PETER'S PRINCIPLES - Jan. 1 - 4, 2007
Living to reach 100 may not be out of reach!
The U.S. has the highest proportion of centenarians in the world! The number of Americans over 100 nearly doubled during the 80s to 72 thousand! That number is expected to double every decade. By the year 2050 there will be at least one million centenarians in the U.S.!
Having parents who live to a ripe old age increases your chances to reach 100... but habits are important as well.
It's never too late to improve diet and exercise habits, or to quit smoking! Hitting the century mark is well within reach... it's all in how you go about getting there!
Leslie from Flat Rock emails saying she has high blood pressure. What can she do to help bring her pressure down?
Well Leslie, it could be as easy as doing some chores. A new study found when people with high blood pressure did daily household chores, such as housecleaning, yard work and washing the car -- their blood pressure dropped!
Researchers found regardless of the intensity, four hours of chores throughout the day caused high blood pressure to drop. And the benefit lasted an average of 6 to 8 hours!
Nearly 1 in 3 American adults have high blood pressure and it usually lasts a lifetime. It's important to control the condition. High blood pressure can cause heart attack, stroke and kidney failure.
Beth from St. Clair Shores is pregnant and wants to go out and eat at her favorite restaurant. The problem is the place is very smoky. she asks -- just how bad is a little second-hand smoke?
Beth, stay away from second-hand smoke! I can't emphasize it enough! NO amount of second-hand smoke is good for your unborn child.
Just how bad is it? Researchers recently took hair samples from newborns of nonsmoking women who were routinely exposed to second-hand smoke. This is SHOCKING! The babies' hair samples contained SIGNIFICANT levels of nicotine. This shows an exposure that can seriously affect the babies' health. It can even cause genetic mutations in the fetus which could lead to cancer later in life.
Your best bet... stay away from smoky places while pregnant -- it's good for you and your baby!
Do you have a question you've been working on? Send me an email!
