For all those coffee lovers out there

 2-3 cups of coffee a day may reduce kidney injury risk by 23%

I love my coffee as to many of us. I never knew that coffee could be good for us. The following is taken from Medical News Today and the link to the entire story is above.

The most beneficial amount of coffee

For the study, the researchers used data from 14,207 adults ages 45 – 64 from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

The researchers assessed the participants’ coffee consumption during their first visit via a food frequency questionnaire. In total, they found:

·        27% never drank coffee

·        14% drank less than a cup of coffee per day

·        19% drank 1 cup per day

·        23% drank 2-3 cups per day

·        17% drank more than 3 cups per day

To define acute kidney injury, the researchers looked at rates of hospitalization, including an International Classification of Diseases code indicating AKI throughout a median period of 24 years follow-up. They noted 1,694 cases of incident AKI during the follow-up period.

After adjusting for demographic factors, they found that individuals who consumed any amount of coffee had an 11% lower risk of developing AKI compared to individuals who did not consume the beverage.

The researchers further noted a dose-dependent relationship between AKI and coffee intake, with those consuming 2-3 cups of coffee per day experiencing the most substantial risk reduction.

Coffee’s protective effects

When asked what might explain the potential protective effects of coffee for acute kidney injury, Dr. Matthew Weir, professor of medicine and the head of the Division of Nephrology at the University of Maryland, who was not involved in the study, told Medical News Today that the study did not offer clues.

“[The researchers] provide theories, but there are numerous problems with retrospective data review, which may confound the observations and limit the validity. At least there was no evidence of harm,” said Dr. Weir.

In the study, the researchers noted their findings might be the result of bioactive compounds in coffee that improve perfusion and oxygen utilization in the kidneys.

Dr. Kalie L. Tommerdahl, assistant professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Colorado, and Dr. Chirag Rohit Parikh, director of the Division of Nephrology at Johns Hopkins University, who were both authors of the study, told MNT that they conducted a companion study to further understand the potential mechanisms.

“We studied ten youths aged 12 to 21 years old with type 1 diabetes and aimed to assess the effects of a confirmed 7-day course of a single daily Starbucks cold brew (325 ml, 175mg caffeine) on [various measures of renal function],” they said.

“The study included a small sample size. While it confirmed that we can effectively assess these intrarenal measures in adolescents with type 1 diabetes, we did not find any differences in [renal function] following a short course of daily coffee consumption,” they added.

The researchers concluded that they needed to further evaluate the physiological mechanisms underlying the potentially protective effects of coffee consumption in larger studies of a longer duration.

“In addition, consumption of other caffeinated beverages such as tea or soda should also be considered a possible confounding factor. Further limitations include reliance on the inclusion of AKI on the problem list during inpatient hospitalization and the potential for confounding effects from differences in etiologies for participant hospitalization,” they said.

Creative Block

From time to time we all get stuck when we are doing something creative. “Creative block” is a metaphor for being stuck, but to think of it as a blockage is unconstructive. Most creative people agree that the best way to overcome a creative block is to create. Creating something new always means moving away from your comfort zone and trying something new. To be creative and to produce work that the world will see takes courage. Here are some thoughts on the creative process and getting stuck and unstuck.

Writing about writer’s block is better than not writing at all. — Charles Bukowski

If you hear a voice within you saying, “You are not a painter,” then by all means paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working. — Vincent van Gogh

Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. You cannot intellectualize creativity. You can think about something before or after — but not during. — Ray Bradbury

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. — Maya Angelou

Most artists have experienced the creative block. We get stuck in our work. We beat our head against the wall, and eventually, the wall will yield. Perseverance, and faith in the impossible task are essential ingredients. — Lukas Foss, composer, pianist, and conductor

Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. — Chuck Close, visual artist and photographer

Money saving ideas

Many years ago, we were warned that inflation was going to come back, and it would come back with a vengeance. In the past when we had inflation, the money we had in savings or in stocks was protected. However, today the banks are raising interest rates on borrowing but not on savings, and the stock market is struggling to keep in positive territory. Many of us are worried about running out of money in retirement. Inflation is soaring, stocks are crashing, bank interest rates on savings are stagnant and to top it off, we are living longer. All of which means your money has to work harder to last. Here are some ideas:

There are stages to your retirement, in the early years we treat every day like it’s Saturday, we take a few extra vacations and trips with family and friends. This was fine when inflation was not going crazy. Now is the time to rein in your expenses or if you can a part-time job to supplement your income or to look for better places to save your money.

It’s natural to want to help your children and grandchildren out, but make sure before you do that you can look after yourself. My grandfather would pass money on to his children to help out, but he always made sure that he could cover his needs. So, before you book that cruise for the entire family or give your child the down payment for a home, make sure you can afford to do this. You may have to learn to say no, at least for now. Make sure you have enough cash in the bank to live comfortably in retirement, and then lend a helping hand.

Some people go into retirement with the intention of downsizing to a smaller home. Don’t treat the equity in your home as a windfall. If you need it, count it as an income stream you can live off of in retirement.

Close to 70 percent of Americans 65 and older will need long-term care in their lifetime, according to the Urban Institute and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Some have family members to rely on, but close to half will need to pay for long-term care on their own, and many have no plan to do so. If you can add long-term care coverage to your retirement savings plan.

Lingering or new debt can be a big blow to your retirement savings. Try not to bring any debt with you into retirement. If you do, work on paying it off and resist accruing new debt.

Finally, remember that the great wealth-eroding factor has always been inflation. Your investments have to work harder to hold their value over the long haul. With inflation soaring, a portfolio checkup may be in order to ensure your investments are allocated properly. 

Protect yourself in an economic downturn

 We are in an economic turndown; inflation is here and some of us are wondering what to do. Based on past experience one thing that many people will do is panic. The investment community will tell you that the stock market is neutral and unemotional. That is not true, because stock prices are driven by humans who are emotional and who do things that are not logic. If you are invested in the stock market, either inf mutual funds or stocks, don’t Panic. Historically, those who remain calm and stay the course with their investments are rewarded with a big bounce in due course.

Remember that in the past few years your stocks have gone up. The percentage of loss in this cycle is nowhere near the great percentage of gains from the past few years. We can not predict what will happen, but acting calmly is bound to serve you well. Do not panic is the first rule of protecting your long-term financial health in a downward trending market.

If you experience losses in retirement investments, you are not necessarily in the poor house, especially if you consider alternate sources of wealth before selling stocks that are down. We are facing a labour shortage especially of skilled labour, so if you can think about working longer or going back to work to bridge through the economic downturn. If your investments are your only source of income, then if you can borrow from your home equity, or assess some of the other best and worst sources of emergency money.

It is almost certain that you are much better off in a market downturn if you have already created a highly detailed and completely personalized retirement plan. Just make sure that if you have a plan, that you ignore the markets and keep to the plan. A plan enables you to quickly run different scenarios and really assess the impact to your near- and long-term financial health.

Now may be the time to make some minor adjustments to your future projections. You may want to raise your inflation assumptions slightly, lower your anticipated rates of return a bit, and maybe even look at spending.

As part of our plan, we may have decided to withdraw a fixed percentage from our investment accounts throughout our retirement. However, it may be a better idea to adjust your withdrawals depending on economic conditions. If:

·   Stocks are high and inflation is low, you can withdraw more

·   The market is down, and inflation is high, then you will want to withdraw less