We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Everybody knows that academic politics are ugly. Alzheimer's is uglier than that, and there is lots of money available too.
The problem with searches for cures is that the #1 risk factor for Alheimer's is genetic, via the maternal line. If your Mom has it, your odds for it are worrying but not certain. The second risk factor is being overweight. The viral idea doesn't really seem to fit with the genetic. Maybe they are synergistic? Who knows?
Genetic testing for Alheimer's risk is available at any age. With certain genetic conformations, your risk is almost certain. Bad news.
From all I have read about it (not an expert at all), the brain rot begins long (years, even decades) before there are obvious clinical symptoms other than, maybe, being less energetic, social, and driven. My amateur guess is that the brain tangles and brain shrinkage are not causal, but results of a genetic brain rot, a sort of programmed obsolescence.
"Cures" for genetically-weighted diseases are elusive, of course, because they are baked in the cake. Unbaking a cake is a tough challenge.
The Maggie's Fitness for Life program includes about a one-hour session of aerobic endurance exercise per week. For true cardiac exercise, we include plenty of HIIT cardio whether in calisthenics or sprints. That tends to be anaerobic.
Why do we include the endurance work at all? For ordinary functionality. We figure that if you can swim for an hour, or do the stair machine or high-inclined treadmill for an hour, well then a 6-hour hike, a day of skiing or basketball ought to be manageable. We strongly oppose road running.
So pure endurance work is only about 15% of our program although we assume most people also do fun recreational things like sports or hiking which do not count as exertion. Mark Rippetoe has other ideas. He is convinced that endurance exercise is a waste of time, and sometimes deleterious.
He is a smart guy, and might be right. Our Maggie's program attempts to strike a balance between strength-building (2 hours/wk of powerlifts and accessory weights), calisthenics (athleticism, balance, agility, HIIT, some strength), and "cardio" (an hour total of HIIT intervals with good rest intervals, and an hour of strenuous but aerobic endurance things). No need to do the hour of HIIT, for example, at the same session. In fact, not a good idea. Mix and match 1/2 hours of different categories but if doing weights, always do them first.
Most fitness trainers consider an hour of endurance work as a "recovery day," but I do not. For me, a half hour on the Stairmaster and a half hour doing high incline walks and jogs on the treadmill leaves me limp for a while.
Final word of 2019: Exercise for fat loss is nonsense. That is 99% nutritional. However, exercise does reduce appetite.
Here are the problems, with which I am sure most people in my field would agree. First, most serious psychopaths rarely seek help, and then usually only when they get in trouble. Second, lying and manipulating are second nature to them, so they try to play you. Some are quite adept. Third, they tend to be unreliable with showing up or paying their bills.
There are others, too.
In my experience, when people come to me worrying about whether they have a cold or dark heart, or feeling guilty about some pattern of behavior, it's a good sign that they are far from psychopathic.
I will offer the opinion that there are full-blown psychopaths, very scary people. However, there are people with a range of psychopathic (ie sociopathic) traits which are worth being alert to. On the other end of the spectrum, most people have psychopathic fantasies which they never, or very rarely, act on.
No mortal is pure of heart. It's complicated. It's not a disease.
A recently-retired friend decided to take up EMT training. He wants to remain a useful citizen. Thus far, he loves it more than he ever liked his job. The chance to save a life is an appealing thing, while learning all sorts of new skills.
As an MD, I have to admit that these people can do things that I have no clue about how to do. Never learned, or can't remember. Most of the car crash victims I saw in ERs were DOA, and most MI people were beyond saving. Death happens, often, as it must. That was a while ago, though.
There are several levels of it, so you can keep aspiring. There is always work too, part-time or full, or volunteer.
This guy says these are good muscle conditioning routines for those over 60 but they are perfect for beginners too. He is good to offer progressions in these exercises.
Mind you, this is about beginning muscle conditioning. It's preparation for stronger muscle movements, but this sort of thing can get your muscles ready for more challenging exertions after a month or two. All the same, you never want to quit pushups even when you get strong with bench presses.
Remember that this is about muscle conditioning. It is not a substitute for your HIIT cardio and your calisthenics.
With all of the other things we do to stay fit, sturdy, nimble, and generally functional, is there any need to do specific core exercises?
Yes and no.
But first, let's clear up some common misconceptions. First, "core" is not just abs. Consider "core" to include all of the muscles that exist like a column wrapped around your body from just below your chest down to your hips. Back muscles and oblique muscles are just as much "core" as abs. "Core" is what holds you up, and stabilizes your physique for doing most everything else you do. Muscle pedestals on the sides, front, and back. Otherwise, we would collapse. You can see collapsed cores in nursing homes.
Second, we'll assert that sit-ups and crunches are a waste of time. These are not balanced core stressors and, contrary to popular belief, will neither burn belly fat nor build a 6-pack (a 6-pack comes from low body fat, and is more about vanity and sex-appeal than fitness. If you are a youthful athlete, or a male model, go for it).
What are the best core exertions? Probably deadlifts and barbell squats. The demands on core for stabilization for those is heavy, even if not noticed while executing them.
Fitness-oriented people often fit in accessory core exercises to help their deadlifts and squat performance, for posture, and to sturdify (?) all other exertions we undertake. What are the two best uses of precious time?
Planks and wheel-rollers are. They do not take up much time to do twice weekly, either as calis or as a side dish to a weight session. If you're on the floor anyway doing mountain climbers or pushups, you can superset 3 sets of 30-45-second elbow planks with 10-20 roller rep sets. Planks are the gold standard but rollers are second. To make planks tougher, put a sandbag on your back.
Correct plank form is FLAT. No sag, no arch. For correct roller wheel form, this youtube:
Asylums for the "moral treatment" of the mentally ill emerged in the early 1800s. I put moral treatment in quotes not to disparage their efforts but because Moral Treatment was a new medical movement at the time to treat the mentally ill compassionately, protectively, and respectfully. That movement continues today.
People always say "Diet and Exercise." Unless you hike 10 miles daily, or work out 2 hrs/day, I just say "Nutrition" to lose bad fat. Not "diet," "nutrition" because diets fail but appropriate nutrition is a way of life. Just enough of pretty good things for the fitness you want. That article more or less says the same thing.
Daily exercise is great for fitness, but not for fat. The bonus is that the less fat you are carrying, the better your exercise and activity endurance.
What is life like for people like Kayla Mueller's parents to know that their daughter was abducted, kept as a sex slave by al-Baghdadi until he tired of her, then tortured including having her nails pulled out, and then beheaded?
I have spent many hours with parents whose children have had tragic experiences, catastrophic lives, or met tragic ends. Life must go on, but the mental images and the agony that accompanies them can never be erased.
A vale of tears. People like me can sometimes offer no relief, only companionship in suffering.
Joseph Henry Green (1791-1863), an English surgeon who became the literary executor of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The word was spoken upon checking his own pulse.
Joseph Henry Green, a surgeon and professor of anatomy, suffered from inherited gout and died of an acute seizure at his house in 1863.
An account of his final moments has been given by Sir John Simon:
“I would show that not even the last sudden agony of death ruffled his serenity of mind, or rendered him unthoughtful of others. No terrors, no selfish regrets, no reproachful memories, were there. The few tender parting words which he had yet to speak, he spoke. And to the servants who had gathered grieving round him, he said, ‘While I have breath, let me thank you all for your kindness and attention to me’.
Next, to his doctor, who quickly entered – his neighbour and old pupil, Mr. Carter – he significantly, and pointing to the region of his heart, said – ‘congestion’. After which, he in silence set his finger to his wrist, and visibly noted to himself the successive feeble pulses which were but just between him and death. Presently he said – ‘stopped’. And this was the very end. It was as if even to die were an act of his own grand self-government. For at once, with the warning word still scarce beyond his lips, suddenly the stately head drooped aside, passive and defunct for ever. And then, to the loving eyes that watched him, ‘his face was again all young and beautiful’. The bodily heart, it is true, had become more pulseless clay; broken was the pitcher at the fountain, broken at the cistern the wheel; but, for yet a moment amid the nightfall, the pure spiritual life could be discerned, moulding for the last time into conformity with itself the features which thenceforth were for the tomb.”
You have to admire someone who takes his own pulse and pronounces himself dead. Now that’s cool.
Everybody knows that most of "homelessness" is about dysfunctional people rather than lack of a roof. Given the complexity of humans, and the complexity of modern society, it's remarkable how few there are.
The great reformer Dorothea Dix recognized the need for "humane asylums" for the mentally ill and incapacitated. By the 1970s, the "miracle drugs" were supposed to treat serious mental illnesses. JFK led a movement towards "deinstutionalization". You all know this.
As things turned out, we found excellent treatments for bipolar ailments but really only symptomatic treatments for the Schizophrenic spectrum of low-functional, marginally-functional, and non-functional people. (Addicts are highly-treatable, but addicts do not always want that and it's a free country.)
So, for the chronically mentally ill (mostly Schizophrenic variants who might be as much as 1% of the population), there is either family support, street life, or asylum of some form. "Asylum" should not be a dirty word. It should be a beautiful word, and asylums can be good places. But nobody is building them or coming up with creative ideas about it.
Note that they say "most," not all. Bipolar depression sure seems like a brain disorder of sorts, as do depressive symptoms related to peripartum, hypothyroidism, some GI cancers, etc.
To my mind, it's best to think of "depressive symptoms" rather than of a unitary phenomenon. Many acute depressive events I have seen are, in fact, reactive to events and could be viewed as grief.
The terror of medical opioids is on an upswing. I have seen the upswings and downswings during my career. I wish we could find a middle course, because medical opioids are a blessing to suffering people. Yes, I include Oxycontin in that because it is an excellent medicine.
Of course opioids are habit-forming. For refractory pain, they are also life-giving. For people with life-impairing chronic pain, there is something called "pseudoaddiction." AGAINST AGAINST PSEUDOADDICTION
These days, I have seen people in that category treated like drug addicts. Sooner or later, there will chemicals with the pain effects of opioids but without the habit-forming effects. Not yet.
Kettlebells add good variety to cardio and/or calisthenics workouts. There are plenty of ways to use them, but they seem most often used for swings. Swings are a total body exercise.
With lighter weights, swings are more cardio. Go with heavier weights for total body toughening. 30-60 seconds per set is good.
"To lengthen the life, lessen the meals." 