I’m about to make an appointment for my yearly physical. This year is especially important because I just turned 50. I could not help but to notice about new guidelines that were issued last week on prostate cancer screenings that emphasize that physicians should better educate men about both the risks and benefits of using the PSA test for screening. (I got this information from the LA Times)

They also call for cutbacks in the use of digital rectal exams to find tumors and recommend the end of mass prostate screening programs at health fairs and other sites. The revised guidelines issued by the influential American Cancer Society come on the heels of several studies suggesting that large numbers of tumors identified by PSA screening are inconsequential and that biopsies and treatment produce more harm than those tumors would.

Because of such findings, the new guidelines emphasize the importance of physicians explaining both risks and benefits to the patients more fully so that each man can make an informed decision about whether to get tested.

Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said the new guidelines are not that different from earlier ones issued in 1997 and 2001. “I think (earlier panels) meant to say what we are saying now, but they were interpreted by people to say we were encouraging screening,” Dr. Brawley said. “They were trying to encourage informed decision making.”

Skip Lockwood, president of Zero: The Project to End Prostate Cancer, said that calls to end the digital rectal exam are “kind of nuts. … The whole concept that you would do anything to reduce the amount of information you have does not make sense to me.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men after skin cancer, affecting 192,000 men each year and killing 27,000. And while all the parties may not totally agree on how and how often PSA screening should be used, they are in unanimous agreement on one point. As Mr. Lockwood said, “We need a better test.”

After reading this information, I ask myself “What am I going to do?” I think I will ask my doctor. And what about you? I would love to hear from other men out there about what they think or what they plan to do.

Read the full artice: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10063/1040197-84.stm#ixzz0hS7JW9mU

Meet Rashida, a woman determined to lose weight through a fitness and nutrition program called “All About You Bootcamp.” Rashida is fighting against some lifestyle related diseases that run in her family (like diabetes) and is determined to take a proactive role in her own health. Come along on Rashida’s journey and share some of her insights on her own challenges.

I’m Doing It! from oomphTV on Vimeo.

This medical science webisode examines a new medical device called PlasmaBlade, which uses pulses of plasma generated around its tip to locally cut and cauterize flesh. The PlasmaBlade, from Peak Surgical, represents a quantum leap in technology, improving the control, bleeding and recovery time of the patient.

The Surgical Tool of the Future from oomphTV on Vimeo.

Sheryl Crow gives an inspirational and passionate keynote address about her surviving breast cancer. Her informative and frank keynote took place at an event called Conversations on Health and Wellness October 10, 2009 at the beautiful Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes and was sponsored by Los Angeles Times Magazine.

Sheryl Crow Health and Wellness Keynote-oomphTV.com from oomphTV on Vimeo.

Dr. John Horton M.D. talks about his book “The Inner Game of Stress” and how stress attacks every aspect of our well-being. Dr. Horton also gives some tips about how we can tap into our own inner strengths.

Dr. John Horton on The Inner Game of Stress-oomphTV.com from oomphTV on Vimeo.

It was a hot day in May 1996 when I found myself struggling to walk. Over the course of the previous month, I had been slowly losing feeling throughout my limbs and torso. With the heat, the tingling and numbness I had been experiencing spread to envelop my face and skull…I had lost feeling in my body from head to toe. It wasn’t just a pinched nerve as first suspected. Something was very wrong. After various medical texts, I was admitted to UCLA Medical Center where I was clinically diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. Lesions had been detected in my cervical spine, thoracic spine and on my brain.

As I have always been a physically active person and not one to accept the role of victim, I asked my then doctor’s recommendation for my physical protocol. He suggested swimming and yoga, as long as I don’t overheat the body.

The initial protocol of intravenous steroids helped to get my symptoms into remission but along with the other medications prescribed for MS management, they do not offer a cure. With a pocketful of meds, I was released from the hospital and decided to explore some yoga – Iyengar Yoga to be specific – as the Iyengar system employs props to help the practitioner gain access to the poses in order to glean their potential benefits. So I made some necessary dietary and lifestyle changes, started yoga and chose to forego the medications.

The daily practice of Iyengar Yoga has had a profound effect on my course of the condition. However, my journey has not been without setbacks, as anyone’s might be who deals with relapsing-remitting MS, whether or not they are on the medications. The symptoms I have experienced over the years include: loss of feeling throughout my body, numbness and a banding sensation in the torso and limbs, difficulty walking, compromised gait, loss of motor skills to the point where I could not use a pen or use a fork to feed myself, optic neuritis (loss of vision in my right eye and compromised vision in my left); bowel and urinary incontinence; the L’Hermitte’s symptom (a symptom where electrical charges are felt throughout the body when moving the head in a forward fashion); fatigue and depression.

When I had two severe exacerbations within months of one another in 2001 – loss of eyesight in January 2001 (which returned within a couple of months) and loss of feeling from the navel down in June 2001, fear and doubt crept in and I started with the weekly protocol of interferon beta 1-A. As no medications offer a cure for the MS, I found the ongoing side effects of my weekly injections to be more challenging than the condition! While I am not advocating that people with MS ignore the benefits of the pharmaceutical approach in managing their course of MS, I personally opted for the side effects of a daily practice of Iyengar Yoga over the meds. In January 2004, I chose to once again forego the medication.

My agreement with my neurologist is to have an annual MRI to monitor the lesions on my brain. The MRI reports over the last five have been promising, showing a reduction in size of the brain lesions as well as consistently showing no change in activity – which is really good news. I have been able to successfully overcome the symptoms listed above and remain symptom free, with the exception of fatigue and the residual loss of feeling in my right leg and foot which results in strength and balance challenges on my right side. I see my doctor (Dr. Hart Cohen, Director of Multiple Sclerosis Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles) semi-annually to continually monitor my course of the condition.

With these results, I am hopeful and my outlook for the future is positive. Undaunted, I carry on with “courage and caution” as encouraged by Yoga master, BKS Iyengar.

We profile Garth McLean and his unconventional battle with Multiple Sclerosis through Iyengar Yoga. The title “Courage and Caution” refers to the advice Yogacharya BKS Iyengar offered Garth upon learning of the challenges he faces with MS.

Courage and Caution from oomphTV on Vimeo.

When searching for the “fountain of youth,” or the “fountain of oomph!” one of the biggest mistakes that people make is thinking there is an easy way and try to discover it in an expensive bottle of whatever. They buy expensive anti-aging creams and lotions and call it a day (not that I’m against using any creams. In fact I do use a good body cream everyday). But the most important key to delaying the effects of aging is found in your lifestyle.

According to the National Institute on Aging, exercising regularly is the first step in fighting the effects of aging. Exercise helps you maintain healthy bones and joints, control weight, improve your mood and strengthen your muscles. Experts say that exercise also conditions the skin to make collagen, the support fibers that help keep wrinkles and lines under control.

The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion suggests eating a balanced diet that’s low in saturated fats and contains at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Also things like amino acids can help your overall health as well as your age appearance. A great advantage of amino acids is that they can be found in many everyday foods we eat. Below is a list of the most important amino acids that help ward of the signs of aging.

Arginine can be food in foods high in protein such as eggs, fish, nuts, and beans and is just one of the amino acids that can help anti aging. It has been proven to help with heart related health conditions and clogged arteries, in addition it is thought to be a natural anti coagulant. Research on Arginine suggest it may possibly assist in lowering cholesterol, and help in the prevention of both strokes and heart attacks.

Leucine is another amazing anti aging amino acids, which is found in high protein foods such as red meat and eggs. It supports the body in repairing injuries and helps cells growth and repair, which is vital for those who are combating the effects of aging.

Cysteine a very important amino acid has many beneficial advantages and one the most important of the amino acids. This amino acid is supplied to our bodies through our diet, and can be found in foods such as broccoli, dairy products, soy beans, and Brussels sprouts. Cysteine plays an essential part in anti aging, because its helps our bodies to metabolize the fats in our diets better. In addition, it is also proven to help prevent damage caused by smoking and alcohol. Cysteine has other great effects such as, the ability to help prevent cancer and heart disease; it also helps boost your immune system causing you to be less susceptible to viruses. One of the most serious effects of aging is the ability to fight of disease and infection. This amino acid can help restore that ability and keep your body working to its best.

So the key to “fountain of youth” or should we say “fountain of oomph!” is simply taking care of yourself and eating the right foods and not necessarily found in an expensive bottle of some cream or lotion.

An article I read last month by Jeannie Stein of the Los Angeles Times, describes some negative effects of watching TV. I have noticed myself that the more I find time for some form of exercise, the less time I have for watching television and it looks like that is a good thing.

Watching television for hour upon hour obviously isn’t the best way to spend leisure time. Inactivity has been linked to obesity and heart disease. But a new study quantifies TV viewing’s effect on risk of death.

Researchers found that each hour a day spent watching TV was linked with an 18% greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, an 11% greater risk of all causes of death, and a 9% increased risk of death from cancer.

As the article stated, researchers found a statistical relationship between long hours of TV viewing and a shortened life span, but the study did not go so far as to find a direct cause.

A journal of the American Heart Assn., looked at health data among 8,800 men and women older than 25 who were part of the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study. Participants recorded their television viewing hours for a week, and researchers separated the results by amount of viewing: those who watched less than two hours of TV a day, those who watched two to four hours a day, and those who watched more than four hours a day.

Researchers found a strong connection between TV hours and death from cardiovascular disease, not just among the overweight and obese, but among people who had a healthy weight and exercised.

“What we showed was that irrespective of a person’s exercise level, sitting for four or more hours watching television was linked to a significant increase in risk of death compared to watching lower amounts of TV,” said Dr. David Dunstan, lead author of the study and professor and head of the Physical Activity Laboratory at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Victoria, Australia. “The message here is that in addition to promoting regular exercise, we also need to promote avoiding long periods of sitting, such as spending long hours in front of the computer screen.”

To him, the results weren’t unexpected. “When we’re in that sitting posture, we’re not using our muscles, and we know from extensive evidence that muscle contractions are important for the body’s regulatory processes, such as the ability to break down glucose and use it as energy.”

Dr. Prediman K. Shah, director of the cardiology division of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, agreed. He pointed out that muscles become deconditioned when not used, triggering harmful physiological changes. “If your activity is slowing down, you metabolize cholesterol less and synthesize it more,” he said.

Even sporadic exercisers who sit for long periods need to increase their daily activity.

“The physical activity we do over a 24-hour period is important,” says Dr. Gerald F. Fletcher, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., and a spokesman for the American Heart Assn.

That means taking the stairs instead of the elevator, gardening, walking the dog . . .

“For couch potatoes, sitting on your duff is hazardous to your health,” Shah said. “The bottom line is keep moving.”

Many of us love blueberries. And now we have another reason to love blueberries even more. A new study suggests that drinking wild blueberry juice daily may have the potential benefits of enhancing the memory of those at the risk of dementia and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

Although there has been earlier research exhibiting that blueberries can improve memory in mice, this is the first time that research was conducted to demonstrate a similar effect in human beings. Robert Krikorian, psychiatrist at the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Centre, one of the authors of the study stated, “The ultimate goal is to find ways to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease.” He added, “These preliminary memory findings are encouraging and suggest that consistent supplementation with blueberries may offer an approach to forestall or mitigate neurodegeneration.”

The researchers conducted a study to establish whether blueberry can help in keeping the mind sharper in those with failing memory. The investigators divided 16 participants, who showed signs of “early memory changes,” into two groups. All those recruited were in their 70’s. Nine of the subjects were asked to drink two or more cups of blueberry juice daily for two months while the remaining seven forming the control group drank a sweet placebo beverage minus the blueberry juice.

During the course of the study, the participants were closely monitored for adherence as well as any side effects. At the close of the study the subjects were once again tested on their cognitive abilities, learning skills and recall performance.

Observations by researchers:

The scientists noted that after 12 weeks, the subjects consuming blueberry juice exhibited a marked improvement in the learning and memory tests as opposed to those in the control group. In addition, the researchers observed a decline in symptoms of depression and lower glucose levels in the wild blueberry drinkers.

However, the researchers felt that there was need for more study to understand the health implications involved before confirming the results. “The important thing is that there are things people can do to prevent dementia, with little or no side effects,” said Krikorian.

Blueberries are rich in valuable nutrients, low in sugar, are healthy and have a great taste. They contain a host of wonderful ingredients from phytochemicals to vitamin C, potassium, iron, fiber and antioxidants. The properties found in blueberries have been linked to lowering cholesterol levels, encouraging heart health, protecting the body against certain types of cancers, promoting healthy aging, reducing inflammation and cataracts.

Go figure. Like I need anymore reason to love blueberries.

Read more health.