Why I deleted that post. . .

by Carolyn Thomas   ❤️   Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)

Some of my longtime Heart Sisters  readers may recall my other blog called The Ethical Nag: Marketing Ethics for the Easily Swayed.  I started The Nag in 2009, shortly after my post-heart attack launch of Heart Sisters. (Not one but TWO websites? I must have had a lot of recuperation time on my hands back then!)

My Heart Sisters blog is about my true obsession – women and heart disease (which, by the way, kills more women each year than all forms of cancer combined).  But in those early days, I was also writing about other issues that somehow didn’t quite fit Heart Sisters. So The Nag became a home for those other posts but it was one specific article that ultimately made me pull the  plug:
Continue reading “Why I deleted that post. . .”

Which common medicine won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records?

  by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)

It’s been in use for thousands of years. In Ancient Greece, the famous physician and philosopher Hippocrates (also called the father of modern medicine) commented on the healing properties of this popular medicine made of the active ingredients from an extract of willow tree bark. But it would take several centuries for this extract to become a staple in most bathroom medicine cabinets.  Continue reading “Which common medicine won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records?”

Coffee: good or bad for our hearts?

  by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)

I love that first sip of the first cup of Americano every morning. In my kitchen, I have a vintage little Krups espresso machine that slowly builds up a thrilling WOOOSH of steam. That’s when I know that the magic is about to happen. The whole kitchen smells so wonderful!  It’s my favourite part of waking up early. I have two cups of coffee every morning: the first right after I wake up while reading my Globe and Mail, and the second later on with breakfast.

And despite the decisions of some heart patients to quit drinking coffee after being diagnosed, newer coffee research does seem to side with my favourite morning brew.   Continue reading “Coffee: good or bad for our hearts?”

Negative vs. positive experiences: what you remember may depend on emotions

  by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)

If I asked you about the exact moment you were diagnosed with heart disease, would you be able to remember that moment? Research suggests that most of us (whatever our serious diagnosis) can clearly recall, often in surprisingly precise detail, the exact words used by the physician who broke the news to us – even decades later.

But what if I asked you what you had for breakfast last Tuesday?

The difference between those two questions about remembering seems obvious, because hearing a frightening new diagnosis is fraught with emotion. A bowl of oatmeal?  Not so much.
Continue reading “Negative vs. positive experiences: what you remember may depend on emotions”