Cool News For Women

Increasing Daily Calcium Will Not Reduce the Risk of Fractures in Later Life, Study Suggests

2012-02-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

While moderate amounts of calcium (around 700 mg a day) are vital for maintaining healthy bones, there is no need to start increasing calcium intake in order to reduce the risk of fractures or osteoporosis after menopause, finds a paper published on the British Medical Journal website on May 24.

As people age, their bones lose calcium and they are more at risk of fractures and osteoporosis -- this is especially the case for women. As well as causing individual suffering, fractures are a huge drain on health services.

With aging populations, this burden will increase in the coming years and therefore preventing them is a major public health issue, say the authors, led by Dr Eva Warensjö from Uppsala University in Sweden.

The importance of increasing calcium intake to compensate for the loss of calcium has been debated for a long time and there is still no clear advice. This is reflected by the wide range of daily calcium recommendations for the over fifties -- in the UK it is currently 700 mg; it is 800 mg in Scandinavia and 1,200 mg in the US.

In order to investigate the links between long-term dietary calcium intake and the risk of fractures, the authors reviewed data from a large population study of Swedish women carried out in 1987.
Over 61,433 women (born between 1914 and 1948) took part in the Swedish Mammography Study and of these 5,022 participated in a smaller sub-research group. All participants were followed up for 19 years.

During the follow-up, 14,738 (24%) women had a first fracture and, of these, 3,871 (6%) had a first hip fracture. Twenty percent of the sub-group had osteoporosis.

The researchers used a series of questionnaires to gain in-depth knowledge of the participants' changing diet and in particular their calcium intake and use of supplements and multivitamins...read more

Caffeine and Bladder Problems Linked

2012-02-06T14:33:00.000-08:00

Excess caffeine increases the likelihood of urinary incontinence in women, according to a new study that echoes the findings of previous research.

''Menopausal women who consume high levels of caffeine are 70% more likely to have urinary incontinence than women who don't," says Jon Gleason, MD, an instructor and fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical School's Division of Women's Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery.

He is slated to present the findings Friday at the American Urogynecologic Society's annual meeting in Long Beach, Calif.

Caffeine sources include coffee, tea, beverages, foods, and some pharmaceuticals.
In Gleason’s study, women who reported taking in 329 milligrams of caffeine a day -- about three cups of coffee -- or more had a 70% higher likelihood of having the bladder problem.
Urinary incontinence, or the unintentional loss of urine, affects more than 13 million Americans, mostly women. Women are most likely to develop it either during pregnancy or childbirth or with menopause and its hormonal changes, due to pelvic muscle weakness. But it's not a natural consequence of aging, experts say.

Caffeine and Bladder Problems: The Study

Previous research has produced conflicting findings about caffeine and bladder problems, Gleason says. So he looked at a larger group of women than those studied in previous research.
Gleason evaluated data on 1,356 women, aged 20 to 85, who had participated in the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a large nationally representative survey.
The women kept food diaries on two separate days and also answered questions about bladder function.

Moderate caffeine intake, defined as about 182 milligrams a day, was not linked to urinary incontinence. But higher intakes -- 329.5 milligrams or higher -- were.
People who had a high caffeine intake were more likely to be aged 40-59, to drink alcohol, and to be non-Hispanic white.

Gleason found no links between urinary incontinence and body mass index, vaginal childbirth, or high intake of water...read more

Acupuncture can treat hot flashes

2012-01-31T12:51:00.000-08:00

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Women who suffer from hot flashes and other uncomfortable symptoms of menopause may be able to find relief through acupuncture, according to a new study.

The idea of having to lie still for 20 minutes with needles sticking out of you may not appeal to everyone. On the other hand, hormone replacement therapy — often employed to make menopause more bearable — has some problems of its own, including an increased risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and breast cancer.

So Turkish researchers recruited 53 postmenopausal women and assigned 27 of them to a five-week course of acupuncture (twice a week for 20 minutes at a time) and 26 of them got sham treatments that they thought were real. Women in the treatment group had needles inserted at 10 acupuncture points (bilaterally at ST36, LI4, KI3 and LR3, and also at EX-HN3 and CV3); women in the placebo group were treated with blunted needles that didn't penetrate the skin.

At the end of the study period, the women who got acupuncture showed more relief from their symptoms compared to their counterparts who got the fake treatment. Their hot flashes and night sweats were less severe (there was no change for women who got the sham treatment). Both groups had improvements in their psychological symptoms (as measured by the Menopause Rating Scale), though the benefit was much greater for women who got acupuncture. In addition, estrogen levels were significantly higher for the women in the treatment group compared to the controls.

Had there been more than 10 sessions, the benefits of acupuncture might have been even greater, the researchers said. The results were published in the journal Acupuncture in Medicine...read more.

Hormones helpful for younger women?

2012-01-23T16:57:00.000-08:00

Hormone replacement therapy to help with menopausal symptoms may pose little risk to younger women, and could even help some aspects of their health - but any benefit appears to disappear as women age, according to a new study.

Among more than 70,000 postmenopausal women, some of whom had elected to take hormone replacement therapy (HRT), younger HRT-users were less likely to die from all causes over a nearly 10-year period than women of the same age who had never taken HRT.

However, as women aged, taking HRT was no longer associated with a lower risk of death.
"Whatever benefits there are for younger women, they don't really persist for older women," study author Dr. Daniel Stram of the Keck School of Medicine in California told Reuters Health.
HRT has remained controversial since 2002, when the Women's Health Initiative, a massive government-sponsored clinical trial investigating HRT's benefits, was abruptly halted. Researchers stopped the study when they found that women on HRT were not only not enjoying any protection from heart disease, they were showing higher rates of heart attack, stroke, breast cancer and blood clots than placebo users.

This week, investigators revealed in still another study that women who took HRT had more advanced breast cancers and were more likely to die from them than women who took a placebo.
As a result, experts now advise that while HRT is effective at relieving menopausal symptoms -- like hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness -- women should take it at the lowest dose and for the shortest time possible.

In the meantime, researchers are still analyzing data to tease out the health effects, both positive and negative, associated with hormone replacement.

In the current report, published in the journal Menopause, Stram and his team reviewed data collected from 71,237 postmenopausal women, some of whom had elected to take HRT. They found that, among women younger than 65, those who took HRT were at least 45 percent less likely to die during an 8- or 9-year period than those who never took hormones. Even women up to age 74 experienced a slightly lower death rate when taking HRT.

By age 75, however, death rates became equal among HRT-users and never-users.
Given the mix of evidence about HRT, however, it's too soon to say that hormones are good for younger women, cautioned Dr. Graham A. Colditz at Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri, where he is associate director of the Siteman Cancer Center. Instead, this and other studies suggest that any benefit, if it exists, disappears as women age. "The older they get, the longer they take (hormones), the less benefit they seem to get from taking them," Colditz told Reuters Health.

One reason studies show different effects of HRT may stem from differences in how the studies are designed, he added. In the current study, women chose whether or not they wanted to take HRT, while in others - such as the halted government clinical trial - investigators randomly assigned women to receive either HRT or placebo.

It's possible that women who choose to take HRT are healthier overall than other women their age, suggested Colditz, who was not involved in the current study.

It's also not clear why, biologically, HRT might have different effects on younger and older women, he added. "I hope some of the ongoing studies will give us a bit of insight into this."...read more

When Are Women Most Confident?

2012-01-17T14:12:00.000-08:00

Life does kick in at 50. Modern trends in lifestyle have shown that women in their 50s are confident, successful and leading a great life – mentally and physically. Here’s why. “The 50s can be a turbulent time,” The Daily Telegraph quoted Dr Rosie King, a sexual health physician, as saying. “But women also come into their own. They’ve faced personal and professional challenges and they understand how they want to live,” Dr King added.

“Many women rediscover their sexuality as children become more independent. And if you’re in a new relationship, you’ll also be hot to trot.” Fatigue, stress, depression, an unhappy relationship and painful sex are reasons for decreasing libido – which requires consulting with an expert. Menopause is another evil of 50s.

“Some women sail through this period. Other women have night sweats, hot flashes, feel tense, moody or tearful and describe it as a roller-coaster,” Dr King said. “Talk to family or a counselor. Exercise elevates your mood, so aim for 30 minutes of vigorous exercise a day. Yoga and meditation also help reduce menopausal symptoms. A healthy diet and exercise is a must, not just for physical health but for mental peace too.” she said.

Menopause affects diabetic women with many body changes

2012-01-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

Image by marsmet461 via FlickrMenopause affects women in many different ways. If you also have diabetes, menopause often creates new challenges with diabetes management.

Menopause is defined by the absence of a menstrual period for 12 consecutive months, which occurs on average at 51. Women with Type 1 diabetes since childhood tend to start their periods a year later on average, but go through menopause a few years earlier.

About six years of potential reproductive time can be lost. Women with Type 2 diabetes diagnosed in adulthood tend to go through menopause a few years later than average, likely because of higher estrogen levels created by excess body fat. Estrogen and progesterone are the two major hormones to fall during pre-menopause and after menopause.

In general, estrogen tends to make the hormone insulin work better whereas progesterone reduces the actions of insulin. As menopause is occurring, there are greater up and down shifts in both these hormones relative to each other. The result is a greater risk for extreme variability in blood sugar.
Hot flashes and night sweats are symptoms of menopause, but also of low blood sugar. Also, if menopause symptoms disrupt sleep, there is more chance for a loss of diabetes control.

With lower estrogen levels in the blood, the surface tissues of the urinary tract become thinner, less elastic, and more susceptible to infection. Even before menopause, women with diabetes carry a higher risk of urinary tract and vaginal infections.

Menopause also can cause weight gain, which can require changes in diabetes management. Also because women with diabetes have a higher risk of heart disease, more careful attention to dietary cholesterol and fat intake plus regular blood lipid measurements are needed. Changes in eating habits and even cholesterol-lowering medicines may be needed....read more

New soy-based natural S-equol supplement reduces menopausal hot flashes, muscle and joint pain in first study among US women

2012-01-02T17:04:00.000-08:00

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Can Soy Help Menopausal Hot Flashes and Night Sweats?

A new women’s health, whole soy germ-based nutritional supplement containing Natural S-equol reduced the frequency of moderate to severe hot flashes and night sweats and reduced muscle and joint pain in the first study of its kind among postmenopausal U.S. women, according to peer-reviewed data presented as a poster presentation at the North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting. Also, the first study to report Natural S-equol contributions to bone health and a study of Natural S-equol safety were presented at NAMS.

“These data from U.S. women expand our knowledge about and corroborate previous research in Japanese women about the benefit of a supplement containing the soy-based compound Natural S-equol to manage menopausal symptoms, including reducing the frequency of hot flashes and muscle discomfort. This and the other Natural S-equol studies are part of the rigorous clinical collaborative program of Pharmavite LLC and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. to develop a supplement containing Natural S-equol,” said Belinda H. Jenks, Ph.D., coauthor of the US women’s and safety studies and director of Scientific Affairs & Nutrition Education at Pharmavite LLC.
S-equol [7-hydroxy-3-(4’-hydroxyphenyl)-chroman] is a compound resulting -- when certain bacteria are present in the digestive tract -- from the natural metabolism, or conversion, of daidzein, an isoflavone found in whole soybeans. Not everyone can produce S-equol after soy consumption, as the production depends on the types of bacteria present in the large intestine and may be influenced by the amount of soy consumed. About 50 percent of Asians and 20 to 30 percent of North Americans and Europeans, who in general consume less soy than Asians, have the ability to produce S-equol. Research indicates that Japanese women have milder menopausal symptoms in those who are S-equol producers compared to nonproducers.

S-equol selectively binds to the receptors for the naturally occurring female sex hormone estrogen, with a strong affinity to the estrogen receptor beta. On binding to these receptors, S-equol mimics some, but not all, activities of natural estrogen. Because of these actions at the receptor, it has been proposed that S-equol may alleviate some of the symptoms caused by diminished estrogen production during menopause.

Natural S-equol Supplement Reduces Menopausal Hot Flashes in U.S. Women
In the double-blinded study of 102 US postmenopausal women, eight weeks of daily SE5-OH supplement doses containing 10, 20 or 40 milligrams (mg) of Natural S-equol reduced the frequency of moderate to severe hot flashes as did 50 mg doses of a soy isoflavone supplement. Because isoflavones are known to have mild effects on the reduction of hot flashes in menopausal women, the investigators used an isoflavone supplement as a comparator in the study.

More women in the 10, 20 and 40 mg Natural S-equol groups achieved a 50 percent or more reduction in their hot flash frequency, a primary endpoint of the study, than in the isoflavone group: respectively, 42.9 (P=0.056), 27.3, 25.0 and 16.0 percent. To enroll in the study, all of the women had to experience more than 35 hot flashes per week.

The 20 mg Natural S-equol dose neared statistical superiority (P=0.076), the 10 mg dose was similar (P=0.503) and the 40 mg dose was significantly more effective than the soy isoflavones in reducing hot flash frequency (P=0.021), according to a Mixed-Effect Model Repeated Measure analysis incorporating the eight weekly reports of women’s hot flash frequency, a secondary endpoint of the study.

Moreover, muscle and joint pain was reduced significantly in the 10 and 20 mg Natural S-equol groups compared to those in the isoflavone group (P< 0.05). Investigators used the validated Greene Climacteric Scale that measures 20 symptoms to produce three symptom measures: psychological, somatic (physical) and vasomotor.

“Together these data document that a minimum daily dose of 10 mg Natural S-equol would provide the benefit of both reducing the frequency of moderate to severe hot flashes as well as decreasing muscle and joint pain associated with menopause,” explained Jenks.

Why Use Natural Remedies for Night Sweats and Hot Flashes

2011-12-27T13:18:00.000-08:00

Since the earlier times natural remedies have been quite popular among many women to treat their different health issues especially hot flashes and night sweats. Even today more and more women prefer more to use this technique as compared to the other one i.e. allopath, also known ap modern medicinal science when it comes to healing hot flashes. Of course, it is completely different from the conventional medicinal system. Good news is that the composition of natural remedies doesn't include chemicals and synthetic derivatives. These remedies are prepared with the help of herbs, flowers, water, soil etc. or they might be something as simple as night sweat pajama s or wicking pajamas to help cool the body and keep it dry. All in all, it is advisable to consider having natural remedies for hot flashes.

Many medical experts say that some holistic exercises like meditation, yoga and Pranayama are also included under the category of natural remedy since these exercises also avoid the usage of any synthetic product or ingredient. Without any doubt, the natural medicine has benefited the human lives in many ways after leaving impeccable outcomes over their different health concerning issues. As a better outcome, the number of patients who want to avail with the benefits of this source is increasing day by day. This has distracted a large number of people to some extent from using modern medicines and treatments.

Yes, natural remedy treatment includes the usage of natural medicines so as to heal many different health ailments. This is why this method is also known by the name of complementary medicine. There are no two ways in the fact that today a plethora of natural health care providers are out there offering numerous natural and traditional treatment options to women with hot flashes. The utilization of natural medicine treatment has some reasonable advantages as compared to using its modern medicines counterpart.

• Natural remedies for hot flashes are available at the comparatively lower prices than those you might pay for the usage of modern remedies and treatments.
• You can also find out complementary therapy or treatment very easily in the form of kitchen remedies or home remedies.
• Natural and traditional medicines are made using fruits, vegetables and herbs that don't leave usually any adverse effects on the human's body.
• There is very less chance of experiencing any unwanted reaction with the usage of natural remedy. It might occurs only if one has taken the over dosage of such medicine without having a visit to her natural health care provider.

How To Stop Night Sweats and Hot Flashes?

2011-12-20T16:31:00.000-08:00

How to stop my night sweats

Night sweats are a common affliction of women and are often likened to a hot flash. However, night sweats are more feared because they come in the middle of the night, rousing a woman from a sound sleep to find her self drenched in sweat and often freezing with chills. For sufferers of night sweats, other problems soon become apparent, foremost being inhibited sleep.

To continue learning more about night sweats, including tips to lessen their severity, continue reading down the page.

Stopping night sweats: what’s the cause?

Because night sweats occur for many reasons, it is important to diagnose their source in order to select the proper treatment. For instance, if you are a woman between the ages of 35 and 51, the onset of night sweats may be a symptom of perimenopause, or the time before menopause. However, there are many other causes including;

Certain medications

Antidepressants, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), antipyretics, and hypoglycemic agents have all been known to cause night sweats.

Cancer

Night sweats can be a symptom of cancer itself, and also a result of treatments like chemotherapy.

Infections

such as tuberculosis and AIDS can be accompanied by night sweats. Also endocartidis, or an infection of the lining of the heart, can have cause night sweats.

Stroke

If you are suffering from night sweats, it is a good idea to consult a doctor to seek diagnosis of the particular cause of your night sweats. Once this has been determined, an appropriate course of treatment can be selected. This may include;

Lifestyle changes

This includes incorporating healthy and varied foods into your diet. There are certain foods that promote cool body temperature, like cucumber and sage. Also, exercise is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to balance upset hormone levels, a common cause of night sweats. Ridding your routine of alcohol and smoking products can help decrease the severity of night sweats. Wearing moisture wicking sleepwear or menopause pajamas at night help many men and women stay more comfortable while sleeping.

HRT

Though HRT can cause night sweats, it is also used for their treatment. The goal of HRT is to stop the side effects of menopause through maintaining hormonal balance.

Alternative treatments

In recent years, alternative and natural treatments are gaining more recognition in the mainstream medicine world. Though few herbal supplements have been proven effective scientifically, there are many personal testaments on behalf of herbs like maca....read more

The Positive Side Of Hot Flashes and Night Sweats!

2011-12-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

Hot flashes that bedevil many women in menopause might actually be a good thing, depending on when they strike, according to new data from a long-running government study.

Women who had hot flashes at the start of menopause but not later seemed to have a lower risk for heart attack and death than women who never had hot flashes, or those whose symptoms persisted long after menopause began.

By contrast, among the few women who developed hot flashes late — in some cases many years after menopause began — there were more heart attacks and deaths when compared with the other groups.

The research involved more than 60,000 women followed for an average of almost 10 years. It's the first to examine timing of menopausal symptoms and subsequent risks for heart problems and deaths, said co-author Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Recent studies linked hot flashes with higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which could suggest a higher risk for heart problems, but the new research offers a more detailed look, Manson said.

Lead author Dr. Emily Szmuilowicz, an endocrinologist with Northwestern University's medical school, said the results should reassure millions of women who experience hot flashes or night sweats, which are essentially hot flashes that can be bothersome enough to awaken women.

The results suggest "there may be a positive side" to having these annoying symptoms, Szmuilowicz said.

The study was released online Thursday in the journal Menopause.

Dr. Elsa-Grace Giardina, a Columbia University specialist in women's heart disease who was not involved in the study, said the research has several limitations and that more rigorous study is needed to prove the results.

Few women developed hot flashes and night sweats long after menopause began, and for at least some, previous use of hormone pills may have increased their risks for heart problems, Giardina said.

But more than one-third of the women with late-onset symptoms never used hormones, and Szmuilowicz said the researchers took past hormone use into consideration and still found timing of symptoms played a role.

Menopause occurs when women stop having periods and estrogen levels dwindle. Most women experience symptoms including hot flashes that can last for several years. But they don't usually persist indefinitely or begin long after the beginning of menopause.

Hot flashes aren't well studied but are thought to result from blood vessels dilating in response to the normal hormone fluctuations of menopause, Manson said. If they occur long after menopause begins, it could signal a blood vessel abnormality that could also affect the heart, she said.

The research involved 60,027 women from the ongoing Women's Health Initiative observational study, examining disease risk factors and health outcomes and funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Women were in their early 60s on average, about 14 years past the start of menopause, when they answered questionnaires about their health, education history, and symptoms including hot flashes and night sweats. Cardiovascular problems and deaths were tracked during almost 10 years of follow-up.

More than one-third, or almost 25,000 women, had early symptoms — hot flashes at the onset of menopause that had stopped before they enrolled. Just 1,391 had late symptoms — hot flashes at enrollment but not at the start of menopause.

About 2.5 percent of women with early symptoms had heart attacks, compared with 3.4 percent of women with no symptoms and 5.5 percent of those with late symptoms. Also, about 6 percent of the early symptom women died, versus 11 percent of the late symptom group and 8 percent of the symptomless women. Women who had persistent hot flashes throughout menopause had risks similar to those without symptoms.

Giardina noted that high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity — which all can contribute to heart problems — were more common among the late symptom women.

But the researchers said they accounted for that and still found that timing of menopause symptoms played a role in later heart attacks and deaths....read more

Osteoporosis As Much AThreat As Breast Cancer

2011-12-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

Osteoporosis fractures are four times more common than strokes. Women in their 50s have equal chance of dying from complications arising out of osteoporosis as from breast cancer. This was said by orthopaedic surgeon and traumatologist Sanjay Rastogi at an osteoporosis awareness programme in the city on Thursday.

"Early menopause (before 45 years of age) is the single most risky factor for osteoporosis. Besides poor calcium intake and deficiency of Vitamin D, smoking and alcohol consumption are other risk factors responsible for it," he informed.

Explaining about the disease, he said: Osteoporosis is a condition in which bone become more porous than average and is prone to fracture. The loss of both calcium and bone matrix leads to decreased bone mineral density (BMD) and increases bone fragility. The disease speeds up in women within 10 years after the menopause. This is because the ovaries stop producing the female sex hormone estrogen, which is one of the substances that helps, keep bones strong. Men suffer less from osteoporosis, because their bones are stronger."

For the diagnosis of the disease, the orthopaedic surgeon informed that women above the age of 65 years should have a bone scan done. In addition, post-menopausal women with history of low trauma fracture and who consume steroids for at least three months should speak to the doctor for early testing. "Many of the risks can also be lowered by estrogen replacement therapy which involves replacing the natural estrogen," he said.

New Vaccine Might Help Breast Cancer

2011-11-28T13:51:00.000-08:00

A vaccine that coaxes the body to attack tumor cells has shown promise in a small study of advanced breast and ovarian cancer patients, improving overall survival times and stopping the disease for a handful of breast cancer patients.

The PANVAC vaccine, administered to 26 women through monthly shots, helped the body's immune system recognize proteins produced specifically by cancer cells, said study author Dr. James Gulley, director and deputy chief of the clinical trials group at the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

All of the women had breast or ovarian cancer that had spread to other organs and were considered "heavily pre-treated" with other therapies, with 21 having received at least three chemotherapy regimens. In addition to the four breast cancer patients whose disease stopped progressing, one woman with breast cancer experienced a "complete response," meaning her cancer disappeared.

The study is published Nov. 8 in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

"Anytime we have one type of biologic treatment demonstrate some success, it's exciting," said Dr. Elizabeth Poynor, a gynecologic oncologist and pelvic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who was not involved in the study. "No matter how small the study is -- and early studies will be small -- when we have positive results on a particular technique, it's a very hopeful thing. These are our most difficult patients to treat; they have failed multiple therapies."

Indeed, most participants -- whose average age was 57 -- had exhausted other forms of treatment, Gulley said, which likely hampered their immune systems from responding as fully to the vaccine as they otherwise might have. As therapeutic vaccines become more established, Gulley said they might prove even more effective in patients whose disease is less advanced....read more

Top Women’s Holiday Gifts for 2011

2011-11-27T21:09:00.000-08:00

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The holidays are just around the corner I know that there are many men scrambling to figure out what that special lady in their life wants for the holidays. This year, I’ve made it easy for all of you guys. I interviewed dozens of women to see what they thought would be the perfect gift. Well here is the list guy— not in any particular order. Happy Shopping!

Jewelry

Nothing speaks love like diamonds. For some interesting vintage jewelry, Leo Hamel’s is the place to go.

Cool Pajamas

For the coolest pajamas around, no pun intended, we found a great place to buy wicking pajamas for hot nights and also perfect for travel. Wicking pajamas will keep your lady cool when it’s hot and cozy when it’s cool outside. Check out Cool-jams Wicking Sleepwear.

Perfume

Women love perfume, but it has to be their scent. Stick with something you know they already have. There are some great perfume gift sets that I found at Perfumania.com.

Cashmere Sweater

What could be more elegant and regal than a beautiful soft and cozy cashmere sweater? Visit The Cashmere Boutique for style options. They have lovely scarves as well.

Lingerie

Women love to look sexy for their men. Check out the selection of sexy lingerie at

HerRoom .

Digital Camera

If your lady likes to take pictures, there are some great digital cameras available…from basic models to more advances. Check out the reviews on CNET. I like some of the Sony models.

Apple IPAD2

It’s amazing and so thin packed with lots of features. If she is the latest and greatest gadget girl, this is the gift for her. Visit Apple.com to learn more about the IPAD2

Designer Handbag

This is something that makes every women feel special and elegant. She might not buy a designer handbag for herself, but she will love you for thinking she is worthy of a beautiful Coach or Dooney and Bourke bag. Visit Coach online or check out the selection of Dooney and Bourke at Zappos.com

Espresso Maker

Who doesn’t love a great cup of coffee? There are some really cool machines that do it all. Some can be pricey, but there are basic models as well. Check out the reviews and prices at EspressoMachineAdvisor.com

Romantic Getaway

I always love the gift of making memories. Make some beautiful and happy romantic memories with your sweetheart with a getaway do a romantic bed and breakfast Inn. Check out the possibilities at BedandBreakfast.com.

Top Men’s Holiday Gifts for 2011

2011-11-19T09:45:00.000-08:00

The holidays are just around the corner and if you’re like me, you never know what to get for that special man in your life. This year, I decided to be proactive and really do some research. I interviewed dozens of men to see what they thought would be the perfect holiday gift. Well here’s the list— not in any particular order. Happy Shopping!

Apple IPAD2

It’s amazing and so thin packed with lots of features. If she is the latest and greatest gadget girl, this is the gift for her. Visit Apple.com to learn more about the IPAD2

Pajamas

If your man gets hot at night and he’s a traveler, you can’t go wrong with Wicking Pajamas from Cool-jams Sleepwear. They help to regulate body temperature and for travelers they are lightweight, quick drying, compact and wrinkle resistant. Visit Cool-jams online

Beer Brewing Kit

If your guy likes beer, this would be a fun gift. Who knows, you might just have the newest microbrewer in town sitting in your living room. Visit Home Brewers .

Wallet

A great looking wallet is a sign of elegance. Why not get him a new cool looking wallet. My favorites are found at Fossil.com .

Watch

With cellphones no one really needs a watch, but a great watch is like man jewelry. It's also a sign of great style. For vintage watch options check out Leo Hamel’s. For a huge selection of watch choices go to WorldofWatches.com.

IPOD Touch

IPod touch plays music and videos, excels at games and apps, makes video calls, shoots HD video, and more. And now it comes in white, too. Visit Apple.com to learn more

2 Tickets to a Sports Game for Your Guy and His Buddy

As you’ve probably figured out already, guy time is important to guys. Why not splurge on 2 tickets to his favorite College or Professional Sports Game . He’ll think you’re the greatest especially if you send him with his best buddy! I always go to StubHub to pick up my tickets online.

Wine of the Month Club

If your man is a wine lover, this is the gift for him. We love the selection at Flying Noodle.

Cologne

A well groomed man with a nice scent is extremely sexy. Treat your man to a new scent at Fragrance.com.

50” Plasma HDTV

If your man is like my man, he loves his TV. The bigger, the better in most cases. Make sure you measure your room to see what size to purchase. If you decide on this gift, my research told me that most guys liked Sony or Panasonic brands best. Visit Sears for a great selection.

Women More Accepting and Less Fearful Of Menopause

2011-11-14T13:17:00.000-08:00

It gets a mention in her latest humor book and is the subject of the comedy “Menopause: The Musical” hitting Dayton’s Victoria Theatre Sept. 14 to 16, (see article on D5) but there is little Kay Frances can say truly hilarious about menopause.

“The hot flashes are just a special hell,” said the Wilmington-based author who devotes space in her book “The Funny Thing about Stress: A Seriously Humorous Guide to a Happier Life” to menopause. “You’d love to peel off all of your clothes and your skin.”

But Dr. Jeremy Crouch said menopause is nothing to fear and is a normal stage of a woman’s life.

About a third of a woman’s life will happen after menopause, he said.

“If you live long enough, you are going to go through menopause,” Crouch noted.

The shame of menopause

Many of the stigmas associated with menopause — clinically defined as the permanent end of menstruation — have diminished in the last 40 years due in part to the generational shifts including women’s right movements, said Marie Thompson, a Wright State University assistant professor who specializes in health and gender communications.

“(Female baby boomers) are redefining age,” she said. “We (women) are finding other ways to value our place in society.”

Still Thompson said there is an underlying stigma connected to the loss of a woman’s fertility due to menopause.

“It’s the way in which we place so much emphasis on youth, and beauty and the body,” she said.

“We don’t recognize the value of women in other roles.”

The wake up call

A stress management specialist and retired comic, Kay Frances, said the stage in life she and friends call “Aunt Minnie” comes with some great lesson.

“That is really freeing,” the 55-year-old said.

“The joy of menopause: you don’t care. When you hit 50 you get much more comfortable with your skin ... I don’t have time to worry about the small stuff and I want to do what I want.”

Dr. Sheela M. Barhan of Wright State Physician Women’s Health Care said many women take menopause as a wake-up call.

“Some have an opportunity to reflect on their health and their life and see how they can live healthier,” she said.

The attitude shift is due in part to the notable advances in the way women’s health and reproduction is discussed in society, she said.

“Because women can talk about (the subject), they are more likely to live well and avert serious health issues,” she said.

“They use to get information from their family on what they are going through and sometimes that is misinformation.”

The talk

The way menopause is discussed in society has definitely changed in Rosemarie “Ro” Scacchetti’s lifetime.

The 81-year-old Bellbrook resident said the subject wasn’t even considered when she experienced menopause.

In fact, she only realizes she went through menopause in retrospect.

“I was so busy in those days raising a family. I was probably working at that point,” the former educator said. “We didn’t have the information and the knowledge about menopause. Whatever was going on in your life we accepted. We didn’t know about hormones.”

Scacchetti said women experiencing menopause today, such as her fitness instructor Kay Bugary at the Five Seasons Sports Club, talk about the subject freely.

“They are hormoning back and forth and I didn’t know what a hormone was back then,” Scacchetti said.

Bugary, 51, first experienced menopause-related symptoms when she was 47.

Bugary said hot flashes woke her up two to six times each night before she began hormone therapy recently.

“It’s just bizarre,” she said of the intense hot flashes and night sweats. “It’s terrible because you can’t sleep.”

Bugary said her own mother never broached the subject of menopause and she never thought about it before experiencing its symptoms.

Now she often talks to younger women about the condition so that they can know what to expect.

“I want people to understand that this is what your body does,” she said noting that menopause is not a reason to feel old.

Bugary, a personal trainer, teaches 13 to 15 classes a week at either the Beavercreek YMCA or Five Seasons.

“I don’t miss my menstrual cycle period, no pun intended,” she said.

Article by: Amelia Robertson

Soy Intake Associated With Lower Recurrence of Breast Cancer

2011-11-07T12:27:00.000-08:00

Post-menopausal breast cancer patients with hormone-sensitive cancers who consumed high amounts of soy isoflavones had a lower risk of recurrence, found a research study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Soy isoflavones are similar to estrogen in chemical structure and may stimulate or inhibit estrogen-like action in tissues. Consumption of soy isoflavones, found in soybeans and soy products, has increased in recent years and there are concerns about the effect of soy consumption on women with estrogen and progesterone receptor positive breast cance r as tumour growth is dependent on estrogen.

The study, by researchers at the Cancer Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China, involved 524 women who had surgery for breast cancer and were followed afterwards for between five to six years. Since little is known about the effects of soy isoflavones on breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant endocrine therapy, the researchers sought to understand its impact in these patients....read more

What Are Wicking Pajamas

2011-10-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

There’s been much talk about pajamas for night sweats lately. This type of sleepwear is sometimes called wicking sleepwear or menopause sleepwear. So what exactly are these night sweat pajamas and how do they work?

These pajamas are made of a micro fiber wicking fabric. This fabric pulls the moisture away from the skin to the outside of the fabric, so that the body stays dry. The second feature of this fabric is it’s quick drying ability. Once the moisture is drawn through the fabric it dries rapidly. In fact it dries three times as fast as cotton. One of the top performing brands Cool-jams uses a fabric called moisture wicking smart fabric which seems to sense what the body needs to be comfortable. It keeps the body cool and dry when it’s warm outside and dry and cozy when the weather gets cooler. Cool-jams are available online at www.cool-jams.com

There are many reasons for night sweats …chemotherapy, certain medications, thyroid condition, diabetes, obesity and anxiety to name a few, but the primary reason for night sweats in women are the hormonal fluctuations which occur just before menopause and during menopause. Night sweats are not dangerous, but they can certainly be annoying.

If you suffer from night sweats for whatever reason, moisture wicking pajamas might be your answer to a comfortable night’s sleep.

Study finds flaxseed doesn’t reduce women’s hot flashes

2011-10-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

Image by HealthAliciousNess via FlickrWomen looking for a natural remedy for a common menopause problem will be disappointed by a new study that found that eating flaxseed does not curb hot flashes.

Hormone pills ease hot flashes but they can raise the risk of breast cancer and are not safe for women who have had that disease. Flaxseed has weak hormonal effects and doctors thought it might help.

Dr. Sandhya Pruthi of the Mayo Clinic decided to test this in a rigorous study after a patient said she thought flaxseed was helping her. Researchers enrolled 178 women who had at least 28 hot flashes a week. About half previously had breast cancer.

The women were given snack bars with or without
flaxseed to eat once a day. After six weeks, a third of each group reported 50 percent fewer hot flashes and all reported more bloating, diarrhea and nausea.

”This, we suspect, was due to the fiber content in the bars,” Pruthi said.

Women who don't want to take hormones for menopause symptoms might consider certain antidepressants, such as Effexor, or other drugs, such as Neurontin, that well-done studies have shown can help, she said.

Dr. Mark Kris, a cancer specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, said the flaxseed results are disappointing

“There were so many testimonials that we thought flaxseed was going to work but a testimonial is not a rigorous clinical trial result and that's what our patients deserve,” he said.

“Even natural products do have side effects,” so it's important to test them in studies such as this one, he said.

The National Cancer Institute paid for the study. Results were reported Sunday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago.

How to Sleep Through Menopause

2011-10-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

Cover via AmazonWe would love to share an excellent article written by our guest blogger and menopause expert Staness Jonekos. Check out her book "The Menopause Makeover"

We have all had sleepless nights, but according to the National Sleep Foundation 61 percent of post-menopausal women suffer from insomnia, affecting their quality of life and their relationships. I, too, suffered from insomnia, thanks to irritating night sweats provoked by fluctuating hormones. Being sleepless through menopause made me irritable and fatigued daily. I had difficulty concentrating and it created tension with my husband because I was cranky and impatient.

There are two types of insomnia. Per the National Institutes of Health, primary insomnia is its own disorder. A number of life changes can trigger primary insomnia, including long-lasting stress and emotional upset. Primary insomnia generally occurs for periods of at least one month.

Secondary insomnia is a symptom or side effect of some other problem, and is the most common type. Most menopause-related sleeplessness is secondary insomnia.

What causes secondary insomnia?

Certain medical conditions: sleep apnea, arthritis, chronic pain, headaches, asthma, overactive thyroid, hot flashes, heartburn, sleep disorders (restless leg syndrome, sleep-related breathing problems)
Medicines: asthma medicines, allergy and cold medicines, beta blockers
Substances: caffeine, stimulants, tobacco, alcohol

Being a busy woman, daily exhaustion is normal. Throw in menopausal aging and it was no surprise that I was staring at the ceiling nightly trying to fall and stay asleep.

Karen Giblin, Founder of Red Hot Mamas North America, recently conducted a sleep survey with Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. Giblin says,

Of the 900 sleep survey participates who suffer from insomnia, 79 percent of menopausal women have trouble staying asleep, and 63 percent struggle just trying to fall to sleep.

I was not alone! Most of us blame night sweats for insomnia, but I was surprised to find out that many menopausal insomniacs don't suffer from night sweats at all. So what's keeping us up at night?

Empty nest syndrome, caring for aging parents, relationship changes, career adjustments and mid-life stress, bundled together with hormones in flux is a recipe for sleepless nights. Progesterone is our sleep-promoting hormone, so a decrease in this hormone contributes to a night of tossing and turning. Declining estrogen can make you more susceptible to stress, fueling this sleepless potion.

I suffered from several of the sleep depriving offenders. It took just one severe night sweat to start the cycle of thrashing around, changing my PJs and laying in bed awake, waiting for a repeat performance.

Insomnia during menopause clearly can affect the quality of your life. Women suffering from insomnia live with daily fatigue and irritability, and that can contribute to intimacy issues with her partner.

Giblin says,

62 percent of women ages 40 to 65 have not talked to their healthcare provider about insomnia.

I was one of them, because I never considered insomnia an actual symptom worth discussing with my clinician.

A former menopausal insomniac herself, Giblin continues,

Sleeplessness during menopause can compromise your health, both physically and mentally. People who get too little sleep develop poor health and higher percentages of chronic diseases.

Indeed, insomnia can increase your risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and problems with your immune system. Getting proper sleep is important to your health!

Let's not forget the recent studies that found a lack of sleep contributes to weight gain. When you are sleep-deprived, your metabolism does not function properly. Sleep is also necessary for the nervous system to function properly.

Sleeping tips during menopause

Create a sleep schedule, and follow it each night
Do not go to bed until you are tired
Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol right before bed
Enjoy decaf tea
Do not watch the news right before going to bed
Do not watch TV in bed
Take a soothing bath or shower before bedtime
Your bedroom should be a sleeping sanctuary and a place for lovemaking
Clear your mind before you get under the covers
Make sure your room is dark
Keep your bedroom cool to prevent night sweats, keep a fan nearby
Wear wicking pajamas to draw moisture from the skin and dry quickly
Exercise daily. Vigorous exercise should be done during the morning or afternoon.
Yoga may help promote good sleep
Try aromatherapy for relaxation
Own a comfortable bed
Wear socks to bed to help control core body temperature

We are all different and require different amounts of sleep to feel rested during the day. Per The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), most adults require six to nine hours of sleep each night. I was lucky to get three hours of uninterrupted sleep a night - what's a menopausal gal to do?

Talk to your health care provider about insomnia

Keep a sleep diary
Track a typical night
Document what keeps you up at night.
How long did it take for you to fall asleep?
How long did you sleep in total?
How did you feel the next day?
Talk to your partner and see if he/she has noticed any differences in your sleeping habits.
Discuss any lifestyle changes you've made to improve your sleep.
Ask if menopause is affecting your sleep
Are there any current medications that could be contributing to your insomnia
What lifestyle changes do you need to make to get better sleep
Are you experiencing more stress?
Discuss a strategy to manage your insomnia

When lifestyle changes fail NAMS recommends consulting a clinician to rule out sleep disorders or breathing problems.

Dr. Wendy Klein, co-author of The Menopause Makeover, says,

It is best to tailor therapy for menopausal insomnia to the needs of the individual woman. Generally, combining medical and non-medical therapies is better than either one alone.

Supplements such as botanical valerian have been found to improve sleep after two weeks of use. Talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits before taking over-the-counter products to treat insomnia. If depression is contributing to your sleep problems, your healthcare provider may prescribe an antidepressant or other prescription medications.

For some women, prescription sleep medications can help bring relief. The National Institutes of Health states: some medications are meant for short-term use, while others are meant for longer use. Side effects can occur, so talk to your healthcare provider about the risks and benefits of using medicines to treat insomnia.

Getting a good night's rest during menopause benefits your health, both physically and emotionally, and can contribute to a smoother transition.

Our guest blogger Staness Jonekos was one of the original executive producers that launched Oxygen Media and is the co- author of The Menopause Makeover.

Calcium supplements: Helpful in moderation, harmful in excess

2011-10-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

If you take calcium supplements, it’s important that you don’t exceed the recommended daily dose. Like other vital nutrients, experts warn that optimal amounts of calcium promote health but excesses come with serious adverse side effects such as heart attack and bone fracture.

Calcium is important for strong bones, but taking too much with high-dose supplements can lead to serious health problems, such as high blood pressure, bone loss, heart problems and even kidney failure.

Calcium and vitamin D are the most important nutrients for building bones and in ensuring that they remain strong. The bones serve as a storage site for the body’s calcium. They are continuously giving up calcium to the bloodstream and then replacing it as the body’s need for calcium changes from day to day. When calcium intake is low or calcium is poorly absorbed, bone breakdown occurs because the body must use the calcium stored in bones to maintain normal biological functions such as nerve and muscle function. Bone loss also occurs as a part of the ageing process.

Individuals that lack calcium are at increased risk of developing osteoporosis, a condition where bones are so weak that they break easily. Osteoporosis, which causes thin, porous, easily broken bones, may occur in women after menopause, but may sometimes occur in elderly men also. Osteoporosis in women past menopause is thought to be caused by a reduced amount of oestrogen, the female hormone.

Although prescription of calcium supplements should be safe when taken at recommended doses, experts warn that an abuse of calcium supplements or too much of calcium in the body could be detrimental to health.

Milk and other dairy products, green leafy vegetables as well as fish with edible bones are sources of calcium. But many older people, particularly women past the menopause, do not get enough of these nutrients and resort to taking calcium supplements. This is partly because their bodies don’t absorb calcium as efficiently as they used to.

Calcium overdose has become more common in recent years, and some take much more than the recommended dose, not realizing that ingesting too much calcium can lead to a potentially serious conditions such as high blood pressure, kidney damage, heart attack and even kidney failure.

In a study by researchers on women that had passed menopause to assess the health risks of excess intake of calcium supplements, which two recent studies published in the British Medical Journal and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers pointed out that calcium supplements can cause more trouble as compared to the bad things prevented by them.

The study found out that excess calcium intake can increase a person’s risk of developing a heart attack rate as much as 30 per cent. It is therefore, important to take to advice on how alternatives can be sought to prevent osteoporosis.

Although the study concluded that calcium supplementation in healthy postmenopausal women is associated with upward trends in cardiovascular event rates, the study was not certain about the mechanism by which calcium damages the body. But it is assumed that increase in the numbers of heart attacks are caused by the damage of blood vessels of the body.

11 Ways to Help Fight Breast Cancer

2011-09-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

1. Educate yourself and others

Breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in women after nonmelanoma skin cancer, striking one in eight in the U.S. Most have no risk factors besides being female and getting older:

Ninety-five percent of new cases from 1998 to 2002 were in women over 40. For reasons that are still unclear, Caucasian women are most likely to develop the cancer, but African-American women are more likely to die from it. Contrary to popular belief, having large breasts, wearing underwire bras, or using antiperspirant, hair coloring, or hair-relaxing products don't seem to affect your risk; doctors are striving to better determine what genetic and lifestyle factors do.

2. Learn your family's medical history.

Some 5 to 10 percent of breast cancer cases are inherited, often through abnormalities in the genes BRCA1 or BRCA2, which are strongly linked to ovarian cancer as well. If you have a first-degree relative
-- mother, sister, or daughter -- with either of these diseases, you're at a high risk for breast cancer.

3. Master the self-exam.

By age 20, you should be doing a monthly breast self-exam to feel for lumps and other irregularities (for instructions, go to http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/exam).

4. Know when to see your doctor.

Even a subtle change in your breasts -- including breast pain and, particularly, any skin change such as dimpling or puckering -- calls for a visit to your physician, says Eric Winer, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. And because your doctor might detect a lump you've missed, experts advise having him or her examine your breasts once every three years in your 20s and 30s and once a year after age 40 -- which is also when you should start getting an annual mammogram.

5. Cut back on cocktails.

The more a woman drinks, the greater her risk for developing breast cancer. Yet studies show that moderate alcohol use can help protect against heart disease and other conditions. What to do? According to the American Cancer Society, the key is to make sure your consumption averages out to less than one drink a day (12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1 1/2 ounces of liquor all count as one serving).

6. Get serious about exercise.

Research shows that working out boosts breast health. One reason:
Extra weight can make the body produce excess estrogen, which may be why obesity is associated with breast cancer. This connection is especially strong after menopause. Researchers at the University of Southern California found that women who kept up a regimen of more than five hours per week of strenuous cardio (such as running or
lap-swimming) from high school on -- or about 45 minutes a day -- had a 20 percent lower risk of invasive breast cancer than those who did
30 minutes or less per week.

7. Eat a balanced diet.

Aim for at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Besides keeping your weight in check -- one of the best defenses against breast cancer -- some of these foods have been linked in studies to lower breast cancer incidence. Fill your plate with a variety of colors like fruits' and veggies' with cancer-fighting components -- called phytochemicals. Other smart moves: Consuming more salmon and fortified milk (sources of vitamin D, which may boost your defenses), as well as more healthy fats (like olive oil) and lean proteins (think chicken, fish, and beans).

8. Breastfeed if you can.

Given its well-documented benefits for your baby, including protection from allergies and infections, you hardly need another reason to nurse. But breastfeeding, especially for one and a half to two years, may also help protect you against breast cancer, likely because it reduces your number of menstrual cycles, which is linked to lower risk.

9. Reduce your exposure to environmental hazards when possible.

A recent review of studies identified 216 chemicals that cause breast tumors in animals. Of particular concern: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which can contaminate fish, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), found in smoke and soot. Experts caution that more research is needed. Still, it's a good idea to avoid PCB-contaminated fish (find local fish advisories at epa.gov
) as well as tobacco smoke and charred food.

10. Be a champion for change.

More money is needed to help underprivileged women get checked and treated for breast cancer and to help researchers better understand the disease. Two ways to make a difference: Contact your elected officials to request their support for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP), which gives women access to free screenings (go to www.komen.org for information), and the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act, which would increase funding for studies on the environmental causes of breast cancer (learn more at www.stopbreastcancer.org).

11). Shop Through October To Help End Breast Cancer.

You'll not only save 10%, but Cool-jams Wicking Sleepwear will donate an extra 10% to Breast Cancer Prevention! Details below...

Cool-jams donates a percentage of all profits to charity and from now until October 31 our focus is on breast cancer awareness. You may know someone whose life has been touched by breast cancer, or you may have been affected by it yourself. To help with the cure, Cool-jams is donating 10% of sales to breast cancer awareness and prevention during the month of October. Feel good about your purchase, help raise awareness among your friends, family and co-workers; and help end breast cancer forever!

Here's How You Can Help...

1). Go to cool-jams.com to place your order from now through October 31, 2011.

2). Order any Cool-jams style or gift certificate to qualify for a donation.

3). Use the coupon code PINK in the promotion box provided at check out.

4). The rest is easy. Cool-jams will automatically take 10% off your order, plus donate 10% of your purchase to breast cancer awareness and prevention.

Feel free to forward this article to friends and family.

Yoga for Menopause

2011-09-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

Menopause (or perimenopause for that matter)causes many symptoms for women as they go through the transition. Women complain of hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, depression and a host of other issues. I decided to find someone who viewed menopause differently than the majority. That person is Christiane Northrup. Her book, The Secret Pleasures of Menopause, focuses on all of the positive aspects of menopause. Ever since reading it, I no longer think the negative thoughts that I once thought when I heard the "M" word.

I also researched yoga for menopause, as I'm a big believer that yoga can help you deal with just about anything.I've been practicing yoga for over 30 years, so I can see and feel the benefits everyday of my life. If you're going through perimenopause or menopause and are looking to ease the transition with yoga, here are some tips:

Yin Yoga -- Women going through these changes are typically of the age when they are exposed to many stressors: children are striking out on their own, the media is telling them that they are old, job changes, dealing with aging or ailing parents, divorce and/or death of a spouse. Change is the order of the day and that can be unsettling at best and downright frightening at worst. Yin Yoga is a slow, grounding practice that enourages introspection and body awareness. Here are some DVDs to start with: Yin Yoga: The Foundations of a Quiet Practice, Insight Yoga with Sarah Powers, and Presence Through Movement: Yin Yoga.

Sitali Pranayam -- Sitali is a cooling breath technique that I recommend to many of my clients -- whether they are male or female or going through menopause or not. This breath is calming and soothing. Ujjayi Breath is also helpful.

Supported Yoga Postures -- Downward Dog (placing a block under the forehead), Standing Forward Bend (placing a block vertically under the forehead), Standing Wide Legged Forward Bend (placing a block either vertically or horizontally under the forehead), Legs Up the Wall (with a bolster under the hips and a small pillow over the eyes), and Bridge Pose (placing a block vertically under the sacrum area) are some of my favorites.

Try it, you might just like it.

Are Hormone treatments for postmenopausal women linked to heart disease?

2011-09-12T13:19:00.000-07:00

Besides night sweats and hot flashes there are many issues that women face while going through menopause.

Scientists analyzed blood protein data from the Women's Health Institute cohorts and discovered two biomarkers associated with postmenopausal women and heart disease. They found beta-2 microglobulin were dramatically elevated in menopausal women with heart disease, and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 4 (IGFBP4) was significantly associated with stroke.

The research team analyzed 800 women who developed heart disease, 800 who developed a stroke, and two control groups. After studying the blood they found B2M and IGFBP4 have the potential to help clarify hormone therapy effects on heart disease.

Ross Prentice from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, Seattle Washington, was quoted as saying "Our finding of B2M elevation in plasma obtained months or years prior to CHD (coronary heart disease) diagnosis appears to be novel, however the identification of IGFBP4 as a risk marker for stroke in postmenopausal women also appears to be a novel finding."

The findings allow for scientists and doctors to more clearly understand diseases pathogenesis and what exposure to the biomarkers does to the body.

What Causes Changes In Women's Sexual Behavior During Menopause?

2011-09-09T17:42:00.000-07:00

New research has found that social and psychological factors have the biggest influence upon women´s sexual behaviour during the menopause, rather than biological changes such as declining hormone levels unlike other menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats.

The study, which will be published in the Journal of Health Psychology, found that contrary to previous evidence, women´s experience of sexual activity during the menopause differs greatly between individuals, and is not always directly linked to biological factors.

The research team interviewed a group of British women to capture their perspectives on the menopause and assessed whether they had experienced change in sexual activity and satisfaction during their menopause.

Almost all had experienced some form of change but the findings indicated that these were down to a number of external factors such as providing care for a relative, partner´s low sexual desire and the quality of the relationship, alongside biological factors such as perceived changes in levels of hormones. The findings therefore concluded that women go through many lifestyle changes during mid-life which are also contributing factors.

Dr Sharron Hinchcliff, from the University´s School of Nursing and Midwifery, said: "Our study has examined the influence of psycho-social factors on sexual activity during the menopause to provide a new perspective on the increasingly medicalised view of this time of life.

"Biological research tends to report the negative impact of declining hormone levels on women´s ability to engage in and enjoy sexual activities, whereas our study found that some women actually saw an increase in sexual desire during this time. By highlighting this variability, we hope to challenge the perspectives that treat women as a homogeneous group or which regard the menopause as an event that will affect all women´s sexuality in the same way."

The paper was published in Volume 15, Issue 5 of the Journal of Health Psychology.

Women's preferences for masculinity in male faces are highest during reproductive age range and lower around puberty and post-menopause

2011-09-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

According to a recent study in the Official Journal of Psyconeuroendocronology, it seems that masculinity in male faces is thought to be a sign of mate quality and is associated with measures of long-term health. Previous studies have demonstrated that women's masculinity preferences change across the menstrual cycle with women preferring more masculine men during phases of the menstrual cycle where fertility is highest (i.e. the late follicular phase). Given the hormonal correlates of such preferences and that these hormones change across the life span, they tested for differences in female masculinity preferences at different ages. They compared the masculinity preferences of peri-pubescent girls and young adult women (Study 1), circum-menopausal women reporting to either be pre- or post-menopause (Study 2), and a large sample of women across a wide range of ages (Study 3). In all three studies, preferences for masculinity in male faces were highest in women who were at a reproductively active age. Preferences for masculinity were lower when females were peri-pubescent, post-menopausal, or at ages corresponding to these groups. These data support the notion that masculinity in male faces is an important trait for reproductively relevant mate choice decisions. These data also highlight a shift in female visual preferences for men that is associated with important stages of the lifespan. Visual preferences appear to track important hormonal changes associated with age; as women pass puberty their preferences shift towards facial traits associated with mate quality and as women undergo menopause their preferences for such facial traits decrease. Overall, these results demonstrate the important role of reproductive status and support the notion that preferences for male faces are tied to reproductively relevant hormones.

This is a very interesting study. Who would have thought?

Can Heart Disease Be Prevented With Dietary A Vegetarian Diet?

2011-08-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

Menopause brings on night sweats and hot flashes in women. Sometimes people also blame menopause for problems like heart disease and weight gain. Can these problems be prevented with a change in diet? Some doctors and researchers seem to think heart disease can be completely reversed in both men and women by embracing a vegetarian, low fat diet. Please view the video below to learn more.

This video is long, but a real eye opener that I think all of us should be aware of. Set aside time to watch this. You will need just over 45 minutes.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/podcasts/gupta/site/2011/08/29/sgmd.last.heart.attack.cnn?iref=videosearch

Are Calcium supplements harmful in excess ?

2011-08-14T19:23:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Many menopausal women take calcium to keep their bones healthy and strong. If you take calcium supplements, it’s important that you don’t exceed the recommended daily dose. Like other vital nutrients, experts warn that optimal amounts of calcium promote health but excesses come with serious adverse side effects such as heart attack and bone fracture, reports Sade Oguntola.

Calcium is important for strong bones, but taking too much with high-dose supplements can lead to serious health problems, such as high blood pressure, bone loss, heart problems and even kidney failure.

Calcium and vitamin D are the most important nutrients for building bones and in ensuring that they remain strong. The bones serve as a storage site for the body’s calcium. They are continuously giving up calcium to the bloodstream and then replacing it as the body’s need for calcium changes from day to day. When calcium intake is low or calcium is poorly absorbed, bone breakdown occurs because the body must use the calcium stored in bones to maintain normal biological functions such as nerve and muscle function. Bone loss also occurs as a part of the ageing process.

Individuals that lack calcium are at increased risk of developing osteoporosis, a condition where bones are so weak that they break easily. Osteoporosis, which causes thin, porous, easily broken bones, may occur in women after menopause, but may sometimes occur in elderly men also. Osteoporosis in women past menopause is thought to be caused by a reduced amount of oestrogen, the female hormone.

Although prescription of calcium supplements should be safe when taken at recommended doses, experts warn that an abuse of calcium supplements or too much of calcium in the body could be detrimental to health.

Milk and other dairy products, green leafy vegetables as well as fish with edible bones are sources of calcium. But many older people, particularly women past the menopause, do not get enough of these nutrients and resort to taking calcium supplements. This is partly because their bodies don’t absorb calcium as efficiently as they used to.

Calcium overdose has become more common in recent years, and some take much more than the recommended dose, not realising that ingesting too much calcium can lead to a potentially serious conditions such as high blood pressure, kidney damage, heart attack and even kidney failure.

In a study by researchers on women that had passed menopause to assess the health risks of excess intake of calcium supplements, which two recent studies published in the British Medical Journal and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers pointed out that calcium supplements can cause more trouble as compared to the bad things prevented by them.

The study found out that excess calcium intake can increase a person’s risk of developing a heart attack rate as much as 30 per cent. It is therefore, important to take to advice on how alternatives can be sought to prevent osteoporosis.

Although the study concluded that calcium supplementation in healthy postmenopausal women is associated with upward trends in cardiovascular event rates, the study was not certain about the mechanism by which calcium damages the body. But it is assumed that increase in the numbers of heart attacks are caused by the damage of blood vessels of the body.

Higher blood calcium may lead to the deposition of plaques in the blood vessels, which can cause heart attack....read more

Fish oil linked to lower breast cancer risk

2011-08-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Millions of Americans already take fish oil to keep their hearts healthy and to treat ailments ranging from hot flashes, menopause symptoms, arthritis to depression. Now, a new study suggests that the supplements may also help women lower their risk of breast cancer.

Postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 76 who took fish oil were 32 percent less likely to develop certain types of breast cancer than women who didn't, the study found.

The researchers looked at 14 other popular supplements (including gingko biloba, black cohosh, soy, and St. John's wort), but only fish oil -- which contains concentrated amounts of the omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon, tuna, and other fish -- had any connection to breast cancer risk.

White and her colleagues measured fish oil consumption using surveys, and they simply compared the rates of breast cancer diagnosis among women who took the supplements and women who did not. Though their analysis took a number of other factors into account (such as age, family history of breast cancer, and whether the women were on hormone therapy), unknown factors could have affected the results.

In the past, a number of studies similar to White's that have found an apparent link between supplements and reduced cancer risk haven't been confirmed by more rigorous studies, says Dr. Jay Brooks, M.D., an oncologist at Ochsner Health System, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Still, it's plausible that fish oil could lower breast cancer risk. The unsaturated fatty acids in the oil are believed to tamp down inflammation, which plays a role in some cancers as well as heart disease. Fish oil supplements, which have been shown to lower blood pressure and triglycerides (a type of blood fat), are most commonly taken to improve heart health.

The new findings "reinforce something that most of us feel in our hearts but are struggling to prove," says Dr. David Pearlstone, M.D., chief of the division of breast surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center, in New Jersey. "Fish oil probably is really good for you in a lot of ways, but the data has been [slow] in coming."

The study, which appears in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, included about 35,000 women without breast cancer living in Washington state. Between 2000 and 2002, the women filled out questionnaires about their past and present supplement use, medical history, and lifestyle.

Roughly 8 percent of the women had taken fish oil at some point. Of those women, 83 percent said they took fish oil supplements at least four times a week, and 60 percent said they took them daily. The researchers had no way of verifying that, however, or of knowing the doses each woman was taking.

Over the next six years, 880 of the study participants (or about 2.5 percent) got breast cancer. The women who were taking fish oil when the study began had a reduced risk of invasive ductal carcinoma, the most common form of breast cancer. Fish oil did not seem to affect the risk of lobular cancer.

Americans spent $739 million on fish oil supplements in 2008, according to the Nutrition Business Journal. Although more research is needed before doctors begin recommending fish oil to women, using already-popular supplements to reduce breast cancer risk holds a lot of appeal.

In summary, take the fish oil. It has so many benefits other than cancer prevention. It's good for your body and your mind and it might even help with night sweats and hot flashes.

Is Meditation An Easy Way to Ease Hot Flashes?

2011-07-25T13:27:00.000-07:00

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A recent study from the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that menopausal women who meditated experienced a significant relief from hot flas hes. The study’s participants’ average age was 53.6 and they experienced an average of at least seven moderate to severe hot flashes each day. The program involved classes in body scan meditation, sitting meditation, and mindful stretching. The women also participated in guided meditation at home six days a week for 45 minutes. At the end of the study, the frequency of the women’s hot flashes decreased an average of 39% and the average severity of hot flashes dropped 40%. Additionally, most participants reported being better able to deal with their hot flashes.

Here are a few types of meditations to try:

Guided meditation, which uses guided imagery or visualization and incorporates as many senses as possible.
Mantra meditation, which uses a calming word, thought or phrase to stop distracting thoughts.
Mindfulness meditation, which involves having an increased awareness and acceptance of living in the moment.
Qi gong, which involves meditation, relaxation, physical movement and breathing exercises in order to restore and maintain balance.
Tai chi, which is a type of Chinese martial arts.
Yoga

Before you start remember the following:

Have an intention. Know why you’re participating in meditation, whether through the goal of limiting hot flashes or a concept of managing the stress in your life.
Don’t worry if your brain is actively thinking. Meditation is not designed to stop you from thinking; instead, you increasingly become aware of your thinking. Furthermore, each thought shouldn’t be judged as good or bad.
Use your breath to focus your meditation. You can visualize your breath, or breathe rhythmically.
Meditating with others can be helpful. You can get advice and work with others to form a commitment to the meditation practice.
Don't think of it as a religious practice

For a complimentary cooling meditation download go to www.cool-jams.com/cooling-sleep.html

Fish oil linked to lower breast cancer risk

2011-07-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaMillions of Americans already take fish oil to keep their hearts healthy and to treat ailments ranging from arthritis to depression. Now, a new study suggests that the supplements may also help women lower their risk of breast cancer.

Postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 76 who took fish oil were 32 percent less likely to develop certain types of breast cancer than women who didn't, the study found.

Despite their findings, the researchers say it's too soon to recommend that women start taking fish oil to stave off breast cancer.

"People should try to achieve nutrients through a healthy diet, so eating fish is a better recommendation than fish oil," says the lead author of the study, Dr. Emily White, Ph.D, an epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle, Washington. "We think that fish oil is promising in terms of disease prevention, but it's not proven."

We already know that fish oil is good for so many things, so whether it is proven or not, you can improve your health by increasing your weekly omega 3 comsumption whether it helps prevent breast cancer or not. For me, I know that my weekly consumption of fish oil omega 3's has drastically reduced many of my menopausal symptom s particularly my hot flashes and night sweats, for that reason alone I'm sold. If the prevention of breast cancer is proven, that is icing on the cake!

Can "Cool" Imagery Help Menopause Symptoms?

2011-07-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

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Women who specifically pictured images associated with coolness during hypnotherapy or meditation tend to have a dramatic decrease in hot flashes that are experienced just before menopause, a new American study has found.

"This is an interesting finding because it begins to shed light on what is it, specifically, about hypnotic relaxation therapy that reduces the hot flashes," said Dr. Gary Elkins of Baylor University.

"The finding may indicate that areas of the brain activated by imagery may be identical to those activated by actual perceived events. Consequently, it may be that while a woman suffering hot flashes imagines a cool place, she also feels cool rather than the heat of a hot flash," he added.

As many as 85 percent of women experience hot flashes as they approach menopause.

The Baylor researchers surveyed the 51 breast cancer survivors who participated in a hypnosis intervention study for the treatment of their hot flashes.

They found that all participants showed a preference for images associated with coolness, while none used imagery associated with warmth.

Of the themes, 27 percent of participants visualized water associated with coolness.

However, 17.6 percent pictured cool air or wind and 16.2 percent pictured cool mountains.

Also 11.5 percent visualized a cool forest or leaves and 6.8 percent pictured snow. 20.9 percent pictured other things like a cool movie theatre or frost on a winter morning.

Elkins said: "These findings really give guidance to what women respond to.

"This study supports the idea that the most effective images are those that are generated by the participant themselves, in relation to their own perceptions and life experiences."

The results appear in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. Visit Cool-jams.com to download your own complimentary Cooling Meditation.

Blood test may be able to predict menopause

2011-07-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

A simple doctor's-office blood test may one day be able to predict when a woman will start menopause, possibly even in women in their 20s.

Pending validation in future studies, the test could help women make reproductive decisions, say the authors of a study that will be presented Monday at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome.

"Women may want to know if they're OK waiting to start a family till they're 41," says Dr. Jennifer Wu, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City, who was not involved with the study. "If they know they're going to start menopause at 45, they may not want to wait."

But the test definitely isn't ready for prime time and may not be used primarily to guide family planning decisions, even if it is eventually brought to market, other experts say.

"I'm not sure that this would help with family planning decisions [although] it's a very interesting first, small, observational study," says Dr. Steven Goldstein, M.D., president-elect of the North American Menopause Society. "It would be helpful to do a larger trial and see if it pans out and, if so, to what degree of accuracy."

In the study, researchers from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, in Tehran, Iran, measured blood levels of anti-mullerian hormone in 266 women who were ages 20 to 49.

AMH is proportional to the number of viable eggs left in the ovaries, which produce the hormone, says Dr. James A. Grifo, M.D., Ph.D, program director of the NYU Langone Fertility Center, in New York City.

Do Declining Hormone Levels Impact Sex Drive In Women?

2011-06-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia New research from the University of Sheffield has found that social and psychological factors have the biggest influence upon women´s sexual behavior during menopause, rather than biological changes such as declining hormone levels.

The study, which will be published in the Journal of Health Psychology, found that contrary to previous evidence, women´s experience of sexual activity during menopause differs greatly between individuals, and is not always directly linked to biological factors.

The research team interviewed a group of British women to capture their perspectives on menopause and menopause symptoms and assessed whether they had experienced change in sexual activity and satisfaction during their menopause.

Dr Sharron Hinchcliff, from the University´s School of Nursing and Midwifery, said: "Our study has examined the influence of psycho-social factors on sexual activity during menopause to provide a new perspective on the increasingly medicalised view of this time of life.

The paper was published in Volume 15, Issue 5 of the Journal of Health Psychology.

Dealing With Acne as an Adult

2011-06-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

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Besides menopause hot flashes and night sweats, adult acne is a real concern for many women. Acne is normally associated with adolescence and teens. However, it is not uncommon for many adults, men and women, to be burdened with acne. Acne is simply a build up of bacteria and sebum, an oily substance that is produced by your skin. This build up clogs and irritates your pores, in turn causing different types of blemishes such as blackheads, whiteheads, pimples, etc. Acne does not only attack the face, it can range from your back to your neck and even to your chest.

Acne can be genetically traced and according to Dr. Jeannette Graf, a dermatologist, if you suffered from acne in your teen years it will more than likely resurface when you become an adult. Adult acne tends to be redder and stay red for longer, it is also, at times, accompanied by dry and irritated skin.

What is the reason for adult acne?

As stated above, acne does have a lot to do with a person’s genetic make up. However, there are other triggers related to everyday life that can provoke the reoccurrence of adult acne. Hormones are definitely a trigger, especially for women during menstruation and menopause. Experts also confirm that during your 20’s and 30’s your glands are more susceptible to hormone shifts. Another big contributor is stress. This goes for men and women, everyone suffers from stress at one point in time or another. Being stressed out can aggravate and trigger acne breakouts, which in turn cause more stress. It is one dreadful cycle. Other triggers come from products that adults put on their faces. Whether it is lotion or an anti-aging cream, the oily substances in the cream cause build up and irritation to the pores.

A common mistake that many adults are guilty of is treating their acne like teenage acne. There is a difference and adult acne should be acknowledged and taken care of differently. A main and key difference is that teenagers have oily skin and adults are more inclined to have dry skin. Using a teen acne treatment will only cause more irritation to dry, adult skin.

For adult acne cure, try cleansers that are not too-strong gels and that do not have beads and granules in them. Products like that will only cause more aggravation. As for creams and lotions, try a product like ClearPores. There are many other lotion products that contain retinol, glycolic acids, and benzoyl peroxide. Retinol helps to clear pores and prevent wrinkles, where as glycolic acids are for skin discoloration and scar smoothing. Benzoyl peroxide is more for spot-breakouts and will kill bacteria directly.

Medications come in other forms such as oral prescriptions that can fight bacteria, help balance hormones, fight infection and prevent inflammation. Other acne cures are high tech and known as, laser removal and light therapy treatments.

All in all, adult acne is a completely different problem than teenage acne. As stated before, adult acne needs to be recognized and taken care of in a proper manner. Posted by guest author Alyssa Johnson.

2011-06-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

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An HT alternative?

Hot flashes, insomnia, night sweats, mood swings, and the other symptoms of menopause can be unpleasant and difficult to manage. Hormone therapy (HT) can help in the short term, but long-term HT can increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer, stroke, and heart attacks.

Instead, many women opt for dietary supplements. But do they work? Supplements are rarely tested thoroughly, and their manufacturers make health claims that aren’t always backed up by science.

Black cohosh

What it is: The extract of the root of the black cohosh plant.

The evidence: Despite the plant’s widespread use, a 2008 review concluded that there is insufficient evidence for black cohosh’s effectiveness in treating menopausal symptoms. Another review published in 2010 found that unspecified black cohosh "preparations" decreased hot flash symptoms by 26%.

The bottom line: More evidence is needed to confirm the effects of black cohosh, both positive and negative. It has been linked to liver damage and other side effects, so as with all supplements, don’t take it without consulting a physician.

Dong quai

What it is: An herb, also known as Chinese angelica, that is said to mimic estrogen in the body.

The evidence: The use of dong quai for menopause symptoms has not been studied extensively, and the results have largely been negative. A controlled trial conducted in 1997 found that dong quai was no better than placebo in treating symptoms such as hot flashes; more recently, a 2008 study in Hong Kong found no significant difference from a placebo in the treatment of menopausal symptoms.

The bottom line: Claims that dong quai acts like estrogen in the body are not supported by research..... Read more

Vitamin D : Why You Shouldn't Avoid the Sun

2011-06-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

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For the last 30 years or so, doctors (dermatologists in particular), health officials, beauty experts and many product companies have been demonizing the sun. They've told us to avoid it because without sunscreen, exposure to the sun's rays will damage skin and cause cancer. But this oversimplification distorts the facts. In the past few years, numerous studies have shown that optimizing your vitamin D levels may actually help prevent as many as 16 different types of cancer including pancreatic, lung, breast cancer, ovarian, prostate and colon cancers. And the best way to optimize Vitamin D levels is through safe, smart and limited sunscreen-free exposure to the sun.

For hundreds of thousands of years, man has lived with the sun: Our ancestors were outdoors far more often than indoors. We developed a dependence on sunshine for health and life, so the idea that sunlight is dangerous does not make sense. How could we have evolved and survived as a species, if we were that vulnerable to something humans have been constantly exposed to for their entire existence? Is it possible that our bodies are made in such a way that the sun is really a lethal enemy? Not in my opinion. Like all living things, we need sunshine, and it feels good for a reason. Much as plants harness the sun's rays through photosynthesis, our bodies use sunlight to help the skin produce the vitamin D it needs to build bones, quell inflammation, bolster the immune system and protect against cancer (including skin cancer).

Why demonize the sun?

Western medicine has made a practice of telling us to abstain from things that are bad for us in extreme quantities, when in fact those same things⎯fat, salt and sunshine for example⎯are very good for us when consumed wisely and in moderation. In the case of sunshine, our UV paranoia is contributing to a silent epidemic: Vitamin D deficiency. It's silent because most people don't know they are deficient. And it's deadly, because this deficiency can lead to cancer and a multitude of other diseases. But we've been brainwashed into believing that even small amounts of sunshine will harm us, and told to slather on sunscreen, which blocks vitamin D production and exacerbates the Vitamin D deficiency induced by our modern, indoor lives.

Studies show that as many as three out of four Americans suffer from Vitamin D deficiency. A study published in 2009 in the Archives of Internal Medicine (a leading scientific journal), found that 70 percent of Caucasians, 90 percent of Hispanics and 97 percent of African Americans in the US have insufficient blood levels of vitamin D. Indeed, it's thought to be the most common medical condition in the world, affecting over one billion people and we now have research showing just how essential vitamin D is to health.

U.S. and Norwegian researchers have found that people who live in higher latitudes are more prone to vitamin D deficiency and more prone to developing common cancers and dying of them. It's now thought that this is due in part to the body's inability to make enough activated vitamin D to help regulate cell growth and to keep cell growth in check. Independent scientific research has shown that whether you live in a sunny or not-so-sunny climate, exposure to the sun and its UVB radiation will increase your production of vitamin D and help lower the risk of a host of debilitating and fatal diseases -- including many cancers, heart disease, high blood pressure, Type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis and depression.

And now the experts are concerned that we're passing an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency down to a new generation. Studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency may imprint on an infant for the rest of his/her life. Infants that are vitamin D deficient at birth can remain vitamin D deficient for the first several months after birth, which may put them at risk of developing many chronic diseases much later in life.

What is Vitamin D and how much do you need?

Although called a vitamin, it is not. Vitamin D is in a class by itself, behaving more like a hormone. It is made in the skin, gets into your bloodstream and then goes into the liver and the kidney where it becomes activated as a key steroid hormone called Calcitriol. It then goes to the intestines, bones and other tissues, effecting metabolic pathways and the expression of myriad genes. Vitamin D's active form can interact with almost every cell in the body directly or indirectly, targeting up to two thousand genes, or about six percent of the human genome. It is necessary for numerous cellular functions, and when the body does not have what it needs to function optimally, it follows that we experience a decline in health and put ourselves at risk of disease. We now know that almost every cell and tissue in our body has vitamin D receptors, which raises the question: Why would those receptors be there if they weren't meant to have an effect?

Our vitamin D needs vary with age, body weight, percent of body fat, latitude, skin coloration, season of the year, use of sun block, individual reactions to sun exposure, and our overall health. As a general rule, older people need more vitamin D than younger people, large people need more that small people, fat people need more than skinny people, northern people need more than southern people, dark-skinned people need more than fair skinned people, winter people need more than summer people, sun-phobes need more than sun worshipers, and ill people may need more than well people.

The best way to determine whether or not you are deficient is to have your vitamin D blood levels measured and replenish accordingly.

My Top 10 Tips for Healthy Sun Exposure and Optimizing your Vitamin D Levels

Have a healthy respect for the sun. It is powerful medicine with potentially dangerous side effects on your skin. Treat it like medication, using the lowest dose necessary, but don't avoid it completely. Never fall asleep in the sun without protection.
Always avoid sunburn. It is sunburn, not healthy sun exposure that causes problems. Repeated sunburns, especially in children and very fair-skinned people, have been linked to melanoma. Whereas there is no credible scientific evidence that regular, moderate sun exposure causes melanoma or other skin cancers.
Prepare your skin and build up tolerance gradually. Start early in the year (spring), or early in the morning before the sun is strongest and slowly build up the amount of time you spend in the sun.
Get 15-30 minutes of unprotected sun exposure two to four times a week. Each of us has different needs for unprotected sun exposure to maintain adequate levels of Vitamin D. Depending on your age, what type of skin you have, where you live and what time of the day and year it is, your need will vary. The farther you live from the equator, the more exposure to the sun you need in order to generate vitamin D. For instance, a fair skinned person, sitting on a New York beach in June, in the middle of the day, for about 10-15 minutes (enough to cause a light pinkness 24 hours after), is producing the equivalent of 15,000-20,000 IU's of Vitamin D. But the same person living further north in the U.K, or Canada would need 20-30 minutes to get that light pinkness, which is all one needs. Also, people with dark skin pigmentation may need 20 - 30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair-skinned people, to generate the same amount of vitamin D. For more specifics, I recommend the tables in The Vitamin D Solution by Dr. Michael Holick.
Get frequent, short exposures. Regular short exposures have been found to be much more effective and safer than intermittent long ones. Note that you cannot generate Vitamin D when sitting behind a glass window, because the UVB rays necessary for vitamin D production are absorbed by glass.
After your 15-30 minutes of sun-block free time in the sun, you must protect yourself. If you're going to be out in the sun for longer periods, wear a hat to protect your face and light colored clothing that blocks the sun and keeps you cool. When you do apply sunscreen, use one with fewer chemicals. Check out the Environmental Working Group's list of safer sunscreens. Remember that even weak sunscreens block the ability of your skin to manufacture vitamin D, so once you have applied it, you will not be making vitamin D.
Boost your "internal sunscreen" by consuming anti-oxidants and beneficial fats. These strengthen skin cells, helping to protect them from sun damage. Eating lots of vegetables and fruits such as blueberries, raspberries, goji berries and pomegranates and supplementing with green powdered mixes and fish oils are great options when going into the sun.
Have your vitamin D blood levels checked regularly. The correct blood test is 25OH vit D or 25 hydroxy vitamin D test. Be aware, however, that current "normal" range for vitamin D is 20 to 55 ng/ml. This is much too low! Those levels may be fine if you want to prevent rickets or osteomalacia, but they are not adequate for optimal health. The ideal range for optimal health is 50-80 ng/ml.
Don't rely on food alone for your vitamin D needs. It is almost impossible to get your vitamin D needs met by food alone. Fatty wild fish (not farmed), like salmon and mackerel are the best food sources, but you would have to eat huge quantities of them daily to get anywhere near what your body needs. Although fortified milk and orange juice do contain vitamin D, you would have to drink at least 10 glasses of each daily and I don't recommend doing that.
Take Vitamin D3 supplements if necessary. In the winter or if you don't get enough healthy sun exposure or if your blood levels are low, make sure you supplement with at least 2,000 IU's a day of Vitamin D3. Although I recommend moderate sunbathing, vitamin D supplements provide the same benefits as sunshine (in terms of Vitamin D needs). But, if taken in too large a dose, they can cause vitamin D toxicity, whereas sun exposure does not. It is impossible to generate too much vitamin D in your body from the sun: Your body will self-regulate and only generate what it needs, which just reaffirms to me that we should get our vitamin D from sensible sun exposure. Here are specific guidelines for replenishing Vitamin D.

Conclusion

Although irresponsible sunbathing is unquestionably harmful and precautions need to be taken, regular, moderate, unprotected sun exposure is essential for good health. It is free, easy to get and good for you when used intelligently. It is the only reliable way to generate vitamin D in your own body, which we now know to be an essential ingredient for optimizing health and preventing disease.

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Frank Lipman MD is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of Integrative and Functional Medicine. A practicing physician, he is the founder and director of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in NYC, where for over 20 years his personal brand of healing has helped thousands of people reclaim their vitality and recover their zest for life.

Hormone Linked to Bone Loss in Menopausal Women

2011-06-01T07:05:00.000-07:00

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Diminished bone density, caused by low levels of estrogen common among menopausal women, raises the risk of osteoporosis, bone fractures and subsequent complications. Traditional therapies have sought to maintain the level of estrogen in the body. New research suggests, however, that another hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), also may be involved in decreasing bone density during menopause, and may guide researchers to an alternative avenue for treatment of this debilitating condition.

In the five years leading up to menopause, FSH levels gradually increase as bone density begins to decrease over the same period of time. Data from animal studies has pointed to a link between FSH and bone density.

During menopausal bone loss, the destructive activity of osteoclasts, which break down bone, outweighs rebuilding activity of osteoblasts, which regenerate bone, resulting in an overall weakening of the bone.

Cytokines, which are secreted by white blood cells, are thought to play a role in this imbalance as well. One cytokine in particular is known to activate osteoclasts. "Our hypothesis . . . was that [FSH] was decreasing bone mineral density by influencing the production or action of cytokines," Dr. Joseph Cannon of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, was quoted as saying.

The researchers conducted a study of 36 women aged 20 to 50 years. By measuring each woman's level of FSH and then using a low-energy x-ray to analyze her bone density, the researchers saw that women who had higher levels of FSH did indeed have lower bone density.

Is Coffee Good For You?

2011-05-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

Women who drink Scandinavian boiled coffee, which chemically resembles French press and Turkish/Greek coffee, more than four times a day run a lower risk of developing breast cancer than women who drink coffee less than once a day.

A major difference between boiled and filtered coffee is that the boiled version contains up to 80 times as much coffee-specific fatty acids. These fatty acids have previously been shown in animal experiments to inhibit the growth of cancer.

By comparing filtered coffee and boiled coffee in the Västerbotten Intervention Project (64,603 participants), researchers at Umeå University have been able to show for the first time that various brewing techniques can lead to different risk patterns for cancer. For total cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and many other less common forms of cancer, there was no correlation.

Among women who drank boiled coffee more than four times a day there was a lowered risk of breast cancer compared with women who drank coffee less than once a day. Among women who drank filtered coffee there was an increased risk for early breast cancer (under 49 years old) and a decreased risk for late breast cancer (over 55 years old). Boiled-coffee drinkers, but not filtered-coffee drinkers, also had an increased risk of pancreatic cancer and lung cancer among men.

The study, recently published in the scientific journal Cancer Causes and Control, is the first in the world to compare the consumption of coffee prepared with two brewing techniques in regard to cancer.

Can Supplements Help The Symptoms of Menopause?

2011-05-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hot flashes, insomnia, mood swings, and the other symptoms of menopause can be unpleasant and difficult to manage. Hormone therapy (HT) can help in the short term, but long-term HT can increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer, stroke, and heart attacks.

Instead, many women opt for dietary supplements. But do they work? Supplements are rarely tested thoroughly, and their manufacturers make health claims that aren’t always backed up by science. Read our analysis on some popular menopausal remedies...

Black cohosh

Dong quai

Evening primrose oil

What it is: Oil extracted from the seeds of a yellow-flowered plant. An omega-6 essential fatty acid (gamma-linolenic acid) is the active ingredient.

The evidence: According to a 2009 review in American Family Physician, only one placebo-controlled trial of evening primrose oil in menopausal women has been conducted. In the study, the women took eight capsules of the oil daily for six months, but the capsules were no better than placebo at treating menopausal flushing.

The bottom line: Evidence to support the use of evening primrose oil for menopause is still lacking....read more

Survey: British Women Suffer Worst Menopause Symptoms; Where Do Americans Rate?

2011-05-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

Image by Becky F via FlickrWomen around the world suffer from menopause, but their symptoms are far from similar -- and a new survey has found that while Americans are plagued by headaches, fatigue, hot flashes and joint pain, but the British fare the worst.

British women complain of the most severe symptoms during menopause, including upset stomachs, irritability, depression and shortness of breath, according to the study.

Researchers from the Department of Integrated Health at Westminster University polled 1,000 British women ages 45 to 55 and compared their answers to those of women from the U.S., Canada, Japan and China, reported the Daily Mail.

Participants from the U.K. scored higher than the others in 14 of the 15 symptoms, with Chinese women reporting more irritability.

Two out of 3 British women said they suffer from fatigue and more than 50 percent reported getting hot flashes. In contrast, only 1 in 20 Japanese women said they get tired and 1 in 8 said they have hot flashes.

"It seems likely that in countries where menopause is less of a problem there are good genes. But it's also clear that these countries tend to be matriarchal societies where older women are revered for their wisdom," David Sturdee, president of the International Menopause Society and a gynecologist, told the Mail.

"The best way to predict how severely a woman will be affected by the menopause is to look at her mother's experience. We will soon have a much better understanding of what genes are involved," he said.

Dr. Kent Holtorf, an endocrinology specialist with AOL Health's Medical Advisory Board, agreed that genetics are a good indicator of how women will experience menopause. But diet and the environment also have an impact.

"Heavier women will produce more estrogen, so have fewer symptoms," he told AOL Health. "It could be that United States women are heavier. ... There is certainly a genetic component, so that will play a part, and there are environmental factors."

Among those factors: Americans come into contact with more plastics and pesticides -- which contain estrogen -- than Europeans do.

"Environmentally, we're being exposed to all this estrogen," Holtorf said. "Our levels are shown to be 1,000 times of those of Europeans."

The British researchers' study was controversial in part because they concluded that only two of the symptoms reported by the participants -- hot flashes and night sweats -- actually are related to menopause.

"Only these can be classed as common menopausal symptoms internationally and clearly attributable to the menopause," said lead researcher Volker Scheid.

But Holtorf shot down that theory.

"That's crazy, that only hot flashe s and night sweats are real menopause symptoms," he told AOL Health. "We see all those other symptoms (the women studied said they were feeling)."

Among the other side effects of menopause, he said, are low thyroid functions, fatigue, insomnia, body aches, headache, inability to handle stress, depression, irritability and upset stomach.

The findings were published in Climacteric, the journal of the International Menopause Society in the U.K.

Can Obesity Harm Your Sex Life?

2011-05-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

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The study reports that the rate of unplanned pregnancies is four times higher among single obese women than normal weight women, despite them being less likely to have been sexually active in the past year. Obese women are less likely to seek contraceptive advice or to use oral contraceptives. Obese men have fewer sexual partners in a 12 month period, but are more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction and develop sexually transmitted infections than normal weight men.

Obesity is emerging as one of the fastest growing pandemics in modern times says the study, but its effects on sexual health are unclear. The research led by Professor Nathalie Bajos, Research Director at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale in Paris, is the first major study to investigate the impact of being overweight or obese on sexual activity and sexual health outcomes such as sexual satisfaction, unintended pregnancy and abortion.

The authors undertook a survey of sexual behaviours among 12,364 men and women aged between 18 and 69 years of age living in France in 2006. Of the participants, 3,651 women and 2,725 men were normal weight (BMI between 18.5 and 25), 1,010 women and 1,488 men were overweight (BMI between 25 and 30) and 411 women and 350 men were obese (BMI over 30).

The results show that obese women were 30% less likely to have had a sexual partner in the last 12 months. Obese men were 70% less likely to have had more than one sexual partner in the same period and were two and half times more likely to experience erectile dysfunction.

Sexual dysfunction was not associated with BMI among women. However, obese women under 30 were less likely to seek contraceptive advice or use oral contraceptives. They were also more likely to report an unintended pregnancy. Obese men under 30 were far more likely to have had a sexually transmitted infection.

Obese women were also five times as likely to have met their partner on the internet, more likely to have an obese partner, and less likely to view sex as important for personal life balance. The authors suggest that social pressure, low self-esteem and concerns about body image may help explain these findings.

The authors conclude that the public health impact of these findings is important. They say: "The scale of the problem and the magnitude of the effects (particularly the fourfold increase in risk of unintended pregnancy among obese women) warrants focused attention. In terms of targeting advice and care, a considerable proportion of the population is obese, is easily identified as such, as is at increased risk in terms of poorer sexual health status."

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Sandy Goldbeck-Wood, a specialist in psychosexual medicine, points to evidence showing that doctors find it difficult to discuss sex and weight issues with patients, and believes that clinicians must be prepared to address these difficult subjects which have such important effects on health and quality of life. She says: "We need to understand more about how obese people feel about their sex lives, and what drives the observed behaviours and attitudes."

She concludes: "In public health terms, the study lends a new slant to a familiar message: that obesity can harm not only health and longevity, but your sex life. And culturally, it reminds us as clinicians and researchers to look at the subjects we find difficult."

Is There a Vaccine To Cure Breast Cancer?

2011-04-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaThe possibility of a vacinne to prevent breast cancer may be a reality in the future. Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic said they've made a discovery that might lead to a cure for breast cancer.Those researchers said they've come up with a vaccine that may not only treat, but also prevent one of the cancers that women fear most.

Becca Martello has Stage 4 breast cancer, the most advanced kind. She has endured chemotherapy, a mastectomy, radiation and a hysterectomy. She said the thought that other women one day may not have to go through what she did leaves her almost speechless."I can't really believe it yet. I'm just so thrilled, goose bumps, just amazing," Martello said.

The Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Vincent Tuohy and his researchers have worked for the past eight years, testing a potential vaccine for breast cancer. Tuohy said a single vaccination prevents breast cancer tumors from forming in animals, while stopping the growth of existing tumors."Think of breast tumors as a kind of a drunks in a bar. they say things. They do things that they shouldn't do, and that's exactly what breast tumors do. They make lactation proteins," Tuohy said.The research, published in the journal "Nature Medicine," uses the vaccine to target that protein."We're waiting for money. We have the team assembled, we're ready to go and we need more funding," Tuohy said.Once the funding is in place, researchers will start recruiting patients for human trials. Something that Martello, who was just 39 when she was diagnosed, said she's ready to sign up for."I would be the first in line if I could," Martello said.Researchers at the clinic think they may be able to start the human trial phase in the next year.

Taking Action For You: The risk factors which may increase a woman's chance of getting breast cancer include, being older at the birth of your first child, starting menopause at a later age, starting menstruation at a younger age and not breastfeeding. Some researchers also said being overweight may increases your risk, especially after menopause.

Menopause increases sexual desire

2011-04-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

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Women's experience of sexual activity during menopause differs greatly between individuals, says a new study.

New research from the University of Sheffield says that external factors such as providing care for a relative, partner's low sexual desire and the quality of the relationship were more important than hormonal changes in determining sexual satisfaction during menopause.

"Biological research tends to report the negative impact of declining hormone levels on women's ability to engage in and enjoy sexual activities, whereas our study found that some women actually saw an increase in sexual desire during this time," said Dr Sharron Hinchcliff, from the University ´ s School of Nursing and Midwifery.

The findings therefore concluded that women go through many lifestyle changes during mid-life which are also contributing factors.

The study was published in the Journal of Health Psychology.

The Mathematics of Menopause

2011-04-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

Image by RickC via Flickr

Among long-lived animals, scientists have found only three species that undergo menopause: humans, short-finned pilot whales, and resident killer whales. What makes these species so special? A new study finds that it all comes down to their unique social structures.

Menopause occurs when the ovaries are depleted of eggs, marking the end of female fertility. But evolution favors the production of offspring, so why would some species abandon reproduction? Some researchers have argued for the "grandmother hypothesis." The idea is that an older woman who devotes herself to caring for her grandchildren benefits from the survival of her genes more than she would if she continued to bear children. If she continued reproducing in old age, then she would risk dying during childbirth or while young offspring are still dependent on her.

Human beings are more disposed toward menopaus e than are other species. That's because, according to a recent study by evolutionary biologists Rufus Johnstone of the University of Cambridge and Michael Cant of the University of Exeter, both in the United Kingdom, women have historically left their family groups after marrying. This placed them in a new family, meaning it was beneficial to care for their own children at first (because they were more genetically related to them than they were to the rest of the family) and to care for their grandchildren later (when more of their genes made it into the family group).

But this scenario can't explain why short-finned pilot whales and resident killer whales are also menopausal, as neither gender leaves the family group to join a mate. Instead, males and females return to their respective family pods after mating with whales from other pods—an arrangement unique in the mammalian kingdom. In the new study, Johnstone and Cant used a mathematical model to analyze the kinship dynamics in a population with this mating pattern. They found that this unusual mating scenario led to an increase in the number of individuals that a female is related to in her group as she ages—a trend that favors younger breeders and older child-rearing helpers. And that sets the stage for menopause to evolve, the team will report online tomorrow in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The researchers saw the same trend when they applied the model to the mating pattern of humans societies in which a female leaves home to join her husband's family. This is also an unusual social structure, as in most other social mammals it is the male who leaves home.

Evolutionary biologist Thomas Kirkwood of Newcastle University in the United Kingdom isn't convinced that strong conclusions about the evolution of menopause can be drawn from a mathematical model that predicts relatedness within a species. "It doesn't show how the presence or absence of the menopause affects Darwinian fitness," how successful an individual is in passing on his or her genes to future generations, "which is the all-important evolutionary yardstick."

Can Testosterone Help Memory In Menopause Women?

2011-03-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

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Researchers have wondered whether replacing the small amount of testosterone women stop producing after having hysterectomies could improve the memory loss many postmenopausal women experience. But testosterone treatment may not improve women's memory skills after such surgeries, according to a new study, suggesting that it may not help other women after menopause either.

Women who took estrogen and testosterone after having surgery to remove their ovaries and uteruses did worse on one memory test, and no differently on others, than women who took estrogen alone.

Millions of postmenopausal women in the U.S. are prescribed hormone therapy - generally estrogen and a progesterone-like hormone - every year. The risks and benefits of hormone therapy remain controversial since the Women's Health Initiative study was called off in 2002 when women on hormones were discovered to have an increased risk of ovarian and breast cancer and strokes, as well as heart disease.

The effect of hormone therapy on memory loss is still up for debate, especially for testosterone. In the current study, Dr. Marika Mller, a neuropsychologist at Kullbergska Hospital in Katrineholm, Sweden, and her colleagues treated 44 women who had hysterectomies for non-cancerous conditions. Half of those women took estrogen and testosterone and the other half took estrogen and an inactive placebo. After five and a half months, the women switched treatments.

At the beginning of the study, published in the journal Menopause, the authors put the women through a slew of memory tests to measure verbal, spatial and working memory and had them fill out a questionnaire about their memory problems. The tests and questionnaire were repeated after each round of treatment.

For most tests, women that had been taking estrogen and testosterone and women taking only estrogen performed about the same, with a general trend toward fewer everyday memory problems but mixed results on other memory tests. On one test, in which women had to recall a logical story, women on the testosterone plus estrogen treatment performed significantly worse than women just on estrogen.

Both groups improved over their baseline scores, however - suggesting that estrogen had a positive effect on this type of memory, but that testosterone canceled out some of its benefits.

Testosterone capsules can be bought for about $2-3 a day, but are not FDA-approved for women. Side effects in women have been shown to include acne and excess facial hair, but the authors of the current study did not mention side effects.

Researchers, however, have thought that women might benefit from testosterone after surgical menopause because they lose their natural source of androgens. Androgens, a group of hormones that includes testosterone, have been shown to play a role in metabolism and libido, and possibly in learning and memory.

"After natural menopause the ovaries no longer make progesterone and they no longer make estradiol, but they continue to make androgens," Dr. Victor Henderson, an epidemiologist and neurologist at Stanford University School of Medicine who was not involved with the study, told Reuters Health. "With natural menopause there's really not much of a change in circulating testosterone. With surgical menopause you lose that source of androgens."

There's also a difference in the way estrogen and progesterone change in women's bodies after natural or surgical menopause. While hormone levels slowly decline in natural menopause, they drop abruptly after surgical menopause. For this reason, Henderson said, there needs to be more research on treatment of this population

Calcium crucial for postmenopausal women

2011-03-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia A new study has revealed that postmenopausal women who have a low calcium intake have a higher risk of developing both osteoporosis and hypertension than those who consume higher levels of calcium.

In an Italian study of 825 postmenopausal women with hypertension, a significantly increased proportion of women who consumed a lower amount of calcium through intake from dairy sources, had a concurrent diagnosis of both hypertension and osteoporosis, compared with women who consumed a higher amount of calcium.

Further statistical analyses revealed that a lower calcium intake was associated with an increased risk of developing hypertension or osteoporosis over time when compared with controls.

Women who consumed a lower amount of calcium were shown to be most likely to develop both conditions over time compared with women consuming a higher amount of calcium.

"Our study confirms that there may be a link between hypertension and low bone mass and that a low calcium intake could be a risk factor for the development of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women" said Professor Maria Manara, Department of Rheumatology, Gaetano Pini Institute, Milan, Italy, and lead author of the study.

"Our study has also shown that a low calcium intake from dairy foods may be involved in this association and could be considered a risk factor for the development of hypertension and osteoporosis," Manara added.

The research has been presented at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy.

The menopause makeover 8-step plan

2011-03-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

Image by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ via FlickrHere are some great tips from menopause expert Staness Jonekos author of The Menopause Makeover.

Take control of menopause! Feel happy and good about your body with this 8-step plan.

Step #1: Health/Hormones: Understanding your treatment options

Health concerns need to be addressed at mid-life.
Track your symptoms.
Work with your healthcare provide on treatment options. There are hormonal and non-hormonal options available.

Step #2. Nutrition: How food can set you free

Proper nutrition can change your health profile. 25% of your day's calories should consist of healthy fats, 35% of low-fat lean protein, and 40% of low to medium glycemic cabs. Eat 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day.

Benefits of low to medium GI - good for the whole family!

Stabilize blood sugar
Control hunger urges
Lowers risk of getting type 2 diabetes
Lowers your risk of getting heart disease
Most LGI are lower in calories and fat
Loaded with nutrients and fiber
Can help you lose weight

Eat brown rice over white rice, whole grain bread over white bread, and a yam over a potato. Eating lean protein creates the Thermic Effect. It take more energy to process protein burning more calories.

Step #3. Fitness: Your fountain of youth

Flexibility Exercises: 5-10 minutes, most days of the week.

Strength Training: 2-3 days a week.

Cardiovascular workout: 20-30 minutes most days of the week.

As your body begins to age your metabolism starts to slow - you must exercise most days of the week and reduce your calorie intake.

Step #4: Beauty: Customizing your beauty routine

Hormones play an important role in your skin. Almost 30% of skin collagen is lost during the first 5 years after menopause. We start seeing the effects of aging. It is time to update your skincare routine (moisturizer, exfoliation, sunscreen).

Beauty Tips

Weekly exfoliation
Update moisturizer
Wear sunscreen daily
Use anti-aging products with retinoid and antioxidant ingredients
Update your makeup
Get a new hairstyle
Throw out old clothes, and find a new flattering style
Purchase a new bra that fits properly
Pamper your hands, feet, neck and body
Keep hydrated
Maintain a healthy weight - when you look good you feel good
If you have night sweats or hot flashes, try wicking pajamas sometimes called menopause pajamas.

Step #5: Emotions: Getting off the emotional roller coaster

Strategies to manage irritability and crankiness for good.

Call in the troops, get support.
If you start feeling a surge of out-of-control emotions - stop, breath, count to 10 - take a time out for yourself.
Discuss your hormonal changes with your doctor.
If your emotions are related to relationships or lifestyle concerns schedule an appt with a psychotherapist.

Step #6: Relationships: Get that sizzle back

According to the recent Divorce Study conducted by AARP, 60% of divorces are initiated by women in their 40s, 50s, 60s -- the menopause years.

Tips for HIM

Listen to her - don't critize or try to fix her
Go with the flow - be prepared for mood swings
Validate her experience - don't fight it, acknowledge her experience
Kick up romance
Support healthy eating and exercise - join her
Talk about YOUR feelings too
Seek counseling if the relationship needs attention
Communicate
If all else fails - hide for a while

Tips for HER

Manage your menopause
If you notice changes in the love department discuss with your partner and your healthcare provider - there are solutions
Manage menopause as a team - a supported women has a better transition.
The menopause transition can actually reignite your relationship and bring it to a new level of love.

Step #7: Spirituality: What you believe can change your experience

Find balance
Nurture your spirituality
Expand your mind
Travel
Go back to school
Start a diary focusing on what you FEEL
Join a support group
Choose to spend time with those you share a healthy relationship

Step #8: Happiness: How to be happy during "the change"

Be grateful for the good things in your life
Practice forgiveness
Focus on being happy and positive
Happiness is a choice

Visit the Menopause Makeover website to learn more.

Male menopause?

2011-03-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

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Male menopause! The signs, symptoms and what you can do about it. See what Dr. Paul Turek has to say about it.

Female menopause has been known for centuries, but it has only recently been discovered that males also go through a similar phenomenon.

Female menopause represents a well-defined period in a women's life in which female hormone production stops, often accompanied by hot flashes.

Men experience a similar type of 'menopause' as the production of the male sex hormone testosterone diminishes in their 70's. This "male menopause"- clinically known as andropause-is similar to, yet different from female menopause.

Although both changes are sex-hormone based, andropause is usually more gradual a process than is menopause and occurs later in a man's life than does menopause in a women's life.

What are the symptoms of andropause?

During menopause, a woman's reproductive hormone levels fluctuate and ultimately fall, and often dramatically. Andropause is typically less dramatic a process that actually begins in the mid 40's and continues, gradually, until testosterone production is low enough to cause symptoms, sometimes three decades later.

With the decline in testosterone, men can experience fatigue, muscle weakness, depression and erectile dysfunction. They may also experience lethargy, increased irritability, mood swings, insomnia, lower sex drive, loss of lean body mass and bone mass and anemia.

One complicating feature of andropause and its associated symptoms is that many of these symptoms may simply be due to advanced age alone and completely unrelated to lower testosterone levels. As such, there is active debate about which symptoms, if any, are specific to andropause.

How is male menopause diagnosed?

To make the diagnosis of andropause, doctors look for a symptom suggestive of the condition (see above) and a blood test to confirm that there is a low testosterone level. The doctor may order other diagnostic tests to rule out other medical problems that can produce similar symptoms.

What are other causes of andropause-like symptoms?

Although the causes of andropause have not been fully researched, some factors that may contribute to this condition are hormone deficiencies, excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, smoking, hypertension, medications, poor diet, lack of exercise, poor circulation, and psychological problems, notably mid-life depression.

Can andropause be treated?

Often andropause symptoms that are not associated with low testosterone levels can be treated with lifestyle changes, that include diet or exercise programs, by correcting medical problems such as thyroid disorders or diabetes, or with medications such as antidepressants.

With andropause symptoms associated with low testosterone, testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) can be considered. TRT is given only by physicians and offered under strict supervision.

A thorough check-up is also important to get before starting testosterone therapy, to rule out conditions such as prostate cancer and sleep apnea.

Risks of therapy include worsening prostate cancer, worsening urination issues, gain in water weight, excessively high blood counts and worsening sleep apnea, making regular follow-up with your doctor important while TRT is being given.

The St. Louis ADAM (Androgen Deficiency in the Aging Male) questionnaire asks for the following symptoms:

Decrease in sex drive.
Lack of energy.
Decrease in strength and/or endurance.
Lost height.
Decreased "enjoyment of life."
Sad and/or grumpy.
Erections less strong.
Deterioration in sports ability.
Falling asleep after dinner.
Decreased work performance.
Night sweats and hot flashes

Men experiencing problems 1, 7, or a combination of any four or more might be candidates for replacement therapy. This symptom score, however, is only a rough set of guidelines and is not absolute.

Tips to cope:

Relieve stress with exercise, yoga, massage or acupuncture.
Eat a nutritious, low-fat, high-fiber diet.
Get plenty of sleep.
Find support with friends or other social groups and talk to them.
Limit your consumption of alcohol and caffeine to less than 2 glasses/cups daily.
Drink lots of water.
Wear wicking pajamas to help with night sweats and the hot flash

About Dr. Paul Turek:

Dr. Paul Turek, who is a leading surgeon and former endowed chair professor at UCSF, is leading the charge to make men aware of the importance of paying attention to their reproductive health.

Research has shown (some of which is Dr. Turek's research at UCSF) that reproductive dysfunctions in men are early indicators of severe life threatening health issues like cancer and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Truek wants to make sure men are checked by a men's health specialist when they are having symptoms.

Menopausal Women May Experience Few Hot Flushes Due To Weight Loss

2011-02-28T14:16:00.000-08:00

A new study has found that losing weight may lead to fewer hot flashes, according to findings published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

During a recent study, researchers had a total of 226 women who are considered obese or overweight follow a strict exercise and dietary regimen, while an additional 112 female participants were placed in a control group.

Over the course of six months, the team had the first group of women exercise for at least 200 minutes per day and follow a specific diet that could lead to approximately 7 to 9 percent of body weight loss.

The results of the study showed that women who were in the weight-loss group reported that while following the health regimen, they had less hot flashes.

These findings indicate that "women who are overweight or obese and experience bothersome hot flushes may also experience improvement in these symptoms after pursuing behavioral weight loss strategies. However, improvements in weight or body composition may not be the only mediators of this effect," the authors stated.

In addition to losing weight, a team of researchers from Baylor University have found that women who imagine things linked to coolness hot flashes associated with menopause

Weight Loss Reduces Hot Flashes In Overweight And Obese Women

2011-02-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

Image by Combined Media via Flickr

A new study shows that overweight and obese women who suffer from hot flashes can reduce the severity of their hot flashes if they lose weight through diet or exercise.

Hot flashes, which are associated with sleeping problems, anxiety and depression, are the most common complaints of women during menopause and persist for five or more years past menopause in up to one third of women, according to the researchers. In multiple observational studies, women with a higher body mass index (BMI) have reported more frequent or severe hot flashes compared to women with lower BMI, but the effect of weight loss on hot flashes has been unknown.

“We still don’t understand the underlying mechanism of a hot flash, or why some women experience flashes and others don’t,” said Alison J. Huang, MD, assistant professor of internal medicine in the UCSF Department of Medicine, who was the lead author on the paper. “The good news is that millions of women who are overweight and troubled by hot flashes may be able to reduce their discomfort through diet and exercise.”

Findings are available July 12 in the online edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 64.1 percent of adult women in the United States are overweight and 35.5 percent of women are obese. Those estimates are based on a BMI of 25-29.9 for the overweight category and 30 or more for the obese category. BMI, expressed as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared, commonly is used to classify weight.

Hormone patch may be safer for women than pills

2011-02-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

Women who want to use hormone replacement therapy may be less likely to have a stroke if they use low-dose patches instead of pills, Canadian researchers reported recently.

Their study of British women showed that those who used estrogen patches to control symptoms of menopause did not have any higher risk of stroke than women who did not use HRT.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, adds to a very slowly growing body of evidence that could rehabilitate the use of HRT, which plummeted in 2002 after the publication of the Women's Health Initiative study, which found an increased risk of ovarian cancer, breast cancer, strokes and other health problems from hormone therapy.

Sales of U.S. market leader Wyeth's combined estrogen-progestin therapy Prempro have fallen by about 50 percent since 2001 to around $1 billion a year. Wyeth is now owned by Pfizer.

But many experts who studied HRT said there was some evidence that if women took a lower dose and if they took HRT by means other than a pill, the risks might not be as high.

Samy Suissa of McGill University in Montreal and colleagues used Britain's national medical database to pick out 15,700 women over 50 who had strokes and nearly 60,000 who had not.

Women who had used low-dose transdermal patches to get their HRT had almost precisely the same risk of stroke -- very slightly less, in fact -- than women who used no HRT.

"I think that these are promising findings," said Dr. JoAnn Manson of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, who helped lead the Women's Health Initiative and who was not involved in Suissa's study.

Suissa's team found that 7.7 percent of stroke patients had been given a prescription for some form of HRT within the previous year of their stroke. And 6.9 percent of women who did not have a stroke got some form of HRT.

"The risk of stroke was not increased with use of low estrogen dose patches compared with no use, whereas the risk was increased with high dose patches," Suissa's team wrote.

HRT pills raised the risk of stroke by 25 percent to 30 percent, regardless of the formulation. High-dose patches raised the risk by 88 percent.

Delivering low doses of hormones through the skin bypasses the liver and may reduce the whole-body effects, Suissa's team said in their report, available at: here

Menopause can cause serious symptoms, including debilitating hot flashes, night sweats, sleep disturbances and a lack of energy. Women also become more susceptible to heart disease, osteoporosis and some cancers after menopause. There are some natural remedies like wicking sleepwear and wicking bedding for the night sweats and hot flashes, but they do nothing for the other symptoms of menopause.

Experts in HRT and menopause say women should be able to choose to use hormones to treat these symptoms but should take the lowest dose possible for the shortest possible time. Before 2002 HRT was regularly prescribed to prevent heart disease and osteoporosis but the experts now recommend against this.

Manson said the ongoing Women's Health Initiative study will look at different doses of hormones. Her team found two years ago that low-dose HRT pills did not raise the risk of stroke and said more study is needed to be sure.

Diet, Exercise Combat Belly Fat In Menopausal Women

2011-01-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

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As we age and approach menopause several factors begin to impede our ability to maintain our weight. Metabolism slows significantly after 40. Muscle mass can decrease as much as 10% every decade after 40. We become less active as aches and pains multiply.

Perhaps most significantly during menopause, a major shift in hormones occurs. Not only do the hot flashes and night sweats begin, these factors also contribute to an increase in belly fat in women. Belly fat or visceral fat is fat that is stored in the abdominal area. It surrounds major organs such as the heart, liver, pancreas, gallbladder and spleen. This type of fat leads to an increase in several health risks including: heart disease, diabetes, stroke and certain types of cancer such as breast and colorectal.

Studies indicate that changes in female hormones alter the way the body breaks down fat and stores it. After menopause stored fat can actually shift from the hips and thighs to the abdominal area. It is possible for some women to actually see an increase in their waist measurements without gaining any weight.

There are two fairly accurate measurements of visceral fat. The first is simply waist circumference. Hold a tape measure around the waist at the belly button, while standing up straight and breathing out. Women with a measurement of more than 35 inches are considered at high risk.

The second method is a waist to hip ratio. Divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement. A ratio of .85 places you in a high risk category.

The good news is visceral fat actually responds to exercise and diet better than subcutaneous fat (fat that is just under the skin).

To fight visceral fat requires a two pronged plan of attack. The first involves exercising for 30-60 minutes a day to burn calories. Interval training is especially helpful at reducing visceral fat. Strength training 2-4 times a week will help you maintain muscle mass. This added muscle will lead to an increase in your base metabolism, causing you to burn more calories while at rest.

Yoga and other exercise modalities that incorporate mind and body have been found to decrease stress. Stress hormones such as cortisol increase visceral fat storage. As an added benefit, studies show these activities may reduce menopausal symptoms including: hot flashes, sleep disturbances, fatigue, moodiness and night sweats.

The second prong is a diet that incorporates complex carbs such as fruits, veggies and whole grains combined with lean protein. Keeping a close eye on portion sizes and reducing sugar and saturated fats will keep you moving in the right direction.

The changes that come with age can be met and overcome. The sooner you start the better you will feel, while avoiding the debilitating effects of visceral fat.

Soy Sauce Could Reduce Menopausal Symptoms

2011-01-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

Soy sauce could reduce symptoms of the menopause among women, such as hot flashes and sleepless nights.

Scientists say soy contains a natural compound which can help reduce production of oestrogen, the hormone which contributes to menopausal problems.

Studies in Japan, where soy is consumed with meals regularly, found that Asian women experienced milder menopausal symptoms than Americans and Europeans where use of soy is less frequent.

Soy has already been found to have anti-cancer properties and can lower cholesterol.

Now researchers say the new wonder food could be an alternative to conventional hormone replacement therapy as a way of treating uncomfortable menopausal problems, such as hot flashes and even bone loss.

Soy sauce, made from soya beans, is a traditional accompaniment to Chinese food in the UK.

Experts at the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Tokyo found women who consumed soy produced a chemical called S-equol which halted bone loss and fat accumulation in women in the early stages of the menopause.

The menopause in women is associated with the body's stage in life when levels of the hormone oestrogen decrease. It is common for the menopause to occur at about 50 years of age among western women.

A reduction in production of oestrogen can be associated with bone loss.

Less severe symptoms include hot flashes among menopausal women the world over.

Despite decades of research the specific cause of hot flushes and why they occur is still not understood, neither is it is known why oestrogen works to reduce them.

Now Japanese scientists have found that women who took a soy based supplement containing S-equol for just three months had much less menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes and neck and shoulder stiffness.

The research is reported in the Journal of Nutrition.

New Treatment To Fight The Effects Of Menopause

2011-01-21T08:41:00.000-08:00

Image by tejamen1947 via FlickrIt's being touted as the fountain of youth for menopausal women. It's called bio-identical hormone therapy. The treatment has been so successful women are flying from as far away as Australia to get the treatments they describe as life changing.

A few of the symptoms of menopause are diminished sex drive, thickening waistline, lack of energy and headaches.

"My whole body went into chaos and nobody could tell me why. I was constantly having hot flashes and night sweats." said Jennifer Crowe

Jennifer Crowe's worst symptoms after a hysterectomy were migraines . They got so bad she often found herself in the emergency room. That's when she turned to her gynecologist, Dr. Kathy Maupin, who started her on bio-identical hormones. Every 3 to 4 months she has tiny hormone pellets implanted into her hip area. Jennifer says the pellets have changed her life.

Because the hormones are implanted in pellets they provide a more even level of hormones in the blood. In contrast to oral pills, they avoid what's called the first pass effect.

"It doesn't go through your liver and get changed into products that are detrimental and cause risks for breast cancer and heart disease." said Dr. Maupin

Dr. Maupin became a believer in hormone pellet implants after her own hysterectomy. She says she was always tired, had horrible migraines and gained 20 lbs. The pellets, she says, made her feel normal again and she's thrilled to do the same for other women and also men.

In 2002 a study found that the use of hormone replacement therapy increased the risk for heart attacks, strokes and breast cancer but those were synthetic hormones. Bioidenticals are derived from soy and yam extracts and are structurally identical to the hormones found in a woman's body. The implants are not FDA approved. One pellet treament runs around $300.