Everyone feels tired now and then. But, after a good night’s sleep, most people feel refreshed and ready to face a new day. If, like Liang, you continue to feel tired for weeks, it’s time to see your doctor. He or she may be able to help you find out what’s causing your fatigue. In fact, your doctor may even suggest you become more active, as exercise may reduce fatigue and improve quality of life.
Sometimes, fatigue can be the first sign that something is wrong in your body. For example, people with rheumatoid arthritis, a painful condition that affects the joints, often complain of fatigue. People with cancer may feel fatigued from the disease, treatments, or both.
Many medical problems and treatments can add to fatigue. These include:
• Taking certain medications, such as antidepressants, antihistamines, and medicines for nausea and pain
• Having medical treatments, like chemotherapy and radiation, or recovering from major surgery
• Infections
• Chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, thyroid disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Untreated pain and diseases like fibromyalgia
• Anemia
• Sleep apnea and other sleep disorders
To learn about other causes of fatigue, and how you can feel less tired, from the National Institute on Aging, CLICK HERE.
Tax time is stressful enough. Having someone file a bogus claim in your name or discovering that your tax preparer is a fake can ratchet up the stress to stratospheric levels.
Prevention is the best way to avoid getting your tax return hijacked. If someone does file a false return in your name, you can fix the problem, but it’s a sure bet that your refund will be delayed.
Preparer fraud
Scammers have plenty of ways to take advantage of you, but two favorite scams occur during tax time. Since the start of the COVID-19 epidemic, tax-related identify theft has increased by 45 percent, says Linda Williams, community outreach and training manager for Consumer Action.
The first type of tax scam is preparer fraud. The criminals set up shop as expert tax preparers and promise big refunds. For a fee, they fill out a return filled with trumped-up tax deductions and credits, with your name on the return. When the refund rolls in, it will go to their own bank accounts. By the time you come looking for them, they’ll be long gone.
WARNING SIGNS THAT YOUR TAX PREPARER MAY BE A FRAUD
- They refuse to sign the return or enter a Preparer Taxpayer Identification Number. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires both if someone else prepares your return. The IRS will initially assume that it’s you who attempted tax fraud. You can look up legitimate tax preparers in a searchable IRS database.
- They base their charges on a percentage of your refund.
- They ask you to sign a blank or incomplete tax form.
- They file the return without allowing you to review it.
But the crime can get worse: “If that person is willing to lie [to get your business], they probably are willing to use your information to steal your identity,” says Rosario Mendez, an attorney with the Division of Consumer and Business Education at the Federal Trade Commission.
For tips on other types of fraud and how to avoid being tax hacked, from the AARP, CLICK HERE.
If you want to give yourself a better shot at extending your life span, put your mind to it. New research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has found a greater likelihood of living longer among optimists.
The study, led by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, included nearly 160,000 women. It found that across racial and ethnic groups, women with higher levels of optimism had a greater chance of living beyond age 90 than those whose outlook on life was less rosy.
“A lot of previous work has focused on deficits or risk factors that increase the risks for diseases and premature death. Our findings suggest that there’s value to focusing on positive psychological factors, like optimism, as possible new ways of promoting longevity and healthy aging across diverse groups,” lead author Hayami Koga, a Ph.D. candidate at the Harvard school, said in a statement.
To learn more about the results of the study, and the benefits of optimism, from AARP, CLICK HERE.
Cutting is critical when you’re trying to lose weight. You cut calories. You cut fat. Basically, anything that’s crammed with carbs, sweetened with sugar or dipped in a deep fryer is suddenly off-limits.
But dieting doesn’t have to require deprivation. Many delicious (and healthy) foods can still be part of your dining repertoire. Some members of the produce family are so light in calories and fat that you can eat them with (relative) abandon.
Vegetable love
The one category of foods that you can eat loads of without suffering the consequences of weight gain are nonstarchy vegetables, says Alexis Supan, an outpatient dietitian with the Cleveland Clinic Center for Integrative & Lifestyle Medicine. “Mostly any vegetable besides potato, corn and peas, you can eat endlessly,” she says.
A cup of chopped broccoli or a grilled portobello mushroom contains just 30 calories and less than 1 gram of fat. You can chow down on two entire cups of lettuce and consume less than 16 calories. Because of its high water content, a whole tomato has a mere 22 calories. Cauliflower, kale, carrots and sprouts are similarly nutrient-dense and light in calories.
These produce mainstays bring a few other things to the table. “What makes them so incredible and so beneficial for weight maintenance and weight loss is they are high in macronutrients [such as carbohydrates] and micronutrients [vitamins and minerals]. And they’re rich in fiber,” says Beata Rydyger, a registered nutritionist based in Los Angeles. Fiber keeps your blood sugar levels stable, which helps you avoid sudden attacks of the munchies that might otherwise make you crave junk foods.
If vegetables aren’t your favorite foods, you might be thinking how unappealing this way of eating sounds. But there are ways to spice up your veggies to make them more palatable.
Roast them in olive oil spray, then add a blend of garlic and other herbs and spices, Supan suggests. If you love dip, which tends to be high in fat, use salsa instead to add even more vegetables into the mix. Or blend a ranch flavor packet into plain Greek yogurt. “Now you have a really high-protein, very healthy dip that you can use along with your vegetables,” she says.
To learn about other foods you can eat without gaining weight, from AARP, CLICK HERE.
Between fad diets, trendy skin care regimens and an evolving landscape of illnesses and treatments, staying on top of the latest health news is no easy task.
To help you kick the new year off with the best information, here are 13 common health issues and dole out some sensible advice for each, from AARP.
1. No more meat???
I know someone who can’t eat beef, pork or lamb because of a tick bite. Could it happen to me?
Potentially. There is a carbohydrate called alpha-gal in the saliva of lone star ticks (common in the East and South) that is also present in the meat of mammals. A bite from that type of tick can trigger our immune systems to develop allergic reactions to beef, pork, lamb gelatin, even dairy products. Alpha-gal syndrome is one of many tick-related health conditions; Lyme disease is the best known. Ticks are prevalent across the U.S. If bitten, use tweezers to gently lift the tick out of your skin (don’t twist or use oil or fire). If concerned, place the tick in a plastic bag and send it to a tick testing center to see if it was carrying dangerous bacteria.
To read the full list of health problems and their solutions, CLICK HERE.
Many factors influence healthy aging. Some of these, such as genetics, are not in our control. Others — like exercise, a healthy diet, going to the doctor regularly, and taking care of our mental health — are within our reach. Research supported by NIA and others has identified actions you can take to help manage your health, live as independently as possible, and maintain your quality of life as you age. Read on to learn more about the research and the steps you can take to promote healthy aging.
Taking care of your physical health
While scientists continue to actively research how to slow or prevent age-related declines in physical health, they’ve already discovered multiple ways to improve the chances of maintaining optimal health later in life. Taking care of your physical health involves staying active, making healthy food choices, getting enough sleep, limiting your alcohol intake, and proactively managing your health care. Small changes in each of these areas can go a long way to support healthy aging.
To learn about tips to boost your health, such as physical activity, healthy eating and sleeping and much more, from the National Institute on Aging, CLICK HERE.
’Tis the season to shop for holiday gifts and donate to worthy causes for a potential tax deduction — and to help those in need — before year’s end.
But when doling out dollars to charity, be careful. Crooks will take advantage of your generosity and steal your cash.
“People are in a generous spirit,” says Amy Nofziger, who oversees the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline (877-908-3360). “Most of us are out hustling and bustling and planning parties and buying gifts, and the criminals make you feel guilty for your ability to celebrate [when many others can’t]. They’ll prey on that feeling” to get you to donate to their sham charities.
Nofziger and others familiar with holiday charity scams have tips to help ensure that your gift will benefit a good cause — not a con artist. To read the seven tips, from AARP, CLICK HERE.
Life Care Services Awarded Highest Customer Satisfaction Among Senior Independent Living Providers for the 4th Consecutive Year
Bayshore on Hilton Head, managed by Life Care Services®, An LCS® Company, announced that its management company ranked highest in customer satisfaction with independent senior living providers for the fourth consecutive year in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Senior Living Satisfaction Study. Bayshore on Hilton Head is proud to be a part of Life Care Services, which also achieved the highest score in all six factors of independent living resident satisfaction: resident activities, community staff, price paid for services received, resident apartment/living unit, community building and grounds, and dining.
The J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Senior Living Study examines industry-level performance metrics of senior living providers and highlights the best practices that are critical to customer satisfaction, advocacy, and loyalty.
“Life Care Services is honored to again be recognized as the best in customer satisfaction among independent senior living providers,” said Joel Nelson, CEO of LCS, the parent company of Life Care Services. “Receiving this award for a fourth consecutive year is a significant accomplishment, especially considering our teams serve nearly 40,000 residents in more than 30 states. This award recognition is the result of our team’s focus on providing the best independent senior living experience for our residents.”
Life Care Services ranked highest in independent living resident overall satisfaction with a score of 841 in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Senior Living Satisfaction Study, 24 points higher than the prior year. The study is based on responses from residents of the largest* U.S. independent senior living providers within the previous three years.
To schedule an experience and learn more about Bayshore on Hilton Head, request a visit online or call 843-605-4660.
About Life Care Services®
Life Care Services, An LCS Company, has the experience required to boost community financial performance, increase occupancy, and develop new lifestyle and health initiatives to meet consumer expectations and help communities thrive. With a long track record of excellence, Life Care Services sets itself apart from other senior living companies with its unique, comprehensive portfolio of support services. Life Care Services is the nation’s second largest operator of senior living communities and has expertise in the management of both Life Plan and Rental communities. From independent living to assisted living, skilled nursing to memory care, at Life Care Services, Experience Is Everything. For more information, visit lifecareservicesLCS.com.
*Independent living providers included in the study must have had at least 7,000 living units and could not solely operate entrance-deposit communities. Included assisted living/memory care providers must have had at least 10,000 assisted living and/or memory care living units. Living unit data based on the Argentum Largest Providers Report, 2021.
