The Silent Killer - High Blood Pressure
Have you ever noticed that you don’t really appreciate something until you don’t have it any more?
This year I will be turning 58. I’m not sure how this happened. My mind feels so much younger, but my body has begun to show the signs of wear and tear.
Actually, when I turned 40, the first stages were evident. I remember asking my chiropractor why my body fell apart when I turned 40. He told me that it was the result of all the things I had done up to that point like not taking care of myself properly with good nutrition and a healthy diet and not getting enough exercise, but it just seemed like it happened overnight.
I began to take a little better care of myself, doing some stretching exercises in the mornings and trying to get out walking and trying to watch what I ate, but the weight crept up and the exercise slowed down, and before I knew it I had another health problem – high blood pressure.
I didn’t really pay a whole lot of attention to it, thought it was something that would go away on its own. I hate taking pills and didn’t want to take them if I didn’t have to. I tried to deny it. The doctor told me he was worried about it, but I thought it was really nothing, after all, I really didn’t feel anything, I felt just fine, I couldn’t be sick.
The doctor told me he wanted to see me every month and each time his nurse would shake her head when she took my blood pressure, but I was still sure I was ok. The Doctor said, “I want you to take this pill, your blood pressure is way too high and we need to get it down.” (One of my readings was close to 200.) He put me on various types of medication, but they weren’t bringing down my blood pressure significantly. I moved from Hypertension stage 3 (way over 180 systolic) down to Hypertension stage 2 (160-179), but just wasn’t moving down from there. Then I had a scare – pressure in my chest and a trip to the hospital in an ambulance. High blood pressure is a blood pressure reading of 140/90 mmHg or higher. Both numbers are important.
Time to wake up. To pay attention to what my body was telling me. To listen to my doctor. I went to the Internet and looked up high blood pressure in Google. Stage 3 Hypertension was very serious. Time for me to get serious about this. The doctor sent me for some stress tests and they detected something in my heart and sent me for more tests. The doctor reviewed the results and after trying a few different drugs found a combination that worked for me. My blood pressure dropped significantly to normal to high normal.
When I started doing some reading I found out that high blood pressure is a silent killer. Nearly 1 in 3 North American adults has high blood pressure. Once high blood pressure develops, it usually lasts a lifetime, however it can be treated and controlled. It doesn’t give any significant warning signs. Some people may not find out they have it until they have trouble with their heart, brain or kidneys.
When high blood pressure is not found and treated it can cause:
** the heart to enlarge, leading to heart failure
** small bulges (aneurysms) to form in blood vessels
** kidney failure due to the narrowing of blood vessels in the kidney
** hardening of the arteries, especially those in the heart, brain, kidneys and legs, leading to heart attack, stroke
** blood vessels in the eyes to burst or bleed, which may cause vision changes and can result in blindness.
Recently I had a large “floater” in my left eye. Because of my high blood pressure, I contacted my eye doctor and had it checked out. He discovered that I had a tear in the retina. It was detaching. I could have become blind. He sent me to a surgeon who examined it and performed laser surgery the same day. My eye is fine now, but if I hadn’t learned to pay attention to my health, it might not have been.
Unfortunately, far too many of us take our health for granted and don’t get the required checkups. If you are one of these statistics, please contact your doctor and get your blood pressure checked. Take the time to pay attention to your blood pressure. Get your doctor to check it out. Check it out yourself at the drugstore, but do it. Watch your diet as being overweight can increase your chances of high blood pressure.
But don’t just stop there. If you have a lump that you are worried about, find out for sure what it is instead of just worrying. Worry can’t cure anything – it just creates more problems.
For more information on blood pressure check out this site
To your good health!!
Fran Watson, Consultant
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An Introduction to Heart Rate Monitors
By
Sophie Goldman
A heart rate monitor is a contraption which lets users of fitness machines take note of their own pulse rate while training. The heart rate monitor typically comprises two constituents - a receiver and a strap. The strap applies electrodes to watch over the heartbeat and if the appliance is connected to a fitness machine, its screen will show up your heart rate to you. Receivers on the wrist commonly are in the form of timepieces that pace your heartbeat by calculating the period before blood heads on through the wrist veins. Heart rate monitors are turning out to be increasingly viewed in good regard and most pro quality exercise machines are accompanied by a cardio rate monitor as part of the deal.
If you have heart or blood pressure afflictions, having a pulse monitor while doing a workout is something you must do. You will not only be able to ascertain how your pump can handle stress, you will also be capable of controlling your heartbeat by playing around with the the speed on the training equipment. Some treadmills or ellipticals actually come with a built-in heart-rate controller system, which without human intervention slows the machine if your pulse rate is excessively up. This is quite of value, as it deflects a lot of heart-related problems that went on formerly with people getting fit harder than their heart could address.
Even without heart ailments, it is still helpful a heart rate monitor now and again. This way, you should be capable to monitor how your body takes care of very strong physical effort. To make sure you are fit and there will be no problems later, you should ready a daily pulse-rate table for one or two weeks, while getting fit at the same strength. You will notice if there are very high downslopes or ascendings in your heart beat, but the best thing to do would be to show this report to your physician, who will immediately notice any approaching difficulties.
If you are going to have to purchase a prime heart rate monitor, one of the more adopted manufacturers around is Polar. Polar technology has been around for two decades now and the company has achieved the status of being the industry leader in the heart rate monitors field. They have different series for heart rate monitors, ranging from novices and intermediates to pro athletes. You can also order your heart rate monitor from different categories, depending on what your needs are: Cardiac Rehab, Jogging, Cycling, Swimming (this includes a waterproof monitor-watch), Fitness, Weight Management and so forth.
Heart rate monitors are a step forward in home exercising, as working with them could aid to prevent and avoid many cardiac afflictions. Always pay attention to your heart rate monitor and try not to push your heart over the limits. Consult a doctor about what the normal pulse rate should be for your body type, in an effort regime. Combine this data with an exercise machine that supports heart rate measuring systems and displays them on their console, or even better, one that adjusts its speed to your pulse rate.
About the author:
Sophie Goldman is a freelance writer for The Exercise Equipment Blog, in which she mostly writes about her favorite exercise machines - elliptical trainers and exercise bikes.
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How To Have A Healthy Heart
By
Jane Thurnell-Read
Keeping our hearts healthy is important, but how do we do it? Fortunately the answers to this are very clear.
Being overweight, particularly if you carry the weight around your waist, puts unnecessary strain on the heart. To find out if you have a problem you need to know your height to weight ratio (WHR). To work this out measure round your waist in centimetres and divide it by your hip circumference. The measurements need to be in centimetres, so if your measuring tape is in inches, multiply each measurement by 2.5 before dividing one by the other. If the figure you end up with is greater than 0.9 for men and 0.8 for women then your fat distribution is likely to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Research has shown that many overweight people with angina, raised blood cholesterol and high blood pressure found their condition improved greatly, even after losing only some of their excess weight. Many of those who kept their weight off were able to reduce their medication or even stop it entirely.
Exercise is important for your heart too. If you take regular exercise, it will speed up your basal metabolic rate. This means that you will burn more calories, not only when you are exercising but for some time afterwards as well. People often imagine that they have to exercise hard to have an effect, but it’s enough just to take exercise that leaves you warm and breathing heavily, but still able to hold a conversation.
Did you know that each day most of us take between 3,000-4,000 steps? And that's just not enough. Experts say that we should aim to take 10,000 steps to maintain a healthier lifestyle. Increasing to 10,000 steps a day will burn between 2,000 and 3,500 extra calories per week, which will result in achieving a vastly better health profile and longer lifespan. There are lots of ways you can increase the number of steps you take: get up to change the TV rather than using the remote; park further from the supermarket; take a walk around the local park or your garden/yard; walk rather than take the car on short journeys. Using a pedometer will help motivate you to clock up those extra steps.
Giving up smoking is likely to have a dramatic effect on your heart. Carbon monoxide produced when you smoke cigarettes attaches to red blood cells, so that in smokers up to half the blood can be carrying carbon monoxide rather than oxygen. No wonder many smokers are breathless! If you need help giving up smoking, try one of the books or CD’s by Allen Carr. He has helped thousands of people to give up.
And, if you don’t already, start flossing your teeth! This may seem bizarre in relation to the heart, but it has been shown that there is a link between gum disease and heart disease. The exact mechanism isn’t understood fully yet, but flossing your teeth and having regular dental checks is important for a healthy heart.
Finally, give and receive love. The scientific evidence isn’t there (yet) for how important this is for our hearts, but it has been established that people who have loving relationships also tend to have long and happy lives.
About the author:
Jane Thurnell-Read is an author and researcher on health, allergies and stress. Her web site http://www.healthandgoodness.comis full of tips and information to help you be happier and healthier.
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Silent Death…Are You at Risk?
By
Mike Andrews
Did you know that every year over 2000 people are sentenced to death without trial? But the verdict does not come from a jury of their peers or even from a judge. It is read by doctors wearing little white lab coats in private offices all across the country. What’s even more disturbing is the fact that this sentence could have been avoided had the proper precautions been taken.
We can trace the origins of this silent killer back to the turn of the 20th century. In the early 1900s a new material was being introduced to the industrial giants of the time. This material was called asbestos, and it became a widely used component due to its flexibility of use, and insulative properties. Little did we know at the time that this same material that was providing us with an increased efficiency and productivity would also claim the lives of the very workers who were using and working around it.
During the World Wars asbestos would become a primary material used for much of our equipment and supplies. Then came the golden age of this wonder material, throughout the 1950s up through the 1970s asbestos would be a common staple of industry and factory life. Hundreds of thousands would be exposed directly and millions indirectly as asbestos was used in schools to insulate piping, and even in homes.
You may know the silent killer I’m referring to already, I’m referring to Mesothelioma.
Mesotheli-what-a?
Mesothelioma, a form of cancer directly related to or rather primarily caused by prolonged exposure to asbestos. The thing that separates this malignant cancer from all the other forms, and the reason I refer to it as silent death, is because mesothelioma cancer does not become malignant immediately. Instead it lays dormant within the carriers system for 30 to 40 years before the symptoms become apparent.
This is precisely why today there is a higher diagnosis rate of this form of cancer than ever before. The carriers have lived with this disease for 30 plus years and it’s only now rearing its ugly head. Over the last decade thousands of cases have been brought before courts across the country for negligence on the part of the employers. What’s interesting to note is that the majority of these cases are winning, and often paying out in the millions. So much so, that an entire breed of lawyer has been born that specializes in, you guessed it, mesothelioma cases.
Now, no amount of money can cure these people. I’m sure that they are not turning the money down, but it I’m also sure that they would give it up in a heartbeat to find a cure. The most important thing one can do is get checked early for signs of mesothelioma cancer. Early detection makes the treatment much more effective and allows for an increased survivability rate.
Even if you cannot remember being exposed to asbestos you may have been exposed indirectly. In fact, I remember the high school I attended growing up, brining in a team for a week and tearing the building apart in order to remove the asbestos that was used to insulate the piping. It just goes to show that you can never be sure. If caught early you can improve your chances of suppressing the disease. Get checked, it might just be the smartest move you ever make.
About the author:
You can get more information about mesothelioma and find helpful information and resources here: http://rarereviews.com/mesothelioma-cancer/
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