Senior Planet
Whether you need a colonoscopy, an eye operation, a hip or a knee replacement, or back surgery, there’s usually one common denominator: you need a ride home, because the anesthesia has to wear off. And you may also need some at-home help to recover. If you’re married or co-habitating, your partner typically gets the chauffeuring…
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If you’re one of those Americans who shudder at the thought of even a routine dental visit—never mind root canals or fillings—there’s good news. It’s not your Mom’s dental office anymore. Dental advances span the spectrum from quicker X-rays to better crowns and fillings and even prettier aesthetics, among other things. “Two generations ago, people…
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If you haven’t been in a plane, on a cruise ship or at a shopping mall lately, you may not know, but Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) are booming in popularity…and controversy. Airlines and cruise ships have boarded an increasing number of passengers with their ESAs in tow, you’ve seen them at your local mall, and…
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If you’ve got a prostate, the statistics can sound pretty scary. It’s the second leading cause of cancer death in men, right behind lung cancer. African-American men have about a 15 percent chance of developing prostate cancer in their lifetimes, compared to about a 10 percent chance for white men, and African-American men are more likely…
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Ah, summer. Prime time for outdoor barbecues, golf games, hiking, walking through the woods…and—uh, oh–ticks that can spread Lyme Disease. Sorry for the potential monkey wrench in the dreamy summer scenario, but forewarned is forearmed. Lyme Disease affects about 300,000 Americans annually, the CDC estimates. Most will recover. The usual treatment is a course of…
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Can there be good news about stroke? Stroke—an interruption of the blood flow in the brain—has dropped from the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. to the fifth. It’s still a serious and frequent emergency—one occurs in the U.S. every 40 seconds – but medical advances mean that more and more people are…
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As a child of the 60’s or 70’s, you may have spent your then-misguided youth kicking back with a bit of weed, pot, MJ, or whatever it was called in your ‘hood. Then you graduated, got married, started raising kids and put it all aside. Until the arthritis in your knee, or anxiety over college…
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Women of a certain age can feel dry as the desert “down there.” About half of women past menopause report bothersome vaginal symptoms such as extreme dryness, researchers find. Remedies abound—drugstore shelves are full of ”vaginal moisturizers,” and your doctor can prescribe low-dose estrogen creams and tablets, a pricier (and in some cases messier) remedy.…
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Thinking positive has long been linked with making us healthier, less stressed and better company. Now, a Yale study has gone a step further, finding good news for those 60 plus who have positive beliefs about aging. They are less likely to develop dementia, says Becca Levy, PhD, professor of epidemiology and psychology at the…
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If your back, knees or neck persistently act up, you may be one of the 100 million people in the U.S. affected by chronic pain. It’s defined as pain that persists longer than 12 weeks…and you may be way too familiar with how your doctor greets you when figuring out what to do about it—asking you,…
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