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Recent Personal HealthPosts

Is Your Coffee Habit a Mental Disorder?

Posted on 06/14/2013 by | Personal Health and Well-being | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthMy husband knows not to talk to me before I have my first cup of coffee in the morning. Maybe not even until after the third. And the times I’ve been forced to forgo those daily cups? Headache, crankiness, fatigue—and did I mention crankiness? Obviously, I must have a mental disorder. Or at least I do according to the new edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s mental health manual, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5. See also: …

Court: Nobody Can Patent Your Genes … What Does That Mean?

Posted on 06/13/2013 by | News, Culture, Sights and Sounds | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal Health | PoliticsSC: “A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and is not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated” Woo Hoo!!! — Francis S. Collins (@NIHDirector) June 13, 2013   That tweet came from the director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis S. Collins. Why is Collins so giddy? Because the Supreme Court ruled June 13 that nobody can patent your genes. (Read full decision .pdf) Collins and others at NIH, like Eric Green, M.D., the …

The #1 Best All-Around Exercise for Every Post-50 Body

Posted on 06/13/2013 by | Best of Everything After 50 | Comments

Beauty & Fashion | Personal Health | Your LifeRecently I introduced you to one of the best exercises anyone, of any age, can do to fight osteoporosis AND get those upper arms looking lean and mean. In case you missed it, click here to read the blog post and see the short video: “Fix the Flaw: How to Get Fit Arms After 50.”  For those of you who were inspired enough to get down and “do ten” (I hope that was all of you!) get ready, ’cause we’re …

Your Role in “Choosing Wisely”

Posted on 06/12/2013 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

health care | Personal Health | Public Policy InstituteHave you ever been prescribed an antibiotic to fight a cold or flu virus, even if you knew that such medicines are not designed to fight viruses?   What if your doctor recommends a treatment that you think is not necessary?  Today, thanks to the Choosing Wisely campaign, you can be better prepared for such challenging conversations, and together with your health team you can carefully weigh treatment choices. AARP is a partner in this campaign, which promotes thoughtful conversations between patients, caregivers …

You Won’t Believe What They Found on Colonoscopy Instruments

Posted on 06/12/2013 by | Personal Health and Well-being | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthIt’s hard enough convincing people to have a colonoscopy because of the laxative and liquids-only prep regimen you need to undergo the day before. Now a study at five hospitals nationwide finds that three out of 20 endoscopes (pictured at right) that are inserted in the rectum to examine the colon for cancer retained bits of “biological dirt” from past patients, putting people at risk for hepatitis and infection. “Three out of 20 is an unexpectedly high number of endoscopes …

A Second Chance for the Woodcarver

Posted on 06/12/2013 by | Latino Life | Comments

Personal Health | Your LifeA ruptured aortic aneurysm is known to cause death almost instantly. Basically a tear in one’s main artery, it pours out blood at a heartbeat tempo and leaves a lifeless victim in its wake.  The mortality rate from a burst aneurysm is 90% even if you make it to the hospital. Only a few survive. One of the survivors is Barry Lysaght, a master woodcarver who lives in the Santa Monica Mountains just north of Los Angeles in a small …

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