Percent of body fat

And I quote: "There’s a reason why females have a harder time losing those extra pounds. Nature gave a woman more enzymes to store fat and less to burn it in case she needs to support a developing baby. As a result, women have about 5 percent more body fat than men. A healthy body fat percentage for an 18-year-old girl is between 17 and 30 percent, while a 19-year-old should fall between 19 and 31 percent. Adult females 20 to 39 years should strive for a body fat percentage between 21 and 32 percent. Forty to 59-year-old women should fall within the 23 to 33 percent range, while those 60 years and older should be between 24 and 35 percent." That's sounds better than what I heard at the gym today. My percentage body fat is 32.2 according to that little machine that said I was over the recommended for my age. If I lost what the machine recommended, I'd be receiving"get well" cards in the mail.

 http://livehealthy.chron.com/healthy-body-fat-levels-based-age-3473.html

Should young people have a "life script?"

Although I can't be positive that this was the article being discussed on the radio yesterday as I drove the church mail run, it sounds like it. The three millennials, all from California (one was Huntington Beach) were discussing the errors of a "life script." And it made sense. Women, they said, often are ready for marriage and family by age 25, having finished college and had a taste or distaste of a career. The 20s is still the safest and healthiest time for mother and child for birth. However, men of that age are still being encouraged to be adolescents, going to bars with the guys, doing extreme sports, taking stupid risks, etc. Some times they still live with mama, and so why give all that up for responsibility?

 http://thefederalist.com/2016/06/08/10-top-reasons-you-should-have-kids-before-30/

  Mothers who are age 35 and older are at significantly higher risk for, among other maladies, giving birth prematurely, which gives rise to more health problems for the child, and for having babies with Downs Syndrome. Father age is also a crucial risk factor: “By starting families in their thirties, forties and beyond, men could be increasing the chances that their children will develop autism, schizophrenia and other diseases often linked to new [genetic] mutations.”

If you want to be a hero, leader, or celebrity, the number-one way to get there is by having children. You are their world—truly. Almost none of us will be able to say the same professionally.

Too old to cut the mustard

As far as I'm concerned, Trump and Hillary are 70 and Bernie is 75. Yes, I'm rounding up a few months for the men, and 1 year for the woman. This is too old for such a demanding job. It's fine for being a part timer, or retired, or an artist or musician who has a manager, or being CEO of your own business. I just don't want those tired and inactive brain cells making global decisions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-l2GgSkA6U 
Too old to cut the mustard by Ernest Tubb and Red Foley 1951

I used to could jump just like a deer 
                       
But now you need a new landing gear
                       
I used to could jump a picket fence 
                            
But now you're lucky if you jump an inch

Proprioception and aging

I'm not into fitness, but I will have to add a new routine to my core and bursitis routines and work on proprioception. That's your body's ability to know where it is without having to look. If I close my eyes, I probably couldn't stand in the shower, and walking home in the dark after the fireworks the other night was just plain difficult.

Proprioception is your ability to sense where your body and limbs are positioned in space. It's what allows you to navigate in a dark room, walk up stairs without looking at your feet and brush your teeth without peering in a mirror. Your muscles, joints and skin are equipped with tiny sensory receptors that provide vital information to your brain, so you can maintain control, react quickly to sudden changes in your environment and move about safely. Proprioceptive ability tends to weaken as people age, because message transmissions to and from the central nervous system become more sluggish. In turn, poor proprioception can negatively affect balance, agility and coordination, all of which increase your risk of falling.

http://livehealthy.chron.com/geriatric-proprioceptive-exercises-10002.html

Some factors about longevity are about race, not poverty or education

Hispanics on average live 80.6 years, non-Hispanic whites 78.1 years and African Americans 72.9. More education can add as much as 10 years to the life expectancy of blacks and white; but for Hispanics, it doesn't seem to matter. A high school drop out will still live longer than an educated white or black American.

http://newamericamedia.org/2012/12/latino-life-expectancy-exploring-the-hispanic-paradox.php

A 25-year old Latino high school dropout in 2008 is likely to outlast both his African-American and white gender counterparts by ten years. Actually, he will probably fall about three years short of the estimated mortality demise of very highly educated white males.

Life expectancy at 75, or why are Hispanics living longer?

Bob senior (b. 1913) and sons shortly before his death at 93.

Life expectancy is usually given for birth year, but you can also figure it from current age. Hispanics in the U.S. have the highest life expectancy, then white non-Hispanic, then black non-Hispanic. This applies at birth and ages 65 and 75. So something other than income and government benefits is at work. Those in the upper ranges are all pre-War on Poverty and pre-126 wealth transfer programs. Based on the CDC figures, I think I’ll go with my Mom and Dad’s ages—88 and 89. My two grandfathers were around 93.  My husband’s father was 93.

 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2011/022.pdf

"Hispanic" is a made up word to refer to people whose families come from a Spanish speaking country--Cuba, Mexico, South America (not sure if Brazilians are called Hispanic), etc. Generally, they are of European ancestry with a mix of Indian.

Divorce rates are lower; marriage rates are higher for Hispanic households. Hispanics are less likely to co-habit. Living together without marriage does not provide the health and wealth benefits of marriage. If it is an inter-ethnic marriage, those figures hold. Hispanic families are more likely to attend church than other groups. All these factors affect health (and wealth). However, more education = higher divorce rate. Since 2001 the largest minority in the U.S. population, Hispanics now have the highest college enrollment rate for freshmen since 2012, Will we see a lower life expectancy as they take on the culture of the majority?

http://www.gallup.com/poll/17404/Where-Hispanic-Americans-Stand-Religion-Politics.aspx

http://www.care2.com/causes/hispanic-college-enrollment-rate-is-higher-than-white-enrollment.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/sunday-review/why-everyone-seems-to-have-cancer.html

http://hispanics.barna.org/hispanic-priorities-marriage-family-and-youth/

Stuff I like--Sensodyne pronamel toothpaste

One day at the dentist's for a check up and cleaning, I told the hygenist (Dr. Walton's wife) that my teeth were becoming increasingly sensitive. She recommended Sensodyne Pronamel Toothpaste, and gave me a sample. I love this stuff--and I use the gentle whitener variety. I drink a lot of coffee and tea, and that really messes up your tooth color--just look at the inside of a ceramic cup after you've reheated your coffee in the microwave. My teeth aren't sensitive anymore (and now that I've seen a few commercials I understand it better) and I think I'm making a little progress in the whitening department. It costs a little more than Crest, but it's worth it.

When I talk to people my age, I really notice their teeth more than their wrinkles or sun damage. Although regular dental care was coming in when we were children, there was no floridation of water, and my generation (including me) was careless about flossing, and it really wasn't emphasized. I had a very early case of periodontal disease (1977) that was caught by Dr. Heinzerling who sent me to a surgeon to have it removed. I am 70 years old and have all my teeth, even my wisdom teeth. Most people lose their teeth from poor care--especially gum disease. After a frenulectomy (removal of the muscle between my front teeth) at the same time as the gum surgery--I don't recommend having this double whammy--my teeth naturally shifted and there was room for all of them.

Today's New Word--BRFSS

There are websites devoted to acronyms, but here's one that affects you whether or not you know what it means. "The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a state-based system of health surveys that collects information on health risk behaviors, preventive health practices, and health care access primarily related to chronic disease and injury. For many states, the BRFSS is the only available source of timely, accurate data on health-related behaviors. Established by the CDC in 1984, more than 350,000 adults are interviewed each year, making the BRFSS the largest telephone health survey in the world. [If you don't have a land line, are you in the game? I'm sure buried in the code book are corrections for that or they'd lose the younger population.] Here's why you should know what it is: States use BRFSS data to identify emerging health problems, establish and track health objectives, and develop and evaluate public health policies and programs. Many states also use BRFSS data to support health-related legislative efforts.

Here's the context. In the December 16 issue of JAMA there was an article about perceived insufficient rest or sleep. I like this section of JAMA because 1) I can usually understand a MMWR report, and 2) if I can't there is a good editorial explanation. This one's a bit tricky--the old double negative. "Insufficient sleep" means "not enough sleep" to me, but the wording is "no days of insufficient sleep or rest." So my brain has to stop and think "no no sleep days." But. . . here's what was interesting.

"Retired persons (43.8%) were most likely to report no days of insufficient rest or sleep in comparison with adults reporting other types of employment status (P = .003). Those with less than a high school diploma or general education development certificate (GED) (37.9%) also were more likely to report no days of insufficient rest or sleep in comparison with those with a high school diploma or GED (33.8%) or with some college or college degree (28.0%). Finally, reports of no days of insufficient rest or sleep were similar among adults of varying marital status, although never married adults (31.6%) were more likely to report no days than members of an unmarried couple (28.4%; P = .005)."

Almost everyone my age that I've ever talked to complains about not sleeping as well as she or he did when younger. But BRFSS data says that's not how it's reported--assuming I'm reading that double negative correctly. Also, could there be a trifecta here? It looks like elderly, less educated old maids sleep better than the rest of us. Is that how you read it?

Retiring minds

Twice this week I made a mistake with my maturing CD. On Monday I went in to the bank to retrieve it. Wrong day. One day too soon and I hadn't read the small (or even medium) print. So yesterday I parked between Huffman's (grocery) and the bank, intending to shop, then retrieve the CD. Forgot. Here's an item from my 2005 blog about Sally Kriska's teaching at Lakeside.

One of the tips that Sally passed along was the 10-24-7 tip. She said that in order to incorporate something into the long term memory, review it 10 minutes after hearing/reading it, then review in 24 hours, and then a week later. Then it is much more likely to make it to the long term memory, because most things drop out of our memory very quickly."

Today I'm doing Fran's mail run and she'll do mine next week. I tell myself every day, "don't forget the Wednesday mail run." But retiring minds are forgetful. Now, what was I saying?

Ouch! That hurt!

This morning I reached around the kitty with my left hand for my coffee cup while reading Martin Luther and felt a sharp pain in my ring finger. I wear 3 rings--wedding, engagement, and a special band that I think was a Valentine gift about 3 or 4 years ago. But I'd worn a different 3rd ring for years before that--anniversary of our first date I think (my husband is very romantic). Something got pinched. After each move toward the cup, it would hurt more, so finally took the rings off. Oh my. All the fat is gone on that finger from 48 years of wearing rings. So when it's naked, it looks sort of deformed. It used to be a 5, but I think it's gone down a bit. Just rubbed it away--probably went to my hips, that's what happened to my ear lobes. I finally put the wedding band back on, but put the other two away--I won't say where because the cat sometimes reads my blog, and she loves to climb up on the furniture and knock things on the floor.