Coping with Stress May Improve HDL Levels

Scientists from the University of Hawaii recently found that people who cope with stress well may have higher HDL ("good") cholesterol levels than people who cannot handle stress well.

The findings showed an interesting relationship between cholesterol and stress. More research based on this is expected to be carried out.

As regards the controlling of stress, the first step toward dealing with stress usually involves identifying the factors causing the stress such as a career change, moving and a death in the family.

Unfortunately, the causes of stress are sometimes more subtle. The trials and tribulations of daily life can increase the stress levels of even the most calm and peaceful person.

How to control your blood pressure to a healthy and safe level?

How to control your blood pressure to a healthy and safe level?

Simple....just change your life style! Lifestyle is the way you live your life. It is what you eat and drink, what activities you participate in (or don't), whether or not you smoke, and how you handle stress.

Frequently, by just having a healthy lifestyle alone one can bring high blood pressure down to normal. If your blood pressure is not dangerously high, it is advisable to try lifestyle changes before moving on to other treatments such as taking medications. You also need to have your blood pressure measured regularly, to be sure that it remains normal.

These changes are especially important for people at special risk for getting high blood pressure. Lifestyle changes are also helpful for people whose blood pressure is made worse by heart disease, stroke, high cholesterol and diabetes.

This boils down to having healthy diet (consisting of fruits and vegetables, which are rich in fiber, potassium, magnesium and calcium), loosing weight (especially true for people who carry extra bulk around the waist), exercising (including aerobic exercise, such as jogging, biking or brisk walking), reducing your alcohol intake, smoking cessation.

You have to respect your blood pressure

Most men do not give high blood pressure, or hypertension, the respect it deserves. It is in fact as important as, if not more than, cholesterol. However, most people do not realize they have hypertension until they encounter a stroke or heart attack. Treatment prevents problems, but most patients are not serious in meeting their objectives.

New research has changed the way doctors think about hypertension. It is therefore time men learned about blood pressure too. Nosebleeds, mental tension, headaches and facial flushing do not indicate hypertension. Most men have high blood pressures although they look and feel perfectly well. The only way to know is to have their blood pressure checked.

Moderate drinking done on a daily basis may significantly reduce the risks of coronary heart disease

Some cardioprotective benefits have been demonstrated for light to moderate alcohol consumption (up to 1 drink daily for women and 1 or 2 drinks daily for men).

Alcohol consumed in moderation seems to have an antiatherosclerotic effect, with decreased incidence of peripheral arterial disease and decreased atherosclerotic burden. Like exercise, alcohol consumption seems to be most cardioprotective when done daily and in moderation. However, increasingly excessive consumption is associated with proportional worsening of outcomes.

The cardiovascular benefits associated with alcohol consumption protection are thought to be mediated by improvements in insulin sensitivity and HDL cholesterol. The major protective component seems to be the ethanol itself, and not the other ingredients found in different types of alcoholic beverages.

However, the latest American Heart Association guidelines caution people not to start drinking alcohol if they do not already drink alcohol, according to a review of the advantages and disadvantages of alcohol intake on cardiovascular health.

Control your salt intake!

Unknown to many, there is too much salt in our diet. And salt can lead to high blood pressure and increased risk of heart attack or stroke.
Although the FDA of the USA recommends a limit of 2,400 mg a day and the Institute of Medicine recommends a maximum of 1,500 mg a day, the average American consumes 4,000 to 6,000 milligrams of salt per day!
Take note that by simply removing the salt shaker from the table will not solve the problem because many kinds of packaged, processed and restaurant foods already contain too high a level of salt. However, the following are some tips on how you can reduce your salt intake:

1) Identify foods having a high salt (sodium) content.
2) Limit your daily salt intake to between 1,500 and 2,400 milligrams.
3) When dining out, ask for unsalted menu items.
4) At home, use herbs and spices to season your food while minimizing the addition of salt.
5) Remove salt from recipes when possible.
6) Do not add more salt after cooking.

Fire fighters are plagued by Heart Attacks

A study released in by the Harvard School of Public Health in the USA showed that firefighters on active duty face a heart attack risk many times greater than that of workers with non-emergency roles.

Firefighters charge into burning buildings, fight their way through noxious black smoke and blistering heat, and risk their lives to save others. But the biggest danger fire fighters face isn't fire or smoke or collapsing structures. It is heart attacks.
Although firefighters have long periods of downtime, it is followed by a sudden jolt when the alarm goes off. They have to immediately get in gear with their adrenaline going up fast. That is a lot of stress even for people who are fit.

Hear attack is the No. 1 killer of firefighters, accounting for close to half of the line-of-duty deaths in the past four years, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.