Pregnancy And Obesity: What Are The Risks?

Obesity is a condition which vastly affects your health in a number of ways, but when you’re pregnant it can be extremely damaging to both you and your baby’s health. There are a number of possible complications and risks attached to obesity during this important stage in your life, but there are ways you can avoid these issues and promote a healthy pregnancy. Your BMI, or Body Mass Index, is usually used to determine whether or not a person is obese. If your BMI is less than 18.5, you are underweight (this is also damaging to your health and has its own set of issues attached to it). 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal; 25 to 29.9 is overweight, and anything higher than 30 is obese. A BMI of over 40 is considered extremely obese and this can have a negative impact on a woman’s success in In Vitro Fertilisation or IVF as well. So what are the risks? Firstly, gestational diabetes is a major risk for obese women during pregnancy and can affect the health of your baby as well. Preeclampsia is a condition which causes high blood pressure and protein in the urine after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Likewise, thrombosis and obstructive sleep apnoea can also affect you. There may be problems in labour; obesity can also interfere with the ability to use certain types of medication such as an epidural block. On an even more serious note, obesity can increase the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth.

 

Obesity during pregnancy can lead to a number of health problems for your baby as well as you. Macrosomia, which means your child is slightly larger than average, is a risk to women who are obese, and can lead to the risk of childhood obesity. Chronic conditions such as diabetes in your child or as an adult can be a risk, as well as birth defects such as heart problems or neural tube defects. You should work with your healthcare provider to ensure you maintain a healthy weight during your pregnancy. As a general rule, if you’re obese, the recommended weight gain is 11 to 20 pounds for a single pregnancy, or 25 to 42 pounds for a multiple pregnancy. There are things you can do to improve your health and weight during your pregnancy – speak to your healthcare provider as well though, to ensure you’re on the right track. You should schedule a preconception appointment if you’re obese and considering getting pregnant – there are prenatal vitamins you should take and diet changes that can be beneficial to you. You should also seek regular prenatal care to monitor both your and your baby’s health during the pregnancy. This can help you avoid issues such as sleep apnoea, high blood pressure and diabetes. A healthy diet is important at any weight during pregnancy, so as to avoid any excessive weight gain and to ensure that you’re getting the right level of vitamins and nutrients. You should endeavour to be physically active during your pregnancy – your GP can help to suggest ways to achieve this without putting your body under too much strain. And, natural, as with any pregnancy, you should avoid harmful substances such as alcohol or smoking while you’re pregnant. While these are damaging to any unborn baby, they increase some of the risks attached to obesity and could damage your baby’s development. If you’re concerned about your weight, you should speak to your GP who can advise you of the various ways to stay healthy for you and your baby.

Categories: blood pressure, healthcare provider, high blood, Obese, obesity, pregnancy, Pregnant, Risks, risks attached, Sleep apnoea, weight gain

I Heart Sleep: Why Fewer than 6 Hours Damages Heart Health

In your hectic, daily schedule, sleep can seem like such a hindrance – that’s eight hours of your day in which you’re not doing anything productive! However, sleep is actually extremely productive for your overall wellbeing. Sleep helps you to stave off major health concerns by aiding your mental and emotional wellness, keeping you trim, strengthening your immune system, fighting inflammation, and maintaining your heart and blood vessels.

 

In fact, sleep enables your body to repair your damaged tissues, produce crucial hormones and strengthen your memories. This latter process is known as consolidation, and it helps you to perform a new skill better after sleeping than you would if you spent an equivalent amount of time awake, which is why all-nighters are never as effective as you think they’ll be. Virend K. Somers, MD, a professor of medicine and cardiovascular diseases at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who studies sleep and heart health, explains, ‘It’s a way for the body to integrate everything that happened over the past waking day and to kind of prepare for the next day.’

 

According to Shelby Freedman Harris, PsyD, director of behavioural sleep medicine at Montefiore Medical Centres Sleep-Wake Disorders Centre in New York City, ‘When you’re sleeping you’re regulating hormone levels, you’re regulating insulin levels, your blood pressure is being kept under control, there are a lot of things going on, and if you’re not getting enough sleep you’re throwing these things out of whack.’ One way in which your body becomes skewed by a lack of sleep is in your heart. If you get less than six hours of sleep a night, or you don’t spend enough time in the deepest stages of sleep, you have a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes than those who get at least seven hours.

 

In 2011, two studies revealed the devastating impact of sleep deprivation on heart health. The first study, performed in male Japanese factory workers, showed that sleeping for less than six hours a night made the factory workers five times more likely to have a heart attack over a 14-year span compared with those who logged between 7 and 8 hours a night. The second study, this time involving men over the age of 65, showed that even healthy participants with normal blood pressure were almost twice as likely to develop hypertension if they spent less time in the deepest sleep stage (known as slow-wave sleep).

 

As well as long-term sleep deprivation having an impact on your heart health, there’s also some evidence – albeit somewhat limited – that even short-term sleep deprivation may be harmful if you already have a heart problem. Swedish researchers, who published the results of their work in 2012, reported that in the week after the spring transition to daylight saving time, hospital admissions for heart attacks increased by about 4% compared to other weeks. This is the time in which you set your clocks an hour ahead and lose an hour of sleep.

 

As to why not sleeping enough affects your heart, wellness experts aren’t quire sure. However, researchers are clear on why sleep apnoea is a known heart hazard. If you have sleep apnoea, you tend to snore and have upper airway collapse during sleep, meaning that you snort and gasp for breath without really waking up enough to be aware of it. Charles Czeisler, MD, the Baldino Professor of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, explains, ‘It’s as if somebody’s choking you, so your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure goes up, and instead of having a daily cycle in which everything slows down at night, instead everything is higher during the night. Over time, even your daytime blood pressure is higher.’

Categories: blood pressure, factory workers, heart attacks, heart health, Sleep apnoea, sleep deprivation, sleep medicine, sleep nbsp, term sleep

Am I Normal? Unusual Sexual Conditions to Watch Out For

There’s a wide range of things considered “normal” within the bounds of sexual health. However, this doesn’t stop you from worrying about your wellbeing, and whether or not you’re sexually “normal”. Plus, there can be a big stigma associated with talking about sex, so you can’t always compare notes with your friends. That said, there are some unusual conditions to watch out for, so take a look at our list – embarrassment free.

 

1. Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder (PGAD): According to health and wellness expert Shanna Freeman, former Senior Editor at HowStuffWorks, ‘People with persistent genital arousal disorder, or PGAD, are constantly in a state of sexual arousal. Actual symptoms of PGAD can vary. Women often experience the physical signs of arousal, including engorgement in their genitals, without even thinking about sex. They can also have such sensitive genital areas that driving or wearing certain types of clothing can cause arousal.’ Some doctors refer to PGAD when talking about women, and priapism (see below) when discussing similar symptoms in men. However, many wellness experts do not believe in making a distinction between genders. Although some people just live with the condition, there has been some success with medication such as antidepressants or Chantix (initially used to curb nicotine addiction).

 

2. Priapism: There is one basic symptom to watch out for with this sexual health condition; a painful engorgement of your erectile tissues that lasts for more than four hours. Freeman explains that priapism ‘occurs when blood becomes trapped in the genital area and does not circulate back into the rest of the body. While women can have priapism, it’s more common in men, and men and women require different treatments for the condition.’ Given the large amount of blood trapped in the genitals, men need immediate medical attention. If left untreated, priapism can cause vessel damage, scarring, a loss of function or even gangrene. The earlier you seek attention, the better your chances of a full recovery. For women, ice packs and anti-inflammatory medications can usually relieve your tenderness and swelling.

 

3. Hypersexuality: This sexual health condition is actually classified as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). ‘People with this diagnosis also have lowered sexual inhibitions and are generally obsessed with sex to the point that their lives are deeply affected,’ says Freeman. ‘People with hypersexuality often engage in risky sexual behaviours, like sex with prostitutes and unprotected sex with numerous strangers, which can put them at risk for sexually transmitted infections. Those who are in monogamous relationships may not be able to be faithful to their partners. In extreme cases, hypersexual people may be sexually abusive to others.’ The treatments for this condition vary, but your doctor may prescribe mood-stabilising drugs, talk therapy or drugs that reduce your testosterone levels.

 

4. Sexsomnia: Put simply, people with sexsomnia have sex while they’re asleep – usually with no idea about it until confronted by evidence or by another person. Freeman notes, ‘Behaviours may range from masturbation to having sexual intercourse while sleeping. Sexsomniacs have been known to sleepwalk from their homes and have sex with strangers. There have even been cases in which a person with sexsomnia committed a sexual assault or rape while asleep.’ In order to treat sexsomnia effectively, your doctor will need to determine the underlying cause. If sleep apnoea is the culprit, treating sexsomnia can be as simple as using a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine to treat sleep apnoea. Anti-anxiety drugs have also been found to be effective in treating sexsomnia.

Categories: arousal disorder, genital arousal, health condition, Hypersexuality, people, persistent genital, priapism, sexsomnia, sexual, sexual health, Sleep apnoea, treating sexsomnia

What Every Diabetic Ought to Know About Sleep Apnoea

Diabetics are more likely to suffer from sleep apnoea, according to a major new study. The wellness and wellbeing of those who suffer from diabetes is under threat in a number of ways, due to the effects on the body from the inability to control blood sugar levels effectively, and sleep apnoea is just another way that diabetics are thought to be at risk.

 

Sleep apnoea is a worrying and distressing condition where a person stops breathing for a period of time (or, sometimes, several periods of time) during the night. As well as being very upsetting for the sufferer (and for their loved ones, who may be extremely frightened to witness this), the condition can lead to a very disrupted night of sleep, and, consequently, to fatigue the next day. It is also linked to a huge variety of other health conditions, such as heart disease and depression. The condition can be diagnosed in a specialist sleep clinic, where participants undergo a full night (or sometimes more than one night) of constant monitoring.

 

People who have hypertension or type 2 diabetes are now known to be more at risk from having obstructive sleep apnoea than those without the condition, and should ensure that they discuss their risk from the condition with their healthcare provider. Effective diagnosis and treatment can significantly improve the health of sufferers, with improved insulin sensitivity, cholesterol and blood pressure.

 

Treating sleep apnoea can be a very important part of diabetes management as it helps to improve glucose levels (as well as the aforementioned insulin sensitivity) in diabetics, and can also reduce their risk of succumbing to diabetes-related conditions.

 

Treatment for sleep apnoea is usually in the form of a CPAP, which blows air into your nose and mouth via a mask while you sleep.

Categories: apnea, apnoea, condition, diabetic, insulin sensitivity, nbsp, risk, sleep, Sleep apnoea

Asthma And Sleep Apnoea: How Does It Affect Your Life?

When you have asthma, you are often at a higher risk for developing a sleep disorder known as obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Now, a Korean study has discovered that, if OSA does affect your wellness, it also significantly decreases your quality of life. Further, the researchers found that, if you are an asthma patient at high risk for OSA, you are also more likely to be older and have a higher body mass index (BMI) than asthma patients whose wellbeing is at a low risk for OSA.

According to lead author Sae-Hoon Kim, of the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, and colleagues, ‘special consideration is needed for the care and treatment of patients with asthma at high risk for OSA, particularly elderly or centrally obese patients.’ This is after studying 217 asthma patients with an average age of 58.4 years, who were randomly selected from a tertiary-care clinic.

The study’s participants were assessed for OSA risk using the Berlin questionnaire, also completing the quality-of-life questionnaire for adult Korean patients with asthma (QLQAKA) and the asthma control test (ACT). The Berlin questionnaire revealed that 41% of the patients were classified as being at high risk for OSA, but the rest were classified as being at low risk for the disorder.

The results of the study were that, after age and gender were accounted for, patients at high risk for OSA had significantly lower QLQAKA scores (an average of 64.4) than low-risk patients (68.1), and this was evident in the activity domain in particular. Further, the average age of high-risk patients was 62.9 years and therefore significantly higher than their low-risk counterparts (55.3 years).

There were also significant differences in average BMI (25.7 vs. 23.9 kg/m2), visceral fat area (119.6 vs. 94.2 cm2), percent body fat (32.0 vs. 26.3%), and the prevalence of hypertension (64.0 vs. 18.8%). The asthma of high-risk patients was also treated for a longer period of time, at 123.9 days, compared to the 89.3 days of low-risk patient asthma treatment. High-risk patients were more likely to use an inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting β agonist combination than low-risk patients (86.5% vs. 75.0%), but there were no noteworthy differences regarding ACT scores or lung function.

In the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Kim and his team were led to conclude that ‘Our data provides clinical evidence that OSA is an important contributing factor for poor quality of life in adult patients with asthma and that central abdominal obesity may be involved in this association.’

Google+
Asthma And Sleep Apnoea: How Does It Affect Your Life?

Categories: Quality of Life, Research, Sleep apnoea

How Type Two Diabetes Could Keep you up at Night

Just what is sleep apnoea? Well, it's a condition which has been linked with obesity and type two diabetes which results in sufferers stopping breathing several (sometimes hundreds) of times during the night. When the stop breathing they wake up suddenly and as such they don't get a full and uninterrupted nights sleep very often. Persistent lack of sleep can cause all sorts of health conditions of its own and it's not something to take lightly, we need to be well rested in order to function well during the day. Less sleep means, among other things, a lessening of efficiency.

For those type two diabetics over the age of 65, sleep apnea becomes a real concern. There's a 67% for men and a 50% chance for women to suffer from this condition and that means a lot of sleepless nights are going to be had by a lot of people. For diabetics the danger's even worse as sleep apnea increases the stress and strain put on the body which in turn can cause blood-sugar levels to rise. For those who have to manage their blood-sugar levels perpetually, this can lead to some unpleasant complications and ultimately death.

If you're part of the group more likely to get sleep apnea and you're concerned about your wellness don't fret! We've put together a list of symptoms, if you suffer from any of these then it's important you see your doctor as soon as possible so you can start to target the condition immediately.

–                    Chronic fatigue caused by persistent lack of sleep. You may fall off without realising it.

–                    Issues in maintaining concentration at times where you haven’t had an issue before.

–                     Mood Swings and irrational behaviour

–                    Blood-sugar levels which become much more difficult to keep under control.

Categories: Diabetes, Information, Sleep apnoea