Do You Fall Asleep During The Day But Deny You Have A Sleep Disorder? I Did And It Almost Killed Me!

Hello, my name is Steve and I have sleep apnea.

My wife diagnosed this more than five years ago, but I was in denial. The only reason I’m alive today is because my doctor died and my wife is VERY persistant.

What you say? – Alive because my doctor died? – How does that work?

Well, it goes like this: I’ve been mostly healthy all my life – the kind of guy who eats anything, does whatever I want, and avoids the doctor like the plague. My family doctor also treated my parents and knew the whole family health history. That means he knew that I’m never sick, so every few years I’d show up to prove I’m still alive. We had this GREAT arrangement, where he’d leave me alone until I asked for help.

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Chronic Insomnia, Stress, Depression, Sleep Apnea: Why Has Getting a Great Night’s Sleep Become an Elusive Dream for Baby Boomers? And What Can You Do to Help Yourself?

Remember how much you played when you were a kid? Likely you had so much energy you played outside after school, and maybe even headed outdoors again after dinner; coming in only after your parents repeatedly hollered for you to come home. And didn’t they usually have to holler at least three times — because you pretended not to hear them?

Perhaps your favorite games were: “Tag,” “Red Rover,” “Kick the Can,” “Hide and Seek.” Or maybe kickball or softball in someone’s back yard. Then again, maybe you played that slightly more strategic and mentally challenging game, “Mother, May I?”

No matter what games you preferred, chances are:

• Once you got home, you fell asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow, totally spent.
• When you woke up in the morning you were alert, refreshed, and ready to get right back into it.
• Nobody gave any thought to having problems with sleep.

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Baby Boomers Worry: Is It Possible to Keep an Attitude of Gratitude Amidst Hurricanes, Bank Failures, Foreclosures, Rising Unemployment, Lying Politicians and a Plunging Dow?

As you experience the media these days you are no doubt overwhelmed with stories of doom, gloom, horror and despair.

As one normally upbeat and independent Boomer woman recently observed, chain-smoking nervously: “I’m worried. All I have to my name is my home, my retirement fund and social security. If things keep going the way they are, I’ll have to take in a roommate, or marry my boyfriend, just to survive.”

With comments like these being expressed daily, it’s no wonder the Pew Research Center reported that America’s Baby Boomers “are in a collective funk.”

The Pew Report Went on to Note That Boomers See Trouble Ahead and Less Progress Over Time…

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Bucket List Redux: Is Starting Your Personal Dream List Frustrating You? Or Maybe You’ve Got the List, But You Can’t Figure Out How to “Make It Happen?”

Clearly the desire to create a list of things you want to experience before you die; a “dream” – or “bucket” – list is popular with Baby Boomers. It’s also exciting many of you who are a bit older…

After our recent post about making a “Bucket List,” one of our readers shared his story of his lifelong dream of sailing a boat around the Eastern half of the United States. He said he’d envisioned the trip this way:

• He’d start in the Midwest, sailing from the Upper Mississippi River down to New Orleans
• Then he’d sail out into the Gulf, around Florida via the Intercoastal Waterway
• Next lap would be up the Atlantic Coast, into the Chesapeake Bay
• Continue west into New York, down the Erie Canal
• Onward through the Canadian Heritage Canals and through the Great Lakes
• Finally he would complete the circle, sailing back to the Mississippi River

Amazingly, He Actually Completed His Dream Trip This Summer, At the Age of 78. Along the Way, He Found Out That:

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Real Boomer Women Not Offended By Media Uproar Over “Putting Lipstick on a Pig.” But Isn’t It True You’d Rather Spend Your Time “Wearing” Lipstick and Riding Your “Hog?”

OK, You Asked to Get to the Bottom of This Latest Campaign Silliness So You Can Move On. Here You Go:

According to “Media Matters for Media,” a Web-based, not-for-profit research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media, here’s what really brought about the US presidential campaign’s latest dither, the outrageous ”putting lipstick on a pig” brouhaha:

First “The Boston Globe reported that former acting Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift “led the Republican charge” that Sen. Barack Obama’s “lipstick” comment regarding Sen. John McCain’s policies was ‘an echo of [Gov. Sarah] Palin’s joke during her convention speech.’

“But Swift did more than charge that Obama’s statement was “an echo” of Palin’s joke; she actually accused Obama of calling Palin a pig.

She “directed media traffic” by opining that, ”It was a comment that obviously people in the audience and the press interpreted to be directed at Governor Palin. I interpreted it that way. I found it offensive.”

“Then the next day, during an interview with MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell, Swift backtracked from that accusation.

Unfortunatley for you who don’t have time to waste on trivialities, “The Globe reported neither the direct accusation nor the backtrack.” And the story grew huge, as the campaign and the media once again attempted to create inflammatory news rather than report truth.

In the interest of truth: Swift is a national member of the McCain campaign’s recently announced “Palin Truth Squad” – set up to counter attacks on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

No wonder the Public Relations Society of America issued a media advisory, calling on both the McCain and Obama campaigns to commit to the highest standards of ethical practice in every facet of their campaign communications.

It was sort of like watching an episode of Seinfeld, much ado about “nothing”…  Except that the McCain machine engineered the media,  to make you think you were watching breaking news instead of wasting your time over “nothing.” Don’t you hate finding out you’ve been manipulated?

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Do You Have a “Bucket List?” You Know, A List of Things You Want to Do Before You Die?

The concept of a bucket list was popularized by the recent buddy flick of the same name, in which two terminally ill middle-aged men, one a corporate mogul, the other a mechanic (marvelously played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) bust out of a cancer ward in order to experience life to the fullest before they die.

If you’ve seen the film, you know the two meet while sharing a hospital room, and don’t initially hit it off, which adds to the movie’s comedy.

Their adventure begins when Freeman, the “mechanic,” tells Nicholson, the “mogul,” about a challenge his college philosophy professor had set forth: to make a list of the top things you’d like to accomplish before you die – and actually experience them.

Before We Know It, They Are:

• Hitting the tables in Monte Carlo
• Climbing the pyramids
• Riding Harleys on the Great Wall of China
• Stalking wild animals on an African safari
• Downing obscene amounts of caviar, and
• Tearing up the road in supercharged cars

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Newly Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes: Wondering if You’ll Ever Be Able to Enjoy Treats Like Chocolate, Ice Cream, or Granola Again?

If you’re like most Baby Boomers who’ve suddenly found themselves with newly-acquired Type 2 diabetes, you were probably totally shocked when routine blood work during your annual check-up revealed your blood glucose numbers were “out of whack.” (Sorry, Highly Technical Term)

It Seems Baby Boomers Are More Likely to Develop Type 2 Diabetes

The typical Type 2 Diabetic profile includes:

• Over 40
• Sedentary and overweight, especially with excess weight around the middle (“Apple” body type)
• Hispanic, Black, Native American, or Asian background

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The Shocking Truth About Hip Hop Dancing: Who Knew It’s Actually A Hellaciously Fun, Heart-Healthy Workout That Also Benefits Your Brain?

If you’re like many Baby Boomers, you’re always planning to get to the gym “next week” when you life won’t be quite so busy. (Yeah, right.) You probably already know that what you really need to do is to find an exercise program that is so much fun you can’t wait to get back to it. (And of course, it’d be even better if you could do it wherever you find yourself – at home, at work or on the road – without having to buy any expensive equipment). Otherwise, with your “busy-busy-busy” lifestyle, fitting in a trip to the gym falls to the bottom of your to-do list…

Maybe the Beijing Olympics Inspired You a Bit?

No doubt watching 42-year old Dara Torres anchor the U.S. women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay to a silver medal finish encouraged you to find time to get back into a fitness routine. Dara’s certainly a testament to dedication, passion and willpower. Doubtless she motivated millions of Boomers who’ve slipped away from the health benefits of a regular exercise routine.  But for fitness-challenged Boomers, Dara may not have been the most inspirational presence at the recent Beijing Olympics. Nor were the 20 other older Olympians – motivational as they were — who represented other sports, including:

• John Dane, a 58 year old sailor, whose pursuit for an Olympic berth began 40 years ago in 1968. Dane has teamed with his son-in-law to make the team in the Star event.
• Libby Callahan, 56 year old pistol shooter and retired Washington, DC police officer, who competed in her fourth Games.
• Hiroshi Hoketsu, Beijing’s oldest Olympian at 67, who competed on the Japanese equestrian team.

No, For Pure Fitness Inspiration, Nothing Could Possibly Beat Beijing’s “Hip Hop Grannies” – Who Weren’t Even IOC-Sanctioned Olympians!

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Powerful Free Visualization Tool: Who Else Wants To Know How To Successfully Harness the Law of Attraction?

Remember When You Were A Kid: Everything Seemed Possible and You Believed That When You Grew Up, You Would Be Able to Achieve Anything You Wanted? Well, It’s Not Too Late…

In the last year, there’s been a lot of talk about a movie called “The Secret,” and how it trains you to use the Law of Attraction to achieve your goals. If you’ve heard much about the “LOA,” you know it involves using visualization techniques to cause a desired result to “manifest” itself.  Maybe you’ve thought about giving visualizion a try, just to see what all the hype was about?  Perhaps you’ve even tried it. If it worked, likely you’re a convert; but if it didn’t work, you probably decided it was all sort of ”airy fairy” stuff.  Well, Ryan Higgins from Australia was once in your shoes, but no more. Here’s how he tells it:

• “I was packing boxes in a factory to make my living. I had to get up at 4 a.m. every morning to drive an hour to a job I hated.”
• “I felt like a prisoner, chained to that horrible job every day for seven years. I was always there, because I couldn’t afford even a few days off.”
• “No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to earn more than just enough to scrape by.
• Every time I paid a bill or bought groceries, I was sweating it out, afraid my credit card would be declined.
• I wanted so much more, but wishing didn’t pay the bills.”

No shirker, Ryan kept working trying to get to a place where he enjoyed life and had the chance to live the life of his dreams:

Perhaps, like Ryan, you’ve found visualization too confusing or too difficult to do.  Or, in a sort of a self-fulfilling cycle, perhaps you’ve even let a challenge with implementing visualization further impede your visualization process because you quit believing the process will work — and finally ended up thinking, “why bother?” As Ryan explains it: Read more

Are You Still Under the Impression That You Have to be a “Former Hippie” to Love the Delicious and Highly Nutritious Benefits of Homemade Granola?

Were you a love bead wearing fan of natural foods in your youth? Not me. Though I attended college in the early 70s, I doubt anyone who knew me then would have legitimately called me a “hippie.”

OK, I studied fashion design as an undergrad, so I had the wardrobe down: tie-dyed tops, bellbottoms and platform sandals. But this was more for comfort (and added height) than for political statement.  No, I cannot claim to be a former hippie.  But I did graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, so I definitely knew a few.

Nevertheless, I began my own “back to nature, back to the land” movement in my mid-twenties, when my (now 30-year old) first child was born.

That Was When I Entered What I Now Refer to As My “Earth Mother” Period.

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