A good herb this month to use is Horehound. Use the leaves and tops. Make a tea, skin wash, or cough syrup with honey. It is used for coughs, lung congestion, whooping cough, laryngitis; as a part of a formula for bronchitis. It can be used on skin for dermatitis or healing wounds.

There is proof that Shitake mushrooms stimulate immune macrophages and natural killer cells to act rapidly and aggressively against invading pathogens and increase antibody production and interferon for better disease resistance. A recent study found that these mushrooms offer more protection against Influenza A than an anti-viral drug, amantadine. Shitake also show healing results against hypertension, cataracts, anemia, allergies , chronic fatigue, candida, cancer and HIV.

Just use a few at a time…it goes a long way. Too much can cause diarrhea or skin rash. Consult your physician if you are taking blood thinners as these mushrooms have slight anti-clotting properties.

• Lose weight
• Quit smoking
• Exercise
• Minimize unhealthy fat consumption
• Consume moderate amounts of health fat
• Eat more fiber found in fruits and vegetables
• Use supplements such as red yeast rice-phytosterols, tomatoes-lycopene’s, cranberry juice, fish oils- Omega 3-6-9 and others. (You can take up to 4000mg of fish oil daily without ill effect. I do notice that I have a tendency to swim upstream!!!)

More people die of heart disease than any other disease. It is up to you to make the changes necessary to live a full and healthy life.

Remember my Eight Sacred Truths to Successful Aging, which list what you need to be aware of in the transitions of life.

1. Stay social. Be with others and enjoy their company. Try not to spend too much time alone

2. Stay ambulatory…move your joints and exercise. The Surgeon General advocates exercising for 30 minutes daily most of the days of the week. I want to remind people to exercise with effort. Make sure you perspire and if you walk with a friend, walk at a pace that it is difficult to talk

3. Eat right.  Eat a healthy and balanced diet. Cut out animal fats, sugars and those carbohydrates that can be harmful to your health…read labels

4. Get the rest you need. Take a nap in the afternoon. Not everyone needs 8 hours of sleep at night. Get the rest that you need

5. Stimulate your brain. Exercise your mind with brain games, puzzles, Sudoku, cross words, anagrams and the like

6. Get out of yourself and give your gifts away. Donate your time to help someone else. The gifts you give will come back to you in spades

7. Stimulate your inner child. Have fun. We all too often forget to have fun in our lives due to the constraints we have put on ourselves and those that others have placed on us over the years. Enjoy each day

8. Learn to forgive yourself and others. Forgiveness frees the mind and acceptance frees the soul. No use paying rent to things that bog you down.

Some researchers at the University of Colorado have decided to “unwind” their minds and go back-packing without their computers and cell phones for a week. They call this getting away from it all a de-technological cleansing of the mind. Being out with nature, with no outside stimulation from phones, computers, iPads, etc…allows the mind to rest. This helps with the elasticity of the brain cells allowing them to regroup and replenish their chemicals and thinking ability. You might want to try cleansing your mind for a weekend trip somewhere quiet.

My wife is always asking me to shut off the TV at bedtime just for the quiet and I oblige, most of the time. But for me the drone of the TV at night helps me get to sleep. Half the time I am not listening. When I shut off the TV, I play music to relax my mind. We are all different and there are different ways to adjust to uncluttering your brain. You might have your own that works for you, but these are a few ways that really work. Memory loss itself and the recognition of that loss is a sign of cognitive impairment. When and if you recognize this situation occurring, it is time to do some testing and to start memory training and /or taking drugs that will slow this process down. Mild Cognitive Impairment is a precursor to dementia. This does not mean that you will lose all your memory tomorrow, nor does it mean you have Alzheimer’s disease. But to be on the safe side, it is important to get your brain function checked by a clinical gerontologist or neurologist or both.

Many people who suffer from allergies take antihistamines and decongestants, but may not understand the ramifications of the side-effects of these medicines. For one, they dry out your mouth and body. Constipation can occur due to desiccation of the fluids in the intestinal walls. Heavy plaque buildup in the mouth can occur when there is no fluid to naturally rinse or bath the mouth. Infections like stomatitis and gingivitis of the gums can easily occur as well as yeast infections. So drink lots of water when you are on antihistamines and decongestants.

Another side-effect is sleepiness, so be careful driving under the influence of these drugs. It is easy to fall asleep at the wheel. Concentration is also altered by these medicines, so think before you take them about what you plan on doing that day. If it requires a lot of thinking, you might think twice about taking the meds and use alternative methods to fight your allergies or just let it run its course. Of course carry lots of Kleenex tissue with you.

What did you say??? Excuse me??? Pardon me????? Sorry???? Come again?????

I am sure we have all heard these words before. Think about when you have heard these words. Probably when someone was out of earshot to you and was just out of audible reach yelling something to you. You, in turn, found yourself using one of these slogans in return. However, if you noticed that they were in the same room, or sitting next to you, one of two things has happened. You weren’t paying attention, for whatever reason, or you weren’t listening…or maybe, you just couldn’t hear what the other person was saying to you. That’s it, isn’t it??? You are losing some of your hearing capacity and are too proud to tell anyone or do anything about it. Who wants to wear a BULKY hearing aid anyway???!

Well, here’s the skinny on hearing. There is so much noise pollution today that most of us have a hearing deficit. Using cell phones in one particular ear, wearing earphones for an iPod or other music device or phone device will definitively diminish hearing over time.

Hearing aids too have changed. They are miniscule and almost invisible to the naked eye. I will even go so far as to say that in some circumstances, hearing aids are down to just a small hair-like antennae sticking out of one’s ear…so there should be no excuse, other than not having enough money, to get one. The ability to hear again with a hearing aide will increase your self-esteem and make you feel better all around. Once you realize how much you have been missing, it won’t be difficult to assuage or lessen any of the resistance one might have had in the past to own an assisted hearing device and use it.

Hearing loss affects most people after the age of 20. Age-related hearing loss, called presbycusis, is the slow loss of hearing that occurs as people get older. The following factors contribute to age-related hearing loss:

• Family history
• Repeated exposure to loud noises
• Smoking (smokers are more likely to have such hearing loss than nonsmokers)
• Certain medications and medical conditions also contribute to hearing loss.

About half of all people over 75 years of age have some amount of age-related hearing loss. Hearing loss can result in both physical (not hearing a fire alarm) and psychological (social isolation) problems. The hearing loss may lead to deafness, so as soon as one notices this problem occurring, one should see their doctor immediately for care; especially if the hearing loss is coupled with headaches, vision changes, or dizziness.

Hear more…enjoy more life!! It is also a gift you give to other people.

We turn on the spigot and there it is, but is it? What is good to drink..tap water , bottled water, filtered water, deionized water, fluoridated water, or not at all? Bottled water contains chemicals that can cause cancer, especially if the plastic bottles sit in the sun for a while. Tap water and even spring water can have impurities and bacteria in it. Even bottled waters of all kinds have traces of bacteria in them. Bottled water in glass is much more pure but needs to be ionized to take out the heavy metals. Totally pure distilled water is alright to drink but one may not get the minerals and electrolytes that are important for our cells to innervate themselves.

Water is an enigma as a commodity. Water that is pure is rare and it is costly to buy. We have a a reverse osmosis system in our home because our tap water comes from a well in our community and may have an inordinate amount of both chemiclas that are added by the community water district and other impurities inherent in the water itself. The reverse osmosis system takes out the heavy metals that have been proven to damage brain cells over time as well as affecting our internal organs.

You may want to do your own investigating as to what kind of water you want to drink. Other factors are the economic ramifications of water, and that means investigating how the water is produced or mined and who is being exploited in the process. Some companies are known to exploit the native people whose land the water is taken from by big business not giving back to the local economy. Other companies may claim to use spring water, when it is only local tap water. So it is a good idea to know before you go. Think before you drink…..

We all need water to survive. Find out what is good for you both physically and mentally and drink until your urine is clear. Then you have had enough to drink for the moment.