Heart / Cardiac Diseases / Symptons / Syptoms / Diaganosis & Treatments

Why Cigarette Smoking is Bad for Your Health

Cigarette Smoking is directly responsible for 419,000 deaths from all causes in the United States. Smoking accounts for 30 percent of all deaths from cancer and 30 percent of all cardiovascular deaths.

Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, 60 of which are carcinogenic (capable of producing cancer). Two of the most noxious of these are nicotine and carbon monoxide.

Nicotine is an addictive, stimulant drug that releases chemicals that raise the heart rate, blood pressure, and resting and physical-activity metabolism. Carbon monoxide, the same gas that is emitted from the exhaust of automobiles, trucks, and buses, is a poisonous gas that competes with oxygen for binding sites on hemoglobin.

Hemoglobin (a protein pigment transported by red blood cells that attaches to and carries oxygen) has a much greater affinity for carbon monoxide than it has for oxygen. As a result, there is a proportional decrease in oxygen that is displaced by carbon monoxide. This is a significant problem that is further complicated by the fact that carbon monoxide has a half-life of 5 hours after it attaches to hemoglobin. By comparison, oxygen detaches from hemoglobin in just a matter of minutes.

An increased level of carbon monoxide combined with nicotine act in concert to reduce HDL-cholesterol, to increase blood platelet adhesiveness (which increases the likelihood of arterial spasms), to increase fibrinogen (which increases the probability of clot formation), and increases levels of homocysteine (a protein that increases the risk of having a heart attack). These factors, individually or together, predispose people prematurely to coronary heart disease. The answer is: Stop smoking or, better yet, don’t start.

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Three Major Risk Factors for Heart Disease

Although most heart attacks occur later in the life cycle (55 percent after 65 years of age), the processes responsible begin quite early, often before adolescence. Atherosclerosis is responsible for about 80 percent of all heart attacks. It is the result of interactions between genetic factors and lifestyle behaviors.

Certain lifestyle behaviors were identified by the Framingham Heart Disease Study as risk factors for coronary heart disease. The risks are generally categorized as those that can be changed and those that cannot.

Age
The statistical probability that a person will die from heart disease increases with advancing age. In fact, 55 percent of all heart attacks occur after 65 years of age, and 85 percent of all fatal heart attacks occur after 65 years of age.

Male Gender
Men are, and have been, the primary candidates for heart disease. An alarming trend has surfaced in recent years though: Morbidity (the sick rate in a population) and mortality (the death rate in a population) have been increasing steadily in premenopausal women. The prime contributor is cigarette smoking, and when it is coupled with taking oral contraceptives, the risk increases substantially. By age 65, a woman’s risk is approximately the same as a man of the same age. On average, women tend to get heart disease about 10 years later than men, so men are at higher risk at younger ages. But the risk equals out and eventually reverses at and beyond 65 years of age.

Women have a more favorable blood-fat ratio that protects the arteries from atherosclerosis. Vulnerability to heart disease for women increases after menopause because estrogen production decreases and then stops, and blood-fat ratios change so they resemble the masculine profile.
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The Negative Effect of Diet on Weight Loss

Weight loss attempts in the United States have emphasized dietary restriction with continued sedentary living. This combination has led to consistent failure. Weight loss with this method is temporary, and most of these weight watchers lose and gain weight many times during their life. The eating patterns established during the diet period are short-lived.

People in the United States have been, and continue to be, obsessed with losing weight. At any given time, about 40 percent of women and 25 percent of men are attempting to lose weight for reasons of physical appearance or health. Unfortunately, 90 percent to 95 percent of all dieters regain all or most of the weight that they lost within five years. Eat-less approaches to weight loss and permanent weight control have not worked and probably never will. Inexplicably, people continue to utilize weight-loss strategies that have failed them in the past. New attempts may feature new “diets,” but calorie restriction remains the method of choice.
It is time to forget dieting as an effective weight-loss technique. The appropriate nutritional approach emphasizes sensible modifications in eating behavior that can be followed for a lifetime, not for just a few weeks or a few months. This means a nutritional approach that emphasizes a low-fat, high complex-carbohydrate style of eating. This, combined with sensible, progressive, and consistent exercise for a lifetime, should produce the permanent weight loss and control that people want.

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How Does Obesity Affect Your Health

The current perception of obesity is that it is a chronic disease like hypertension or diabetes rather than a simple failure of willpower. Data indicate that Americans once again are gaining weight. The number of overweight males has risen from 24 percent to 32 percent, and the number of overweight females has risen from 27 percent to 35 percent.

Excess body weight carries medical consequences. Obesity increases the risk and the consequences of many other chronic diseases. It significantly increases the workload of the heart, and it coexists with high blood pressure and elevated serum cholesterol. Obesity is related to the onset of diabetes, arthritis, and some forms of cancer. Estimates indicate that obesity is involved in 300,000 premature deaths from all causes each year.

The National Institutes of Health define obesity as 20 percent above desirable weight. Other authorities define it relative to the percent of body weight that consists of fat. This is a more accurate method that provides guidelines for weight loss and weight control. Males are obese when 25 percent or more of their total body weight is in the form of fat. Females are obese when 32 percent or more of their total body weight is in the form of fat. Read the rest of this entry »

Heart Attack Recovery – Medication

You will have been prescribed either singularly, or as a combination, the following medications to support your body on its road to recovery and to act as secondary prevention barriers. These prescription drugs are designed to:

-Balance out high or low blood pressure.
-Lower cholesterol.
-Deal with angina attacks (spray or tablet).
-Disperse and thin blood that is overly clotting, thereby improving circulation.
-Reduce water retention.
-Relieve breathlessness and the likelihood of heart failure.

DO:
-Take your pills as prescribed.
-Report any side effects.
-Take enough pills with you when you are travelling.
-Check with the pharmacist or your doctor if the dispensed tablets appear to have changed in shape or colour from your previous prescription.
-Consult your GP before you take any homeopathic remedies.
-Avoid eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice if you are taking cholesterol-lowering drugs.
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Common Health Problems Caused by Unhealthy Imbalance of Your Body

Because all body tissue is made of cells, the negative effects they undergo from an unhealthy imbalance can be found anywhere in the body. Here we look at some typical stress-related health problems but there are many more that are generated or influenced by upsetting the healthy balance of your body.

Skin: The skin is usually first to be affected by an imbalance, as it is the body’s extremity. Supplies of energy and nutrients have the furthest to travel in order to reach the skin, so it is more likely to be affected by blockages and lack of power in the body’s transportation system. Also, the skin has more continuous exposure to the outside world than any other system in the body so it gets a constant battering, making it harder to maintain healthy cells. The combination of these factors, and the fact that skin cells are constantly having to be renewed, means that skin problems are at the forefront of stress-related illness.

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Keeping Yourself Away from Cigarettes

If you are reading this article then I should assume that you want to get away from smoking and give up cigarettes once and for all. Are the methods and ways getting you confused on how to leave this hazardous thing? Do not worry since I have a few easy ways that will take you through this hard task. Firstly just stick one thing in your head that if you do not leave cigarettes then things like cancer, heart stroke and diseases, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and other such respiratory problems await you. So lets get you aware of how to quit smoking.

Start from making up your mind and gathering as much negative info in your mind as possible regarding how dangerous smoking is to health. Observe the difference between a non-smoker’s life and a smoker’s life, talk to people whom successfully quitted smoking and why did they do that? Look at your own self in the mirror while you smoke, is it really that you want to do to yourself? Gathering more and more info really helps in getting mentally prepared. Get some encouragement, get your family and friends aware of your decision and surely you will get loads of motivation and support. Ask ex-smokers about any possible alternatives to smoking that are not dangerous to health. Whenever the craving gets at the peak and you really want to take a smoke, stop yourself, do whatever it takes and not light a cigarette; you will feel proud of yourself in a bit that you are not a servant to something like a cigarette.

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Importance of Warming Up Before Exercise

Since a lot of people are involved in physical exercises, it is imperative that the importance of warming up before any strenuous activity should be discussed. Many have repeatedly ignored going through the warm up stage before working out, not knowing the consequences in doing so.

Why warm up? Several changes takes place in the body once physical activity is initiated. A person’s respiratory rate, blood flow, and oxygen and nutrient levels delivered to the cells increases. The rate of increase should be regulated in a steady pace to prepare the body for the physical stress that exercise will demand. If one foregoes this priming procedure, the body will function less efficiently and the workout will produce less quality results. Warming up preps up the nervous system, heightens mental awareness and alertness, and loosens up joints and muscles to make them less prone to injuries. Warm ups jump starts the fluid located in the joints, minimizing the risk for wear and tear of the muscles. It gives the heart a suitable period to adjust and pump up blood and nutrients into muscles.

This is vital for older people, since they have tissues that are less supple; they have joints with less fluid, and weaker hearts. Sudden exercise can produce heart attacks to older people.

How does a person warm up properly? Initially, it can be done in any procedure that enables the heart to beat faster. One can simply walk and jog, or if a cardiovascular equipment is available, such as rowing machine or a bicycle, it can be utilized. Start at a gentle pace, and then slowly increase the pace until heart beat rate increases and the body temperature rises. It important to note that the pace should be in accordance to one’s current fitness level, where the activity will leave the person energized and not exhausted.

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Understanding Food Labels

You cannot measure every morsel that passes your lips, but it is a good idea to measure most foods and beverages until you get a feel for portion sizes.

It is a supersized world out there, and most people are surprised to find that their idea of a single serving is actually two or three.

If you are into bells and whistles, there are food scales that are preprogrammed with nutritional information, as well as scales that will keep a running total of your daily food and nutrient intake for you. The only tools you really need, however, are a simple and inexpensive gram scale, dry and liquid measuring cups, and idea on reading food labels.

Among all of the mentioned tools, reading food labels seem to be the most effective way of determining the right kind of food to be bought in the supermarket. It lets you make sensible food selections. Through the “Nutrition Facts” section in a particular item in the grocery, you can identify the amount of serving sizes provided in that product.

With food labels, you can clearly understand the amount and kinds of nutrients that are provided in the item. Usually, it contains the information on saturated fat, sodium, total fat, fiber, and cholesterol amount “per serving.”

However, understanding and reading these food labels can be very perplexing. A typical consumer would definitely ask what those numbers mean and how it will affect her diet intake if ever she will religiously follow the serving guide as stipulated on the food label.
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Acupuncture for Quitting Smoking – Result Oriented Treatment

With the passed decade I have seen a distinguished raise in the level of people who are getting addicted towards smoking. There are many reasons to why one started smoking but the good thing is that due to its life-taking effects on health, I have also observed some people searching for the ways to quit smoking. Considering acupuncture for quitting smoking is one of the ways to overcome smoking but is it a wise decision? Acupuncture is said to be highly effective when trying to give up cigarettes and when all other methods have failed. Mostly devoted people are the one’s who go for this method. Quick relief is promised from the chronic smoking addiction when you choose this Chinese therapy as a solution for your concern.

Acupuncture is a therapy which is basically based on a belief that an important energy force called ‘chi’ runs around the body through 12 various key channels. It is said that there are around 365 acupuncture points within these twelve channels that sometimes due to blockage stop the flow of that vital energy, which leads to chronic habits eventually. There is no magic in Acupuncture therapy, what happens is that five needles are inserted on the wrists, hands and into the ear in the cartilage avoiding the ear canal. You are left to relax for around half an hour with those needles pricked at the skin. It is said that this method has shown highly positive results of cutting down smoking cravings quickly.

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