Posts made in November, 2008

Wednesday Bubble: Hormone therapy

Posted by Liz on Nov 5, 2008 in heart disease | 0 comments

I was perusing the medical news last night and I came across this headline:

Hormone therapy for menopausal women not necessarily beneficial

The report feature results from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, which I have referenced several times over the past six months.  This current study, which was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine was undertaken to evaluate the accuracy of the “Timing Hypothesis,” which suggests that hormone therapy should be started with 6 years of menopause to fully realize its heart protective benefits.

Researchers compared hormone and cardiovascular profiles in 782 women who were:

1. Premenopausal
2. Using estrogen only
3. Using estrogen plus progesterone (hormone therapy)
4. Posemneopausal for at least 5 years and hadn’t used hormone therapy.

The results showed that women using hormone therapy, while having more favourable ratios of high density to low density lipoproteins (i.e. good to bad cholesterol), also had higher levels of blood fats (triglycerides) than premenopausal or postmenopausal women not using estrogen alone or no hormones. These findings, according to the researchers, were associated with less favourable oxidative environment (meaning more free radicals and a higher risk of diseases like atherosclerosis).

The conclusion? That despite extending hormone therapy, there is evidence of adverse effects even among women who are free of atherosclerosis.

The bottom line is that hormone therapy, while effective for adressing menopausal symptoms, may not be the cure-all for protection against disease, as it was once touted to be.

Another bubble burst about hormone therapy.

Vote!

Posted by Liz on Nov 4, 2008 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

One of the most beautiful things about being a woman in mid-life is that we have seen how a single action can effect change.

Today, I am encouraging you to vote! Our suffragette sisters are depending on us to get out to the polls and touch the screen, pull down the lever or fill in the ballot.

Every action has a reaction. We’re on the precipice of history today!

Let Joy be Unconfined… on Healthy Living Today

Posted by Liz on Nov 2, 2008 in exercise | 2 comments

[Henri Matisse, Dance (II), 1909]

One never knows where one might find inspiration. It can in a song, a book, a beautiful friend or better yet, through common interests.

Someone I’ve met via Twitter has been a regular inspiration to me, through his devotion to exercise, fitness, healthy living and finding the positive in just about everything he does. Consequently, I was very honored to be asked by Mark Salinas to write a guest post for his blog, Healthy Living Today.

I hope you’ll check out the post and better yet, spend some time perusing Mark’s site. It a great source of information on how to make the best of the journey we’re all on.

Enjoy!

Train For Humanity

Posted by Liz on Nov 1, 2008 in exercise | 2 comments

Exercise, while a blessing for some, is a bane for others. Personally, I enjoy my daily workouts (most of the time) and need some desperately for sanity, stress relief and peace of mind, not to mention weight control.

One of my BBFF, Blanche, has mentioned from time to time her desire to do a triathlon. She’s also said that there’s a bunch of women in her neighborhood who are training for one.

Although training for an intensive event such as a triathlon is not one of my personal goals, I did want to share information with you about an organization – Train for Humanity – that’s added a humanitarian twist to exercise.

Founded by a wonderful man named Mark Hayward, TFH is devoted to raising money for humanitarian organizations and aid relief missions assisting displaced persons and refugees, especially children who have been displaced due to genocide and/or civil war. The athletes that train for endurance events raise money simultaneously to support important causes donated to these issues.

If you’re in the mindset to step up your goals to balance out the hormones and mood swings and combine them with a bit of fundraising, well, I’m sure that TFH could use your help.

After all, what’s better than sweating for a cause instead of as the result of hormones?