This 12 months, Snohomish County confronted a tripledemic, mental health and fitness problems, an ongoing drug crisis, and economical and staffing upheaval for wellness treatment vendors. But 2023 arrives with the hope of more sources for behavioral wellbeing treatment method and prevention, far more obtain to health and fitness coverage and a new county public wellness office.
• COVID proceeds to evolve as a virus and as a public health challenge: killing people today and disrupting lives in the brief- and long-term. We started out the calendar year with omicron, then masks arrived off and we finished the yr with bivalent boosters.
• The tripledemic of viruses in late 2022 — COVID, RSV, and the flu — led to renewed calls for vaccinations and masking indoors. The fantastic information: the selection of confirmed flu scenarios ongoing to decline in Washington for the week ending Dec. 24.
• The opioid epidemic proceeds, with fatalities from fentanyl tripling from 2018 to 2021 in Snohomish County. A trim silver lining: the county and cities are spending some American Rescue Strategy Act money on behavioral overall health, and coordinating how to shell out opioid settlement cash for treatment, prevention and other companies.
• The condition launched a suicide and disaster hotline in July, and afterwards a Indigenous and Solid Lifeline committed to American Indian and Alaska Indigenous peoples in November. A person of the a few phone facilities is in Everett.
• The young ones are not alright. The Healthy Youth Survey documented behavioral well being issues amongst youth in the county, with will increase in depression and suicide ideation between 12th graders, and high charges of panic and melancholy among both equally 10th and 12th graders.
• The adults aren’t undertaking wonderful either. An once-a-year study of Snohomish County inhabitants in 2022 demonstrates a decline in overall health & well-becoming, in accordance to the Providence Institute for a Much healthier Group. This drop was driven by “lower total pleasure with mental and emotional very well-remaining,” and “lower self-noted everyday living fulfillment and in general nicely-getting.”
• Community Health and fitness Facilities and the Edmonds School District partnered to open the to start with university-dependent clinic in the county, featuring health care, dental and behavioral wellbeing solutions. In the district, 19{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of 12th graders claimed suicide ideation very last yr.
• A condition regulation now permits students to get excused absences for mental health and fitness-relevant factors.
• The Snohomish Wellbeing District and the county accepted a merger to ideally boost public wellbeing expert services for citizens. The merger will be total Jan. 1.
• The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, placing reproductive rights in the palms of states. A transfer is beneath way in Washington to put on the ballot a constitutional modification to guard those people legal rights.
• The Washington point out legal professional standard sued Providence Swedish, including the Everett and Edmonds hospitals, above patient charity care and financial debt assortment policies and practices.
• A new condition law went into effect in July, growing accessibility to clinic charity care.
• Regence and Optum (The Everett Clinic and Polyclinic) hit a agreement deadlock that is nevertheless foremost to uncertainty for Medicare Gain associates.
• Washington’s Cascade Treatment Savings well being designs went dwell with a new tax credit history for 2023, offering affordable health and fitness coverage to folks who receive much too much for Medicaid. The point out approximated that 90{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of health profit exchange clients in Snohomish County could locate a less expensive strategy for 2023.
• Washington acquired approval to extend the time from 60 days to 12 months for submit-partum care that can be protected by Medicaid. About 3,000 people today had been enrolled in “pregnant women’s coverage” in Snohomish County as of November.
• The wellness treatment staffing crisis carries on, primary to lengthy hold out instances for patients, maxed out capability – specially for youngsters – and significant labor fees for wellness treatment companies. A controversial nurse staffing ratio invoice failed to pass once again in 2022. Supporters will make another operate at it in 2023.
•Washington healthcare facility leaders consistently lifted alarms about their dire monetary problem, calling for condition and federal alterations to improve reimbursements and decrease costs.
Would you like to share a own story about any of these challenges? Contact or email Pleasure Borkholder.
We’re also scheduling to report on obtain to wellbeing treatment in 2023. If you have confronted barriers to accessing well timed, easy and/or affordable care in Snohomish County, be sure to fill out this brief form: types.gle/DcgfccCvwqVTh6Sk7
Pleasure Borkholder is the well being and wellness reporter for The Each day Herald. Her work is supported by the Well being Reporting Initiative, which is sponsored in section by Premera Blue Cross. The Everyday Herald maintains editorial manage about content developed by this initiative.
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Following is a summary of existing health news briefs.

Hong Kong eyeing Jan 8 to resume cross-border journey with mainland China

Hong Kong is working to resume quarantine-free of charge journey with mainland China by as early as Jan. 8, Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki reported in a Facebook post on Sunday. Chan, the city’s No.2 official, stated quotas will be established in the 1st phase of the prepare to limit the quantity of individuals who can vacation involving the town and the mainland.

France urges EU peers to test Chinese travellers for COVID

France on Sunday urged European Union friends to take a look at Chinese travellers for COVID right after Paris resolved to do so amid an outbreak sweeping the nation. Only Italy and Spain also need assessments in the 27-nation, mostly border-no cost EU and wellbeing officers from across the bloc failed last 7 days to concur on a joint system.

Uk to need COVID negative tests for arrivals from China

The British isles explained on Friday that travellers arriving in Britain from China will call for a detrimental COVID-19 examination following a surge in infections in China. Starting on Jan. 5, Chinese travellers will need to have to display a damaging COVID-19 test taken no extra than two times prior to departure, UK’s Office of Health and fitness and Social Care reported in a statement.

WHO urges China to share specific details regularly on COVID scenario

The Entire world Well being Corporation on Friday as soon as once more urged China’s wellbeing officials to consistently share precise and real-time information and facts on the COVID-19 condition in the country, as it proceeds to evaluate the most up-to-date surge in infections. The agency has requested Chinese officials to share additional genetic sequencing facts, as nicely as info on hospitalizations, fatalities and vaccinations.

Pandemic curbs connected to early start to Europe’s wintertime flu time

Pandemic limits that hampered the circulation of viruses other than COVID-19 could be powering the unseasonably early upsurge in respiratory bacterial infections in Europe this winter that the festive crack could extend, scientists say. Apart from COVID-19, laws to control motion and social interaction restricted the transmission of viruses that normally bring about most infections all through the colder, winter months, which include influenza and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

Exclusive-Drugmakers to elevate selling prices on at minimum 350 medication in U.S. in January

Drugmakers like Pfizer Inc, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca PLC and Sanofi SA prepare to elevate rates in the United States on much more than 350 distinctive prescription drugs in early January, in accordance to data analyzed by healthcare analysis agency 3 Axis Advisors. The increases are expected to arrive as the pharmaceutical marketplace prepares for the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which permits the government’s Medicare wellness system to negotiate charges instantly for some medicine starting in 2026. The market is also contending with inflation and offer chain constraints that have led to better manufacturing expenditures.

Australia to require negative COVID assessments for travellers from China

Australia stated on Sunday that travellers from China will have to present adverse COVID-19 test success from Jan. 5, joining a growing amount of nations that have executed very similar limitations as cases surge in China. Citing a absence of epidemiological info and genomic sequencing information from China, Australian health minister Mark Butler mentioned the governing administration has made a decision out of an abundance of caution to have to have visitors to existing a destructive check taken in just 48 hrs of their departure.

India checking pharma exports to China amid COVID surge – supply

India’s Ministry of Commerce has been asked to check exports of medicinal items and tools to China to assure domestic availability for any COVID-19 surges, according to a supply common with the make any difference. India’s Wellness Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, requested pharma corporations and senior authorities officers to evaluate availability of medications, and watch their stocks and selling prices in a conference on Thursday, the resource told Reuters.

Chinese point out media look for to reassure community around COVID-19

Hundreds of Chinese took to the streets to mark the New Yr as authorities and point out media sought to reassure the community that the COVID-19 outbreak sweeping across the place was underneath management and nearing its peak. While numerous men and women in main metropolitan areas have continued to isolate as the virus spreads via the inhabitants, New Calendar year revelries appeared to be typically unaffected as folks celebrated the conclusion of 2022 and the transform into 2023.
By Will Atwater, Anne Blythe Rachel Crumpler, Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven, Thomas Goldsmith, Rose Hoban and Taylor Knopf
Will North Carolina legalize medical marijuana?
Our most read stories of the year dove into the status of medical marijuana in the state. North Carolina remains one of just 13 states that has yet to legalize any cannabis products for medical use, though that could change soon. The NC Compassionate Care Act, first introduced in the North Carolina Senate in April 2021, would make medical marijuana accessible for a small subset of people with chronic illnesses, such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, and post traumatic stress disorder.
On June 6, the bill passed the senate and moved over to the state House of Representatives. Two days later, it was referred to the house committee on Rules, Calendar, and Operations, a committee where, often, bills are sent to die. Sure enough, the bill hasn’t gone anywhere since.
North Carolinians of all political stripes overwhelmingly support legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana. A poll from SurveyUSA and WRAL found 72 percent of voters supported legalizing medical marijuana, and 57 percent supported recreational legalization.
Because so many people who use medical marijuana do so to alleviate pain, researchers across the country have investigated whether medical marijuana could be used as a substitute for opiates. Two studies from 2015, one in the Journal of Health Economics and the other in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that states with legal medical marijuana saw lower rates of opioid addiction and overdose deaths than the states where it remained illegal.
—Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven
Year three of the coronavirus pandemic
North Carolina started the year in an Omicron rage. On New Year’s Eve, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported a daily case count record of 19,174 new cases of the novel coronavirus, with new infections being driven by new variants to COVID-19.
Record numbers of hospitalizations followed within weeks and the health care system groaned under the strain.
A workforce shortage further complicated scenarios at hospitals struggling to keep up with the influx of patients.
The Omicron variant proved to be a survivor, morphing into sub-variants that have continued to menace as 2022 comes to a close.
The past year has shown how remarkable advances in vaccine technology have led to revised vaccines and boosters such as the bivalent booster that protects against Omicron. Though vaccines and antibodies from COVID infections have helped North Carolinians and others return to some pre-pandemic activities — travel, sporting events, concerts, larger gatherings, in-person school and on-site work in office and retail jobs, COVID still can throw curves.
MAHEC Nurse Katie Neligan gives Kristen Gonzalez, 34, of Asheville a first coronavirus shot at a clinic on the Asheville UNC campus. Photo credit: Liora Engel-Smith Credit: Liora Engel-Smith
People have learned to isolate and mask when infected and manage risks that not only protect them from severe illness but help prevent huge surges in cases and deaths.
In just three years, scientists and researchers have developed treatments such as Paxlovid and monoclonal antibodies that can be taken within days of infection to ward off severe illness, but as the virus continues to mutate, some of those treatments have become less effective or completely ineffective.
Vaccines have been developed for young children. The percentage of children younger than 4 who have received vaccines is only about 4 percent, but nearly all of the 65-and-older population has had two doses COVID-19 vaccine, according to the DHHS COVID dashboard.
Fifth-nine percent of North Carolinians who completed the initial series of vaccination have also received a booster, but only 19 percent have gotten the bivalent booster that specifically targets Omicron, according to the dashboard.
With the wider availability of home tests, the 3.316 million cases in North Carolina might be an underestimate since many home-test results are not captured in the data.
COVID-19 has created societal changes that are likely to last beyond the pandemic. Working from home is a trend many companies are likely to embrace more, and masking up against respiratory illnesses during winter months might become more common in heavily traveled indoor facilities.
Cisco employee Colleen Coogan talks with her doctor, Alison Guptill, about her new blood pressure medication via video link. All of the clinic exam rooms will be telehealth-enabled. Photo credit: Rose Hoban Credit: Rose Hoban
Kody Kinsley, the DHHS secretary who stepped into the job after former secretary Mandy Cohen resigned in 2021, hopes to persuade lawmakers to better fund and add to the public health infrastructures built during the pandemic as North Carolina evolves into recovery and reformation modes.
In the short term, Kinsley has used DHHS funds to create a temporary telehealth program with StarMed through which COVID-infected people without insurance or a primary care doctor can have a free appointment and receive prescriptions for oral antivirals.
“More than 1 million people in North Carolina don’t have health insurance, which has made accessing care for COVID-19, as with other diseases, very challenging,” KInsley said in the announcement. “This program provides a temporary bridge to care for many in rural and historically marginalized communities, but we still need long-term investments to close the coverage gap.”
— Anne Blythe
Medicaid’s changes after a year
In July, North Carolina’s Medicaid transformation turned one year old. At the start of the transition, providers spoke of significant administrative burdens and patients shared their confusion when they were registered with one of the state’s contracted managed care companies. About a year in, things seem about the same, though — luckily — with fewer disruptions to care than expected.
While the technical parts of the state’s Medicaid switch are important to follow, we’ve also been watching North Carolina’s unique pilot project, the Healthy Opportunities Program, which theorizes that by using Medicaid dollars to help people access basic, non-medical services such as housing and healthy food, the state can save money on medical care in the long run.
This summer, we published a three–part series on the program and hosted our monthly Health Care Half Hour with some of the people making the program happen. I think each story is worth a read, but to summarize: the pilot holds a ton of potential, but faces a lot of barriers.
There are issues with the referral process and with increased paperwork for the housing providers. As of September, the state hadn’t yet figured out how to make the domestic violence portion of the program feasible, given the serious privacy concerns involved in supporting people through that experience.
But, for the people who have received services through the program, the impact has been massive. One example: after receiving free produce and whole grains through the program, Mary K, who has diabetes, saw her A1C (a measure of average blood sugar over three months) decrease from 10.8 to 7.6. In the months before, Mary had suffered one health problem after another, so the impact of getting some good news could not be overstated.
— Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven
Mental health system in crisis
The pandemic put pressure on every part of the societal safety net and the mental health system nearly buckled under its weight. With the help of a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism, I spent this year documenting the droves of patients who showed up at emergency departments across the state seeking psychiatric care.
The data we uncovered showed rising mental health-related emergency room visits, more involuntary commitments and longer wait times for psychiatric hospital beds. Health experts explained that these are symptoms of much larger problems within the state’s mental health system which have persisted for over a decade as community treatment resources waned. As more patients find themselves in crisis, the system in place to help them is leaving some more traumatized than when they first sought care.
A year after her psychiatric hospitalization, now 12-year-old Marie says she’s working through new traumas as a result of her time in the hospital. Photo credit: Taylor Knopf
I wrote the story of an 11-year-old girl at risk for suicide who was sent to a privately run hospital against her parents wishes’ where she was allegedly sexually assaulted. Police records show law enforcement regularly visits this particular hospital in response to calls with reports of sexual assault or rape. Many – including some lawmakers – have called for reform in response to the story.
Health leaders at the center of these issues have ideas for how to fix them, but they would require some significant financial investment in the state’s mental health system.
— Taylor Knopf
Fallout from the Dobbs decision
On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling that made access to abortion a federal right in the United States. The Dobbs decision dismantled that legal protection, handing abortion regulation to individual states.
In the weeks that followed, many states — particularly in the South — took action to either ban or severely restrict abortion, significantly changing the abortion landscape. Abortion remains legal in North Carolina but access diminished after a federal judge reinstated a 20-week ban on Aug. 17, cutting the time frame during which women can access the procedure. The Republican-led state legislature did not try to enact further restrictions on abortion because Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said he would use his veto power to block any such efforts.
For people living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, pregnancy complications can include death in rare cases. Credit:Fibonacci Blue
The state’s 14 abortion clinics have stayed busy, accommodating an influx of out-of-state patients. The Carolina Abortion Fund has worked to help patients sort out logistics and payment for the procedure.
Physicians voiced concerns about how abortion restrictions could negatively affect pregnancy care. They’re concerned maternal mortality will increase at a time when the United States already has some of the worst maternal health outcomes of any developed nation. They expressed concern about how medical providers will be able to accommodate the additional pregnancies bound to occur and they also talked about their concerns about how the next generation of physicians will be trained.
In response to reduced access to abortion, an increased number of women are seeking long-lasting birth control options and even long-term fixes for pregnancy prevention such as tubal ligation, a procedure to close a woman’s fallopian tubes permanently. Some women have also noticed how abortion regulations complicate access to drugs for other conditions like cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.
—Rachel Crumpler
How will NC spend millions in opioid settlement funds?
Over the next nearly two decades, North Carolina will receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the multi-state opioid settlement with several drug manufacturers and distributors. The first of those payments arrived in the state this summer. The big questions are how will the state spend the money and will it actually be used for the purposes laid out in the settlement agreement?
Most of the money will be sent to North Carolina’s county governments to help people and communities impacted by the overdose crisis. The NC Attorney General’s Office and the state health department created very specific guidelines for how each county can use its share of the money. We documented the growing tension around what interventions and treatments should be funded, some of which are backed by more scientific evidence for treating opioid addiction than others.
We also partnered with Kaiser Health News on a deep-dive into an example of one such controversial addiction treatment program. Durham-based TROSA has received millions from the state General Assembly over the years despite its questionable work program and refusal to allow some of the most effective medications for opioid use disorder.
We’ll be watching how communities begin to spend their shares of the money this coming year.
— Taylor Knopf
Hospital financing becomes a bigger issue
This past year saw more hospital consolidation in North Carolina, with Charlotte-based Atrium Health partnering with Winston-Salem-based Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center to create a huge system that could change the shape of how care is delivered in the western Piedmont of the state.
Atrium finished up the year with another megamerger, this time with Midwest-based Advocate Health.
The state’s larger hospitals saw record revenues during the prior year, thanks to federal money for COVID relief but smaller hospitals continue to struggle financially. That reality drove hospitals’ efforts to push the General Assembly to expand the state’s Medicaid program even as the bill coming out of the state Senate could significantly change the landscape of hospital competition.
Meanwhile, the state’s rural hospitals continue to struggle, even after seeking the shelter of consolidation with larger systems.
Critics of hospital consolidation continue to call out issues with the Mission Health system, which was bought by hospital behemoth HCA in 2019, and the system has seen an exodus of some physicians and has been the subject of nursing unionization efforts.
– Rose Hoban
The pros and cons of new dental sedation rules
A North Carolina widow launched a widely followed debate about dental sedation rules after her husband, a cardiologist from New Hanover County, died.
Hemant “Henry” Patel died in August 2020 in New Hanover Regional Medical Center days after he went to an oral surgeon for what was described as a routine dental implant procedure.
During the procedure, Patel’s heart rate and oxygen saturation levels dropped to dangerously low levels while he was sedated.
Patel’s death was described as an outlier among his peers in the North Carolina oral surgery field.
A dental hygienist displays instruments used in dental procedures. Credit: Rose Hoban
That did not sit well with Shital Patel, the widow of the highly-regarded cardiologist. She strove to require an anesthesiologist or registered nurse anesthetist to be present during any surgeries in which a patient is deeply sedated.
The North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners considered changing the rules but met opposition from oral surgeons. They argued that requiring the additional staff would make procedures cost-prohibitive for many and create disparities in rural and underserved communities.
In the late fall, the board decided not to adopt sweeping changes but put in more steps for review and oversight.
— Anne Blythe
Climate change gains attention across the health care system
This year while reporting on environmental health issues, we noticed an emerging trend: health care providers are seeking to develop skills needed to address the impact of climate change on patient health. We first reported on the trend in a story published in April.
Medical students and professors at the medical school at UNC-Chapel Hill discussed the need to incorporate courses on how extreme weather, due to climate change, can impact human health. UNC is the only of North Carolina’s five medical schools incorporating climate change topics into its curriculum.
UNC is at the forefront of a growing trend: medical schools across the country are starting to respond to this need and are beginning to introduce climate-change-related courses into the curriculum offered, including schools in conservative states such as Texas.
Not only are medical school students seeking to address climate change issues in their training, but clinicians are also responding to this need.
The toolkit is a resource for health care providers, patients and administrators who work in “frontline clinics.” The Community Care Clinic of Dare located in Nags Head, N.C. is one of the pilot clinics that participated in developing the toolkit. Located on the coast, Dare County residents have experienced several extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and Nor’easters, in recent years. On some parts of the barrier islands, some houses are washing away, resulting in miles of debris strewn along beaches.
The toolkit provides a checklist of things for clinic administrators to do, for instance, to prepare a building for an extreme weather event. This may include making sure that there are generators available in case the facility loses power. The toolkit also offers tips health care providers can share with patients regarding how to keep themselves and medications, such as insulin, cool in the case of a heatwave.
— Will Atwater
Medicaid expansion – so close, yet still so far
It felt like watching hell freezing over or a pig taking flight. That’s what it was like to see North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) get up on the floor of his chamber in June to support expanding the state’s Medicaid program to cover hundreds of thousands of low-income adult workers.
Berger had resisted implementing this policy for a decade, since early 2013, when the Affordable Care Act made it possible for states to add many low-income workers onto their Medicaid rolls with the feds paying 90 percent of the tab. Usually, the federal government matches North Carolina’s Medicaid expenditures with a two-for-one match, but the law sought to tempt states to expand with this nine-out-of-10 dollar match.
As of the middle of 2022, 39 states and the District of Columbia had accepted the expansion (South Dakota voters approved expansion in November), North Carolina remains one of 11 states – mostly in the South – to continue saying “no.’”
What changed the minds of Berger and other Republicans? For one thing, many Republicans and conservatives in rural areas of the state have come to realize that lack of health insurance for many workers is a drag on local economic development. Several leaders from the western part of the state, including a member of the state Senate, spent the better part of a year advocating for embracing the policy and pointing out that expansion would be a net-positive on the state’s annual budget. And the federal government added a sweetener of about $1.7 billion to flow into state coffers, no strings attached.
Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) spoke to reporters in June about his new proposal for Medicaid expansion. Photo credit: Rose Hoban
Many applauded the Senate’s move, but two key players – physicians and hospitals – found plenty to dislike. The Senate’s bill included several long-sought policies in addition to expansion: reworking the state’s laws governing hospital competition and expanding the independence and role of advanced practice nurses.
The Senate sent its bill over to the House of Representatives Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) said he didn’t feel comfortable with the controversial provisions and the two chamber leaders waited for the other to blink for the rest of the year. Despite hospitals making some concessions, the bill died when lawmakers allowed the clock to run out on the legislative year.
Many advocates find themselves – once again – hoping that the coming year will be “the” year that expansion finally happens.
— Rose Hoban
NC seniors had plenty to choose from in 2022
Whether wiser with age, or perhaps losing their sharpest edges with passing years, older North Carolinians faced a stack of crucial choices in 2022.
Among the decisions with the greatest potential on daily lives concerned which type of Medicare health insurance coverage to pick and, often with input from relatives or guardians, which long-term care facility to care for them through periods of frailty.
State officials said people older than 65, plus some with disabilities, had more than 150 Medicare Advantage plans offered to them across the state. These are the plans run by private insurance companies that are given federal funds to provide health care, as opposed to original Medicare’s practice of paying providers on a fee-for-service basis. Medicare Advantage as a whole continued to increase its share of beneficiaries, even though studies showed it cost the nation more without producing clearly superior results.
The NC SHIIP program has been providing information to seniors across the state about their insurance choices, pharmacy benefits and how to get financial help with paying their insurance bills for close to two decades. Photo credit: Rose Hoban
In the long-term care sphere, North Carolinians found the state populated by more than three dozen nursing homes owned by a controversial out-of-state hedge fund that faced litigation claiming the company had deliberately reduced staffing to increase profits, placing residents in jeopardy. The company, broadly identified by the names of owners, Simcha Hyman and Naftali Zanziper, denied the claims.
In another development, the University of North Carolina’s COVID Recovery Clinic spent the year working with patients experiencing devastating after-effects of COVID-19. It’s a growing area of research that examines both the set of symptoms that constitute long COVID and potential definitive treatments.
— Thomas Goldsmith
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by Rose Hoban, Will Atwater, Anne Blythe, Rachel Crumpler, Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven, Thomas Goldsmith and Taylor Knopf, North Carolina Health News December 30, 2022
Research in 2022 offered a wealth of information about health and healthy aging. From these studies, I’ve chosen 10 that offer “actionable” tips you could implement with relative ease. Although most studies summarized in this post focused on those in the 50-65 and above age range, younger people can also benefit. As the old saying goes, to have a healthy old age, start young.
Some of these studies reflect correlation, not causation. Others confirm previous research, but there were also some surprises, like the first tip below.
Research-Based Tips
1. Get a flu shot; you could lower your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Of course, the flu shot lowers your risk of getting the flu. But did you know that a flu shot might lower your risk of Alzheimer’s disease?
In a giant, nationwide study, researchers compared over 900,000 vaccinated patients with the same number of unvaccinated patients. The results: “During 4-year follow-up appointments, about 5.1 percent of flu-vaccinated patients were found to have developed Alzheimer’s disease (whereas) 8.5 percent of non-vaccinated patients had developed Alzheimer’s disease during follow-up.”
Why a flu shot might have a protective effect is not clear. Some experts speculate that vaccinations activate the immune system in a way that wards off or slows dementia processes.
While these results reflect correlation, not causation, I think the moral of the story is clear: Get a flu shot.
2. Stay in during extreme weather days; you could avoid death from heart disease.
Extreme heat or cold weather days are linked to greater mortality from heart disease, based on an analysis of 32 million cardiovascular deaths among people in 27 countries. (Cardiovascular disease, or CVD, includes arrhythmia, heart failure, stroke, and ischemic heart disease.) In a nutshell, “For every 1,000 deaths from CVD, the researchers found that extreme hot days resulted in 2.2 additional deaths, and extreme cold days accounted for 9.1 additional deaths.”
What can you do? Watch the forecast and prepare for the weather. Buy food before extreme weather strikes. In hot weather, avoid going outside when temperatures are highest, usually in the early afternoon. Stay hydrated. Stay in the air conditioning or go to a cooling center. In cold weather, stay inside. Avoid shoveling snow and other high-intensity forms of exercise. Have a backup plan for emergencies.
3. Drink coffee; it may benefit your heart and lower your risk of death.
New research has added yet another page to the expanding book of coffee benefits. Drinking two to three cups of coffee a day was associated with both a lower risk of heart problems and also with living longer, according to this summary of three large studies. These results held true both for people with and without existing cardiovascular disease. Researchers said the analyses—the largest to date to look at coffee’s potential role in heart disease and death—provide reassurance that coffee “isn’t tied to new or worsening heart disease and may actually be heart protective.”
Tip: To lower your risk of heart disease by 10-15 percent, consider moderate coffee drinking. Drinking two to three cups per day is associated with the lowest risk of heart disease and greater longevity. By the way, drinking decaf did not have as many benefits as drinking caffeinated coffee, though it did have some, as there are many substances in coffee besides caffeine that could be helpful. The study authors warn, however, not to increase coffee intake if it makes you feel anxious or uncomfortable. And as with all medications, effective and safe “dosages” may vary.
4. Turn off excess lights at bedtime.
Did you know that too much light while you are sleeping can interfere with your health? A study of 522 participants (men and women) ages 63-84, found that any amount of light exposure during sleep hours was linked to a higher risk of diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure. A small study with 20 young people similarly showed that any amount of light while sleeping “revved up” the fight-or-flight response, such as raising the heart rate.
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To counteract these effects, researchers made these suggestions: Keep night lights dim and closer to the floor. Use soft light rather than bright white or blue. When sleeping, consider an eye mask to block the glare from outdoor and indoor lights. My recommendation? Safety first: Keep enough lights on to prevent falls.
5. For a longer life, cultivate optimism.
Does optimism help you live longer? Past studies show that it does. But those studies focused mainly on Whites. In this study, summarized here, Harvard researchers included women from various racial and ethnic groups to see if the optimism-longevity connection held up. Using a well-tested measure of optimism, the researchers determined that women with exceptional longevity—that is, aged 90 or above—had a 5.4 percent longer lifespan if they scored in the top fourth on the optimism test.
Optimism is not an inborn quality; you can learn to cultivate an optimistic mindset. Practice encouraging self-talk. Set achievable goals and work on them, step by step. When faced with a setback, consider your opportunities and possibilities rather than your limitations.
6. Wake up at the same time every day, stay active, and have a consistent daily routine.
Sometimes the word “routine” has negative connotations, implying something humdrum, boring, or workaday. However, a fascinating study of 1800 seniors over 65 showed that those who followed a daily routine were happier and performed better on cognitive tests than those seniors who did not.
“There’s something about getting going early, staying active all day, and following the same routine each day that seems to be protecting older adults,” said lead author Stephen Smagula, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh. “What’s exciting about these findings is that activity patterns are under voluntary control, which means that making intentional changes to one’s daily routine could improve health and wellness.”
Tip: A possible first step, according to Smagula: Wake up at the same time every day—no matter how tired you are. And, if you can make your daily routine more meaningful, fun, and active, do it.
7. Taking a multivitamin might improve memory in older adults.
Despite tons of studies on vitamins and supplements, researchers have been hard-pressed to verify the health claims of many manufacturers. As for multivitamins, a recent, large-scale study seemed to find no improvement in brain function of physicians 65 and older who took multivitamins.
However, a new study, using a randomized, double-blind design, did find that the multivitamin group improved overall brain function, memory, and executive function. The volunteers were 65 and older and were followed for three years. (The vitamin they took? Centrum Silver.)
While this study needs follow-up, it offers hope that “if confirmed, it means that a safe, widely available, and inexpensive vitamin supplement could improve quality of life for many millions of aging people,” according to Robert Schmerling, M.D., editor of Harvard Health Publishing.
8. New research shows even more benefits of exercise—in almost any amount. Exercise helps you:
Live longer. In a ginormous meta-analysis of 15 studies involving 50,000 people from 4 countries, researchers discovered that “for adults 60 and older, the risk of premature death leveled off at about 6,000-8,000 steps per day, meaning that more steps than that provided no additional benefit for longevity. Adults younger than 60 saw the risk of premature death stabilize at about 8,000-10,000 steps per day.”
Improve your memory. This summary says it best: “Conducting a meta-analysis of 3,000 patients over 36 studies (carefully vetted from more than 1,200 studies in all), psychologists were able to find that specific exercise helps episodic memory—3 times a week for 4 months, with greater improvements among those who are age 55 to 68 years.” (Episodic memory refers to events that happened to you in the past.) That’s not much exercise for such a big payoff.
Reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, and death. Tiny exercise spurts of 1 to 2 minutes can help with this. As summarized by Dani Blum in The New York Times, research in Nature Medicine, “shows that tiny spurts of exercise (1- to 2-minute bursts of exercise) throughout the day are associated with significant reductions in disease risk … Those who engaged in one or two-minute bursts of exercise roughly three times a day, like … rapidly climbing stairs, showed a nearly 50 percent reduction in cardiovascular mortality risk and a roughly 40 percent reduction in the risk of dying from cancer as well as all causes of mortality, compared with those who did no vigorous spurts of fitness.”
9. To slow brain aging, get help from this government food program.
I was intrigued by a 20-year study from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health that compared those who used Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to those who did not. In a nutshell, they discovered that participants (average age: 65) in SNAP had slower brain aging than eligible people who did not participate.
Researchers attribute the better brain health of SNAP participants not just to eating better, but also to less food insecurity and less financial hardship, factors that other studies have linked to premature brain aging. This study reminds us that social supports are often critical to physical and mental health.
10. When it comes to heart health, there’s no safe level of alcohol use. Limit or stop drinking.
Previous research on the link between alcohol and heart health had indicated that light drinking might have some cardiovascular benefits. But in this 2022 study of over 370,000 people, any amount of alcohol consumption was associated with a higher risk of both hypertension and coronary artery disease. The level of risk rose exponentially with higher consumption.
If you associate abstinence or drinking less with pain and suffering, consider these amazing studies on “Dry January,” in which participants vow to stay sober for one month. Surprisingly, just one month of sobriety brought a host of benefits in its wake. According to health writer Anahad O’Connor here, “taking a break from alcohol (triggered) immediate health benefits, like weight loss, better sleep, and a boost to … mood and energy levels, which can reinforce the new habit.”
While winters are wonderful for lots of people, they can be whole of woes for many others. On a single hand, there’s very good foods and the proper urge for food to appreciate it, on the other there are winter health problems that can spoil all the fun. Despair and temper diseases are also widespread in winter season time taking into consideration there is just not ample sunlight and that can impact secretion of selected hormones. There are methods to tackle each and every season out there and winters shouldn’t be exception. Managing your moods in wintertime can be effortless if you are consuming the suitable food items, drinking lots of h2o, juices and other hydrating beverages. Make absolutely sure to phase out in the sunlight any time you get the opportunity. Get resourceful and get you active with a hobby that you can adhere to from the confines of your home. Get your vitamin D and B12 stages checked and do not ignore to continue to be linked with your mates who can promptly carry up your mood. (Also read through: 10 quick ideas to take care of your psychological wellness)
“As much as we all wait around for winters to come, inner thoughts of reduction or liberty does arise in every now and then. Shorter days usually means less publicity to organic mild which can impact our emotional health and fitness as perfectly as bodily well being. Then holiday break time, time of marriages in India, brings its very own stressors. Intake of alcohol also goes up alongside with the expectations from our beloved kinds,” says Arouba Kabir, Mental Health counselor & Founder, Enso Wellness.
Listed here are couple of factors instructed by Arouba you can do this winter season in buy to preserve your mental and emotional health in check out.
Maintain you hydrated even if it is really warm drinks
Heat drinking water or juices are amazing way of retaining on your own hydrated. A cup of coffee or tea in a working day is very good but not as well a great deal due to the fact it can lead to habit.
Be very careful of destructive written content
Being indoors would unquestionably improve screen time, so be informed and mindful of the information you are looking at for the reason that it certainly does have an impact on your emotional and mental wellness. What we really feel to ourselves be it emotionally or physically, it exhibits in our individuality.
Self-treatment
Apply moisturiser, choose heat baths, physical exercise a very little if not additional, use a lip balm, oil your hair, take in healthy food items, have a regime and sleep on time. These are some of the couple points we must not miss out on as it may effect our overall body picture or make a location-on weight which absolutely does effects self confidence.
Just take time to unwind, unwind
Acquire care of your psychological overall health. You can do that by protecting a journal for yourself, expressing your requirements and requirements, constructing nutritious associations with individuals, perhaps viewing a therapist if you have to have to, meditating even if 10 minutes a working day are number of very essential issues in purchase to feel serene peaceful and tranquil so that you can be successful and joyful.
Get your Vitamin D and B12 ranges checked
Just take these vitamin nutritional supplements or the essential food items as these natural vitamins can directly effect our moods and can make us really feel gloomier and sadder.
Social connections
It really is critical to continue to be related with folks, as it can make us experience supported. So go out strategy people very little coffee dates with your cherished types. We are known as social animals for a purpose.
