4 Tips for Getting the Best Legs of Your Life

 

Spring and summer time are always stressful times for some women, who feel self-conscious about the appearance of their legs. They may worry about the attractiveness of their legs or even have varicose veins. Some men may worry about their weight or fitness of the legs. Regardless of the reasons, there are proven ways to improve the appearance and health of your legs.

Exercise

It goes without saying that having the best legs of your life starts with exercise. However, you don’t need to run marathons or deadlift heavy weights. Instead, walking every day is an excellent way to improve muscle tone and shape. Isometric exercises, such as squats and lunges, are a great way to get your legs in shape without any equipment. In addition to this, yoga, jump roping, swimming and bike riding are all great ways to improve your legs and overall health at the same time.

Lifestyle Changes

Be sure to hydrate your skin with a daily shower with cream oil body wash. Skin naturally becomes drier as we age, so it’s important to give yourself a good scrub in the shower. Exfoliating will remove dead skin cells and encourage new skin cell growth. Regularly use moisturizing creams or lotions and pay special attention to trouble spots, such as the knees and ankles. Also, be sure to keep yourself hydrated. Keep in mind that crossing your legs will cut off circulation.

Know the Risk Factors

One of the most dreaded leg problems is varicose veins. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), certain factors may increase your risk of developing varicose veins. These include age, pregnancy, obesity and sedentary lifestyles. The AHA recommends certain lifestyle changes to reduce the likelihood of developing varicose veins. For example, you can lose weight, avoid standing for long periods and wear supportive socks or stockings.

Consult a Healthcare Professional

If you have a serious skin or medical condition that affects your legs, talk to your doctor about available treatment options. If you are at high risk for developing varicose veins, consider consulting with a varicose vein specialist at Ivein or an institution near you. There are special treatment options available through innovative healthcare facilities, such as online or in person varicose vein screening.

In conclusion, you can have attractive legs through exercise, lifestyle changes and seeking medical treatment for any current leg problems. Learn more about the risk factors and lifestyle changes from the AHA for varicose veins at Heart.org.

 

Categories: beautiful legs, developing varicose, exfoliate, isometric exercise, leg problems, legs, risk factors, skin hydration, treatment options, varicose, varicose vein, varicose veins

5 Remedies to Prevent Gum Disease

 

Gum disease is a bacterial infection in the tissues and bones around the teeth. Healthy gums should not bleed easily with brushing. They should appear pink and fit tightly around teeth. Gums that are swollen, tender, red, bleed easily, or are receding from teeth are likely infected with gum disease. It is a serious problem that can affect oral health, lead to tooth loss, and cause infection and ailments in other areas of the body as well if left untreated. There are some steps you can take to help prevent gum disease.

 

1. Practice Good Oral Hygiene

According to Smith Family Dental, gum disease starts in areas where bacteria is allowed to grow and thrive. The better oral hygiene you practice, the less likely you are to suffer from gum disease. You should brush your teeth twice a day and floss and use a fluoride mouth rinse at least once a day. These basic practices are extremely important.

 

2. Visit the Dentist

Your mouth produces plaque, which is a clear sticky bacteria filled substance. Brushing at home can help eliminate plaque from your mouth. Plaque turns into tartar, which is a hard substance that cannot be removed with at home brushing. Visiting a dentist every 6 months for a routine cleaning is essential to tartar removal and a key component to good oral health.

 

3. Watch what you Eat

Watching what you eat is not as simple as just avoiding sticky sugar filled candy, although this is important. It is important to make conscious and intentional decisions about what you eat and try to choose foods that actually improve oral health. Crunchy fruits and vegetables high in water content help trigger the flow of saliva, which naturally washes small food particles away from teeth. Include healthy sources of calcium such as cheese and unsweetened yogurt to encourage strong tooth development. Avoid sugary drinks and stick with water as your primary drink. Eating a diet rich in vitamins and minerals is good for your dental health, as well as your overall well-being.

 

4. Avoid Frequent Snacking

nearly as important as what you eat is when you eat. Frequent snacking bombards your teeth with sugars, which feed bacteria. Allowing time between meals and snacks gives saliva time to wash food away from teeth. Always follow a snack with a drink of water and brush teeth after snacking when possible.

 

5. Know your Risk Factors

Certain factors put you at greater risk for developing gum disease. As you age, the likelihood of gum disease developing increases. Hormonal changes in women can also increase your risk. Smoking or use of chewing tobacco both are huge contributing factors to gum disease. Know your risk factors and do what you can to minimize or eliminate them.

 

Taking good care of your mouth translates into better overall health. Early gum disease often does not cause pain, so it is important to know the indicators and work with your dentist to ensure the best oral health possible.

 

Categories: bleed easily, dental care, Disease, disease nbsp, eat healthy, frequent snacking, Gum Disease, Healthy Eating, oral health, oral hygiene, prevent gum, risk factors

Wellness Programmes: Should You Offer Employees Incentives?

It used to be that implementing an employee wellness programme meant simply putting a few posters up in the office encouraging people to take care of their wellbeing. Some companies may have stretched as far as having a gym in the office, but that was really about it. Nowadays, however, businesses are starting to plough real money into programmes, using cash incentives – or even penalties – to get workers in better shape.

 

In fact, according to a recent survey from Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health, nearly 90% of employers offer wellness incentives, or financial rewards or prizes to employees who work toward getting healthier. In 2009, this number was at a mere 57% in comparison, and the perks were lower too. Four years ago, the average US employee might expect an incentive of $260, but now they can rake in an average of $521. Fidelity benefits consultant Adam Stavisky comments, ‘They feel that if they pay more they’ll get a better result.’ But is this really the case? Stephanie Pronk, health and wellness consultant with Aon AON, argues, ‘Incentives themselves are not the silver bullet. It’s really important to change up the incentive design and keep people on their toes.’ With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the popular incentive programmes in use today.

 

1. Educational/Awareness Incentives: Jen Wieczner, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch, explains, ‘Companies offer rewards for completing activities that include an assessment of their personal health and risk factors. These can range from filling out a questionnaire about family medical history, diet and fitness routine, to taking a biometric screening for cholesterol, blood pressure and other factors.’ The Lockton Benefit Group state that your incentives need to be worth at least £60 to get about 75% of employees to participate, otherwise you’re looking at a participation rate of 30-50%. The pros here are that you introduce your workers to healthy behaviour and personal risk factors, as well as being able to tailor future endeavours to employee needs. However, your workers about their health risks won’t necessarily lead them to take action.

 

2. Incentives Based on Actions: In this wellness programme, your employees take action to improve their health to earn awards or to avoid penalties. Houston city employees, for example, have to complete three tasks in order to avoid a $25 monthly payroll surcharge. These include filling out a health-risk assessment, taking a biometric screening, talking to a health coach, signing up for a programme like Weight Watchers or getting a screening such as a mammogram. As a result, 90% of employees have completed three of the tasks or more, so you can see how motivational this model is. However, the con of this model is that the incentives don’t encourage long term healthy behaviour, only enough to complete the required programmes.

 

3. Everything-But-the-Kitchen-Sink Incentives: You offer your employees incentives for an array of tasks, with bigger and complex tasks corresponding to bigger rewards. The plus point of this approach is that you give your workers to freedom to choose their own health activities, which they enjoy. JetBlue Airways Corp is one such company who goes in for DIY incentives, offering anything from $25 for a teeth cleaning, to $400 for completing an Ironman triathlon. Pronk notes that a wellness programme that lays out a tempting trail to follow will have more success keeping people involved. Still, the variety of options can be overwhelming for your employees, and you might be wasting your money on activities that aren’t effectively addressing your workers’ biggest health problems.

Categories: biometric screening, corporate wellness programmes, employees, employees incentives, health, healthy behaviour, incentives, Pros and Cons, risk factors, Wellness, Wellness Programme

Know Your Enemy: How to Prevent Prostate Cancer

In order to protect your sexual health – and overall wellbeing – against prostate cancer, you need to be well-informed. By knowing your enemy, so to speak, you can get proactive with your treatment in the best way for you as an individual, or even guard your wellness against prostate cancer in the first place. So what exactly is prostate cancer, and what can you do to prevent it?

 

Prostate cancer is a tumour that grows in your prostate gland, which is the part of your reproductive system that stores seminal fluid (the substance that mixes with sperm to form semen). Sometimes, prostate cancer can grow slowly over a period of many years, while at others it may grow rapidly and spread swiftly to other parts of the body. Prostate cancer has been known to spread its cells throughout your lymph system or bloodstream and along nerve pathways. In some cases, men with prostate cancer experience no symptoms, which is why it is so important to have your prostate checked by a doctor on a regular basis.

 

Sometimes, however, prostate cancer does exhibit certain signs and symptoms. These include:

• Blood in your urine or semen


• Dribbling when urinating


• Erectile dysfunction


• Frequent urination, especially at night


• Painful urination and/or ejaculation


• A smaller stream of urine


• An urgent need to urinate


• Painful bony sites (if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body)


• Occasional nerve paralysis or loss of bladder function

 

Unfortunately, the cause of prostate cancer remains unknown, although it is thought that your hormones – such as testosterone – may contribute to the disease as they control the growth of your prostate gland. Viruses or chronic infections may contribute to prostate cancer, and there’s also a link between the disease and common cancer-causing substances in the environment. Plus, researchers have recently identified a gene that is linked to some cases of prostate cancer. While the exact cause of prostate cancer remains unclear, scientists have identified five key risk factors:

 

1. Advanced age: Prostate cancer is seen mostly in men over the age of 55.

 

2. Diet: While a high-fat diet may increase your risk of prostate cancer, fruits, vegetables, and fatty fish may lower your risk.

 

3. Ethnicity: Prostate cancer is less common in American Indian and Asian men, occurring most often in African and northern European ethnic groups.

 

4. Family history: If your father or brother has had prostate cancer, your risk for the disease is heightened.

 

5. Other risk factors: Men who have had a vasectomy, who smoke, or who have been exposed to a metal called cadmium may also be at an increased risk of prostate cancer.

 

So that’s prostate cancer, but what can be done to prevent the disease? While prostate cancer cannot be completely prevented, prostate screening with exams and blood tests helps with early diagnosis. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), a digital rectal exam should also be offered every year to men 50 years of age or older who have a life expectancy of at least 10 years. The ACS also recommends that a prostate-specific antigen test (a PSA blood test) be offered every year to these men. However, if you have one of the above noted risk factors for prostate cancer – such as a high-risk ethnic origin or family history of the disease – you should start getting screened for prostate cancer at the age of 45. Finally, make sure you make good dietary choices, as this lowers your risk for the disease. Your diet should be low in fat, while packed with fruits, vegetables, and fatty fish.

Categories: cancer, cancer remains, family history, fatty fish, fruits vegetables, prevention, prostate, prostate cancer, prostate gland, risk factors, Symptoms

Whose Life Is a Smoking Ban Saving?

In 2004, a report was released which claimed that a smoking ban in Montana had resulted in an almost immediate 40 percent reduction of admissions to hospital for acute heart attacks. The report led to a surge in research on the impact of smoking bans in a selection of countries and communities. It’s thought that this effect on hospital admissions and deaths, from heart attacks, range from 47 percent to 6 percent, with larger studies showing a smaller effect. Smoking bans could be reducing heart attacks and heart disease in two major ways – either by inducing current smokers to give up entirely or by reducing the exposure of non-smokers to passive smoking. Over 40 years of research on heart disease has shown that giving up has an incredibly strong effect, but there is very little effect on the latter in terms of how it affects people. With this in mind it is strange that so many advertisers play up the fact that eliminating exposure to environmental smoking in public places could save lives.

 

Heart disease has been the leading cause of death in the US for more than 70 years, with researchers constantly trying to find new ways to combat the various risk factors for the disease. What all of these studies show is that the most common risk factors for heart disease include smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, level of physical activity, alcohol intake and psychological factors. Those who currently smoke have roughly a two-fold risk of developing heart disease, compared to those who never smoke. This shows that giving up smoking could significantly affect how low your risk is with regards to this disease, not to mention the effect it has on other areas of your health as well.

 

In contrast to research which previously looked at the causes of heart disease, studies of smoking bans usually compare hospital admissions for heart attacks before and after a smoking ban. But these studies don’t take into account the defined populations nor do they look at information on individuals. Most of these studies are limited to short-term periods preceding and following the ban. Because of this, they are unable to highlight whether a reduction of hospital admissions can be connected to measurable reductions in the exposure to tobacco smoke, or other factors. For this reason, there is a lack of connection between the best research on predicting heart disease and the much weaker body of evidence which looks at the effect of smoking bans on our health. The latter of these is suggested by health authorities that there is a substantial effect of a ban on the health of the public, but this simply isn’t founded in research. Of course, this isn’t to say there is no benefit to a smoking ban – it does, at the very least, limit the amount of smoke each smoker inhales. But it would be difficult to gauge the magnitude of the effect and the mechanism responsible for the reduction of heart disease rates.

 

Anything which discourages smoking is great news, but health authorities should be careful in how they word their so-called evidence – furthermore, people should be better educated on the effects of bans on their health, so as not to be bought into by clever wording and unsubstantiated evidence. Smoking is a dangerous activity and takes it’s toll on your health in a variety of ways, from cancers to stroke, so giving up is always the better option. But to what extent it helps those around you is yet to be discovered, and will be difficult to decipher.

Categories: ban, environment, health, health authorities, heart, heart attacks, heart disease, hospital admissions, risk factors, Smoking, smoking ban, smoking bans

Could Even a Low Exposure to Arsenic Affect Your Heart?

Your environmental wellness, or your exposure to toxins, is intrinsically linked to your overall wellbeing. This has already been established in countless studies, but a new one has come into the fray to add to what we already know; exposure to toxins is bad for wellness. However, this new study, published the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, points out that chronic exposure to even low levels of arsenic in your environmental can increase your risk of having a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular disease.

 

Previous research has already shown us that exposure to high levels of arsenic in your drinking water (which is defined as more than 100 micrograms per litre) is connected to a raised risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease and carotid atherosclerosis. However, this new study, undertaken by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, aimed to see how low to moderate levels of arsenic in an environment might affect heart health risks in American Indians. According to study author Dr. Ana Navas-Acien, a researcher in the department of environmental health sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, ‘We didn’t know what would happen at levels that occur regularly in the United States.’

 

Even after the researchers adjusted their results to take into account other risk factors – such as smoking, obesity and cholesterol levels – the results of the study revealed that regular exposure to more common levels of arsenic did indeed correlate to increased risk of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular disease. Navas-Acien commented, ‘It’s a chronic long-term health effect. We need to understand that cardiovascular disease is a very complex illness, and there are many environmental risk factors like arsenic which can contribute.’ However, while the plus point of they study is that it did find an association between relatively common levels of arsenic in drinking water and a higher risk of heart disease, it’s important to bear in mind that the researchers did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

 

For the study, the researchers spent 19 years studying almost 3,600 Native American men and women living in Arizona, Oklahoma, North Dakota and South Dakota. The study began in 1989, and the researchers continued to follow the participants up until 2008. The researchers surmised that participants living in Arizona and the Dakotas were possibly the most exposed to arsenic through groundwater, as the private wells in those states often exceed the U.S. standard for arsenic in drinking water of 10 micrograms per litre. In fact, these wells sometimes contain arsenic levels as high as 50 micrograms per litre. In Oklahoma, on the other hand, the most likely source of arsenic exposure was their food, which the researchers citing rice, flour and other grains as potential sources.

 

Alice Lichtenstein, a distinguished professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University, was not involved with the study, was pleased with the findings. She noted, ‘The paper is very important. It’s an area where we need to look more carefully. It gives other research groups another variable to address.’  However, Lichtenstein, who also is the director of the cardiovascular nutrition laboratory at the university, added, ‘We don’t know what the direct effect is. What is important is that we gather more information, which I hope will be done promptly. We should not discount this. It’s very important. But I think we need a little more information.’

 

If you’re worried about your arsenic exposure risk, Navas-Acien recommended you have your drinking water tested. ‘In particular, people who live in small communities or have private wells should be aware of the arsenic levels in their drinking water,’ she said. ‘If you use groundwater and you don’t know the levels of arsenic in your drinking water, that can be quite dangerous.’ Lichtenstein agreed, and added, ‘The best advice we can give people is to eat food that comes from a variety of different regions, as opposed to being raised in a single location.’

Categories: Arsenic, bloomberg school, cardiovascular disease, common levels, drinking water, heart health, johns hopkins, navas acien, private wells, public health, Research, risk factors

Factors Involved in Bone Health: Are You at Risk For All 9?

Bones play many roles in your body — providing structure, protecting organs, anchoring muscles and storing calcium – but the problem is that they’re continuously changing. When you’re young it’s important to take care of bone health because your bones are growing and you need the optimum bone mass possible, and then after the age of 30 you start to lose bone mass, which increases your risk for fractures and osteoporosis — a condition that causes bones to become weak and brittle. As a general rule, the higher your peak bone mass, the more bone you have “in the bank” and the less likely you are to develop osteoporosis as you age, but a lot of factors can affect your bone health:

 

1. Calcium intake: You may have learned this years ago at school but that doesn’t mean you can put calcium away now you’ve graduated. Your calcium intake becomes even more important as you age as a diet low in calcium contributes to diminished bone density, early bone loss and an increased risk of fractures.

 

2. Physical activity: There’s no denying that exercise is good for your wellbeing; it helps you to maintain a healthy weight and prevent a myriad of health concerns – one of which being osteoporosis. If you don’t exercise regularly, your risk of this brittle bone disease is far higher than your more-active peers.

 

3. Smoking and drinking: According to recent research, tobacco weakens your bones, as well as doing all the other nasty things to your wellness that everyone knows about, so quitting is a solid idea. Moreover, if you drink more than two alcoholic drinks a day on a regular basis, you can increase your risk of osteoporosis. This is because alcohol can interfere with your body’s ability to absorb calcium.

 

4. Gender and age: Although it’s a common misconception that men don’t have to worry about osteoporosis, the fact remains that you’re at a greater risk of the brittle bone disease if you’re a woman. This is because women have less bone tissue than men, especially as you get older. The ageing process and menopause cause bones to become weaker and thinner, due to waning oestrogen levels. Again, this doesn’t mean that men are off the hook, but it does mean that older women have to be particularly vigilant about bone health.

 

5. Body type: If you’re extremely thin – meaning you have a body mass index of 19 or less – or have a small body frame, you’re also at an increased risk for osteoporosis. This is due to the fact that you have less bone mass to draw from as you age.

 

6. Race and family history: People of Asian descent and white people are at the greatest risk of osteoporosis. In addition, if you have a parent or sibling who has osteoporosis, you are also put at a greater risk — especially if you also have a family history of fractures.

 

7. Hormone levels: As we’ve previously mentioned, bone loss increases dramatically at menopause for women due to your dropping oestrogen levels but, for the same reason, your osteoporosis risk is increased if you suffer from amenorrhea. This occurs prior to menopause and is categorised by prolonged periods (of time) in which you do not menstruate. For men (see, I told you men weren’t off the hook) low testosterone levels can cause a loss of bone mass. Plus, no matter who you are, if you have too much thyroid hormone, you can also experience increased bone loss.

 

8. Health conditions: Stomach surgery (gastrectomy) and weight-loss surgery can affect your body’s ability to absorb calcium, as can conditions such as Crohn’s disease, celiac disease and Cushing’s disease. Moreover, if you have anorexia or bulimia, you are at further risk of bone loss.

 

9. Medications: If you take corticosteroid medications, such as prednisone, cortisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone, over a long period of time, you are causing damage to your bones. Other drugs that may increase the risk of osteoporosis include aromatase inhibitors to treat breast cancer, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, methotrexate, some anti-seizure medications and proton pump inhibitors.

Categories: absorb calcium, bone disease, bone health, bone loss, bone mass, family history, greater risk, loss nbsp, oestrogen levels, osteoporosis, risk factors

Your Child"s Health:Signs Your Child May be Hard of Hearing

Hearing loss is a common genetic disorder; in fact, approximately 1.4 out of every thousand children born in the United States has some form of hearing impairment. Even children who test normal as infants can develop a hearing impairment over time.

 

Early Intervention

When it comes to hearing loss, early intervention is important. Babies who are treated for hearing loss before six months of age tend to keep up with their peers as far as language skills. Those who receive delayed treatment often experience language delays or speech impairments. School-age children with untreated hearing loss may have trouble in school and may even be identified as trouble makers due to a perceived inability to follow direction.

 

Early Testing

It is important for children to be screened early. Babies as young as one month of age can benefit from hearing aids. Many hospitals offer in-hospital testing within a few days of birth, according to an expert of hearing aids Arizona. If you as the parent or caretaker can recognize the hearing loss early, you can help decrease the chance of having other developmental problems such as delayed speech.

 

Risk Factors

There is a genetic link for hearing loss. More than half of all children who experience hearing loss have a family member with a similar condition. Other risk factors include prenatal exposure to an infection, such as CMV or toxoplasmosis, premature birth, chronic ear infections and severe head trauma.

 

Warning Signs in Babies

Infants have a natural startle reaction to loud noises. Those not showing signs of this reaction should be tested, even if they passed the newborn screening. By three months, the child should start to recognize the sounds of his or her parents’ voices, and, by six months, the child should be able to turn or look at the source of a sound, whether it be the parents voice or a melody. Children with partial hearing loss may also seem to respond to certain sounds but ignore others. By one year of age, the child should begin to say simple words.

 

Warning Signs in Older Children

Delayed and thick speech is a major concern in older children. By age two, parents and other caretakers should be able to understand about half of what the child says. By age four, speech should be clear enough that even strangers understand what the child is saying. Children who are not reaching the milestones for their age group may be experiencing some form of hearing loss or other developmental delay that should be addressed.

 

It is important for caregivers to keep an eye on the child’s development. Hearing loss can present itself in several ways. The good news is that early intervention and treatment can help the child reach their developmental milestones.

Categories: Child, early intervention, health, hearing aids, hearing impairment, hearing loss, loss early, nbsp early, nbsp warning, risk factors, signs, warning signs

Do Genetics Determine your Diabetes Risk?

The New England Journal of Diabetes published a research study in 2006 which came away with two very interesting observations. The first was that a variation of the TCF7L2 gene is linked to prediabetes, which is when blood sugar is high but below the official diabetes range and can indicate a higher likelihood of developing diabetes.

And secondly, further data also showed that changes in your diet and levels of physical activity could reduce or stop the development of the disease, even for those people who have disease-risk increasing genetic variants. This has broad ranging implications for the study of diabetes and the way we might look to prevent it.

Every cell in the human body contains a nucleus with chromosomes, that carry DNA, which could be loosely described as the ‘building block’ of life, arranged in specific groups which are responsible for all our physical and biological characteristics.

Often person-to-person genetic differences result from mutations in the genes that may either directly cause disease, such as in the case of sickle-cell anemia, or combine with dietary and environmental factors to increase the probability of disease occurrence such as diabetes and obesity.

To determine whether or not these tests could be successful, it is necessary to understand what causes diabetes. Diabetes occurs when the body is unable to either produce or use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that transports glucose from the blood to storage tissues. This then results in high blood glucose levels that can cause very serious problems and damage to the eyes, kidneys, heart and nerves.

If the genetic predisposition to diabetes in the younger population is detected at the right time, and appropriate preventive measures are followed by them, then it could potentially reduce the number of diabetics.

Do Genetics Determine your Diabetes Risk?

Categories: DNA, genetics, risk factors

Suicide: Who’s at Risk and How Can You Help?

In England, suicide claims the life of one person every two hours. This equates to 4,400 people committing suicide each year, and at least 10 times that number attempt to take their own lives. There are certain genetic factors at play which may make you or a loved one more likely to consider suicide, such as gender and age, but there are also behavioural patterns to watch out for in case you think a loved one’s mental wellbeing is at risk.

 

In almost all cultures, the suicide rate rises with age and roughly 75% of suicides are men. In the UK, the group with the highest number of suicides is men aged 35 – 49. However, there are also behavioural and environmental risk factors which may serve as a warning about your loved one’s mental wellness. These include drug and alcohol misuse, unemployment, social isolation, poverty, poor social conditions, imprisonment, violence and family breakdown. Mental health conditions are also a major factor, as roughly 90% of suicide victims suffer from a psychiatric disorder at the time of their death.

 

If a loved one has already attempted suicide, they are at an increased risk of pulling it off. Nearly 20% of suicide attempt survivors try again within a year, and this group of people is 100 times more likely to go on to complete suicide than those who have never attempted it. However, suicidal thoughts or tendencies are often temporary, and you can reduce your loved one’s risk of trying to take their own life if you find them appropriate and timely help and emotional support.

 

A focused campaign has, in recent years, lowered the numbers of suicides among younger men aged 25 – 34, as this was previously the highest category. Warning signs of suicides – such as evidence of self-harm or suicidal thoughts – can provide potential opportunities to intervene and save lives. However, prevention of suicide is not the exclusive responsibility of any one individual or sector of society. While schools can create a culture in which young people feel safe and comfortable talking through their difficulties, GPs can restrict the number of tablets prescribed to those at risk of overdose. A&E staff can ensure that anyone who attempts suicide will receive a specialist mental health assessment, and you can play your part by paying close attention to the overall mental health of your loved ones.

Categories: prevention, risk factors, suicide

Diabetes And Heart Disease - Are They Linked?

High levels of cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, have been linked to cardiovascular disease in some previous studies, but not all of them. This is thought to be connected to the fact that the measurements of cortisol in the blood or salvia at the time of testing may pick up acute stress, but they don’t account for long-term stress. Dutch researchers have analysed cortisol levels over several months by looking at scalp hair samples over a three month period, looking at 283 men and women of an average age of 75. Supporting data was gathered, which included data about coronary heart disease, peripheral artery disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, lung disease, stroke and cancer.

Those found to have the highest levels of cortisol had three times the risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Researchers didn’t find any connection between lung disease, osteoporosis and cancer and the levels of cortisol, though. The increased risk is comparable to the traditional risk factors, such as hypertension and abdominal obesity. Researchers noted that further studies would need to take place in order to determine if other risk factors influence the risks.

Diabetes and heart disease are both largely affected by lifestyle, so if you lead a sedentary lifestyle and eat a poor diet then your risk will be higher. If you want to improve your general wellbeing, it’s important that you increase the amount of exercise you do – this will not only help you to maintain a healthy weight, but it will also improve circulation, keep your body flexible and help reduce stress. A balanced diet is also important when it comes to fighting such conditions. You should keep your intake of fats, salt and sugar to a minimum as these can lead to obesity and heart problems. This, alongside getting plenty of vitamins and minerals through your diet, will help you to fight disease and stay healthy.

Diabetes And Heart Disease - Are They Linked?

Categories: cardiovascular disease, cortisol, Diabetes, Disease, heart, heart disease, lifestyle, lung disease, risk, risk factors, Stress

Could a Common Pregnancy Condition Cause Diabetes?

If your wellness is affected by one of two common conditions in pregnancy, your future wellbeing may be at risk to diabetes. This is according to a Canadian study of over one million women, published in PLOS Medicine, which found that pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension may be risk factors for future diabetes.

Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy condition in which you have high blood pressure, fluid retention and protein in your urine, while gestational hypertension describes high blood pressure associated with pregnancy. The researchers found that either of these conditions could double your chances of developing  diabetes years after pregnancy, and this risk is even higher if you have gestational diabetes – diabetes only associated with pregnancy, and already a known risk factor for later diabetes.

About 8% of all pregnancies are affected by disorders involving a raised blood pressure in pregnancy, such as pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension. The study, led by Denice Feig from the University of Toronto, is important is it highlights new potential risk factors for diabetes. This indicates that your doctor could be advised to screen for the disease if you have a history of pre-eclampsia or gestational hypertension.

For their study, the researchers identified all women delivering in an Ontario hospital between April 1994 and March 2008 who had pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes, or a combination of these conditions. They did this using a comprehensive Canadian health database, and then investigated whether these women went on to develop diabetes in the period from 180 days after delivery until March 2011.

The results showed that 3.5% of women developed diabetes in the follow-up period. This was 1.95 times more likely to develop in women with gestational hypertension alone, 2.08 times more likely in women with pre-eclampsia alone, and 12.77 times more likely in women with gestational diabetes alone. When these risk factors were combined with gestational diabetes, they jumped to 18.49 times higher for gestational hypertension and 15.75 times higher for pre-eclampsia.

According to the study authors, ‘In this large, population-based study, we found that the presence of either pre-eclampsia or gestational hypertension during pregnancy were strong predictors for the development of diabetes [in the] years following the pregnancy, and the presence of pre-eclampsia or gestational hypertension in a woman with a history of gestational diabetes, increased the risk of diabetes over and above that observed with gestational diabetes alone.’

Could a Common Pregnancy Condition Cause Diabetes?

Categories: blood pressure, Gestational Diabetes, gestational hypertension, high blood, pre-eclampsia, pregnancy condition, Research, risk factors, times higher

Why Early Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes is Essential

Undiagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes number an estimated 850,000 cases in the UK. People who have the blood disorder but don’t yet know it are putting themselves at risk of health complications, such as stroke, blindness, kidney failure and amputation.

Type 2 diabetes, sometimes referred to as late or adult onset diabetes, is a chronic condition that is most prevalent in those who are obese or overweight, those who are not physically active, older people and those with a family history of developing diabetes. If you have a large waist, you are also in the high-risk category.

Failing to have the condition diagnosed can lead an individual to be exposed to higher risks of developing other dangerous health conditions. The charity Diabetes UK is trying to raise awareness of the risk factors associated with the condition, encouraging those in the high-risk categories to examine their lifestyles and current health for signs of the disorder, which can go undetected for a number of years. Typical symptoms include a strong feeling of thirst, urinating more frequently, feeling tired and weight loss.

Diabetes UK wants those at risk of type 2 diabetes to seek an early diagnosis because the earlier the condition is diagnosed, the quicker patients can get the necessary treatment and so avoid further health complications.

Diabetes is a chronic blood disorder in which an individual’s blood sugar levels are too high. Type 2 diabetes develops when the body does not produce enough or any insulin to turn glucose in the blood into cells.

In the UK, the NHS Health Check programme is used for early detection of type 2 diabetes with the government aiming to prevent more than 4,000 people every year from developing diabetes.

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Why Early Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes is Essential

Categories: diagnosis, risk factors, Type 2 Diabetes