Zoomer Report

It turns out that speaking about important events in the past can go a long way to improve wellbeing for people in nursing homes. It’s called reminiscence therapy and an Australian gerontologist compared it to other types of interventions for people in long term care. She found that it was more effective than social activities, indoor gardening, or playing games – as a matter of fact - reminiscenc...

A measurement of blood sugar called postprandial glycemia, which has been linked with heart disease risk, averaged 12 percent lower when study participants took a walk after eating, compared with those who exercised at other times. The largest drop in postprandial glycemia, 22 percent, was achieved by walking after dinner, the study authors found. "If you have type 2 diabetes, there is a guideline...

It’s a good idea to clean out your medicine cabinet twice a year. After the expiry date, medications start to lose their effectiveness, and so do products like sunscreen - so if you keep taking them you may not be getting the treatment or the protection you need. Some drugs even become toxic. Storing medications in the wrong place can also reduce their efficacy. Many of us keep drugs in the bathro...

A study in Nature by Albert Einstein College of Medicine scientists suggests that it may not be possible to extend the human life beyond the ages already attained by the oldest people on record.

Researchers randomly assigned volunteers, with mild cognitive impairment, to either twelve weeks of meditation, and other yoga practices, or twelve weeks of memory enhancement training, which taught strategies for improving forgetfulness. In the end the study found both groups did a little better on tests of verbal memory but the meditation group showed a bigger change in tests of visual spatial m...

Chinese researchers analyzed the diets of nearly 500,000 people for 7 years and found that those who ate spicy foods one or two days a week had a 10% reduced risk of death compared with those who ate such meals less than once a week. The risk was 14% lower for those who opted for hot food between three and seven days a week.

New research out of the U.S. shows that retirees who continue to work in some capacity, even part-time, are less likely to experience physical decline and disease. Researchers analyzed six years of information on the health, finances and employment status of over 12,000 men and women who were between the ages of 51 and 61 in 1992.

The notion that you cannot refreeze thawed foods is wrong, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and inspection Service. Dietitians there say any raw or cooked food that has been thawed can be refrozen as long as it was thawed the right way and has not spoiled. —That means defrosting meat, poultry, fish and seafood in the refrigerator, not on the counter, at room temperature....

Robert Emmons, a professor of psychology at the University of California underook the first major study on gratitude. In his book Thanks! he says it’s a crucial element of happiness. Emmons says it’s about wanting what we have, and he advises that we begin by acknowledging that life is good, and that the source of life’s goodness is outside ourselves – it can be a spouse, a child, a parent or God.

According to Health.com you can use the way you breathe to fight anxiety, sleep better, and focus your attention. For instance, you may not notice, but in a stressful situation, the natural reaction is to take quick and shallow breaths, which actually increases your body’s stress response.

A team of researchers from Duke University studied a nearly 1000 people born within a year of each other and found a huge gulf in the speed at which their bodies aged. The subjects were from the same town in New Zealand and were all born in 1972-73. The scientists looked at 18 different ageing-related traits when the group turned 26, 32 and 38 years old. They measured everything from kidney and li...

A study suggests that end-of-life chemotherapy is more likely to make things worse. The work in JAMA Oncology followed more than 300 patients with a prognosis of less than six months to live. About half opted for end-stage chemotherapy.

According to Swedish researchers. Exposure to noise from traffic, trains, planes and maybe even deafening restaurants could be linked to a burgeoning belly. The study in Occupational & Environmental Medicine followed 5000 people around Stockholm for four years. It found that women had a 0.08-inch increase in waist size for every additional 5 decibels in noise exposure. For men the increase was .06...

Starting formal musical training at a young age may be instrumental in preventing or delaying some types of cognitive decline in later years. A Canadian study led by scientists at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest has found that older adults who had musical training when they were young we're able to identify speech sounds 20% faster than their peers with a non-musical background. That mea...

Ben Franklin once famously said that people who are early to bed and early to rise, are healthy, wealthy, and wise. Now you can add “happy” to that list: Early risers are more likely to feel chipper and energetic than late sleepers, according to research from the University of Toronto.

Men are less likely than women to reach that milestone, but according to a study out of London, those who do tend to be healthier than their female peers. The British researchers found that women are now four times more likely than men to hit 100. But they are more likely to suffer broken bones or develop more than one chronic health problem, such as incontinence or loss of vision or hearing. Men...

For many, if not most couples who have been together for a long time, things can get a little dull in the bedroom. Now a study says that after around 50 years of marriage, your sex life could pick up again thanks to a renewed sense of trust and commitment. Researchers at Louisiana State university analyzed the sex lives of over 1,600 adults from their late-50s all the way to their mid-80s. They no...

A study out of Norway finds that older men doing three hours of exercise a week lived around five years longer than those who were sedentary. The research tracked 5700 men aged tracking 68 to 77. It found that those putting in the equivalent of six, 30-minute sessions of any intensity, were 40% less likely to have died during the 11-year study. While those who carried out vigorous exercise saw the...

Are you a foodie? It means you’re passionate about food and love trying new dishes. Many people think those of us who fit this description are indulgent and gluttonous, let along pretentious. But a study from the famous Cornell Food and Brand Lab suggests the opposite: Foodies weigh less and could be in better health than the less discerning among us

Is your event or training in sync with your body clock? British researchers found that early risers had their peak performances at mid day. Intermediate risers, people who got up around eight, did best in the afternoon and the late risers did best in the evening. Everyone did the worst at 7:00 AM.

A study in the Journal of The American medical Association says people who feel younger than their actual chronological age may live longer than those who feel older than they actually are. University College London researchers asked nearly 6,500 people, with an average age of 65 "How old do you feel you are?" 70 percent of the subjects felt younger, about a quarter felt their precise age and just...

In a paper published in Surgical Technology International , Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, explains that the average adult head weighs between 10 to 12 pounds when standing upright but becomes heavier the more we bend our necks because of gravity.

Researchers examined five years of data from 1,200 married American men and women, aged 57 to 85. People with partners who were overly critical or demanding were more likely to develop heart disease than those with supportive spouses.

We've all heard about the dangers of trans fats. Now it turns out they can do more than just clog your arteries. They might also be messing with your memory. According to findings, presented to the American Heart Association, men who ate large amounts of trans fats showed a significantly reduced ability to recall words during a memory test. The study found those with the most trans fats in their d...

According to a new report in the American Journal of Public Health. The researchers say showing people how much activity they would have to do to burn those calories off might be a better way to convince us to change our eating habits.