Category: Wellness (Page 82 of 116)

American Singles are Breaking New Ground

September 21, 2011 / Staff

American singles are in a unique position historically.

Single people play a greater role in the community that than their married counterparts, and take care of their parents and other family members in a larger percentage, as well.

Once considered to be “deviant,” “neurotic” and “selfish”, single people are redefining how to live and thrive as healthy contributing members of society.

The demographics of unmarried people are constantly changing, and more Americans are spending a greater percentage of their lives unmarried than married. While some people never marry, other adults now counted as single are simply delaying marriage longer than people of their parents’ generation did.

Research, Wellness

American singles marriage mental health single people singles

Diabetes can Double the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

September 21, 2011 / Staff

Diabetes has been linked to complications with eyesight, circulation, heart disease, stroke and neuropathy among others.

Now we can add Alzheimer’s to the list of ailments.

Having diabetes can double the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

In the study, which included more than 1,000 men and women over age 60, researchers found that people with diabetes were twice as likely as the other study participants to develop Alzheimer’s disease within 15 years. They were also 1.75 times more likely to develop dementia of any kind.
“It’s really important for the [public’s] health to understand that diabetes is a significant risk factor for all of these types of dementia,” says Rachel Whitmer, Ph.D., an epidemiologist in the research division of Kaiser Permanente Northern California, a nonprofit health-care organization based in Oakland, California.

Research, Wellness

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The War on Cancer Continues

September 21, 2011 / Staff

The War on Cancer wages on and forty years after President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act into law, some big successes have followed; Breast cancer deaths fell about 28 percent from 1990 to 2006, while deaths from cervical cancer have dropped nearly 31 percent.

Colorectal deaths have fallen 28 percent in women and 33 percent in men; deaths from leukemia have fallen nearly 15 percent in women and 10 percent in men; and deaths from stomach cancer have fallen 34 percent in women and 43 percent in men.

Many more men are also surviving prostate cancer, with death rates falling 39 percent.

The National Cancer Act promised more funding for cancer research and prevention. Since then, death rates for many cancers have dropped significantly. From 1990 to 2007, death rates for all cancers combined dropped 22 percent for men and 14 percent for women, resulting in nearly 900,000 fewer deaths during that time, according to the report.
Today, more than 68 percent of adults live five years or more after being diagnosed, up from 50 percent in 1975. The five-year survival rate for all childhood cancers combined is 80 percent, compared to 52 percent in 1975.
There are about 12 million cancer survivors living in the United States; 15 percent of them were diagnosed 20 or more years ago.

Health Care Policy, Research, Wellness

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U.N. Meeting could Be Compromised by Big Bussiness

September 18, 2011 / Staff

The U.N. could be influenced by special interest groups who have a financial stake in keeping the population ill.

“There are clear conflicts for the corporations that contribute to and profit from the sales of alcoholic beverages, foods with high fat, salt, and sugar contents, and tobacco products — all of which are important causes of NCDs,” they wrote.
“Failure to address these concerns will undermine the development of competent policy … and the confidence the global community and the public at large have in the UN’s and WHO’s ability to govern and advance public health.”

Health Care Policy, Quality Control, Resources, Wellness

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