Health Insights from the Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic - Eating well to live well

"Diet is the top risk factor for disease and early death worldwide. Heart disease is our No. 1 killer, and what we put in our mouths is the biggest driving force behind it. Close behind is cancer, and at least a dozen cancers are linked to weight and obesity. Diet also has a profound effect on aging, and a poor diet increases the risk of other diseases such as diabetes."

Mayo Clinic - 6 Tips to Better Sleep

You're not doomed to toss and turn every night. Consider simple tips for better sleep, from setting a sleep schedule to including physical activity in your daily routine.

"Many factors can interfere with a good night's sleep -- from work stress and family responsibilities to illnesses. It's no wonder that quality sleep is sometimes elusive.

You might not be able to control the factors that interfere with your sleep. However, you can adopt habits that encourage better sleep. Start with these simple tips."

1. Stick to a sleep schedule

"Set aside no more than eight hours for sleep. The recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult is at least seven hours. Most people don't need more than eight hours in bed to be well rested.

Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, including weekends. Being consistent reinforces your body's sleep-wake cycle.

If you don't fall asleep within about 20 minutes of going to bed, leave your bedroom and do something relaxing. Read or listen to soothing music. Go back to bed when you're tired. Repeat as needed but continue to maintain you sleep schedule and wake-up time."

2. Pay attention to what you eat and drink

"Don't go to bed hungry or stuffed. In particular, avoid heavy or large meals within a couple of hours of bedtime. Discomfort might keep you up.

Nicotine, caffeine and alcohol deserve caution, too. The stimulating effects of nicotine and caffeine take hours to wear off and can interfere with sleep. And even though alcohol might make you feel sleep at first, it can disrupt sleep later in the night."

3. Create a restful environment

"Keep your room cool, dark and quiet. Exposure to light in the evening might make it more challenging to fall asleep. Avoid prolonged use of light-emitting screens just before bedtime. Consider using room-darkening shades, earplugs, a fan or other devices to create an environment that suits your needs.

Doing calming activities before bedtime, such as taking a bath or using relaxation techniques, might promote better sleep."

4. Limit daytime naps

"Long daytime naps can interfere with nighttime sleep. Limit naps to no more than one hour and avoid napping late in the day.

However, if you work nights, you might need to nap late in the day before work to help make up your sleep debt."

5. Include physical activity in your daily routine

"Regular physical activity can promote better sleep. However, avoid being active too close to bedtime.

Spending time outside every day might be helpful too."

6. Manage worries

"Try to resolve your worries or concerns before bedtime. Jot down what's on your mind and then set it aside for tomorrow.

Stress management might help. Start with the basics, such as, getting organized, setting priorities and delegating tasks. Meditation also can ease anxiety."

Know when to contact your health care provider

"Nearly everyone has an occasional sleepless night. However, if you often have trouble sleeping, contact your health care provider. Identifying and treating any underlying causes can help you get the better sleep you deserve."

May 07, 2022 - Healthy Lifestyles: Mayo Clinic staff

Mayo Clinic - How are you doing, and what's your plan?

"Two important steps to take on your wellness journey are to get a snapshot of your overall health and to strategize about how you can make meaningful changes to your everyday habits that will help you reach your goals."

"Healthy aging is a lifelong journey, and there are many times when the task seems overwhelming. However, by having a good plan, you can help reduce potential pitfalls and setbacks."

"Most people don't fully appreciate the powerful effect changes to everyday habits can have on their current health, their future health and their quality of life. In some cases, the changes can be lifesaving."

Mayo Clinic - Planning ahead for what comes next

"Retirement is sometime referred to as the third phase of life. Traditionally, it's the time when a person's working years end, and they set sail -- literally or figuratively -- for new horizons. Many people spend decades imaging what they'll be doing for the rest of their lives beyond their careers. The reality is that how well you'll do in your later years is often tied to how well you've planned for them.

If you haven't done much planning and you retire with limited income and health insurance that doesn't cover your medical needs, your retirement years may be stressful.

With good planning, you can avoid many of the hassles that can create hardships in peoples' later years. You don't have to retire rich, but you want to make sure you have your finances, health insurance and living arrangements in order so you can enjoy this phase of your life. Taking care of key paperwork, such as advance directives, is another important step.

Retirement simply isn't what it was for our parents and grandparents. Many Americans who retire today in their mid-60s still have one-quarter to one-third of their lives to live after retirement. In contrast, when Social Security was launched in 1935, life-expectancy was about 63, so most people just lived a few years after retirement.

Retirement today is different. And with so many years to spend in this next phase of your life, you need activities to fill your day and money to live on.

That's why the prospect of retirement is both exciting and scary for many people: Exciting because of the many opportunities it presents -- pursuit of new interests and hobbies, travel and adventure, more time to spend with family and friends -- and scary because of the financial issues involved and the retooling of your lifestyle that retirement may pose.

No matter your age, it's never too early to start planning for retirement. In fact, the earlier you start the better. Making your dreams a reality and dealing with other issues associated with your later years takes some very down-to-earth work, which generally is best done in advance."

Mayo Clinic - 7 tips for weight loss

"There is an excess of diet information out there that can lead to confusion and frustration. Despite the latest diet trends, the truth is, there is no magic formula. Each person is different, and therefore must figure out what works best for them. Still, there are actions we can take that support improved weight loss and weight maintenance."

Mayo Clinic specifically recommends the following:

1. Consume less energy than you burn. The No. 1 most important factor for any weight-loss program, regardless of diet type, is creating an energy deficit, aka calorie deficit. The amount of energy consumed must be less than the amount of energy burned to lose weight. There are online calculators you can use to calculate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), such as TDEE Calculator.
2. Track your factors. Regular self-monitoring is strongly associated with improved weight-loss outcomes. This includes regularly tracking food and caloric intake, physical activity, and body weight.
3. Move more, sit less. Physical activity is an important component of weight loss and weight maintenance. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week.
4. Take fiber to the next level. A high fiber intake has many benefits, including lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but did you know it also enhances weight loss and helps you feel fuller faster?
5. Take breaks from eating. Time-restricted feeding, one form of intermittent fasting, consists of consuming your total daily calories within an 8-to-4-hour window or less. There have been a few small studies showing that restricting the eating window results in a reduction in daily caloric intake and can lead to modest weight loss and significant reduction in body fat percentage.
6. Eat at home. Eating out at restaurants does not bode well for our waistlines, as calorically dense foods and oversized portions easily lead to weight gain and make efforts for weight loss and weight maintenance more difficult.
7. Frontload your calories. Lastly, there is an important old saying that goes, "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper." Try eating a higher portion of your total daily calories earlier in the day and a significantly smaller portion of your daily calories for dinner. This has been associated with improved weight loss and decreased fat mass.

Mayo Clinic - Ways to reduce dementia risk

"Researchers continue to look for ways to prevent or reduce the risk of dementia. You probably already know to exercise, eat healthy and keep your brain engaged. Here are some other strategies found to have a positive effect:

Use your hearing aid - When hearing loss is present, a hearing aid can help you tune in to conversations with others. With this, you maintain social connections and help areas of your brain stay active.

Watch less television - Watching TV is considered a passive cognitive activity, which means it doesn't exercise your brain.

Read more - Schooling in childhood helps build up your brain reserve. But even if you didn't get very far with formal education, evidence suggests that reading in your later years makes up for that deficit by maintaining your reserve.

Avoid vitamin deficiencies - Eating foods packed with vitamins and minerals, such as vegetables and fruits, helps provide your brain with optimal fuel. If you can't get enough nutrients through your diet, a daily multivitamin-mineral supplement may help. Excess alcohol consumption is a common cause of vitamin and nutrient deficiencies, so keep your alcohol consumption to a moderate level.

Optimize sleep - A good night's rest rejuvenates your brain. Wake up every day around the same time to set your internal clock. Have a relaxing bedtime routine that avoids TV or digital devices. If you snore or still feel tired after a full night's sleep, talk to your healthcare team about the possibility of sleep apnea.

Improve your vascular health - Managing high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure keeps blood circulating smoothly to the heart and brain.

Keep your step count high and brisk - Walking has a major impact on health. Walking has been shown to reduce dementia risk, as well, with the greatest reduction occurring at just under 10,000 steps a day. You'll see even bigger benefits with more steps per minute."

For more information on Dementia, see the site listed below:

Mayo Clinic - How to Eat More Mindfully

Learning how to eat more mindfully is an important skill for weight management and great health. Mindful eating teaches you how to tune into your body's natural hunger and fullness signals - something many people have forgotten how to do. It can also help you spot what triggers you to eat when you aren't truly hungry.

Science says mindful eating can help you improve your food choices, eating habits and ultimately your relationship with food.

The process is simple and can be learned. It just takes practice. Try following these steps each time you eat:

1. Stop, breathe and check yourself. Before you eat something, take a deep breath and ask yourself, "How hungry am I?" Try rating your hunger on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being starving and 10 being stuffed). If you aren't truly hungry, ask yourself, " What am I feeling?" This will help you start to notice what's triggering your nonhungry eating.
2. Slow down. Every time you eat, try to stop what you're doing, sit down at a table and really focus on the food you're eating. When you eat too quickly, your brain doesn't get the signal that you're full until it's too late and you're already overeaten.
3. See what you eat. Don't eat directly from the container. Seeing food on a plate or in a bowl gives you a better sense of portion size. It also helps you stop and ensure you're taking the right amount of food. Use a smaller plate or bowl to make less food seem like more. Take slightly less than what you think you'll eat.
4. Notice your food. Before you begin eating, take a moment to notice your meal with all your senses. You may even say a quick mental "thank you" for the food and the people you're enjoying it with. Expressing gratitude can help boost your mental well-being in that moment.
5. Focus on your food. Watching television, reading or working while you eat distracts you. Before you know it, you've eaten more than you want to.
6. Chew. Take small bites and chew your food thoroughly. Put down your fork, knife or spoon between bites.
7. Savor. Really taste the ingredients you're putting into your mouth, savoring the flavors. Continue to focus on gratitude, not guilt, even when you're enjoying an indulgence.
8. Check in with your feelings of fullness. Pay attention to your changing hunger and fullness levels throughout the meal. This will enable you to stop eating when you're satisfied, not stuffed. This is a 5 or 6 on the hunger and fullness scale.

Mayo Clinic - Strengthen your brain at any age

Brain health is a lifelong process. Throughout your life, your brain has the capacity to adapt and grow in many ways, and you can strengthen it at any age.

You can strengthen your brain much in the same way you use exercises to strengthen the muscles in your arms and legs, for example. Learning new skills, taking a class and expanding your vocabulary are all examples of ways you can improve your brain health and keep the nerve cells in your brain firing long into your life.

Here are more details researchers have found to help promote brain health across the lifespan:

• Increase cognitive reserve. Whether you're born with a good cognitive reserve or not, you can build it through education and activities like learning a new skill, reading, learning music and even practicing mindfulness.
• Exercise. Although researchers don't know yet how well physical activity can improve memory or slow cognitive decline, they do know that it's helpful.
• Manage high blood pressure. High blood pressure in middle age is linked to a higher risk of dementia later in life. Managing high blood pressure helps keep blood vessels healthy. This is important for preventing vascular dementia, in particular.
• Social interactions. Social interaction is an area where anyone can make a change at any time, and it will likely have positive cognitive benefits. Interacting with others ---- family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, community members ---- can lift your mood, improve your outlook and engage your brain.
• Get good sleep. It's not news that getting enough good-quality sleep is important for overall health and well-being. But in terms of dementia risk, good sleep seems to be especially critical.
• Reduce the risk of stroke. Avoiding conditions that increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes may reduce your risk of dementia. Maintaining healthy levels of cholesterol and blood pressure, avoiding diabetes, not smoking, reaching and maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising regularly are all examples of ways to stay healthy.

It takes time to fully embrace lifestyle changes and new behaviors that can improve and protect your memory, but every little bit helps.

Mayo Clinic - Simple Tips for Fall Prevention

Fall prevention: Simple tips to prevent falls

Falls put you at risk of serious injury. Prevent falls with these simple fall prevention measures, from reviewing your medications to hazard-proofing your home.

Mayo Clinic - Improving your physical health with exercise

"Good old-fashioned sweat-inducing exercise is probably the single most important thing that you can do to live well. Read that sentence again! Even in moderate amounts, exercise can help you better enjoy life and prevent diseases that people mistakenly believe automatically come with age."

"Almost anyone can exercise. Few people are too old, too young, too sick, too poor or too busy to be physically active. Exercise is an equal-opportunity activity. With exercise, people with chronic conditions can improve their stamina, mental outlook and ability to perform daily tasks. Older adults can use strength training to combat the problems of osteoporosis and age-related loss of muscle mass (sarcopenia)."

"People of any age who say they're too tired to exercise often find they have increased energy after just a few sessions of physical activity. Truth be told, very few people have a valid excuse for not engaging in some form of exercise."

Mayo Clinic - The power of relationships, connections and purpose

"Staying well as you age is about more than your physical health. Human connections and feelings of purpose and contentment are important life factors that contribute to well-being and longevity."

"Taking stock of your social and emotional health in your younger years is a good way to start preparing for your later-life journey. What you learn about yourself when evaluating your social and emotional well-being may help you lead a longer and more fulfilling life."

"Evaluating your social ties and emotional well-being is an exercise you may want to revisit periodically to ensure that you stay on a healthy course as you get older and life circumstances change."