Seems like women in midlife are having more heart attacks, while men are having fewer.

Reporting in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers say that they looked at men and women between the ages of 35 and 54. Between 1988 and 1994, and 1999 and 2004, the rate of heart attacks increased and risk for heart disease worsened in women, while the opposite was seen in men in similar age groups. Even though men continued to have higher heart attacks rates, the gap between the genders  narrowed considerably. Among the risk factors that were considered, it appeared that during these time periods, high blood pressure and rates of smoking seemed to improve in men but not in women, while the numbers of people with diabetes remained the same.

So, what’s the take-away here? Are heart attacks increasing amongst women because they are not being paid as close attention to as men? An editorial that accompanies the study suggests that men are indeed, “more aggressively informed, counseled and treated” for heart disease compared to their female counterparts. However, are there other factors also at play, such declining testosterone levels or hot flashes?

Although the inherent aspects of menopause and associated heart disease risks cannot be entirely prevented, there are positive steps that you can take, including a heart healthy diet, moderate alcohol intake and of course, physical activity. Recent data also point to the positive benefits of blueberries, flavonoids and even laughter. In the meantime, like breast cancer, all I can say is “can’t we do better?”

Boomer grandparents are game changers. This is not news. Google the topic and you’ll immediately find a long list of articles addressing the boomer grandparent experience. The Wall Street Journal chronicled the on-going issues of stereotypes and ageist profiling in names (hint: opt for Glammom over Grandmom)  My favorite resource was found  on www.grandboomers .com  - a long, comprehensive list of what a boomer grandparent could be called including MiMa and Opa)  to avoid the  age-old  (and thus far too conformist, restrictive, cliché title of grandma).

According to The Grandparent Economy report:  Grandparents account for $52 Billion dollars in spending  on their grandkids per year. Eight years ago, I instructed my team here at Forty Weeks to include the “expectant grandparent” into our key target markets – taking great care to help our clients understand the demography and psychography of this not so fertile but certainly powerful segment of the juvenile market.

Flash forward to 2009 – grandparents have an uncanny knowledge of strollers (just ask them – Bugaboo v. tuetonia) as well as clothing, nursery décor , family vacation destinations and even strategies for quality time with toddler. What is still, sadly and overwhelmingly missing is an understanding of how to best support the new mother.

Perhaps this is a consequence of boomers seeing the entire new baby experience thru the lens of Grandparent – and foregoing the generation in-between.  But really, it is the parent – the child of the boomer who needs the most support.  Especially in the early, hard to navigate, bleary eyed days with new baby.  In a piece of stunning research about to be released by the BBIC we see how profound an effect grandmothers (mothers and mothers-in-law) have on nursing initiation rates, success and length of time spent nursing. The anecdotes are painfully consistent in their portrayal of mother-in-law as deal breaker (embarrassed by breastfeeding in public for example, dismissive of the benefits of breastfeeding is another – “we did not do that, and you turned out just fine” and worse).

The data supports that a little more love and care for the new mother and not just the baby (or bling) is in order.  And of course, a little more empathy and understanding is part and parcel with that call to action. Further, allowing and even supporting a new mother’s intuition is a big part of that plan. Not at the expense of the Glamparent experience but rather to enhance it. And with that comes an even richer, deeper and more connected bond between the boomer- grandparent and grandbaby.

About Julia Beck…

Julia Beck, founder of Forty Weeks, knows the pregnancy and motherhood lifestyle. A prominent marketing strategist based in Washington, DC and New York City, she noticed and experienced the huge number of unmet needs of pregnant women while pregnant with her first child in 1998. Recognizing a glaringly overlooked market, Forty Weeks was created to develop products and services with a clear focus on the woman and her experience throughout (and beyond) her forty-week journey. Julia regularly shares her perspective, trend-watching and insights with an array of media outlets including the New York Times, Good Morning America, Wall Street Journal, In Style and more.



Not bursting this one. At least not yet….

Last January, I shared some news on a key component in a type of isoflavone known as Daidzein. The component, S-equol, is produced by some people by the bacteria that lives in their intestines after eating soybeans and soy foods. Japanese women who produce S-equol naturally have been shown to have milder menopausal symptoms.

No wonder I was excited to see more information about S-equol coming out of September’s North American Menopause Society meeting. This time, researchers asked 320 postmenopausal women complaining of at least one hot flash a day to take a 10 mg equol supplement or a placebo tablet for 12 weeks. Menopausal symptoms were evaluated before and after taking the equol supplement, both by questionnaire and by a visual scale.

The findings are encouraging, as it appears that taking a daily equol supplement significantly reduced the frequency of hot flashes by as much as 58%. Women taking the supplement also reported declines in neck and shoulder stiffness. What’s more, no side effects were reported. However, while menopausal symptoms scores improved overall, S-equol did not appear to affect night sweats, mood issues or quality of life.

Obviously, S-equol is not yet available for mass consumption and only time will tell if these benefits can be duplicated in larger groups of women. Still, it’s nice to know that plant-based compounds are slowly proving their worth in the quest to find non-pharmaceuticals to alleviate menopausal symptoms. I’m all for equality when it comes to solutions for menopause and equol has my vote so far!

For over a year now, Flashfree has been ignoring a key player in the midlife-menopause shuffle: men. So I decided to add some male voices into the mix to lend their perspective and educate us about their experiences with our experiences. My hope: to start an evolving dialogue and deepen understanding, provide humor and encourage better communication.

Our first contributor is a dear friend, who has asked to remain anonymous because of the deeply personal nature of his topic: sexual desire. I hope you enjoy it, comment and share.

When I was asked to provide another voice on this subject I hesitated.  It’s not that I don’t have first hand experience as my wife has been in the perimenopausal stage for the last few years, and I’m usually not shy with my opinions, but this request made me pause.  Did I really want to weigh in with my thoughts?  Was this a “do I look fat in this” type of question with no good answers? Was there any upside to being honest?  Despite my reservations, I decided that this was as good a time as any, so here goes.

It’s been very hard to watch what has happened to the woman I love.  I’m not just talking about the constant temperature changes, or the night sweats, or the mood swings, or the changes in odor (see, I do pay attention) that so clearly affect her.  Instead, the largest change I’ve noticed is the loss of libido.

Now I know many of you are thinking “typical man, all he cares about is sex” when you read that last sentence, but let me defend myself.  While our frequency of intercourse has significantly decreased, what I miss more is her desire.  The feelings we have shared for each over these 16 years haven’t changed, but our means of expressing them have.  I miss what we had, and hope that one day soon we can have it again.

There, I said it.  And I suspect many of my peers are (or will soon be) experiencing similar feelings.  So if I have any message for the readers, it’s just that while menopause primarily affects you, it also affects the others in your life.  So the next time we say something insensitive, maybe you can occasionally cut us a break?

Flashfree is looking for contributors/male voices:

Want to add your perspective? Do you remember you mother or aunt going through ‘the change?’ Is your sister/friend/lover/wife/ex-wife/co-worker driving you nuts with her flip/flopping about? Got something you just want to say? Write to me at flashfree111@gmail.com.

[Credit: Special thanks to artist Darryl Willison of whimsicalwest.com. Please visit his site and support his work!]

Wow! Where did October go? I missed most of it; hope you didn’t miss a thing. If so, here’s the month’s Roundup:

• Redux: HRT & lung cancer - The risks keep growing and the benefits keep shrinking. HRT and lung cancer deaths – more information.
• Explore your P.A.S.S.I.O.N.: an excerpt from the Fearless Factor – Author and motivational speaker Jacqueline Wales talks about how to put passion back into your life, the non-sexual ilk
• Wednesday Bubble: breast cancer during menopause. Move your body – Researchers say that physical activity can prevent breast cancer. But, intensity and timing play an important role too!
• Got sleep? – No? No worries; you’re in good company. But ‘one size fits all’ probably isn’t going to improve dysfunction.
• Spray that forgetfulness away – Can a testosterone spray help you remember?
• Wednesday Bubble: red or white? Can wine choice affect breast cancer risk – When it comes to breast cancer, moderation is important. Evidently, wine choice is too!
• Tender breasts and HRT: do you need to worry? – New research links tender breasts during HRT to 48% higher risk of breast cancer.
• Ladies of the world, flashers, sweat-ers, mood swingers. It’s World Menopause Day - One of my favourite posts from last year, reprised.
• Cougar Life - Looking for a cub? A new dating site is looking too!
• Wednesday Bubble: herbs for breast cancer prevention - Study findings suggest that use of certain herbal preparations may prevent invasive breast cancer.
• Burn Baby Burn, Reposted – An online survey is looking for women who suffer from burning mouth syndrome.
• Aging Backwards in Minutes: A guest post by Jackie Silver – Got 30 minutes? Author Jackie Silver has some tips on what to do with the time.
• The Domino Effect – Does one menopausal symptom beget another? Yes. And no.
• Wednesday Bubble: Breast Cancer – it’s personal - breast cancer hits close to home and close to the bone. My story.

I don’t typically get too personal on Flashfree because this blog is a resource for you, dear readers. However, I want to leave October’s Wednesday Bubble posts with something a bit closer to the bone and heart: breast cancer.

Location: Department Store dressing room stall. Circa: late 1960s, early 1970s.

The characters: Me and my mom.

Scene: She is covering herself as she removes her shirt. I notice the scars. Lots of scars….to the side of one breast. I meet her eyes and she meets mine. Then I learn what the term ‘ breast cancer’ means.

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 30. Thirty. Even today, less than half of women under the age of 40 are likely to develop breast cancer and the majority of cases are diagnosed after the age of 50. So, imagine the shock. What’s more, imagine the time. The 1950s… when breast cancer awareness wasn’t at the fore and people didn’t discuss it, when breasts and surrounding muscle were literally hacked off rather than carefully removing the tumor with clean margins, when many men left their wives after they became disfigured.

My dad didn’t leave. And my brother learned about it through a ‘friend’ in school who was teasing him.

I’ve spoken to my mother about her cancer, about the fear of it returning (it has not, thank goodness), and about how she feels about not being able to wear sleeveless tops or strengthen/firm those muscles even though she has exercised regularly her entire life. How she felt when my brother came home from school and asked her about it. How she feels now when a friend is diagnosed with cancer. Her answer is always pretty much the same.

I don’t know anyone who has not been touched by breast cancer. Not. One. Person.

In the past year, I’ve had two friends who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, not for the first but second time. Like most of you, I am regularly inspired by the women in my life who are first or second-time survivors, just as I am moved by those who’ve lost their battles but not without a fight.

Breasts. For whatever reason, they are such an integral part of who we are as women and how we define ourselves in relation to the world around us. And yet, we continue to be plagued by this cancer and its effects on our health, our families and the world around us. Despite advances in research and awareness, we’re not even close to winning this battle:

• Worldwide, every 30 seconds a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer
• Every 90 seconds, a woman loses her fight to it
• In 2007, almost half of all women had mastectomies compared to only 7% who had breast reconstruction

Can’t we do better?

It’s hard to imagine that in my mother’s lifetime, the likelihood of finding a cure is, well, unlikely.

This one’s close to the bone. It’s close to my heart. It’s personal.

I’ve never heard of the term ‘Domino Effect’ being applied to menopause, although, if one thinks about it, it makes perfect sense. For example, hot flashes beget sleep disruptions beget mood swings, and so on and and so on.

But do they?

In a study published in Menopause Journal ahead-of-print,  55 women were asked to keep daily records of their symptoms for up to five years or until they fully entered menopause. whichever came first. The researchers then evaluated whether or not changes in hot flashes or night sweats would predict a change in sleep the very same day, and if these changes then predicted changes in moods the next day. They also factored in whether or not women were initially depressed to insure that any results they found would not be unduly influenced.

They found that daily hot flashes or night sweats accurately predicted same day sleep problems and disruptions, which in turn, worsened moods the next day. However, the researchers were unable to connect hot flashes and night sweats directly to shifts in mood without this interim step except for in women who were already mildly depressed.

Are you confused yet?

What this really shows is that while night flashes and hot sweats may affect overall mood swings during menopause, the reason is unlikely to be attributed directly to sleep disruption but rather to some other mechanism. In the long run, this may allow lead to better interventions that individually address these factors so that the sum of the parts becomes a more positive sense of well-being regardless of any physical disruptions.

Every action has a chain reaction. Hopefully, this finding will lead to something positive for us all.

So what does she mean by “aging backwards?” And in only 30 minutes a day? Come on!

Seriously, Author and friend Jackie Silver’s has some awesome tips on how to turn back the clock in only minutes a day. Just look at her; she’s a force to be reckoned with for sure!

Someone once said to me, “Look at you, you just sit around and have beauty treatments all day long, don’t you?” Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. It doesn’t take “having beauty treatments all day long” to keep Aging Backwards. That’s the “beauty” of what I do. I find all kinds of secrets, tips and shortcuts to pass along to you that make it easy to look and feel young while still living your life. Not many people have time to “sit around and have beauty treatments all day,” including me!

Here are some quick tips for Aging Backwards when, like me, you can’t make it your “full-time job.”

1) Instantly younger hands. Everyone knows by now that hands can show your age. In fact, many celebrities have been victims of ridicule for their “old lady” hands and the paparazzi loves to snap photos of them (just look on the internet). I found this tip by accident one day while experimenting with SPF lotions: Tinted sunscreen does double duty when it comes to your hands. Not only does it protect your hands from sun damage, but the tint actually gives a subtle youthfulness to hands. Another quick way to lose years from your hands is with polish and jewelry. According to a study, people thought photos of hands with polish and jewelry looked younger than the same hands without the polish and jewelry.

2) One minute relaxer. Try this several times a day for a quick and simple way to calm and relax yourself. Take a deep breath. Hold it for a count of five, release it for a count of seven. Repeat three to five times.

3) Five minute makeup. Another shocking comment I heard from an acquaintance one day was, “You probably take two hours to get ready to go out so you should start now.” Excuse me? I can do my makeup in roughly five minutes and here’s how: I start with my SPF 30 sunscreen. Next, I dot a bit of concealer under each eye and blend. Then, I lightly brush on my mineral powder foundation, followed by a little blush. Eye shadow, liner and mascara come next, followed by lip liner and gloss. That’s it. I’ve even been known to take under five minutes for the whole thing. I interviewed Bruce Grayson, head of the Emmy’s makeup department, for my book, Aging Backwards: Secrets to Staying Young (http://budurl.com/kdzv) and he told me that we need less makeup as we age, not more. So, a five-minute makeup routine is just right for me.

4) Six minute cat nap. Six minutes – that’s all the time you need for a “power nap” that will not only make you feel better, but will also improve your ability to learn and remember, according to German researchers at the University of Duesseldorf. The researchers performed experiments in which they asked students to review and memorize a list of 30 words. Afterwards, the participants were allowed to play a video game or take a nap in a quiet room. The nappers remembered more words than the video gamers. The results suggest that most of the memory improvement is linked to changes that take place in the brain just as you start to fall asleep. “These processes remain active for a certain time period even if sleep is terminated shortly thereafter,” said Olaf Lahl, the study’s lead author.

5) Ten minute jump rope workout. Skipping rope is an awesome way to keep Aging Backwards. Of course, check with your doctor before doing it, especially if you have health issues, and be careful not to trip yourself if you’re new to jumping rope. Start with a slow skip until you get the hang of it. Here’s what I do: I warm up with a slow jump for about a minute and then I rest. I do another minute of jumping, upping my pace this time around. Then, another rest period. I repeat this pattern for ten minutes, each time jumping a little harder and faster than the last. That’s it! Easy, effective workout.

Doing all of these tips back-to-back would take less than half an hour. So you can see that staying young is definitely not a full-time job when you know the Aging Backwards shortcuts.

About Jackie…
Jackie Silver is Aging Backwards and she shares her secrets, tips and shortcuts in her book, Aging Backwards: Secrets to Staying Young, on her Web site, on TV, on radio, in print and in person. She is the anti-aging expert on the syndicated television show, Daytime, the beauty editor for Clear Channel’s Mix 100.7 FM Nancy & Chris Mornings in Tampa Bay, Florida and a weekly columnist with The Tampa Tribune. In addition, she’s an expert contributor to Total Health Breakthroughs () and BestLifeDesign.com, as well as a regular contributor to FocusOnStyle.com,Galtime.com and HealthNewsDigest.com. Silver is a sought-after speaker and coach who combines her natural reporter’s curiosity with her desire to help others look and feel young. Her book is available at: Amazon.com and AgingBackwards.com.

Last year, I wrote a post about burning mouth syndrome. I am reposting it today because a reader commented that there is an informational questionnaire that many of you may be interested in. Here’s the link. By sharing your experiences, perhaps the sponsors can find a common thread among women who suffer from burning mouth syndrome and an effective treatment.

In my last post, I mentioned that menopause has been linked to altered sensitivity in the roof of the mouth and a decreased ability to detect sweet taste. Interestingly, I heard from a friend that she recently started experiencing a burning sensation in her mouth and that her doctors have been attributing it to menopause. Say what?!

Seems that the Queen Bee of Menopause, the Sister of Love and Destruction, the Lady of Light and Dark, estrogen herself, is wreaking havoc on more than the tastebuds.

I was intrigued so I did a search. I found over 500 articles in the National Library of Medicine Database, PubMed, and also located this article in the journal American Family Physician.

Although burning mouth syndrome primarily appears to primarily affect women after menopause, some 10% to 40% of women in menopause can suffer from its effects. These may may include burning in the tongue or oral mucus membranes, dry mouth and taste alterations.

The causes of burning mouth syndrome range from depression and anxiety to underlying illness, high glucose levels and of course, hormones. Researchers have also identified alterations in the cranial sacral nerves that serve taste and pain sensations as possible culprits.

Currently, unproven treatments include benzodiazapines, antidepressants, anticonvulsants and capsaicin. However, I’m wondering whether or not craniosacral therapy might offer an alternative to women who don’t want to go the drug route. Mind you, there are lots of naysayers out there who claim that CST is quakery but having used it successfully for pain, I am a huge fan.

A fellow blogger also directed me to this extensive site on burning mouth syndrome. I can’t vouch for its content but it is definitely worth checking out for backgrounding purposes. Do you suffer from Burning Mouth Syndrome? What are you doing to treat your symptoms? Inquiring minds want to know!

In keeping in line with my commitment to inspiring, breast cancer-related bubbles during the month of October, I am happy to share some rather promising news.

This week, it comes from Germany and was reported this past August in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention: while hormone replacement therapy appears to increase the risk of breast cancer, use of herbal preparations containing phytoestrogens (plant-based compounds that act similar to estrogen) may actually prevent the most invasive type.

Wow! Sounds promising, right?

There has been a lot of noise surrounding the effectiveness of plant-based estrogens (e.g. soy isoflavones) for menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and mood swings. Some studies suggest they work and others, that they don’t. In fact, I do believe that the verdict is still out, although when used properly and in coordination with a licensed practitioner, they might very well be worth trying — much more so than health risk laden hormones. Moreover, if their use does actually reduce the risk of developing breast cancer, which is the exact opposite of hormone therapy, well, then I am all for them!

In this particular investigation, researchers examined how and when over 10,000 postmenopausal women were using herbs and any possible relationship to development of breast cancer. The findings? Women who used herbs had a 26% lower risk of ever developing invasive breast cancer than those who did not. That’s quite a bit, right?

The researchers are unclear why this may be. However, I’m certainly encouraged by the news, news that an herb a day may keep breast cancer away. Definitely inspired by the fact that a natural compound might both improve  menopausal symptoms and offer protection. Happy Wednesday!

[Note! Many oncologists recommend that women with estrogen-positive tumours or those who are prone to them avoid plant based estrogens. As always it is essential to speak to a practitioner before using any over the counter herbal preparation!]