Mental Attitude: Dementia Cost! Caring for people with dementia costs $157 billion a year in the United States (US) — higher than the costs of treating heart disease ($102 billion) and cancer ($77 billion). 75-84% of dementia costs are for nursing home care and care at home. 14.7% of people in the US aged 71+ years are affected by dementia. New England Journal of Medicine, April 2013 

Health Alert: Heart Drug and Cancer Risk! Amiodarone, a drug used to treat arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats), may increase cancer risk. People taking a high dose of amiodarone had close to twice the risk of developing cancer when compared with those taking a low dose of the drug. Cancer, April 2013 

Diet: Diet and Exercise. While many experts advise to start eating a more healthy diet before starting an exercise program, recent research points to doing both at the same time for optimal results. Participants were separated into four groups: 1) Start exercise program first. 2) Start diet first. 3) Start both diet and exercise at same time. 4) Do neither. Participants who started eating healthier at the same time they started an exercise routine were more likely to exercise 150+ minutes a week, eat 5-9 servings of fruits/vegetables daily, and keep calories from saturated fats to <10% of their daily caloric intake. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, April 2013 

Exercise: Computer Exercises For Alzheimer’s Patients. A new technology using computer brain exercises may help Alzheimer’s patients. The NeuroAD system has patients solve computer exercises ranging from identifying colors, shapes, and letters to solving memory games. Simultaneously, the very same regions of the patient’s brain responsible for memory and learning receive electromagnetic stimulation, which reactivates brain cell activity. Harvard University, April 2013 

Chiropractic: Effectiveness Of Chiropractic. 183 patients with neck pain were randomly allocated to manual therapy (spinal mobilization), physiotherapy (mainly exercise), or general practitioner care (counseling, education, and drugs) in a 52-week study. Manual therapy resulted in faster recovery than physiotherapy and general practitioner care. Total costs of the manual therapy were about one-third of the costs of physiotherapy or general practitioner care. British Medical Journal, 2003 

Wellness/Prevention: Safer Teen Drivers. A new report on teen driver safety in the United States (US) shows encouraging trends. There has been a 47% decline in teen driver-related fatalities over the past six years. In the past three years, the number of teen passengers killed in crashes who were not wearing seatbelts decreased 23%, the number of teens driven by a peer who had been drinking declined 14%, and 30% fewer teen passengers were killed in crashes involving a teen driver. Despite this progress, auto accidents remain the leading cause of death for US teens. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, April 2013 

Quote: “Good health and good sense are two of life’s greatest blessings.” ~ Publilius

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