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A valuable tool to lowering high blood pressure is completely free and always with us: our breath. While it’s an essential function for life, many of us aren’t utilizing breathing to its full potential, including its ability to reduce hypertension, a condition that affects most older Americans. Breathing affects not just your lungs but also…

Taking even one medication correctly and on time each day can be a challenge. In fact, research shows that as many as half of all patients don’t follow their medication instructions properly. For older adults who often juggle multiple medicines, the challenge is even greater. “Their regimens are more complicated,” says David Bates, M.D., director of…

After having multiple strokes in 2009, I recovered my ability to speak, read, write and count, but my car sat idle in the driveway for three years, literally becoming a hornet’s nest, before I had nerve enough to get behind the wheel.  I missed the sense of independence that driving brings, but I had so…

You probably don’t think of your toes much unless someone steps on them. But your toes and toenails can tell you a lot about your health. They can indicate bacterial, yeast or fungal infections; medication side effects; trauma; autoimmune disorders; chemical exposure; diabetes; kidney or liver disease; and even skin cancer, says Ashley Dikis, an…

Too much heat is not safe for anyone. It is even riskier if you are older or have health problems. It is important to be cautious and get relief quickly when you are overheated. Otherwise, you might start to feel sick or risk a heat-related illness that could cause serious health issues. Why can extreme…

As you may be painfully aware, knee pain is very common. Global estimates suggest that more than 1 in 5 adults age 40 and over experience this type of joint problem, and knee pain in men and women in the United States increases steadily after age 60. Persistent aching, swelling and tenderness in the knee…

When her father died, Margarite Avendano found herself “a little bit alone” after tending to him full time as his health declined.  As a caretaker, she says, “you kind of hide yourself. There’s a stigma. You become more isolated.” So after his death, she decided to work on her own health — by making new…

Talk about taking some of the “happy” out of happy hour. Experts have known for a while that heavy drinking — meaning eight or more drinks per week for women and 15-plus per week for men — raises your risk for high blood pressure (a.k.a. hypertension). When blood pressure, the force of blood flowing through your…

Nearly half of all U.S. adults and more than 60 percent of those over the age of 60 have high blood pressure, putting them at increased risk for heart disease and stroke. And a big problem is, many of them don’t even know they have it. That’s because unlike a lot of health conditions, high blood…