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Last Updated: 5.6.19
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Example Article 1:
What Are You Doing to Your Kidneys?
Your kidneys play an important role in your urinary system. The kidneys filter blood and remove excess waste from the body, but over time, they lose tissue and the total number of filtering units, known as nephrons, goes down. As people age, the kidneys filter blood slowly because the blood vessels have hardened. Older Americans also have an increased risk of developing kidney disease.
Chronic fatigue, shortness of breath and changes in urinary habits are just some of the signs a person is suffering from kidney disease. Once you get into your 40s or 50s, you need to take a more active approach to kidney health. You need to be aware of what you are doing to your kidneys and avoid some of the most harmful practices.
Use Too Much Salt
Kidney failure is directly linked to high blood pressure. Eating an excessive amount of salt over a lifespan will cause your blood pressure to increase, which subsequently damages the kidneys. All this salt caused urinary protein to increase, which can lead to heart failure or kidney stones. Anyone over the age of 50 should keep their salt intake lower than 1,500 milligrams a day.
Take Too Many Painkillers
A medication may be sold over-the-counter, but that does not mean it is harmless. You should never exceed the minimum dosage in a single day, and you should avoid the maximum dosage over the course of your treatment. The most dangerous drug for your kidneys you need to watch out for are non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory medications. You should stop taking medication and consult your doctor if you start suffering from breathing distress or darkened urine.
Eat Processed Foods
Processed foods contain higher quantities of sugar, salt and certain synthetic elements, including phosphorus. This substance is substantially toxic to the kidneys, and you should only consume it in limited amounts. You also need to watch your intake of cadmium, tin, iron and lead. You can consume them at low levels due to regulatory standards, but you do not want to have too much.
Eat Too Much Meat
When you consume animal protein, you also increase the amount of urinary protein in your kidneys. This is particularly true with red meat. You are better off getting most of your protein from plants. Consider the words of William J. Ripple, a distinguished professor of ecology at Oregon State University, who said, “Consumption of high-protein plant foods such as soy, pulses, cereals and tubers can satisfy protein requirements that are associated with fewer environmental impacts than livestock or wild meat, while yielding significant human health benefits.”
Drink Too Little Water
Adequate hydration is essential for maintaining healthy kidneys. Water helps your body flush out all of the toxins filtered out by the kidneys. It also balances out your body temperature from getting too high. When you become dehydrated, the first organ to suffer is the kidneys. You will gradually feel fatigued. You should ideally drink eight times a day in eight-ounce increments.
Consume Too Much Sugar
Finally, an excess amount of sugar is a major contributor to kidney disease. Chronic kidney disease has been linked to a high consumption of high fructose corn syrup and sucrose. Individuals who suffer from diabetes have an increased risk of suffering kidney damage from eating too much sugar. Everyone needs to watch their sugar consumption because the substance creates an acidic environment in the body. This makes it harder for the kidneys to flush out unwanted toxins.
You need to take care of your kidneys, especially once you get past the age of 40. By avoiding all these actions and seeing a doctor regularly, you greatly increase your chances of having healthy kidneys all throughout life.
Sources:
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/004010.htm
https://www.kidney.org/news/monthly/wkd_aging
https://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/hypertension-related-kidney-disease
https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/phosphorus
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9821424
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.160498
https://insulinresistance.org/index.php/jir/article/view/3/4
Example Article 2:
What Is Dopamine and Why Should You Care?
Dopamine is typically referred to as the pleasure chemical. It is a neurotransmitter released by the brain any time you do something you enjoy or anticipate doing something you love. It allows people to see the reward of the action and provide the motivation necessary to attain that reward. While many people think dopamine only comes into play whenever you want to eat ice cream, it actually plays a much larger role than that. It is paramount to understand how decreased dopamine levels can affect you later in life so that you can always feel happy.
How Does Dopamine Affect Behavior?
Dopamine should really be referred to as the anticipation chemical. It can provide you with the motivation to improve your life or pursue a romantic interest. It drives you to seek out joy and pleasure and make you pursue actions you may not perform otherwise. For example, you may not ordinarily want to wake up at 5 a.m., but if a woman you like asks you to help her move at that time, dopamine gives you the motivation to jump out of bed.
This is why people may slowly lose interest over something or someone over time. When an abstract idea turns into reality, that dopamine sensation gradually fades away. This is why all romantic couples go through a honeymoon phase. A new relationship is exciting at first, but over time, those dopamine levels will go away as you become settled into this new reality.
Michael Long and Daniel Lieberman describe this sensation in their book, The Molecule of More. They go into detail about how attaining long-lasting happiness is possible with a change of perspective. “To enjoy the things we have, as opposed to the things that are only possible, our brains must transition from future-oriented dopamine to present-oriented chemicals, a collection of neurotransmitters we call Here and Now molecules, or the H&Ns. Most people have heard of H&Ns. They include serotonin, oxytocin, endorphins (your brain’s version of morphine), and a class of chemicals called endocannabinoids (your brain’s version of marijuana). As opposed to the pleasure of anticipation via dopamine, these chemicals give us pleasure from sensation and emotion.”
Why Should You Care About Your Dopamine Levels?
Understanding how dopamine affects your brain is critical to understanding addiction. Taking drugs obviously releases neurotransmitters that make the user feel happy, including dopamine. Over time, an addict needs to take greater quantities of the drug to continue feeling happy. This same sensation can cause people to overeat, drink too much alcohol or engage in dangerous behavior.
Certain diseases also impact the level of dopamine you receive. For example, Parkinson’s disease targets the area of the brain responsible for releasing dopamine. Researchers are currently developing ways to slow down the loss of the cells responsible for creating dopamine. Other imbalance issues that can affect the amount of dopamine you receive include depression, psychosis and schizophrenia. Dopamine deficiencies can manifest in the body in various ways, and many people suffer from muscle stiffness, low energy, trouble eating, sleep disorders and constipation.
Is There a Way To Treat Low Dopamine Levels?
Medication can help people with low dopamine, but you need to consult with your doctor first. Before you pursue medication, you should first undergo counseling to see if talking about your problems can help. Going to see a counselor forces you to go outside and do something during the day, and that can be enough to combat the stress associated with being inside all day. You should also consider making changes to your lifestyle or diet. Certain foods, including sesame seeds, bananas, avocadoes, almonds and dairy, can increase dopamine levels.
Studies have shown dopamine decreases as people age. Dopamine levels can fall by as much as 10% for each decade of a person’s life. However, by taking action early enough, you can maintain healthy dopamine levels throughout life.
Sources:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dopamine
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/what-dopamine-diet
Example 3
New Alzheimer’s-Like Disease Uncovered
As of 2019, roughly 5.8 million people in the United States are living with Alzheimer’s disease. 5.6 million of those individuals are over the age of 65. It is a harmful, degenerative disease that impacts memory, behavior and other cognitive faculties. However, researchers believe they have uncovered a similar disease that has the potential to wreak even more havoc.
Researchers have called the disorder limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, or LATE for short. It has only been recognized recently as a form of dementia, and scientists have only lately decided how to distinguish it from other brain disorders. As you head into your 50s, 60s and beyond, it is paramount to understand the dangers of LATE and what you should ask your doctor about.
How Is LATE Different From Alzheimer’s?
In the past, patients who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s actually suffered from LATE. The symptoms of the two disorders are so similar that for years, doctors thought they were one in the same. Nicole Silverberg, co-chair of the LATE workshop and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Centers Program at the NIA, stated the importance of differentiating the two: “The ultimate goal… is to either prevent or at least be able to treat the causes and the symptoms… In order to do that, we have to understand what’s causing the symptoms. Sorting through who has what [condition] hopefully should help us.”
Alzheimer’s manifests itself on the brain by accumulating plaques made up of proteins known as beta-amyloids as well as tangles. Researchers have found that not everyone who was diagnosed in the past had these proteins forming on the brain. Instead, they had a different protein, known as TDP-43, forming on the brain, and this is a telltale sign of LATE.
Both of these conditions fall into the category of “dementia,” which is really just an umbrella term for any loss of cognitive functionality. While Alzheimer’s is the most common variation of dementia, there are other varieties that researchers are just beginning to understand.
What Do Researchers Currently Know About LATE?
Scientists have already discovered that the public health impact of LATE has the potential to be just as large as Alzheimer’s. The condition impacts several aspects of cognition, such as memory, and it affects a person’s everyday activities. Recent tests indicate LATE progresses more slowly than Alzheimer’s, but the two disorders may work in tandem. A person can have both, which would cause a more rapid decline in cognitive faculties than if someone had just one.
Studies suggest LATE impacts the “oldest old” of the American population. Over 20% of individuals over the age of 85 show signs of LATE. However, researchers need to do more research to understand the global impact of the disease.
One recent report indicates there are different stages of LATE. The protein mentioned above can impact three different areas of the brain. These are the middle frontal gyrus, the hippocampus and the amygdala. TDP-43 can be found in one of these areas or all three, and its location can impact the behavior of the sufferer.
Is There a Treatment?
As of right now, researchers have only been able to diagnose LATE after a person’s death during the autopsy. However, scientists are hopeful that with these new findings, it will spur further research into the area so that doctors can diagnose patients with LATE while they are still alive. Conducting additional research into LATE may also glean further insight into Alzheimer’s so that doctors can distinguish between the two disorders while the person is alive and recommend the best treatment possible.
People in their 50s and 60s should really keep an eye on all developments with LATE. More information will come out in the years to come.
Sources:
https://www.livescience.com/65360-new-brain-disease-late.html
https://dshs.texas.gov/alzheimers/qanda.shtm
https://www.rd.com/health/conditions/late-alzheimers-like-disease/