Cases of Alzheimer patients are starting to show up in the U.S. with people in their forties and fifties! How can that be? Isn’t that for people in their 70’s or older? Recent studies done by Dr. Nima Kivipelto and his colleagues from the University of Kuopio in Finland suggest that the long-term effects of stress may be the biggest cause of Alzheimer’s. It is believed that the stress hormone, cortisol, kills off brain cells when it enters the brain. Kivipelto’s research found that patients with both high blood pressure and high cortisol levels were more than three times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s as patients without these symptoms. If you have either high cortisol levels or high blood pressure, your risk is twice as high. Researchers at the University of California- Irvine say that stress hormones can rapidly accelerate the formation of the brain lesions that cause Alzheimer’s. [Read more…] about Stress and Alzheimer’s Disease
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From My Heart- January, 2011
Greetings from LIFESTYLE CHOICES!
OPEN HOUSE (save the date)!!!
Come join Gwen, Denise, and me for our Open House Thursday, February 10 from 5:30-7:30. Gwen and Denise are my colleagues and office mates and I’d love you to meet them! Gwen Brehm is a psychotherapist and Denise Cazes is an exercise physiologist/nutritionist. Mardi Gras will be our theme this year so come join our festivities! We’re conveniently located @ 17300 El Camino Real, Suite 107D (the corner of El Camino and Medical Center Blvd).
New Choices for the New Year
A new year is here. It’s time to review which goals I’ve met and where I need to improve. I love to see how much progress I’ve made from the previous year! [Read more…] about From My Heart- January, 2011
From My Heart- November, 2010
Greetings from LIFESTYLE CHOICES!
Simple and Present
The holiday season is upon us: a time of family gatherings, home-cooked meals, and generally great expectations for most of us. We have a small home in rural San Leon which is situated on a large lot planted with vast amounts of tropical plants. We call it The Oleanders due to the indigenous oleanders which grow there. It is the perfect retreat to celebrate Thanksgiving! The foliage has grown so much this past summer we can hardly see the hot tub from our porch although it’s only ten feet away. This is good. We absolutely love getting into the hot tub surrounded by our plants, away from the world.
Over the years I have found joy but also stress while celebrating holidays. In retrospect the stress was mostly due to too many expectations of what I’d wanted to happen and then having a different outcome than what I’d envisioned. I decided I needed to create simple get-togethers. [Read more…] about From My Heart- November, 2010