Social engagement and relationships Archive

Whether you're new to walking or a seasoned stroller, here are some ways to boost your routines.

Walking is one of the most straightforward exercises. You just need a good pair of walking shoes, and off you go.

Like any kind of cardio activity, walking can improve your heart health, strengthen your immune system, and help you manage your weight.

Negative traits such as anger and insecurity have been linked to heart-related problems. Taking steps to temper these tendencies may help.

Remember the Type A personality? First coined back in the 1950s, the term refers to people who are aggressive, ambitious, competitive, and time-conscious. But the notion that Type As were more likely to have heart attacks than their more laid-back counterparts turned out to be untrue, as numerous studies in the 1980s and 1990s revealed.

But in the early 2000s, another personality type — Type D for distressed — began getting more attention. Type D people are anxious, irritable, and angry; they also tend to feel ill at ease in social situations and are uncomfortable opening up to others. According to a 2018 review in Current Cardiology Reports, having a Type D personality is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The lead author, psychologist Johan Denollet, first described Type D and created a test for it (see "Type D personality test").

Consider your social interaction if you've been feeling foggy.

We've all been isolated from many family members and friends during the pandemic. If you've been having a harder time remembering things or processing information since the pandemic began, it could be an isolation side effect.

"It's something I'm seeing clinically. Some people were okay before the pandemic and now they're having faster cognitive decline," says Dr. Joel Salinas, a behavioral neurologist and faculty member of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.

Exercising, avoiding pollutant exposure, controlling weight, and other strategies may help you breathe easier.

You may not know it, but your lungs — like many of your organs — have some backup power to get you through situations that stress your health. This excess capacity, called physiological reserve, helps your lungs weather infection and chronic disease.

Lung reserve is robust when we're young, but it diminishes over time as part of the normal aging process. Smoking or long-term lung diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, or emphysema can accelerate that decline. Diminished reserve makes us more vulnerable to a new or sudden lung problem. "If you get a severe infection and start with lower lung function compared to when you were younger, you have less reserve capacity and you won't tolerate the infection as well," says Dr. Richard Schwartzstein, chief of the Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine Division at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Scientists are beginning to understand the natural biological processes that control aging, and they have made exciting discoveries about tinkering with the process. For example, they've been able to make aged cells act like brand-new cells in lab experiments; they've figured out how to make worms live five times as long as they normally would; and they've been able to keep mice from becoming obese and from developing diabetes, kidney failure, and heart failure.

It takes a one-two punch to lower these risks for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

High cholesterol has long been known as a bad actor in heart health. Too much LDL (bad) cholesterol in your blood can lead to fatty deposits in your arteries and the formation of artery-narrowing plaque (atherosclerosis), heart attacks, and strokes.

But LDL doesn't act alone. Chronic inflammation — a persistent activation of the immune system — also fuels heart attack and stroke risks. That means you must address both high LDL levels and chronic inflammation to protect your health.

Excluding the wrong foods and following eating plans that are too restrictive may do more harm than good.

If you've ever made a New Year's promise to eat more healthfully, then you know how easy it is to slip back into less healthy eating routines. "People go into these plans with the best of intentions, but sometimes they don't have the best information to support their changes," explains registered dietitian Kathy McManus, director of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital (www.brighamandwomens.org).

Whether you've chosen an eating plan to lose weight or to address a health problem (for example, a low-salt diet to help lower your blood pressure), it's important to understand the little things that can throw you off track.

Tailor salad greens to your dietary needs and taste preferences.

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In the quest to follow daily dietary recommendations and eat the right amount of vegetables, salad is your friend. A large salad can check off your veggie requirements for the day in one fell swoop.

But not all salad greens are created equal. "They vary in regard to their nutrient content, nutrient density, flavor, and texture," says Elisabeth Moore, a registered dietitian at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. So it helps to know which salad greens will give you the most bang for the bite.

Ask the doctors

Q. I was worried about drying my nails with a lamp or light box at the nail salon because of the potential risk of cancer from the ultraviolet radiation, but my salon recently switched to LED lamps. Are they safer?

A. The light boxes used to cure polish during gel manicures, and to dry traditional nail polish, have raised some concern because — like tanning beds — they emit ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation, which is associated with a higher cancer risk. A 2014 study in JAMA Dermatology found that the level of UVA exposure associated with a gel manicure every two weeks probably isn't high enough to increase the risk of skin cancer significantly, but you are wise to be aware of the issue.

Health benefits come from the live microbes that thrive in foods such as yogurt, kimchi, and sauerkraut.

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Pickles and sauerkraut might not be the first examples that jump to mind when you think of health foods. But a growing body of research shows that a diet that includes a regular intake of fermented foods can bring benefits.

Fermented foods are preserved using an age-old process that not only boosts the food's shelf life and nutritional value but can give your body a dose of healthful probiotics — live micro­organisms crucial to good digestion.