Top 9 Tips For Improving Heart Health
Abby Waters asked:
1. Break down and TAKE THE TEST: We’re referring to the extremely sensitive C-reactive protein test (HSCRP). This blood test has been found to be as effective predicting heart attacks and strokes as a standard cholesterol test. The test works by evaluating levels of a specific blood protein’s, which could indicate that you have inflamed arteries in your heart – the kind that can burst and lead to heart failure. The HSCRP is much more accurate, and since 50% of all heart attack victims have normal cholesterol levels, it is an absolutely vital test. See your doctor to schedule this test today!
2. Exercise: Focus on the Now: It is no surprise that exercise improves heart health, but most people don’t realize that your last workout is the best predictor of your heart health. So, if you haven’t exercised in a week, you’ve likely lost a great deal of the benefits you might have spend months developing! The affects of exercise grow and diminish rapidly, so constant exercise is the key to maintaining heart health. In studies comparing those maintaining an exercise routine to those who used to exercise but stopped, the health rate was significantly higher in those participants sill exercising. Doctors note, however, that it is never too late to begin maintaining a healthier lifestyle, so if you haven’t been exercising, now is the best time to start. Keeping your heart healthy will add years to your life.
3. Park Yourself in the Weight Room: While lifting weights increases the size of your muscles, it also makes you generally stronger. This, in effect, makes each task you complete less physically taxing, putting lower amounts of stress on your heart. Developing a strong set of muscles will prevent your heart from becoming fatigued as quickly, and improve your heart health.
4. Break Your Smoking Habit: Although smoking in general is harmful to your body, smoking marijuana increases the risk of heart attack or heart failure exponentially in the hours after you smoke. So, aside from the fact that smoking weed is illegal, your heart will thank you for kicking the habit!
5. Buy extra-virgin olive oil: It might cost a bit more, but if buying high-end extra-virgin olive oil adds years to your life, isn’t it worth the price? Extra-virgin olive oil has less fat and “bad” cholesterol than even regular olive oil, so bite the bullet and buy the good stuff.
6. Visit a Genetic Counselor: While your doctor may help you when you are sick, a general practice physician usually has little knowledge of your genetic history. Visiting a genetic counselor will provide you with an important piece of medical information for your regular doctor to review. By discovering your genetic predispositions, you can take the proper steps to prevent possible issues in the future.
7. Insist on an Ultrasound: One of the reasons so many people die from heart disease (which causes heart attacks) is because they never know they have it until it’s too late. How can you improve your heart health if you don’t know your heart is unhealthy? Doctors have developed an innovative procedure known as “electron-beam cat scan” (EBCT), which is a potential solution. Recommended for men 40+, the EBCT provides your doctor with a 3-D ultrasound of your heart and blood vessels. With the ability to show blockage in its early stages, the EBCT allows you to catch heart disease with plenty of time to remedy the situation.
8. Keep Popping Those Pills: In a recent study of patients with coronary-artery disease, tking high doses of cholesterol-reducing statin drugs proved effective. During the study, 50% of patients underwent angioplasty, while 50% were treated with the statin rug, atorvastatin. The group who consistently took atorvastatin had fewer heart attacks within the next 18 months. Essentially, the use of this kind of medication is showing doctors that blood vessels aren’t just in need of a good cleaning. Because statins both clean the vessels and increase the size of blood vessels to allow for greater blood flow, they produce greater long-term effects than some traditional procedures.
9. Ramipril Might be Right for You: As you hear in any drug commercial, check with your doctor to see if Ramipril might be right for you. Although Ramipril has been used as a hypertension drug for 30 years, a recent study from McMaster University (located in Ontario) suggests that it actually prevents heart attacks and strokes. In addition, Ramipril has been shown to reduce the need for bypass surgery. The study tested vitamin E and Ramipril against placebos (with nearly 10,000 patients, 80% of whom had coronary-artery disease). There was no benefit for those taking vitamin E, but a 25% reduction in death rate for those taking Ramipril. Using Ramipril may be just what you need to improve heart health, and avoid going under the knife.
Longevity Genetics
1. Break down and TAKE THE TEST: We’re referring to the extremely sensitive C-reactive protein test (HSCRP). This blood test has been found to be as effective predicting heart attacks and strokes as a standard cholesterol test. The test works by evaluating levels of a specific blood protein’s, which could indicate that you have inflamed arteries in your heart – the kind that can burst and lead to heart failure. The HSCRP is much more accurate, and since 50% of all heart attack victims have normal cholesterol levels, it is an absolutely vital test. See your doctor to schedule this test today!
2. Exercise: Focus on the Now: It is no surprise that exercise improves heart health, but most people don’t realize that your last workout is the best predictor of your heart health. So, if you haven’t exercised in a week, you’ve likely lost a great deal of the benefits you might have spend months developing! The affects of exercise grow and diminish rapidly, so constant exercise is the key to maintaining heart health. In studies comparing those maintaining an exercise routine to those who used to exercise but stopped, the health rate was significantly higher in those participants sill exercising. Doctors note, however, that it is never too late to begin maintaining a healthier lifestyle, so if you haven’t been exercising, now is the best time to start. Keeping your heart healthy will add years to your life.
3. Park Yourself in the Weight Room: While lifting weights increases the size of your muscles, it also makes you generally stronger. This, in effect, makes each task you complete less physically taxing, putting lower amounts of stress on your heart. Developing a strong set of muscles will prevent your heart from becoming fatigued as quickly, and improve your heart health.
4. Break Your Smoking Habit: Although smoking in general is harmful to your body, smoking marijuana increases the risk of heart attack or heart failure exponentially in the hours after you smoke. So, aside from the fact that smoking weed is illegal, your heart will thank you for kicking the habit!
5. Buy extra-virgin olive oil: It might cost a bit more, but if buying high-end extra-virgin olive oil adds years to your life, isn’t it worth the price? Extra-virgin olive oil has less fat and “bad” cholesterol than even regular olive oil, so bite the bullet and buy the good stuff.
6. Visit a Genetic Counselor: While your doctor may help you when you are sick, a general practice physician usually has little knowledge of your genetic history. Visiting a genetic counselor will provide you with an important piece of medical information for your regular doctor to review. By discovering your genetic predispositions, you can take the proper steps to prevent possible issues in the future.
7. Insist on an Ultrasound: One of the reasons so many people die from heart disease (which causes heart attacks) is because they never know they have it until it’s too late. How can you improve your heart health if you don’t know your heart is unhealthy? Doctors have developed an innovative procedure known as “electron-beam cat scan” (EBCT), which is a potential solution. Recommended for men 40+, the EBCT provides your doctor with a 3-D ultrasound of your heart and blood vessels. With the ability to show blockage in its early stages, the EBCT allows you to catch heart disease with plenty of time to remedy the situation.
8. Keep Popping Those Pills: In a recent study of patients with coronary-artery disease, tking high doses of cholesterol-reducing statin drugs proved effective. During the study, 50% of patients underwent angioplasty, while 50% were treated with the statin rug, atorvastatin. The group who consistently took atorvastatin had fewer heart attacks within the next 18 months. Essentially, the use of this kind of medication is showing doctors that blood vessels aren’t just in need of a good cleaning. Because statins both clean the vessels and increase the size of blood vessels to allow for greater blood flow, they produce greater long-term effects than some traditional procedures.
9. Ramipril Might be Right for You: As you hear in any drug commercial, check with your doctor to see if Ramipril might be right for you. Although Ramipril has been used as a hypertension drug for 30 years, a recent study from McMaster University (located in Ontario) suggests that it actually prevents heart attacks and strokes. In addition, Ramipril has been shown to reduce the need for bypass surgery. The study tested vitamin E and Ramipril against placebos (with nearly 10,000 patients, 80% of whom had coronary-artery disease). There was no benefit for those taking vitamin E, but a 25% reduction in death rate for those taking Ramipril. Using Ramipril may be just what you need to improve heart health, and avoid going under the knife.
Longevity Genetics
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Types
Michael Russell asked:
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a genetic disorder that may be recessive or dominant depending on the type of EDS you have. That means if you have a dominant type and have children, those children have a 50% chance of inheriting the disease. If you have a recessive type, each child has a 25% chance of inheriting the disease and a 50% chance of being a carrier of that disease. It is for this reason that many EDS sufferers consult with a genetic counselor, someone who can assess the risks of genetic disorders to you and your children, prior to having children. This is the only way to prevent the disease.
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is classified into six major types or groups. It was originally divided into 11 different types, but scientists reclassified them based on signs and symptoms in 1997. This reclassification gave us the current six major types; hypermobility type, classical type, vascular type, kyphoscoliosis type, arthrochalasia type and dermatosparaxis type. There is a final grouping, other types, that is a catch-all group for the extremely rare cases that have only been seen in a handful of patients, usually all in the same family. All of the types affect your joints and many also affect your skin.
The hypermobility type is mainly characterized by loose, unstable joints and chronic joint pain. The loose joints increase the sufferer’s risk of dislocating or straining the joint. Specific exercises to strengthen the muscles surrounding the joints will decrease the risk of dislocation and/or straining. You may find relief from the joint pain with over the counter pain medications. Your skin will be affected, but to what degree is uncertain. Hypermobility EDS is the most common type of EDS, affecting one in 10,000 to 15,000 people.
Classical EDS is the second most common type of EDS. It affects one in 20,000 to 40,000 people. The main symptoms with this type of EDS are very elastic skin that feels like velvet, bruises easily and is slow to heal wounds. Some sufferers also experience noncancerous skin growths on major pressure points (knees and elbows), shins and forearms. The joints are affected with this type, but not to the same degree as hypermobility EDS. They are prone to dislocation and may affect the large motor skill development in infants.
Vascular EDS is the most serious type of EDS because it primarily affects the blood vessels, making them very fragile and prone to tearing. Luckily, it is also one of the rarer forms, affecting only one in 100,000 to 200,000 people. This form also has elastic skin and loose joints, mainly the small joints of the fingers and toes. Sufferers of this type of EDS may also have very thin skin, making their veins very prominent.
The final three types, kyphoscoliosis, arthrochalasia and dermatosparaxis, are very rare. Only about 60 cases of kyphoscoliosis EDS have been reported worldwide. The main symptoms of this type of EDS are curving of the spine (scoliosis), eye problems including fragility and progressive muscle weakness. Arthrochalasia EDS is also rare; only 30 or so cases have been reported worldwide. This EDS is characterized by very loose joints, including the hips, which may affect the development of large motor skills such as walking. Sufferers of this type also have elastic skin that bruises easily, an earlier onset of arthritis and an increased risk of bone fractures and loss. The dermatosparaxis type of EDS is the rarest of the three, only about 10 cases have been reported worldwide. The primary symptom of this type is extremely loose and sagging skin. The joints are also affected, however, and may delay large motor skill development in children.
The final grouping, Others, is a catch-all grouping for the extremely rare and not well documented cases of EDS. The types here have a variety of symptoms, ranging from fragile skin without bruising or loose joints to chronic diarrhea and low blood pressure. If you suspect you have any of the types of EDS, you need to see your doctor right away.
Genetic Counselor
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a genetic disorder that may be recessive or dominant depending on the type of EDS you have. That means if you have a dominant type and have children, those children have a 50% chance of inheriting the disease. If you have a recessive type, each child has a 25% chance of inheriting the disease and a 50% chance of being a carrier of that disease. It is for this reason that many EDS sufferers consult with a genetic counselor, someone who can assess the risks of genetic disorders to you and your children, prior to having children. This is the only way to prevent the disease.
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is classified into six major types or groups. It was originally divided into 11 different types, but scientists reclassified them based on signs and symptoms in 1997. This reclassification gave us the current six major types; hypermobility type, classical type, vascular type, kyphoscoliosis type, arthrochalasia type and dermatosparaxis type. There is a final grouping, other types, that is a catch-all group for the extremely rare cases that have only been seen in a handful of patients, usually all in the same family. All of the types affect your joints and many also affect your skin.
The hypermobility type is mainly characterized by loose, unstable joints and chronic joint pain. The loose joints increase the sufferer’s risk of dislocating or straining the joint. Specific exercises to strengthen the muscles surrounding the joints will decrease the risk of dislocation and/or straining. You may find relief from the joint pain with over the counter pain medications. Your skin will be affected, but to what degree is uncertain. Hypermobility EDS is the most common type of EDS, affecting one in 10,000 to 15,000 people.
Classical EDS is the second most common type of EDS. It affects one in 20,000 to 40,000 people. The main symptoms with this type of EDS are very elastic skin that feels like velvet, bruises easily and is slow to heal wounds. Some sufferers also experience noncancerous skin growths on major pressure points (knees and elbows), shins and forearms. The joints are affected with this type, but not to the same degree as hypermobility EDS. They are prone to dislocation and may affect the large motor skill development in infants.
Vascular EDS is the most serious type of EDS because it primarily affects the blood vessels, making them very fragile and prone to tearing. Luckily, it is also one of the rarer forms, affecting only one in 100,000 to 200,000 people. This form also has elastic skin and loose joints, mainly the small joints of the fingers and toes. Sufferers of this type of EDS may also have very thin skin, making their veins very prominent.
The final three types, kyphoscoliosis, arthrochalasia and dermatosparaxis, are very rare. Only about 60 cases of kyphoscoliosis EDS have been reported worldwide. The main symptoms of this type of EDS are curving of the spine (scoliosis), eye problems including fragility and progressive muscle weakness. Arthrochalasia EDS is also rare; only 30 or so cases have been reported worldwide. This EDS is characterized by very loose joints, including the hips, which may affect the development of large motor skills such as walking. Sufferers of this type also have elastic skin that bruises easily, an earlier onset of arthritis and an increased risk of bone fractures and loss. The dermatosparaxis type of EDS is the rarest of the three, only about 10 cases have been reported worldwide. The primary symptom of this type is extremely loose and sagging skin. The joints are also affected, however, and may delay large motor skill development in children.
The final grouping, Others, is a catch-all grouping for the extremely rare and not well documented cases of EDS. The types here have a variety of symptoms, ranging from fragile skin without bruising or loose joints to chronic diarrhea and low blood pressure. If you suspect you have any of the types of EDS, you need to see your doctor right away.
Genetic Counselor
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