Stocks, Weather, and Heart Attacks

Is there a link between the stock market and heart health? Researchers from Duke University think there might be. Researchers studied heart attack treatment data from Duke University’s hospital. They started with December 2007 — the beginning of the current recession — and stopped with the signs of economic recovery in July 2009. As Nasdaq stock market numbers sank, the number of heart attacks treated tended to rise. During the period studied, close to one thousand people suffered heart attacks and were treated at Duke University. Researchers found that when the stock market recovered, the number of heart attacks went … Continue reading

Heart Attack Survivors and Episodic Chest Pain

A study from the University of Colorado and the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center took a look at angina — episodic chest pain — in heart attack survivors. Bad enough to suffer a heart attack, but to have to live with weekly or daily chest pain, too? It happens more often than you might think. Nearly two thousand heart attack survivors participated in the study. Approximately twenty percent of the participants reported some kind of chest pain one year after the heart attack. That’s one out of every five heart attack survivors! One percent of patients reported daily chest pain. … Continue reading

The Right Incentive Can Help You Fight Heart Disease

Are you at risk for heart disease? Are you already suffering from some form of heart disease — like high blood pressure or high cholesterol? Here’s a more important question: what are you doing about your heart disease risk, and why? Are you losing weight, eating a healthy, balanced diet, and exercising regularly? Or are you just coasting along and not making any lifestyle changes in order to reduce your risk? Cardiologists report that having the right incentives for fighting heart disease are just as important (sometimes more important) than anything else. Look at my mom, for example. She has … Continue reading

Hormone Replacement Therapy: Risks and Precautions

Considering hormone replacement therapy? Here are some things to think about. The FDA recommends that certain women do not use hormone replacement therapy: Women who might be pregnant Women with a personal history of breast or ovarian cancer Women with a personal history of certain forms of endometrial cancer Women with a personal history of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, heart attack, or stroke Women who have active liver disease. (Though women with liver disease may be able to use hormone replacement therapy in patch form.) If you fall into those categories, talk to your doctors about alternative, non-hormonal treatments … Continue reading

Slash Your Heart Attack Risk!

I never want to have a heart attack. I hope it’s something I never get to experience in life. Are you with me? A recent study from the Boston University School of Medicine and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden looked at the medical histories for more than twenty-four thousand women. They found that just FIVE lifestyle choices can cut your heart attack risk by more than ninety percent. The first two choices alone can cut your risk by more than fifty percent. Drink ONLY a moderate amount of alcohol. That means no more than one half glass of wine daily. … Continue reading

Hilton Head Health

Located off the coast of South Carolina lies a small island, Hilton Head. This beautiful and peaceful atmosphere is home to Hilton Head Health. Hilton Head Health is a place to go to gain knowledge and health regarding fitness, nutrition, and a deeper sense of your own body. The program at Hilton Head Health has helped numerous people learn to enjoy a healthier lifestyle. This all-inclusive health spa provides accommodations, meals, including snacks, health awareness education, exercise classes, and the guidance of an experienced staff. Weight loss results are seen by the people who attend Hilton Head Health. Some of … Continue reading

Wear Red Day: Friday, February 6, 2009

Pull something red out of your closet on Friday — it’s National Wear Red Day here in America. Why wear red? Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America. Wear red to help support heart disease awareness for women! It doesn’t matter what you wear — shirt, dress, socks, tie, hat — as long as it’s red. National Wear Red Day and the Heart Truth campaign come from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes for Health. The goal of these campaigns is simple: spread the message about how serious heart disease … Continue reading

Cats (and Dogs) Do a Body Good

I was reading an issue of Woman’s World today that had a blurb called “The purr-fect way to protect your heart!” Of course this caught my eye. “Sorry, dogs, but when it comes to keeping pet owners healthy, cats win paws-down! That’s the news from a recent large-scale study, which found that owning a cat slashes your risk of a heart attack by 40% and reduces your risk of stroke and heart failure by 30% compared to those who’ve never had a cat or dog—and this was true even after accounting for other risk factors, such as age, blood pressure … Continue reading

Coated Stents

Stents are the tubes inserted into arteries to help them stay open after angioplasty (surgery to remove clots). Right now, surgeons are using stents coated with drugs. Italian researchers are trying out a new type of coated stent with some success. These new stents are coated with a special compound that is designed to help prevent thrombosis (the formation of clots) and restenosis (the buildup of deposits that can clog blood vessels). The compound was developed by CeloNova Biosciences here in the United States and tested out by the University of Catania in Italy. The coating was designed to reduce … Continue reading

The Rainbow Of Teas

Teas come in a lot of different colors these days. Black is the “traditional” tea, the one we’re all used to. Green tea came onto the scene in a big way, followed more recently by white and red teas. So what’s the big deal about each color? Black, white, and green teas all come from the same plant. The difference in color comes from the age of the leaves used and the amount of processing done. White tea leaves are the youngest and are harvested before the leaves are even fully open! Green teas are lightly processed; black teas are … Continue reading