Life After 50 Expo

Choir singing may boost cancer patients’ health, well-being!

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It may come as no surprise that singing can boost mood and help alleviate stress, but for cancer patients, the benefits of singing may not stop there. A new study found that choir singing for just 1 hour boosts the immune system, suggesting that getting those vocal cords working has the potential to improve treatment outcomes for people with cancer.
[A choir]
Singing in a choir for just 1 hour was found to boost immune system activity for cancer patients and carers.

What is more, the study – published in the journalecancermedicalscience – found that choir singing also poses benefits for carers of cancerpatients.

Cancer remains one of the biggest challenges of our time. This year, it is estimated that more than 1.6 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the US alone, and almost 600,000 Americans will die from the disease.

to read the complete  article click below:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/308681.php

For older adults with dementia, transitions in care can increase risk for serious problems !

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A transition is a physical move from one location to another with a stay of at least one night. For older adults, especially those with dementia, some transitions may be unavoidable and necessary. However, unnecessary transitions are linked to problems such as medication errors, hospital readmissions, and increased risk of death. What’s more, good dementia care emphasizes the need for familiar people and familiar environments, and this can be more difficult to support when too many transitions take place. Having coordinated care and a long-term care plan in place that considers the needs of a person with dementia may reduce unnecessary transitions, say the authors of a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

In their study, researchers from the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research in Vancouver, British Columbia, followed 6,876 people aged 65 and older who were diagnosed with dementia between 2001 and 2002. The researchers analyzed healthcare data from 2000 until the study ended in 2011. Besides dementia, 23 percent of the group had no other chronic diseases at the beginning of the study, while 44 percent of the group had two or more chronic diseases.

The researchers found a spike in the number of transitions during the first year of dementia diagnosis. Sixty-five percent of the study participants experienced at least one transition during the year of their diagnosis; 17 percent experienced three or more transitions, most of which were hospitalizations. More than 60 percent of people were hospitalized in the year of their diagnosis, and these hospital stays generally lasted for a month or longer.

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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/308242.php

 
 

Stress management may enhance cardiac rehab, improve recovery !

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Heart patients may benefit from cardiac rehabilitation (rehab) programs even more when stress management is added, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.

“Cardiac rehabilitation programs do not routinely offer stress management, but this may change should demand increase. And because patients may be reluctant to ask for the programs themselves, the onus is on the physicians to recognize that stress management is important for the optimal medical management of patients,” said James A. Blumenthal, Ph.D., professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina.

After a median follow up of more than three years, researchers found that patients who underwent cardiac rehab plus stress management achieved greater benefits than rehab alone. Cardiac events such as heart attack, stroke, recurrent chest pains requiring hospitalization, or even death were observed in:

  • 18 percent of patients in the rehab plus stress management group;
  • 33 percent of patients in the cardiac rehab only group; and
  • 47 percent of patients in those who had no rehab.
  • to continue reading click below:
  • http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/308121.php

Procedures to repair knee cartiladge show promise in patients over 40 !

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Surgeons used cartilage ‘plugs’ to repair damaged articular cartilage in the knee.

Patients who have cartilage damage in their knees often experience pain and are unable to engage in sports and other activities they enjoy. Two studies at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) find that cartilage restoration procedures are a viable treatment option for patients over 40 years old.

“Various cartilage restoration procedures have demonstrated success rates ranging from 50 to 90 percent, but the majority of reported results were in patients ages 30 and younger,” said Riley J. Williams, III, MD, senior study author and director of the Institute for Cartilage Repair at Hospital for Special Surgery. “Our studies are the first to look at outcomes of three specific procedures used to repair damaged cartilage in patients over 40.”

to continue reading click the link below

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/307477.php?tw

Cardiovascular risk profile linked to profession in older workers !

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Among U.S. workers age 45 and older, some jobs appear riskier to cardiovascular health than others. Middle-age and older workers fail to achieve “ideal” ratings for a full slate of cardiovascular risk factors.

Workers age 45 and older in sales, office-support or service occupations appear to have more risk factors for heart disease and stroke than workers in management or professional jobs, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology/Lifestyle 2016 meeting.

Click below to continue reading:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/307248.php?tw