Your Health is at Risk. Here's What to Do About It

Exercise work zones 

If several of your close blood relatives have had heart at­tacks before the age of sixty, you're likely to have one too unless you eliminate all the other possible risk factors. 

Don't have a fatalistic view about heart disease because so many of your close relatives died young from heart attacks. 

Chances are your ill-fated parents or siblings smoked, were overweight, were diabetic with poor sugar control, had el­evated cholesterol levels, and rarely exercised. 

Genes are only part of the story. Regardless of your genetic vulnera­bility, correcting any obvious abnormalities will improve your outlook considerably.

Regular exercise. Regular exercise that's sufficiently rigorous protects the coronary arteries. 

However, you've got to pay attention to the other risk factors as well. Dr. William Castelli, the di­rector of the Framingham Heart Study, estimates that half the doctors running in the Boston Marathon have abnormal cholesterol levels—and don't know it!

You're most likely to stay with your exercise program if you enjoy it. Few people will continue for very long with a regimen that they find boring. Brisk walking for thirty minutes a day or vigorous gardening are enough. 

If you prefer, you may also run, jog, dance, bike, or swim, pro­vided your doctor has cleared you to do so. 

Walking briskly for about three miles (you can pick any other form of ex­ercise) was found to reduce the risk of a heart attack by 64 percent in male Harvard alumni. (Graduates of Princeton, Yale, and Cornell can probably expect the same good re­sults.)

Aerobic exercises Aerobic exercises such as walking or running (as opposed to stretching and weight-lifting) exert their beneficial effect in several ways: 

• they lower your resting heart rate and blood pressure, thus easing the burden on your heart; 
• they reduce cholesterol and triglycerides
• raise the good lipoproteins and lower the bad lipoproteins; 
• they drop the blood sugar in diabetics; 
• they help prevent osteoporosis; 
• they decrease the proportion of body fat; they reduce stress and improve mood. 
• All in all, exercise is a good prescription against heart attack.

Besides improving your physical health and increasing your longevity, exercise can have short-term and long-term psychological benefits. Physical activity can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression and improve mood and well-being.

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How You Can Control Your Destiny with Lifestyle Changes

Healthy Diet Change

What scientists are beginning to recognize is that much of the illness in these years is due to lifestyle – a factor that can be changed through individual initiative and taking control.

In fact, researchers believe that 80% of deaths in mid-adulthood are related to the relatively small number of lifestyle habits, especially your diet and healthy eating

Heart disease, including heart attacks and strokes – which together are the leading cause of death and disability for men 40 to 45 – can largely be prevented by dealing with stress, changing your diet and eating for good health, stopping smoking, getting reasonable exercise, and treating hypertension.

Cancer, the second leading cause of death, can be prevented in the long run by stopping smoking, making diet and health changes, and avoiding exposure to occupational or environmental chemicals. 

Finally, cirrhosis, alcoholism and a majority of accidents can be avoided by controlling the use of alcohol.

From the standpoint of both individual health and national health, it is amazing to consider that in perhaps three out of four cases, death and disability in middle age can be avoided through limited number of behavioral changes that admittedly take effort and willpower, but are not impossible to achieve.

None of these changes is dependent on new advances in medical technology, development of new drugs, surgical techniques, or the building of expensive medical facilities. 

Improvement is basically a matter of lifestyle changes and/or environmental changes. To make the changes we have to change our attitude and the way we look at the world. 

Belief in our power to change is essential. We, not doctors, are largely responsible for creating our own state of health and well-being.

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7 Ways to Stop High Blood Pressure from Killing You

High blood pressure is called the "silent killer." Most people who have it do not feel sick and don't know that they have it. High blood pressure usually has no symptoms, but it can cause serious problems such as stroke, heart failure, heart attack, and kidney failure.

If you've ever tried to run water through a garden hose that's been hardened by age or gunked up with hard-water deposits, you know how hard it is to get a good water flow. Blood flow through your arteries works the same way. 

Stiff or blocked arteries can make your heart strain to push blood through all your blood vessels. The result is high blood pressure, which damages both your heart and your blood vessels. You can control high blood pressure through healthy lifestyle habits and taking medicines.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), almost 67 million Americans have high blood pressure and more than half do not have it under control. Almost 1 in 4 Americans with uncontrolled high blood pressure do not take their medication regularly.

A blood pressure reading can tell you whether you have high blood pressure. The reading uses two numbers, the systolic and dias­tolic pressures, written one above or before the other. A reading of:

• 120/80 or lower is normal· 
• 140/90 or higher is high blood pressure.
• 120 and 139 for the top number, or between 80 and 89 for the bottom number, is pre-hypertension.

If you have high blood pressure (consistently higher than 140/90) and see a conventional doctor, chances are pretty good that the doctor will tell you that you'll have to take drugs, probably for the rest of your life.

If you frequently feel stressed, angry or sad, you may be at higher risk of having a heart attack. Have your blood pressure checked each time you go to the doctor. And, talk to him or her if you cannot get your blood pressure under control.

Here are the 7 ways to stop high blood pressure from killing you:

1.   If your blood pressure is not where it should be, work in close partnership with your doctor to control it. Get your blood pressure checked regularly.

2.  Take all blood pressure medications as prescribed by your doctor.

3.  Request 90-day prescriptions for your blood pressure medication.

4.  Let your doctor know if you experience unwanted side effects from your blood pressure medication.

5.  Eat a healthy, low-salt diet and consume alcohol in moderation. Maintain a healthy weight and exercise regularly.

6.  Smoking can increase your blood pressure. Talk to your doctor about a smoking cessation plan for you.

7.   Identify causes of stress, then work to minimize or eliminate those things that cause stress for you.


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Don't Neglect Your Bones

Osteoporosis makes your bones weak and more likely to break. Your bone health may be at risk. By 2020 half of all Americans over 50 will have weak bones unless we make changes to our diet and lifestyle. People who have weak bones are at higher risk for fractures. 

Your Bones Need to Stay Strong
 Americans are living longer, and this means that our bones need to stay strong so we can be active and enjoy life. Thirty years ago, little was known about bone disease. Even many doctors believed that weak and broken bones were just a part of old age and could not be avoided. Today we know that this is not true.

Strong bones begin in childhood. With good habits and medical attention when needed, we can have strong bones throughout our lives.

Weak Bones Can Be Deadly
Broken bones are very painful at any age. Each year 1.5 million older people in this country suffer fractures because their bones have become weak. For older people, weak bones can be deadly. If you are elderly, a broken hip makes you up to four times more likely to die within three months. 

If you survive, the injury often causes your health to spiral downward. One in five people with a hip fracture ends up in a nursing home within a year. Many others become isolated, depressed, or frightened to leave home because they fear they will fall.

Anyone can develop osteoporosis, but it is common in older women. As many as half of all women and a quarter of men older than fifty will break a bone due to osteoporosis or low bone density.

Risk Factors for Weak Bones
According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the risk factors include:

1. Getting older
2. Being small and thin
3. Having a family history of osteoporosis
4. Taking certain medicines
5. Being a white or Asian woman

You can improve your bone health by getting enough calcium, vitamin D, and physical activity. If you have osteoporosis or another bone disease, your doctor can detect and treat it. This can help prevent painful fractures. If you break a bone after the age of so, this could be the first sign of weak bones.

Osteoporosis is a silent disease. You might not know you have it until you break a bone.

Health Care Reform Now - Take a Second Look

Although the Republicans are not in power, it is important to take a second look at health care reform from another perspective. 

By the way, contrary to what Obama and the Democrats are saying, the Republicans are not the party of no. We owe it to ourselves and to our family to become informed on what both sides are proposing regarding health care reform, then make a decision, and let our voices be heard.

Some of the reforms the the Republicans would like to enact into law include:

• Allow insurers to sell policies across state lines
• Create new state high-risk pools or reinsurance programs to provide people access to health insurance
• Allow small businesses to pool together in associations to purchase health insurance thus making it more affordable
• Discourage "junk" lawsuits by changing medical liability laws to limit non-economic damages
• Crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid
• Beef up incentives for employer-sponsored "wellness programs" so that workers who participate could get bigger breaks on insurance premiums

Check the The Republicans' Plan for more information.

Keep Control of Your Health Care

The Congress wants to take control of your health just like it already has control of your retirement. If you only have Social Security to look forward to in your retirement, you are in a precarious position. You do not own your Social Security plan, the Congress does. Similarly, if you allow the Congress to own your health care plan, you will be in an equally bad situation.

Whoever owns your plan can make whatever changes whenever they choose. As with Social Security, the Congress changed the retirement age to 67 a few years ago and now threatens to move it even higher because the Social Security system is now hemorrhaging and soon will be bankrupt. The Congress can also change the amount of your benefits whenever it chooses. Even though you paid into the system while you were working, your benefits are not guaranteed. You must not now allow the Congress to control your health care in the same way.

Study the plans that are being proposed and if this requirement is being ignored, let your Senators and Representatives know immediately. More on this next time.

Medicare and Medicaid Are Not Government Controlled Health Care

Medicare and Medicaid are not government controlled health care. For people to talk sensibly to each other there must an agreement on what the terms in question mean. The term government controlled health care means that government can dictate the type and quality of care you can receive.

Under Medicare and Medicare, the government does not dictate the type and quality of health care you receive. Rather, the government merely pays the provider (doctors, hospitals, home health care agencies, etc. ) for the type and quality of health care you receive. You choose the provider you want to take care of your health care needs. Its up to the provider to decide whether they want to participate in Medicare and Medicaid. Fortunately, in most locales there are enough providers.

The politicians who try to make this argument are just trying to be deceptive and misleading. They know better. And, if they don't, they are just as pathetic and the ones who are just trying to fool you. The seniors who have seen through this are right in telling their representatives and senators what their concerns are.

The seniors as of now still have the option to choose a Medicare Advantage Plan which provides all of their health care benefits in additional to other significant benefits designed for prevention.
This is being threatened by the current Administration and the Congressional majority. The Medicare Advantage Plans must remain an option for seniors. The Annual Enrollment period for Medicare Advantage Plans are coming soon. As of November 15th, seniors can begin enrolling in these plans to get their health care and prescriptions taken care of.

Let me know what your questions and comments are.