Medications Contribute to Seniors’ Falls
November 24, 2009 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
If this wasn’t such a serious topic, I’d say “what’s new?” but it is serious. Seniors who take sleeping pills and/or antidepressants are at a higher risk of falling and sustaining a serious injury than those who don’t take those drugs.
Other medications that can increase the fall risk include blood pressure pills (they can make blood pressure go too low sometimes), so-called water pills (these diuretics can make so the senior rushes to the bathroom before having an accident and then falls or they have to get up in the middle of the night, which is a dangerous time for …read more
That Good Ol’ “Exercise High” Protects Against Heart Attacks
November 8, 2007 by Kendra James, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Endorphins and other morphine-like substances known as opioids, which are released during exercise, don’t just make you feel good — they may also protect you from heart attacks, according to University of Iowa researchers.
That good ol’ “runner’s high” is caused by natural opioids that are released during exercise and they are super duper (that is a word from my kids) good! If we can harness exactly how these altered gene expression patterns work, we can reveal specific cardio-protective pathways and viola… we can mimic these same properties of exercise into treatments for heart disease. And that is that.
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