Monday, February 28, 2011

TOO LITTLE OR TOO MUCH SLEEP MAY RAISE HEART STROKE RISK

Not getting enough shut-eye might increase your risk of developing or dying from heart disease or stroke, according to a new review of studies.
Sleep Sleeping less than six hours a night increased the risk of developing or dying from heart disease by 48 percent, and the risk of developing or dying from stroke by 15 percent, said study researcher Dr. Francesco P. Cappuccio, of the University of Warwick Medical School in England.
Too little sleep could contribute to coronary heart disease and stroke by increasing "blood pressure and cholesterol, induction of obesity and Type 2 diabetes and activation of low-grade inflammation," Cappuccio told MyHealthNewsDaily.
Cappuccio and his colleagues looked at data from 15 past studies that included 474,684 participants followed for between seven and 25 years. They identified a total of 4,169 cases of coronary heart disease, 3,478 cases of stroke and 8,420 cases of heart disease.
The people in the studies were asked how many hours of sleep they got in the past week. Those who reported getting six or fewer hours of sleep a night had a greater risk of heart disease or stroke than those who had seven or eight hours of sleep a night, the study said.
People who slept nine or more hours a night also faced an increased risk of heart disease, the study said. Their risk was 41 percent higher than those who slept seven or eight hours.
Researchers couldn't quantify how many consecutive nights of too little or too much sleep were needed to have the adverse health effects, because the people in the study reported their own sleep habits, Cappuccio said.
The findings only apply to adults, Cappuccio said. In general, children should get about 10 or 11 hours of sleep a night, teens ages 10 to 17 should get 8.5 to 9.25 hours and adults should get seven to nine hours, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
Past studies also suggest sleep duration is linked with health. A 2003 article in the journal Diabetes Care showed that sleeping for five or fewer hours a night is linked with the development of diabetes.
A number of studies, including a 2008 study in the journal Sleep by Cappuccio, found that children who got a short night's sleep were more likely to be obese than kids who slept 10 or more hours a night. And a 2008 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that elderly women who slept fewer than five hours a night or more than eight or nine hours a night were more likely to be obese than those who sleep six or seven hours a night.

The new study was published on Feb. 8, 2011 in the European Heart Journal.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Dealing with Chronic Pains

Pain serves a valuable function by alerting the body that something is functionally or structurally wrong. A simple example is the reflex response that occurs when you accidentally touch your hand to a hot stove. Sensors in the skin sense pain. These sensors send signals along special nerve pathways to the spinal cord, which in turn sends signals to provoke a reflex that causes you to jerk your hand away from the heat source, thereby limiting damage to your hand. This is all done automatically, without thinking. Pain may be chronic or acute, sharp or dull, throbbing or steady, or intermittent or constant. 

Chronic pain is a significant source of discomfort and lost productivity in today’s workplace. Treatment of chronic pain depends upon any known underlying cause or any other complicating factors. In general, chronic pain is treated with a combination of medication and pain management through non-drug treatments. Drug treatments for mild to moderate pain usually focus on non-prescription pain relievers such as acetaminophen, aspirin, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen. These types of drugs are non-addictive, but can have side effects that range from upset stomach to kidney and liver damage. Pain and inflammation may actually change the nervous system. Because of this, pain may linger long after the physical injury that caused it has healed. 

Living with chronic pain can lure you into feeling helpless about your condition. It can cause emotional problems or physical limitations that threaten your relationships, hamper your job performance and limit your activities. Anxiety, depression, anger, hopelessness or desperation about the pain can make it seem worse. This can, in turn, alter your personality and disrupt family and work relationships. Chronic pain can interfere with sleep, leaving you tired and less able to cope with the pain.

No single pain treatment works for everyone, and it's easy to feel like giving up if you've tried several treatments that haven't worked. You may have to wade through a lot of hype and controversy that leave you scratching your head and wondering: What's effective? What's safe? What's my best strategy? The Daily Effects all natural products will counter all your worries about your chronic pain, a highly effective product that will make you feel comfortable and healthy.

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