January 31st, 2012
People with PCOS depression have a higher risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes than non-depressed individuals, according to a new study.
The findings, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, indicated that the relationship between Type 2 Diabetes, which is closely linked to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle, may be somewhat like a two-way highway. Not only can Diabetes lead to depression, but the latter can also lead to Diabetes.
U.S. researchers led by Dr. Sherita Hill Golden of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore tracked an ethnically diverse group of about 5,000 men and women between ages 45-84 for three years.
They found that people with symptoms of depression were 42% more likely to develop Diabetes by the end of the study than those without such symptoms. They also found that the more serious the symptoms, the higher the risk of Diabetes.
The researchers statistically accounted for factors including obesity, smoking and lack of physical activity, finding that the risk for Diabetes was still 34% higher in patients with depression.
“When we looked at the people in our study who had elevated symptoms of depression, they were more likely to eat more calories, they exercised less and they were more likely to be current smokers. And as a consequence, they were also more obese,” said Dr. Golden, who added that depression also pushes up the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol.
This latter hormone can impair insulin sensitivity and encourage belly fat – risk factors, in their own right, for the onset of Diabetes.
The study also measured the risk for developing depression among people who already had Type 2 Diabetes. Researchers discovered that people who had been treated for this condition were 54% more likely to develop depression symptoms than non-Diabetics.
Regular exercise combined with a balanced, nutritious PCOS diet can help reverse an underlying cause of depression-linked excess weight and obesity, namely the imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance, which decreases insulin sensitivity. By reversing Insulin Resistance, it is possible to facilitate PCOS weight loss and improve mood.
December 26th, 2011
Complicated aerobic exercises can have a great effect on personal fitness. But so, too, can something as simple as walking.
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh revealed that overweight people who walked briskly for 30-60 minutes a day lost weight even if they didn’t change any other lifestyle habits, though a balanced, nutritious diet is vital for long-term health.
Another study found that people who walked for at least four hours a week gained less weight (an average nine pounds less) than couch potatoes as they got older.
Researchers at the University of Colorado discovered that regular walking helped to prevent peripheral artery disease, which impairs blood flow in the legs and causes leg pain in one-fifth of elderly people.
And walking can apparently even help to prevent colds. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts medical school found that people who walked every day had 25% fewer colds than those who were sedentary.
Because walking is a weight-bearing exercise, it can also help prevent the bone disease osteoporosis. Bones are like muscles in the way that they get stronger and denser with the more demands you place on them. The pull of a muscle against a bone, together with the force of gravity when you walk, will stress the bone – which responds by stimulating tissue growth and renewal.
Best of all, walking makes you feel good about yourself. For people with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome suffering from depression, walking three to four times a week for 30 minutes has been shown to enhance their mood.
Experts recommend walking 10,000 steps most days (about five miles) to stay healthy. But don’t be alarmed by that prospect because you’re allowed to take as long as you like to work up to feeling comfortable with walking that kind of distance.
Regular exercise when combined with a healthy PCOS diet can help reverse an underlying cause of obesity, namely the imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance. By reversing Insulin Resistance, you can facilitate weight loss.
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.
September 29th, 2011
Large numbers of Americans are resorting to unhealthy habits like overeating in order to cope with stress. Their response to feeling under pressure also includes a lack of exercise. This lethargy is creating further health problems such as excess Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) weight gain and obesity, which, in turn, increase stress levels.
A survey of 2,000 adults by the American Psychological Association (APA) reported that 47% of participants said they were concerned about levels of stress in their lives.
Women were more likely than men to say they were affected by stress. Both men and women who were experiencing stress were less likely to say they were in good health and reported higher rates of obesity, hypertension (high blood pressure) and depression.
Women under stress said they felt nervous, wanted to cry or felt drained of energy. Men reported trouble sleeping and feeling angry or irritable. About one third of women said they turned to food for comfort and roughly a quarter of the men said the same. Those who did seek comfort in food were twice as likely as the average American to be diagnosed with obesity, said researchers.
If left unchecked, obesity can lead to the cluster of cardiovascular diseases called Metabolic Syndrome (Syndrome X), which is a significantly increased risk factor for heart attacks and stroke. Obesity can also be an underlying case of reversible Pre-Diabetes, which, if neglected, may develop into Type 2 Diabetes. This latter disorder can only be managed for the rest of the victim’s lifetime and raises the risk of blindness, amputation and severe kidney disease.
“What’s surprising and alarming is the fact that too many people weren’t taking active steps to do anything about the stress they’re feeling,” said Russ Newman of the APA.”People don’t really appreciate how detrimental stress is, and the ways they’re trying to manage stress can be as detrimental, if not more so.”
Participants who reported higher stress levels were more likely to smoke and less likely to exercise, which might relieve their feeling of stress in the short term but would exacerbate it in the long run, said researchers.
Such habits are hard to break, however, says Tajita Sinha, Director of the Research Program on Stress, Addiction and Psychopathology at Yale University School of Medicine. When a person is stressed, the need to feel better “takes precedence over impulse control,” said Dr. Sinha. “We tend to choose a response based on what we know, based on habit. We will be looking for things that calm us down but they may not be the best thing for us.”
Various forms of stress release the steroid cortisol and this process may result in severe weight gain, quite aside from eating fattening, high carbohydrate “comfort” food.
Insulin sensitivity decreases after certain stressful experiences such as work-related mental and emotional pressure. As glucose levels in the body rise, they stimulate increased insulin production, which has a number of negative effects. In particular, it raises levels of noradrenalin, a stress response hormone released under conditions of emotional upset, which, in turn, can induce Insulin Resistance. This latter disorder is a reversible imbalance of glucose and insulin in the bloodstream, which can become an underlying cause of PCOS weight gain and obesity.
Insulin Resistance and its side effects may promote the build-up of fat throughout the body as well as a rise in cholesterol and blood pressure levels and the formation of artery-blocking plaque.
Excess weight and obesity-linked Insulin Resistance also contributes to the development of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), the hormonal imbalance which is a major cause of female infertility, as well as skin conditions, excess facial and body hair and male pattern baldness in women.
But don’t despair! Switching to a balanced, nutritious diet can help reverse weight gain, while regular exercise has been proved to have a positive psychological effect on stress-related emotions as well as helping people to return to a healthy weight.
