Heart Disease, Stroke and Diabetes (147)
Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States. More women die of heart disease than men. It is real, and it affects scores of women in the prime of their lives.
The good news is it is almost entirely preventable. And if you have heart disease, you can do things to help reverse it by taking important steps to stay healthy.
This involves knowing how to keep your heart healthy, understanding your risk for heart disease and learning about your body and the signs of a heart disease and a heart attack.
How To Keep Your Heart Healthy
Exercise: All over the world the people that live long, healthy lives simply have daily vigorous activity- and enjoy doing this. Exercise reduces your stress. It improves your sleep, focus, your mood and metabolism.
A good exercise routine is 30 minutes a day. Think of it as revving the engine of your body. You know you are getting a good work out when you get your heart rate up, break a sweat, and feel a bit breathless (but not too out breath). Power walking is great exercise!
By doing this, you will be healthier, at any body size. You will lose weight, particularly the fat at your waistline, which greatly lowers the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Eat healthy: Food is medicine. It is how you fuel your body. You need good nutrition to be healthy, feel good and fight disease.
Eat seven servings of primarily vegetables, and some fruit. If you do that, your brain, heart, and body will have all the nutrients it needs. By doing this, you will realize you feel satisfied because your body already has the good nutrition it needs. Reduce sugar and the simple carbohydrates in your diet, especially sugary sodas. This will greatly reduce the bad fats in your blood that lead to heart disease.
Eat healthy fats rich in omega3. They will lubricate the arteries of your heart, dilate them, protect them, keeping them healthy and less likely to get inflamed and develop disease.
Manage your stress: Do you believe in a mind body connection? There is strong scientific evidence that shows when you feel good, your body and blood vessels also feel good and are healthier. For instance, laughter has been linked to the healthy function of blood vessels. Fifteen minutes of laughter has been showed to be about equal to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise. The reverse is also true that too much stress can lead to heart disease and other medical problems.
Get a good night’s sleep: Good sleep is associated with well-being and many health benefits as well. This includes better blood pressure and cholesterol levels. With good sleep your metabolism is higher, you feel less hungry and the reverse is true if you are sleep deprived. Put a premium on a good nights sleep.
Quit smoking: This cannot be emphasized enough. Smoking damages your blood vessels from head to toe. By quitting, you can restore the health of your blood vessels and prevent life threatening medical problems like stroke, heart attack, cancer and kidney failure, just to name a few.
Know Your Risk For Heart Disease
Heart disease is brought on by many factors including: smoking, being overweight, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and family history of heart disease in a first degree relative before age 60.
It is paramount that you be the expert of your health and understands your individual risk for heart disease. Partner with your doctor. Your doctor can be very helpful in educating you on your health and risks. There is special blood work and testing that can be helpful and must be tailored to you as an individual.
Signs Of a Heart Attack
A major reason why women don’t get the proper treatment for their heart problems and heart attacks is that many women don’t know that they are having a heart attack. Know your body. Pay attention to how you feel when you are well so that you can recognize and be proactive when you experience these red flags. The first step to surviving a heart attack is being proactive and recognizing your symptoms.
Most people believe a heart attack feels like intense chest discomfort like “an elephant is sitting” on your chest. This is certainly a classic sign of a heart attack and if it happens with any physical activity, that is your warning sign of a heart attack. But about 45 percent of women experiencing a heart attack do not have chest pain. Women often get discomfort in other parts of the body such as: pain in the jaw, tooth, neck, shoulder, arm, and back. Other warning signs include shortness of breath, an overwhelming sense of fatigue, overwhelming nausea, indigestion, heartburn, and cold sweats. The reason for this is the sensory nerve fibers that carry pain signals from the heart cross other nerves when they meet in the spinal cord. This causes symptoms of discomfort in other parts of the body called “referred pain.”
A good rule of thumb is if you are experiencing the discomfort when you are physically active and it lasts longer than 5 minutes, always think it can be your heart and seek immediate medical attention.
Take Home Points
Most heart disease is preventable and most is reversible. By living healthier, you can achieve a healthier you. Invest in yourself. Empower yourself with this knowledge and take charge of your health.
How do you know whether your pain needs to be evaluated by your chiropractor? This is the age-old question. The answer needs to be specific to your particular problem, rather than a one-size-fits all solution. But there are good guidelines that everyone can follow.
First, is your pain deep and boring (that is, does the pain feel like it’s boring into you)? Deep and boring pain usually means something is seriously wrong. If you’ve woken up at night by this type of pain, a visit to your chiropractor or family physician is in order. Kidney stones and inflamed gallbladders are common causes for deep, boring pain that causes a person to awaken from sleep. Severe heartburn is in this category, too, and should be evaluated by your doctor.
But these types of problems are easy to categorize. You’ll probably know, instinctively, that something is wrong. Musculoskeletal pain is rather more difficult to analyze. For example, you lean over in a twisting motion to grab the glass of water on your nightstand and you feel a sharp pain in your lower back. Next morning you have great difficulty getting out of bed. Your lower back is stiff and sore. What should you do?
Your best course of action will be based on a self-assessment. If you’re experiencing pain that radiates down your leg, or numbness or tingling sensations traveling down your leg, you should call your chiropractor’s office and ask to be seen right away. Or, if you don’t have any radiating pain, but sneezing or coughing does provoke a radiating sensation, take the same action. Similarly, the amount of pain you’re having will determine what you do. If the pain is severe, see your chiropractor.
If none of these criteria are present, decision-making gets a bit murky. How you handle your problem will depend on your tolerance for pain. If you have low tolerance, make an appointment to see your chiropractor and get some expert treatment. If you have a higher pain threshold, you might still call for an appointment just to make sure that nothing is seriously wrong. Certainly, if you haven’t improved at all after 48 hours, you need to see your chiropractor.
There is another important scenario. If you have a medical condition such as cancer, an endocrine disorder, or a systemic infection, a sudden occurrence of back pain needs immediate attention, regardless of how or why you think the pain occurred. This is not to be an alarmist, but rather the recommendation is based on precaution. If there is an existing problem, then new issues need to be looked at closely, just to be sure.
These guidelines provide a sound basis for decision-making, but please remember they are just that – guidelines. Each person needs to be comfortable with their own process. And, of course, it’s always much better to be safe than sorry. Your chiropractor is always available to help you sort out these kinds of problems.
Heart disease continues to be a leading cause of death for our country. Did you know that according to the Center for Disease and Control there was 600,000 deaths due to heart disease last year or about one out of four of all deaths. In addition, there were about 935,000 heart attacks last year. This all came at an expensive cost of 108.9 billion dollars. These deaths include all ethnic groups with African Americans (24.5), Hispanics (20.8), Whites (25.1), and Asians (23.2) suffering from this terrible disease.
It seems as though all groups of people can benefit from learning about heart disease and doing all we can to protect our hearts. We all know that prevention is the key. At the same time it is clear that if you are having a heart attack you must get help as soon as possible. Studies have shown that 92 % of people know that a sign of a heart attack is chest pain. Surprisingly, only 27 % are aware of other major symptoms and that 911 should be called immediately.
As a reminder, the warning signs include: chest pain, neck and jaw pain, shortness of breath, cold sweats and nausea. The risk factors include: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, obesity, family history and increasing age. Symptoms can vary by person, so a good rule is that if there are any concerns get medical help as soon as possible.
Prevention, treatment and our understanding of heart disease has significantly improved. As we start a new year, do all that you can to be good to your heart. Follow the advice of your health care providers, eat healthy, exercise, avoid smoking, improve your weight and listen to your heart.
Bifocal contact lenses are designed to provide good vision to people who have a condition called presbyopia. The main sign that you’re developing presbyopia is that you need to hold menus, newspapers and other reading material farther from your eyes in order to see it clearly.
Bifocal contact lenses come in both soft materials and rigid gas permeable (GP) materials. Some can be worn on a disposable basis. That means you have the convenience of throwing the lenses out at specified intervals and replacing them with fresh, new lenses.
Bifocal and multifocal contact lenses work in several different ways, depending on the design of the lens. The designs fall into two basic groups:
1. “Alternating vision” (translating) lenses are so named because your pupil alternates between the two powers, as your gaze shifts upward or downward.
2. “Simultaneous vision” lenses require your eye to be looking through both distance and near powers at the same time. Although this might sound unworkable, your visual system learns to select the correct power choice depending on how close or far you’re trying to see. Simultaneous vision lenses come in two types: concentric ring designs and aspheric designs.
Alternating Bifocal Contact Lenses
Alternating bifocals work much like bifocal glasses. They have two power segments, with an obvious line of separation between the distance correction on top and the near correction below. Your eye looks through either one or the other, depending on whether you’re looking far or near.
With bifocal eyeglasses, this mechanism works because the lenses stay in place even as your eye moves. That can happen with contact lenses, too. Since most alternating bifocals are GP lenses, they are smaller in diameter than soft lenses and they ride on your eye above your lower eyelid. Therefore, when your gaze shifts downward, the lens stays in place, allowing you to see through the lower, near-correction part of the lens.
Concentric Ring Designs
This type of bifocal contact lens features a prescription in the center and one or more rings of power surrounding it. If there are multiple rings, they alternate between the near and distance prescription. Some soft multifocal designs are center-near on your dominant eye but center-distance on your non-dominant eye.
Aspheric Multifocal Contact Lenses
These multifocal contact lens designs work more like progressive eyeglass lenses, where the different prescriptive powers are blended across the lens. Unlike eyeglasses, however, aspheric contact lenses are simultaneous vision lenses, so your visual system must learn to select the proper prescription for the moment.
We all know that weight loss isn’t easy. It takes determination. It takes focus. And if you mix that with adequate sleep, fitness, and nutrition, you will see results. Just going to the gym isn’t enough, you have to push yourself. But how much?
Life is full of decisions. Big, small... we make them every day. If you’ve decided to lose weight, then it’s time to strike a balance in your life. Equilibrium within the trifecta of weight loss: fitness, nutrition, and sleep.
Fitness
Finding a plan that works for you is important. If you are just starting out, find a personal trainer at the club. They will provide guidance on where you should start, how often you should workout, and probably give you a fitness exam. This is your best bet to get on the right path from the get-go.
Nutrition
The simple equation for weight loss is you have to take in fewer calories than your body uses. In short, calories in versus calories out. But it’s not just quantity of calories. You should be eating better quality food. Trade cheese curds for carrots and skittles for grapes.
Sleep
One thing that rarely gets discussed when the topic of weight loss comes up is sleep. Sleep is key to your weight loss program. If you’re working out regularly, a good night’s sleep might be inevitable, but you should still make a point to aim for a solid 7-8 hours every night.
How Do I Get Started?
If you want to lose weight then you need to make a decision right here, right now. It’s not about giving up your favorite meal. It’s about making the decision to eat less of that meal.
It’s not about giving up your favorite TV show. It’s about figuring out how you can watch the show and workout at the same time.
It’s about, no more excuses. It’s worth it.
You can be the new version of you. We know you can do it.
We are moving right along in 2013, letting go of the past, moving toward the present. The present is where you are right now. The present is guaranteed. It is the here and now. The present is just that – a present. You are alive, and amongst the living, which is a present or a gift from the universe. You have not used up your Prana. Prana is the life force energy that flows through the body. It is said, that when you are born, at that the time of your birth, you are given only so much breath (Prana). You can use your breath up fast or slow. I equate that with the analogy of your car. You can use your gas up fast by speeding or you can preserve your gas by going the speed limit. It is a choice. To rush, hurry, or scurry is indeed a choice. Running late indicates not giving enough time and attention to planning your day, or time.
Stop and smell the coffee, tea, roses or anything. Our respiratory system can be out of balance (slow energy moving) or it can be open and receptive. When the nose can inhale fresh oxygen through both nostrils, then it is said that you use both sides of your brain. A blocked left nostril prevents you from using your right brain effectively, and vice versa. When both nostrils aren’t working together, one or the other can cause you to not think to the fullest capacity thereby limiting your thoughts.
Negative thoughts can cause worry, stress, depression, anxiety, and fear, which may in turn manifest as illness. Negative thoughts cause a slow flow of energy through the systems. You are what you think you are. It is mostly, if not all, in the head.
2013 is a new year, and you can decide to be brand new. You can decide not to live this year the way you lived last year.
You can mentally decide to heal, to let go of stuff. If you have not already decided to become involved in positive activity, it’s not too late. You have much to choose from – yoga, meditation, dancing, laughing, cycling, Zumba, church, or anything that will change the breathe (Prana) in your body, can create a change in your brain that will allow you to change your thoughts and behavior, enabling you to have a healthy happy, holy, and peaceful 2013.
Resolve to change for the better.
Happy New Year!
Sat Nam
Diabetes is a disease that changes the way your body uses the sugar found in food. Without the right treatment, the sugar level in the body can go out of control. This can cause many problems. Diabetes can cause problems with blood circulation such as infections and nerve damage leading to no feeling in the foot or feet.
Dry skin and shape changes could be a result of diabetes. Over half of all diabetics have foot problems. These problems range from:
• Decrease blood flow to the feet
• Nerve problems causing a decreased sense of feeling of pain and pressure
• Increased dryness and cracks in your skin.
• Decreased ability to fight infection.
• Poor wound healing
Signs and Symptoms
of Diabetic Foot Problems:
• Cold feet with blue or black discoloration
• Warm feet that are red in color.
• Swollen feet or foot.
• Weak pulses (heartbeat) in your feet.
• Not feeling pain although there is a cut or sore on your foot/feet.
• Pain while active or resting.
• Shiny smooth skin of the feet and lower legs.
What You Should Do
To Avoid Problems:
Daily foot care: Wash your feet carefully every day.
Appointments: Keep all appointments with your caregiver.
Blood Sugar Control: Have good control of your blood pressure and blood sugar. Take your medication. Follow exercise program that is set up by your caregiver. Exercise helps increase blood flow to your feet. Monitored diet changes will help.
Footwear: Check your shoes daily. Remove your shoes and socks when you see your Primary care doctors. This will remind them to check your feet.
Nail Care: You should not dig under or around toe nails. Doctor-formulated nail polish is available at some podiatry offices. This is an alternative to traditional nail polishes, for fashionable patients. It is enriched with naturally-occurring elements like tea-tree oil and garlic bulb extract, wheat protein and vitamins C and E.
Safety: Never use a razor, corn medicine to remove corns, calluses or warts. Talk to your Podiatrist if you have corns, calluses or warts.
Smoking: If you smoke, you should quit. Join a stop smoking program to help you to quit.
The middle body section is probably the most common area of complaint by women. It’s why Spanx are so popular. It’s hard to look and feel sexy when your tummy and love handles are something you’d rather hide than flaunt.
If you’ve tried diet and exercise and can’t seem to get the desired results, it could be because you have excess fullness, skin, and perhaps a separation of the muscle that runs vertically down the center of your abdomen.
This muscle separation is called diastasis recti. It commonly occurs as a result of pregnancy or excessive weight gain. These concerns make it very difficult to shape up the middle body. Excess hanging skin will not disappear on it’s own, nor will countless hours in the gym make it flatten or melt away. So what are your options?
Say Hello to the Bella Body Lift®
The Bella Body Lift is a cosmetic surgery that combines five procedures into one to achieve dramatic results and correct multiple issues. It can also be done alone or in combination with a breast lift or breast augmentation for a complete mommy makeover.
This procedure was developed with the two goals of patient safety and providing the best surgical outcome through one surgical procedure. It incorporates liposuction of the entire mid-body region along with a tummy tuck, while still maintaining the health of the abdominal area.
This one-of-a-kind surgery has five parts:
Liposuction: Two small incisions are made on each side of the body. Liposuction is performed to the back, sides, love handles and entire abdominal area. This procedure helps to accentuate the waistline by providing a natural curve to the mid-section along with giving the appearance of a more sculpted lower back and butt.
Abdominoplasty (Tummy Tuck): Removes excess skin from the lower abdomen to produce a flatter, firmer and tighter stomach.
Surgical Correction of Diastasis Recti: Reattaching the muscle that runs vertically down the abdomen will further flatten and smooth the abdominal area.
Upper Thigh Lift: This smoothes and lifts the upper thigh area.
Pubic Area Lift: Creates a smoother, lifted appearance of the pubic area.
Post-operative care is very important. The patient will usually want to wear the abdominal binder 24 hours a day for the first two weeks and nightly for an additional two weeks. The surgical drains are typically removed 7-10 days after surgery.
The typical time for recovery is two to four weeks. Usually you should be able to start back to work and do light exercise at the two week mark, with full recovery around four to six weeks.
Most of us don’t realize how much stress we put on our big toe. Every step we take places a force equal to about twice our body weight on this toe.
The joint where the big toe and foot meet — the first metatarsophalangel joint — bends and allow our foot to roll forward and push off when we walk. For us to walk normally, this joint needs to be able to bend back 65 degrees. As twice the size of the same joint in our other toes, this joint is the major player in accepting body weight as we push off of the foot. In addition to its increased size, this joint also takes loads better than our other toes because of small bones called sesamoid bones. These bones provide shock absorption and, more importantly, serve an important role with the muscles of the foot and their ability to control and propel the foot.
The first metatarsophalangel joint (the big toe) is a small joint, but osteoarthritis makes this joint stiff and difficult to bend (a condition called halluxrigidus).
This makes simple activities like walking, running, squatting, and bending over excruciating.
Research is not clear as to why some of us develop halluxrigidus and others do not. Congenital defects, poor foot mechanics, trauma (fractures and sprains), and sports injuries are some factors leading to these degenerative problems. Ballet dancing, gymnastics, and sports with quick changes in direction on artificial surfaces (“turf toe”) are common types of sports that cause stress to this joint. Rheumatoid arthritis and the metabolic disorder of gout can also lead to degeneration in this joint as well.
Signs and Symptoms
If you don’t seek early treatment, degeneration of the joint may become more severe and may affect the joint’s ability to move effectively. Therefore, it is important to recognize the signs and symptoms of this condition and take appropriate action.
• Pain walking and with activities where the toe bends backwards.
• Swelling and redness in the joint where the big toe meets the foot.
• Pain and stiffness that is aggravated by cold, damp weather.
• Tendency to walk on the outside of your foot or with a shortened stride without pushing off the toes, which progresses to a painful limp as degeneration of the joint becomes more severe.
• Pain in other locations such as the ankle, knee, hip, or low back as your body attempts to adapt to bearing your weight as you walk.
Controlling your pain and inflammation is the first step in treating this condition.
Your clinician will often recommend rest, ice, and anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen to decrease swelling and inflammation.
Cold and hot contrast baths may be used to help improve circulation in the area. In addition, physical therapy can improve your mobility, walking mechanics, and pain level.
Physical therapy can improve the ability of the big toe to bend up and down as you walk. Joint mobilizations and traction to the toe can make movement more comfortable.
Soft tissue release and massage may help restore mobility of the muscles and decrease local inflammation.
With an increase in mobility, gait training is needed to re-teach your body to walk correctly. The longer you have walked improperly, the more conscious effort and time it takes to resume your old way of walking.
Physical therapy treatment includes assessment of the whole lower part of the body to check for changes in gait mechanics. Abnormal gait from big toe pain can result in weakness and loss of motion in the hip, and ankle.
Orthotics
Custom made orthotics/shoe inserts may be recommended as well.
Hypertension is the term used to describe high blood pressure. Major causative factors include how much water and salt are in your body, the condition of your kidneys, nervous system and blood vessels, and hormone levels. As you may already know, hypertension increases your risk of stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney disease and early death.
The most popular means of treating this condition is with medication. Although effective, taking these medications can lead to a myriad of side effects. These adverse effects include, but are not limited to increased urination, weakness, fatigue, depression, sexual problems, leg cramping, asthma symptoms, sleep problems, skin rash, loss of taste, dizziness, constipation, diarrhea, headaches, joint aches, etc.
Of course, you should always consult your doctor before stopping any medications, but there are healthy ways to control hypertension. One of these natural methods is aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is any activity that increases heart and breathing rates. Regular exercise strengthens your heart. A stronger heart can pump more blood with less effort. It takes about one to three months of regular aerobic exercise to have an impact on blood pressure. You don’t have to be a top tier athlete to make a commitment to exercising. Thirty minutes a day for most days of the week can make a lasting, positive impact on your blood pressure.
Diet also plays a pivotal role. Diets high in sodium have been shown to increase blood pressure. Healthy diets, consisting of fruits, vegetables, lean meats, poultry, nuts, legumes and seeds are a great way to control blood pressure. These good foods are high in potassium, magnesium, and fiber, among other healthy nutrients.
Another way to control blood pressure is through chiropractic care. It has been shown that specific chiropractic adjustments to the Atlas, the first vertebra in your neck, are a very effective way to alleviate hypertension. Because it is directly under the area where the spinal cord exits your skull it is believed that if your Atlas is out of proper alignment, your nervous system can be compromised. When realigned, your brain can communicate better with your muscles and organs. This includes your heart.
Medications are effective at controlling hypertension, but who wants to take all those pills and risk adverse side effects? A healthier, happier lifestyle through exercise, healthy diet and chiropractic should be part of everyone’s life, especially those afflicted with hypertension.
