1) Watch your diet— a recent study at the University of Texas in San Antonio may provide some valuable insight into the effects of diet on the aging process. The study was conducted on a colony of laboratory rats who were placed on diet restrictions. Researchers found that by cutting the caloric intake of the rats by 60 percent of normal, and preventing malnutrition from occurring, they were able to lengthen the rats’ life spans by as much as 50 percent. The researchers are now studying this information, in hopes of finding ways of applying it to humans, to stay young and healthy. The experts recommend that you choose foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals, and stay away from those foods with empty calories from sugar and fat. The key is cutting your total caloric intake, while getting enough essential nutrients. One way to do that is to increase your intake of vitamins A and C.

2) Maintain a desirable weight— a study at Harvard School of Public Health links obesity—being 20 percent or more above desirable weight—with premature death. It is also known that obesity can contribute to adult onset diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, respiratory problems, gall bladder disease, menstrual abnormalities, and high blood pressure. If you need to lose weight, you should follow a moderate diet designed to take off 1 or 2 pounds a week (see chapter 4).

3) Exercise regularly— exercise leads to fitness which in turn provides defense against disease. It is also important that you maintain as much flexibility as possible to avoid stiffness and back trouble. Even if you can’t get a full work out, you should do some lower-body stretches for 5 minutes each morning and upper-body stretches for 5 minutes during the day. The more sedentary and out-of-shape you are, the older you’ll feel, and the faster the aging process will be working on your body.

4) Don’t smoke— you’ll have practically no chance of slowing down the aging process and staying young longer if you smoke. There is enough hard evidence to prove that cigarette smoking will shorten your life by causing heart disease, emphysema, cancer, and a multitude of other health problems. Smoking is an excellent way to grow old before your time.

5) Take time for rest and relaxation— there is a world of difference between being a couch potato and relaxing. A daily battle with anxiety, tension, and stress can make you feel as if the “weight of the world” is on your shoulders. It can also sap your strength and wreak havoc with your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to all sorts of health disorders. In short, stress is another factor that can rob you of your youth and speed up the aging process. The best way to deal with stress is by learning to relax (see chapter 7). You should learn and practice daily a relaxation technique.

6) Avoid overexposure to the sun and cold— as we get older, we also become more vulnerable to the excesses of heat and hypothermia, because the aging body doesn’t handle temperature fluctuations as efficiently as it once did. Whenever you are exposed to the sun, you should use a sunscreen with a protection factor of 15, especially during the late morning and early afternoon when the sun is at its strongest.

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1) Cancer— a study conducted by the American Cancer Society suggests that aspirin may reduce the risk of colon cancer. The study tracked over 650,000 people for a period of six years. Those men and women who reported taking aspirin at least 16 times a month had about 1/2 the death rate from colon cancer as those people who took no aspirin at all.

2) Immune system— a link between taking aspirin and a more effective immune system is suggested in findings from a study by researchers at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

The results of the study indicate that aspirin may increase the production of certain elements in the blood which, in turn, increase the potency of disease- fighting cells.

While most of the news about aspirin is encouraging, researchers caution that none of their findings are conclusive. Furthermore, while aspirin is generally safe, taken steadily over a long period of time, it can cause stomach irritation, intestinal pain and bleeding ulcers. Researchers also say that parents should be reminded that children under 18 should not be given aspirin, especially those who have a viral illness such as the flu, because it can lead to the liver disease Reye’s syndrome.

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Limiting your consumption of alcohol is not only important to your general health and well being, it’s also essential if you wish to maintain your desirable weight. Each gram of alcohol has 7 calories (there are about 200 calories in one ounce), compared to 4 calories in carbohydrates or protein. Even more significant is that calories from alcohol are considered “empty calories”, because they don’t add any nutritive value to the diet. If alcohol is served in a mixed drink, such as a whisky sour or a Manhattan, the amount of calories is even higher.

It is known that alcohol stimulates the appetite, and according to some recent tests, people on restricted-calorie diets may be more likely to eat more after consuming alcohol. That’s why most experts advise dieters to limit their consumption of pre-meal alcoholic drinks.

Another recent study, conducted by Stanford University researchers, provides some rather interesting news. In the study, several middle-aged, overweight men were furnished food and an average of two alcoholic drinks per day. While the men consumed more calories due to the added alcohol, and ate slightly more food, compared with non-drinkers, their basal metabolism experienced a pronounced increase after one drink per day, thus burning off some of the excess calories. The faster metabolism rate also appeared to counteract some of the excess alcohol calories in men who had one to three drinks a day compared with light drinkers or non-drinkers. The results seem to indicate that alcohol calories may not turn into fat as readily as other calories. While the study is not conclusive, and while alcohol consumption may turn out to be somewhat less fattening than traditionally believed, moderation is still recommended.

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The hiccup sound we hear is caused by a sudden involuntary contraction of the diaphragm followed by rapid closure of the vocal chords. While no one knows for sure what causes the contractions, some doctors speculate that they occur when nerve centers which control the muscles of respiration become irritable. Most cases of hiccups last only a few minutes. If they last longer than a day or two, you should seek medical attention.

Whatever “cure” is tried, the general goal is to increase carbon dioxide levels in the blood or to disrupt the nerve impulses causing the hiccups. However it’s done, hiccups cures sometimes work and sometimes they don’t. But since there’s really nothing to lose in trying, here are several home-tested ways you can “cure” hiccups:

1)Hold your breath— try holding your breath for at least 30 seconds— longer if you can.

2) Swallow some sugar— a teaspoon of sugar, swallowed dry, reportedly works for some people.

3) Bend over and drink— you may find this one hard to do but there are those who swear it works. Get a glass of water and instead of drinking the usual way, try bending forward and drinking the water from the opposite side of the glass.

4) Gargle with water.

5) Put a paper bag over your mouth and nose, then inhale and exhale into it repeatedly.

6) Pull your knees up to your chest.

7) Chew slowly, then swallow some dry bread.

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Flabby arms can be a thing of the past if you are willing to spend about 20 minutes a day to firm them up. This type of exercising will get rid of the layer of fat that sits on top of the muscle. You should start by working out two days a week, alternating days so as not to fatigue the muscles. Gradually work up to three to five times a week.

Once you’ve become accustomed to regular exercise, you can begin to exercise two primary muscles—biceps and triceps. Begin with basic exercises, such as bicep curls, using dumbbells or a straight bar. You can exercise the triceps (which are located on the back of the upper arm) by doing a tricep pushdown exercise on a cable machine. You should focus more on correct form rather than how much weight you are using.

You can lessen muscle fatigue by alternating workouts— do the chest and biceps one day, and the back and triceps the next day. An effective arm routine can be performed at home with a set of 5-pound dumbbells or a straight barbell. Twenty minutes should give your arms an effective workout. You can do curls at home, while you’re watching TV.

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Because Prozac is metabolized principally by the liver, depressed or alcoholic patients with liver disfunction should be given either a lower dose of Prozac (or any other SSRI antidepressant) or none at all. A liver that is already overtaxed will take significantly more time to metabolize the drug. Regular monitoring of liver funtioning is necessary. Researchers have discovered that patients with normal livers require no more than three days before the amount of Prozac in the body diminishes to one-half, while patients with cirrhosis of the liver need over a week—7.6 days—to reach the same point. In addition, the study found that Prozac’s metabolite, norfluoxetine, also took several days longer to be flushed out of the system when liver disease was present.

What about marijuana, cocaine, LSD, or other similar drugs? These illegally obtained mood-altering drugs are all completely contraindicated for patients taking Prozac—and this would be true even if they were legal. Taken with or without Prozac, these drugs can cause uncontrolled highs, severe depression, and psychotic states in some people. For patients already prone to these reactions, the risk is high if an antidepressant drug like Prozac is added.

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Prozac is especially helpful for patients with major depression, dysthymia (the milder version of major depression), and obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as for patients who lack energy, feel listless, and chronically function below par, symptoms typically seen in subclinical depression. In addition, psychiatrists who have read individual claims of Prozac’s usefulness in treating bulimia and other disorders can probably feel safe prescribing Prozac to individual patients with these symptoms.

The FDA has completed some of its evaluations, and Prozac is now approved for major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and bulimia. Despite its popularity, Prozac should be prescribed with care and not simply handed out to anyone who wants it.

What are the effects of Prozac on kidney function? Because the kidneys are responsible for the elimination of Prozac, an impaired and hence less efficient kidney may cause the drug to accumulate in the body. For this reason, patients with renal disease, as evidenced by high BUN or serum creatinine, including those undergoing hemodialysis, should take smaller than normal doses of Prozac. (Again, the same recommendation holds for patients with kidney disease who are receiving other SSRIs for their depression. Regular monitoring is required and nephrologists should be consulted.)

Can diabetics safely use Prozac if depressed? The use of Prozac in diabetic patients may alter the blood sugar control. Hypoglycemia, an abnormally low amount of glucose in the blood, has been reported in diabetic patients taking Prozac, and discontinuing therapy has occasionally produced hyperglycemia, an abnormally high concentration of sugar in the blood.

There is insufficient data to prove that Prozac alone can cause all of these changes in blood sugar, and so most diabetic patients may be treated safely with Prozac. However, when initiating therapy with Prozac and later when discontinuing its use, it is important to keep a close watch on blood glucose levels and adjusts insulin three to four times a day accordingly. My depressed diabetic patients have done extremely well on long-term Prozac.

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No. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) and Prozac just don’t mix. A few patients who have taken both drugs simultaneously have fed severe reactions mat include confusion, sweating, shivering, muscle spasms, tremors, and restlessness, as well as symptoms of rigidity, hyperthermia, rapid fluctuations of pulse and blood pressure, extreme agitation, delirium, coma, and in eight cases, death. Even patients who stopped taking Prozac and then immediately started up on an MAOI have had these reactions.

A patient who wants to switch to Prozac from an MAOI must allow fourteen days to elapse after discontinuing MAOI treatment before the MAOI is completely out of the system. Only then can Prozac be safely tried.

A patient who wants to go in the other direction, ceasing treatment with Prozac and beginning treatment with an MAOI, must wait even longer. Because Prozac and its major breakdown product, norfluoxetine, remain in the body for a long time, a minimum of five weeks is needed after discontinuing Prozac before MAOI treatment can commence.

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Prozac is a member of a new class of antidepressants with a different mechanism of action than previous antidepressant drugs. Although equal to past antidepressants in effectiveness, it is uniquely not lethal in overdose, nor is it toxic to the cardiovascular system compared to the older drugs. It is also easier to take, since its side effects are so much milder.

A lot of patients walk in asking for Prozac, whether they need it or not Prozac has received more publicity than any other previously used psychiatric drug in America and abroad, and this unprecedented media attention has helped catapult Prozac to its current level of popularity. Seldom in the past did anyone I met at a dinner party question me about Tofranil or Nardil (although they did ask many times about lithium when its effectiveness as a treatment for manic depression first became known to the media). Now people ask about Prozac. Unlike other drugs, many of which are equally effective, Prozac has become a well-known, frequently requested remedy. Just as the most medically untutored know that a headache can be cured with aspirin, people who feel a little down today or want a personality “lift” are quick to discover that friends, family and the local GP have a single recommendation: Prozac. Sad to say, the media have oversold Prozac to the general public and to psychiatrists and other doctors. In my experience and in the experience of many of America’s leading psychopharmacologists, the myth of Prozac’s ability to cause a total personality metamorphosis has, more often than not, led to disappointment

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Many patients who stop taking Prozac on their own do so because they find the side effects of slight nausea and insomnia unbearable or are too impatient to wait for early side effects to recede. Patients who are prone to hysterical reactions or those who are phobic about taking pills are often doomed to discontinue Prozac or any other medication from the outset.

The main complaints that cause patients to discontinue treatment are, in order of frequency, nausea, nervousness, insomnia, anxiety, tremor, headache, drowsiness, diarrhea, dizziness, sweating, and dry mouth.

The numbers and percentages for each of these categories are small. Nausea, the most common adverse reaction associated with stopping treatment, caused between 3% and 4% of the people tested to stop taking the drug. Nervousness and insomnia influenced another 2% to 3% to discontinue treatment. Not one of the other side effects involved in ending treatment affected more than 2% of those tested.

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