Caregiving Archive

News briefs

Losing a loved one is never easy, and sometimes it can take years to grieve for a partner, parent, or child. That grief often comes with adverse health effects, such as stress, depression, insomnia, high blood pressure, and heart problems. But long-lasting grief doesn't come only from a family member's death, suggests a study published online April 4, 2019, by PLOS One. Researchers evaluated questionnaire responses from about 9,600 people who'd lost close friends and found this type of grief can last up to four years. Women in the study were particularly hard hit by loss of a close friend, experiencing more problems with mental, emotional, and social health than men. Study authors say the passing of a close friend should be considered a substantial experience that warrants help (like a support group) to minimize the negative effects of grief.

Our take: Grief of any kind poses a health risk, whether it's due to the loss of someone dear or a dramatic change in life, such as a job loss or a move to a new city. During such times, be especially vigilant about reporting disturbing new symptoms to your doctor.

News briefs

Eating food that's ultra-processed — not just chips or cookies, but also things like breakfast cereal, deli meat, or canned fruit in syrup — makes people overeat and gain weight, compared with eating food that's unprocessed. That's according to a small randomized controlled trial published online May 16, 2019, by Cell Metabolism. It involved 20 men and women who stayed at a research facility for a month and were randomly assigned to one of two diets. One group was given ultra-processed foods (such as a breakfast of a bagel with cream cheese and turkey bacon), and the other group was fed unprocessed foods (such as a breakfast of oatmeal with bananas, walnuts, and skim milk). After two weeks, participants were switched to the opposite diets. Both diets were evenly matched for total calories, macronutrients, fiber, sugars, and sodium, and participants were allowed to eat as much or as little as they wanted. But they ate more calories when they were eating ultra-processed foods, compared with when they ate unprocessed foods, and they gained more weight on the ultra-processed diet. Why? It's not exactly clear, but researchers did find that appetite-suppressing hormones decreased and hunger hormones increased when people ate processed foods. Bottom line: Eat whole, unprocessed foods with as few ingredients as possible.

Image: © 4kodiak/Getty Images

Sedentary time is one of the greatest threats to heart health.

First, the good news: more Americans than ever are considered active. A new report on heart disease and stroke statistics, published March 5, 2019, in Circulation, found the proportion of active adults increased from about 60% to 73% between 2007 and 2016.

Now, the bad news: despite this impressive increase, the same report found that almost one-quarter of American adults still don't meet the federal guidelines for physical activity.

Excess gas can be annoying, but is it cause for concern?

Gas is a normal — yet embarrassing — part of digestion. "We're all pretty gassy as individuals," says Dr. Kyle Staller, a gastroenterologist with Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

In fact, the average person produces between 1/2 and 1 liter of gas every day and passes gas about 10 to 20 times. "While people may not like it when they do it, especially at inappropriate times, it's just a sign of a regular, healthy digestive system at work," says Dr. Staller.

How many daily calories do you really need? It depends on many factors.

When it comes to nutrition, calories embody the ultimate love-hate relationship. Consume too little, and you don't have the energy to function at your best. Eat too much, and you risk weight gain. It's no surprise, then, that counting calories can be such an obsession.

But how much do you really need every day? Unfortunately, there is not a single, simple answer. Men ages 50 and older require 2,000 to 2,800 calories per day, or an average of about 2,500, says Dr. Qi Sun, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Many conditions can affect your memory and thinking.

Dementia, Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment. These terms are often mentioned together to describe age-related memory loss. While they are linked in some ways, they are not necessarily the same, and they often affect people differently.

"Even though memory loss is more common as you age, it is not part of normal aging," says Dr. Gad Marshall, associate medical director of the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital. "Either sudden or gradual persistent changes in memory loss and mental lapses can be signs of more serious conditions."

Resistance bands offer an easy way to get an all-around strength workout at home.

They are cheap and lightweight. They travel well, and you can do almost any kind of muscle-strengthening exercise with them. They are giant rubber bands known as resistance bands, and they should be part of every man's exercise toolbox.

"Whether you need to focus on specific areas or need to better control exercise resistance — like when recovering from an injury or dealing with joint pain — bands offer something for almost anyone, no matter his physical health, limitations, or fitness goals," says physical therapist Shawn Pedicini with Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Network.

In the journals

Even if you believe you're in excellent health, you could still be at risk for a heart attack or stroke, suggests a study of more than 6,800 people, average age 62, published Feb. 15, 2019, in JAMA Network Open. At the study's beginning, participants rated their health as excellent, very good, good, or poor/fair. (More than half the men reported being in very good or excellent health.)

Next, everyone had a coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan, which detects plaque buildup in the arteries of the heart. The scores range from zero to 100 and higher, with zero meaning no plaque buildup is present and cardio-vascular disease risk is at its lowest.

In the journals

Another way to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels? Eat more soy protein, suggests a study published online April 22, 2019, by The Journal of Nutrition.

Researchers examined 43 trials to evaluate the effect soy had on LDL levels. (High LDL levels can lead to a buildup of cholesterol in arteries and increase a person's risk of cardiovascular disease.)

Taking your pills with a light snack or at bedtime may help reduce the nausea.

You take medication hoping it will make you feel better. But sometimes it makes you feel worse. "Nausea is one of the most common side effects of medications we hear about," says Joanne Doyle Petrongolo, a pharmacist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

About nausea

Nausea is a queasy feeling in your stomach — you may feel seasick, or you may feel you're about to vomit. Medications that commonly cause nausea as a side effect include antibiotics, such as erythromycin (Erythrocin); aspirin; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve); and some blood pressure drugs, such as the calcium-channel blocker nifedipine (Nifedical, Procardia).