Tag: Nurses’ Health Study

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Health Alert

Soda, OJ May Increase Risk of Gout

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According to a new study  drinking too much soda or fruit juice will increase the risk of developing gout, a painful form of arthritis.

Women who drank two cans or more of non-diet soda a day, or 12 ounces or more of orange juice a day, were more than twice as likely to develop gout. Women who drank just one soda or 6-ounce glass of juice per day were at 74 percent and 41 percent greater risk, respectively.

CNN reports:
“The culprit appears to be fructose … [F]ructose increases levels of the chemical uric acid, which causes gout. When uric acid levels in the body get too high, the acid hardens into sharp crystals that are deposited in joints.”

You may click to see :
Soft Drinks Linked to Pancreatic Cancer Risk

Resources:
CNN November 10, 2010
Journal of the American Medical Association November 10, 2010; [Epub ahead of print]

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Featured

How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?

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How much sleep do you really need? Probably a lot less than you think, says one expert. It’s well known that a good night’s sleep is essential for health. But oversleeping has been linked to a host of medical problems, including:

Diabetes: In a study of almost 9,000 Americans, researchers found a relationship between sleep and the risk of diabetes. People who slept more than nine hours each night had a 50 percent greater risk of diabetes than people who slept seven hours per night. This increased risk was also seen in people who slept less than five hours per night.

Obesity: Sleeping too much could make you weigh too much, as well. One recent study showed that people who slept for nine or 10 hours every night were 21 percent more likely to become obese over a six-year period.

Headaches: Sleeping longer than usual can cause head pain. Researchers believe this is due to the effect oversleeping has on certain neurotransmitters in the brain, including serotonin. People who sleep too much during the day and disrupt their nighttime sleep may also find themselves suffering from headaches in the morning.

Back pain: There was a time when doctors told people suffering from back pain to head straight to bed. But those days are long gone — they now recommend against sleeping more than usual, when possible.

Depression: Roughly 15 percent of people with depression sleep too much. This may in turn make their depression worse, because regular sleep habits are important to the recovery process. In fact, in certain instances, sleep deprivation can be an effective treatment for depression.

Heart disease: A careful analysis of the data from the Nurses’ Health Study, which involved nearly 72,000 women, showed that women who slept nine to 11 hours per night were 38 percent more likely to have coronary heart disease.

Death: Multiple studies have found that people who sleep nine or more hours a night have significantly higher death rates. No specific reason for this correlation has been determined.

Meanwhile, the common assertion that you need eight or more hours of sleep each night may be incorrect. According to some experts, most people need less than eight hours of sleep each night. Several large studies over the past 40 years show that the average healthy adult sleeps for seven to seven-and-a-half hours a night, and that should be plenty from a physical perspective. Some adults need even less than that and can function normally on just five hours of sleep a night.

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Ailmemts & Remedies

COPD (Respiratory Disease)

Some 600,000 people in the UK are known to have COPD and it is the sixth most common cause of death in England and Wales, killing more than 30,000 people a year.

Despite this, many people are still unaware of this lung disease.

Introduction of COPD

What is COPD?

COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which is a term that covers a number of lung conditions including chronic bronchitis (inflammation of the airways) and emphysema (damaged air sacs).

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As the name suggests, the main problem is airway obstruction. In COPD, the lung airways are damaged and narrowed, which makes it harder for air to get in and out.

What causes it?

COPD is generally a smokers’ disease. The lung damaged caused by smoking increases with duration of smoking.

Most people who develop COPD have been a smoker for many years and are aged 40 or older.

Air pollution and certain occupations, such as coal mining, may also play a part, but it is rare for a non-smoker to develop COPD.

What are the symptoms?

Cough (sometimes called a “smoker’s cough“), phlegm/sputum production and shortness of breath.

In mild cases, these symptoms may only appear occasionally – in the winter for example.

As the disease progresses the symptoms become much worse.

A person with severe COPD may become so breathless that they are no longer able to carry out normal daily activities such as walking.

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What is the outlook?

There is no cure for COPD. Once the damage is done to the lungs it cannot be reversed.

Stopping smoking will greatly help improve the symptoms and stop the disease from progressing further.

It is never too late to stop smoking and it will benefit even those with advanced COPD.

Keeping fit and healthy by taking regular exercise and maintaining a health weight can also help.

People with chronic lung diseases are also advised to have an annual flu jab.

Severe COPD is extremely debilitating. As the lungs become more damaged, too little oxygen gets into the bloodstream and this lead to other health problems such as heart failure.

There are therapies that can help at all stages of the disease.

How can it be treated?

Bronchodilator medications, usually given via an inhaler, help open up the airways and make it easier for the person to breathe.

People with COPD often have flare-ups of their condition.

When this happens, or as the disease becomes more severe, steroid medication may be required to help reduce the airway inflammation.

Some may require hospitalisation and intensive treatment with oxygen and antibiotics if they develop a chest infection, for example.

Other medicines, called mucolytics, make the sputum less thick and easier to cough up.

When COPD is severe, portable oxygen may need to be used every day to help with the breathlessness.

Various cylinders are available and they can be used in the home for the long term.

Breathing exercise lessons, or pulmonary rehabilitation, are available at some hospitals.

These teach a person how to improve their exercise performance to maintain quality of life.

Regular yoga exercise with Pranayama (breathing exercise) under the guideline of some expert is the best way to get gradual & permanent  relief from COPD.

.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

Sources: BBC NEWS:14th.March. ’06

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