Do We Really Know What"s Going On In Our Bodies?

We can check our financial health easily. We know where we stand with our employers. Our families members can generally tell us how our relationships with them are doing. Even so, our health is one of the most complicated aspects of our lives to measure.

 

In movies and television we often see protagonists stand before the mirror and flex their muscles, as if that were the metric by which we should gauge our health. Unfortunately, the diameter of your muscles isn’t enough to determine your true health.

 

However, thanks to technology, these days we can learn more about what’s going on inside our bodies than ever before.

 

 

Facts and Figures

Hypertension, better known as high blood pressure, is often referred to as “the silent killer.” That’s because many people who suffer from it have no idea that they have high blood pressure. As a result, they fail to treat it until it triggers more obvious events like heart attacks and strokes.

 

Plenty of other conditions can lurk beneath the surface, slowly eroding your health even as you seem to feel fine. Conditions like diabetes, cancer, and artherosclerosis can be wreaking havoc on your future even though you feel fine, or at most, have a diffuse group of odd symptoms that you ignore.

 

So just because you don’t notice anything unusual doesn’t mean that something serious can’t be afoot.

 

Getting to the doctor for annual physicals is key. That means going at a time when you aren’t sick and just having your practitioner give you the age-relevant rundown of what you should be checking on. Then, you must take the initiative to get the necessary tests and check-ups.

 

 

Are We Taking the Right Medications?

And while we’re debunking the old ways of monitoring our health, let’s not forget the knee-jerk move to request prescription medication from our doctors the moment we feel run-down.

 

There was a time when the math of health went something like this:

 

Condition + Medication = Recovery

 

But that equation has gotten muddier in recent years. Drugs have side effects. Medications can interact with each other or generate new health problems.

 

The surest way to avoid a negative side effect from your treatment is to submit to prescription drug testing by health professionals who can accurately determine the medication levels in your body. This can also help you and your doctor develop a personalized treatment plan.

 

Remember that many drugs, particularly antibiotics, linger inside your body long after you have gulped the last pill. Certain steps can help you clear many toxins from your body, but medications are harder to resolve.

 

So if the condition for which you’ve taken that medicine is persisting even as the drug remains active in your body, it’s clear that you need to try a new strategy.

 

Obviously that’s not necessary with every pesky cold or nagging cough. But when more serious conditions exist, like major infections or organ malfunctions, it’s critical that you know if your current prescription isn’t cutting the mustard.

 

And your doctor should know too.

 

Speaking of things your doctor should know, interactions are critical events as well. If you continue to show significant levels of a drug you finished weeks or even months ago–and yes, they can hang around that long–your doctor needs to know that before providing you with a new medication.

 

That information is more important if the leftover medication was prescribed by someone else.

 

Regardless of the circumstances, identifying medication residues can direct us to use a different medication or consider nutritional or other treatments for new conditions.

Categories: blood pressure, bodies, conditions, doctor, feel fine, health, high blood, hypertension, medication, nbsp, nbsp nbsp

Do You Suffer From Hypertension?

Do you know what hypertension is? Probably not! Many people don’t really understand or may not have even heard of the problem of hypertension, but it is a serious condition that can make a big difference to your wellbeing. So that certainly makes it something that’s worth understanding. While not a very serious issue within itself, the problem with hypertension is that it can lead to some of the most worrying health concerns for us as we get older. It is known, for example, that hypertension is one of the major causes of coronary artery disease, stroke and kidney disease.

 

It is true that the condition is able to throw up some rather worrying statistics. Let’s take America as our key example. More than 50 million Americans (that’s one in three of the adult population) suffer from hypertension. Even more frightening that than, however, is that the vast majority do not even know that they have it at all. Hypertension could be considered to be something of a silent killer – you don’t know anything about it until it’s too late to remedy the problems that it causes.

 

Hypertension is well known by doctors to be one of the major causes of shortened life spans, and this is especially true for those people living in urban areas. Indeed, over 200,000 people in the US die every year from an illness that is related to them suffering from high blood pressure. Patients with hypertension are at a very high risk factor to have a stroke, or suffer a heart attack or develop congestive heart failure. This is very worrying then, that so many people are in danger from this condition but don’t really know the details of what to do about it.

 

Hypertension is a chronic condition in which the arterial blood pressure, which is the level of blood flowing from the heart of all of the vital organs, get increased due to a number of reasons. This can often be because of your diet – if you eat a lot of foods that are high in saturated fats it can increase the difficult in pumping blood around the body.  It then happens that over a period of time, the resulting stress of having to deal with the problems in the blood begins to weaken the heart muscle and causes the artery walls to harden with build-up of plaque inside. The consequences of chronic hypertension can be gradual and can even involve the damage of vital organs such as the kidneys as well as sudden and often fatal in the form of heart failure and brain haemorrhage.

 

So, how do you deal with hypertension? It’s important to remember that early diagnosis is extremely valuable in the fight against the condition. As with most issues, if you fear that you may be suffering from the condition then it’s well worth going to your doctor and talking through the possibility of having hypertension. There are some certain symptoms that you can watch out for that might make it more likely that you might have hypertension. These include obesity, lack of exercise, lots of salt in your diet, heavy consumption of alcohol or smoking. If this sounds like a reality of your life it could well be worth seeking medical advice on the issue.

 

Overall, it’s a good idea to be mindful of always maintain a healthy diet and getting plenty of regular exercise. Not only will this reduce the likelihood of you suffering from hypertension, but it also can help you avoid other issues too.

Categories: Blood, blood pressure, condition, heart, heart failure, high blood pressure, hypertension, nbsp, nbsp hypertension, vital organs

US University Leads the Way with Summer of Employee Wellness

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, in the US, is hoping to help employees’ corporate wellness this summer with free on-campus programmes. UAB Employee Wellness will start five programmes over June and July to get employee wellbeing in tip top shape before the summer vacation begins, but is this something UK universities could be getting into? Let’s look at how they’re doing it across the pond.

Blazer Fitness – In June, free Blazer Fitness classes will be on offer to UAB employees. Not only will these classes include yoga, core classes and Pilates, but UAB employees will be able to take classes from UAB’s experienced fitness instructors.

Circulation Network – UAB Employee Wellness has developed a new support network as a platform to connect those whose wellness has been affected by hypertension with others who are battling this chronic condition. From June, individuals who use the Circulation Network will be able to share stories, insights and encouragement with other UAB faculty and staff who are suffering with hypertension.

Green Screens – This is an event that will take place every week during the summer that offers health screenings to UAB employees. University workers will be able to see how weight loss and other lifestyle changes impact their blood pressure by tracking their numbers and making adjustments to improve them. From this month, health screenings for blood pressure, weight loss, waist circumference and body mass index will be available.

Stop Diabetes at Work – Starting late in the summer, this programme will be hosted in partnership with the American Diabetes Association. Stop Diabetes at work will offer UAB employees screenings and focus on diabetes prevention and management.

Summer 5 in 5 Challenge – This is a five-week programme which gives UAB employees the choice of a health challenge that focuses on nutrition and physical activity. Starting from June, Participants will be able to track their progress throughout the challenge with weekly weigh-in sessions and blood pressure screenings. The aim of the challenge is to help university employees to, within the five-week challenge dates, lose five pounds, lower blood pressure five points and engage in five designated activities.

Categories: hypertension, Summer Programme, UAB

Does Heavy Drinking Increase Your Risk of Prediabetes?

If you’re a young person whose wellness is affected by early-stage hypertension, heavy drinking may put your wellbeing at risk of diabetes. This is according to researchers at the San Antonio Hospital, University of Padova, Italy, whose cohort study of stage 1 hypertensive individuals showed that more than 10 drinks a day boosted the risk of prediabetes (in which your serum glucose between 100 and 125 mg/dL) more than six times.

Lucio Mos and colleagues presented their findings at the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation’s EuroPRevent meeting, noting that if you have less than five drinks a day, you are neither harming or improving your risk for prediabetes. Session moderator Paul Dendale, MD, PhD, of the University of Hasselt, Belgium, commented that this is a surprising finding, because there is an established link between moderate drinking and a protective effect in cardiovascular disease and certain other conditions.

The original aim of the Hypertension and Ambulatory Recording Venetia Study (HARVEST) was to look at white-coat hypertension in patients seen at 17 hypertension clinics in northeast Italy, and so Dendale surmised that the hypertensive population studied may have accounted for the difference in the study’s findings. He noted, ‘Alcohol is also increasing the blood pressure, so it might be that, there again, you have some effect in a population that is more sensitive to alcohol.’ Dendale concluded that, therefore, the message remains an emphasis on moderation.

1,177 patients, ages 18 to 45, participated in the study, all of whom had systolic blood pressure between 140 and 159 mm Hg, or diastolic pressure of 90 to 99 mm Hg. The participants had never been treated for hypertension and were free of other important risk factors for atherosclerosis at baseline. The study involved 6.5 years of follow-up, during which time average glycaemic levels climbed with greater daily alcohol intake (P=0.02), as did prediabetes (P=0.006). Those who drank more also tended to have higher cholesterol (P=0.03), and 3.1 times more likely to have sustained hypertension (95% CI 1.4 to 7.2). However, when it came to those who abstained from alcohol, and those who drank mild amounts, the researchers reported that the risk of prediabetes was similar.

Does Heavy Drinking Increase Your Risk of Prediabetes?

Categories: Alcohol, blood pressure, Heavy Drinking, hypertension, Prediabetes, Research, risk, study

Supplements - A warning for those with hypertension

Nowadays, talk about the effectiveness of herbal supplements is widespread, and one could easily believe that there is a herbal remedy for every condition. Unfortunately, the hype about some herbal supplements outweighs the scientific proof so far. A pair of cardiologists recently set out to examine the effectiveness of the complementary supplements most commonly recommended for hypertension. They reached some troubling conclusions regarding the usefulness of these supplements, of which some might even have an adverse effect on wellbeing.

The research took place at the University of Rochester’s Medical Centre and results were published in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension. Nine dietary supplements commonly recommended for reducing hypertension were examined. The most encouraging results were found in relation to potassium and coenzyme Q10 supplements, both found to be effective in reducing blood pressure. Other dietary supplements were found to have little effect, but were not thought to be harmful. Examples from this category include garlic, calcium and soy protein. However, there were worrying outcomes in relation to the use of herbal supplements for treating hypertension.Hawthorne, Mistletoe and Forskolin were all examined for their effects on blood pressure and none were found to be effective. Mistletoe is especially to be avoided because it becomes toxic at high concentrations. The strongest warning was in relation to St. John’s Wort, Ephedra and Liquorice. All are readily available over the counter, yet have actually been shown to increase blood pressure. It is clear that further research is required into such supplements, and at the very least a list of contra-indications should accompany each product.

The conclusion of the research contained very simple advice. The doctors vouched for the value of blood pressure medication as a necessary first measure. Meanwhile, they recommended that one should take a holistic approach to one’s lifestyle and create a suitable diet and exercise programme. The most effective programme in treating hypertension was said to be the low-sodium DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. The Dash diet includes whole grains, fruits and vegetables and, of course, lowers sodium intake. Changes to diet were actually thought to be the most valuable support to pharmaceutical medicine in the treatment of hypertension.

It is understandable that people want to avoid pharmaceutical drugs in managing hypertension. However, this approach will only succeed if a full lifestyle transformation is achieved. In severe cases, the use of pharmaceutical drugs should not be avoided, as the results of this could be far worse than the slight toxicity of the drug, or the presence of side-effects. With an issue this serious, every decision should be made under the guidance of a qualified professional, and any risks regarding untested herbal medicine avoided.

Categories: complementary, hypertension, Supplements