January 20th, 2012
People who have a cat can reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke by more than a third, researchers have found.
Owning a cat as a pet helps to relieve stress and anxiety, which is known to help protect against heart disease by lowering blood pressure and reducing the heart rate.
Researchers at Minnesota University looked at 4,435 adults aged between 30 and 75, about half of whom owned a cat. The findings, presented at a stroke conference, showed that 3.4% of the cat owners died from a heart attack over 10 years. But among the group who had never owned a cat, the rate was nearly double.
Cat owners still had a much reduced chance of developing a stroke or heart attacks when researchers took account of other factors known to trigger heart disease, including excess weight and obesity, high cholesterol levels, smoking and Diabetes.
Study leader Professor Adnan Qureshi said he was surprised by the strength of the effect that owning a cat appeared to have.
“The logical explanation may be that cat ownership relieves stress and anxiety and subsequently reduces the risk of heart diseases,” he said.
Professor Qureshi believes one reason could be that stroking the pet may cut the level of stress-related hormones in the blood. But he added that the type of person who owned a cat was usually already fairly stress-free and at low risk of heart disease.
A balanced, nutritious PCOS diet combined with regular exercise can help reverse an underlying cause of heart disease, namely the excess weight and obesity-linked imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance. By reversing this latter condition, you can facilitate Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome weight loss.
January 4th, 2012
It depends on how much you consume but not, perhaps, in the way you might expect.
Drinking causes PCOS weight gain primarily because alcohol slows down the body’s ability to burn fat for energy. That’s why people who drink a lot of beer are known for their “spare tire. “Alcohol also increases appetite.
But the role of alcohol in causing Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome weight gain is not straightforward. There is clear evidence, however, that beer, wine and spirits have a greater effect on abdominal fat in adults who drink sporadically than in people who drink regularly but in small amounts.
In a study published in The Journal of Nutrition, a group of researchers followed more than 2,000 drinkers and non-drinkers and found that those who averaged a single alcoholic drink a day had the lowest levels of abdominal fat.
Those who drank occasionally but had four or more drinks at a time had the greatest levels of fat in their middles.
One theory is that drinking regularly increases the amount of enzymes that break down alcohol, though more research is needed to confirm this idea.
A balanced, nutritious diet combined with regular exercise can help reverse an underlying cause of excess weight and obesity, namely the imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance. By reversing this latter condition, you can facilitate weight loss.
January 3rd, 2012
Obesity is spreading like wildfire among young people, with kids often wanting junk food before they are old enough to read.
But this fascination with unhealthy food that can make them fat isn’t inborn. Instead, the desire is implanted via a continuous barrage of advertising aimed specifically at children, according to a new report.
A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 75% of all ads aimed at young children and teenagers were peddling candy, snacks, sugary cereal or fast food. Children aged between 2 and 7 see, on average 12 food ads a day from various sources, which grows to about 4,000 a year, said the report.
Advertisers attract their attention by using popular characters like SpongeBob SquarePants and Shrek to sell everything from Burger King hamburgers and french fries to Pop-Tarts and Skittles. The American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups are calling for a ban on this kind of advertising.
In an effort to head off such a ban, 11 major food and beverage manufacturers have formed a coalition to regulate their own advertising pitches. Although activists are skeptical, the coalition claims that, henceforth, members will commit at least half of their children’s advertising to healthier products.
Overweight children and adolescents have a much greater risk of becoming obese as adults than kids of normal weight. Regular exercise when combined with a balanced, nutritious diet at any age can help reverse an underlying cause of excess weight and obesity, namely the imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance. By reversing Insulin Resistance, you can facilitate weight loss.
If left unchecked, obesity can also lead to the cluster of increased risks for heart disease called Metabolic Syndrome (Syndrome X) as well as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) – a leading cause of menstrual irregularity, acne and other skin conditions, excess facial hair and female hair loss. Overweight adolescents do not have a monopoly on PCOS, however. Up to 50% of PCOS sufferers may be females who are of normal weight or even lean.
Insulin Resistance-linked weight problems are also associated with Type 2 Diabetes, which is being seen at an increasingly younger age. Before the onset of this latter condition, however, most people develop reversible Pre-Diabetes, a condition in which blood sugar levels are elevated beyond normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes.
Left unchecked, Pre-Diabetes may lead to the Type 2 variety, which can only be managed for the rest of a person’s life. Many Diabetics require daily injections of insulin.
Over the long term, Type 2 Diabetes severely increases the risk of blindness, amputation and kidney disease, as well as a heart attack or stroke. Some 90% of people with Type 2 also suffer from excess weight or obesity.
December 22nd, 2011
As the link between work-related stress and the onset of Metabolic Syndrome-linked heart disease in both sexes becomes clearer, it’s increasingly important to ensure you motivate yourself to remain calm during your working day.
Numerous studies have yielded a set of tips for lowering stress at work. For example, New Scientist magazine suggests workers should be moderately sociable. Research has shown that sociability is good for health, with a study of thousands of British civil servants revealing that moral support from colleagues, encouragement from supervisors and clear direction from bosses kept stress levels down.
Keep in mind that too much socializing, however, could lead to work piling up. Research from the University of California shows that a quarter of the working day is lost to interruptions, with emails, phone calls and text messages interfering with efficiency every three minutes. Half of all interruptions are self-generated and a quarter of tasks are put off to the next working day, sending stress levels soaring. So minimize interruptions to your work flow.
It’s a good idea to ensure your surroundings are as pleasant as possible. Simply being able to see your colleagues makes the working day much more manageable according to research by the University of Montreal, with the height of partitions dividing up open plan office space having an effect on stress levels.
Surprisingly, the higher the partition is, the more people complain about noise from their neighbors. The Canadian study showed that the optimum partition height is 4ft 3ins (1.3m) – high enough to provide privacy but low enough to ensure staff do not feel isolated.
And whatever you do, don’t forget to switch off .. in more ways than one. Mobile phones, Blackberries and other omni-present pieces of electronic equipment should be turned off after the working day is over to allow burnt-out brain cells to re-charge.
The cluster of increased risks for stress-related heart disease known as Metabolic Syndrome, also called Syndrome X, is strongly linked with obesity. Regular exercise when combined with a balanced, nutritious diet can help reverse an underlying cause of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, namely the imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance. By reversing Insulin Resistance, you can facilitate weight loss.
