Exercise Reduces Anxiety of Chronic Illness

Coping with chronic illness is a difficult challenge. The uncertainty of how you'll feel each day and how your illness will impact your plans, your job and your family life creates daily anxiety. The up and down nature of chronic illness -- bad days and good days -- coupled with lack of definitive treatment for many chronic illnesses only increases anxiety. Researches have now found that exercise can help alleviate the anxiety experienced by sufferers of chronic illness.

According to a University of Georgia study recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, regular exercise decreases anxiety in the chronically ill no matter what the status of their illness. In a comparative study of 3,000 chronically ill patients who lived mostly sedentary lives, 30 minutes of even mild exercise reduced anxiety symptoms by 20%. This was true for patients suffering from myriad types of chronic illness including fibromyalgia, heart disease, depression and cancer. Only those with multiple sclerosis did not respond to exercise.

While the benefits of exercise in combating depression have been known for some time, the new study shows that exercise also has a positive effect on anxiety.

Gum Disease Can Impact General Health

When was the last time you saw your dentist? Researchers have discovered that periodontal or gum disease is as big a risk factor for heart disease as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and smoking. Gum disease releases powerful bacteria into the bloodstream that can negatively impact your overall health. In addition to heart disease, periodontal disease has been linked to diabetes, stroke, respiratory infections, low birth weight and premature births.

Research has found that diabetes puts people at greater risk of developing periodontal disease. Many physicians refer to gum disease as "the sixth complication of diabetes." Diabetics and those with pre-diabetes should see their dentist regularly -- every 6 months. Don't ignore red or sore spots on your gums or bleeding gums when you brush your teeth. It could be an indication of periodontal disease and should be addressed promptly to protect your health.

Setting Clocks Back Gives Your Heart a Boost

When you set your clock back an hour tomorrow morning (Sunday, Nov. 2), you'll be giving your heart an unexpected little boost. In going over 20 years of records, Swedish researchers found that the number of heart attacks actually dips a bit -=- about 5% -- on the Monday after clocks are set back an hour. That extra hour of sleep seems to be good for our hearts.

Unfortunately, come spring, losing an hour of sleep when we turn clocks forward has the opposite effect. The same study found an overall 5% increase in the number of heart attacks during the first week of daylight-saving time. The early part of the week when people struggle most to adjust to the change in biorhythms was the most stressful with heart attacks rates increasing by 6% on Monday and Wednesday and 10% on Tuesday.

"Sleep -- through a variety of mechanisms -- affects our cardiovascular health," said Dr. Lori Mosca, director of preventive cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. "Sleep not only impacts how we feel, but it may also affect whether we develop heart disease or not."

So pamper your heart tomorrow and enjoy that extra hour of sleep. You'll need it come spring!

'Stayin' Alive' Can Actually Help You Stay Alive

The Bee Gees' great disco song Stayin' Alive can put the beat back into a stopped heart. At 103 beats per minute, the 1977 pop standard provides the perfect rhythm for performing CPR. In a study at the University of Illinois medical school, doctors and students produced the ideal number of chest compressions during CPR while listening to the peppy falsetto tune from the John Travolta movie Saturday Night Fever.

Study author Dr. David Matlock said few people realize how quickly chest compressions must be performed to start and keep a heart pumping. The American Heart Association, which uses Stayin' Alive as a CPR instructor training tool, recommends 100 compressions per minute, a considerably faster rate than most people think. When performed properly, CPR can triple the survival rate from cardiac arrest, but few people attempt it because they're not sure of the proper rhythm. According to Dr. Matlock, compressing the chest to the beat of Stayin' Alive will keep you on track.

Youthful Habits Check High Blood Pressure

Scientific studies are finding that acting like a kid may reset your body's clock and help you beat high blood pressure. Uncontrolled high blood pressure (hypertension) increases your risk of heart attack, heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and stroke. But lowering your blood pressure can be easy -- and fun -- if you just act like a kid again!

• See the doctor every year. Those annual visits to the pediatrician kept us healthy and on track when we were kids, but most adults only see a doctor when they're sick. Annual checkups set a baseline for normal body functions and tell us when things are getting out of whack. Early treatment prevents small, solvable problems from becoming big, life-threatening ones.
• Drink milk. Drinking nonfat milk products reduces your risk of hypertension by 50%. If you're allergic to milk or are lactose intolerant, you can get similar benefits from the milk protein casein which can be found in certain lactose-free products and supplements. Casein blocks the chemical reactions that cause blood vessels to narrow and make pressure rise.
• Play. And you don't even need to play every day. Just 30 minutes of brisk exercise three times a week will lower your blood pressure. Walk, play hopscotch with the kids, jump rope, toss a frisbee -- just make sure you get your heart rate up.
• Eat candy. But not just any candy -- dark chocolate, the darker the better. Eating 30 calories of dark chocolate a day will lower your blood pressure without weight gain.
• Take a nap. People who only get five hours (or less) of sleep a night increase their risk of getting hypertension. If you have trouble sleeping, make sure you take a nap during the day.

DASH Diet Controls Heart Attack, Stroke

A comprehensive study has proved that the DASH diet can save people from heart attack and stroke. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan was developed to lower blood pressure in people with hypertension (high blood pressure). The diet plan recommends eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk and plant-based protein over meat.

Researchers tracked 88,000 healthy women over a 25-year period to compare food choices with incidents of stroke and heart attack. Women who followed the DASH eating plan were 24% less likely to have a heart attack and 18% less likely to have a stroke than women who ate more typical American diets. The DASH diet has previously been shown to prevent high blood pressure and cholesterol, which can also lead to heart attacks.

After age 50, two in five American women will develop cardiovascular disease which can cause heart attacks and strokes. The DASH diet can protect you from heart attack an stroke. Click here to find out more about the DASH diet.

It's Never Too Late to Get Healthy!

It's never too late to improve your health with exercise and diet, even if your past lifestyle has been less than healthy. Even after age 65, simple lifestyle changes can bring significant health benefits, says a recent study by doctors at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. Eating a healthier diet and including exercise in your day can have a positive effect on many chronic diseases, including obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis.

"I think this is an extremely important and positive message," said study leader Dr. Richard Rivlin, professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. "Many elderly people feel that it is too late for them to improve their health, but that is simply not true. When measures to combat chronic disease are started in one's 60s and 70s, there are still definite benefits. But older adults must realize that there is no quick fix. They must change their lifestyles."

Among the study's specific findings:

• Lowering high blood pressure through improved diet and exercise can prevent 20% of coronary heart disease cases in men and 30% in women.
• A low-calorie diet and regular exercise lower cancer risk by 50%.
• Weight training helps prevent osteoporosis.
• Calcium and vitamin D supplements slow bone loss and reduce risk of bone fracture.

Heart Disease Often Undiagnosed in Women

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States, claiming the lives of more women than men each year. More women die from cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes, than from all forms of cancer combined, according to the American Heart Association. This year, heart disease will take the lives of an estimated 490,000 women nationwide. More than half of the women who suffer a heart attack will never even suspect they had a heart problem, indicates research by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Too often heart disease goes undiagnosed when women visit their doctor. Women's symptoms are different from men's and are often mistaken for other health problems. Symptoms include breathing problems, unusual tiredness, anxiety, indigestion and trouble sleeping. The chest pain and numbness that send men racing to the emergency room don't occur when a woman's heart starts to struggle. Women can develop heart disease without exhibiting high blood pressure or high cholesterol. A family history of heart disease is far less indicative of a woman's risk of future heart problems than a man's. Without such obvious clues, women often don't realize they have a heart problem and ignore symptoms they contribute to other health issues until it's too late.

Researchers haven't figured out why men and women exhibit such different signs of heart failure. They suspect that in women heart disease develops more slowly and over a longer period of time. Diagnosis can be more difficult because women are apt to have other chronic health issues like diabetes which may have similar symptoms. By the time heart disease becomes evident it has progressed significantly.

Is Drinking Diet Soda a Health Risk? Say It Isn't So!

Just when we thought diet news couldn't get worse, now researchers are saying that even diet sodas can be bad for our health. Is nothing sacred?

According to a new study, drinking as little as one can of soda a day -- either regular or diet -- increases the risk of metabolic syndrome by 48% Metabolic syndrome is a key predecessor of heart disease and diabetes and includes excessive abdominal fat, high blood-glucose levels, high blood pressure, high blood triglycerides and low levels of high-density lipoprotein, the "good" cholesterol.

Previously only regular soda was thought to contribute to heart disease and diabetes. This is the first study to implicate diet soda. Researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine who conducted the study had no idea why diet soda would pose the same risk as regular, sugared soda.

Study leader Dr. Ramachandran Vasan said it is unlikely that an ingredient in diet soda is to blame. He suggested that the consumption of sweet sodas may change dietary patterns or may be simply indicate general poor eating habits.

Naturally, the soda industry was incensed by the new findings. Susan Neely, president of the American Beverage Associations, said, "...it is scientifically implausible to suggest that diet soft drinks -- a beverage that is 99 percent water -- cause weight gain or elevated blood pressure."

Just to be safe, guess I'll start stocking up on green tea.

Good News and Bad News About Chocolate

Well there's good news and bad news on the health front. Chocolate, at least the right king of chocolate, is good for you. It seems that dark chocolate lowers blood pressure. Yea! Unfortunately, it only takes a small amount to get the job done -- the equivalent of just 2 tiny Hershey's Kisses. (Boo!) And here I was hoping to add a box of bonbons a day to my daily diet plan. Oh, well.

New research from Germany adds to other studies that have linked chocolate with health benefits but is the first to suggest that a tiny amount will do the job. Study volunteers who ate about 6 grams of dark chocolate daily for nearly five months (the equivalent of 1 1/2 Hershey's Kisses) lowered their blood pressure. A control group who ate the same amount of white chocolate did not.

Although decreases in blood pressure readings were typically small among study participants, scientists believe it is enough to potentially reduce the risk of cardio-vascular disease. Because of the high number of calories usually found in chocolate bars, the study tested small amounts of chocolate -- the equivalent of 30 calories -- which would not adversely impact weight gain.

Small Changes Can Reduce Stress

Stress shortens your lifespan (see our June 11 blog post). In fact, prolonged stress can affect your body physically in myriad ways. Prolonged stress has been associated not only with heart problems, but also with sleeplessness, depression, rapid weight gain or loss, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, even skin rashes.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, take a few stress-reducing tips from expert Kathleen Hall, author of Body & Soul:

• Start small. It's even more stressful to try to change everything at once, instead "alter one small thing: a morning habit, a food choice. Over time these will add up."


• Be thankful. "It's hard to feel gratitude and stress at the same time. Devote 5 minutes a day to giving thanks for all the gifts in your life."


• Enjoy the ride. Whether you're commuting or driving the car pool, "use your travel time as an opportunity to practice patience and compassion If you can use calming breaths to stay related and unruffled in traffic, you can handle anything."


• Smell the roses. Focus on the beauty in the world around you. Enjoy the glory of a beautiful sunset, the antics of squirrels and birds in your backyard, a colorful garden along your commuting route, the tree tops swaying gently in the breeze. Eat your lunch around a fountain or in the garden. Focusing on small bits of beauty that touch your life each day gives you a momentary break from your problems and a little mood boost.

Snooze Your Way to Good Health

Who knew that afternoon siesta would help you live longer? Three 30-minute day-time naps a week decrease your risk of dying from a heart attack by 37%, according to a joint study by American and Greek researchers.

Regular naps lower your stress levels, which are associated with heart disease. Colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Athens Medical School tracked 23,681 originally healthy men and women in Greece for six years. Half the study group took regular midday naps. Heart diseased felled 133 of the 792 participants who died during the course of the study. Of those, two-thirds as many non-nappers as nappers died of heart disease.

While researchers aren't certain why nappers lived longer, numerous studies have linked heart problems with physical or emotional stress. Stress affects a person's blood pressure, heart rate, sugar and cholesterol levels. Napping allows the body to recover from stress. So, if you can take a midday nap, do your body a favor and do so. Sweet dreams!

Heart Attack Risk Starts When You're a Baby

We've long associated adult cardiovascular disease with poor eating habits, smoking and lack of exercise. However, numerous research studies show that the precursors for heart disease begin in infancy and childhood.

One of the most well-known, long-range studies is the Bogalusa Heart Study initiated in Bogalusa, Louisiana in 1973. Since then the study has tracked the lifestyles of 16,000 children and adults. Study data have produced conclusive evidence that "risk factors for adult heart disease are established in infancy and perhaps even in the fetal period," writes Dr. John Barnard, president of the Children's Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio.

Among study findings:

• Early signs of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease can be evident in children as young as 5 to 8 years old.
• Children with a low birth weight are at greater risk for obesity, Type 2 diabetes and hypertension as adults.
• Rapid weight gain in infancy affects the body's metabolism often leading to adult cardiovascular disease.

Both physicians and parents have started to address potential cardiovascular risk factors in children. The American Heart Association and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation host a website with many resources for parents and children. (Click here to visit the site.) Heart health begins in infancy and continues throughout life.

Diabetes Pill Increases Heart Risk

New findings by the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio indicate that a widely used diabetes pill raises the risk of heart attack and possibly death. Sold as Avandia and Avandmet, the popular drug came on the market 8 years ago and is used to control blood sugar in people with Type 2 diabetes. More than 6 million people worldwide have taken the drug and about one million Americans are current users.

Pooling results from dozens of studies involving 28,000 people, the study indicates that people taking the drug have a 43% higher risk of heart attack than those taking other diabetes medications. The results are particularly disturbing in that two-thirds of diabetics die of heart problems.

If you are currently taking Avandia or Avandmet, talk to your doctor. The actual risk to a single patient appears to be small. You should not stop taking a medication without your doctor's knowledge and consent.