On 1/20/2011, a friend of mine from Alabama sent me a PowerPoint document on “Philosophy for old age.” The second part tells how to stay young, the part that we all love. Here’s the ten interesting points which I am going to share with my mother and my friends, old and young.

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay ‘them’
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever… Never let the brain idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8.Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don’t take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people that you love them, at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER : Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

On the Christmas evening, 12/25/2010, we went to a friend’s house for Christmas gathering, a nice social interactions, though the bigger children might thought it better to spend time on computer.

Before I went to bed that night, I picked up the recent Time magazine and found a short report in Lab Report section — “Happiness Is Other People.”

Its main idea is church going people are happier not because of their faith but because of “rich networks of church-based friends.” That makes sense when we explains why some non-churchgoing people register equal level of happiness as churchgoers because they have their circle of friends.

Remember friends can make you happy.

On 12/11, while waiting for my daughter’s art class, I read the following from Time magazine. Some of them are known facts.

*Pathological web surfing triggers depression
*Heart disease is the leading killer of women in the US, each year claiming more women than men.

*To stay healthy, shake off the salt
*Bedbugs are on the rise. Some of the solutions include reducing clutter, sealing cracks and crevices, vacuuming often, drying the infected clothes

*50% extent of greater odds that people with strong social connections will live longer than those with weak ones.

On 10/30/2010, I read an article in Discover magazine, November 2010 issue, “Reckless Medicine” by Jeanne Lenzer.

There are some shocking news…
“A panel in 2007 by the prestigious Institute of Medicine estimated that ‘well below half’ of the procedures doctors perform and the decisions they make surgeries, drugs, and tests have been adequately investigated and shown to be effective. The rest are based on a combination of guesswork, theory and tradition, with a strong dose of marketing by drug and device companies.”

“Doctors are often as much in the dark as their patients when they implant new devices (like surgical mesh), perform surgeries or write prescriptions.

“According to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report published in 2001, more than 770,000 Americans are injured or die each year from drug complications, including unexpected side effects, some of which might have been avoided if somebody had conducted the proper research.

“A 2002 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 87% of guideline authors received industry funding and 59% were paid by the manufacturers of a drug affected by the guidelines they wrote.”

You would expect people to feel fresh and energetic after a long holiday break. Very often, the opposite is true. Hence, it is time to think of the ways to gain back energy and stay away from fatigue.

When you do not have the luxury of resting your tired feet on couch all day long, you have to actively fight fatigue. Specifically, engage in walking after work instead of clinging to your couch.

A study done by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) a few years ago found a proven link between physical fitness and mental health and well-being. The conclusion is exercise is deemed generally beneficial for the emotional health of people of all ages and both sexes. Other studies have yielded similar conclusion.

Better than this, research has found that as people increased their physical fitness, enhanced physical stamina and mental alertness, they also improved their self-esteem, feeling better about themselves and developing a more optimistic, energetic frame of mind.

Exercise is especially beneficial to those who suffer from chronic fatigue during daytime. These people will see an increase in their daytime energy level if they take regular exercise like walking.

A day after New Year, I find it following spirit of the festive mood to post this topic on singing and health. While I was home during the last week of the year, I read an article by BBC health correspondent Dominic Hughes, “Singing your heart out this Christmas is good for you… Carol singers Singing along to some carols this Christmas will help your physical and mental well being.”

“…belting out “Hark! the herald angels sing” or your own unique interpretation of “I will survive” will not just lift the spirits – it’s good for your physical health as well.”

First of all, singing is an exercise of lungs, an aerobic activity beneficial to the heart, “increasing the heart rate and getting blood pumping round the body faster can all help our physical health.”

Secondly, singing lifts up your spirit, reduces stress and relaxes tension, brings joy to all and contributes to your longevity.

Thirdly, singing is like dancing. It is a form of self-expression which helps boost up our self-esteem.

There are many studies on the impact of singing on our body. We don’t need to dig into these findings to know these benefits. Hence, always keep a tune in your mouth and give it a joyful expression whenever you feel like it.

I spent my first Christmas in Waco, Texas in 1984. Yes, the year sounds like a century ago. Still, I remember clearly many TV commercials around that time, most of which were related to weight loss and diet programs. I watched with a huge amusement so many over-weight people jumping around in one of the TV weight loss commercials. I was wondering why they had eaten themselves into that shape in the first place. As the years went by, I got used to seeing large-size people in my daily life and my curiosity is no more.

This year, in the similar holiday tradition, many articles cropped out in the internet on this topic. Here’s a short and sweet one, “7 Foods that Speed Weight Loss,” written by Lucy Danziger, the Editor-in-Chief of SELF magazine, on Nov 24, 2010. I am sure it works if we don’t overstretch the list.

(1) cheese
(2) almonds
(3) coffee, no sugar and milk
(4) peppers
(5) green tea
(6) eggs
(7) portobello mushrooms

On 10/2, a Saturday afternoon, while waiting for my daughter’s art lesson, I read an article from Discover, a magazine we used to subscribe when my son was home. There is an article called “Laugh Well, Live Well” on its October 2010 issue. Here’s what I read and hopefully it will motivate people to laugh more if they want to lose weight.

“A good laugh may be the next-best thing to a workout. Researchers have long known that laughter boosts the immune system, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, and reduces stress.” A study led by Lee Berk, a psychoneuroimmunologist, shows that the parallels between laughing and exercise go even further: shifts in appetite hormones following a case of the giggles resemble the effects of a moderate session at the gym.”

“People’s ghrelin concentrations spiked after the funny session, just like after a workout.” Ghrelin is a hormone produced in the body that stimulates appetite. Elevated level of ghrelin signal the brain that the body is using energy and will soon need more fuel.”

Now one more reason to bellow out that good hearty laughter.

Don’t walk if you can run;
Don’t stand if you can walk;
Don’t sit if you can stand;
Don’t lie down if you can sit.

This is what I keep telling my daughter when she is sick. It is true in times of illness, so is it in its absence.

Last Friday I helped a doctor consent a middle-aged patient for her participation in an adjuvant TC/TAC/TCB breast trial. When we explained to the patient the possible adverse events in the course of treatment, patient couldn’t help crying, afraid of going through the ordeal. Her face revealed a deep-seated worry and concern.

After her consent, I told her, “Breast cancer has the highest survival rate. Cheer up. It will help you get better if you can keep an upbeat spirit.” She smiled unwillingly.

Later back home, I told my bedridden daughter, “When disease strikes you down, your attitude is very crucial. You will get better quickly if you stay positive and actively engage in recovery.” I shared this real life story with my daughter.

I once had an acquaintance who was in her early 50s. She fell and suffered some bone fracture and couldn’t walk. Hence, she was on wheelchair for a long time. After sometime, the physical therapist worked with her so that she could be back on her feet again. But she could not stand the ache and pain here and there and never had the strong will to walk again. At times, she hated life on wheelchair. Before year was out, she died of liver failure, probably from overdrinking or overdosing or despair or lack of will to live.

I am sure the story would end up differently if she had a positive attitude toward a fracture.

This is an article that I read two years ago on activities to help improve your working memory and concentration by Tycho Vancreato, out on 1/6/2008. It is said “the working memory could actually be the very core of our intelligence. And it doesn’t matter what kind of education you’ve had, everyone can improve their mental capabilities.”

Activity 1: Eat a balanced diet rich in omega-3 fats, antioxidants
Activity 2: Turn on the music, especially classical one.
Activity 3: Reduce stress.
Activity 4: Pay attention
Activity 5: Group things
Activity 6: Think Back — trace back through the memories of the day.

Activity 7: Strengthen your neural connections. This is an exercise can even create new neural connactions. Grab the mouse with the hand you normally don’t use it with. It’s probably harder to be precise and accurate with your motions. You could easily try some of these exercises everyday. It is important to challenge your brain to learn new tasks, especially processes that you’ve never done before.

Activity 8: include more of your senses in an everyday task. E.g. Get dressed with your eyes closed, wash your hair with your eyes closed, share a meal and use only visual cues to communicate. No talking.

Activity 9: Walk. Walking is especially good for your brain, because it enhances the blood flow, which results in oxygen and energy reaching your brain more efficiently. As walking isn’t intensive, your legs also won’t use up extra oxygen and blood sugar. Walking can create a clear head and improve your working memory.

There is an article called “Being Social Improves Lifespan” carried on 7/28/2010. It recaps the result of a study. The report on this study is in the Public Library of Science Journal of Medicine. The key finding of the study is this — “Being socially active may significantly improve a person’s lifespan,” according to the study carried by Julianne Holt-Lunstad and Timothy Smith, Brigham Young University researchers.

Social connections, including friends, family, neighbors and colleagues, “improve the odds of not dying prematurely by 50 percent.” They consider life without these social connections is as dangerous to your health as smoking, alcoholic, no exercise and even obesity.

Of course, relationship of good quality is better than its opposite. By the end of the day, it is really up to each individual to form these good social connections in our lives. That’s why I keep telling my children, once they are out of home, form their own circle of friends and create a home away from home, no matter where they find themselves.

On 8/3/2010, I read an article carried on The Wall Street Journal “Not So Young at Heart?” by RON WINSLOW. It is based on a 20-year study on over 3 thousand people between age 18 and 30. The study discovers the cumulative effect of and the risk of heart disease posed by even modestly abnormal cholesterol. In other word, higher cholesterol at an early age increased the risk of heart disease and stroke later in life.

The threat comes from high bad cholesterol. High LDL level boosts calcium accumulation in the coronary arteries and increase the chance of future heart disease. Atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries that leads to heart attacks and strokes, “begins early in life—as early as childhood”

If you think you are young and invincible, think again. Heart disease does not come overnight. “It accumulates in a way that damage lasts and persists into middle age.” Like a huge debt, your unhealthy lifestyle will come back haunting you in the decades to come.

A lifestyle consisting of regular exercise and healthy diet is the only trick to a healthy heart.

We know smiling is good to your health and to everybody around. Here are some details on why we should keep that big silly smile.

(1) Smiling, real or fake, always makes you happy and positive.

(2) Smiling opens more doors to you and enables you to be well-viewed and well-accepted.

(3) Smile and the whole world smiles with you. You contribute to making a happy surrounding.

(4) Smiling puts on charm and beauty on you, coming in handy when you want to date someone.

(5) Together, all of the above will boost your immune system and make you a wholesome healthy person.

By the way, on 9/2/2010, I made an honest comment on U.S. troop pullout on NY Times site, very much similar to the one I posted on that day here. The site editor blocked out my comment. I wrote again, wiped out again. I smiled and forgot it.

When my daughter and I go out walking or shopping, we often see this phenomenon — slender and fit walkers pass by like a gust of wind, light as swallows, cheerful and full of life. On the other hand, we also notice the sluggish moves of overweight folks with grumpy and phlegmatic expressions, reluctantly waddling along.

Last weekend, while watching a program showing weight loss, I told my daughter of the effects of a vicious cycle – the more body fat a person carries around him, the more lethargic he feels, the more stagnant he would like to stay. This naturally leads to more buildup of body fat, which only perpetuates this overweight-to-sluggishness cycle, ending up in this unhealthy state of obesity.

Therefore, it is very crucial not to start this cycle in the first place if you care to stay happy and healthy.

In the past, I have constantly alerted my children of the potential damages to their hearing when they use ear-buds with high volume, even though I don’t have any scientific backup for my statement. On 8/18/2010, my eye was caught by the large headline “Study: 1 in 5 US teenagers has slight hearing loss,” written by CARLA K. JOHNSON, AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson, Ap Medical Writer, on Tue Aug 17, 2010. I have practically the whole report copied here just to emphasize the severity of the matter.

“… the problem has increased substantially in recent years, a new national study has found. Some experts are urging teenagers to turn down the volume on their digital music players, … They warn that slight hearing loss can cause problems in school and set the stage for hearing aids in later life.”

“Most of the hearing loss was “slight,” defined as inability to hear at 16 to 24 decibels — or sounds such as a whisper or rustling leaves. A teenager with slight hearing loss might not be able to hear water dripping or his mother whispering ‘good night.’”

“While the researchers didn’t single out iPods or any other device for blame, they found a significant increase in high-frequency hearing loss, which they said may indicate that noise caused the problems. And they cited a 2010 Australian study that linked use of personal listening devices with a 70 percent increased risk of hearing loss in children.

“Today’s young people are listening [to music] longer, more than twice as long as previous generations, said Brian Fligor, an audiologist at Children’s Hospital Boston. The older technologies had limited battery life and limited music storage, he said.”

“One of Brian Fligor’s patients, 17-year-old Matthew Brady of Foxborough, Mass., recently was diagnosed with mild hearing loss. He has trouble hearing his friends in the school cafeteria. He ends up faking comprehension. “I laugh when they laugh,” he said. Brian Fligor believes Brady’s muffled hearing was caused by listening to an iPod turned up too loud and for too long.

“Some young people turn their digital players up to levels that would exceed federal workplace exposure limits, said Fligor. In Fligor’s own study of about 200 New York college students, more than half listened to music at 85 decibels or louder. That’s about as loud as a hair dryer or a vacuum cleaner.

“Habitual listening at those levels can turn microscopic hair cells in the inner ear into scar tissue, Fligor said.”

I read this piece from Medscape Medical News, “Waist Circumference Linked to All-Cause Mortality in Older Adults,” written by Dr. Laurie Barclay on August 9, 2010. It was based on the results of a large US cohort study reported in the August 9/23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

“[WC], a measure of abdominal obesity, is associated with higher mortality independent of [BMI],” write Eric J. Jacobs, PhD, from the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues. “Less is known about the association between WC and mortality within categories of BMI or for the very high levels of WC that are now common.” Risk for mortality was more than doubled for very high levels of WC after adjustment for BMI and other risk factors. Within all categories of BMI, WC was positively associated with mortality.

Another similar study was carried out by Dr. Preethi Srikanthan and his team from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. The result shows waist-to-hip circumference ratio (WHR) may be a better predictor of all-cause mortality in older adults vs body mass index (BMI), reported in the October issue of the Annals of Epidemiology. “This is one of the first studies to show that relative waist size does matter in older adults, even if BMI does not matter.”

Regardless of any research flaws that you might challenge, it is surely a wise thing to keep your weight down and waistline small if you care to live a long and healthy life.

I was surprised to learn that one of my co-workers suffered from kidney stones last week. I thought adults in their 50s or older are more likely to be afflicted by this type of disease. She is only a few years older than my son. Then I thought of the young relative of ours who used to study here and went back in May of this year. He needs to be watchful because his uric acid level is high, and that was the result of a high-protein diet. Back home, when I shared this with my daughter, she said, “That’s nothing new. There is a kid, 16-year-old, in our school having kidney stones.”

I learned that the number of kidney stones patients in the United States has been increasing over the past 30 years. It actually is not a surprise when we realize our kidneys function as a filter and waste excretion and the quality of food intake is directly related to what goes into the this filter. Because of unhealthy eating habit among younger generation today, more young people suffer from the disease that is supposed to reserve for older folks. Hence, Mayo clinic recommends the following lifestyle change as its prevention.

(1) Drink water throughout the day. People who live in hot, dry climates and those who exercise frequently may need to drink even more water to produce enough urine.

(2) Eat fewer oxalate-rich foods. These include rhubarb, beets, okra, spinach, Swiss chard, sweet potatoes, tea, chocolate and soy products.

(3) Choose a diet low in salt and animal protein. Reduce the amount of salt you eat and choose non-animal protein sources, such as nuts and legumes.

I hope my children and their generation would listen to this advice.

On 7/27/2010, before I headed for Overland Park Botanical Garden, I read an article by Kathleen Doheny on how to fight fatigue. She listed 6 ways to boost your energy. Here they are.

1: Reach for healthy energy food, not candy bar
2: Eat a high-carb, high-fiber breakfast
3: Take breaks, making break time a habit can keep your energy up for long span
4: Get moving, “Walking is an energizer”
5: Take 5 and Meditate, a 3-minute quiet time doing nothing
6: Get moving continued…

It is helpful to kick the day off with a quiet moment of meditation while still in bed, then continue with short meditation breaks throughout the day. To be constantly energized, it is better to be surrounded with positive forces and avoid negativity whenever possible, as negative factors tend to drain away your energy and make your life stressful.

On 7/21/2010, I saw a sleep quiz on MedicineNet site. I took it and shared it with my daughter. I post the result on the site so that we can learn something about sleep deprivation.

(1) If you cut back on the sleep you need by just one hour, your body will adjust. FALSE
Shortchanging yourself by one hour of sleep a night doesn’t seem like a big deal. But this “sleep debt” can accumulate over time, leading to problem sleepiness. Even if you think you feel fine, sleep debt can significantly impair thinking and performance. It can also lower your mood. When sleep debt leads to memory and concentration problems, you’re more likely to make mistakes on the job or at school.

(2) Women who juggle work and family are most likely to fall asleep while driving. FALSE
Crashes in which the driver falls asleep are most common among young male drivers. In one large study, more than 50% of fall-asleep crashes involved a driver 25 or younger. Drowsy driving is a significant problem. In a national 2009 poll, 28% of respondents reported that they drive while drowsy at least once a month.

(3) Poor sleep may cause you to lose weight. FALSE
Just the opposite: There’s a link between poor sleep and weight gain. Scientists have discovered that sleep loss can boost appetite by altering the behavior of hormones that regulate metabolism, such as leptin and ghrelin. As a result, sleep-deprived people may have more cravings for foods rich in calories and carbohydrates, leading to increased weight.

(4) Lack of sleep can hurt your relationships. TRUE
Chronic lack of sleep can cause fatigue, lethargy, and irritability. It can even contribute to depression. Such mood changes can create problems in your relationships.

(5) Too little sleep can lead to high blood pressure. TRUE
Usually, blood pressure decreases while people sleep, but interrupted sleep can interfere with this normal reduction, paving the way for high blood pressure and cardiovascular problems.

(6) Not enough sleep can cause diabetes to develop. TRUE
Poor sleep impairs the body’s ability to use insulin, which can eventually cause diabetes. One study found that people who get fewer than six hours of sleep are prone to abnormal blood sugar levels. Several hormones that regulate the body’s use of energy are released during sleep. Too little sleep, or interrupted sleep, can disrupt this process.

(7) During sleep, your body shuts down to rest. FALSE
Sleep is actually an active process. Although your metabolic rate slows and your body does get rest, some brain activity increases dramatically. In REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, many parts of the brain are as active as they are during wakefulness. During sleep, the brain is “recharged.” In addition, your endocrine system secretes larger amounts of certain hormones during sleep, such as growth hormone. In the “deep sleep” stages, your body experiences the most restorative effects of sleep.

Now we know people who have been overweight since adolescence are more likely to forsake college, to be on welfare, unhappy and unemployed, and even to live alone. Next people will try to find answer to this finding.

Some explain that overweight children suffer from inferior complex and low self-esteem. Yale psychologist Kelly Brownell has found “overweight people are 26 times more likely to report discrimination than their normal-weight counterparts” …”overweight kids are far more likely to report being teased” by teachers, classmates, and even their own families. And “discrimination against overweight individuals has increased 66% despite the fact that more adults are becoming overweight.” “The social climate and our toxic food environment is so disastrous that more and more people are having trouble resisting it…” “Changing the environment is key to solving the problem. ” Right. Go ahead blaming others for our own problems and the problem will be gone if other people change. It sounds so logic, right?

My daughter read the article, commenting that those problems of unemployment, not going to college, on welfare, and overweight have the same root cause — lack of self-control and self-discipline. If they cannot control how much they eat and get themselves out of shape, how can you expect them to have the needed discipline to go through rigid higher education and go up social status? Someone got to have the will power to delay oral gratification and stop adding those extra embarrassing pounds first.

Whoop, that’s a tough call.

I knew there is a link between the two. This is confirmed by TARA PARKER-POPE’s article “Extra Weight Adds to Economic Woes” on 7/22/2010, carried by New York Times.

“Years of being overweight not only contributes to health problems but also to a person’s economic woes, new research suggests. Adults who have been overweight since high school are more likely to be unemployed or on welfare than those who gained weight gradually during their 20s and 30s, according to a study published in The American Journal of Epidemiology. People who have been persistently overweight since high school are also more likely to be single at 40 and have no more than a high school education, compared with those who have gained weight slowly over time, the study showed.” The lead author, Philippa J. Clarke of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, said they were looking at “the social and economic consequences of being persistently overweight” in their study.

Even more worrisome is the existence of the link between education and overweight problem, that is “people with less educated parents were more likely to be overweight at a young age. But even controlling for parents’ lower socioeconomic status, the researchers found that the persistently overweight experienced more economic hardship than those who gained weight slowly over time, suggesting that weight status also can predict economic status.”

On the other hand, the encouraging news is “good grades in high school lowered a student’s risk for being persistently overweight as an adult.” The implication is maintaining a constant good school performance is one of the keys to maintain healthy weight and thus another possible key to the rise in society later on in one’s life.

Now we are fully aware of the potential insidious damage posed by those extra pounds to our social and economic future. Considering this fact, it is up to the parents to make sure that children are on the healthy side during their years at home.

School will start tomorrow.
Now we have one more reason to keep our hearts strong and healthy — for our dear heads. On 8/2/2010, I read a report by Serena Gordon carried on Bloomberg Businessweek. The lead author of the study is Angela Jefferson, an associate professor of neurology at the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Boston University School of Medicine. The main finding is heart health is related to brain health.

“People with the highest cardiac output for their body size (cardiac index), meaning those with the greatest blood flow from their heart, tended to have more brain volume, which generally indicates a healthier brain. In fact, the researchers said that people with the lowest cardiac output showed nearly two more years of brain aging than did those with the highest cardiac output.”

“Those with the lowest cardiac index and the middle group both had smaller brain volumes than those with the highest cardiac index,” said Jefferson.

“The health of the heart and circulatory system are increasingly being linked to the health of the brain. Poor heart health has been linked to neuropsychological impairments and dementia, according to background information in the study.”

Key point to take home is: anything that is good to your heart is also good to your brain; anything that is bad to your heart is bad to your brain, too.

On the Saturday of 7/3/2010, while my daughter was at her drawing lesson, I was reading at a nearby HyVee store. The lesson runs an hour and a half. I took up Psychology Today magazine, June 2010 issue. Here’s some notes on the importance of exercise for our brain by Avigail Gordon.

Exercise not only helps muscles expand but also help your brain grow. New research confirms that doing aerobic exercise for 30 minutes, 3 times a week can enlarge the hippocampus, a part of the brain that regulates emotion and memory. But particularly exciting is the discovery that significant hippocampal growth occurs not only in healthy participants but also in those with schizophrenia.

Sounds like a miracle drug. Hence, work up for your body and brain.

On July 6, 2010, I read an article on depression and the increased risk of dementia. “Having depression may nearly double the risk of developing dementia later in life, new research suggests. Experts know that the two conditions often co-exist, but it is not clear if one actually leads to the other. Now two studies published in the American Journal Neurology suggest depression does mean dementia is more likely, although they do not show why.”

Depression at a younger age is probably a significant risk factor for dementia. “Inflammation of brain tissue that occurs when a person is depressed might contribute to dementia. Certain proteins found in the brain that increase with depression may also increase the risk of developing dementia.”

This is not a surprise when we have known that people with depression show a shrunk hippocampus. This was confirmed in 1999 by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. They found that a key brain region is significantly smaller in people who have suffered from clinical depression. Reporting in the June 15 1999 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, they say people who have been depressed have smaller volumes in a seahorse-shaped brain structure called the hippocampus that is important in learning and memory. 3-D MRI was used to confirm a volume loss only in those who had been depressed.

Well, from all that I read on the topic, I am convinced that one way of keeping our brains sharp and shine is to make all efforts to stay sunny and cheerful. Read comics or silly jokes or do whatever works to keep yourself upbeat everyday.

To my dear readers and my children, make a point of doing something everyday that can guarantee to yank out that hearty laughter from bottom of your heart.

To be sure, exercise itself is not comfortable comparing to sitting on the couch reading or watching your favorit shows. It is especially miserable when you go out walking under any extreme weather. Hence, we often walk in a mall or a big store, as we want to torture ourselves only this much.

During weekday, my daughter and I used to go to Neighborhood Wal-Mart for an evening walk. But ever since she met her classmates there, she refused to go there. “Have you ever seen a teenager walking with their parents?” said she. From then on, we started going to Target, bigger and farther from home. We went there twice last week.

On weekend, normally I get up late since I don’t need to go to work. Yesterday I decided to get up before sunrise, setting alarm at 5:50 AM, and take a morning walk outside. I felt so great walking in the cool morning breeze. I know I can always take a nap at noon, if I feel tired.

Later, I shared this with my daughter. We both agree it takes something extraordinary to kick yourself out of bed this early and move your feet out of the house. Spending your weekend lying on the couch in front of TV with something to munch might seem a cozy activity; but if you want to do something good to your body and do the right thing, remember this morning and keep it up.

We know we spend one third of our lives sleeping. What happens to our body during our sleep? Does it matter what time we sleep? Here’s a real life story from a friend of mine. A 25-year-old working for Microsoft died not long ago. Before that fateful day, this person had been an all-nighter working — went back home at 6 AM the next morning, slept till noon and back to work again, and carried on like this for five consecutive days and never woke up again on the fifth day. The dead person, once having a strong heart, must have been killed by overwork. In fact, this is the third such case in this company.

No wonder doctors suggest that it is better to go to bed before 10 PM in order for the internal organs to repair and fix damaged cells. According to Chinese medicine, our internal organs purges toxic from our body during night time. Their nightly purging timetable is listed below.
(1) 9 – 11 PM — Immune system is active purging; light music helps
(2) 11 PM – 1 AM — liver purges toxic. It has to be carried out during our sound sleep moment
(3) 1 – 3 AM — gall bladder starts purging wastes
(4) 3 – 5 AM — lung works on purging
(5) 5 – 7 AM — colon is up at purging, best time for bowl movement
(6) 7 – 9 AM — intestines start working on absorbing nutrients; make sure you haver a hearty breakfast.

Don’t ask me why. I only know sleep deprivation shortens one’s life if it does not kill it right away. It is very detrimental to your body when you constantly burn midnight oil.

When I went through notes that I jotted down casually, I found these few words which I am not sure if I have posted before. Still, I would not let it pass without sharing it here. Because it is so short and sweet, not a big challenge to my limited brain.

Habits that can bring you happiness include,
(1) Laugh often
(2) Count your blessings
(3) Say thank you and really mean it
(4) Play your strength
(5) Do good whenever you can

Being happy is essential to your being health. Thus, these habits can also make you happy and healthy.

P.S. My son left early this morning. I sorely miss his youthful and joyful presence, his upbeat attitude, and his support and help any time I need. Wish him success in his summer venture.

I read this finding a few weeks ago from BBC news on health. It is a study carried out by UK and Italian researchers.

(1) “people regularly having such little sleep were 12% more likely to die over a 25-year period than those who got an “ideal” six to eight hours.”

(2) There is “an association between sleeping for more than nine hours and early death, although that much sleep may merely be a marker of ill health.”

“And getting improved sleep may not make someone better or live longer, … ‘But having less than five hours a night suggests something is probably not right. Five hours is insufficient for most people and being drowsy in the day increases your risk of having an accident if driving or operating dangerous machinery.’”

While walking with my daughter in one evening, I shared with her one reading from yahoo on four bad habits that can shorten one’s life by over 12 years. Indeed, it doesn’t take much to finish the job. The bad habits include:
(1) Smoke
(2) Excessive drinking
(3) Unbalanced or uncontrolled food intake
(4) Inactive

Here in America, most of us can very well do without smoke and drinking, but the hardest part is to be active and control your food intake. Number three and four are closely connected. One bad habit tends to lead to another. That is, the more we eat, the heavy we feel and the less likely we will be physically active. Keep this in mind.

The sub-title for this entry is “How to keep up doing the right thing to our dear bodies”
If you are like me, you can find thousands of excuse for not staying on track with your exercise. Below are some tips that are provided in the book.
(1) Exercise with a group or a buddy for social interaction and mutual support.
(2) Exercise to your favorite music or an audio book
(3) Keep a written record of your progress so you know where you come from
(4) Set realistic goals for yourself
(5) Do something different when you feel bored doing one kind of exercise
(6) Reward yourself or celebrate for your progress

During exercise,
(1) Don’t forget water
(2) Dress comfortably
(3) Shoe must fit
(4) Avoid over-exercising

Again, the simple way to feel good is to do the right thing.

Here I am again from this wonderful little book on how to enhance our well-being. This time it tells us how to protect our bones.

What is so good about our bones?
-> bones provide structure;
-> provide good posture;
-> protect organs;
-> anchor muscles;
-> store calcium.

Keep in mind that bone is a living tissue. To keep bones strong, the body is always breaking down old bone and replacing it with new tissue. As people enter their 40s and 50s, more bone is broken down than is replaced. A close look at the inside of bone would show something that looks like a honeycomb. People with osteoporosis reveal larger spaces in this honeycomb. The outer shell of your bones also gets thinner. Imagine how terribly weak one’s bones are when one gets old!

Evidence shows that inactivity leads to loss of bone mass faster than normal aging does. Hence, we need exercise, extra calcium intake and adequate sunshine. Remember when you maintain a physically-active lifestyle and your body will look fit and fabulous. With spring in each step, light as a swallow, life is fabulous once more.

Many years ago, one of my children brought home a book from school called Our Recipes for Health, Well-being and Personal Safety, 2004. As the cover of the book contains some pictures of dishes, I disposed it as a cook book and tucked it up somewhere until last weekend when I was determined to do some cleaning of that corner.

In reality, it consists a lot more than cooking. In its recipe for energy and vitality, the book suggests a very simple and basic one — be active.

The wonders or the benefits of exercise include,
-> lower cholesterol and blood pressure
-> increase oxygen to the brain and improve memory
-> make strong bone and improve posture
-> burn body fat
-> reduce stress and tension
-> increase energy
-> protect body from injury and disease
-> boost self-confidence and self-esteem

We need to do
– aerobic exercise
– muscular strength and endurance conditioning
– flexibility and stretching

The book provides many exercise menu, which is always fun to read but tiresome to actually do it. Still, I will pick one and stick to it for some time.

Spring is here. Get active and shed that extra layer that we have accumulated over the winter. Whenever we feel laziness getting better of us, think of all the benefits that exercise has promised to offer.

The day before her birthday, I took my daughter out for dinner that Friday. She had fried potato wedges and something else. Normally I don’t get her fried things but an exception was granted to her on the eve of her birthday. Unlike French fries, these wedges keep potato skins. I saw at least two of these wedges have green skins. I asked my daughter if she knew that we cannot eat the green skin. No, she has not heard of anything bad about green potato skin.

Next I shared with her about potato having exposed to too much light, its skin turning green and that producing solanine, which is toxic. After that I thought of some cancer facts, that is, people at lower social-economic level with lower education have a higher cancer incidence rate than those above them. We already know the direct relationship between money power and the availability and affordability of health care. Perhaps knowledge also plays a large part in our physical wellbeings. In this sense, if people don’t know how to live a healthy life, they are hurt and killed by their ignorance and lack of health knowledge as much as their lean pocket.

Hence, learn and reduce our ignorance for our health.

“April Fool, but I am not,” says a little child.

When I was at another clinic last Friday, 3/26, I learned of a colleague who used to be the department manager but had to resign from the position due to her breast cancer. It was said that too much stress on that position had played a role in her disease.

This reminds me of some cancer data, that is, Native Americans have the lowest cancer incidence rate. Asian people, even with relatively higher social-economic level and healthy lifestyle, still see a much higher cancer incidence rate than Native Americans.

National Cancer Institute reports that, although “A direct relationship between psychological stress and the development of cancer has not been scientifically proven,” “Researchers have suggested that psychological factors may affect cancer progression (increase in tumor size or spread of cancer in the body) in patients who have the disease.” Well, has-not-proved does not equal to non-existence.

According to the 2007 issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, “Ohio State University researchers have shown that in cell cultures, the stress hormone norepinephrine appears to promote the biochemical signals that stimulate certain tumor cells to grow and spread.”

Stress directly threatens our bodies, life and all. Make it a point to reduce unnecessary stress in our daily lives, for your dear life and your loved ones.