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Walking Gives Older Women a Mental Boost
Three times a week, 80-year-old Sue Lewis puts on her tennis shoes and goes for a brisk walk around her neighborhood running track. But she doesn't just walk around it once or twice. Ten laps doesn't stop her -- and after 15 laps, you can bet she's still moving. In fact, Lewis has been known to walk around the track as many as 46 times a day. "I walk pretty fast. My cousin has a hard time keeping up with me," she says.
If she's not on the track, you might find Lewis on the treadmill or walking up mountains and across the grass at her family farm in Georgia. Her "keep on moving" motto isn't just keeping her body in great shape, however. Researchers say her brain gets a workout too. Last spring, investigators from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), told a conference of nerve specialists that walking may help older women keep their brains young.
"Women who walk regularly are less likely to experience the memory loss and other declines in mental function that can come with aging," explains study author and neurologist Kristine Yaffe, MD.
Indeed, Lewis is as sharp as she is quick on her feet.
"My memory is great," she says. "I'm sharp as a tack, even though I do forget where I put my glasses from time to time."
Flexing Your Mental Muscle
For the study, UCSF researchers tested the thinking power of about 6,000 women aged 65 and older. The women were given a mental exam at the start of the study and then again six to eight years later.
Yaffe and her colleagues found that the women who walked the least -- less than a half-mile a week -- were the most likely to develop mental decline. Nearly a fourth showed significant declines in their test scores, compared to only 17% of women in the most active group.
"It doesn't seem like a big difference, but it really is," says Yaffe.
Physical activity was charted by measuring the number of blocks the women walked per week and also by the total calories they burned in recreation, walking, and climbing stairs. The most active women walked about 18 miles a week, or 2.5 miles a day.
If 18 miles a week classifies you as physically active, then 77-year-old Lura Roehl just might be superwoman. The Washington, DC, native walks three times a day, every day, with her 80-year-old husband, Charles. Together they clock 46 miles a week.
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Indication
Uroxatral® (alfuzosin HCl 10 mg extended-release tablets) is an alpha1-blocker for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of BPH.
Important Safety Information
Do not take UROXATRAL if you have liver problems or if you are taking antifungal drugs like ketoconazole or itraconazole, or HIV drugs like ritonavir.
UROXATRAL can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure, especially when starting treatment. This may lead to fainting, dizziness, and lightheadedness. Do not drive, operate machinery, or do any dangerous activity until you know how UROXATRAL will affect you. This is especially important if you already have a problem with low blood pressure or take medicines to treat high blood pressure. There may be an increased risk of low blood pressure and fainting when taking UROXATRAL in combination with blood pressure medication or nitrates, or erectile dysfunction medication.
If considering cataract surgery (clouding of the eyes), tell your eye surgeon that you are currently taking UROXATRAL or have previously been treated with an alpha-blocker.
Before taking UROXATRAL, tell your doctor if you have kidney problems.
Also, tell your doctor if you or any family member(s) have or take medications for a rare heart condition known as congenital prolongation of the QT interval.
BPH and prostate cancer can cause the same symptoms. However, UROXATRAL is not a treatment for prostate cancer.
The most common side effects with UROXATRAL are dizziness, upper respiratory tract infection, headache, and tiredness.
Please see UROXATRAL full prescribing information.
VIVELLE-DOT (estradiol transdermal system) IS AVAILABLE BY PRESCRPTION ONLY.
INDICATION
Vivelle-Dot is used after menopause to: reduce moderate to severe hot flashes; treat moderate to severe dryness, itching and burning in or around the vagina; help reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis (thin weak bones); and treat certain conditions in which a young woman's ovaries do not produce enough estrogens naturally. Vivelle-Dot 0.025 mg/day is only used to prevent osteoporosis from menopause. If you use Vivelle-Dot only to treat your dryness, itching, and burning in and around your vagina or if you use Vivelle-Dot only to prevent osteoporosis from menopause, talk with your healthcare professional about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Estrogens increase the chances of getting cancer of the uterus (womb). Report any unusual vaginal bleeding right away while you are taking estrogens. Vaginal bleeding after menopause may be a warning sign of cancer of the uterus (womb).
Do not use estrogens with or without progestins to prevent heart disease, heart attacks, or strokes. Using estrogens with or without progestins may increase your chances of getting heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer, and blood clots. Using estrogens with progestins may increase your risk of dementia (decline in memory and thinking skills).
Vivelle-Dot should not be used if you have unusual vaginal bleeding; currently have or have had certain cancers, including cancer of the breast or uterus; had a stroke or heart attack in the recent past (for example, in the past year); currently have or have had blood clots; currently have or have had liver problems; or think you may be, or know that you are, pregnant.
The most common side effects that may occur with Vivelle-Dot are headache, breast tenderness, and back pain.
You and your healthcare professional should talk regularly about whether you still need treatment with Vivelle-Dot.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Please see Full Prescribing Information for Vivelle-Dot.
