Dear Bob, here are some photos of my life here on the campus of Concordia Seminary. I love kids, working with the grounds crew, swimming, playing with my dog friends, and especially my own family people.
A couple of weeks ago there was news warning about the possible dangers/side effects of Ibuprofen which so many take now and then for aches and pains/fevers. This morning the experts are warning that aspirin may not be all that good for physical strength and health. They think aspirin may lead to senior people falling.
This annoys the living heck out of me, these constant discoveries of things we've done for years without incident. I just wonder what new pain relief item is in the works to take the place of aspirin or ibuprofen. After the Ibuprofen warning a couple of weeks ago, I went back to ordinary aspirin for aching knees at bedtime. Now this is bad too.
These medical experts have lost me and I have decided to do what I've always done. Done without side affects.
After some years of being told that Ibuprofen is a much better anti-inflammatory medicine than aspirin, now we're told that this product can make things worse. According to those who tested this on people found joint inflammation and cartilage quality got worse over the next four years compared to a group of 793 controls who did not take the drugs.
I gave up aspirin for aches and pains in my knees for Ibuprofen because experts and my husband believed it was much safer and worked better. As soon as I saw this story last week I stopped with the Ibuprofen and went back to aspirin especially at night.
Seriously, how much can we really believe when it comes to things like this. Doctors have been prescribing the Advil type pain killers for some time as they believed it was better than plain old aspirin. Now what will these doctors be recommending. It's hard to know what to believe anymore.
Another study which I hope is true. Drinking red wine in moderation can help ease joint pain and stiffness. Red wine is my go to drink around dinner time and by that time my knees and lower back are as stiff as two by fours from bending and lifting in the garden. Red wine is contains something called resveratrol, which has anti-inflammatory properties. So I'll be putting the red wine theory to the test.
Along comes this rather unsettling advice and warning about our sleep positions. I honestly believe many science experts are just making stuff up in order to get published and some of this causes us unnecessary worry.
"When you lie down to sleep, the position you take can affect your health and even how you look."
Talk about a come-on which will probably keep us up at night which is worse than sleep position. Let's get to the "how you look" part. "Side sleeping will actually increase the number of wrinkles you have because side sleeping, you push your face against the pillow and that can actually increase the wrinkles, especially if you lay on one side all the time,” said Dr. Ravi Johar, chief medical officer for United Healthcare in the Missouri-Illinois area. It also causes neck and shoulder pain.
I'd say this is pushing the envelope in order to get people to read.
First it was the news that aspirin was bad for us for any of number of reasons. I was always an aspirin taker especially for soreness after yard work or headaches. Then all the medical experts recommended Ibuprofen (advil, Motrin, etc) for pain relief.
This bothers me no end and it seems that in the rush to publish these new pieces of information, they are not correct. Or at least not essentially right. This is why I take sudden change in medical new with a grain of salt, even though salt is also bad for us.
I guess I will wait to see if my aching knees can get through the day without Advil. If not, I'm taking some even though my first choice and even better for inflammation is aspirin.
There are studies for just about everything, but this one from the American Heart Association gave me pause. I wasn't sure at first if it was satire or really real. The study published this week measured the physical activity of over 5400 women between the ages of 63 and 97.
They found that women who did daily chores like housework, cooking, vacuuming, gardening and even taking a shower had a reduced risk of heart disease. While I do all these things everyday and it sounds like good news, I have to wonder if they ever did a study like this for men. The conclusions sound like a great argument for men to encourage women to keep on doing housework.
If housework and gardening is good heart work for women, should this not apply to men as well?
Monday morning. This must be the day when news reporters are tired because a whole lot of stories showed up this morning on how to get better sleep.Some of these are interesting and maybe helpful, others are kind of far out.
A low protein snack before bed will boost the metabolism in the morning. They advise eating things like fruit, nuts, seeds and oatmeal before bed. But this snack I would probably never eat: "a sandwich made with banana, lettuce and marmite and is the best way to fix your sleep problem." No sandwich for me that late and I have no idea what marmite is..
Why the snake plant will help you sleep better! It is a natural air purifier that emits oxygen at night, meaning you can sleep better (and for longer). Of all the house plants we have around here, not one is a snake plant. I may go looking for one today,
You need to change the bed sheets more often for better sleep. It turns out that there's a sweet spot for this by changing them every 12 or 13 days for the best chance of sleeping soundly. Actually, 12 or 13 days seems kind of long to me. This article is filled with reasons why clean bed sheets are good, and why not clean sheets are bad for a good sleep. I enjoyed this article
And finally, magnesium supplements are important. They seem to regulate our circadian rhythms, the internal clock that tells the body when to be awake and when to go to bed. magnesium is thought to directly and positively impact relaxation and sleep architecture. I have no idea what sleep architecture is, but magnesium helps it.
I have no idea why this post has such a long empty gap before the post under it.
We have taken to having a couple bowls of nuts out on the coffee table all the time these days. We have two kinds-regular peanuts (Schnucks roasted and salted extra large Virginia Peanuts) which are very very tasty. The other is the Culinaria Gourmet Blend of mixed nuts. Both are very very good. We grab some as we pass through the room or while watching TV.
At the moment the Collinsville Schnucks is out of the Virginia Peanuts and has been for about a week. Today I am going to (maybe) go over to the Schnucks near the seminary and St. Marys Hospital to see if they have any. That store is not like the others, more items, more selections, more variety. It may be because they get a lot of business from those at the hospital as well as 3 universities all in a row along Big Bend. Wash U especially.
This article on nuts today interested me-Almonds versus Walnuts- which is better for you? The can of Gourmet Nuts we get is just loaded with Almonds, maybe too many for our liking. I kind of laugh because a couple of years ago Almonds were in short supply. The other nuts in this can are about everything but peanuts. The article seems to believe both Almonds and Walnuts have great benefits, just different.
The reason for these cities being worst in the state may be know by someone, but looking at the list I see a bunch of college towns. Whether that plays into it is just a guess.
We are back again getting strong advice on the importance of wearing masks and N95 or KN95 masks being the most protective. Cloth masks are now said to be less effective.
I guess I'll be getting some of these today even though I am not crazy about the big round blob of their look. Some companies have begun making them in fun colors and designs which help somewhat.
The N95 masks are designed to form a seal around the mouth and nose. It is also said that you can tell if you have a fake one if your glasses fog up while wearing it. The good mask will not allow fog.
Also the KN95 masks, also recommended are made in China while the N95's are not.
