Month: July 2022

Memory loss – Peri-menopause or Ageing?

Todays post is about Memory loss, is it Peri-menopause or Ageing?

Over the last few months, some of my female work colleagues and I have been discussing how occasionally we find ourselves suffering from a lack of concentration, memory loss and feeling a bit ‘scatterbrained’.

This got me thinking. Is this a sign of ageing or is this is another reminder of ‘peri-menopause’? Or maybe both!

About Memory

Webster’s Dictionary defines memory as “the mental capacity or faculty of retaining or recalling facts, events, impressions, or previous experiences”. Therefore memory loss would be fleeting periods when a person loses the mental capacity or faculty of retaining or recalling information.

As we get older, one of the most common changes that we notice is memory change.

Scientists say that the brain begins to lose sharpness of memory and powers of reasoning and understanding not from 60 as previously thought, but from as early as 45.

Their evidence comes from a large study of more than 7,000 civil servants aged between 45 and 70. The 5,000 men and 2,000 women agreed to undergo verbal and written tests on three occasions over a 10-year period for what is called the Whitehall II study.

Knowledge of how memory changes as we get older is a lot more positive than in the past. Memory change with healthy ageing certainly doesn’t interfere with everyday life in a dramatic way.
However, everyone is different and the effect of getting older on memory is different for each person.
Ageing can affect the memory in different ways, such as attention processes, the ability to get new information into storage, the time it takes to recall things, and “on the tip of the tongue” experiences.

Research also suggests that immediate memory and lifetime memory do not change as we get older.

The difficulty of being able to think straight is also a common symptom associated with the onset of peri-menopause.

What causes memory loss during peri-menopause?

In the case of memory lapses, oestrogen plays a special key role. It has a large effect on the functions of the brain and influences language skills, mood, attention, and a number of other functions, including memory. Oestrogen is directly linked to verbal word fluency (the ability to remember names and words). It’s no wonder then that as a woman’s oestrogen levels begin to drop, her memory may suffer.

Many women start to experience peri-menopausal symptoms from the age of 45 onwards.

Add to that now that our memory is affected by ageing from the age of 45 onwards, ageing women have a lot to deal with.

All is not lost, as there are some things we can do to exercise our brain and improve our brain ‘fitness’.

  • Avoid harmful substances and eat a well balanced diet. Excessive drinking and drug abuse damages brain cells.
  • Challenge the brain by reading widely, keeping mentally active, and learning new skills. These pursuits strengthen the brain connections and promote new ones.
  • Make sure we get regular and adequate sleep.
  • Use a notepad and carry a calendar. This may not keep your memory sharp, but does compensate for any memory lapses.
  • Organise some of those personal belongings. Use a special place for necessary items, such as car keys and glasses.

 

All of this science is great and helps me to understand that it’s not ‘just me’, though it does not help my brain cope with the occasional lapses in memory.

However, dairies and calendars have become quite important fixtures in my life lately. This ensures I don’t forget important things. I will also keep up my creative pursuits, quizzes and crossword puzzles for that bit of ‘brain training’.

Till the next post,

 

Live Clean n Prosper

Sources – www.fightdementia.org.au – www.theguardian.com

Which diet is healthier?

Todays post is about which diet is healthier for us.

This weekend I read an article in the paper about the different diets that are getting press lately. This got me thinking. There are so many different opinions and studies regarding diet and health. Many conflict each other and it gets very confusing.

I have looked at few popular diets and found research both for and against.

The Paleo diet

Promoted by several nigh profile chefs and dieticians, this emulates the diet of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. It is based on the premise that they did not suffer from the same diseases as modern humans.

This diet advocates consumption of unprocessed animals and plants, including meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds.

It shuns processed foods, sugar, dairy and grains, although some of the more modern “versions” of paleo do allow foods like dairy and rice.

5 human studies have been done on the paleo diet so far. All of these studies are done with humans and are published in respected, peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The results of these studies were positive in regards to health improvements and weight loss.

The Vegan diet

The vegan diet is growing in popularity. Advocates claim that it offers various health benefits, ranging from weight loss and reduced blood sugar to prevention of heart disease, cancer and premature death.

Vegetarian and vegan diets can be healthy, but they can lack certain nutrients. You may have to use a little creativity to ensure you get enough protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin B12.

The problem, however, is that no studies exist of populations where omnivores share similar genetic profiles, similar lifestyle patterns, and similar social and environmental factors with a significant number of vegans.

Therefore, most studies on vegan diets are observational. This makes it difficult to know if the benefits observed are actually caused by the vegan diet itself. Of the 16 human based studies that have been conducted. The results of these were positive in regards to health and weigh loss.

Low carb and Low fat diets

Few things have been debated as much as “carbohydrates vs fat.”

Some believe that increased fat in the diet is a leading cause of all kinds of health problems, especially heart disease.

This is the position maintained by most mainstream health organisations. These organisations generally recommend that people restrict dietary fat to less than 30% of total calories (a low-fat diet).

However… in the past 11 years, an increasing number of studies have been challenging the low-fat dietary approach.

Many health professionals now believe that a low-carb diet (higher in fat and protein) is a much better option to treat obesity and other chronic, Western diseases.

The authority Nutrition site looks at 23 studies that compare the 2 diets.

The majority of studies achieved statistically significant differences in weight loss (always in favour of low-carb).

Keep in mind that all of these studies are randomised controlled trials, the gold standard of science. These studies are scientific evidence, as good as it gets, that low-carb is much more effective than the low-fat diet that is still being recommended all over the world.

The 5:2 diet

Then there is the 5:2 fasting diet, which is actually very simple to explain. For five days a week, you eat normally and don’t have to think about restricting calories.

Then, on the other two days, you reduce your calorie intake to a quarter of your daily needs. This is about 500 calories per day for women, and 600 for men.

There are very few studies that test the 5:2 diet specifically. However, there are plenty of studies on intermittent fasting as a whole, which show impressive health benefits.

I have just put together a small sample of the information found on 2 websites. These sites did not have any articles stating that any of these diets were ‘bad’. However, several of these diets are, at the very least, conflicting with each other, eg; Paleo & Vegan.

It is very easy to find ‘bad’ press regarding any diet. At the end of the day, each of us is different and has different constitutions. Maybe the best way to determine which diet is best for us is to listen to our bodies and take note of how we feel after eating different food groups and go from there.

We have decided some time ago, that the best basis for our diet was to restrict our intake of processed foods. We try to consume mostly whole foods and foods that have had very little processing.

We also choose to restrict our intake of wheat and sugar, as we both find we feel better without it.

Till the next post,

Live clean n Prosper

Source – Healthline – National Library of Medicine –

Is ‘Man Flu’ a real thing?

Today’s post is about ‘Man Flu’.

One of my work colleagues was making comments about catching man flu and how bad it was, so I thought I would investigate and share.

So, about Man Flu

We have all heard of the notorious “Man Flu”. It can affect men from all walks of life and render them miserable for days. They claim that they are ‘dying’ and ‘it’s the worst flu ever’. Many women, myself included, tend to consider “Man Flu” an exaggeration of the common cold.

Are women just more resilient and able to cope with this common ailment or is there really such a thing as “Man Flu”?

What do the scientists say?

A research paper published in December 2017 explored whether men exaggerated the severity of symptoms or their immune system is actually inferior.

The researchers found that there is some evidence clearly supporting men suffering more symptoms and dying from viral respiratory illness than women. They found that men do have a less robust immune system.

Since flu symptoms are in large part due to the body’s immune reaction, a lessened immune response in women may translate to milder symptoms.

Other studies have found that an Influenza vaccination tends to cause more reactions and better antibody response in women. Testosterone may play a role, as men with the highest levels tended to have a lower antibody response. A better antibody response may lessen the severity of flu. Therefore it’s possible that vaccinated men get more severe symptoms than women because they don’t respond to vaccination as well.

Another possibility is that men actually experience respiratory viral illnesses differently than women. This is supported by scientific data for other conditions. Pain due to coronary artery disease (as with a heart attack or angina) is a good example. Men tend to have “classic” crushing chest pain, while women are more likely to have “atypical” symptoms such as nausea or shortness of breath.

 There’s more…

In several studies using mice, the adult male mice displayed more symptoms of sickness than females when they were exposed to bacteria that cause an illness with symptoms similar to the flu. The males also had more fluctuations in body temperature, fever and signs of inflammation, and took longer to recover.

A group of researchers from the University of Cambridge conducted a study in 2010. They put forward a theory that men have evolved to have weaker immune systems and lower immunity because of their tendency for risk-taking behaviours. Still other research suggests that because women more easily pass pathogens onto their children, they’ve built up more natural defences against them.

The scientific evidence for this is far from conclusive, but some research has shown that male and female immune cells do react differently to invading viruses.

 Whichever theory rings true for you, it seems that there is some scientific basis to “Man Flu” after all.

Will we ever hear the end of it now?!

Till the next post,

Live Clean n Prosper

Sources – Harvard Medical Publishing – BMJ Resource Centre