Ticked Off: How to Recognize, Relieve and Resist Lyme Disease

Summertime is prime time for ticks, which are becoming more prevalent each year. A combination of changing land use and warmer winters has greatly expanded the ticks’ habitat and they’re now found in more than half of U.S. counties. As a result, tick-borne Lyme disease has doubled over the last two decades to nearly 500,000 cases annually, earning it the unfortunate distinction of being the most common vector-borne illness in the Northern hemisphere. Read on for details on how to protect yourself this season, and in the summers to come. …

Dementia and Alzheimer’s: Updates from a Leading Geriatrician

Senior Moments Or Something More? As Baby Boomers continue the inexorable journey deep into their senior years, preserving cognitive function understandably tops the list of worries. While Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias are seen in just 5% of people over 65, that number jumps to 30% for people age 85 and over. Questions abound: is forgetting a name a sign of normal aging or an indicator of a more serious memory disorder? Are any nutritional supplements or pharmaceutical treatments available that are proven to stave off memory loss? Most importantly, …

Tips for Safe Summer Fun

Stay Safe with Sunscreen, Sunglasses and Plenty of Water The longer, sunshine filled days of summer are upon us and without a doubt, they are one of life’s unrivaled joys, especially when you protect yourself from the powerful impact of ultraviolet rays. With that in mind, we share our tips for safe summer fun; from choosing and using the right sunscreen to staying hydrated. The debate around sunscreen safety heated up with last year’s recall of some popular consumer products containing chemicals such as benzene, which is absorbed through the …

What’s Keeping You Up at Night?

Breaking the Cycle of Anxiety, Insomnia and Sleep Anxiety A good night’s sleep does more than refresh and revitalize. It’s essential to your health, so make it a priority to understand what’s keeping you up at night. “Healthy sleep is as important as proper nutrition and regular exercise for our physical and mental well-being,” says Kannan Ramar, MD, sleep medicine physician at the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Sleep Medicine and immediate past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. “Lack of sufficient sleep is associated with increased risks of type …

What Does BMI Really Tell Us?

Definitive Diagnostic Tool or Part of a Greater Health Matrix? It’s an easily understood calculation: Body Mass Index, popularly known as BMI, computes an individual’s measure of body fat as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. Levels are defined as Underweight if less than 18.5, Normal weight if between 18.5 and 24.9, Overweight if between 25.0 and 29.9, and Obese if above 30. But what does BMI really tell us? This simple formula has nonetheless sparked controversy and continued questioning: Is BMI a quick, easy and efficient …

Pandemic Stress Likely Compounded by Seasonal Affective Disorder

Coping With Sad This Winter As we continue to weather the storm of COVID-19, seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is once again on our radar. More subtle than an arctic blast, SAD is just as real, with just as much potential to have a chilling effect on our mood, productivity and wellness. Similar to last winter, the emotional stress and ongoing uncertainty that come with a global pandemic is unfortunately creating an ideal climate for SAD. Not surprisingly, mental health experts are expecting to diagnose and treat an increased number …

Color Your World with Every Hue of Fruit and Vegetable

Eating Your Fruits and Veggies May Help Reduce the Risk of Chronic Disease Fill your plate with a vibrant, colorful array of fruits and vegetables for a naturally delicious way to meet your daily requirement of vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Plant foods contain thousands of natural compounds called phytonutrients, which may have anti-inflammatory benefits that can help reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Every color has a contribution to make – aim for a few different ones each day, and enjoy the entire spectrum. Red and pink: These fruits and …

Staying Well in the New Year A Proactive Guide

In the spirit of starting 2022 with healthy intention, we’ve taken a page from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) latest recommendations, long considered the gold standard for clinical preventive services, and prepared the following proactive guide to staying well in the new year. Back in 1903, Thomas Edison predicted where we were headed: “The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet, and the cause and prevention of disease.” While we have yet to …

A Novel Approach to Behavior Change

How to Replace Bad Habits with Healthy, Sustainable Behaviors For entrepreneur physician Kyra Bobinet, MD, the typical reasons behind a failed diet served as the impetus for developing a novel approach to behavior change. “I was doing so well. I knew what to eat, when to eat, how to eat, and then I just stopped doing it…and I don’t know why.” Her answer to a patient’s familiar lament above, called the Iterative MindsetTM, is now used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to enhance its diabetes …