Hello, Sunshine!

     I got a reminder last week about the importance of sunscreen.

     It was at my dermatologist’s office, but she didn’t have to remind me verbally. All she had to do was pull out her little liquid-nitrogen blowtorch and set to work freezing off all the incipient skin cancers on my face and body.

     Not fun. It hurts (although not nearly as bad as would letting those little blemishes turn into full-blown skin cancers). But it does give one pause.

     The cancers-in-the-making, as I’ve noted here previously, are caused by exposure to sunshine. You may have been exposed years and years ago, but the results pop up only now. And pop up. And will pop up again. I see the dermatologist twice a year as a result.

     When I was doing the George Hamilton tan dude routine all those years ago, not enough of us knew (or cared) about sun damage. I didn’t start using sunscreen until much later in life. I’m using it now, though, and how. Wouldn’t want this year’s sun damage to show up when I’m 90. And no, that’s not too old to care.

     Yes, doctors say we all need our Vitamin D, and that the best way to get it is from sunshine. I get my Vitamin D mostly from enriched milk, thank you. In warmer weather, I wear shorts and let my legs be exposed to sunshine – but briefly. And only the legs. They bear far less evidence of earlier sun damage than my face, ears, shoulders and the backs of my hands. And my nose. It must have been a real sun-magnet in my youth.

     Today, even if it’s cloudy, that schnoz is protected by sunscreen. Or, better yet, sunblock. (Neutrogena makes one with an SPF 55.)

     No more reminders needed.

    

Hard To Swallow

     Boy, do we love pills. Too bad there aren’t any pills to make us smarter.

     Instead, we pop pills to lose weight, to grow hair, to get healthier without having to exercise or improve our diets, to do just about anything we can dream of. The problem is: Unintended consequences.

     Take me, for instance. I’d seen the ads and commercials for glucosamine. Helps the joints, they promised. My joints are getting a little creaky so I started taking glucosamine. And the next time I went in for my annual checkup, my blood test showed a spike in my glucose level. Not quite diabetes territory, but heading in that direction – a direction I’d never headed before.

     And then I began to think: Glucose. Glucosamine. Pretty similar. Could there be a connection? I checked with my doctor (which I should have done more carefully before), and stopped popping the glucosamine pills. Another blood test, and my glucose levels were back to what’s more normal for me.

     Lesson learned? Not entirely.

     I’d also read and heard a lot about Omega-3 fatty acids – how good they are for heart health and all that. These fatty acids are found in salmon and sardines, among other things. I like both fish, but I don’t eat them daily. Would a daily fish-oil pill do a better job? My doctor didn’t say no, so I started taking them.

     And then, last February, I had the hemorrhagic stroke I’ve written about here previously. In the absence of other causes, the doctors guessed that the prescription blood-thinners I’d been taking for hypertension and incipient heart disease may have contributed to the stroke. My super-thinned blood had leaked right through a small vein, causing a pool of blood inside my skull that, in turn, caused the stroke. And guess what: Fish-oil pills also act as blood thinners. I’d been exacerbating the process.

     So I’m not taking glucosamine or fish-oil pills any more. I’m not even that high on taking a daily multi-vitamin pill. Eating a well-balanced diet should be sufficient for most people’s needs. The vitamins and minerals in vitamin pills are extracted from natural sources, removed from the other source materials that could be making them work better if they were all left together.

     Self-prescribed pills are major industry. They’ve become a part of our “I want it now” culture.

     I’m just no longer on the bandwagon. Unless someone comes up with that make-you-smarter pill.

To Your Health!

     Here’s a toast to the miracle health liquid you’d do well to drink a lot of: water.

     That’s right, just plain water. We’re fortunate enough to live in a country where good, clean water is as close as your tap, and it’s the best thing you can swallow to keep everything in your body working right. Our bodies are more than 90 percent water anyway, and it’s wise to keep your tank topped up.

     I’ve discovered that as I age, I need to pay more attention to hydration. I don’t recall thinking much about drinking sufficient water when I was younger, but in those days I wasn’t really thinking all that much about my health anyway. When everything is working, you take it for granted. But when you start developing the aches and pains of old age, you tend to smarten up. And drinking water is smart.

     Our bodies need sufficient water intake to keep the kidneys working properly, flushing out all the stuff that needs flushing. Take in too little water, and you can suffer dehydration, often more quickly than you think. The brain can get wobbly. The digestive system doesn’t work as well as it should. Some people have been known to become light-headed or pass out. We’ve all read of performers canceling shows because they were dehydrated – too loopy and dried out to physically perform. They were working too hard, being too busy, to think about keeping up their water intake, and they paid the price.

     I drink a big glass – 16 ounces -- of water every morning upon awakening. After all, my body has gone without the stuff for the previous eight hours or so. Then I make sure to drink another big glass during the morning, and another in the course of the afternoon. (Those ubiquitous plastic bottles of water can be handy, even though I dislike their effect on the environment, if you’re out and about without easy access to glasses; the bottles provide the measured amount you need.)

     That’s all it takes. No need to shell out for expensive potions or pills to “remove your toxins.” Three glasses of water, or their equivalent, every day do everything you need to accomplish that end. Oh, sure, you’ll need to keep a sharp eye on where the nearest toilets are. You’ll be peeing regularly. But you’ll be doing that more as you age anyway. Might as well have a good reason for it.

   So here’s to those three daily glasses, minimum. And if you want to have a little more water at the end of the day, with a dash of Scotch in it, that’s fine, too.

     Cheers!

Balancing Act

     A well-balanced life is important. You know, both work and play, activity and rest, dessert and more dessert – that sort of thing.

     But having a body that can balance itself is important, too. The older we get, the harder it is to balance. Older people tend to fall. A lot. Some break hips (although it’s sort of a tossup whether you fall and break a hip or the hip breaks and you fall). None of that is good.

     So while you still have a sense of balance, it’s smart to exercise it. You’ll need it later. Trust me.

     I’ve never had much of a sense of balance. I’m just extremely fortunate that I’ve never been pulled over at a DUI checkpoint and asked to balance. Walk a straight line? Not that easy. Stand on one foot? Never happen. And that’s when I’m completely sober.

     Balance stems from a few things: a healthy inner ear, legs strong enough to keep the body balanced, and good feet to anchor the process. (I blame my feet for my problems – misshapen toes don’t always work all that well.). I’ve already written about the value of keeping your legs exercised. When those muscles go, you’re in trouble in so many ways. The inner ear? Everyone’s is a little different, but all benefit from overall good health. Eat, sleep and exercise well and most ears will see you though.

     There also are some easy exercises to do to keep your sense of balance working.

     1.  Stand next to a wall that you can use to steady yourself if necessary. Place one foot in front of the other, heel to toe. Hold that position for a count of 10. Then reverse feet and do it all over again. (It helps if you focus your gaze on a fixed point in front of you.)

When you get so good at this that the 10-count seems easy, then try it with your eyes closed. (You won’t have that fixed point to look at, but if you can keep one in your mind’s eye, it helps.)

     2.  Stand on one foot, lift the other off the ground, and hold that for a count of 10. Reverse feet and count again. Then follow the same eyes-closed routine when you get good. (It helps to have your feet on solid, level ground or flooring, not on carpet. Especially not on padded carpet, unless you relish a challenge.)

     3.  The Wii video game has a nifty variation on the stand-on-foot routine that involves rhythmically lifting the other leg and opposite arm, then reversing. My wife Geri is really good at this. I can only gaze in awe.

     Do those exercises regularly, and I think they’ll serve you well as you age. Critics still may call you unbalanced. But you’ll know better.

Breasts and Beards

     Funny things, hormones.

     When you’re adolescent, they kick in big time – and we can’t wait for them to do their stuff. Boys check the mirror each morning in search of whiskers to shave. Girls anticipate the hormones’ arrival with the lyric best expressed in “A Chorus Line” – “tits, when am I gonna grow tits?”

     The bodily changes happen and things pretty much stay the same through middle age. But as we get older, something strange occurs. The hormones are back. But the second time around, their effects are reversed.

     Women start getting a little more testosterone, perhaps to give them a hand with increased assertive behavior when they outlive their mates (as most women do) and have to run the show on their own. But with testosterone comes those whiskers the teenage boys were longing for. Older women become more hirsute. You may have noticed this when you kissed your grandmother and got whisker burn. The electric shaver becomes one of an older woman’s best friends.

     Men start getting more progesterone, perhaps to finally get us more in touch with our feminine side. We tear up in movies more easily, and don’t care who knows it. We seem to be more empathetic. And those tits? Yes, men start getting them, too.

     I didn’t notice at first that it was happening to me, because I was working out, lifting weights. “Man, look at those pecs!” I’d marvel. The weights must really be working.. But then I began working out less. My biceps and triceps pretty much returned to their pre-workout size. But the “pecs” stayed as is.

     Fortunately, I’m pretty lean of build so my man-boobs aren’t all that big. If you’re a heavier guy, though, you may want to consider slimming down some before your polo shirts start looking  as though they were designed for Dolly Parton.

     As I said, funny things, hormones. And funny thing, life. We start out in diapers. Boys grow whiskers. Girls grow breasts. Then women grow whiskers. Men grow breasts. And we ultimately end up in diapers again.

     All you can do is laugh.

Say What?

     I was going to write today about a couple of aspects of aging that few people talk about: breasts on men and whiskers on women. And then I started thinking. There are things that also aren’t being written, most specifically comments from you about this blog.

     Now a lot of you have said you enjoy what you’re been reading here. But you say it in emails to me or messages on Facebook or in our occasional face-to-face encounters. But actual comments from you on this Boomerometer blog? Not so much.

     Why is that? Under each posting there’s space for your comments. All it requires are a few keystrokes on your keyboard (or thumbstrokes if you’re using a smartphone). Couldn’t get much easier to express yourself. I wish you would.

     It’s not that I’m looking for praise, although I never turn that down. I actually can take criticism, too. That’s the nice thing about electronic communication. Nobody can see you sob until you pull yourself together.

     But what I’d really like to hear are your opinions on what I’ve written. What you’re thinking about on this journey through life together. What subjects you’d like to have me explore. What subjects you’d prefer that I keep my big nose out of. What’s up in general – have an actual online back-and-forth about your concerns. That would mean a lot to me. It might even be meaningful for you.

     And next week, I’ll get back to man-boobs and bearded ladies.

    

Testing 1-2-3

     It’s a darn good thing that we’re old enough to learn patience. If we weren’t, the constant, conflicting health recommendations from experts would drive us nuts.

     I’m thinking here about the recent guideline controversies regarding pap smears and PSA tests. I can’t speak from direct personal experience regarding pap smears. Their frequency has been called into question by people who fear we’re being over-tested and, as a result, made overly anxious. I just tend to think that I’d want as much information as possible about possible threats to my health.

     I can speak directly about the PSA tests that screen for prostate cancer, though. As readers of this blog know, I’ve had the tests. I’ve had prostate cancer. I don’t have it any more because I got treatment. You can figure that I take this a little personally. But please don’t discount what I’m about to say because of my perceived bias or conflict-of-interest. Use that patience thing.

     The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says it’s no longer recommending routine PSA tests for seemingly healthy men. It isn’t entirely clear, the task force says, whether the test leads to life-saving treatment. Many prostate cancers are extremely slow-growing. Something else may kill you first. Biopsies to determine if a guy actually has prostate cancer are medical procedures, and any medical procedure carries risks. Spikes in PSA readings can be caused by common things: a vigorous bike ride, an infection, recent sexual activity. And there’s that over-testing concern.

     Here’s my take: Don’t test seemingly healthy men? Prostate cancer exhibits no symptoms until it’s further along than you’d like. Prostate cancers can be slow growing? What if they’re not? What if they’re aggressive enough cause a spike in your PSA test? What if sex caused the spike in your reading? Ask for another blood test and stay out of the bedroom beforehand.

     And those over-testing concerns? It sure beats over-dying at the other end of that scale.