PODCAST #19 12-1-07

WELCOME TO THE 19th EDITION OF THE HEALTH AND HAPPINESS PODCAST

Vitamin D increases life span: Health and life style changes:

   High levels of vitamin D may slow aging and increase life span by preventing the age-related decline in telomere length. Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes that shorten with aging, cell division and inflammation. When telomeres become too short, the cell can no longer divide and it dies.
   Scientists at King’s College studied more that 2,000 women, examining their serum levels of vitamin D and assessing leukocyte telomere length. Women with the highest level of vitamin D had the longest telomeres. Women with the lowest levels of vitamin D had the highest levels of C-reactive protein. Which is a marker for chronic inflammation. Those with the highest level of vitamin D had telomeres whose length correlated to roughly five additional years of life.

    Getting enough sleep may help your memory in addition to other benefits. Inadequate sleep may contribute to problems including type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, obesity and increased accident risk. Americans are a sleep deprived society. Get 8-9 hours sleep and see how much better you feel and act.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

   A combination of exercise, weight loss and dietary strategies raises the level of HDL (good) cholesterol at least as effectively as any drug.

   A 2004 German study found that volunteers with coronary heart disease who started a carefully regulated exercise program had fewer heart attacks and heart-related hospitalizations than those who underwent angioplasty, which is an invasive procedure to open blocked arteries.

   A study that followed more than 42,000 men for 16 years found that those who ate healthfully, managed their weight, didn’t smoke, drank moderately if at all, and exercised regularly had an 87% lower risk for heart disease than those who practiced none of those behaviors. A similar study of 24,000 post-menopausal women showed that those who adopted the same measures had a 92% lower risk of heart attack over a six year period.

   Americans still don’t make needed lifestyle changes because of laziness and in part because doctors are neither trained nor reimbursed to provide the necessary counseling.

That’s all for PODCAST #19. I hope you found it interesting and informative. The next PODCAST will be the week of January 1

IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED ON THE HEALTH AND HAPPINESS PODCAST OUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IS
health@lencolabs.com.

For more information on this subject and other subjects go to www.lencolabs.com, thank you for listening to the health and happiness podcast with--Leonard Austin