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Worried Sick? There Might Be Some Truth There
A recent report by health provider BUPA has found that people's worries are damaging their health by causing sleepless nights, loss of sex drive, and erratic eating habits. The 2007 Worry Report demonstrates that almost one in five people constantly worry about numerous things, and more than half feel they worry more now than five years ago. Half of the people surveyed this year, which is 6% more than in 2006, claimed they were more worried about their health and their family's health than about other concerning issues such as climate change or terrorist attacks. The survey finds that almost three quarters of people worry, but around 19% admit to worrying all the time or about a number of things. (Read more about Worried Sick? There Might Be Some Truth There)
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Reducing Stress Lowers Risk of Cardiovascular Problems
A Review in The Lancet reveals the importance of healthy lifestyle choices to reduce stressors related to cardiovascular risk factors. Researchers from John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore examined records between 1990 to 2006. They observed how stress affects the sympathetic nervous system, impacts physiology, and the effect it has on the cardiovascular system. Lead author, Daniel Brotman, claims "Acute physical stressors such as sugery, trauma, and intense physical exertion are well known triggers of cardiovascular events. Emotional stressors are increasingly recognized as precipitants of such events." (Read more about Reducing Stress Lowers Risk of Cardiovascular Problems)
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Low Carb Diet For Diabetes
Have you ever wondered how low carb but higher fat diets actually work?
Surprisingly, one answer may lie in your liver. Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have identified a liver hormone known as FGF21 which is required to oxidize fatty acids - and thereby burn calories.
According to the senior author of the study, "When the diet is extremely low in starches and sugars, blood sugar levels drop substantially so that the muscles and brain have to turn to alternative fuels... consequently, fatty acids are broken down in the liver and converted to ketones, which then serve as a major fuel source." (Read more about Low Carb Diet For Diabetes)
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Diabetes New Treatment
71 year old Elizabeth Widmayer has been successful managing her diabetes, but, suddenly, Elizabeth says the disease started attacking her circulation.
“I would experience pain in the back of my legs when I walked and it would be only say maybe three blocks and then I had loss of feeling starting in my toes so I didn’t have any circulation in my toes,” says Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was suffering from chronic total occlusion. It’s one of the most significant health complications diabetics face, putting them at risk for amputation of a lower limb due to blockages in the peripheral arteries of the leg. But, two new FDA approved devices are breaking through these blockages and restoring normal blood flow.
“The front runner catheter uses what I call the pac-man type technology which actually opens and closes the mouth and actually pushes aside the plaque, the plaque being the substance that causes the blockage of the arteries, and when the plaque is pushed aside it provides us a passage way in order to pass a wire and be able to do angioplasty which is using a balloon or stent to open these passages,” explains Dr. Prakash Krishnan of Mount Sinai. (Read more about Diabetes New Treatment)
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Health Wrap: Reports on Snoring, Fetuses and Pain, Forgetfulness and Baseball
A new study finds that habitual snoring in women is strongly tied to body mass index—a marker of fatness-- and age.
Overall, 7.6 percent of women snore.
The frequency of snoring reaches its peak in women ages 50 to 59.
Frequent snoring was found to increase with alcohol dependence, smoking and physical inactivity.
-- (Read more about Health Wrap: Reports on Snoring, Fetuses and Pain, Forgetfulness and Baseball)
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Family History
How well do you know your family medical history?
We mean, really know –in the sense of knowing what each parent, brother, sister, grandparent, and great-grandparent, aunt, uncle, and cousin has or has had in terms of medical conditions. (Read more about Family History)
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OBESITY AND DIABETES RISK
Scientists have been warning that diabetes will be the next medical crisis in this country. Now – a new study may give us a better warning of who its next victims will be, showing that diabetes, particularly Type 2 diabetes and obesity may be linked.
For years, doctors have been weighing patients, and then determining their likelihood of developing type-2 diabetes. They did so by calculating their “body mass index”—a ratio of their weight to their height. (Read more about OBESITY AND DIABETES RISK)
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DIABETES BREATHALYZER
A new diabetes breathalyzer allows people to have an early indication of whether they are at risk of developing diabetes.
Two years ago, 13 year old Lauren Barbiero barely weighed 70 pounds.
“I was kind of scared of myself. I wanted myself to look a little more like a living person, not like a dead ghost.” (Read more about DIABETES BREATHALYZER)
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CHILDREN & HIGH CHOLESTEROL
Detecting and treating high cholesterol in children is important to protect them against heart disease later in life.
Darren Barrere looks like your average 13 year old, but his cholesterol levels tell a different story. Doctors said his numbers were off the charts and his vascular health was at risk.
“My grandpa on my dad’s side died of a heart attack at the age of 32. My dad has had high cholesterol his whole life.” (Read more about CHILDREN & HIGH CHOLESTEROL)
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NEW DIABETIC GUIDELINES
There are important new diabetes guidelines just released that instruct most Type 2 diabetics to take cholesterol-lowering medication. The goal is to cut down on their risk for heart attacks and strokes, common killers in this patient population. Now, these new diabetes guidelines put out by the American College of Physicians, say most diabetics need to be put on cholesterol lowering medicines even if their cholesterol levels are not high. (Read more about NEW DIABETIC GUIDELINES)
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