That’s the single most common sentence I hear from my patients.
It can come from a 25-year-old with irregular periods and industrial-strength PMS whose energy has gone down the tubes. Or from a 45-year-old (on the threshold of pre-menopause) who continues to gain weight even though she’s eating less and exercising more, and who adds that her brain feels like mush and her sex drive is a distant memory.
A pharmaceutical rep came into the office the other day with a product for my patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema caused by cigarettes. I told her that I had only one smoker in my entire practice.
Many good studies have proved that an optimistic outlook has significant long-term health benefits. According to an article in Family Medicine, a journal for primary care doctors, some holistically oriented family physicians are recommending daily exercises in optimism to reduce the risk of developing all sorts of illnesses, both physical and emotional.
One of the most common symptoms my patients tell me about during their pre-menopause years is a pervasive sense of mild depression and anxiety. No particular reason for it, they report, just a sense that things aren’t going right, wanting to cry for no reason over little things that never bothered them.
I just finished reading AfterShock: What to do When Your Doctor Gives You–or Someone You Love–A Devastating Diagnosis and am so glad someone has written this much-needed book.
Studies have shown that people who sleep efficiently not only feel better than everyone else but actually live longer. If you struggle with sleep, start today taking some of these suggestions seriously. In just a few days, you’ll be amazed at the surge in your energy, mood, performance, and mental clarity.
When the clock strikes midnight, are you usually burrowed into a blanket, deep in a dream, or are you tossing and turning, unable to put aside the stresses of the day and just go to sleep?
Posted 07/23/2007 Here are six more ways to reduce stress and improve your overall well-being: 1. Feeling upset? Change the channel on your immediate surroundings (“I’ve gotta get out of here for awhile!”). Take a break and walk as you breathe deeply and look around. It’s a quick perspective fix…and a calmative. Pushups work too. […]
Click here for the original post. Six easy ways to reduce stress and feel better: 1. Want a natural stress buster? Aerobic exercises like brisk walking, cycling, or swimming are some of nature’s best tranquilizers. Exercise increases your serotonin, a neurotransmitter (brain chemical) that buffers stress. 2. Finding it hard to get motivated? Set some […]
Right now, thousands of women are having their first menopause-related hot flash. If you’re one of them you’re not alone: about 40 million US women will go through the menopause transition over the next 20 years, and virtually every one will experience a symptom of shifting hormones.
Today I’m bringing you a handful more of my favorite tricks for improving your memory (you do remember we’ve been talking about memory improvement, don’t you?)…
Do you have trouble remembering the names of people you’ve just been introduced to? Do you stand in the center of a room you’ve just entered, muttering aloud, “Why did I come in here?” When you ask your family why they look bored, do they respond “Because you’ve told this story before”?
One real downside of medical research is that too many important studies get published in obscure medical journals that few doctors read. Plus, the information often slips under the media’s radar.
Q: You mentioned in one of your tips that low blood sugar was a controversial diagnosis. Would you explain why?
A: To my thinking, the controversy over low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) got started when the book Sugar Blues came out 30 years ago and doctors couldn’t cope with patients asking questions about a condition they knew little about.
Q. What exactly is the Triple Whammy?
A. It’s the cause of chronic ill health for tens of millions of women and involves the interaction of three factors:
It might surprise you to learn that your doctor usually has no idea how much you’ll pay for your prescription medication. The information doesn’t appear in medical journals, and asking a drug rep usually brings an evasive “Our product is no more expensive than other medications in its class” or “It’s covered by your patient’s insurance.”
In my last health tip we discussed the damaging effects of all the sugar we’re eating. I urged you to boost your intake of whole foods–real fruits and vegetables that are so readily available now in the farmers markets of our northern hemisphere.
Okay, I am going to start in on sugar. And by sugar, I mean not only granulated cane sugar but also high fructose corn syrup, which seems to be added to just about everything except anchovies these days.
So it’s been a few days since you read part one of this topic. Tucked in your bag next to your New York Times is the adult education course schedule at your local community college. You’ve finally decided, once and for all, that you’ll learn French.
Click here for the original post. Nobody likes to spend too much time thinking about what doctors call age-related decline in brain function. You can get really worried about the future of your brain until you meet someone like Chicago icon Studs Terkel. Studs is now 95, and although he readily acknowledges he’s as deaf […]