tagged w/ High Blood Pressure
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The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Tuesday that one-third Americans have high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels. These two are the major risk factors for strokes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases which kill nearly 800,000 people annually.The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Tuesday that... more
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A new study suggests adding blueberries in daily diet can help patients keep blood pressure down. Researchers have found that eating two handfuls of blueberries a week can cut the risk of developing hypertension or high blood pressure.A new study suggests adding blueberries in daily diet can help patients keep blood... more
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There is no doubt that second hand smoking poses many health hazards, but ever wondered how it impacts the young ones?There is no doubt that second hand smoking poses many health hazards, but ever... more
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Bartlet discovers the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line (1-800-BUTTERBALL), which Charlie (Dule Hill) calls the "Butterball hotline.Hostess, Butterball, Snyder's of Hanover, Premio, Furmano's and Delhaize ... Specifically, the companies made the following commitments: · Butterball ...Bartlet discovers the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line (1-800-BUTTERBALL), which Charlie... more
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Consumption of one-two sugary beverages like soft drinks and iced teas per day increases the risk of type 2 diabetes by 26 per cent besides putting people at a"consistently greater risk"of high blood pressure, according to a study by Harvard researchers. http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/925343/Health/10/11/10Consumption of one-two sugary beverages like soft drinks and iced teas per day... more
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Willy Wonka may have been on the right track -- chocolate may be a sweet way to control blood pressure and thus protect the heart, according to a report from German researchers.
But before you stock up on chocolate bunnies, consider this: the chocolate benefit was greatest among people who consumed about 7.5 grams of chocolate daily. That works out to about a quarter of an ounce, which is barely a nibble from a typical Hershey bar, which weighs in at 1.55 ounces.
Nonetheless consuming 7.5 grams of chocolate daily resulted in a significantly lower blood pressure than consuming just a sprinkle of it daily, according to Brian Buijsse of the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Nuthetal, Germany, and colleagues.
They reported their findings online in the European Heart Journal.
"It's a little early to make recommendations [about chocolate consumption]," Buijsse told MedPage Today, cautioning that more studies are needed. "But a future recommendation could be that if people eat a small amount of chocolate, they can replace it for something else, maybe leaving out a snack or another sweet."
Chocolate has been studied extensively over the past decade for its potential benefits on the heart and vasculature. Just last month, a study found that chocolate reduces the risk of stroke.
For the present study, the researchers studied almost 20,000 patients who were enrolled in a large European cancer study. All the patients were age 35 to 65 and the study was conducted from 1994 to 2006.
Dietary habits and health outcomes were assessed via questionnaire, and the cohort was followed for a mean of eight years.
The researchers also asked a subset of 1,568 patients to recall their chocolate intake over a 24-hour period to determine which type of chocolate they ate -- white, milk, or dark.
On average blood pressure was about one point lower for both systolic -- the first number in blood pressure -- and diastolic, they said.
During follow-up, there were a total of 166 heart attacks and 136 strokes.Willy Wonka may have been on the right track -- chocolate may be a sweet way to... more
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By Elizabeth Cohen, CNN
February 18, 2010 5:24 p.m. EST
(CNN) -- When Eugenie Smith's hands started tingling, she figured her biking gloves needed more padding. When she felt out of breath after a short walk on a treadmill, she assumed it was pneumonia. When her chest hurt, Smith chalked it up to indigestion.
She was wrong, wrong, wrong.
Smith was actually having a heart attack, and needed three stents. She was 46 at the time, and in otherwise perfect health.
While it may sound odd to miss the signs of something as monumental as a heart attack, cardiologists say they see it quite often.
It happens "ALL THE TIME!!!" Dr. Kenneth Rosenfield, an interventional cardiologist, wrote in an e-mail. "Every week. Seriously."
Rosenfield says a "Hollywood heart attack" -- the kind where you collapse to the ground clutching your chest -- is the exception, not the rule. "We need to do a better job of letting people know what are all of the types of symptoms that can indicate a heart attack," he says.
Smith couldn't agree more. Looking back at her heart attack eight years ago, she now sees she had symptoms for six months and missed them. "My message to everyone is simple: If your symptoms are frequent do not hesitate. Have them checked before it is too late," she says.
Former President Bill Clinton was hospitalized last week and received two stents after he experienced brief periods of discomfort over several days. Clinton, who'd undergone bypass surgery in 2004, said he began feeling tired around Christmas. "I didn't really notice it until about four days ago when I felt a little bit of pain in my chest, and I thought I had to check it out," he said.
Video: Heart attack warning signs
The signs that you're having a heart attack -- or that your arteries are so clogged up you're about to have one -- vary from person to person. You can listen to heart attack patients describe what it felt like to them, and the American Heart Association, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and the Mayo Clinic have lists of heart attack symptoms and warning signs.
Here's a list of some of the more common signs:
1. Chest discomfort
While not everyone feels it, chest pain or discomfort is still the most common sign of a heart attack, according to the American Heart Association.
The pain isn't necessarily overwhelming. "It was a relatively mild pain that I kept expecting to go away, but it never did," says Duane Marcus, 56, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, who had a heart attack two weeks ago.
Rolanda Perkins, who had a heart attack just over four years ago at age 39, says at first she ignored her chest pain because she thought it was indigestion. "I figured I could go to the doctor in the morning, but morning came for me at about 3:30 [a.m.] when the pain got worse and I had a shortness of breath," she remembers. "I knew that something was wrong."
In recent years Perkins, who lives in Tennessee, has completed two half-marathons. Now she tells people to listen to their bodies. "My body was speaking to me, and I was not listening," she says.
2. Discomfort in other parts of the upper body
Rob, an Atlanta businessman who asked that his last name not be used, said pressure behind his ears while working out on the stair-stepper was the first sign that something wasn't right.
He was 50 and on vacation at the time, and he didn't think much of it. But when he got back home he also started to experience a bit of tightness in his chest while exercising.
It seemed so strange that he walked into a cardiologist's office without an appointment and insisted on seeing the doctor. He had bypass surgery the next day.
Rosenfield, head of vascular medicine and intervention at the Massachusetts General Hospital, says pain in a variety of places can indicate a heart attack.
More on heart issues at Matters of the Heart
"I often tell my patients that they should be mindful of any symptom from the waist up which seems different or unusual," he says, including "heaviness, pressure, squeezing, aching, or discomfort in the chest, back, neck, shoulders, or arms, wrists, elbows, between the shoulder blades, aching in the jaw, throat, or even gums or earlobes."
Of course, discomfort in any of those areas could mean myriad other problems and not a heart attack at all.
So how do you know the difference?
Rosenfield says pay particularly close attention if you have a personal or family history of heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Other reasons to be on guard is if the symptoms are particularly intense, happen for no apparent reason, if they get worse with exercise, if they don't go away, or if they go away and come back.
3. Gastrointestinal problems
When Dr. Malissa Wood's father complained about stomach pain and nausea, she paid close attention because he said it felt different from ulcer problems he'd had in the past, and because he had a history of high blood pressure and vascular disease.
Wood, a cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, made sure her father received quick attention, and it turned out his right coronary artery was 92 percent blocked, requiring stents and bypass surgery.
4. Flulike symptoms
Dr. Robert Superko says he's seen it many times: A patient's routine EKG will show signs of an old heart attack, but when he asks whether the patient has had a heart attack the person says no, adding, "But, oh yeah, doc, last year I had a really bad flu."
Superko, a cardiologist and author of the book "Before the Heart Attacks," says significant fatigue, feeling exhausted for several days, gastrointestinal problems (see above) and a general feeling of not being well can be signs of a heart attack or heart problems -- and they're easy to miss. "You can see how people could just write it off as the flu," he says.
5. Shortness of breath
Shortness of breath can be a sign of a heart attack even if you don't have any chest pain or discomfort.
CNN's Sabriya Rice contributed to this report.
Visit this link to see/read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/18/heart.attack.chest.pains/index.html?hpt=C2By Elizabeth Cohen, CNN
February 18, 2010 5:24 p.m. EST
(CNN) -- When Eugenie... more
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You may be dehydrated and not even know it. Here are some clues to tell you if you are and why you should be concerned. Read full story http://healthmad.com/health/are-you-dehydrated/You may be dehydrated and not even know it. Here are some clues to tell you if you are... more
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Tomorrow is the beginning of a brand new year and the rest of your life. There is no time like the present to eat healthier. Perhaps you should add soy to your diet and if you have not looked into soy beans, let me help you.Tomorrow is the beginning of a brand new year and the rest of your life. There is no... more
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Vegetable juices are successful in helping people to take off unwanted pounds while also bringing down blood pressure according to the results of two controlled trials.
Vegetable juice added to regular balanced food diets has been proven to be more convenient than just relying on nutrition alone to bring help with weight loss and lower blood pressure.Vegetable juices are successful in helping people to take off unwanted pounds while... more
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The aggressive Asian vine that at times seems to want to take over the American southeast may have some medicinal value. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham discovered that the annoying plant may effectively treat the symptoms that make up metabolic syndrome.The aggressive Asian vine that at times seems to want to take over the American... more
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Watching fish has been shown to lower blood pressure and effectively reduce stress. Here are some good starter fish for your aquarium.Watching fish has been shown to lower blood pressure and effectively reduce stress.... more
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It’s one of many herbals we can harvest for free, but should we be taking it or not?
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A new study released today reveals that the release of hydrogen sulfide (otherwise known as smelly farts) controls blood pressure in mice. The article in Live Science says "the new research found that cells lining mice's blood vessels naturally make the gas and this action can help keep the rodents' blood pressure low by relaxing the blood vessels to prevent hypertension (high blood pressure)." Go to http://www.thegrittyandthepretty.com/home/2008/10/29/the-health-diary-farting-for-lower-blood-pressure.html to read the entire story.A new study released today reveals that the release of hydrogen sulfide (otherwise... more
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The economic downturn could be bad news for our bodies, as well as our pockets, suggest specialists.
Britons are cutting back on expensive fruit and vegetables, and gym membership, claims a report by the Blood Pressure Association.
Some say they are drinking more alcohol than before the recent credit crunch.
The association is urging people to have their blood pressure checked for free this week at one of 3,000 locations across the UK.
Continued.........The economic downturn could be bad news for our bodies, as well as our pockets,... more
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Sleep-deprived teenagers are at greater risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks - and their mobile phones, computer games and iPods could be to blame, research suggests.
A study of teens aged 13 to 16 found those who slept less than 6½ hours a night were up to three times more likely to have elevated blood pressure.
Researchers said the "technological invasion of the bedroom" was responsible for creating a generation of sleep-starved youngsters.
The study, published in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, looked at the sleeping patterns of 238 teenagers and found that the duration of sleep directly affected blood pressure.
Those who had trouble nodding off at night or waking up in the morning were also at increased risk.
It is the first study of its kind to look at the link between sleep and blood pressure in healthy teens.
The author of the research, Susan Redline from University Hospital's Sleep Disorders Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, said "sleep insufficiency" was often related to mobile phones, music and computers in the bedroom.
"There are teens who text message or listen to music all night, compounded by early school hours. Adolescents need nine hours of sleep," Professor Redline said.
"Parents should optimise sleep quality for their family with regular sleep and wake times and bedrooms should be quiet, dark and conducive to sleep."
High blood pressure in childhood is linked to heart disease in adulthood.
Professor Redline said the results could have huge public health implications.Sleep-deprived teenagers are at greater risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks... more
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Blood vessel changes linked to poor health later in life can be spotted within a few years in boys born small, say scientists.
Eight-year-olds who were smaller at birth were more likely to have "vascular resistance", reported the European Heart Journal.
The Southampton University team said this could contribute to high blood pressure decades later. However, no such problem was seen in low birth weight girls. Previous work has linked birth size to later heart disease and diabetes.Blood vessel changes linked to poor health later in life can be spotted within a few... more
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15 minutes of meditation alone can improve your mental wellbeing. By focusing on an image, a sound, or your breath, the goal is to trigger a state of mental stillness, where you're alert and aware yet free of active thoughts.
When people report achieving this state of being, they not only feel good, their brainwave patterns change in consistent ways.
15 minutes of meditation alone can improve your mental wellbeing. By focusing on an... more
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Who would have thought that studying urine would tell us something about high blood pressure? Apparently it has, according to a study published in the journal "Nature." Compounds found in 4,630 urine samples suggest that there's a link between your blood pressure and your metabolism, which is largely determinned where you're from, what you eat, and natural gut microorganisms. The study suggests that maybe high blood pressure is not linked so closely with genetics.
Who would have thought that studying urine would tell us something about high blood... more
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