Upcoming presentations

Thursday, July 19, 1:00 p.m. Ramona Library The True Mediterranean Diet, (Hint: It’s not what you get at the local pizza parlor but it’s a proven life-extender.)

Tuesday, July 24, 1:00 p.m. Mission Valley Library, Keeping your wits; ten ways to prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

In the news

Hearing loss on the horizon

Physicians have known for decades that chronic exposure to loud noise leads to hearing loss. Maybe we should be concerned about noise that may not seem to be loud but that is piped directly into our ears via headphones or ear buds.

A study among Dutch children revealed that 14 percent had high frequency hearing loss. High frequency loss matters because it includes conversational tones. In a study in the U.S., 90 percent of pre-teens and teens used a portable music player. Although these two studies are not entirely consistent with each other they reveal a trend – widespread use of music devices and evidence of hearing loss among persons who are likely to be using them for several more decades.

The genie is out of the bottle; it’s unlikely that either trend will reverse itself. When today’s kids reach Medicare age they might have to start learning sign language.

Two recommendations that we should be passing on to our kids (and using ourselves): if someone else can hear what you’re listening to with ear buds or headphones the volume is too high. Second, make a habit of keeping the volume low enough so that you can hear another conversation.

The most commonly used word in the English language today (according to Siri) is “the.” In the future it might be “Huh?.”

Lifestyle

Exercise Tips

Should you push yourself? That depends on what you mean by “push.” Very long (greater than one hour) workouts are unnecessary, counterproductive and invite injury.

For those who run, keep in mind that running is a sport, not an exercise. You can hurt yourself in a sport like running but not in an exercise like walking. (I know that I’ll get some flak on this!) Unless you are a competition runner there is only a marginal benefit toward fitness in running versus walking.

If you lift weights you are probably aware that the greatest benefits come with lifting enough so that the final repetition is barely doable. That’s what makes a muscle grow. If you develop pain during an exercise, stop immediately. It is not possible to “work through” an injury. Shoulder injuries are among the most common and they take very long to heal.

Instead of lifting heavier weights, make each repetition last several seconds but decrease the weight by at least a third. The results will be the same and the risk much less.