Unfortunately, the answer is YES; the heart grows older as well as we age. Although several people like me always say “Oh I’m never getting old….I’m young at heart and will stay young forever”…which is good and this is how we should live with a positive attitude. With this type of attitude, we can sure increase our life by minimum of 5 years and may be more too. Again, it depends upon our mental outlook and how we live, and not just the age. Science agrees with this, but at the same time, we have now come to know so many different facts about our heart health and we should realize that with increasing age, even with a positive attitude and sound mental acuity, our heart undergoes some changes, and it continues to undergo those changes even when there is no disease, even when the person is healthy and has no known risk condition or a disease. The heart muscles start to weaken and when the heart beats, these heart muscles cannot relax completely between those beats, and when this happens they become stiff; as a result they start to function less efficiently and they don’t do their job of pumping blood very well and finally give up. The loss of good function of these heart muscles gets worse when there is any heart disease.

As the heart grows older, it does not respond effectively to adrenaline and this is the reason that older heart cannot contract or cannot pump blood faster or vigorously when there is a need, especially when we exercise or do any physical activity. So, we should not be surprised if we see our capacity to walk briskly or to work out and exercise has decreased as compared to when we were young. We all know and have experienced that all that was so easy to do when we were 16 or 18 or 20, is extremely difficult as we get older. Our heart just doesn’t function that well any more. This is also the reason for changes in our blood pressure, normally high when the heart muscles are too stiff.

The decrease in the capacity of heart to work efficiently differs from person to person. It all depends on how we live our life, what other conditions have we developed? Do we have any other disease? How and what kind of decisions we made in life when it came to eating right or how much we exercised?

We have to realize the importance of healthy life-style changes as early as possible in our lives. It is never too late. All the risk factors basically affect overall quality of life and of course how long we live. Let us not wait till the last minute when our doctor has to tell us that it is too late. Let us take charge of our own health and wellness and do something about it.

Do you agree with me?

My expertise is in the field of diabetes, heart disease and hormone balance and I wish to share some of the knowledge I have gained in these areas through research and lots of reading. I would love to answer any of your questions or address any curiosities you may have about overall health and wellness. Please feel free to add your thoughts here for our fellow readers and let us all share our experiences to build a healthy community. Let us begin talking about the real wealth- our health and wellness.   Let us start learning from each other.

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By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Research and writing about issues for baby boomer consumers is for me one of life’s great adventures.

Since I’ve began blogging in January 2008, I’ve written more than 600 articles for three blogs, including Boomer411. It’s fun, educational, and entertaining.

I’m always looking for great ideas on the Internet and in magazines and newspapers and on television.

Today, I decided to try something different in my Google search for topics. I typed in “What baby boomers need to know.”

Here are the articles I found that I think offer valuable information to boomer consumers:

“What Baby Boomers, Seniors Need to Know About Hepatitis C” – Associated Content

“What Baby Boomers Need to Know About Taking Care of Their Elderly Parents” – Associated Content

“What Baby Boomers Need to Know about Stroke – America’s No. 3 Killer” – Access My Library

“Baby Boomers Need to Care for Shoulders” – Duke Health.com

“Here’s What You Need to Know About Caring for an Elderly Parent” – You’re Over 50.com

I was surprised to find that several of my articles turned up in the articles listed. They are:

“Baby Boomer Consumers Need to Know About Unsafe, Deadly Products and Peanut Recalls” – Boomer411

“Baby Boomer Consumers Need to Know About Recalls Such as Sweatshirts from Seattle Distributor” – Boomer Consumer on Seattle Post Intelligencer site

“Baby Boomers Need More Than a Wheelchair Ramp to Meet Housing Needs as They Age” – Boomer Consumer on Seattle Post Intelligencer site

“What Baby Boomers Need to Know About Selecting a Health Club” – Boomer Consumer on Seattle Post Intelligencer site

I also found a book “Everything Baby Boomers Should Know – An Insider’s Guide to Estate Planning” by Mark Cornwall, an attorney.

Check out these articles and see if they’re helpful to you as a boomer consumer. Also let me know if there are other consumer topics you need more information on.

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Here at Boomer411, we are constantly looking for ways to bring you better, more valuable content. Towards this goal, we are constantly adding new columnists to write on our blog. Today, it is my distinct pleasure to introduce to you our newest guest columnist, Dr.Sanjay Kapur. Dr.Kapur is the scientific director at ZRT Laboratories, an innovative company in the field of medical testing kits. ZRT Laboratory is known for its minimally-invasive hormone testing solutions. Some of you probably recognize his name as Dr.Sanjay is an active Boomer411 Trustee, regularly providing article recommendations on our site Boomer411.com. He goes by the user name SanjayKapurZRT. He has extensive experience in biomedical research and has served in several lead positions directing studies involving development of novel technologies and solutions to common problems. He has regularly published articles in medical journals and other forums and he also authors his own blog here. We are delighted to present Dr.Sanjay Kapur to our blog readers. So without much ado, let me present Dr.Sanjay Kapur’s first article for our readers on the dual topics of ‘Heart disease and diabetes’. Dr.Sanjay looks at this problem in a very fundamental way and suggests where to look to make lasting changes. Please do let us know what you think about this article and also how you see this problem…

Heart Disease- Diabetes- Obesity: What Have we Achieved so Far?

  By Dr.Sanjay Kapur of  ZRT Laboratory

We know that the heart disease and diabetes pose significant threats to our health, especially as we grow older and of course they are major challenges to the medical community as well. Although there have been major advancements in the medical field as far as detection and treatment of these conditions is concerned, but unfortunately these problems continue to result in serious health complications, disability and premature death. The sad part is that the overall incidence of these diseases is still going to increase as more and more people continue to age and also with the rise in obesity rates, especially in US.

Did you know that a few scientific studies came out in 2005 which showed that the life expectancy has declined for the first time in this country!!!

How did this happen?

We thought that we were working hard to create a better world with so much of advancement in all fields including medical sciences. Yes, no doubt we HAVE made a lot of progress in terms of finding cure and treatment for so many different conditions….BUT why still almost a MILLION Americans die of cardiovascular disease every year, which means 1 death every 34 seconds, and out of all those about 50% are above the age of 50 and this is just due to heart disease. What about Diabetes? Did you know that as of today almost 20 million Americans have diabetes and this number has increased by more than 60% since last 10 years, and again more than 50% people who have diabetes are above the age of 50. It is unfortunate that now we have started to see more and more cases of children with diabetes, which we could never imagine earlier, because at one point diabetes was considered as a condition in only the adults.

 Can you IMAGINE how much it costs us every year in terms of dollar figure to fight against both heart disease and diabetes? Collectively, these conditions cause more than 1 million deaths every year and result in more than $620 billion in direct and indirect costs.

 So, what happened? Where did we go wrong? Should we stop and rethink; what did we do differently OR what did we NOT do that we had to see such increase in the prevalence of these conditions?

 I think the problem is that we have the luxury of choosing a bad lifestyle and as we age we start to realize that the choices we made earlier in life were probably not the smartest ones.

What do you think?

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By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

What baby boomer consumers don’t know about unsafe products could injure and even kill them.

An estimated 1.9 boomers were injured by consumer products in 2007, according to the U.S. Consumer Safety Commission’s database NEISS Estimates Query Builder.

It’s important for boomers to keep up on information about recalled products to prevent injury to themselves and those in their households.

When I began writing for consumers in 1977, I was on the mailing list of the commission. I received a news release about a shop light that had killed people and was being recalled.

I showed the information to a family member. Sure enough! It was the recalled light. We returned it to the store where it was purchased for a refund.

Keeping up with recalls is a big task, but easier now with Internet postings.

Go weekly to the federal government’s recall site at www.Recalls.gov and review the new recalls.

The site offers information on recalled consumer products, motor vehicles, boats, food, cosmetics, and environmental products. You can search by type of product, company, or a specific product.

You can also sign up to receive e-mail recalls from five government agencies including the commission, National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and Coast Guard.

A new recall from the commission this week is two educational kits, Solar System Kits and DNA. About 930,000 kits, manufactured by FloraCraft Corp., of Ludington, Mich., have a surface coating on the educational kit’s wires can contain excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard, according to the commission.

It’s also important for boomer consumers to check their cupboards for recalled peanut products.

See my article “What Boomer Consumers Need to Do about Peanut Recalls” for details on how to go about this.

The case count for those sickened by contaminated peanut products is 691 in 46 states with latest confirmed, most recent reported illness beginning on February 24, 2009.

The numbers of new cases have declined substantially since the peak in December, but illnesses are still being reported among people who ate the recalled brands of peanut butter crackers after the recall, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The outbreak is expected to continue at a low level for the next several months since consumers, unaware that they have recalled products in their home, continue to consume these products, many of which have a long shelf life.

Consumers should avoid eating recalled products.

Please take the time to make this important check of your food supply. A 30-year-old man and his 3-year-old daughter were sickened in Blaine, Wash., in January. You don’t want a tragedy to happen in your family that could have been avoided.

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By Rita R. Robison, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Should baby boomers sign up for Twitter?

I’m trying it.

Why?

A fellow blogger, who writes 20-plus posts a day, said it’s a good way to get information out about your posts.

What is Twitter?

A Twitter fact sheet offers this description:

Twitter is a social network and microblogging service that allows you to answer the question, ‘What are you doing?’ by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called ‘tweets,’ to your friends and ‘followers.’

The short format of the tweet is a defining characteristic of the service, allowing informal collaboration and quick information sharing that provides relief from rising e-mail and IM fatigue. Twittering is also a less gated method of communication: you can share information with people that you wouldn’t normally exchange e-mail or IM messages with, opening up your circle of contacts to-growing community of like-minded people.

I found this great clip, “Twitter in Plain English” on YouTube that does a good job of explaining what it is.

Having just signed up for Facebook about a month ago, I thought I’d give Twitter a try.

The first thing I found out was my family and friends aren’t on Twitter.

Then I found that the boomer blogs that I enjoy, such as the Boomer Café, weren’t on Twitter. However, I did find the Boomer Diva Nation.

I didn’t find the Boomer Project, a research and marketing organization focused on boomers, either.

I e-mailed Matt Thornhill, one of the co-founders of the Boomer Project, and asked him why his organization isn’t on Twitter.

“Don’t have time to tweet,” Thornhill replied. “Plus, not sure I ‘get it.’”

Since my blogger friend said Twitter was a good venue, I tried another angle.

Since I specialize in consumer writing, I began looking for the consumer organizations I rely on for information for my posts. I had good luck here. I signed up to follow Consumer Reports, Public Citizen, and The Consumerist.

My Twitter in box began to fill up with dozens of tweets. They’re mostly headlines from the consumer groups about their articles, but Consumer Reports also gave information about events they sponsor, such as their auto issue tour.

This is a great way to get ideas for blogs. I’ll be blogging about less expensive cleaning products, a recent article in Consumer Reports.

I didn’t know how questions or comments were answered on Twitter. I found out quickly. People reply to you in another tweet.

Consumer Reports read I’m interested in consumer groups. In another tweet, the writer suggested I also follow Food Safety, CDC Emergency, and FDA recalls, which I did.

When the Consumer Reports writer read I appreciated the tweets I was receiving from him and other groups, he acknowledged my comments.

I have six people following me now, including Consumer Reports.

As soon as I’ve posted this article, I’ll let the Twitter world know about it.

And, yes, I won’t write any tweets about going to take a shower. My blogging friend said he doesn’t appreciate those.

Twitter gave me about a dozen people that I could follow when I signed up. I deleted all of them except Dr. Drew Pinsky, a doctor I enjoyed listening to when “Loveline” was on the radio.

Dr. Drew writes tweets all day about the little things he’s doing. He has 108,644 people following him. It’s strange.

Would I recommend Twitter to baby boomers?

If you’re a blogger, if you like techie things, or if you’re interested in following celebrities, I’d suggest signing up. For friends and family communication, I think Facebook is better. But, if you’re overwhelmed with the amount of e-mail you’re getting or find your other social networks too time consuming, I’d skip Twitter.

Paul Briand, a boomer blogger who writes the Baby Boomer Examiner, quoted a study in the post “Boomers Slow to Tweet” that indicated 10 percent of Twitter users are 35 to 44 years old, 5 percent are 45 to 54 years old, and 4 percent are 55 to 64 years old. The median age of a Twitter user is 31.

Briand is following me on Twitter. I was able to find his article easily by going to Twitter, clicking on his site, and locating a link to an article I saw earlier.

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