Health
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, is the third leading cause of death and yet millions of Americans do not even know what it is.
COPD will be the topic of the American Lung Association Better Breathers Club in Clearlake on Wednesday, July 18, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, 15250 Lakeshore Drive.
Entrance is at lowest level parking area at St Helena Hospital Clear Lake in building F.
Facilitator Nancy Perrin, RCP, will explain the disease, the disease process and invite questions and answers. There will be a video and interactive discussion.
Sponsored by the American Lung Association and St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, Better Breathers Club meetings are free and open to anyone interested in learning more about chronic lung disease or breathing disorders. Caregivers are also welcome.
More than 24 million Americans are estimated to have COPD, and yet only half have been diagnosed.
COPD is a progressive disease that makes it hard to breathe. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of COPD. Most people who have COPD smoke or used to smoke.
Long-term exposure to other lung irritants – such as air pollution, chemical fumes or dust – also may contribute to COPD.
For more information about chronic lung disease, please call the American Lung Association at 1-800-LUNG-USA.
You also may speak to a respiratory therapist through the free Lung HelpLine.
For more information about COPD and resources to help you, visit the lung association Web site at www.lung.org .
For further information on the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program at St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake or for specific directions on the Better Breathers new location, call Donna at 707-995-5624.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – Beginning Wednesday, July 18, Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation will offer the fourth session of Weigh to Go Challenge at Lakeside Wellness Center.
The Weigh to Go Challenge is a 16-week program that includes many support modalities to assist with positive lifestyle changes on the road to better health and weight loss.
This challenge is open to the public, includes gym membership, nutritional consultation, fitness room orientation and guidance, wellness coaching, monthly education classes and weekly weigh-ins.
Also offered are exclusive fitness classes for class participants only and personal one-on-one trainings.
The cost of this program is $95 for the program and is limited to the first 15 participants.
Please call today to reserve your space. Sign ups are happening now until July 16.
Call the Wellness Center office for more details at 707-262-5171 or find them on Facebook at Sutter Lakeside Wellness Center.
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake Development Office recently received a big check as part of its “A Little change makes a Big change” campaign to raise money for the hospital’s emergency department expansion project.
In May, with the help of Clearlake Grocery Outlet, $4,000 was raised for the effort.
The store owners, Mitch and Carol Beare, matched the $2,000 that was raised by the staff at the cash registers in May for the emergency room expansion.
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A new study to be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting on June 30 June has shown that caffeine boosts power in older muscles, suggesting the stimulant could aid elderly people to maintain their strength, reducing the incidence of falls and injuries.
For adults in their prime, caffeine helps muscles to produce more force. But as we age, our muscles naturally change and become weaker.
Sports scientists at Coventry University looked for the first time at whether these age-related changes in muscle would alter the effect of caffeine.
They found that caffeine continued to enhance muscle performance in two different muscles from mice, although it was less effective in older muscles.
Jason Tallis, the study’s primary author, said: “Despite a reduced effect in the elderly, caffeine may still provide performance-enhancing benefits.”
For adults in their prime, caffeine helps muscles to produce more force. But as we age, our muscles naturally change and become weaker.
So, sports scientists at Coventry University looked for the first time at whether these age-related changes in muscle would alter the effect of caffeine.
Caffeine’s effect was smallest for juvenile muscles, suggesting caffeine may not have an enhancing effect in developing muscles.
The decline in muscle strength that occurs as we age contributes to injuries and reduces quality of life. The process is not well understood, but it is clear that preserving muscle tone is key.
“With the importance of maintaining a physically active lifestyle to preserve health and functional capacity, the performance-enhancing benefit of caffeine could prove beneficial in the aging population,” Tallis said.
The researchers isolated muscles from mice ranging in age from juvenile to elderly, then tested their performance before and after caffeine treatment.
They looked at two different skeletal muscles, which are the muscles we can control voluntarily. The first was the diaphragm, a core muscle used for respiration; the second was a leg muscle called the extensor digitorum longus (EDL), used for locomotion.
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