Is everyday stress gnawing at your arteries? Take this quiz to find out
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association’s useful little publication called Coping With Stress, it is sometimes easier to recognize the damaging effects of chronic stress in others than in yourself.
“You may have learned to endure rather than overcome emotional chaos caused by stress. And your problems may already have begun to feel familiar and “normal”. This can negatively impact your physical health – sometimes drastically. Yet many of us are unaware or unwilling to admit that we are under stress.”
Does this sound familiar? It sure did for me. In fact, it was only after my heart attack that I was able to accurately assess the more-or-less chronic state of stress that had somehow become normalized for me. We now know that this kind of stress can have deadly consequences as a risk factor for both heart disease and stroke. People who are having problems dealing with extreme ongoing stress may have high blood pressure, elevated levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol, obesity, diabetes and perhaps most deadly of all - stickier blood platelets that are more likely to clot inside our arteries.
Take this quiz to help you rate your own stress index – just answer YES or NO to each of these questions, and give yourself one point for each YES: (more…)
Four questions about heart disease you’ve always wanted to ask
Dr. Marvin Lipman and the editors of Consumer Reports on Health have come out with a useful little book called The Best of Health: 275 Questions You’ve Always Wanted To Ask Your Doctor.
Let’s take a look at their Q&A page about cardiovascular disorders.
Q: Are my heart palpitations a sign of heart disease?
A: “Palpitations” is a non-medical term for any heart rhythm that feels abnormal. This can include extra beats, dropped beats, forceful beats, rapid beats, or irregular beats. For proper diagnosis, the abnormality must first be captured on an EKG test or on a 24-hour heartbeat recording called a Holter monitor. Heart palpitations can be caused by:
- emotional stress
- an overactive thyroid
- certain medications
- diseases of the coronary arteries, heart muscle, or heart valves
Sometimes there is no detectable cause. First, try eliminating a few things on your own: caffeine (coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, soda), nasal decongestants, appetite suppressants – and see if that makes a difference. (more…)
Your daily planner for heart health
I loved Megan Griffith-Greene’s ‘dawn to dusk’ daily planner piece in Chatelaine recently listing small ways during your average day that you can improve your heart health – many of which I’ve already written about here. Hour by hour, Megan shows you how these small ways can all add up:
7 a.m. - BRUSH YOUR TEETH: Good oral hygiene is not only good for your social health – gum disease increases your chances of heart disease. Researchers think that when bacteria run amok in your mouth, they can travel through the body and cause inflammation elsewhere too. See also: Flossing, Brushing and Heart Disease
8 a.m. – EAT YOUR BREAKFAST: Start the day off properly with some fibre-rich oatmeal topped with antioxidant-packed blueberries, both of which are associated with heart health. See also: Why A Good Breakfast is Good For Your Brain – And Your Heart
9 a.m. - POP A PILL: Take a capsule of fish oil for its heart-smart omega-3s, but skip the daily low-dose Aspirin unless you are over age 65. It’s not advised for healthy premenopausal women and can increase your risk of internal bleeding. See also: Should Women Take A Daily Low-Dose Aspirin to Prevent Heart Attack? Check out the rest of the day’s heart-smart activities!
How eating simple carbs raises heart risks for women – but not for men
Do you love a flaky croissant along with your morning coffee? A diet that’s rich in simple carbohydrates like that croissant (quickly transformed into sugar in your bloodstream) raises the risk of heart disease for women, a new Italian study has found.
The same effect, however, is not seen in men, according to the report, published April 12, 2010 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The study, by researchers at Italy’s National Cancer Institute, looked not only at total carbohydrate intake but also at what is known as the glycemic index of those carbohydrates — a measure of how quickly and to what extent blood sugar rises after intake of specific carbohydrates.
“A high glycemic index is known to increase the concentration of triglycerides in the blood and lower the concentration of HDL (good) cholesterol,” explained Victoria Drake, director of the Micronutrient Information Center at the Linus Pauling Institute of Oregon State University. “Those adverse effects make it a stronger risk factor for heart disease.”
No effect from total carbohydrate consumption or consumption of foods with a high-glycemic index was seen in men in the Italian study, a pattern also seen in other studies, Drake added. “There is definitely a gender difference.“ (more…)
Four questions about blood pressure you’ve always wanted to ask
Dr. Marvin Lipman and the editors of Consumer Reports on Health have come out with a useful little book called The Best of Health: 275 Questions You’ve Always Wanted To Ask Your Doctor.
Let’s take a look at their Q&A page about high blood pressure, or hypertension – a common risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease. Over time, high blood pressure can damage our blood vessel walls, causing scarring that promotes the build-up of fatty plaque. This build-up can narrow and eventually block arteries. It also strains our heart and eventually weakens it. Very high blood pressure can even cause blood vessels in our brain to burst, resulting in a stroke.
Q: Does using a Jacuzzi or sauna raise blood pressure in people who already have hypertension?
A: No. In fact, high ambient temperature typically causes blood pressure to drop as blood vessels dilate in order to keep body temperature constant. That drop in blood pressure can cause you to feel faint, especially if you’re already taking anti-hypertensive medication. (more…)
