6 Things That Happen When You Turn 40

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I keep seeing someone’s old lady hands sticking out of my sleeves. There I am, just going about my work, and Bam! Old lady hands typing. Reaching for my dishes and Kapow! Old lady hands cooking. These hands are quite confusing, with their veins and sunspots and loose skin. What in the actual heck? Whose grandma is wearing my jewelry?

I turned 40 this year.

Forty! Which is so weird because I’ve always been young. I’ve been young my whole life, as a matter of fact. No matter how I dissect this, I’ve aged out of the “young” category and graduated to the “middle” group. My brain feels confused because I was just in college a minute ago. But much like Shakira: These hands don’t lie. And they’re not the only harbingers of change.

Through extremely scientific research like looking in a mirror and talking to my friends over wine, I’ve come up with a few telltale signs you’ve entered your forties—and no, not all of them are bad news.

RELATED: 11 Secrets of People Who’ve Lived to 100

You can no longer quit eating bread for a day and lose six pounds

Once upon a time, I could make some minor adjustment, maybe go for a jog, and my too-snug jeans would fit by Tuesday. Apparently, a body gets over this by 40. It just wants to be fat and happy.

After you turn 40, you can eat 400 calories a day for six weeks and your body will release three pounds. The next day you eat half a tortilla and gain 17. Your body isn’t interested in your diet or those jeans. It wants yoga pants and your husband’s stretched out T-shirts, and it will have them.

I should’ve enjoyed my young body more. I would have worn my bikini to the grocery store had I known my days with those smooth thighs were numbered.

But you finally get a decent handle on who you are

Once you turn 40, you shed the skin of the existential dread. You know what you are good at, what you love, what you value, and how you want to live, and you don’t worry about anything else.

These questions used to keep me up at night. I once worried endlessly about purpose and trajectory, identity and worth, but 40 brought me security I couldn’t imagine. I know what I am good at now and I do it. I’m not apologetic and uncertain and aw-shucks about running my race. I no longer tiptoe through my own life, doubting my gifts and my place, too scared to go for it, seize it, pray for it, dream it. When you’re 40, you no longer wait for permission to live. As Maya Angelou said, “Life loves the liver of it.”

RELATED: Happiness Linked to Longer Life

Something weird happens to your brain

This brain has served you well for so long, but it starts punking you when you turn 40. You can’t remember directions. You forget why you walked into a room. And for the life of you, you can’t recall your third kid’s name (“Take out the trash…Um, you!”). You will talk on your cell phone while looking around your house for your cell phone. This is unfortunate because about this time you go back to middle and high school with your spawn. You are expected to help with algebra and chemistry and the remembering of All The Things, but your brain resembles the bottom of your purse: lost pen caps and congealed, undefined filth. It will take a nap while those children work their own stuff out. Your brain already completed 11th grade. It has done its time.

But you also develop resiliency

I used to desperately need approval. Criticism crushed me. Conflict paralyzed me. Consequently, I took the safest path through every scenario to avoid reproach. As an approval addict, the younger me would have been shocked to find that once I hit 40, I would quit caring so much what others think of me, my parenting, my marriage, my career, my politics, my house, my hair, my church, my dog, my new red front door, my comfortable flats, my stretchy pants, my daughter’s hair, my son’s weird interest in vintage ska, my new resolve to go vegan, my consistent purchase of Lunchables, my decision to work, my decision to quit, and so on.

If people don’t like it, well, whatever. It’s not that you become set in your ways. Differing opinions just stop shaking every decision. And critical words won’t send you to bed. You develop chops.

RELATED: 21 Reasons You’ll Live Longer Than Your Friends

Your skin… changes

When you see a picture of yourself, this is the thought process: “That was terrible lighting, and also the angle is tragic. Plus the shadows made my neck look weird, and do my friends not know how to use Instagram filters?!”

Sometimes I baby-talk parts of my body into resisting gravity’s charms: “Come on, shins. I’m counting on you. You’ve always been good to me. You don’t want to be like Neck and Eyelids and Chest, those loose floozies. Hang in there, baby, and you’ll be the last part of me to see the light of day.”

But you also learn what’s important

These kids, this husband, this little life I’ve built, that’s what matters.

After 40, you are slower to tell everyone how wrong they are, and quicker to gather your folks and take deep breaths of gratitude. This is your place. These are your people. This is your beautiful, precious life. Probably about halfway through your time here on earth, you lay down angst and pick up contentment.

Annie Dillard was right: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” You realize insecurity, striving, jealousy, and living in comparison will eventually define your entire life, and that is not the legacy you want. You decide your days should contain laughter and grace, strength and security.

RELATED: The Best Time of Day to Do Everything

So sure, our bodies and minds get whack, but we wouldn’t return to our twenties for all the unwrinkled skin on earth. At our age, we love better, stand taller, laugh louder. Real life has tempered our arrogance and fear, and this is the best version of us yet.

But damnit, I wish I had worn more sunscreen in my 20s.

Jen Hatmaker’s new book is called For The Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards ($23, amazon.com). Read more from her at jenhatmaker.com.

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Live to 100 By Eating These 18 Foods

 

Want to live to 100? Research shows your diet plays a huge role in how many birthday candles you’ll blow out. The following 18 foods are packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that have been linked to longevity. Eat up!

Broccoli: It contains immune-boosting compounds, and may also help ward off stomach ulcers and even cancer.

Salmon: Including omega-3-rich fish (and others like it, such as tuna, mackerel, and sardines) as a regular part of your diet may reduce your risk of heart disease and prevent against inflammation.

Water: Staying hydrated reduces your risk for blood clots. It also helps you feel younger by keeping energy levels high.

Berries: Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries—all are bite-sized antioxidant powerhouses that stave off life-threatening diseases.

Garlic: It may not do your breath any favors, but the phytochemicals in garlic may halt the formation of carcinogenic compounds in the body.

Olive oil: The monounsaturated fats in olive oil have been linked to brain and heart health, as well as cancer prevention. Plus, dermatologists say women who follow olive-oil-rich diets have less skin damage and fewer wrinkles.

Bok choy: In a Vanderbilt University study, Chinese breast cancer survivors with diets high in cruciferous veggies like bok choy had a lower risk of death or recurrence.

Avocado: If your cholesterol numbers could use some help, listen up: eating more avocado may help lower your bad LDL cholesterol while also raising your good HDL cholesterol.

Tomato: There’s no better source for the antioxidant lycopene than rosy-red tomatoes.

Beans: Your go-to choice for plant-based protein, beans are also high in fiber, low in fat, and packed with more nutrients per gram than any other food.

Whole grains: In a study of more than 40,000 women, those who ate lots of grains had a 31% lower risk of dying from causes other than cancer or heart disease when compared with women who had few or no whole grains in their diet. (Be sure to check out the other health benefits of whole grains.)

Red wine: Research on the health benefits of wine and other alcohol is mixed, but here’s what we do know: a small amount of red wine at the end of the day may reduce stress, which is good for overall health.

Leafy greens: In a study, middle-aged people who ate a cup of cooked greens daily were half as likely to die within 4 years as those who ate no leafy greens.

Tea: Green tea has been shown to lower risk of heart disease and several types of cancer.

Coffee: Yes, your morning caffeine craving may be lengthening your life, one cup at a time. Research associates drinking coffee with a lower risk for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and a 2012 study found that coffee drinkers tend to live longer.

Dark chocolate: A 1999 Harvard study of 8,000 men discovered that those who ate chocolate as many as three times a month lived a year longer than those who didn’t. Try these five nutritionist-approved healthy ways to eat dark chocolate.

Nuts: With heart-healthy fats, protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, nuts may just be the healthiest snack you can eat. (That said, not all nuts are created equal, so choose wisely.)

Red cabbage: This vibrantly colored veggie boosts brain health and guards against cancer.

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5 Tips for Setting a Totally Doable Weight Loss Goal

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We’re not going to lie: Losing weight isn’t easy, and it isn’t always fun (so long, office cupcakes). But that doesn’t mean you should just toss your scale and give up before you’ve even begun. “The most important thing is to set goals that are achievable,” says Heather Mangieri, RD, CSSD, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

That means instead of gunning for a big, scary “goal weight” that seems so far in the future you can barely imagine it, set tinier targets instead. “Thinking about your final goal can be so overwhelming you go on shut-down,” Mangieri says. “It’s all about setting small goals, and figuring out what you want to do to get there.”

RELATED: How This Man Lost 100 Pounds, One Small Change at a Time

So stop picturing what you’re going to look like a year from now (you’ll get there eventually!) — and start imagining how much better you’ll feel when you forego that side of fries for veggies instead. Here’s how to do it.

5 Ways to Set Smarter Weight Loss Goals

1. Think short-term.
It may seem counterintuitive, but don’t get bogged down by the fact that you have 10, 20, 50 or even 100 pounds to lose. “When I’m working with a client, it’s about figuring out where you want to be next week, not in two years,” Mangieri says.

If you’ve got a long road ahead, create a mini goal of losing five to 10 percent of your body weight first, says Lisa Cimperman, RD, LD, and clinical dietician at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. “Setting short-term milestones and building on them helps keep you focused on your progress, not how far you still have to go,” she adds.

RELATED: My Wedding Photos Were My Weight Loss Wake Up Call

It’s also helpful to think about not just what you want to lose, but what you want to gain — whether that’s more energy, better self-confidence or a longer life, Cimperman says. “Often, these goals are far more motivating than the number on the scale.”

2. Figure out your diet strategy.
Time to come up with a game plan for your eats. “Usually, for weight loss, there is some kind of dietary change that needs to happen,” Mangieri says. In other words, hopping on the treadmill won’t compensate for a diet full of processed foods.

RELATED: How to Detox the Healthy Way: 16 Recipes You’ll Love

The good news: You don’t need to give up carbs for good, commit to a vegan lifestyle, or swear off alcohol for months to lose weight. “I think the biggest mistake [people make] is thinking that they have to make a drastic change in their eating,” Mangieri says. “You might see a difference on the scale [by doing that], but it will be short-lived if you don’t make lifestyle changes and adopt them as part of your new life.”

Instead, Mangieri likes people to make small tweaks to address the weak spots in their diet (like drinking soda, or eating too much sugar). “Some clients… I’m giving very short goals like stop drinking juice or sugar-sweetened beverages, or replace them with water,” Mangieri says. “Other clients, if they’ve have already made a lot of changes, we might look at portion sizes. It really depends on where they are what their current eating habits.”

RELATED: What RDs Really Eat: DailyBurn Coach Nora Minno’s Meal Plan

3. Work on your fitness.
While exercise alone won’t get you to your goal weight, setting fitness goals along the way might help keep you motivated, Cimperman says. “Maybe you want to train for a 5K, or run a 10 minute mile, or improve your strength,” she says. “These things are measurable and typically involve a deadline for completion.”

Plus, they’ll help you feel more committed to leading a healthy lifestyle. “The journey is more important than the actual reaching of the goal, because it’s is the piece that teaches you the behaviors and new habits you need to maintain the goal,” Mangieri says. “We do know through research and studies that activity is a critical part of maintaining weight loss.”

4. Don’t expect to lose 10 pounds a week.
While TV shows may depict people shedding crazy amounts of weight in a week, that’s notactually reality for most folks. “We’re looking at one to two pounds a week, depending on how much weight somebody has to lose,” Mangieri says, and it could be even less than that. (Half a pound still counts!)

RELATED: The 10 Biggest Diet Mistakes, According to Experts

If you’re losing at a more drastic rate, it might feel good for a while, but you could eventually end up plateauing — or gaining it all back, Mangieri says. “[That] can set in feelings of failure and depression,” she says. “Once that mood change happens you start to see other behaviors kick in that are not helping them reach their goal.” 

5. Track your successes.
Don’t forget to take time to revel in all the hard work you’re doing — and how it’s paying off. “Use a notebook and pen or any of the many apps to track your food intake and activity,” Cimperman says. “Studies show that people who do this are more likely to stick with their plan,”

Plus, plotting your weight loss over several months, can help remind you how well you’re doing — even on an off week. “It helps people see even though I might not have lost a pound this week, or even gained a pound, overall my pattern of weight loss is looking pretty good.”

Feeling motivated? Check out these six weight loss success stories to give you that final push you need to get started.

More from Life by DailyBurn:

7 Weight Loss Tips When the Scale Won’t Budge

5 Low-Calorie Snacks That Will Fill You Up

6 Easy Tips for Eating Clean on a Budget

Life by DailyBurn is dedicated to helping you live a healthier, happier and more active lifestyle. Whether your goal is to lose weight, gain strength or de-stress, a better you is well within reach. Get more health and fitness tips at Life by DailyBurn.

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Could Common Diabetes Drugs Help Fight Leukemia?

By Maureen Salamon
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Common diabetes drugs might help eradicate drug-resistant cancer cells in a certain form of leukemia when added to standard treatment, a small new study suggests.

Researchers found that patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who received a glitazone — a class of drug for type 2 diabetes — along with the standard CML drug imatinib remained disease-free for up to nearly five years.

Imatinib, known commercially as Gleevec, boasts an impressive track record in controlling chronic myeloid leukemia and allowing patients to lead virtually normal lives. But despite its effectiveness, dormant, drug-resistant leukemic cells typically lay in wait in bone marrow. They can later transform into highly aggressive cells.

“Gleevec can control the disease but never get rid of the source of the disease,” said Lee Greenberger, chief scientific officer for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, who wasn’t involved in the new research.

“But adding in these glitazones, [the research] claims you can eliminate the disease entirely,” said Greenberger. “These are still early days for this work, however.”

Actos and Avandia are two well-known glitazones.

Chronic myeloid leukemia is a cancer that originates in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow and invades the blood supply. More than 6,600 cases are expected to be diagnosed in the United States this year, and about 1,140 people will die from the condition, according to the American Cancer Society.

Seen mostly in adults, chronic myeloid leukemia tends to be slow-growing, but can transform into a rapidly growing form that can quickly kill.

Together with his team, study author Dr. Philippe Leboulch, a professor of medicine and cell biology at the University of Paris, temporarily administered pioglitazone in addition to imatinib to three patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Both drugs are available in pill form. Pioglitazone is marketed as Actos.

Although imatinib and other so-called tyrosine kinase inhibitors have significantly improved outcomes for this type of blood cancer, leukemia stem cells can develop a resistance to this standard treatment because of the dormant malignant cells in bone marrow.

In the study — published online Sept. 2 in the journal Nature — Leboulch described the molecular pathway leading to “quiescence,” or cell dormancy, in chronic myeloid leukemia. The study suggested that glitazones can block this pathway, and, when used with imatinib, render patients disease-free for months to years after glitazones are discontinued.

It’s unclear how the dormant, drug-resistant leukemia cells were killed using this combination therapy. But an editorial accompanying the study said the cells are “probably either killed directly or driven to exit quiescence, which may lead to their eradication by [imatinib].”

Dr. Jeffrey Schriber, a hematologist with Arizona Oncology in Scottsdale, said larger trials of this combination treatment are in progress and should yield results within the next three to five years.

But since drugs such as imatinib already enable 94 percent of chronic myeloid leukemia patients to remain alive five years after diagnosis — with only 2 percent dying of the disease in that time — adding in glitazones is “unlikely to make a significant difference” compared to current results, he said.

“From a scientific standpoint, however, the principles are critical and go beyond the therapy of CML,” added Schriber, who specializes in the field of stem cell transplantation. “This principle could also be potentially applied to other leukemias where the results are not nearly as promising,” he said.

The major weakness in the new study is its small size, Schriber said, making it difficult to know if the results would hold up in a larger group. Greenberger said it would be ideal to run a randomized controlled trial directly comparing the effectiveness of combination therapy (imatinib and a glitazone) versus imatinib alone.

Patients can take glitazones for months without serious side effects, Greenberger said.

“It would be best to see over years if [the combination therapy] could molecularly remove this disease,” he said.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute offers more about chronic myeloid leukemia.

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Immune Cell Therapy Shows Promise Against Deadly Blood Cancer

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — An experimental therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) that uses a patient’s own immune cells may cure some patients and prolong survival in others with the blood cancer, researchers report.

The process of creating the therapy, called CTL019, begins with a patient’s own T cells, which are a type of white blood cell essential for an immune response. The cells are then reprogrammed to hunt and kill cancer cells. After chemotherapy the patient receives an infusion of the newly engineered cells, the researchers explained.

“This is a new, ultra-personalized and precision approach to treating cancer,” said lead researcher Dr. David Porter, director of blood and marrow transplantation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

CLL is the most common type of adult leukemia, according to background information in the study. Survival is variable, ranging from two years to more than 20 years, the study authors said. Although effective treatment options are available, CLL is incurable with conventional therapies. Some patients can be cured with stem cell transplants, but not all patients are eligible, the researchers explained.

This study is a follow-up of 14 patients given the CTL019 treatment in 2010. All of the study volunteers had cancer that had relapsed or continued to progress after receiving conventional therapies, and few were eligible for bone marrow transplants, Porter said.

Eight of the 14 patients responded to the treatment. Four achieved a complete remission, including one patient who died 21 months after the therapy due to an infection that occurred after removal of skin cancer on his leg. The three other patients remained alive at the time of this analysis with no evidence of leukemia at 28, 52, and 53 months, the study found.

Four patients had a partial response to the therapy, with responses lasting an average of seven months. During follow-up, two of these patients died of disease progression — one at 10 and one at 27 months after receiving CTL019. Another study participant died after suffering a blood clot in the lung six months after treatment. The fourth patient had disease progression 13 months after therapy, but remained alive on other therapies at 36 months after the study treatment.

Unfortunately, the therapy didn’t work for everyone. Six patients didn’t respond to the therapy, and their cancer progressed within one to nine months. Study tests showed that the modified cells did not expand as robustly in these patients, the study authors said.

Side effects from the therapy included flu-like symptoms from proteins released into the bloodstream. For some patients these symptoms go away on their own, but Porter said that others needed medication.

Some patients developed lowered levels of antibodies needed to ward off infection. This was treated with infusions of antibodies to replace the patients’ missing ones, Porter said.

If the remissions seen in this study continue, and so far they have, it might be possible to treat patients even earlier in their disease, Porter suggested.

“As a one-time therapy, patients may not need repeated rounds of toxic chemotherapy, or prolonged treatment over many years to fight their cancer. It is still early in the development of this approach, but we are extremely optimistic about the potential,” Porter said.

“Cellular therapy is a ‘living drug’ — the fact that the cells can proliferate to such high levels magnifies or amplifies any potential response,” he said.

In addition, Porter pointed out, it was exciting to find that these cells persist in patients’ bodies for several years. This study provides evidence showing the cells not only survive in the body, but they remain functional, likely preventing relapse of the leukemia.

The report was published Sept. 2 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Susanna Greer, director of clinical research and immunology at the American Cancer Society, said, “This is an exciting observation. It’s one of those things we have our fingers crossed for that we will be able to apply this to a larger number of patients.”

Greer also thinks this approach might be used to treat other cancers.

Porter said his group and others have already shown a high remission rate in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His team is also conducting a second, larger trial for CLL patients designed to define the optimal cell dose for patients. That trial is ongoing and still enrolling patients, he said.

“Clinical trials are underway testing a similar therapy for patients with pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, a specific type of lung cancer and even brain cancer,” he added.

Another expert, Dr. Jacqueline Barrientos of North Shore-LIJ Cancer Institute in Lake Success, N.Y., said, “The therapeutic landscape for patients with CLL is changing rapidly.” Barrientos is a medical oncologist and CLL research and treatment specialist.

“The breakthrough results of this study are proof of concept that immunotherapy may be a new way to treat our CLL patients in the future,” she said.

More information

For more on chronic lymphocytic leukemia, visit the American Cancer Society.

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New Hope for Rare ‘Stone Man’ Disease, Where Flesh Turns to Bone

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Researchers working with mice believe there’s hope for patients with a rare genetic disorder that turns their muscle into bone, in essence immobilizing them in an extra skeleton.

The disease, fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), gradually replaces muscle, tendons, ligaments and other soft tissue with bone.

Called “stone man syndrome,” this lethal disorder appears to be caused by mutations in a gene called ACVR1 that controls bone and muscle development, researchers report Sept. 2 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The mutations are thought to push the gene into overdrive when it’s exposed to activin A, a signaling protein that normally inhibits the gene’s function, said senior author Aris Economides, executive director at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company based in Tarrytown, N.Y.

“Imagine you are driving your car down the road and you come to a red light. You press on the brakes, and the car stops,” Economides said. With this disorder, he said, “not only does your car not stop, actually the brakes are hot-wired to the accelerator.”

Armed with that knowledge, researchers at Regeneron developed an antibody that blocks activin A from triggering the gene. The antibody successfully arrested bone formation in lab mice that had been genetically engineered to carry the disease mutation, they report.

Betsy Bogard, director of global research development for the International FOP Association, called this an “extraordinary” finding.

“We are very fortunate and grateful that not only did Regeneron make this basic science discovery, but that, as a biotechnology company with expertise in developing antibodies, they are in a position to act on it and answer the next questions about whether this could lead to a meaningful therapy,” she said.

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva affects only one in every 2 million people worldwide, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The International FOP Association says there are 800 confirmed cases across the globe, 285 of them in the United States. However, it is suspected that more people have the disease but have not been located, Bogard said.

Children with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva typically are born with malformed big toes. Growth of excess bone usually starts in the neck and shoulders, proceeding down the body and into the limbs, according to the NIH.

These patients may be unable to fully open their mouths, causing difficulty speaking and eating. They also may have trouble breathing properly because of excess bone growth around the rib cage. And as their joints fuse, they become less and less mobile.

Up to now, the only treatment for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva has been the steroid drug prednisone, which is used to help manage pain, Bogard said.

“It’s not proven to do anything. It just helps them feel better through the pain of a flare-up,” she said. “There’s nothing else that people can do. This disease is on a march through their bodies, and it’s not going to stop.”

The newly developed antibody arrested bone formation in lab mice for up to six weeks, and did not have any “untoward, obvious side effects” in adult mice, Economides said.

The ACVR1 gene is crucial for healthy bone and muscle development as early as in the womb, Economides said. As children age, the ACVR1 gene controls the growth of bone and muscle, including the gradual replacement of cartilage by bone that occurs in normal skeletal development from birth to young adulthood.

Activin A is often secreted by the immune system in response to injury and inflammation, researchers said, which may help explain why bone growth in patients with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva is often triggered by tissue swelling or inflammation.

Surgery makes the disease worse, Economides said. Trying to cut away the excess bone growth intensifies the patient’s excess bone development. Even routine surgeries that don’t involve bone can create inflammation and prompt a reaction, he said.

Economides could not say when the antibody would be ready for testing in humans. His company is currently performing preclinical safety testing.

Also, while the research looks promising in mice, results of animal studies often fail to be replicated in humans.

More information

For more on fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

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Younger Women With Diabetes More Vulnerable to Heart Attack: Study

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Young women with diabetes are much more likely to have a heart attack than those without the blood sugar disease, new research says.

The study from Poland also found that young women who actually had a heart attack were more likely to be smokers than older women who had suffered heart attacks.

To reach these conclusions, the researchers looked at nearly 7,400 Polish women. Among those aged 45 and younger, women with diabetes were six times more likely to have a heart attack than those without diabetes.

High blood pressure increased the risk by four times, high cholesterol levels tripled the risk and smoking nearly doubled the risk. There was no significant link between obesity and heart attack risk, but this may be due to the fact that diabetes was so common among obese young women, according to study co-author Hanna Szwed, a professor at the Institute of Cardiology in Warsaw.

The study was presented Monday at the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting in London. Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

“We found that the risk factor profile in young women with [heart attack] was similar to the older population, apart from the greater occurrence of tobacco smoking in young women,” Szwed said in a society news release.

“This finding correlates with other research which shows that smoking is a growing problem in young women. This is clearly an area where prevention efforts are needed,” she added.

“At present there are not enough global scientific reports focused on the problem of coronary heart disease in young populations, particularly in women,” Szwed said.

More research is needed to improve public health efforts to fight heart disease in this age group, Szwed concluded.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about women and heart disease.

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More Men With Breast Cancer Having Second Breast Removed

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — There has been sharp rise in the number of American men with cancer in one breast who have surgery to remove their cancer-free breast, a new study said.

The study authors said this is the first research to identify this trend in men, which has been occurring in American women for the past two decades.

“The increase in the rate of this costly, serious procedure with no evidence of survival benefit comes, paradoxically, at a time of greater emphasis on quality and value in cancer care,” said study leader Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, vice president of surveillance and health services research at the American Cancer Society.

The study included more than 6,300 men who had surgery for cancer in one breast. Their surgeries occurred between 2004 and 2011. The percentage of men who also had their cancer-free breast removed rose from 3 percent in 2004 to 5.6 percent in 2011, the study found.

Those mostly likely to have their cancer-free breast removed were younger, white and privately insured, the study said.

Findings were published online Sept. 2 in the journal JAMA Surgery.

“Health care providers should be aware that the increase we’ve seen in removal of the unaffected breast is not limited to women, and doctors should carefully discuss with their male patients the benefits, harms and costs of this surgery to help patients make informed decisions about their treatments,” Jemal said in a journal news release.

Men account for only about 1 percent of breast cancer patients in the United States.

The percentage of women with invasive breast cancer in one breast who have their cancer-free breast removed rose from 2 percent in 1998 to 11 percent in 2011. This, despite the risk of complications and a lack of evidence that it improves the chances of survival, according to background information from the study.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about male breast cancer.

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More Americans Getting Knees Replaced, And at Younger Ages

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Aging baby boomers are getting bum knees replaced at a greater rate, and at a younger age, than ever before, a new U.S. study confirms.

The data, from the National Hospital Discharge Survey, shows that between 2000 and 2010, more than 5.2 million total knee replacements were performed in the United States. By 2010, the operation had become the leading inpatient surgery performed on adults aged 45 and over.

The rate at which middle-aged and older Americans got their knees replaced almost doubled over the years covered by the study, for men and women, the researchers found.

People aren’t putting off the procedure for as long, either. In 2000, the average knee replacement patient was about 69 years old, but by 2010 that age had dropped to just over 66, the findings showed.

One expert said there’s been a change in doctors’ and patients’ attitudes toward the timing of knee replacement.

“In the past, the trend amongst orthopedic surgeons was to delay performing a joint replacement on a patient until a person was so hindered by their joint pain that they were nearly incapacitated in their activities of daily living,” said Dr. Neil Roth, an orthopedic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

However, “that philosophy has evolved,” he said, so that nowadays surgeons “perform joint replacements sooner, to prevent physical deterioration and deconditioning, and to try to maintain activity levels.”

The new study was led by Sonja Williams of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and published in the September issue of the NCHS Data Brief.

Looking over the data, her team also noted a gender gap in knee replacement rates, with women significantly more likely to get a new knee compared to men. In 2010, about 65 of every 10,000 women aged 45 or older got a knee replacement, the research showed, compared to about 45 of every 10,000 men of similar age.

Why is the operation becoming more popular for both genders? According to Roth, aging boomers are demanding more mobility as they age.

“People want to remain active longer, well into their 8th and 9th decades of life, and painful joints are not conducive to remaining active,” he said.

Joint replacements are getting better, too, he added.

“Technologically, the longevity of knee and hip implants has also improved, lasting sometimes up to 15 years or longer,” Roth said. “While that still may necessitate revision surgery for those patients in the younger age groups, 45 to 64, it may not require two revision surgeries.”

Also, “the surgeries are more sophisticated now,” Roth said, “especially with the use of [surgical] navigational systems, as well as custom-made knee and hip replacements.”

The bottom line, he said, is that “all of these factors have led to an increased utilization of joint replacements for those needing them at an earlier age and has put aside the mantra of ‘waiting until you can’t take it any longer.'”

Roth stressed that these procedures remain invasive and complex, are not without risk, and shouldn’t be taken lightly. “Joint replacement surgery is still a major surgical procedure with significant risks, such as blood clots, infection and loss of motion,” he said.

Dr. Eric Grossman is co-director of joint replacement surgery at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y. He agreed that the rise in joint replacement has largely been based on patient demand.

“Patients today are unyielding in their desire to continue to be active and maintain a physically vivacious life,” Grossman said. “For patients with severe, debilitating arthritis, a total knee replacement can reliably achieve significant improvements in a patient’s pain and functional level, including returning to walking, cycling, tennis, golf, and skiing among other activities.”

And there’s been one other improvement boosting uptake of the operation, he added.

“Hospital lengths of stay continue to decline as refinement of the rehabilitation is also improved,” Grossman said. “Patients used to be hospitalized for weeks. In some cases today the surgery is being done on an ambulatory basis, but most commonly patients stay in the hospital for just one to three nights.”

More information

Find out more about knee replacement at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

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Lipliners You Can Use With Any Lipstick

Whether or not you’re into over-lining your lips à la Kylie Jenner, the right lip liner is a necessity. But, because we have so many lipsticks, it’s impossible to purchase a matching lip liner for each shade. That is, unless you have your own glam room like a Kardashian.

Enter: Nude and clear lip liners. These babies will eliminate bleeding and prolong the wear of your color—and theyalways match. Just like your imaginary childhood best friend, but REAL. Too far? OK. All you need to do is trace around your lip line before you apply your preferred shade. Or, you can apply all over your pout as a base to make sure it lasts all day… and night.

1. Chantecaille Lip Definer Pencil in Natural, $24; barneys.com

2. Sisley Paris Perfect Lipliner #1 in Nude, $57; barneys.com

3. Lipstick Queen Invisible Lip Liner, $18; netaporter.com

4. Becca Nude Liner Plump & Define Lip Pencil, $23; sephora.com

5. The Body Shop Lip Liner in Nude, $10.50; thebodyshop.com

6. e.l.f. Studio Lip Lock Pencil, $3; eyeslipsface.com

7. Merle Norman Clear Lip Pencil, $14; merlenorman.com

8. Sephora Collection Universal Lip Liner, $10; sephora.com

9. Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil in Ozone, $20; sephora.com

10. Too Faced Perfect Lips Lip Liner in Perfect Nude, $17; ulta.com

This article originally appeared on MIMIchatter.com.

MIMI Chatter is an endless stream of beauty content. We bring together the must-knows and the how-tos from your favorite sites, beauty influencers, our editors, and YOU.

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