17 April 2020
FRIDAY, April 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Nighttime high blood pressure could harm the brain, a new study says.
Most people's blood pressure goes down during the night, which is called dipping. But in some people, it stays the same or even rises -- called reverse dipping.
Folks with high blood pressure and reverse dipping may be at increased risk for vascular damage in the brain and associated memory problems, according to the study published online April 15 in the journal Neurology.
"It appears that reverse dipping may amplify the effects of high blood pressure on people's cerebrovascular health and associated cognitive abilities," said study author Adam Brickman, professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University.
"These results add to the mounting evidence that shows the...
14 April 2020
TUESDAY, April 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Eating a Mediterranean diet that's high in vegetables, whole grains and fish could reduce your risk of mental decline, two studies from the U.S. National Eye Institute (NEI) suggest.
"We do not always pay attention to our diets. We need to explore how nutrition affects the brain and the eye," lead author Dr. Emily Chew said in an NEI news release. She is director of the institute's division of epidemiology and clinical applications.
The researchers analyzed data from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) and the follow-up study, AREDS2. The studies, which included 8,000 people in all, were set up to explore the eye disease age-related macular degeneration.
At the start of both studies, participants' diets were assessed, including...
14 April 2020
TUESDAY, April 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The numbers are staggering: More than 3,600 nursing home and long-term care residents have died due to COVID-19 infections, with a huge number occurring in just the past two weeks.
The stories are tragic:
A California nursing home with more than a third of residents infected with COVID-19 had to be evacuated when fearful staff didn't show up to work.
Almost nine in 10 residents of a Massachusetts nursing home had COVID-19 infections.
The National Guard was deployed to two New Jersey nursing homes hit especially hard with COVID-19 infections.
A Pennsylvania nursing home believes all 450 residents, and its staff, have been infected with the virus.
What is it about nursing homes and long-term care facilities that makes them uniquely...
13 April 2020
MONDAY, April 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A wet T-shirt may cool seniors more effectively than an electric fan in hot, humid weather, reducing their risk of heat-related illness, according to a new study.
It included adult volunteers, average age 68, who sat for two hours in a room with an air temperature of 108 degrees Fahrenheit and a relative humidity of 34%.
Volunteers did three tests. In one, they wore a dry cotton T-shirt. In another, they wore a cotton T-shirt soaked with about 2 cups of water. In the third, they donned a similarly soaked T-shirt and sat in front of an electric fan.
Volunteers could have as much lukewarm drinking water as they wanted during the sessions, in which their heart rate, blood pressure, core body temperature and changes in body mass were checked...