In the News--Athletes and Brain injury

In the News—CTE  (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) 

Fans who love sports (especially football) hear a lot these days about CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) these days.  CTE involves the damage done to the brains of athletes and other people when they suffer concussions.  As an athlete’s (or anyone) head gets bounced around like a bobblehead doll, imagine the brain moving inside the skull and bouncing off one side then the other (maybe multiple times).  The brain tissue is bruised as it hits the hard bone of the skull.

Scientists at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University Medical School  are studying this phenomenon.  They are studying the donated brains of former athletes who donated their brains to science in hopes of helping future athletes. 

My sport fan husband says this is a huge deal.  More information on this topic can be found at Boston University website at http://www.bu.edu/cste/about/what-is-cte/  Another website that covers this topic is http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8218700/neuropathologist-dr-ann-mckee-accused-killing-football-be-sport-only-hope

In the News--Cholera and West Nile virus

August 17, 2012 Yahoo Health used this headlines that caught my attention because of my recent blog posts.  The first was “tourists in Nepal warned over cholera outbreak”  The officials in Nepal were reporting 13 deaths due to cholera.  This information can be found at  http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/afp/tourists-in-nepal-warned-over-cholera-outbreak

The second headline reads “West Nile cases rise 40 percent in one week.”  I talked about West Nile virus, the mosquito that carries it and how we can protect ourselves from this illness on August 19 and 21^st.  The Yahoo news report can be found at http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/ap/cdc-west-nile-cases-rise-40-percent-in-1-week  (August 29, 2012)

Nurses Health Study--what it says about walking

I’ve participated in the Nurses Health Study for many years.  This Harvard University study began in 1976 and has collected and analyzed health data on nurses ever since.  In 1976 they began with 122,000 nurses.  I consider their results to be accurate and valuable.  The 2012 newsletter shared this information about walking for health:  If the nurses (participants in the study) walked 1 ½ hours per week, they had better memory than nurses who did not walk, comparable to two years younger women.  They also had healthy aging at 15 to 20% improvement over nurses who did not walk. 

For those nurses who increased their walking exercise, there were more benefits.  For every hour per day of brisk walking, they reduced their risk of obesity by 24% and their risk of diabetes by 34%.  What about heart disease?  Those nurses who walked briskly for at least 3 hours every week lowered their risk of heart disease by 35% and their risk of stroke by 34%. 

This information can be found in the 2012 newsletter at http://www.channing.harvard.edu/nhs/wp-content/uploads/2012newsletter.pdf

In the News--More Americans walking

In the News—Good news from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):  more Americans are walking for exercise.  Over the last five years, 62% of adults said they are walking at least 10 minutes at a time.  That’s up 6%.  Very good news.  Now, the not-so-good news.  The experts want us to walk more.  The recommendation is that adults should walk 150 minutes of moderate exercise (a brisk walk) every week.  They suggest each walk should be at least 10 minutes long.  The CDC recommend that local governments provide safe places for people to walk and that employers support walking programs for their employees.  But it’s still up to us, to get off the couch, put on our walking shoes, tie our shoelaces and get some exercise.  Easy to say, not so easy to do.    For more information on this topic, go to CDC website http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/Walking/

Labor Day, September 3, 2012

“When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life or in the life of another.”  Helen Keller, Readers Digest Quotable Quotes, (Pleasantville: Readers’ Digest Association, 1997), 116.

Happy Labor Day to all us hard working people.  Labor Day was first celebrated as an American national holiday in 1884.  This day honors the working men and women who make our country great. I hope you have a wonderful, fun and safe day.  Thank you for your contribution to our great country. 

Road trip to Tower Rock

Tower Rock

When did you last take a trip just for fun?  This past week David & I took a short road trip to Tower Rock.  This giant rock formation/island towers above the mighty Mississippi River.  Normally the Mississippi River surrounds the rock island and it is accessible by boat only. This year we’ve heard that people are able to walk to Tower Rock because the river levels have dropped so low.   Thursday afternoon we drove to Tower Rock for the first time.  It is an impressive rock formation and we watched a man wading across the shallow water of the mighty Mississippi River to Tower Rock.  I didn’t try it because I forgot to take wading shoes.  Does that sound like a good excuse? 

We enjoyed our two hour road trip; it was a beautiful sunny day.  I found it relaxing to go for a ride.  Is it time you took a relaxing road trip just for fun?  Be safe and enjoy.