Battling Heart and Stroke

A recent survey by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) showed 46% of Americans have basic or below basic level of health literacy. I am sure that many countries in the world have the same health literacy problems.

When in doubt, where do you turn to for health information? To your health care provider, of course.

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Hey, blueberry lovers. Your favorite fruit may just be the way to lower your cholesterol and save your heart.

The wild blueberry Vaccinium angustifolium is a rich source of concentrated non-nutritive antioxidants. And these antioxidants seem to be able to lower cholesterol levels.

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Those rehab exercises can be a bore sometimes. Treadmill, cycles, weights, sit-ups…I’m sure many cardiac patients on rehab get sick of these exercises and are simply tempted to stop. Well, this Mexican doctor may just have found a better alternative…What about dancing?

Dr Paula Quiroga of the National Institute of Cardiology Ignacio Chavez of Mexico City went for dancing steps instead of the usual rehab routine and got better results. More →

Is there a link between dementia and ministrokes? This seems very likely, according to researchers who conducted studies on several people with dementia or cognitive impairment.

What is dementia?

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Poor sleep is associated with increased risk for having type 2 diabetes and heart disease. And when it comes to lack of sleep, women’s cardiovascular health suffer the most. A recent study by researchers at Duke University Medical Center shows that women’s hearts and vascular systems are more sensitive to sleep deprivation than men’s.

The results of the study were based on data gathered from 210 healthy middle-aged women and men. All participants had no history of diagnosed sleep disorders. They were all non-smokers, and were not on daily medications.

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Are you a white-coat hypertensive?

White-coat hypertension is a type of blood pressure (BP) problem that occurs only when BP is measured in a clinical setting, e.g. by health professional in a “white coat”. However, BP measured at home or in another environment stays normal. Unlike “real” hypertension, white-coat hypertension has always been dismissed as harmless and psychosomatic in nature. This led to white-coat hypertensives being ignored as hypochrondriacs who do not need any therapy.

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At last, a new device to help those with coronary heart disease. Coronary arteries are the main blood vessels which supply your heart muscles with their well-needed blood rich in oxygen. Unfortunately, these blood vessels can get clogged up by deposits of plaques. Plaques are made up of cholesterol-rich fat molecules, calcium and cellular debris in the blood. Plaque deposits can cause the coronary arteries to get narrow and can damage blood vessel walls, or cut off blood supply to the heart. Plaques can be classified in two categories:

• Hard plaques tend to stay in play and make arterial walls thick, hard, and inflexible - resulting in atherosclerosis.
• Soft plaques are more unstable and have lipid cores . These fatty deposits on arterial walls have the tendency to rupture or break off and get carried by the blood flow. They are then transported to other parts of the body can cause blood clots and result in a partial or total obstruction of an artery and cut off the blood supply to tissues and to vital organs such as the brain, the liver, or the kidney. When fatty plaques in the coronary artery rupture, blood clots can form which can lead to heart attacks.

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When it comes to stroke rates, Europeans are way better off than Americans, according to a Dutch study.

The researchers looked at data from 2004 on 13,667 Americans and 30,120 Europeans from 11 countries. Their analysis shows that American men have 61% higher likelihood of suffering from stroke than their European counterparts. Also, American women were almost twice more likely to suffer from stroke than European women. This difference in stroke rates in the two sides of the Atlantic is most evident among the poor segment of the two regions’ population but less visible among the rich. More →

In a previous post, I touched on the beneficial effects of laughter and positive emotions on our heart and vascular system. It is very common however, that heart patients, especially those above 60, suffer from depression, thereby further worsening their underlying heart conditions. However, a recent study conducted by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia may just have found a rehabilitation program that seems to greatly benefit heart patients physically as well as psychologically.

The researchers studied 74 patients who had heart failure and have been diagnosed with depression. The patients were split 4 groups, with each group receiving a different type of home-based rehabilitation program for 3 months, as described below: More →

We all know that high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels are bad for our heart. A study by Irish and Canadian researchers shows that these health conditions can damage our eyes as well.

According to a recent report in the Archives of Ophthalmology
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