounts of butter, which is not heart healthy. Other recipes combine veggies with high-fat foods like meat and cheese.

“Vegetable casseroles are typically loaded with cheese and butter as well,” Bennett said. “There tends to be more consumption of sugar from sweets or added to recipes like sauces. Alcohol tends to be consumed more frequently and some find it hard to moderate.”

But following tips such as the AHA food swaps can be helpful to reduce the potential for heart issue flare-ups during the season.


Holiday tips for heart health

• Fill up with healthy foods before holiday parties. “Plan out your concept so you’re not just starving yourself all day and then go to a party and gorge yourself silly,” Weinberg said.
• Toss the white rice. Bennett said brown rice or quinoa can be used instead of white rice in dishes.
• Up the veggies without the fat and starch. Zucchini or squash can be substituted for pasta and cauliflower for potatoes, said Bennett. 
• Chew while you cook. “Chew sugar-free gum or chew on veggies while cooking to avoid eating a meal’s worth of calories while cooking,” Bennett said.
• Keep stress down. “Stress plays a role during the holidays too,” Bennett said. “Set a time limit on visitors. Take a walk. Enjoy a holiday movie or book, [or a] holiday coloring book. Light a comforting-smelling candle. Name three things you are grateful for. Holiday-themed puzzles are fun for the entire family.”
• Get creative with leftovers. “Share leftovers with family and friends,” said Bennett. “Use leftovers to jazz up a salad or make a soup and add more veggies. Lettuce wraps make great leftover tacos.”
• Use pineapple for baking. “The AHA article mentioned using unsweetened applesauce in baking,” said Yalvac. “I would add the ‘hack’ of substituting sugar in baking with pureed fresh pineapple. The pineapple is a natural source of sweetness — and the secret ingredient to the carrot cake my wife and I make every year.”
• Weigh yourself every day. “It is amazing what this one trick can do,” Yalvac said. “If you go for four days of partying and drinking and eating, you could end the weekend with 5 to 10 extra pounds. By weighing yourself every day, you establish a feedback loop between the food and drinks you consume and your weight. If you overdo it on Thanksgiving, and you get on the scale Friday morning to find you’ve gained 3 pounds, you’re going to hold back on that piece of pie Friday night.”
• Go for a walk after dinner. “Be sure to maintain exercise however you can get it in,” Yalvac said. “Just because you’re going to parties doesn’t mean you can’t keep moving and taking care of yourself.”

As we age, our association with liquor should change also.

When we're youthful, our organs are fit for withstanding most terrible choices we make. Be that as it may, as our bodies gradually begin losing their flexibility to take misuse, liquor can assume an alternate job.

Liquor, regardless of how the publicizing business endeavors to turn it, is a toxic substance.

Consistently, an expected 88,000 individuals kick the bucket of liquor related causes, making it the third most preventable type of death in the Assembled States behind tobacco utilize, horrible eating routine, and absence of activity, as indicated by the National Foundation on Liquor Misuse and Liquor abuse.

The World Wellbeing Association likewise reports that the normal American consumer expends in excess of nine liters — or around over two gallons — of unadulterated liquor a year, and about a fourth of all consumers report overwhelming drinking in December.

While liquor impacts everybody, it tends to be especially harsh on the elderly, or those beyond 65 years old. Some keep on drinking as they generally have, while others, who may have swore off liquor for the duration of their lives, begin savoring their brilliant years.

Both can make their own host of issues.

Brad Lander, PhD, analyst and habit prescription authority at The Ohio State College Wexner Therapeutic Center cautions that, as we age, liquor can make issues with parity and decline response time prompting mishaps, in addition to other things.

"Drinking among seniors is not the same as individuals who are more youthful," Lander told Healthline. "Mischances is one of the most serious issues."

While liquor is regularly connected with engine vehicle mishaps, for seniors, something as basic as getting all over the stairs can prompt slips and falls, chances that are aggravated with intense and overwhelming liquor utilize.

Be that as it may, shouldn't something be said about a glass a day? 

It appears think about after investigation turns out all the time demonstrating the defensive impacts of drinking liquor, regularly a glass of wine multi day.

Joel Army, DO, family medication doctor at Piedmont Doctors Monroe Family Practice in Monroe, Georgia, says that while there is some proof that little measures of liquor can be helpful in averting heart assaults, there's likewise proof that little measures of liquor can build your hazard for stroke.

"It is positively a twofold edged sword," Battalion told Healthline. "The advantage might be exceeded by the hazard, or if nothing else the advantage invalidated by the hazard."

In any case, when little sums turn out to be enormous sums, Battalion says liquor maltreatment in the elderly carries with it a "genuine hazard" of long haul negative wellbeing impacts, in particular subjective weakness, amnesia, dementia, vision issues, lopsidedness and falls, powerlessness to walk, nerve torments and brokenness, muscle hurts, hypertension, and others.

"These are discoveries which are seen outside of the intense liquor inebriation window, when the patient is calm," he said.

At the end of the day, the impacts stay long after you've rested off the liquor.

Liquor additionally makes it more troublesome for a specialist to give a satisfactory analysis.

An elderly individual who expends remarkable measures of liquor all the time could be determined to have a psychological sickness when they're impaired. Lander says this is on the grounds that the outward indications of inebriation and Alzheimer's could be befuddled at a specialist's visit.

"Here and there individuals get misdiagnosed with dementia when they're simply smashed," he said.

Much like their more youthful partners, elderly individuals may go after liquor to execute the fatigue and pity that accompanies adapting to misfortune, segregation, approaching mortality, and different issues that can compound with maturing.

Lander says he sees numerous patients who utilize a beverage or two to help nod off before it turns into an endless loop of self-drug.

"We see a considerable measure of expanding in drinking since they're discouraged," he said.

Regardless of the reason, the consequences for a man — while shifting by individual dependent on a large group of variables — can be significantly genuine and likely just best comprehended under a magnifying lens.

At the cellular level

The outward signs of elderly alcohol abuse pale in comparison to what is going on inside.

Brooke Sprowl, LCSW, a psychotherapist and clinical director and owner of My LA Therapy, says research shows that telomeres — stretches of DNA that live at the end of our chromosomes and protect our genetic data — shorten as we age, which is one reason why we become more vulnerable to disease and other environmental stressors, such as the effects of alcohol.

“Telomeres shorten every time cells divide and then reach a tipping point wherein they become so short that a cell can no longer divide, depriving the body of the protective and regenerative benefits of cell division,” Sprowl told Healthline.

So, there’s a biological reason you aren’t able to bounce back from hangovers as easily as you did in your 20s. It’s due to the fact that you’re not as springy and spongy as you were when you were first old enough to drink alcohol.

Jagdish Khubchandani, PhD, an associate professor of health science at Ball State University, also says that alcohol has widespread effects on all parts of the brain due to its easy crossing of the blood-brain barrier to reach brain cells.

Additionally, this means a person’s body could be more directly impacted by conditions and diseases they’re already genetically predisposed to, including those associated with older age.

He says that alcohol acts on the receptors in the brain that ultimately affect the neurotransmitters that we take for granted, like coordinating simple and complex skills, from physical balance to emotional balance.

“Because alcohol starts binding to these receptors, the neurotransmitters stop functioning normally,” Khubchandani said.

Because of this, chronic alcohol use is linked with neuropsychiatric illnesses because alcohol is really good at dampening our regulation and response to raw data and, unfortunately, damaging our neurotransmitters.

This, Khubchandani says, can damage the brain in two ways: In the structural — or literal shrinkage of your physical brain — and functional, or the behavioral and psychological ways our brains have developed in the society we’ve built around it.

While alcohol is widely accepted in the United States and other colonialized nations, it doesn’t come without consequences, in both the short and long term.

How alcohol can impact the elderly

Besides accidents and potentially being misdiagnosed, alcohol abuse in the elderly can exacerbate other problems.

Lander says this includes intensifying existing health conditions, early onset dementia, certain cancers, depression, and decreased sexual functioning, among other health issues. It can also lead to cancer, digestive problems, and pancreatitis.

The National Institute on Aging warns alcohol use can worsen health problems like osteoporosis, diabetes, high blood pressure, and ulcers. It can also contribute to memory loss and mood disorders, and — because of how it creates changes in the heart and blood vessels — it could also dull the pain of an impending heart attack.

Regular use can lead to decreased alcohol tolerance as well. This is because the elderly typically have more fat on their bodies, which slows how fast the body can metabolize alcohol.

“Having a high tolerance is not a good thing,” he said. “It’s not a badge of honor.”

Along with health-related issues, chronic alcohol use in the elderly can have social and economic issues, as many elderly people live alone on a fixed income.

Overall, Lander says acceptable drinking for the elderly is seven drinks per week, but no more than three drinks in any given day. It could be even less, depending on how it interacts with certain medications, namely those that affect a person’s mood or pain tolerance.

For those who care for an elderly loved one, Lander recommends making alcohol consumption part of the conversation, especially if that person is hiding alcohol or lying about how much he or she is drinking.

He does warn, however, that it might not be an easy or straightforward conversation.

“They don’t want to talk about it because they don’t want to be told what to do,” Lander said.