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Mesothelioma: A Killer
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Seniors Take Up Tai Chi, Yoga Across U.S.
By AMBER McDOWELL
Associated Press Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Balanced on one leg like flamingos, a dozen people older than 60 concentrate on staying upright, as they master the basics of tai chi.
Some are in sock feet, some are barefoot and one wears black dress shoes with shiny gold buckles.
Once considered exotic, exercise programs like tai chi and yoga have become as routine at senior centers as bridge and shuffleboard.
"Tai chi teaches balance and proper breathing - two things seniors don't do well," said 72-year-old Harold Leach, a participant at the Donelson Senior Center and occasional
instructor.
Those benefits, along with others like lowered blood pressure and better sleep, have prompted seniors to try exercises they might have once considered too "new-agey" or "touchy-feely," according to Dr. Cedric Bryant, chief exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise.
"Now that they've become more accepted as mainstream physical activities, that's led to them going into older populations," he said.
The trend isn't limited to senior centers.
Companies like Gold's Gym - the bodybuilding mecca where Arnold Schwarzenegger found fame almost three decades ago - now has a portion of its staff dedicated to senior-friendly exercise programs.
While they don't offer tai chi, Gold's Gyms across the country regularly give exercisers a different way to stretch and tone with similar mind-body classes like yoga and Pilates. In recent years, the change in those classes' demographics has been striking, officials say, with more people older than 60 joining.
"Once they see one or two of the seniors try the class, that's all it takes," said Vicki Topp, Gold's instructor coordinator for senior citizen programs in south Florida. "Now they all try it, and want to see who does the best."
Tai chi, a Chinese exercise that focuses on slow, fluid movements, is believed to have originated around the 12th century. Some scholars have traced the origins of yoga back 5,000 years.
The idea that tai chi and yoga - which promote increased flexibility, toned muscles and better concentration - is particularly beneficial to older people isn't new. But it's taken a while to convince people to give it a try.
A 1996 study by Dr. Steven L. Wolf of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta found that older people who took part in a 15-week tai chi program reduced their risk of falling by more than 47 percent.
Wolf, who studied 200 people age 70 and older, also found those who practiced tai chi took more deliberate steps and walked slightly more slowly compared to those who didn't take the class.
"The tai chi group seemed to have more confidence," Wolf said at the time. "They had an increased sense of being able to do all that they would like to do."
Back at the Donelson center in Nashville, Sara Stryker is a believer.
After having her second knee replacement surgery two years ago, the 78-year-old Hermitage woman knew she had to resume exercising. But her surgeries made returning to traditional aerobics impossible.
"I didn't have the balance I used to have, and this helps me with that," Stryker said. "I do it as much as I can."
Despite the increased senior interest in mind-body exercises, older people in general still don't get enough exercise, according to Bryant.
"There is much more information to support the benefits of seniors exercising, but as a nation we're just not responding to the message as we should," he said.
Members of the Donelson tai chi group are working to change that. The exercisers regularly take their act on the road to local health fairs to educate and recruit other seniors.
It worked for 66-year-old Betty Underhill, who saw the class perform two years ago and has been exercising with them ever since.
"I thought, 'Those people look as old as me. If they can do it, I can, too.'"
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Skipping diabetes meds ups risk of hospitalization
Last Updated: 2004-09-24 14:52:13 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Type 2 diabetic patients who take their oral medications only part of the time have an increased risk of being hospitalized within a one-year period, the results of a new study indicate.
Dr. David P. Nau, along with Dr. Denys T. Lau, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, used claims data from a managed care organization to examine the link between nonadherence to diabetes drugs and subsequent hospitalization in 900 adult type 2 diabetics.
Over a 12-month period, 28.9 percent of patients were nonadherent to the antihyperglycemic regimen, they report in Diabetes Care.
According to the data, the risk of hospitalization in 2001 increased by more than twofold in type 2 diabetics who were nonadherent to their oral diabetes medications the year before.
"It isn't just the patients who completely stop their medications who are at higher risk of hospitalization," Nau told Reuters Health, "since the patients in our study who obtained less than 80 percent of their scheduled doses had a hospitalization rate approximately twice that of patients who were nearly perfect in their adherence."
This increased risk of hospitalization remained strong even after considering the effect of other illnesses and the patients' adherence to high blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medications.
Nonadherence to high blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medications, seen in 18.8 percent and 26.9 percent of study subjects, respectively, was not significantly associated with an increased risk of hospitalization.
"If strategies can be developed to identify and intervene with [nonadherent] patients, there may be substantial benefits to patients as well as the payers for health care services," the researchers conclude in their report.
Nau suggests that for some diabetic patients, "referral to a certified diabetes educator might be quite useful."
SOURCE: Diabetes Care September 2004.
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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