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Sharon Horesh Bergquist, M.D.

Live Healthy, Age Healthy™

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Recent Posts

  • How to Use the Power of Habit to Improve Your Health and Productivity
  • Why Finding Your Flow May Be More Important Than Work-Life Balance
  • Holiday feasting leaves months-long setback on weight
  • The Health Benefits of Everything Pumpkin!
  • Prepare Your Family for Back to School Success with Home Cooking

Recent Comments

  • Sharon Horesh Bergquist on How to Use the Power of Habit to Improve Your Health and Productivity
  • Sharon Horesh Bergquist on Eat For Your Genes: Why a good diet matters more than bad genes
  • Sharon Horesh Bergquist on Managing Pain from Arthritis — Naturally
  • Sharon Horesh Bergquist on The Health Benefits of Everything Pumpkin!
  • Scott Baker on The Health Benefits of Everything Pumpkin!

Archives

What “Dose” of Exercise Do You Need To Live Longer?

October 17, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist Leave a Comment

Exercise

Shutterstock

Exercise is deservedly considered the best medicine. It can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke, lessen your risk of colon and breast cancer, and lower your blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. It can also improve your mood, cognitive function, and your fitness in everyday life. But what dose of this medicine do you need to improve your health and live longer?

Conventional wisdom is that more is better. However, scientists do not yet know if there is there is an upper limit to the benefits of exercise, or whether there is a point where it can conversely increase your risk of mortality. Continue Reading...

Filed Under: Health, Improving how you age, live better longer Tagged With: Benefits of exercise, Exercise, Exercise prescription, How much exercise do you need, Longevity

Do These Genes Make Me Look Fat?

September 7, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist Leave a Comment

Belly Fat

Copyright: buriy / 123RF Stock Photo

According to a recent report in The Washington Post , the average American woman now weighs as much as the average 1960’s man. The average man isn’t doing any better—having gained nearly 30 pounds since the 1960’s to an average of 195.5 pounds today.

The obesity epidemic has many pointing fingers at the Western lifestyle. A concoction of calorie packed, high fat, high sugar processed foods combined with increasingly sedentary habits, the Western lifestyle seems a sure recipe for obesity. Continue Reading...

Filed Under: Health, Prevention, Wellness Tagged With: epigenetics, Genetics and diet, nutrigenomics, obesity

Despite research breakthroughs, an anti-aging pill is still a long way off

July 28, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist 8 Comments

Sharon Horesh Bergquist, Emory University

Last month a team of doctors and scientists made the case to regulators at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider approving anti-aging drugs as a new pharmaceutical class. Such a designation would treat aging as disease rather than a natural process, potentially opening the door to government funding for anti-aging drug trials.

To some, such a drug may seem impossible. Yet, the physiologic basis for it exists. In fact, some candidate drugs, such as metformin, used to treat diabetes, are already being safely used for treating other conditions. Many scientists believe that designing an anti-aging medication is a matter of “when,” not “if.” Continue Reading...

Filed Under: Blog, live better longer, Prevention Tagged With: aging and health, anti-aging, anti-aging pill, healthy aging, living longer, slowing aging

Eat For Your Genes: Why a good diet matters more than bad genes

July 18, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist 5 Comments

Diet and your genes

Copyright: rolffimages / 123RF Stock Photo

Whether you are a vegetable lover or a vegetable hater, there is another—and perhaps the most powerful—reason to eat your veggies: chemicals naturally found in plant-based foods, called phytochemicals, can change your DNA.

This so called epigenetic effect of plant foods, in addition to their established antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefit, helps explain why your mother was right when she said eating your fruits and vegetables, rather than processed foods that modify or lack these natural phytochemicals, is good for you. Continue Reading...

Filed Under: Health, Improving how you age Tagged With: epigenetics, Genetics and diet, nutrigenomics, personalizing nutrition, plant based diet

Do You Have Enough GRATITUDE? It Can Change Your Life and Your Health

June 26, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist Leave a Comment

Two simple words—thank you—can open the door to unexpected benefits.

Copyright: sean824 / 123RF Stock Photo

Copyright: sean824 / 123RF Stock Photo

From the Latin gratia, meaning favor, and gratus, meaning pleasing, gratitude can be a feeling, an attitude, a virtue, or a choice. Feeling gratitude is the core of human connectedness–the give and take that supports and strengthens our relationships.

Whether you appreciate another’s act of kindness, the beauty of nature, or “count your blessings,” practicing gratitude can improve your emotional well-being, social relationships, and physical health. Continue Reading...

Filed Under: live better longer, Wellness Tagged With: Gratitude and happiness, Gratitude and health, Power of gratitude

3 Reasons to Stand Up to Too Much Sitting: Plus 7 ways to avoid its damaging effect

June 14, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist Leave a Comment

If your energy level seems low and your waistline is expanding uncontrollably, you may be developing “sitting disease.”
Damaging effects of prolonged sitting| FOX 5

According to the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Americans are now spending the majority, or roughly two-thirds, of the day sedentary.  The damaging health effects of prolonged sitting may be the new tobacco.

That may not be surprising to anybody with a sedentary job. Long, uninterrupted hours sitting at work or commuting make it hard to make time for physical activity. Yet, the wake-up call is that in addition to leaving less time for exercise and leisure activities, prolonged sitting poses its own unique type of harm to your body. Continue Reading...

Filed Under: Blog, Improving how you age, Prevention Tagged With: prolonged sitting, too much sitting and health

Decoding Vitamin D: Could you be getting too little or too much?

June 3, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist Leave a Comment

Sunlight and vitamin DThe main role of vitamin D is to keep your bones healthy, primarily by helping you absorb intestinal calcium. In recent years, however, vitamin D deficiency has gained a lot of attention for being associated with a long list of diseases ranging from heart disease and cancer to diabetes mellitus, depression, dementia, colds, multiple sclerosis, and premature death (Click for Benefits of Vitamin D video).

As a result, many physicians, including myself, have been screening for vitamin D deficiency in people who are at risk—such as those who get limited sun exposure without sunscreen, have dark skin, are older, or obese—and have been recommending vitamin D supplementation. Continue Reading...

Filed Under: aging healthy, Prevention Tagged With: Vitamin D, Vitamin D and cancer, Vitamin D and heart disease, Vitamin D and longevity, Vitamin D supplement

Struggling to change your health habits? Try these 8 steps

May 20, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist Leave a Comment

Changing a health habit

photo credit 123RF

Whether you want lose weight, quit smoking, or start exercising, changing your habit—and sticking with it—is hard.

From my experience, most people know at least one habit or behavior they would like to change in order to improve their health and wellbeing but struggle to make it happen. The challenge is moving from knowing to doing. How can you get started, gain momentum, and avoid slipping backwards?

Changing any health habit requires having a clear, realistic, step-by-step plan. Continue Reading...

Filed Under: Prevention, Wellness Tagged With: changing a habit, setting goals

10 Surprising Ways Stress May Be Affecting Your Health

May 9, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist 2 Comments

stress at work

shutterstock

It may be the disease of our time. Stress and stress related illnesses are on the rise—with 44% of Americans reporting an increase in psychological stress in just the past five years. The American Psychological Association warns that we are a nation on the verge of a stress-induced public health crisis.

Stress in everyday life is only partly to blame. The crisis is compounded by how we respond: overwhelmed by stress, we often view lifestyle and behavioral changes needed to mitigate stress as insurmountable. We get trapped in a vicious cycle of heightened stress, poor health choices, and spiraling physical consequences. Continue Reading...

Filed Under: Health, Improving how you age, Wellness Tagged With: stress and appetite, stress and belly fat, stress and diabetes, stress and health, stress and heart disease, stress and longevity

Managing Pain from Arthritis — Naturally

May 2, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist 7 Comments

Debilitating, exhausting, and depressing. Those are the words my patients often use when describing living with arthritis. Yet often, it is what follows in response to the pain that diminishes quality of life even more: the natural tendency to become sedentary.

This week, Jane Brody’s New York Times article explains why staying active—and avoiding the sedentary trap—is the best way to stay ahead of arthritis. Decreasing physical activity often leads to a spiral of chronic health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes. It also leads to progressive weakness, which makes doing daily activities and enjoying life even harder. Continue Reading...

Filed Under: aging healthy, Improving how you age, live better longer Tagged With: diet and arthritis, exercises for arthritis, managing arthritis pain, natural approach to arthritis, weight loss and arthritis

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