Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Grand Rounds is Up
at the Sterile Eye. The collection is a visual feast. It's a collection of this week's posts from the health care world. Have a look.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Is Marriage Good For Your Health
From an article in 4/12/10 New York Times by Tara Parker Pope. The essence of the article is that a good marriage is very good for your health; and a bad marriage is very bad for your health. The permutations and nuances of these findings are very interesting. Here are some excerpts from the article:
"...scientists have continued to document the “marriage advantage”: the fact that married people, on average, appear to be healthier and live longer than unmarried people. Contemporary studies, for instance, have shown that married people are less likely to get pneumonia, have surgery, develop cancer or have heart attacks. A group of Swedish researchers has found that being married or cohabiting at midlife is associated with a lower risk for dementia. A study of two dozen causes of death in the Netherlands found that in virtually every category, ranging from violent deaths like homicide and car accidents to certain forms of cancer, the unmarried were at far higher risk than the married."
"....Several new studies, for instance, show that the marriage advantage doesn’t extend to those in troubled relationships, which can leave a person far less healthy than if he or she had never married at all. One recent study suggests that a stressful marriage can be as bad for the heart as a regular smoking habit."
"...scientists have continued to document the “marriage advantage”: the fact that married people, on average, appear to be healthier and live longer than unmarried people. Contemporary studies, for instance, have shown that married people are less likely to get pneumonia, have surgery, develop cancer or have heart attacks. A group of Swedish researchers has found that being married or cohabiting at midlife is associated with a lower risk for dementia. A study of two dozen causes of death in the Netherlands found that in virtually every category, ranging from violent deaths like homicide and car accidents to certain forms of cancer, the unmarried were at far higher risk than the married."
"....Several new studies, for instance, show that the marriage advantage doesn’t extend to those in troubled relationships, which can leave a person far less healthy than if he or she had never married at all. One recent study suggests that a stressful marriage can be as bad for the heart as a regular smoking habit."
Monday, April 5, 2010
Birthday Celebration
We celebrated Richard's birthday this weekend. It was one of those decade birthdays that end in a zero. The immediate family consisting of brothers, in-laws, and cousins spent the weekend together in a rented house near Pt. Reyes National Seashore, about an hour and a half north of San Francisco.
The house was a rustic palace with multi-tiered terraces and giant windows overlooking the beautiful nothingness of sky, clouds, trees, and marshland. The wood stove kept us warm and we all pooled our culinary talents and kept ourselves very well fed. On Saturday Richard and I did a 10 mile hike through oceans of spring wildflowers. We couldn't take a step without stomping on some buttercups or wild irises.
For me, the greatest joy was that I could give Richard a pure gift of this glorious weekend, during which he could be the center, not my illness or my health.
Happy birthday sweetie!
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