Your Aging Immune System

As you start to age and you get to be 65 years old your immune system changes.  These changes can make it more difficult for you to fight off infections.

Your immune system has two parts:  an innate immune system and an adaptive immune system.

First, is your innate immune system.  Consider these to be your first-responder scouts.  

When your cells detect something foreign in your body, it tells enzymes to mark those germs and then asks your immune cells to attack!

Your adaptive immune system is responsible for identifying the offending germs and then remembering them.  

T and B cells are part of your immune system and the next time the germs appear they produce a more effective and faster response to the infection.

As you age, your adaptive T and B cells decrease in your body.  Your  innate cells call out the germs and can exhaust your immune system which depletes the cells needed to fight infections.  Inflammation is often a symptom.

What can you do to help your body to continue to fight infections efficiently?

Sleep – make sure you get enough sleep each day.

Exercise – build time for moderate cardiovascular exercise into your day

Balanced diet – feed your body well with healthy foods

Vaccines – talk to your medical professional about what vaccines are available

Additionally, if you are deficient in Vitamin D, take a supplement.  For anyone under the age of 70 it’s 600 IU.  Anyone over the age of 70 should get 800 IU.

Private Home Health Care knows the importance of a healthy immune system. As we age, we need to listen to our bodies and work with a medical professional if there are any changes. 

GERD

Have you ever had heartburn?  Do you have acid reflux after you eat?

Neither are pleasant experiences and they can worsen.  What are ways you can tell when it has turned into a condition called GERD.

GERD stands for gastroesophageal reflux disease.  This occurs when your stomach acid repeatedly backs up into your esophagus that connects your mouth and your stomach.  

This causes acid reflux and irritates the lining of your esophagus.  Irritate your esophagus enough and it can turn into GERD.

Symptoms include a burning sensation in your chest, liquid sour or backwash in your mouth, pain in your upper belly or chest, trouble swallowing or a sensation of having a lump in your throat.

At night you may also experience an ongoing cough, laryngitis, or new or worsening asthma.

There are conditions that can increase your risk of GERD:

• Obesity
• Hiatal Hernia
• Pregnancy
• Connective tissue disorders like scleroderma
• Delay in the stomach emptying

Additionally, smoking, eating late at night, lots of fatty and fried foods, too much alcohol and coffee and aspirin.

Twenty percent of our population contracts GERD so it’s important to be aware and stay intune to your body.

Private Home Health Care knows that changes to lifestyle is one way to avoid or help with this disease.  There are also medicines available and in extreme cases surgery is an option.  There is hope.

What’s New in Diabetes Research?

It’s true still that diabetes is one of the most common chronic illnesses in the United States.  

Diabetes occurs when the insulin created in your pancreas is either not being made or is not being used properly by your body.  Insulin helps your body make glucose (sugar) which gives your cells and body energy.

There are Type 1 and Type 2 forms of diabetes.  Type 1 is an autoimmune disease where your body does not make insulin.  Type 2 is when your body has insulin resistance.

Private Home Health Care understands that this can be a difficult illness to live with and researchers are always looking for explanations on why it occurs and how to best manage treatments. 

Research is going on all the time and there are some interesting discoveries with possible great outcomes.

One doctor has discovered a potential explanation as to why Type 1 diabetes causes an attack on insulin-producing beta-cells.  This could lead to prevention or a new treatment.

Another doctor is looking at childhood obesity which leads to Type 2 diabetes.  Checking brain waves and how that affects how much children eat can help.

A patent for a novel molecule to monitor glucose levels is another innovation.  Research into this molecule has the potential to benefit people living with the disease.

New studies that are in real-life situation settings rather than clinical settings are helping to spur research on early interventions that can help with best outcomes.

Additionally, there is much more research happening and with time the hope is that diabetes can be prevented and better managed.  Keep the faith.

#diabetes

#privatehomehealthcare

Veteran’s Day

Today Private Home Health Care honors all of the veterans in our country.

War has horrific moments and is full of destruction and is never a good option but there have been times in our country’s history when our leaders have felt it was necessary.

For all of those who were drafted or who answered the call of duty we admire and appreciate your service.  It takes great courage to participate and we will never forget the sacrifices you made.

Thankfully, world wars have not happened in a long time.  Many of our veterans have passed away and there are few from World War too alive today.  

The Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War had different durations but the same men and women served our country.  

We celebrate and honor all of these men and women on this Veteran’s Day, those who have passed and those still living.

If you are able, take time to focus on our veterans.  Make a call to a veteran or pay them a visit.  Visit a cemetery and pay homage to the veterans there.  Check out your local Veterans office for other suggestions or events.

Private Home Health Care hopes that all of our veterans have a fulfilling day and our proud of their service.

#VeteransDay

#PrivateHomeHealthCare

World Radiography Day

Private Home Health Care is trying to imagine a world without x-rays.  Can you imagine that too?  We know that there are few of you who have never had this easy test. 

On this day we are thinking about a physicist from Wurzburg Germany who was the first person to accidentally learn about the process in a lab.

In 1895, Wilhelm Rontgen’s testing of cathode rays through glass led him to notice a glow coming from a chemically treated screen.  He coined the term X-ray because they were unknown.

Now of course his discovery took a lot of testing and studying before it was actually used on humans.  It wasn’t until 1897 that this important procedure was used in the Balkan War.  

Curiously, Mr. Rontgen received the first Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901 but he never created a patent.

Today, radiography is used in dental offices, doctor’s offices, urgent care and hospitals.  You and I know how beneficial an x-ray can be to a diagnosis.

We have learned with time that there are risks to too many x-rays so you need to be aware of having too many at one time.  Along with radiography there are other ways to make medical diagnoses.  

On this day we recognize the radiographers and radiologists who use this painless and quick process to help us.  We are grateful to Wilhelm Rontgen for his timely discovery.

Almonds and Chocolate

Today, Private Home Health Care would like to talk about a guilty pleasure that might not actually have too much guilt involved.

Bittersweet or Dark Chocolate and Almonds.  A delicious snack that can also help if you are craving a bit of sweetness.

Now you might say that you often find almonds in candy bars and with 40% of almonds being found there you would not be far from the truth.

Almonds give you great nutrients.  They supply you with fiber, protein, 14 grams of fat with 9 of those monounsaturated so good fat, Vitamin E, Manganese and Magnesium.  Not bad for a small nut.

Additionally, dark or bittersweet chocolate contain antioxidants that are a benefit.  The key is having these slightly different chocolates in moderation.

When you combine this chocolate and almonds you then get health benefits and then a bit of yumminess.  

For those of us who grew up over the last thirty years, many of us used to not worry too much about our intake of some foods, including sugar.  Now that there is much more information about the good, the bad and the ugly about some foods we pay more attention to what we eat.

If you add an increase in the cases of diabetes over the years, food becomes more of a focus and you definitely need to watch your sugar intake.  For some of you that can feel daunting.

Eating an almond in a bittersweet or dark chocolate can be a good thing, especially if you can find a combination that is low in sugar (and added sugar.)  Just remember the word “moderation.”

We would like to share one package that passes the test for us.  It is Trader Joe’s Slightly Coated Dark Chocolate Almonds.  The ingredient list is not long and they supply filber, a small amount of carbs, low sugar and protein.  A few can take care of your sweet tooth.

We should tell you that plain almonds are the best for you but if you need a little bit of a cheat, dark or bittersweet chocolate covered almonds could be your little not so guilty pleasure.

#privatehomehealthcare

Easy-Bake Ovens

Did any of you have an Easy-Bake Oven growing up?  If so then you should know that today is National Easy-Bake Oven day.

Private Home Health Care thinks it’s time for a bit of nostalgia.  

You might recall getting that shiny oven as a present as a child.  It was just the right size.   

Along with the oven you got powdered mixes to make small cakes or cookies.  There were small bowls for mixing and little tins that fit perfectly into the oven.

Your parents would need to help you plug it into the outlet for safety.  After that it was up to you to do the mixing and the extra heat from light bulbs to do the cooking.  

You’d need mitts of course to take the hot tins out of the oven and then it would be time to taste what you created.

Your memory could be like ours of a delicious treat to be enjoyed with a nice glass of milk.  Joy and pride were the feelings of the day. 

It was such fun that you couldn’t wait to do it again!

The Easy-Bake oven was such a great way to spend an afternoon as a child.  In 1963, it was so well received that during its first year it sold more than 500,000 ovens!

Today the Easy-Bake ovens look a bit different but they still come with mixes and tools for baking so if you have any children, we hope you let the baking fun begin!

Bon appetit!

National Author’s Day

The month of November begins with National Author’s Day.  A day to appreciate the authors of books you and I have read and enjoyed.

A book can take you to a foreign land, relax you and give you an escape or perhaps help you learn about someone you were interested in.  Books are a great pastime for all ages.

We have the people who are clever enough to write the books to thank.  To write a book, you get an idea. Next, depending on the type of book you are writing, you may use your imagination to create the story.  

If you are a nonfiction writer, you do a lot of research from many references to learn about the person or situation and then you put pen to paper or these days, fingers to keyboards.

When you come across a well written book, how do you figure out if you’d like to read it?  Is the author’s name the key?  Do you read the inside jacket of the book to get a sense of the storyline?  Are you hooked by reading the first couple of pages?

To get a book written and printed it takes a lot of work and building a relationship with a publishing house.  Some authors use a smaller amount of time to write and review a book.  Others take longer either due to the research involved or for one author, a very difficult disease.  

Laura Hilldebrand developed chronic fatigue syndrome so it took her a very long time to write her books Seabiscuit: An American Legend and Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption.

Her illness required her to do many phone interviews over time and then she had to pace herself when she did her writing.  She exemplifies the dedication of writing that makes a true author.

This weekend Private Home Health Care hopes that you find and curl up with a good book to enjoy.  When you do think about sending a note to your author to show them your appreciation.

Prescription Drug Take Back Day

Did you know that here in the United States there are biannual days when you can pass in your leftover prescription drugs?  

It happens in April and in October so time to save any drugs that you don’t use up so that you can safely dispose of them.  You may also find other times when this is available.

The United States, Australia and New Zealand are the only countries that coordinate this.  Most countries throw them in the trash.  The problem with this is that it causes pollution, harms the environment and causes accidental deaths.

There are some medicines that need special attention to help stem the opioid crisis in this country.

According to the CDC there are approximately 6 times more people that died from a drug overdose from 1999 to 2022.  Almost 76% of those deaths involved an opioid.

There has been much discussion around the opioid crisis so you may know someone who has been affected.  It’s a very sad situation so this program works to help.

Many groups are collaborating to improve the situation.  This includes medical personnel, substance abuse counselors, first responders and public health people. 

If you have leftover prescription drugs and you want to check where to turn them in you can check the link below provided by the FDA.  

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/disposal-unused-medicines-what-you-should-know/drug-disposal-drug-take-back-locations

Private Home Health Care understands how many prescription drugs are in our communities and we look to a better future with the opioid crisis. 

Grandparent’s Week

In New Zealand they celebrate Grandparent’s Week until November 1.  We decided this year that we would join them because we love and respect grandparents.

How many of you remember your grandmother or grandfather?  If you were lucky your grandparents lived a long life so that you could grow up and get to know them.  

Our grandparents lived at a different time and experienced many different things along the way.  Many came to the United States from a different country.  Some were born in the city and others in the country.

Listening to stories from their lives can be very enlightening and you may even appreciate the times we live in.  All have a story to tell.

Another common factor with all grandparents is that they are a key part of our family and we should respect them as they age. 

Many grandparents watch over their grandchildren to help their children. Grandparents take time and energy to do activities with their grandchildren.  We can remember sleepovers at our grandparents house or apartment and trips to Friendly’s too.  What a treat!

Additionally, grandparents can help us to slow down a bit and look at life from a different perspective.

This coming week Private Home Health Care hopes that if you have a living grandparent you can take time to talk to them and spend time with them to show your appreciation.  

After years of raising children and then watching grandchildren grow up it can bring a smile to a grandparent’s face.