Mature Life Features

. . . to a car show

by our next-door neighbors at Sky Ridge

beginning at 4 p.m. Cinco de Mayo (Friday).

+ + +

And don’t forget our weekly indoor bocce at 11 a.m.

in the 2nd floor multi-purpose room.

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Men “Bulletproof”

Until First Heart Attack

A major health concern in the fact that many men in their 50s and older haven’t seen a doctor in years. With the aging of the baby boomers, more than 150,000 men a month are turning 50 from coast to coast.

Men also are not conditioned, as women are, to have annual checkups. This means a large segment of the population doesn’t know about or use the health-care system. Things begin to change after about age 45 because of three critical ailments that begin to emerge – joint deterioration, cancer, and the number-one killer around the world – heart disease.

A handful of simple steps has been developed by medical experts to help solve what has become a major health-care problem: men in their late 40s and older who do not visit doctors regularly.

The first move is to have an annual physical exam to screen for general problems, such as stress and anxiety. Then each of the following steps should be taken each year (they can be scheduled with your annual physical): check blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar or glucose level, blood analysis for such disorders a kidney and liver disease and urine analysis, and a stool test for blood.

Men should undergo a prostate-wall and prostate-specific antigen test annually. They also should have at least one thyroid screening and periodic electrocardiograms to check for heart abnormalities after they turn 50. They also should have their lower bowel viewed with a flexible camera to check for polyps that are precursors to cancer.