Joan’s Boomer Blog

If you have asthma, Chronic bronchitis or emphysema, or COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) it’s very important to work with your doctor to manage your treatment. However, practicing yoga breathing techniques can improve the condition of your lungs and the quality of your life, no matter what your age, and you don’t have to do yoga to benefit from these exercises.

Deep breathing has benefits for everyone, not just those who suffer from lung conditions. Most of us breath shallowly and one of the best relaxation techniques you can do is to take several deep, slow breaths.In fact, deep breathing can even help speed up your metabolism and help you lose weight.

I’ve been doing yoga consistently for about 3 years and slow, deep breathing, done in conjunction with flowing body movements has made my lungs and joints feel 100% better than they used to. About three months ago, I started studying tai chi which also emphasizes deep breathing which corresponds to body movements. Having become more conscious of my breath, I find that I’m breathing deeper much more often throughout my day.

Both yoga and tai chi are so relaxing that I’m sorry I didn’t take them up many years ago!

If you don’t want to take a yoga class, or don’t have time, here are some helpful tools to teach you yoga deep breathing techniques. It won’t take long to improve your lung health, and feel more relaxed and energized.

Breathe - Guided Yoga and Breathing Exercises To Relax and Revive Rodney Yee is a favorite of mine and I have several of his Yoga Cds. His voice is relaxing and he takes you through various breathing exercises for health and relaxation. This one also includes some simple relaxation yoga poses.

Functional Fitness for COPD and Asthma - an on demand rental from Amazon which you can use for 7 days for just $1.99. If you decide you like the exercises in the video, you can also purchase it. These exercises require no special equipment and can help reduce the symptoms of asthma and COPD, plus there is some explanation of these conditions.

Yoga Breathing - Guided Meditations for Beginners. Don’t be put off by the word meditation in the title. Meditation focuses on breath and breath is what you need to improve if you have COPD or Emphysema. This is an MP3 download and you can listen to samples and then download the entire MP3 for $4.95 or individual breathing meditations for 99 cents each.

Here’s one I just started using on the basis of a recommendation in Yoga Journal: The Practice of Pranayama: An In-Depth Guide to the Yoga of Breath. I have been looking for a guide that would help me learn the art of yogic breathing and this 7 CD set is a complete program. If you have any type of lung or breathing problems, you don’t have to do yoga to benefit from this practice.

Pranayama is a Sanskrit word with two parts. Prana, meaning life force or breath, and yama, meaning to suspend or to control. Pranayama is control of breath and this 8 hour, 155 track CD breathing program, Richard Rosen says, (from Yoga Journal) will help “your breath will smooth and lengthen, your mind will become calm and clear….and you will gradually fine-tune the dial of your consciousness.”

Read more about the benefits of deep breathing and some simple breathing exercises.

Natural Remedies for COPD, Emphysema and Asthma

Read more about COPD on WebMd

You wouldn’t think a cancer diagnosis or health crisis could ever be a good thing. Yet, how often do you read about people who learn they have a serious health problem and totally change their lives for the better, realizing for the first time that they may have had the wrong priorities in life? They suddenly want to spend more time with their loved ones, they want to exercise more, eat a better diet and pay more attention to their overall health. Many people, when faced with a potentially fatal health issue start stress reduction activities like meditation, tai chi or yoga.

Just yesterday, I read a story in the newspaper about a woman who worked 80 hours a week as CEO of a company only to be halted in her tracks 10 years ago by breast cancer. This diagnosis caused her to totally change the way she lived and she felt for the past 10 years she’s lived more fully than she did before, focusing on health, diet, exercise and family, which she credits with helping her be cancer free until recently when she was diagnosed with bone cancer.

Granted these healthy activities didn’t keep her cancer free forever, but she did live a better quality of life and perhaps bought herself 10 good years and tools to help her beat cancer again. Research shows that for those with breast and colon cancer, especially, diet and exercise can extend being cancer free for many more years than if a person makes no changes at all.

It makes you wonder if we really need such a devastating diagnosis to force us to focus on better health and make family and relationships a more central part of our lives. There is an old saying that when someone is on their death bed, they don’t usually say they wished they’d spent more time at the office!

Our retirement years are often the years when serious illness can strike but, hopefully, these are also years when we have more time for healthy living. We can take up cooking as a hobby, for instance, focusing on healthy veggie recipes. We can take that daily walk we’ve always promised ourselves we would start, take a class at the local Y or start doing yoga or meditation to increase our immunity and decrease stress.

In his book Anticancer, A New Way of Life, Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, describes how he was stricken with brain cancer and beat it, only to have it return 15 years later. With his first diagnosis, he made no changes at all in the way he lived, but after the cancer’s return, Servan-Schreiber started researching healthy living alternatives so he could stay cancer free.

He does not advocate these lifestyle choices instead of a doctor’s treatment and advice but anyone can benefit from eating anticancer foods, learning to have an anticancer mind set and practicing mind/body techniques like yoga and meditation.

Most experts agree, I think, that if more people lived an anti-cancer way of life, there would be, not only less cancer, but less illness overall. The younger we begin, of course, the better off we are in terms of health but better late than never.

I have read that about 97% of how well we age is due to our lifestyle choices. Neglect of our health is probably one of the causes of most illness, and sometimes, in my opinion, illness and or a health crisis is a wake up call that we need to do things differently in our lives. But why must we wait for something serious to force us to take care of ourselves?

I have a superstition that if I take care of myself, reduce stress, practice yoga and meditation to stay in touch with my spiritual side and make family and relationships a big focus in my life, then I’ll never need that wake up call.

You might say you don’t have time for all this healthy living but do you have time to cope with a devastating illness?

It may not keep me from actually getting cancer or having a health crisis but if that does happen, then I will have better tools to cope with the situation.

I highly recommend AntiCancer A New Way of Life to anyone who wants to know how to live a cancer free lifestyle. This book was rated 5 stars by 186 people on Amazon.

Read more relaxation tips for better health.

About a month ago, my husband and I started taking a Tai Chi class for beginners. For baby boomers Tai Chi is the perfect form of exercise because it builds muscles, keeps joints flexible, reduces stress, helps you sleep soundly at night and improves balance - all through breathing and a series of slow, smooth flowing movements that are easy on your body.

Tai chi is an ancient art, often described as meditation in motion. The focus is on practicing the precise movements which flow one into another without pause, in coordination with the breath. Besides these postures or forms, there are also many exercises to help move the chi, or life force energy, throughout your body, creating good physical and mental health.

I’ve always wanted to try tai chi and our first series of classes was in the Qigong, which, I think is less precise in the movements than other forms of Tai Chi. We learned some wonderful meditations in this class too, which focus on clearing chakras, or energy centers in the body, and bringing chi to the various organs of the body.

I found another Tai chi class for beginners at the local Y where I also take yoga. This is Tai Chi in the Yang style which is extremely precise and really makes you feel like a klutz at first. I can do the arm movements and the foot movements pretty well but do them at the same time will take some practice!

What I’ve found in learning tai chi is that this is a journey which has no ending. Many spend months on just one movement to perfect it. One of the important benefits of Tai Chi is that besides being a physical journey, it’s also a spiritual journey and you learn some surprising things about yourself along the way.

If you haven’t tried Tai Chi, or you are a beginner, you may see it being performed and think “How could Tai Chi really be good exercise?” Let me tell you, you definitely feel it in every muscle but the body moves as one piece so there is never strain put on any one muscle or joint. Along the way, you also focus on deep breathing.

After a few classes, you find you’re standing straighter, breathing deeper, feeling stronger and more energetic. I’ve been sleeping better than I have in years.

Besides taking a Tai Chi class for beginners, you can also learn the basics of Tai Chi and receive the benefits from Tai Chi DVD’s. Here are some that we’ve collected and use daily:

Qigong Beginning Practice -A 2 cd set featuring instructors Francesco and Daisy Lee-Garripoli. One cd is a PBS special on Francesco’s journey to China and his discovery of the QiGong exercises in his video. Done with voice over before a beautiful lake, the exercises are easy to follow and perform. You definitely feel the benefits of this Qugong work out. We’ve been doing this one twice a week but you could certainly do it daily for more benefits.

We have two Tai Chi dvd’s by David Dorian Ross:

A.M. and P.M. T’ai Chi With David-Dorian Ross and CJ McPhee

T’ai Chi Beginning Practice

David Dorian Ross is a wonderful instructor and between these two Dvd’s we have several practices for daily use. The AM/PM dvd also has a great option for morning when your body needs waking up, and evening, when you need calming for good sleep.

We don’t yet own Energy Boost for Seniors With Chi but it’s next on our shopping list.

One thing about Tai Chi for beginners is that your practice becomes about perfecting the moves and making them second nature so you never really get tired of any one dvd or workout.

Tai Chi is one form of exercise that you could do well into your elder years.

Read more about how lack of sleep can make you obese and forgetful!

Read more about the benefits of Tai Chi for stress management.

They Can’t Tax Voluntary Simplicity - Yet!

What is Voluntary Simplicity and How Can it Help You Avoid the Coming Economic Crisis?

Voluntary simplicity has a different meaning to each person who practices it. In a nutshell, voluntary simplicity goes against the commercial culture of America which equates material possessions with happiness and fulfillment. Advocates find fulfillment in saving money, downsizing, living simply and finding ways to do for themselves.

Many who embrace voluntary simplicity live debt free, clip coupons, cook from scratch, live closer to nature and try their hand at pass times like gardening and sewing or raising their own chickens.

Maybe this isn’t you but each of us can simplify our lives and focus on saving money, rather than making money. They can’t tax you for saving $20 with grocery store coupons but that is $20 you still have in your pocket.

Is Economic Disaster and Double Dip Recession Coming?

Life as we’ve all gotten used to it may soon end. For the past 20 years, the economy has been booming mostly, real estate prices shot up, the stock market was going great guns. Then it all fell apart. My 82 year old mother recently told me when she hears the term “new normal” in relation to the high unemployment, volitile stock market and near depression-like economy, she can’t help but think that the years of the booming economy were the abnormal years.

Most of the years of my mother’s life, she knew depression, war, pinching pennies. I grew up learning thrift and tried to teach my kids the same thing, but young people really have no clue about living through a real depression.

Are you worried about what the looming economic crisis will mean for you? Are you worried about the huge tax hike coming in 2011 to pay for the exploding national debt and President Obama’s health care plan. Perhaps you have one of those “Cadillac” insurance plans, where your companies’ contribution will now be taxed as income. Dick Morris says America is facing the same financial disaster that is now occurring in Greece.

President Obama campaigned on the promise of tax cuts for those earning less than $250,000 (really all Congress would have to do is keep President Bush’s tax cuts in place - which saved our family $2,000 in taxes each year.) Yet, on June 22, 2011, House Majority Leader, Rep Steny Hoyer, acknowledged that it would be difficult to reduce long-term deficits without breaking President Obama’s pledge to protect families earning less than $250,000 a year. (See New York Times article)

My husband wants to retire. He has a military pension and a good job, which already puts us in a tax above $88,000. Anyone earning over $88,000 will be taxed to pay for the health care of those who cannot afford it. I am trying to earn extra income to supplement our retirement but unfortunately, the more I make, the more taxes we will pay.

So what is our plan? How will we protect ourselves from economic collapse? I’ve decided that I can limit my hours of working on my multiple streams of income (which is pretty much on autopilot now) and focus on pinching pennies.

• I search coupon websites and grocery ads for the best deals, buying only what we need and what is on sale.
• I rejoined our organic food co-op to get fresh organic produce for our green smoothies.
• I planted tomato plants in pots for the first time since we moved to Texas. We are currently buying land where we can grow a bigger garden.
• I dusted off my dehydrater so I can preserve food and not waste anything.
• I bought a sprouter to I can grow fresh sprouts for our smoothies. You can grow tons of sprouts for pennies, providing fresh greens for your diet.
• I am making my own kefir with kefir starter instead of buying sugar-laden and expensive yogurt.
• My husband and I are putting major purchases on hold and going on a spending fast, after reading Jeff Yeager’s Guide to Cheapskate Living (a great book with lots of voluntary simplicity tips and advice)
• We’re buying an RV to put on the land and if we need to live in it for a year or two to save money, we can do that.

We are in the process of purchasing 5 acres of land where we can have a huge garden, raise chickens and build an energy efficient house with wind and solar power. (President Obama admitted that his cap and trade bill will cause electricity prices to skyrocket and trying to break our dependence on oil could cause gas prices to go to $7 a gallon.)

All is not gloom and doom, whether the nation experiences economic disaster or not. What each person must do is be ready to live in the worst of conditions and become more self-sufficient. Try saving, not spending money. Try saving instead of increasing your income. Give voluntary simplicity a try and you will have the satisfaction of knowing you can face whatever happens.

One thing our government officials have not considered is what will happen when more and more people are willing to earn less, do more for themselves and pay less taxes? They’ve made it the sensible solution but how will the government machine survive once they’ve destroyed our economy?

Resources:

Making your own kefir is easier than you think.

Sprouting seeds at Home

Raising Chickens in Your own back yard.

Check out the many coupons and money saving articles on this blog as well.

Learn more about Living Simply

Joan’s Boomer Blog - Joining the Green Smoothie Revolution

Recently my husband and I joined the Green Smoothie Revolution and I wanted to blog about how Green Smoothies can help baby boomers. Many people I’ve met who are passionate about Green Smoothies are young mothers who want to improve their family’s nutrition. Boomers and seniors like me are concerned with healthy aging - maintaining optimal health as we get older. We are experiencing health issues such as arthritis, high cholesterol and maybe diabetes.Maybe we don’t maintain our weight as easily as we used to.

As we age, our bodies don’t take in and use nutrients this they did, leaving us vulnerable to a lowered immune system and results of aging. Can green smoothies help us aging boomers get more out of life?

Why Drink Green Smoothies?

What is your normal daily diet? Do you eat processed foods (foods that come in a package and are full of unpronounceable ingredients?) Do you eat lots of cooked foods, with maybe a small salad for dinner to get your “greens?” Do you have health issues?

Believe me, the health issues are intimately tied to you daily diet. Green smoothies can offer whole, raw veggies like broccoli, kale, Swiss Chard, and mustard greens. You can even throw beet and carrot greens in to your green smoothie recipe so you waste less food. AND these foods are uncooked which is important because cooking often destroys many of the nutrients in our veggies.

Since the foods are blended, the super nutrition is more readily available to your body to increase energy, boost your immune system, help you lose weight and be healthier. Green Smoothies are quick and convenient too, once you get your foods and a powerful blender. They keep for up to 48 hours in the frig so you can make them ahead of time.

Since I decided to start making Green Smoothies for my husband and me, I wanted to blog about the experience, offering recipes and tips to get you started and to let you know what Green Smoothies can do for healthy aging.

Many of my friends already are green smoothie converts. They’ve told me they experience:

• more energy
• improved digestion, including more regular bowel movements and soft stools
• fewer cravings for sugar and processed foods
• improved, more stable moods
• weight loss - an average of over 17lbs!
• increased desire to exercise (couldn’t we all use that!)

Others report less pain from arthritis, improved sex drive, less stress, shinier hair, stronger fingernails and smoother, clearer skin tone. All this after only 30 days on green smoothies!

How Much Green Smoothie Do You Need to Drink?

Optimum consumption is about one quart a day, four or more days per week but you can start with less.

Green smoothies are a lifestyle change. I’m going to start growing sprouts, making kefir, growing spinach and making lots of dietary changes. Check back in coming days to see how the green smoothie revolution is working out for this baby boomer.

Once I decided to embark on the Green Smoothie lifestyle, my next step was to research blenders. Green smoothies do require more power than your average smoothie blender. I look at all of them, read reports and asked friends who are already making green smoothies. Find out tomorrow which blender met the challenge.

More Green Smoothie Information and Recipes

Add These AntiAging Foods to Your Daily Diet

As much as 90% of how well we age is related to lifestyle choices that we make every day. An AntiAging Diet can keep our minds and bodies functioning at peak capacity well into our senior years. Antiaging foods keep our muscles, joints and bones in good repair so we suffer less from arthritis and lack of balance. Antiaging foods keep our memory sharp and help ward off diseases like cancer and heart disease, which can be debilitating, if they don’t kill us, that is.

Here are some antiaging foods that you can add to your daily diet. You’ll notice the difference in the way you feel very quickly.

1.  Water - Sounds strange doesn’t it? That water is an important antiaging diet ingredient? Water keeps toxins and cancer causing waste materials flushed from your body. Joints which are well hydrated function better too. Drink 6-8 glasses of water daily.

2.  Nuts - Nuts contain heart healthy omega3 fatty acids, protein and fiber. It doesn’t take many nuts either. Sprinkle walnuts or sliced almonds on your salad or cereal daily. Contrary to popular opinion, even thought nuts have fat, it is a source of good fats that actually help our heart and cholesterol levels.

3.  Ginger - Ginger is a great anti-inflammatory food and inflammation is believed to be the cause of many illnesses and diseases people get as they age, such as arthritis and heart disease. Ginger is good for the digestion and is a good cure for indigestion. It works better than taking antacids and other medications.

4.  Garlic - Garlic helps lower cholesterol and is also an anti-viral, anti-bacterial food. Eat fresh, crushed garlic when possible. If you’re coming down with a cold, crush some garlic, let it set a few minutes and then mix it with butter and put on toast. Don’t heat the garlic. This is my go-to remedy for colds and sore throats and it works every time.

5.  Cruciferous Vegetables are among the best anti-aging foods around. Brocolli, turnips, cauliflower, and cabbage also are anti-cancer foods. Slice up a few turnips into soup or sprinkle chopped cabbage into your salad or steamed veggies.

6.  Berries - Blueberries top the list of nutrient rich, antioxidant packed foods but all berries contain antioxidants. Keep bags of them in the freezer to use in cereal, smoothies or mix with yogurt as a dessert.

7.  Chia Seeds These seeds are so tiny that 1/4 teaspoon is considered a serving. Make Chia Gel for smoothies or sprinkle chia seeds into cereal, yogurt, stir fry or just about any food.

8.  Green Tea - contains lots of anti-cancer and anti-aging ingredients. Drink 4-5 cups per day. If you aren’t fond of green tea, try some flavors mixed with fruit. Black tea is a good substitute. It doesn’t have all the antiaging properties of green tea but it does contain lots of antioxidants. Add a slice of lemon as this boosts the power of green tea by about 20%.

If you’re on an anti-aging diet, skip the sugar and processed foods. Sugar causes many of the illnesses and diseases that go along with aging and processed foods contain chemicals which can cause cancer, obesity and other health issues.

Read more about anti-aging foods you can easily add to your daily diet.

Read More about Being Healthier with Superfoods

Joan’s Boomer Blog - Internet Radio Oldies

Oldies radio shows are disappearing from the airwaves but you can still find Internet radio oldies stations and listen free. Here two new online oldies radio stations I’ve recently discovered.

Alan’s Golden Oldies.

Alan Price is an experienced radio DJ and started his oldies website in 2005. His site streams oldies 24 hours a day and Alan also broadcasts live from 1 to 5 pm weekdays, bringing the audience classic tunes from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.

One thing I like about Alan’s choice of oldies is that there are many you don’t hear anywhere else these days.

Other oldies tidbits you can hear on Alan’s Golden Oldies include:

• Audio from old movie trailers at 330pm Monday through Friday
• Old radio shows like The Adventures of Superman, Amos and Andy or Gunsmoke.
• Promos from stars he’s interviewed over the years like Andy Williams
• Enjoy oldies on your cellphone or PDA

You can also visit Alan’s website to make a special oldies request and view his guest book. Alan’s guestbook includes photos of celebrities from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s with their autographs written to him. See Fabion, Dick Clark and Dick and Dee to name just a few.

I like to tune in to Alan’s Golden Oldies while I’m working. It makes terrific background music for writing a boomer blog!

Another new-to-me Internet radio oldies show is Beyond 50’s Radio, where host Daniel Davis offers interviews on topics of interest to baby boomers, plus a free Beyond 50’s newsletter which keeps you posted on upcoming programs of interest.

If you go to the website you can also listen to past episodes through the archives. Programs include diabetes and accelerated aging, Warren Buffet’s Successful Management Techniques, Map and Plan your Volunteer Vacation and other topics of interest to baby boomers.

More Links to Internet Radio Oldies

Healthy Drinks - Delicious Tea Recipes

The Health Benefits of Green Tea are very well known, but you can also get health benefits from Black tea as well. (Read more about the health benefits of Green Tea here.) For baby boomers interested in health, drinking as little as 3-4 cups of tea daily can reduce the risk of strokes, boost metabolism, help protect you from cancer and much more.

The benefits of green tea include healthy aging, especially if you replace more sugary drinks like soda, with tea.

Some people don’t care much for the taste of green tea so in these recipes, you can substitute black tea also. However, give green tea a try. With these delicious additions to your cup of hot tea or iced tea, you won’t even notice it’s good for you too!

Ginger Orange Tea

Ginger is a great antioxidant, metabolism booster and stomach soother. It’s also great for colds. The tart taste of orange makes this a delightful summer drink recipe.

Ingredients

2 quarts of water

3 one inch pieces of fresh ginger root, sliced thin

1 Tbs honey

1 orange, sliced

Directions for Tea

Put water and ginger root into a medium sized sauce pan. Bring water to a boil, then turn to simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to stand and cool for another 30 minutes.

Add honey and orange one hour before serving.

Strain and serve over ice. You can also reheat and serve hot.

Mint Tea Recipe

Mint is energizing and refreshing and sprigs of fresh mint can be added to any tea you have sitting in the frig. To make mint tea, try this slow cooker recipe.

Ingredients

2 quarts hot water

honey or stevia to taste

8 tea bags (green or black)

2 drops mint extract

Directions

Put water and sweetener into crock pot. Add tea bags and mint extract and cook on low for 2 hours.

Makes 8 servings and can be served hot or over ice.

You can create variations of the above tea by adding other ingredients:

1 tsp almond extract or other flavor of extract you might prefer

2/3 cup lemon juice

1 orange sliced

1 cup cranberry or other fruit juice

1/2 tsp cinnamon (good for lowering cholesterol!)

Other tasty tea recipes, which would make deliciously refreshing drinks for your next get-together

Discover Cooking with Green Tea for added health benefits and great taste too.

50 Hot and Cold Tea Recipes in Green Tea: 50 Hot Drinks, Cool Quenchers, and Sweet and Savory Treats

Read what Dr. Mercola has to say about the many benefits of drinking green tea.

Have Fun and Earn Prizes with SwagBucks!

Want to have some fun and win some prizes? Swagbucks is almost a phenomenon these days. Sign up is totally free and everything you do helps you to win Swagbucks prizes. I recently installed the Swagbucks tool bar so it comes up each day. I can use the Swagbucks search tool, check the blog for the daily prize code, or shop using the stores on Swagbucks. Just about everything you do can earn you come bucks, which you can then spend on free prizes.

What Kind of Prizes can I win with Swagbucks?

One recent special offer was a $5 Amazon gift card for 450 Swagbucks. This was marked down from 1,000 Swagbucks and thousands of people took advantage of this one. Every day there are some special offers or you can just visit the Swagbucks store to see prizes like:

• Gift Cards for various online stores
• Tee shirts, hats and other fashion gear
• Magazine subscriptions
• Books
• Gift sets
• Video games
• Music

Here’s a great way to save money when dining out. With just 400 Swagbucks you can purchase a gift card for a $25 e-card for Restaurants.com. At Restaurants.com you can then buy $25 gift cards for various restaurants for just $15 - which would be free if you used your Swagbucks card.

There are 43 great gift card choices, including Starbucks, Target, Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Ticket Master, Lowes, Paypal and many many more. You’re sure to find a gift card that you can use yourself or give as a gift.

You can also get Swagbucks widgets for your blog or website. There’s a group on Facebook to keep you up to date as well.

Another way to save with Swagbucks is to sign up for their free newsletter which lists the latest offers for your favorite stores or the latest Swagbucks news.

Sign up for SwagBucks today. Have some fun and win some prizes, all for just searching or shopping at stores you’d ordinarily use anyway.

March is DVT Awareness Month - Watch this Free Video on How You Can Prevent DVT

March is DVT Awareness Month and this year the program’s focus is on prevention of deep vein thrombosis. DVT happens when blood clots form in the deep veins of the body, usually in the lower extremities. DVT is caused when the muscles of the leg are inactive, which allows blood to collect and clot. These clots can travel to the heart and lungs and become life threatening.

Learn more about how you can prevent DVT

Increasing blood circulation in the extremities is the key to prevention and working with Mary Ann Wilson, RN, founder and host of PBS program “Sit and Be Fit,” the Coalition to Prevent DVT has developed a free educational video featuring simple, low impact movements to increase blood circulation. You can find the free video at Prevent DVT.org

We all know being active is important, especially as we age, but even in going about our daily tasks, like sitting at a desk, taking a trip on an airplane or during a family vacation can pose risks for getting DVT.  Deep-Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Awareness Month gives everyone a chance to put DVT Awareness in Motion.

This year’s program goes beyond building traditional awareness of the signs and symptoms of DVT and emphasizes the importance of preventative care in everyday settings such as:

• Office sitting
• Lying in bed, whether in the hospital or at home
• Assisted Living or Rehabilitation Facilities
• During Travel

The video also features stories from those touched personally by DVT. One of the stories comes from Coalition to Prevent DVT National Spokesperson, Melanie Bloom.  Bloom shares her story about learning the news of the loss of her husband, NBC News correspondent David Bloom from complications of DVT while covering the war in Iraq.  Watch this special public service announcement from Melanie here.

DVT is preventable and it is treatable.Take the opportunity of DVT Awareness Month to get out and tell your friends about this condition and the free video. You just might save a life.