wellness weekly

It’s NOT a Small World After All: At play, vibrant and energetic, children were at one time the epitome of health, full of vim and vigor. Childhood was a time of learning achieved in fun and active ways. Disney World a place to take these precious children for a little more fun and adventure. Now doctors are diagnosing hypertension and hypercholesterolemia in children while Disney World remodels to make its rides capable of handling the ever expanding girths and heft of its visitors young and middle aged alike. As parents, teachers, health care professionals and a society, we MUST do more to make a healthy weight possible for our children or they will die before we do.

Fitness: In an article explaining the benefits of yoga, cardiovascular health was not found to be one. Researchers studied the practice which involves stretches, poses and balances to learn what health impact it does have on those who do it. The benefits do include balance, stability and flexibility but not increased cardiovascular fitness, as yoga was not found to increase heart rate through exercise or if so, not to sustain it long enough to meet the recommended duration. Cardiovascular exercise is noted to improve health by improving blood and oxygen flow but also by reducing weight and increasing HDL or healthy cholesterol. Instead, the well respected Kenneth Cooper of the Cooper Wellness Clinic suggests that a moderately fit 35 year old RUN 20 minutes four times a week. Less fit persons are encouraged to begin a walking program of 30 minutes a day most days of the week. He did not say we should not do yoga by any means, only that for heart health we needed the cardio exercise separately.

Women and Disease: Heart disease is our country’s number one killer. It kills more women than lung or breast cancer. What is interesting is that just as lung cancer has increased for women (taking more lives than breast cancer) while it has decreased for men, so has heart disease. Many health experts attribute rises in lung cancer in women to cigarette smoking. Lung cancer takes years to develop, not so long to kill however, and women started smoking and smoking more years after men did. Many people mistakenly believe that the number one smoking related illness is lung cancer, it is not. The number one smoking related disease is also the number one killer of Americans. It is heart disease. So when research came out this week showing an unexpected rise in coronary heart disease among women ages 35-44, not just disease, but death at those ages, I thought again of smoking. The authors of the study noted genetics, obesity and diabetes as risk factors for heart disease and I add cigarette smoking. Nicotine and carbon monoxide play off each other here, but nicotine in cigarettes causes the release of fat and cholesterol. (coronary heart disease IS clogged artery disease) and nicotine in cigarettes narrows arteries. Those overweight young women who smoke are at significantly high risk for heart attack and death. Add a birth control pill to that mix and you are toast.

Global Unwarming Melts the Pounds?: The American Public Health Association, or APHA, is pushing efforts to reduce green house gasses and emissions in order to help us improve our health in myriad ways. Spokespersons and CDC experts agree, if we drive less and walk and cycle more, we cut the emissions and lose the pounds. It is also suggested that we eat less meat because it is more taxing on the environment to produce than fruits, vegetables and grains. Amen to that! This is supported by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization as well and a Dr. Lawrence from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Public Health who notes that men, in general, eat 1.6 x more meat then recommended. Remember, red meat consumption is consistently correlated with colon cancer.

Reality: In a novel I just read, a character notes that humans can’t stand too much reality and in fact, flee from it. In regards to wellness, I believe that is exactly what a large percentage of us do. Reality is this. The major causes of death and significant disability are controllable and related to lifestyle choices. The medicines we depend on instead, medicine to control the diseases such as hypertension and diabetes which cannot be cured, cause additional health problems. Recently we have heard about heart attack risks with diabetes drug Avandia. Now it is said that a physician raised those concerns in 1999 and was muzzled by GSK which makes and or markets Avandia. Eight years later and the drug gets a black box warning. Think that will matter? Not really. My years working in a hospital saw many doctors blow off the warning labels even when I brought them to their attention. So if they want to keep those meds away from people they’ll have to vioxx them. You, on the other hand, might try eating wisely and moving more.

ICE: Once again I must extol the virtues of ice. Ice is a wonderful anti-inflammatory and can be used to treat injuries sometimes instead of medicine. And here again ice is offered as a treatment in lieu of medicines. [why do we need an alternative, well, that is spelled out above]. Anyway, I have two sisters. Both are experiencing hot flashes these days. One of them has the experience in response to menopause while the other is having them as a side effect of a medication she must take. I overheard their recent lamentations. Middle sister’s wisdom is now offered to you all. She takes lunch box ice packs and wraps a towel or cloth around them, or one of them and places in at the base of her neck as she is falling asleep. When she feels better she places it beneath her pillow. If she wakes later in the night with another heat rush or flash, she flips her pillow which is now very cool to her face and neck. You may respond to this idea the same way big sister did. “Oh, I am so going to do that.”

I did indeed write this Thanksgiving Weekend and enjoyed doing so. Hope you are all invigorated by the holiday break and doing your part to stay well.