seniors

Sleep now, break your bones later

You know how some nursing homes are. Lights out means LIGHTS OUT, even if that means mixing sleeping pills into the punch to make it happen. Snoozing seniors are much easier to care for -- and when they're easier to care for, they're CHEAPER to care for.

But if you're laid up in one of these joints, you might want to make a break for it now -- before something else breaks first.

Common sleep meds such as Ambien, Lunesta, and Sonata can increase your risk of cracking your hip like a twig, leading the odds ratio of having a hip fracture among seniors in care facilities to increase to 1.9, according to a new analysis of more than 1 million Medicare patients.

That's for new users of the meds. Take them for a while and the increase falls until it's "only" 70 percent overall -- but that's still about 70 percent higher than it should be.

A fractured hip isn't just a serious injury for seniors. It's a world of pain followed by limited mobility and even permanent disability -- and seniors who suffer those bad breaks face a higher risk of death in the months that follow.

But you don't have to be in a nursing home to want to pass on sleep meds, because bone breaks are nothing compared to some of the other risks that come with these drugs. In one study the risk of death was a staggering 5 times higher for those taking the most sleeping pills when compared to those who hadn't popped any of the pills.

I know for some of you it may be tempting to go ahead and take that risk anyway. There aren't many feelings in the world worse than sleepless night after sleepless night after sleepless night.

But you can get the rest without the risk. The fact is there are simple, all-natural solutions that could have you sleeping like a baby in no time. Click here to learn more about the key to calm, relaxing sleep, night after night.

But let me get back to your bones right now -- because there's another common drug that can crack ‘em like a wishbone, and it's one that's becoming increasingly popular.

Keep reading!

Losing sleep over dementia

Sleepy all day? Maybe this will wake you up: Nodding off during the day could be a warning sign of dementia.

Yeah, I knew that would get your attention.

Don't go back to sleep if you've got a memory like an elephant, because you're at risk, too: A new study of 15,000 people over the age of 50 finds seniors who are tired all day have the highest risk of a dementia diagnosis within two years -- and that's true even if they show no sign of memory problems.

And that's not the only alarm for sleepy seniors -- because another new study shows how daytime drowsiness can wipe your brain clean.

In a series of brain scans on 84 seniors, researchers found that the volunteers who tended to nod off during the day weren't just missing out on real-world activity.

They were missing activity in key regions of the brain -- including the parts of the mind that normally stay active even when our bodies are at rest.

How's that for scary?

Now, I don't want anyone to hit the panic button instead of the snooze button. OF COURSE it's OK to take a nap every now and then.

Heck, in some countries it's even part of the culture.

But if you're conking out in the middle of something other than the daytime soaps, then there's definitely something wrong -- and you can't afford to wait for your memory to go before you take the risk seriously.

By that point, you'll be wearing a paper bib and eating strained peas in a nursing home.

So take action instead -- starting with the all-natural dementia-fighter that's being touted as the next great "wonder drug."

But it's not a drug at all. It's simple... safe... and widely available.

Douglass Report readers got the full scoop in the September issue of my newsletter. If you're not a subscriber, sign up here and you'll get complete access to what I believe to be nature's best dementia fighter in my online archives -- and you'll be the first to know about the NEXT big breakthrough.