Cancer Milestone

Action to take

Enjoy the good news that the incidence rates of cancer are declining
and five year survival rates have passed 50%.

Why

In the 1940’s, only one of four cancer patients survived five years.
In the 1960’s, survival was one in three. Now it has reached one in two.
Meanwhile, incidence rates have been dropped by .5% per year from
1991 to 2001.

Surgeries are often less radical and chemotherapy is often more targeted.
This brings a better quality of life for survivors. A few decades ago,
the public knew little about cancer beyond it being a “death sentence.”
In 1979, Norman Cousins’ book described how he used humor to
help overcome cancer, alerting people to the role of psychological
factors. Now there are thousands of support groups, hundreds of
books, and lots of media attention. A decade ago it would have
been hard to imagine millions of Today Show viewers watching
Katie Couric’s colonoscopy on live television. Inspired by her example,
the number of colonoscopy exams in the US increased 20% the following month.
A recent American Cancer Society report says that half of all cancers
are preventable. Cigarette smoking is the biggest cause of lung cancer, which
comprises about a third of cancers in America. Lung cancer has a very poor
survival rate. US smoking rates are declining and more businesses are now
smoke free. Smoking also contributes to several other types of cancer.
Other priority prevention measures include losing weight and testing for
breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostrate cancer.

Cancer research shows great promise. The future will soon have
genetic testing indicating what medications and treatments are
likely to be the most effective. For those who want alternative approaches
to treating cancer, the Moss Reports and the Life Extension Foundation
offer scientific perspectives on alternative medicine approaches
to cancer treatment.

Our nation’s two biggest causes of death are cardiovascular diseases
and cancer. For both, survival rates are showing substantial improvement.

Quotes

Show me a patient who is able to laugh and play, who enjoys living,
and I’ll show you someone who is going to live longer. Laughter makes
the unbearable bearable.
~Dr. Bernie Siegel

Humor

My apologies to not catching the source.
Interviews with cancer survivors included one
who described how his oncologist told him and
and his parents that he might want to smoke
marijuana to help with the nausea and pain from
the treatments. This was a dream come true–
a doctor telling his parents that he should smoke pot.

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Anti-Aging Psychologist Dr. Michael Brickey is keynote speaker and author of the Oprah-featured book, Defy Aging and 52 baby steps to Grow Young. The books and his Reverse Aging anti-aging hypnosis CDs comprise his anti-aging system.

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Needs vs. Wants

Action to take

When thinking and speaking, be accurate
about what you need vs. what you want.

Why

My wife asked if there was anything I needed from the grocery store
and I said some beer. Then I thought, I don’t need beer, I want beer.
The distinction is subtle, but offers several benefits. Saying I want
rather than need:
~ makes me more consciousness that this isn’t something my body needs
~ prompts me to consider whether I am making a healthy choice
~ prompts me to be more likely to make a healthy choice
~ raises my consciousness as to physiological effects
~ prompts gratitude as I realize I have many choices
~ prompts gratitude as I realize I can choose many things beyond my needs
That’s a lot of benefits from just being more conscious of one word choice.
Why fuss about semantics? Painlessly making healthier lifestyle choices fosters
living longer, healthier and living with purpose. So does having more gratitude.
I’m always looking for easy ways to foster growing young and living with purpose.
The distinction can have a lot of nuances. I may want a beer to help me relax
and unwind. If the outcome I want is to relax and unwind, being clear that it is
a want and not a need makes me more aware that I have several choices
for how to relax and unwind.

Sometimes wants are complicated by physiological needs. Wanting coffee
in the morning might be to prevent a headache from caffeine withdrawal
and to counter the lack of sleep from coffee the night before.
Physiological need distinctions can be controversial and confusing.
Research indicates that caffeine stimulates estrogen (estradiol) production.
This can increase the risk of cancer, especially for women at risk for
endometriosis and breast cancers. Some research suggests that pregnant
women metabolize caffeine at only a fourth of their normal rate.
The livers of fetuses cannot metabolize caffeine so the caffeine stays
in their systems for days.

Some research indicates caffeine increases menstrual muscle cramps.
Many women, however, report it relieves cramps and is calming
(partially from its diuretic effect). Then there is research indicating
that coffee has health benefits. What to make of the contradictions?
We need to pay attention to how caffeine affects us (and possibly
experiment with reducing or eliminating consumption to see the difference).
At the very least, moderation is needed, and extra moderation is
needed during pregnancy and breast feeding.

I have just been addressing what we eat and drink. Whether we need or just
want a new car and whether it is a Saturn or a luxury car has its nuances as well.

Quotes

Daddy, I don’t need your help.
I’ve been very intelligent since I was two years old.
~Sharon Brickey (last year when she was 4)

The road to success is a toll road. Pay that small, daily fee,
and you’ll be able to go most anywhere you want.
Leave some time for fun, and you’ll enjoy the ride.
~Steve Goodier (writer)

A rich person is not one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.
~(source unknown)

Humor

If we are to believe the HBO series, Big Love,
a man needs a mistress just to break the monogamy.
~Michael Brickey

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Anti-Aging Psychologist Dr. Michael Brickey is keynote speaker and author of the Oprah-featured book, Defy Aging and 52 baby steps to Grow Young. The books and his Reverse Aging anti-aging hypnosis CDs comprise his anti-aging system.

There’s No Place Like Home

Action to take

When you imagine living well into your hundreds,
imagine living at home or in a home like setting.

Why

Only a third of Americans say they want to live to a hundred.
Why? They imagine living to a hundred means being disabled
and living in a nursing home with its depersonalization, lack of privacy,
and institutional food. Nursing homes often are a necessary evil
for step-down nursing care after hospitalization, but they are a
terrible place to call home.

The marketplace caught on and now offers a cornucopia of
home-based services including housekeeping, nursing care,
and physical therapy. There are often tax breaks, utility subsidies,
and meals on wheels programs to help low-income seniors stay at home.
Independent living facilities and assisted living facilities are popping up
everywhere. Some are homelike. Some are very luxurious and like
a resort. (Some, unfortunately, look institutional and have a medical
feel with nursing stations and medical carts.) Americans whose
finances give them a choice are increasingly choosing to live at home
or in homelike communities. Baby Boomers in particular are likely
to insist on a homelike or resort-like atmosphere.

Now federal and state governments are doing the math and finding
that housing seniors in nursing homes often wastes money. In Pennsylvania,
for example, nursing homes bill Medicaid $144 a day per resident.
Home based care only costs $56 a day. Certainly a sizeable number
of nursing home residents are bedridden or in fragile health and are better
served in a nursing home. Many, however, are in nursing homes because they
have health problems, only have Social Security income, and can’t
afford to live on their own. They need some assistance but don’t
need the intensity of a nursing home.

Often indigent and low income seniors with health problems have
to choose between trying to make it in the community vs. giving up
their privacy and independence to share a tiny room in a nursing home.
It is probably just a matter of time before the government catches on
that the middle ground of assisted living is more humane, more
dignified, and more cost effective. Perhaps the fear is that people
who would otherwise live at home will flock to more comfortable
assisted living facilities. I doubt it. In most assisted living facilities
most residents pine for living at home.

To conclude, more and more seniors are living at home or in
homelike facilities. While you may spend a few weeks in a nursing
home for a knee replacement, you are not likely to have to live out
your later years in a nursing home.

Quotes

Oh, Auntie Em – there’s no place like home!
~Dorothy’s last line in the Wizard of Oz

Humor

Human beings are the only creatures
that allow their children to come back home.
~Bill Cosby

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Anti-Aging Psychologist Dr. Michael Brickey is keynote speaker and author of the Oprah-featured book, Defy Aging and 52 baby steps to Grow Young. The books and his Reverse Aging anti-aging hypnosis CDs comprise his anti-aging system. Listen to Dr. Brickey interview anti-aging experts on Ageless Lifesytles Radio on www.webtalkradio.net

Baby Boomers or Age Busters?

Action to take

If you are a Baby Boomer, adopt a new designation for your generation.

Why

Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. Boomers’ claim to fame is that
they are so big they can’t be ignored. But Boomers need a new public relations firm.
Is size all the generation stands for? The previous generation knew PR and called
themselves “The Greatest Generation.” Now that’s great marketing.

Baby Boomers need to drop the Baby. Boomers are well out of diapers and
have changed quite a few diapers themselves. Eighteen years is really more than one
generation and earlier and later Boomers had quite different defining events.
What most distinguishes the Boomer generation? They have redefined aging.
Boomers made 50 the new 30, etc. It wasn’t rhetoric. Though often overweight,
Boomers tend to look and act twenty years younger than people used to act at their age.
The change has come from their spirit and determination. It affected a paradigm shift in
how people age. To give proper credit, however, they also had a lot of help from medicine,
science, and cosmetics.

So let’s give Boomers the credit they deserve for helping all of us to look and feel younger.
Let’s change their name from Baby Boomers to Age Busters.

Quotes

I hope to die young, as late as possible.
~actors Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy

Humor

Radio talk show caller: I’m 75, Flo. I used to want to live fast and die young!
Flo: And now?
Caller: Well…now I just want to die young at a very old age.
~Flo & Friends cartoon by Campbell Bigel

We could certainly slow aging process down if it had to work its
way through Congress.
~Unknown

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Anti-Aging Psychologist Dr. Michael Brickey is keynote speaker and author of the Oprah-featured book, Defy Aging and 52 baby steps to Grow Young. The books and his Reverse Aging anti-aging hypnosis CDs comprise his anti-aging system.

Anti-Aging Research (Part II)

Action to take

The anti-aging cavalry is on the way.
Take care of yourself now so you can
benefit from coming scientific advances.

Why

Last post addressed how a family of enzymes called sirtuins
hold promise for slowing aging and helping remediate diseases such as
diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Today I would like to discuss another
research endeavor that holds promise of improving health and slowing aging.

Human Growth Hormone prompts our bodies to grow new tissue.
HGH levels decline after puberty and continue to decline with age. Physicians began
using Human Growth Hormones (HGH) in the 1980’s to help very short children
grow to a more normal height. That use is still common.

In 1990, Dr. Daniel Rudman gave HGH injections to elderly nursing home residents
and got dramatic results–the residents developed bigger muscles, thicker skin,
denser bones, more energy, lower blood pressure, fewer wrinkles, better
vision, thicker hair, improved mood and memory and improved sexual functioning.
Since then, thousands of athletes, actors, and celebrities have been taking
HGH injections at about $10,000 a year. My take is that if you are already elderly
or have certain unique health issues, it might be worth trying. At younger ages,
however, it is risky because not enough is known about the effects of long-term use.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get our bodies to naturally produce more HGH?
You can. Exercising, especially strength exercising, helps increase your HGH levels.
On the Internet you can find hundreds of sites selling secretagogues–over-the-counter
supplements that are supposed to prompt your body to increase HGH production.
Do any work? There is no good way to tell. I would expect results in a third of
users just from the placebo effects. That alone can account for the testimonials.
Needless to say it is a buyer beware market. (I, for one, have not purchased any.)

Researchers at the University of Washington and the VA have been testing
capromorelin, an experimental drug from Pfizer. 395 men and women ages 65-84
used the drug for six months. They gained an average of three pounds in lean muscle mass
and were better able to walk a straight line (a test of coordination, balance and strength).
A year later they showed improvement in stair climbing. Merck reportedly is working on
a similar drug.

While the pharmaceutical companies have often had questionable practices
in reporting research and promoting medications, I certainly have more faith
in their products than a secretagogue found on the Internet. The FDA does
not regard aging as a disease and sets higher approval standards for medications
that just improve functioning as opposed to cure or manage diseases. Thus
medications such as capromorelin will receive extra scrutiny for the FDA.

Quotes

Basic research is what I am doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.
~Rocket scientist, Wernher von Braun

Humor

Finagle’s First Law: If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.

Finagle’s Second Law: No matter what the anticipated result, there will always be
someone eager to (a) misinterpret it, (b) fake it, or (c) believe it happened according
to his own pet theory.

Finagle’s Third Law: In any collection of data, the figure most obviously correct,
beyond all need of checking, is the mistake.

Finagle’s Fourth Law: Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it only makes it worse.

Finagle’s Creed: Science is true. Don’t be misled by facts.

Corollaries on mistakes:
1. Nobody whom you ask for help will see it.
2. The first person who stops by, whose advice you really don’t want to hear, will see it immediately.

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Anti-Aging Psychologist Dr. Michael Brickey is keynote speaker and author of the Oprah-featured book, Defy Aging and 52 baby steps to Grow Young. The books and his Reverse Aging anti-aging hypnosis CDs comprise his anti-aging system.

Anti-Aging Research (Part I)

Action to take

The anti-aging cavalry is on the way.
Take care of yourself now so you can
benefit from coming scientific advances.

Why

Satchel Paige said, “If I had known I would live so long
I would have taken better care of myself.” I don’t want
you someday saying, “If I had known how much help science
would offer, I would have taken better care of myself.”
Wellness (prevention) and healthcare (treatment) advances
are coming at an exponential pace. The healthier you keep
your body now, the more you can benefit from the advances.

In June, 2006 University of Wisconsin researchers reported on how
sirtuins, a family of enzymes, orchestrate many enzymes involved
in metabolic processes and can play a major role is slowing the
aging process. The report in the June Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences discussed how sirtuins may also
help treat metabolic disorders such as diabetes and neurological disorders
such as Alzheimer’s disease. Elevated levels of sirtuins slow degeneration
in damaged nerve cells and impact aspects of metabolism responsible
for insulin secretion. One substance that activates sirtuins is reservatrol,
the anti-oxidant found in red grapes and red wine.

Rare diseases often muster little interest from pharmaceutical companies
as there is not much profit in them. With effects on aging, diabetes, Alzheimer’s,
and many other diseases, the pharmaceutical companies are very interested in sirtuins.

Research on sirtuins is just one of many exciting research developments.

Quotes

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
~Albert Einstein

Humor

Enough research will tend to support your theory.
~Murphy’s Law of Research

Anyone who makes a significant contribution to any field of endeavor,
and stays in that field long enough, becomes an obstruction to its progress–-
in direct proportion to the importance of their original contribution.
~Jones’s First Law of Research

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Anti-Aging Psychologist Dr. Michael Brickey is keynote speaker and author of the Oprah-featured book, Defy Aging and 52 baby steps to Grow Young. The books and his Reverse Aging anti-aging hypnosis CDs comprise his anti-aging system.