Tag: American Heart Association

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Meditation

Clean Your Arteries With Meditation

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Enter the right state of mind and reduce plaque levels!

Learning to meditate could actually help your body clean out its arteries, according to a study published in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association.

The researchers assigned 60 African American men and women with high blood pressure to either a transcendental meditation (TM) program or a control group. The TM group practiced meditation 20 minutes twice a day. After seven months researchers found that the people in this group lowered their plaque levels (measured by carotid intima-media thickness, or IMT, which reflects the level of fatty substances deposited on the artery walls), reducing their overall heart attack risk up to 11 percent and their stroke risk up to 15 percent. The other group had no reduction; in fact, their plaque levels increased.

“Cardiovascular disease is associated with psychological stress,” explained Amparo Castillo-Richmond, M.D., the study’s lead author. “Previous research has found that the TM program decreases coronary heart disease risk factors, including hypertension, oxidized lipids, stress hormones, and psychological stress.” Moreover, according to the researchers, the state of “restful alertness” brought on by meditation may trigger the body’s self-repair mechanisms.

A later study found that when it comes to reducing atherosclerosis, the overall effectiveness of a program that involved meditation and yoga along with a high-fiber, low-fat diet, aerobic exercise, and antioxidant supplements was even greater than in studies involving cholesterol-lowering drugs.

From:Cut Your Cholesterol

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How to Get More ‘Good’ Cholesterol

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Doctors aren’t the only ones telling people to lower their cholesterol. Television commercials also tout cereals   from Quaker to Kellogg’s   and medications that encourage viewers to become heart healthy and promise to lower LDL, the “bad” cholesterol.

But there is another type of cholesterol that physicians agree is important to raise — HDL, or the “good” cholesterol.

HDL works in opposition to LDL. Instead of increasing the risk of heart disease, it can help prevent heart attacks and stroke.

Doctors have known this for more than a decade, but cardiologists have recently started paying more attention to HDL after a study showed that giving doses of it could reverse plaque buildup in arteries, said Dr. Robert Rosenson, a preventive cardiologist at Northwestern University in Chicago and a member of the American College of Cardiologists’ prevention committee.

For the first time, the study showed how raising HDL is likely as important as lowering LDL when it comes to reducing the risk of heart attack, Rosenson said.

And just as too many Americans have high levels of so-called bad cholesterol, too few have low levels of good cholesterol. The latest statistics from the American Heart Association show that as many as one in three adult men and one in 10 adult women have low HDL cholesterol.

Therefore, “the next big hope is raising HDL,” said Dr. Greg Brown, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Drug May Offer Hope

Hope may lie with a new drug, torcetrapib, that raises HDL. It has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but Dr. Steven Nissen said the trials of the drug were “one of the most watched.” He is interim chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic and president of the American College of Cardiology.

“If [torcetrapib] works, it’ll be a revolution,” said Nissen, who’s also the principal investigator in an ongoing trial of the medication. Early trials of the drug have resulted in a 50 to 60 percent increase in HDL levels, he said.

Torcetrapib may raise blood pressure slightly in some patients, though, which is an unwanted side effect when trying to reduce risk factors for heart disease, Rosenson said.

Also, it is not yet known how effective torcetrapib will be at reducing the risk of heart attack, Nissen said.

The drug has received a lot of press already in part because of controversy raised when Pfizer, its manufacturer, said initially that it would market torcetrapib ony as a combination pill with Lipitor, a cholesterol-lowering drug.

But this week The New York Times reported that Pfizer had reversed its decision and now plans to make it available as a stand-alone drug as well.

What About Niacin?

Even though torcetrapib won’t be approved until 2008 at the earliest, there are already medications on the market that are effective at raising HDL. Niacin, or vitamin B3 in high-dose form, is one that raises HDL by about 30 percent, Brown said.

In spite of its effectiveness, niacin isn’t prescribed very often by general doctors, said Dr. Roger Blumenthal, director of the Johns Hopkins Ciccaroni preventive cardiology center and spokesman for the American Heart Association.

That’s because it often causes flushing, or heat flashes, in patients. Although it’s effective, many doctors don’t prescribe it, because it requires counseling patients on side effects and adjusting the dosage many times, Brown said.

While some patients can’t tolerate niacin, the side effects do go away after two to three months of continued use, he added. Also, drug manufacturers are developing newer preparations of niacin that minimize the side effects and may become available next year, Blumenthal said.

Lifestyle Changes Work, Too

For patients at high risk of heart attack and strokes, some preventive cardiologists have been fairly aggressive about treating low HDL. But Blumenthal said that cholesterol guidelines for general physicians have focused more on lowering LDL than on raising HDL and that the evidence for them to aggressively treat low HDL isn’t yet available.

But, if you are interested in increasing your good cholesterol, there are a number of things you can do, doctors said. Not surprisingly, they are what doctors always advise — get more exercise and eat better.

First, lose weight if you are overweight, Brown said, because overweight or obese people are likely to have lots of bad and not enough good cholesterol.

Regular exercise also pumps up HDL levels. And, for those who smoke, quitting raises HDL levels as well — a result that can be seen in about 60 days, Rosenson said .

Altogether, the lifestyle changes can raise HDL by about 20 percent, he added.

As for dietary recommendations for elevating HDL, Rosenson said fish, walnuts, almonds and avocados all have monounsaturated fats, which can help raise HDL slightly, although he recommends them in moderation.

Lifestyle changes are important, doctors said, not only for improving HDL but for overall improvement in cholesterol and health.

But, said one dietitian: “There is no magic cereal that will suddenly improve cholesterol. However, eating high-fiber cereal is a great way to start your day.”

Source:ABC News

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Little chocolate a day keeps heart attacks at bay

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They were so addicted, they just could not give up their favourite daily snack  not even in the interest of science…..click & see

But chocolate lovers who flunked out of a Johns Hopkins University study on aspirin and heart disease helped researchers stumble on an explanation of why a little chocolate a day can cut the risk of heart attack.

It turns out chocolate, like aspirin, affects the platelets that cause blood to clot, Diane Becker of the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Medicine and her colleagues discovered.

“What these chocolate offenders taught us is that the chemical in cocoa beans has a biochemical effect similar to aspirin in reducing platelet clumping, which can be fatal if a clot forms and blocks a blood vessel, causing a heart attack,”Becker said.

The 139 so-called chocolate offenders took part in a larger study of 1,200 people with a family history of heart disease.

The study looked at the effects of aspirin on blood platelets. Before they got the aspirin, the volunteers were asked to stay on a strict regimen of exercise, refrain from smoking and avoid caffeinated drinks, wine, grapefruit juice and chocolate.

Source:The Times Of India

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Featured

Aspirin Is Very Useful

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Take two and call it a day -:- aspirin makes car, home, beauty, and clothing care a cinch!

Revive dead car batteries:-
If you get behind the wheel only to discover that your car’s battery has given up the ghost — and there’s no one around to give you a jump — you may be able to get your vehicle started by dropping two aspirin tablets into the battery itself. The aspirin’s acetylsalicylic acid will combine with the battery’s sulfuric acid to produce one last charge. Just be sure to drive to your nearest service station.

Remove perspiration stains:-
Before you give up all hope of ever getting that perspiration stain out of your good white dress shirt, try this: Crush two aspirins and mix the powder in 1/2 cup warm water. Soak the stained part of the garment in the solution for two to three hours.

Restore hair color:-
Swimming in a chlorinated pool can have a noticeable, and often unpleasing, effect on your hair coloring if you have light-colored hair. But you can usually return your hair to its former shade by dissolving six to eight aspirins in a glass of warm water. Rub the solution thoroughly into your hair, and let it set for 10-15 minutes.

Dry up pimples:-
Even those of us who are well past adolescence can get the occasional pimple. Put the kibosh on those annoying blemishes by crushing one aspirin and moistening it with a bit of water. Apply the paste to the pimple, and let it sit for a couple of minutes before washing off with soap and water. It will reduce the redness and soothe the sting. If the pimple persists, repeat the procedure as needed until it’s gone.

Treat hard calluses:-
Soften hard calluses on your feet by grinding five or six aspirins into a powder. Make a paste by adding 1/2 teaspoon each of lemon juice and water. Apply the mixture to the affected areas, then wrap your foot in a warm towel and cover it with a plastic bag. After staying off your feet for at least ten minutes, remove the bag and towel, and file down the softened callus with a pumice stone.

Control dandruff:-
Is your dandruff problem getting you down? Keep it in check by crushing two aspirins to a fine powder and adding it to the normal amount of shampoo you use each time you wash your hair. Leave the mixture on your hair for 1-2 minutes, then rinse well and wash again with plain shampoo.

Apply to insect bites and stings:-
Control the inflammation caused by mosquito bites or bee stings by wetting your skin and rubbing an aspirin over the spot. Of course, if you are allergic to bee stings — and have difficulty breathing, develop abdominal pains, or feel nauseated following a bee sting — get medical attention at once.

Help cut flowers last longer:-
It’s a tried-and-true way to keep roses and other cut flowers fresh longer: Put a crushed aspirin in the water before adding your flowers. Other household items that you can put in the water to extend the life of your flower arrangements include: a multivitamin, a teaspoon of sugar, a pinch of salt and baking soda, and even a copper penny. Also, don’t forget to change the vase water every few days.

Use as garden aid:-
Aspirin is not only a first-aid essential for you, but for your garden as well. Some gardeners grind it up for use as a rooting agent, or mix it with water to treat fungus conditions in the soil. But be careful when using aspirin around plants; too much of it can cause burns or other damage to your greenery. When treating soil, the typical dosage should be a half or a full aspirin tablet in 1 quart (1 liter) water.

Remove egg stains from clothes:-
Did you drop some raw egg on your clothing while cooking or eating? First, scrape off as much of the egg as you can, and then try to sponge out the rest with lukewarm water. Don’t use hot water — it will set the egg. If that doesn’t completely remove the stain, mix water and cream of tartar into a paste and add a crushed aspirin. Spread the paste on the stain and leave it for 30 minutes. Rinse well in warm water and the egg will be gone.

TAKE CARE:-
About 10 percent of people with severe asthma are also allergic to aspirin — and, in fact, to all products containing salicylic acid, aspirin’s key ingredient, including some cold medications, fruits, and food seasonings and additives. That percentage skyrockets to 30 to 40 percent for older asthmatics who also suffer from sinusitis or nasal polyps. Acute sensitivity to aspirin is also seen in a small percentage of the general population without asthma — particularly people with ulcers and other bleeding conditions. Always consult your doctor before using any medication, and do not apply aspirin externally if you are allergic to taking it internally.
From The Book : Extraordinary Uses For Ordinary Things

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Ailmemts & Remedies

Eczema

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Definition:
Eczema is a skin condition characterized by inflammation of the outer skin layer called epidermis. This may be very uncomfortable and even embarrassing for people because it causes severe itching and red discoloration. It affects people of all ages, and it can occur on any part of the body.
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Symptoms Of Eczema:
*Eaching,often intense and sometimes worsening in the evening and at night,

*acute lesions may be intensely itchy, small red raised bumps

*subacute lesions may be thicker, paler, scaly, red patches

*chronic lesions may be small, thick, round, scaly bumps, dry rough skin

*Often seen as a rash on the face, scalp, and backs of arms and fronts of legs in infants and young children

*often seen as a rash inside the elbows and wrists, backs of knees and ankles in older children and adults

*hand eczema is common in adults

*itching resulting in scratching often leads to secondary bleeding and worsening of the skin condition leading to raw, broken and bleeding patches of skin

*more easily prone to infections .

Natural Eczema Treatments:
Eczema is a syndrome of inflammatory skin reaction most often characterized by itching, redness, blister, or dryness. The skin inflammation is a sign of toxins inside your body. You see it on the skin because your skin is the largest and only visible organ of your body. Therefore, in the case of serious or chronic skin problems, treating from outside with cream becomes insufficient. The better approach is to detoxify your body by expelling the toxins from inside; preventing the problems from coming back.

*Detoxify your body system to control the inflammation of the skin, clear up your eczema by treating the root.

*Reduce itching, redness and crack associated with eczema.

*Improve your blood circulation to nourish your dry skin.

   * To avoid the aggravation of your eczema, you need to eliminate certain foods, which might generate toxins inside your body. These foods include alcohol, coffee, spicy food, dairy products, nuts, tropical fruit (mango, pineapple), seafood and red meats. And try to reduce your stress level by doing exercise; having enough sleep, etc.

   * Dead Sea Salt Bath Restore minerals to your skin. It can help heal damaged skin barrier caused by eczema or improper topical treatment.

*Grape Seed Extract:   Grape is the most potent preventive medicine you can take! Grapes have been used not only for eating and drinking, but have been also used for medicinal purposes since ancient times. A popular red wine is well known for protection against heart conditions, but very few people know that a substance called oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC) in grape seed is what provide excellent heart support.Not only OPC support eczema but also improves our immune system and the overall health. Its healing and preventive benefits are simply phenomenal. OPC has been found to be the most potent antioxidant every discovered. It is 20 times more potent than Vitamin C and 50 times more potent than Vitamin E. GSE yields a 95% concentration of OPC, the highest of any source.Here are the benefits that OPC can contribute to our health

*Protection against pollution and environmental toxins. GSE is nature’s most potent antioxidant and will help to reduce and prevent free radical damage.

   Fight skin diseases and other inflammatory conditions including eczema and psoriasis:–

*Enhances the immune system and balance the breakdown of proteins. Helps to prevent autoimmune diseases.

*Protection against cardiovascular disease.

* Provide energy, improves joint flexibility and prostate function. Anti-aging properties:-

Fish Oil/ Omega-3: Fish-oil contains omega 3 fatty acids, which are essential to human health. Omega 3 has been found have anti-inflammatory properties and aid in preventing eczema, psoriasis, lupus, yeast infections, and other immune diseases and also best known for its magic against cholesterol and heart diseases.One experiment designed to test the efficacy of fish oil on psoriasis showed that people with inflammatory conditions whom were treated with omega-3 resulted in decrease of overall severity and scaling. Over 50% of patients have shown significant improvements. Not serious side effects were observed.

Echinacea:  This is a very common plant that grows in North America. It has been popular herbs for thousands of years, best know for stimulating the immune system, thus used in treating and preventing eczema, psoriasis, yeast infection, lupus, herpes, and other auto-immune diseases. A great deal of research shows that Echinacea increases the number of activity of key white blood cells and boost the activity of T-cells and the production of interferon.Echinacea can be also used externally for eczema treatment and other inflammatory skin conditions. A study where 4500 patients with inflammatory skin condition externally applied Echinacea Products amazingly resulted in 85% cure rate.When patients with rheumatoid arthritis took 15 drops of the fresh-pressed juice of Echinacea three times daily, they experienced a 21.8% drop in inflammation, without any side effects.

 Aloe Vera:  This plant, native to Africa, is one of the most popular and effective treat many skin diseases. The juice extracted from Aloe Vera plant is filled with nutrients; contains vitamin B (1, 2, and 6), minerals, 18 amino acids and others. Aloe Vera juice has antibiotic, healing, soothing, and penetrating properties and proven to be effective against various skin diseases such as acne, psoriasis, eczema, insect bites, wounds, burns, skin cancer, and also provides excellent support for our immune system.The problem today with Aloe Vera is that many skin care products contain this ingredient but many of them have been made by over-processing the Aloe Vera juice, thus they do not have the original benefit of the plant’s juice. Those products have somewhat degraded the reputation of the plant’s magic. But there is no denying about the amazing things that it can do for our skin and health.Although it’s difficult, look for Products that contain high quality and fresh Alovera Plant. Its most natural and original form is most recommended for eczema treatment.

Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.This is purely for educational purpose.

 Extracted from:http://www.skindiseasetreatment.com/eczema-treatment.html

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