Separation anxiety is a reality for many pets. But it’s not your dog’s fault. This all-too-common problem can be due to a predisposition of a dog’s breed, or it could be brought on by a triggering event like a change in schedule or residence, or the sudden absence of a resident family member. Regardless of the cause, the goal is …
Battling Sarcopenia – You Can Turn Back the Clock
Ah, aging. Grocery bags feel heavier, jars are harder to open, and your legs don’t carry you up the stairs as easily. While you may consider these to be normal signs of aging, a decline in functional fitness is actually due to a condition known as sarcopenia. What is Sarcopenia? From birth to around age 30, your muscles are programmed …
12 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day Sustainably
Hurricanes, floods, fires, rising sea levels, crumbling glaciers—all signs of a warming world. But, if climate change seems like a certainty as we approach yet another Earth Day, take heart. There’s a lot you can do personally to combat the climate crisis. Here are 12 steps you can take on Earth Day and every day to help protect the planet. …
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Get Your Sleep Back on Track There’s a device to track every activity under the sun these days, but what about technology that monitors inactivity? Yup, there’s tech for that, too. Enter sleep trackers—devices that essentially work by measuring how little you move throughout the night. By detecting inactivity, a sleep tracker can tell you when you fall asleep and …
Combat Indoor Air Pollution
If you’re like most Americans, you spend up to 90 percent of your time indoors. And whether you’re at work, school, or home, that’s a problem. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that indoor air is two to five times more polluted than the air outdoors. Research shows that this constant exposure to pollutants puts you at a greater risk …
Canine Piddle Problems
Pet parents agree. After a dog’s potty training is complete, dealing with puddles, wet spots, and other piddle problems is discouraging. The first step to addressing the problem is to determine if the urinary incontinence is due to a weak bladder sphincter—also known as weak bladder muscle tone—or a different issue. While the reasons for unwanted accidents are many, understanding …
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Tracking Stress for Better Health Move over Fitbits and smartwatches! Stress trackers—the latest in wearable health-and-fitness technology—are having a moment. Stress has a tremendous impact on your overall well-being, with unhealthy levels of stress-induced hormones like adrenaline and cortisol often leading to illness and chronic disease. Stress trackers to the rescue! These smart devices can monitor your body’s physiological stress …
The Surprising Benefits of Weight Lifting
Trendy workouts come and go, but pumping iron remains the most reliable way to achieve overall fitness. It’s little wonder since weight lifting boasts so many benefits, including increasing muscle strength, boosting bone density and cardiovascular health, improving cognition and mood, reducing the risk of sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss), fostering functional fitness, and, of course, supporting weight loss. Overall, weight …
Living an Anti-Inflammatory Life
For all its benefit fighting off an infection or healing an injury, inflammation also has a dark side. Problems arise when this helpful physiological process doesn’t know when to quit. The result is chronic low-level inflammation throughout the body that not only increases the risk of a myriad of diseases but also accelerates aging. While a diet high in anti-inflammatory …
The Secret Cause of Inflammation
Inflammation has gotten a bad rap in the media amid a growing number of studies linking it to a wide range of conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and even some forms of cancer. But the truth is, inflammation is actually one of the good guys that’s designed to help heal the body. For instance, …