Category Archives: glaucoma

December 15, 2015 · 12:05 am

Walking Gives Relief to Glaucoma Sufferers

Dr. David J. Palmer, speaking before a Northwestern Memorial Healthy Transitions Program® said that walking just 30 minutes reduces pressure in the eyes by several points.

glaucoma

I have written about the Healthy Transitions program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital a number of times here. Dr. Palmer is a clinical assistant professor at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. He was discussing maintaining and preserving vision to a group of folks over 55.

I have also discussed the value of exercise in general and walking in particular several times for the blog so this was wonderful news to me. To learn more about the benefits of walking check out these blog items: The benefits of walking and bicycle riding, walking not sudoku for seniors, national start walking day.

To reiterate: one of the benefits of walking is that it increases blood flow to the brain. Lead researcher Rong Zhang, of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, explained in a news release from the American Physiological Society, that it is not known if increasing blood flow to the brain can help to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, but there is strong evidence to suggest that cardiovascular risk is tied to the risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

Wendy Baumbartner, writing for About.com, “Dr. Michael Passo of Oregon Health Sciences University (this is in my neck of the woods) has found that starting a walking program lowered the intraocular pressure of 40 sedentary individuals, which decreased their risk of glaucoma. He has found that exercise also lowers the pressure for those with glaucoma. Walk for sight!”

Tony

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November 13, 2012 · 4:32 pm

What Should I Know About Colon Cancer?

Some 143,460 new cases of colorectal cancer are found each year. Your lifetime risk of coming down with it is around five percent as one in 18 Americans gets it. The mortality rates are approximately 50 percent for all cases. The outcome is very much related to the stage of the disease at diagnosis. So, detection of early stage tumors should improve prognosis. Carcinomas generally begin as polyps so their removal should reduce cancer incidence. So says Dr. Barbara Jung, Associate Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Colon cancer remains common and deadly. Effective screening measures are available. Any test is better than no test. Finally, family history is important.

She said that the guidelines for screening are that a person 50 years or older should have a colonoscopy every 10 years, or a CT colonography every five years, or a flexible sigmoidoscopy every five years. As colon cancer is a slow growing cancer these apparently long periods are sufficient for protection.

Dr. Jung was speaking before the Northwestern Memorial Healthy Transitions Program®. Despite some of the bleak aspects of her subject, she concluded with something very positive. She said that exercise and a good diet have been shown to reduce colon cancer. Vegetarians are found to have less colon cancer. She said there were good studies to document the effectiveness of exercise in protecting against colon cancer.

The National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health said in a report, “What is the relationship between physical activity and colon cancer risk?
Continue reading →

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May 10, 2012 · 9:21 am

Walking Gives Relief to Glaucoma Sufferers

Dr. David J. Palmer, speaking before a Northwestern Memorial Healthy Transitions Program® said that walking just 30 minutes reduces pressure in the eyes by several points.

I have written about the Healthy Transitions program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital a number of times here. Dr. Palmer is a clinical assistant professor at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. He was discussing maintaining and preserving vision to a group of folks over 55.

I have also discussed the value of exercise in general and walking in particular several times for the blog so this was wonderful news to me. To learn more about the benefits of walking check out these blog items: The benefits of walking and bicycle riding, walking not sudoku for seniors, national start walking day.

To reiterate: one of the benefits of walking is that it increases blood flow to the brain. Lead researcher Rong Zhang, of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, explained in a news release from the American Physiological Society, that it is not known if increasing blood flow to the brain can help to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, but there is strong evidence to suggest that cardiovascular risk is tied to the risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

Wendy Baumbartner, writing for About.com, “Dr. Michael Passo of Oregon Health Sciences University (this is in my neck of the woods) has found that starting a walking program lowered the intraocular pressure of 40 sedentary individuals, which decreased their risk of glaucoma. He has found that exercise also lowers the pressure for those with glaucoma. Walk for sight!”

Tony

1 Comment

Filed under aging, Exercise, glaucoma

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