Improving how you age Archives - Sharon Horesh Bergquist, M.D.

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

October 17, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist Leave a Comment

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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...

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

July 18, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist 5 Comments

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...

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...

10 Surprising Ways Stress May Be Affecting Your Health

May 9, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist 2 Comments

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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...

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...

Preventing Alzheimer’s: How the MIND diet may help protect your brain

April 25, 2015 by Sharon Horesh Bergquist Leave a Comment

Although several genes have been associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a growing body of research is showing that lifestyle factors, including your diet, can significantly influence your risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported on the MIND diet, the latest in the arsenal for improving how your brain ages.

Developed by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet borrows elements from the heart healthy Mediterranean diet and the blood pressure lowering DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. Continue Reading...