Danae's Blog

Dodgy Knees

Wed, 13 May 2015 21:52:00 +0000

Anyone on a trip to the Austrian Alps will notice a large proportion of elderly walkers striding up the mountain, and fewer striding down. Taking the cable car down the mountain after walking up is something older people with dodgy knees go in for, since walking down steep paths can be more painful.
Many people will tell you that knee pain and arthritis in the knee joints are inevitable after middle age. The problem is that the cartilage that provides the padding in the knee wears out, and the bones start rubbing together, causing pain. Muscles also shrink in size by up to 40%, which means we lose strength. Losing this muscular support in later years makes us more likely to experience knee problems and to start to walk with bent knees, which is easier when the muscles are shorter and weaker, but makes us more likely to fall.

To make matters worse, the knee joint is one of the most complex; the design compromise is between mechanical complexity and enormous power. It is more likely to be injured than any other joint in the body. Injuries can be caused by sport that combines running, jumping and stopping with quick changes of direction such as squash, football and skiing, as well as by accidents such as the dashboard injury in car accidents. A serious knee injury often leads to severe arthritis if no measures are taken to prevent decline.

Signs of a dodgy knee joint include :

Stiffness, difficulty in bending the knee
Creaks and clicks
Heat around the joint
Swelling
Pain
Numbness

We sometimes hear people saying they used to go running but their knees can't take it any more. Distance running has often been seen as to blame for a busted knee. But recent studies have shown there is little evidence to support this view. The reason for the confusion is that runners have more bone spurs than sedentary people their own age. A bone spur is a bump or growth that forms as the body tries to repair itself by building extra bone. It typically forms in response to pressure, rubbing or stress that continues over a long period of time. However, it turns out runners do not suffer from the wearing away of cartilage that normally accompanies bone spurs. Active people have greater cartilage volume than couch potatoes and therefore are less likely to suffer from painful arthritis as the bones grate against each other. Knee arthritis is therefore less common in people who exercise.

In a 2013 study adult runners, including many aged 45 or older, had a lower incidence of knee osteoarthritis and hip replacement than age-matched walkers, with the adults who accumulated the most mileage over the course of seven years having the lowest risk - possibly, the study's author speculated, because running improved the health of joint cartilage and kept them lean as they aged. Long distance running seems to have a protective effect. The only caveat is if an injury is already present, in which case the RICE method is advocated (rest, ice, compression and elevation).

If we want ageless knees, the medical advice now is to :

1. Lose weight - increased rates of obesity have resulted in an epidemic of osteoarthritis.
2. Exercise - as long as this is combined with periods of warming up, cooling off and rest. The right exercise has both a preventive and curative effect.

Knee problems are not inevitable with age. Children and teenagers are just as likely to experience knee pain if they participate in activities that require repetitive movements.

If we take good care of our knees before there is a problem we can really help ourselves. Without healthy knees there is no independence, and our physical world shrinks. Time and effort spent on avoiding rickety joints pay huge dividends over the years. It is not true that knee problems are inevitable as we age - most people do not have knee pain. Let us take steps to ensure we stay pain-free.

www.staying-ageless.com

Practising Selective Ignorance

Sat, 14 Feb 2015 21:59:00 +0000

The cartoon character Charlie Brown once said, "I've developed a new philosophy...I only dread one day at a time." But listening to the news it is almost impossible not to think of the world as an unsafe place where the months and years ahead are fraught with danger. The media of course rarely report good news - perhaps because human psychology is such that we find it hard to delight in other people's good fortune. Objectively we live in a far healthier and more propsperous world than ever before; the problem is exposure to bad news warps our perception of life - what has been dubbed the "mean world syndrome". It used to be thought that violence on screen has no effect on real-life behaviour but that view has changed. It now appears it desensitizes viewers while flooding their bodies with unnecessary stress hormones.
If we want to keep our bodies free of aging hormones it is not just a question of staying out of the room when the kids are playing video games. Gory crime fiction, horror films, murder mysteries which excite the imagination and sensationalist news articles need to become no-go areas. Next time we come across one of these let us observe what is happening in our minds and bodies - our emotions, any tension, our fears. Tim Ferris in The 4-Hour Work Week says he hasn't bought a newspaper in the last five years. To keep up to date with current affairs he scans the headlines, no more, and advocates a one-week media-fast for the addicted. Those of us who need political and business news do not have to stop reading. It's the sensational detail we can afford to avoid. We may subconsciously feel if we know and understand what someone went through it is less likely to happen to us. But in fact the opposite may be true, as it creates a template in the brain, preparing the cells for similar real-life emotions in the same way that visualisation can prepare us for an exam, a race, a difficult task. We all have nervous systems and receptors on our cells that grow in proportion to the amount of peptides we release, which are the vectors for emotions, including those of horror, fear, deep sadness and shock. When we listen to harrowing news we create these receptors. The more receptors, the more peptides...the more fear and horror...the more health problems....the more anxiety, which creates more receptors, hungry for yet more of the stress hormones which boost sugar and triglyceride levels. When this excessive fuel isn't used for physical activity (and even more so when it is generated while sitting still reading or watching/listening) the results can be suppression of the immune system, digestive disorders, muscle tension, short-term memory loss, premature coronary artery disease, heart attack, depression, suicidal thoughts, ulcers....

Next time the content is announced as potentially disturbing for those of a sensitive disposition, let's count ourselves in. We are all sensitive. Switch off.

www.staying-ageless.com
http://www.amazon.com/Staying-Ageless-50-Ways-colour-ebook

Something to shout about

Wed, 31 Dec 2014 20:33:00 +0000

As we age men's voices go up and women's go down. In both sexes lung capacity decreases - by 50% by the time we're 80 in some cases. In men the larynx gets thinner making their voices sound reedy, in women the lowering of the larynx and hormonal changes deepen the voice. Vocal cords need "grease", and the number of glands producing fat decreases; the vocal folds dry out (worse if you smoke) and thin out, in what is known as menopausal voice syndrome (surgeons now offer a rather pricey voice lift - injecting stomach fat). Eventually arthritis of the vocal cord tissue occurs, causing a gravelly old cackle. Age-related voice change is more than a matter of tone. Young people talk down to older voices, since despite the experience and wisdom of those who've been around longer, a frail voice is all too often equated with a frail mind. Ever had the feeling a 20 yr-old cold caller is pronouncing rather than reading out their pitch at you?

But there are two things that are deadlier than anything else - stress and depression. As wrong thinking causes both, ultimately it means we can control how we sound, which can only be good news. Both stress and depression have a dramatic effect, since they can alter pitch and timbre. Our voices are social facilitators; they help our career, can contribute to our sex appeal and prevent social isolation which can invite dementia in.

Arthritis and physical decline can be combatted with physical exercise, as can of course diminishing lung capacity. In fact physical exercise is the first thing surgeons prescribe, to see if the voice straightens itself out naturally. Shouting at the kids may be unavoidable but it places a strain on the throat and our voices will be lower immediately afterwards. The vocal cords can be kept in shape by joining a choir, singing hymns in church or even in the shower. Speech therapy can help. Dental implants can improve sound articulation.

So it's worth thinking about. Of course some ladies have voices so high one wonders if they are faking it to be funny, but awareness when we speak can instantly change the way we sound. Let's lighten up when we talk, in mood, posture and in attitude. Otherwise there's always helium!

For more see : stayingageless.com

The Immortal

Wed, 19 Nov 2014 21:21:00 +0000

Social archetypes are everywhere, and we are subject to their influences. The social archetype of the elder can be divided into two categories : frail and demented or wise and vigorous. The former is the denizen of assisted living facilities, stricken by Alheimer's, wheelchair-bound, a shadow of their former selves. It is the spectre of old age we all fear, and we are surrounded by its power. If members of our own family correspond to this image, we approach our latter years with dread. The latter archetype can be found running voluntary associations in cities or striding up the mountains in rural areas with a gnarled baton.
There is third category however, one we rarely hear about these days: that of the Immortal. It usually only appears in fairy tales or legends. Examples are the founders of most religions, vampires and the Count of St Germain or "immortal count" who is said to appear during times of crisis, always looking around 45 years old.
The Immortal never dies, retaining both mental and physical vigour indefinitely. Occasionally someone will nudge the mythical archetype of the Immortal into the social category by suggesting that one day man will live forever. Techniques such as cryogenics, nanotechnology and organ replacement often accompany this narrative. It usually produces reactions of derision and disdain of its narcissistic connotations. It is therefore immediately rejected.
We need to coax the archetype of the Immortal out of the mists of fantasy. This is not an invitation to lunacy; it is a carefully calculated attempt to exorcise the archetype of the frail and diminished elder. By espousing the symbol of the Immortal we extract from our subconscous the idea that life can be no longer than the three scores and ten years mentioned in the Psalms, and suggest to it instead the longevity of the patriarchs of Genesis.
Do we have proof that Immortals belong in the real-life category? No, none at all. This is not the point. The question is, what image do we wish to imprint upon our subconscious, which stores information and produces it when the circumstances are right?
So what it is to be? The batty old curmudgeon who doesn't know what day it is, or the ageless wise and physically active individual who has preserved and enhanced their physical and mental appeal?
If embracing the Immortal doesn't work, we will have lost nothing but our fear. But it might.
Just a hunch.

http://staying-ageless.com/?p=1463

Do some people just have good genes?

Sat, 11 Oct 2014 17:07:00 +0000

Epigenetics is the latest thing. Anyone familiar with Bruce Lipton's work will have read evidence that Lamarckism may not be quackery after all. It appears that the environment can alter how a specific gene can behave throughout a person's life, and even in their offspring. The interesting thing is that 'environment' does not just mean pollutants and bad food, but also stress and emotions, i.e. the inner environment. Epigenetic modulation can occur due to stress-related conditions, and as stress is in the eye of the beholder, this gives us tremendous power over our physical condition. Stress is triggered by the thought or emotion - conscious or otherwise - "this is a stressful situation". The old story about the husband and wife who went to heaven springs to mind. They find themselves in a room where one football match after another is played on TV and an unending supply of beer and crisps appears on the table. The man is in heaven, but his wife is in hell.
Exposing ourselves to violent films, ruminating over betrayals and injustice, uncontrollable anger and constant relationship stress take their toll on our bodies and may well affect which genes are expressed.
The DNA sequence does not change as such, but the function of the genes on it does. Inheriting a gene for a disease is no longer always a death sentence. There are things we can do - lifestyle, stress reduction, mood control and (the big one!) self-awareness - to keep it switched off. There are good genes that we can also switch on, and one way of doing this is understanding our true motivation surrounding a situation, as well as healthy lifestyle changes.
What's more, the changes we make (if we make them early enough) may be passed on to the next generation. The famous Dutch mothers study showed how not only were the children of mothers malnourished during the Hongerwinter in 1944 born very small, but their grandchildren were too - suggesting genetic changes had occurred during the mothers' starvation period which were passed on down the generations.
So, as far as our genes are concerned, it's not what you've got but what you do with it.
Epigenetics is at its beginnings. However, genetic determinism may be on the way out.

http://staying-ageless.com/?s=Good+genes

Anger and aging

Sat, 04 Oct 2014 23:27:00 +0000

Chronically angry people do not just harm others, but are probably causing damage to themselves. Studies have shown that individuals who have problems with anger management age more rapidly because of the damage they do to their bodies. Hostility produces chronic inflammation because of the alterations to neurological and hormonal processes, and will also exacerbate the symptoms of any underlying disease. Both open hostility (exploding) and rumination (imploding) cause wear and tear which can hasten the date of our death. Dr Paul Lehrer of the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey says:
"Although the exact pathways whereby chronic anger contributes to chronic physical deterioration are not known, it is not hard to imagine how the wear and tear associated with chronic anger could produce this deterioration."

Anger etches itself on the face in the form of scowl lines and deep wrinkles. Muscle memory formed by constant expressions of irritation and rage gives us faces that look years older than our true age.
Outbursts of anger increase the likelihood of cardiovascular disease and raise the probability of having a stroke or heart attack. A study published in the European Heart Journal found that in the two hours immediately after an angry outburst a person’s risk of myocardial infarction increases five-fold and the risk of stroke more than three-fold.

A further study by Biological Psychiatry tested the relationship between cynical hostility and known markers of cellular aging. Shorter telomeres were found in high-hostile individuals, with the relationship between hostility and disease being stronger in men than in women. Telomere attrition may represent part of the mechanism causing the detrimental effects of hostility, particularly on men’s health.

http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223%2811%2900855-9/abstract

So, what’s it to be? An anger management course? Or an early grave?

http://staying-ageless.com/?s=Anger

When a healthy lifestyle is a waste of time....

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 16:21:00 +0000

An old university friend looked me up this week, whose husband is recovering from cancer. His cancer was particularly aggressive, but she smiled when she said the doctors had explained this meant it responded well to chemotherapy and surgery. Troy is an interesting case because he was always a total health fanatic. At university he would only buy organic - at a time when a mere fraction of the population were into that - refused both tea and coffee, only drank water and natural juices (no alcohol), non-smoker, strict vegetarian, no sun screen because of what’s in it (so his skin has weathered a bit), no dairy products, regular exercise, committed Christian, minimal medication, the works. He and his wife married while they were still at uni so they could live together without church disapproval. They were the only married students there, and shortly after graduating went off to do development work in countries where missionaries were not welcome. No one was as clean-living as that guy. I asked her if there was cancer in his family and she said no, his parents were still alive and going strong, but perhaps some of the underdeveloped countries they had lived in had exposed him to unseen risks. However she hadn't even had the conversation with Troy about the causes of his cancer.
One of the reasons I distanced myself from them a little is that they always wanted to know about my troubles but would share none of their own. Maybe they didn't have any, but I felt drained after being with them. They had everything under control and life was perfect. Two children grew up successfully, but she said Troy was concerned that their girls were not dating in their twenties and never had. I pointed out it was early days but they, of course, were already married in their early twenties. I suspected only certain potential husbands would be acceptable to the parents.
Can cancer just happen for no reason? With most illness there is some underlying cause. Maybe a virus can cause cancer sometimes, caught in some of the exotic locations where they lived. But that was 25 years ago and for the last decade they had lived in the countryside in a highly developed country. They enjoyed life, hiking, playing music and attending a church, although Troy insisted on worshipping in a language my friend could not understand, in order to integrate with the local population where they were currently based. “I’d prefer the Anglican cathedral down the road to be honest,” she giggled, “but I’m supposed to be going native.” Other people's children were not doing as well as theirs, and this seemed to satisfy her.
There appeared to be a lot of control in the family, though perhaps I was ‘projecting’. After all, visitors to this site are all about controlling their own lifespan; however, the fact there had been no discussion at all about the causes of Troy's cancer in spite of following all the health advice to an extreme seemed troubling. I kept mum – there is nothing worse than unsolicited advice.

A kinesiologist will tell you memories and repressed emotions become trapped in our cells. This is not mumbo-jumbo, since emotions are basically peptides that enter the cell through receptors. There is a peptide for joy, rage, jealousy, fear…. These peptides are also highly addictive, which is why we constantly experience the same emotions and go through emotional cycles. When an emotion hasn’t been experienced for a while, the body calls for its next hit. Like an addict, the body doesn’t care if the emotion does harm or good. Emotional stress causes DNA damage, the underlying cause of cancer.
My point is that it is useless to obsess over toxins from the environment, the foods we eat, the supplements we take and the exercise regime we follow if we do not lead a healthy emotional life. Being honest about our true desires, tackling our worst impulses, doing profound psychological work on ourselves, uncovering past trauma and unacknowledged motives as well as the long, long road towards genuine self-esteem are all more important than social conventions, being the perfect family and having successful children. Psychological health is as important as a healthy lifestyle if we wish to extend life. It is probably more important.

Urban myths?

Sun, 21 Sep 2014 22:09:00 +0000

Recently an old friend contacted me from Athens. His father, he said, had just died at 101. He had been illiterate, had spent his whole life tending sheep in the Greek countryside, but had gone to Athens to get hospital care after a series of strokes. However, the old man remained completely lucid, and when his children visited him in his hospital bed and asked him how he was, he would say with black humour, "Waiting for death, but quite well apart from that."

What is waiting for death like for someone who never needed to wear a watch?

Contrary to most people's everyday experience, space-time is not a rigid Euclidean framework, but is warped by objects, may be curved and bounded, is riddled with black holes and possibly wormholes and has 11 or more dimensions. The scientific theory of time and space is wildly out of line with the urban mind’s imaginings. Kant wrote that since we necessarily grasp the world through the structures of our brain we cannot possibly understand it fully. Time is an empty, elastic form that must be filled by emotions and thoughts, and so we dictate how it flows in accordance with our culture, education and programming, and each person’s time is individual.

How did time pass for that man who could not read, and who lived his life by the rising and setting of the sun and by the seasons? Whose birth was registered at a time when children could be well into toddlerhood by the time the parents got to the nearest town hall...so he may have been even older than 101.

"In the last year of his life he was still walking up and down his fields and tending his vegetables in the garden," said my friend. His mother, in her nineties, is still alive, also fully lucid...also illiterate.

These examples apparently give the lie to all the stereotypes about learning and keeping the brain educated and active in order to prolong life and mental agility. Clean living away from the stress and pollution of the city certainly must have helped my friends' parents to live so long and so healthily. Perhaps being immune to social stereotyping too, and to counting the years as we are forced to do in an urban environment. There was no retirement age for a Greek farmer either...so no social cues to deal with... no age at which the mind signals to the body that it is time to slow down and prepare for decrepitude.

But ...what if we can combine all of the above i.e. 1) immunity to social cues and stereotyping 2) clean living and 3) literacy and life long learning...?

Then think how long we, the next generation, may now be able to live.

120 will soon be commonplace.

Stereotype embodiment

Mon, 15 Sep 2014 16:22:00 +0000

Socially, we hardly notice age discrimination until it is used against us, and this can happen suddenly when a younger person says, “You’re amazing,” and means, “for your age,” or, “Gosh, you’re so agile!” .....or being described as feisty, sweet or still sharp as a knife. It is well meant, and yet makes us feel like we have been punched in the stomach. Such an experience immediately puts us at risk of stereotype embodiment. This theory states that we are brainwashed into attitudes about older people at a time when these beliefs are not self-relevant. Once internalised, these attitudes become part of a subconscious set of beliefs about older people. We therefore do not question them, and when we reach later life, we unwittingly embody them, since we have always held them to be true. Behaviours, perceptions and physiological responses are therefore triggered that fulfil the self-concept of being ‘old’.
We can avoid this by taking an interest in those older than us, for example by asking how life has changed - social attitudes for instance - since they were 30. The general 'gut feeling' is to feel the same way about people older than us as we would like younger people to feel about us currently. Maybe we have some work to do if we want to stay ageless....

How to sound forever young?

Fri, 12 Sep 2014 17:46:00 +0000

Joan Rivers had her vocal cords checked at the end of August because she wanted to know why her voice had become so raspy. During an biopsy they began to close up, in what is know as a laryngospasm. Our voice is an indication of our health and our age. A blind colleague said to me recently, listen to this woman, and played me a voice mail message. "She's 90 years old, and when I found out I was amazed," she said. "All that time I thought I'd been dealing with a much younger woman". Indeed, she sounded about 50. What does 50, or indeed 90 sound like, and is there a way of keeping people guessing, at least on the phone?

Photo Credit: david_shankbone via Compfight cc