HealthyCanada Podcast January 2009:
This month on the HealthyCanada.com podcast: Toby Ward and Dr. Art Hister discuss:
Dementia and Alzheimer's; the cold and shoveling snow; the effects on your health; and keeping New Year's Resolutions
The effect of cold weather & shoveling snow (on your health)
"Cold weather is known to aggrevate certain health conditions namely angina and premature heart disease," says Dr. Art, who also cautions people to be careful about shovelling a lot of snow. "A lot of people go out and overdo it... they haven't exercised for 6 months, 8 months or a year. There have been warnings in the newspapers as of late about the increase in heart attacks (some of it attributed to shoveelling snow). If you're 55 or 60 and haven't exercised for a while this is a dumb thing to do to go out and shovel snow."
Dementia and Alzheimer's
A report from the Alzheimer's Society of Canada finds that 15% of those with Dementia are below the age of 59. Despite the stigma, Dementia is not solely a condition that affects senior citizens n real terms, there are 50,000 Canadians under the age of 59 that suffer from Dementia.
"I'm not quite sure that there's much you can do to prevent genetic dementia... ," says Dr. Hister. "But just because you forget your car keys doesn't mean you are getting Dementia. So don't freak out about these type of studies."
Dr. Hister does however recommend that onset Dementia can be prevented or minimalized by keeping an active lifestyle and 'exercising' your brain.
Keeping New Year's Resolutions
"Surveys show that the overwhelming majority of people have given up their resolutions within 3 or so weeks," says Dr. Art. "There's never a best time to make a healthy lifestyle change but each time you chose to is the best (time). One of the most important things to remember about resolutions: we all fail at them! But there's no reason not to start over; if you fail at them, start again!"
To keep or maintain a resolution Dr. Hister recommends "persistence." Toby Ward recommends exercising with friends or participating with others (in teams sports for example) that can help keep you 'accountable' to your program or regime.
Listen to this month's podcast on Dementia and Alzheimers; snow shoveling and your heart; and keeping New Year's resolutions
Run time: 23 minutes
Written by Webmaster
Thursday, 01 January 2009 00:00
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