In large areas of the U.S., women are dying younger than they were just a generation ago, reversing a century of progress in public health and highlighting the rising tolls of obesity and smoking.

The life expectancy for American men and women has risen over the past two decades, and some communities still have life expectancies as long as anywhere else in the world. However, over the past ten years, the U.S. has been experiencing a widening gap between the most and least healthy places to live.

In some areas of the U.S., men and women are dying younger on average than their counterparts in places like Panama, Vietnam and Syria.

The U.S. is falling further behind other industrialized nations. In 737 counties out of more than 3,000, life expectancies for women declined between 1997 and 2007. The decline of life expectancy in a developed nation is rare, and according to demographers, setbacks on this scale haven't been seen in the United States since the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918.

The decline in life expectency for women started before 1997, but researchers say that it accelerated in the last decade. Between 1987 and 1997, only 227 counties saw declines in women's life expectancy.

The trend is fueled in large part by smoking, high blood pressure and obesity.

The oldest known person to have had clogged arteries is an Egyptian princess that lived more than 3,500 years ago. This discovery dispels the myth that heart disease is a product of modern living, says a new study.

Scientists performed computer scans on 52 mummies in Cairo and the United States in order to determine how common heart disease was in ancient Egypt. Among those that still had heart tissue, 44 had chunks of calcium stuck to their arteries, which indicates clogging.

Adel Allam, a cardiology professor at Al Azhar University in Cairo who lead the study along with Gregory Thomas, director of nuclear cardiology education at the University of California in Irvine, said:

"Atherosclerosis clearly existed more than 3,000 years ago. We cannot blame this disease on modern civilization."

The study and research was presented Tuesday at a conference on heart imaging in Amsterdam.

Researchers found the Egyptian princess Ahmose-Meryat-Amon, who lived in Thebes (which is now Luxor) between 1540 and 1550 BC, had calcium deposits in two main coronary arteries. This finding made her the oldest mummy found with heart disease.

Allam noted that her clogged arteries looked remarkably similar to heart disease in more contemporary Egyptians.

Ladies, the next time your man gets on you for spending too much time shopping, tell him you're looking out for your health. As it turns out, a bit of retail therapy is good for you and can help you live longer.

According to a new study, regular shopping helps you live longer, and the benefits are actually greater for men. The study also suggests that the long-term survival benefits of shopping are better than going to the gym.

Research published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health says that seeing friends and even just people-watching can help stave off loneliness and improve psychological health.

In order to conduct the study, researchers looked at 1,850 people aged 65 and older living independently at home in Taiwan. Participants were asked how often they went shopping, and researchers tracked how long the participants lived by linking them to national death registration data between 1999 and 2008.

Those who went shopping on a daily basis lived longer than those who shopped less frequently. This was true even after taking into account individuals physical or other health issues.

According to a new report issued on Tuesday, elderly people wth hearing loss have a greater chance of developing dementia. Even more, that risk increases as their deafness worsens.

The study looked at 639 individuals aged 36 to 90 without demential. They were given cognitive and hearing tests between 1990 and 1994. They were followed for the development of dementia and Alzheimer's disease through May 2008.

Of the study's participants, 125 had mild hearing loss, 53 had moderate hearing loss, and six had severe hearing loss. After about 12 years of research, 58 individuals were diagnosed with dementia, including 37 who had Alzheimer's disease.

The risk of dementia was found to be higher among those with hearing loss of greater than 25 decibels, and further increases in risk were observed among those with moderate or severe hearing loss as compared to those with mild hearing loss.

The researchers, who are affiliated with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, said:

"Hearing loss may be causally related to dementia, possibly through exhaustion of cognitive reserve, social isolation, environmental deafferentation (elimination of sensory nerve fibers) or a combination of these pathways.

On Monday, researchers reported that a section of the brain involved in memory grew in size in older people who regularly took brisk walks for a year. The study reinforces findings that aerobic exercise reduces brain atrophy in early-stage Alzheimer's patients, and that walking can lead to slight improvement on mental tests amongst the elderly with memory problems.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign collaborated on the research, which was published on Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study utilized 120 sedentary individuals between the ages of 55 and 80 who were then divided into two groups. Half started a program of walking for 40 minutes a day, three times a week, to increase heart rate. The other group simply did stretching and toning exercises.

The hippocampus, a region of the brain involved with memory, shrinks slightly with age. Those in the group that did stretching and toning exercises exemplified this, while those in the walking group showed that the hippocampus grew by roughly 2 percent.

Both groups showed memory improvement, but in the walking group, "inreased hippocampal volume was diretly related to improvements in memory performance."

According to a new study, traffic noise may increase the risk of stroke. The nosiest roads have been found to be linked to the highest risk of having a stroke amongst those in middle-age and older. Researchers say that while the risk is low for young people, road noise could account for one in five strokes amongst the elderly.

The Danish study, which was published in the European Heart Journal, was the first to investigate the link and found that for every ten decibels more noise, the risk of a stroke increased by 14 percent. For those aged 65 and older, the risk increased 27 percent. When noise gets above 60dB, the risk of stroke gets even higher.

The study looked at 51,485 volunteers between the ages of 50 and 64 for about ten years. 1,881 had a stroke, and participants were estimated to have been exposed to noise levels between 40dB and 82dB. In major cities, typical noise levels average around 50 to 55dB, compared to 60 to 70dB for those living near an airport.

Dr Mette Sørensen, who led the study, said the strokes were probably caused by noise disturbing sleep, which in turn raised stress hormones and blood pressure.

The Cleveland Eye Clinic, whose doctors are amongst the leaders in eye care education, is proud to be hosting a senior speed dating event on Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 5:00pm. The event is open to single seniors ages 55 to 70. It will be taking place in the Cleveland Eye Clinic's Brecksville location.

"The event was actually inspired by a single female senior patient of mine who was seeking companionship," states Dr. William Wiley, MD, one of the top 10 Surgeons and cataract surgery leaders in the US. "She asked if I would consider helping her meet someone. I felt that hosting the event would be a fun way that the Cleveland Eye Clinic can contribute in assisting the senior community."

Wine, beer, and cheese will be included in the registration costs. Cost of the event is $35 for walk-ins, and $30 for those who pre-register online at www.progressivedaters.com. The anticipated attendance is 30 males and 30 females. For more information on the Cleveland Eye Clinic and their Senior Speed Dating Event, please contact Michelle Laramee in the Brecksville Office at (216) 509 -9631.

Agh, the benefits of having an influential area news website. Earlier this week, I was able to attend a great rock concert and an event that featured a number of music industry heavyweights. While those events might sound like a lot of fun, the most useful thing that came my way was an email from CVS which gave me the heads up to promote the drug store giving out flu shots at Cleveland area stores. After I wrote about the area stores who are offering the service, the good people at CVS offered a free flu shot at one of the stores and, considering I lived within walking distance to the store that was giving them out tonight, I decided to take them up on the offer. The pharmacist at the Berea CVS, Nancy Yates, was more than helpful to see that my needs were served in the store.

As the weather is beginning to turn and the holiday season gets ever so nearer, we are once again reminded of one of the perils of the season - the flu. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends that all children between the ages of 6 months and 19-years-old, adults 50 and older, and those who work in the healthcare industry get an annual flu shot. If you do not fall into one of those categories, it still can't hurt to get one.

CVS offers flu shots without an appointment at more than 500 MinuteClinic locations and during flu shot clinic events in select CVS pharmacy stores nationwide. Consumers are encouraged to call 1-888-FLU-SHOT or go to www.cvs.com to view a list of flu shot clinics available.

Flu shots at CVS pharmacy and MinuteClinic locations are just $30 and may be covered by insurance.

Here's a list of upcoming flu shot clinic events in the greater Cleveland area:

November 4:

Mayfield Heights, 1451 Som Center Rd. (440) 937-4027 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM

South Euclid, 4469 Mayfield Rd. (216) 382-6780. 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

November 5:

Berea, 212 West Bagley Rd. (440) 243-6676 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Mayfield Heights, 5901 Mayfield Rd. (440) 646-1555 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM

According to a new U.S. study, being fit helps you to live longer, even if you're fat. Findings of the study show that the fittest fat men and women aged 60 and over are more likely to liver longer than their averagely weighted or slim and less fit peers.

The study assessed the fitness of 2,600 adults aged 60 or older and measured their Body Mass Index, an indicator of obesity, and percentage body fat. Over the course of 12 years, 450 died, and what researchers found was that they had lower fitness levels than those who survived, regardless of BMI.

Dr. Steven Blair, who led the study, said: "We observed that fit obese individuals had a lower risk of all-cause mortality than did unfit, normal weight or lean individuals. It may be possible to reduce all-cause death rates among older adults by promoting regular physical activity - such as brisk walking for 30 minutes or more most days."

What this study shows is that all older people, including those who are obese, can benefit from increasing their activity levels. It could add years to your life.