The Medical Health Plus

Stress Management

Feeling angry, not working, anxious, and lack of concentration are mostly due to unwanted stress. It is Important for every one to get rid of it no matter which way. This piece of writing will let you identify the stressors in your life and let you overcome these stressors.

To target stress one should solemnly know its meanings, it’s not a disease, it does not pose any external symptoms. It is a kind of virus which infects your life style, it does not means that your life style is responsible for stress.

It emerges with over burden of work as well as unwanted events like loosing job, divorce etc., are the main reason of being infected by it. If stress is not targeted on time than it can create too much fast heart rate even heart disease and High blood pressure, also problems in digestion, etc.

Most of the people are unaware there fore feeling more and more stressed and are being easily infected by this virus. This creates hurdles for men to live a good life.

The symptoms of stress are usually of many kinds but the most significant two are as follows. Psychosomatic symptoms like Allergies, Asthma, and Hypertension etc. Also some Psychiatric symptoms like Anxiety, Fatigue, Depression, muscle tension, Isolation etc.

It’s very easy to get rid of it just Take a Pause from the fast life and passively Prepare yourself to fight against Stress and also try to make your mind live in present state rather than being in past or future state. It will help you became more and more active. Take Baby steps in the beginning and in the End you will learn all the basics of stress management.

Five Stress Relief Tips

Feeling Stressed is never a worrying indication; it shows how speedy your life is and how worth while it is for others, this small article will nearly change the way how you feel stressed.
Most of the time unwanted stress might have created a cloudy space in your mind. You might be unable to get rid of it. There are many ways of stress relief, but mainly categorized in physical and mental ways.
The Best Mental way for stress relief is to change the way of Perceiving  the stress, Most of the people take it as a negative thing where as the truth is that it is not a negative thing it is a positive indication, which shows about how important your life is for others and even for yourself . After reading this article you might be able to understand the real meaning of stress.
All those acts which let you feel relaxed are usually considered as the Physical ways of stress relief, mainly the stress impacts all the body parts and causes them to work abnormally which enables more stress to flow. 5 important tips for stress relief are as follows.
1. Just don’t feel too low; try to make your shoulders relaxed, you should notice that when ever you are stressed your shoulders change their position and try to hike up, so be aware of it and always let your shoulders be relaxed. Try to drop to a comfortable position. You might have to lower your shoulders many times because they tend to attain the same position.
2. Try to relax your back; this enables you to overcome stress. Your shoulders do even relax when you relax your back. This also let you feel less pain and less pain equals less stress.
3. After following the above steps Imagine that you were ice and now you are melting. As you melt, all of your stress melts and slides down to the floor. It evaporates. There is no stress left.
4. Breathing ways also affect your stress levels; you can feel less stressed by just changing the way you breathe. Just breathe more deeply and slowly it will work as a stress buster.
5. Arrange to have a relaxation massage from someone who cares about you. This step can be followed once in 2-3 days.
Try these 5 important tips for stress relief, the more you feel good the more you are relaxed. Try to take things positively.

HYPERTENSION: High Blood Pressure

High Blood Pressure: A threat to life! The medical term for high blood pressure is hypertension. High blood pressure means high pressure in the arteries. Arteries are vessels that carry blood from the pumping heart to all the tissues and organs of the body. Normal blood pressure is below 120/80; blood pressure between 120/80 and 139/89 is called “pre-hypertension”, and a blood pressure of 140/90 or above is considered high.
It quite normal for blood to go up and down but high blood pressure is dangerous because it makes the heart work too hard and contributes to hardening of the arteries. It increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. It can also result in other conditions, such as congestive heart failure, kidney disease, and blindness.  High blood pressure is called a “silent killer”, because it doesn’t usually cause symptoms while it is causing this damage. These complications of hypertension are often referred to as end-organ damage because damage to these organs is the end result of chronic high blood pressure. It does not have a symptom that is why it’s quite important to have your blood pressure checked regularly. Most people don’t know they have it until they go to the doctor for some other reason. It is usually measured by putting a blood pressure cuff around your arm, inflating the cuff and listening for the flow of blood. It will be measured more than one visit to see if you really have high blood pressure.

When you do not treat it, it can damage the heart, brain, kidneys, or eyes. This damage causes problems like coronary artery disease, stroke, and  kidney failure. Very high blood pressure can cause headaches, vision problems, nausea, and vomiting. Malignant high blood pressure, that is hypertensive crises which is blood pressure that rises very fast, can also cause these symptoms.

Combination of factors that causes High Blood Pressure includes:
Age as the risk of high blood pressure increases as you grow older.

• Stress can raise blood pressure.
• Inherited, High blood pressure often runs in families therefore transfer from histroy.
• Excessive sodium in the diet can result in fluid retention and high blood pressure, especially in people sensitive to sodium.
• Lack of physical activity tends to increase heart rate, which forces your heart to work harder with each contraction. Regular exercise is a good way to lose weight, its lower high blood pressure by itself.
• The nicotine in cigarettes and other tobacco products causes your blood vessels to constrict and your heart to beat faster, which temporarily raises your blood pressure.
• Excessive alcohol intake can increase the risk of heart disease.
• Excessive intake of tea or any stimulant should be limited.

Secondary causes includes:

• Kidney infection or kidney disease
• Hormonal conditions ( condition where the body produces an excess of steroid hormones)
• Conditions affecting the tissue of the body ( condition where the immune system attacks healthy tissue),
• Medicines, such as the oral contraceptive pill, or the type of painkillers known as nonsteriodal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen,
• Illegal stimulants, such as cocaine, amphetamine and crystal meth

Lowering Blood Pressure

• You can consume meat and other dairy products but salt intake should be reduced. Foods like vegetables, fruits, whole wheat grain products and fishes combined with natural supplements like lemon, garlic, gooseberry etc can.
• Folic acid helps to lower high blood pressure in some people, possibly by reducing elevated homocysteine levels.
• Get 3,500 mg of potassium in your diet everyday. Fresh unprocessed whole foods have the most potassium.

Significant rise in diabetes in the UK

The UK is seeing an explosion of diabetes linked to growing obesity rates, experts reported. From 1997 to 2003 there was a 74% rise in new cases of diabetes. And by 2005, more than 4% of the population was classed as having diabetes – nearly double the rate of 10 years earlier.

The bulk of cases are type 2 diabetes -which is linked to being overweight or obese – the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports.

The findings suggest that rates of diabetes are increasing at a faster rate in the UK than they are in the US, where prevalence of the disease is already one of the highest in the world.

Of more than 42,642 people who were newly diagnosed with the disease between 1996 and 2005, just over 1,250 had the inherited “insulin-dependent” type 1 diabetes, and more than 41,000 had later-onset type 2 disease, which is linked to lifestyle.

While the numbers of new cases of type 1 diabetes remained fairly constant over the decade, the numbers of new cases of type 2 diabetes did not.

These shot up from 2.60 to 4.31 cases per 1,000 patient years, equivalent to an increase of 69% over the decade.

The researchers from Spain and Sweden who analysed the data from almost five million medical records say the trends are not due to increased screening or the UK’s ageing population, but from rising obesity rates.

Over the course of the study, the proportion of patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who were obese increased by a fifth.

The researchers said: “Our results suggest that, although the incidence of diabetes remains lower in the UK than in the USA or Canada, it appears to be increasing at a faster pace.”

Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum said projections suggested the worst was yet to come: “Rates of obesity and diabetes will continue to rise unless we do something urgently.”

Douglas Smallwood, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: “This research is a sad indictment of the current state of the UK’s health. Sadly, the statistics are not surprising as we know that the soaring rates of type 2 diabetes, are strongly linked to the country’s expanding waistline.

“Research shows that losing weight can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58%. It is imperative that we raise awareness of the importance of eating a healthy, balanced diet and doing at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day if we want to make any headway in defusing the diabetes time bomb.”

Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said: “Early detection and treatment are crucial. We must do whatever we can to find the half-million people who don’t know they’ve got it.”

There are currently over 2.5 million people with diabetes in the UK and there are more than half a million people with diabetes who have the condition and don’t know it.

Type 2 diabetes usually appears in people over the age of 40, however, recently, more children are being diagnosed with the condition, some as young as seven.

The NHS is spending £1m an hour – 10% of its yearly budget – treating diabetes and its complications, according to Diabetes UK.

A Department of Health spokesperson said the rise in recorded diabetes cases was partly due to improvements in diagnosis, along with rising rates of obesity and an ageing population.

As a result, more people were getting the support, advice and treatment required to prevent or delay complications.

“We are committed to working with the NHS to help prevent people from developing diabetes,” the spokesperson added.

source: bbc

Handling Stress At Work

Majority of the people are facing stress problem. Most of them assume that their work is providing them stress, their dealing, mouth words, annoying employees and etc are the major stressors. You carry all your stress to home from work and mix it up with your social life; as a result you will be mentally and physically disturbed and frustrated.

If you are not successful in handling stress then it will affect your health in forms like headaches, digestion problem, heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, lack of concentration and other major diseases.

There are hundreds of steps and tips that you can use to solve the problem. Listed below are some important tips for handling stress at work.

First important thing which has to be considered when it comes to handling stress is that you must handle and manage it by yourself. By the use of this tool you can manage your stress easily. Let’s see through which ways you can handle your stress at work:

• Planning
• Avoidance
• Ignorance

Make a habit to relax half an hour every day or enjoy with your friends, family members or kids (if you have any).

Determine what event distress you, after determining try to avoid them as much as you can, if it is not possible to avoid then try to do less.

There are many companies offering seminars to their employee on the topic of handling stress at work. In that seminar they are discussing the factors through which you can manage stress at work.

After reading this article I am sure that you will be able to understand the term handling stress at work.

Natural Sources Of Protein, Carbohydrates And Healthy Fats

Food is any substance, usually comprised primarily of carbohydrates, fats, water and/or proteins, that can be eaten or drunk by animals (including humans) for nutrition and/or pleasure. Here are few natural Sources of protein, carbohydrates and healthy fat.

• Protein Egg whites: Egg whites is an excellent source of natural protein , it is usually called a perfect protein, it is also much cheaper than its alternatives – sometimes as low as 20 cents apiece. Over 90% of its calories are from protein, with trace amounts of carbohydrates and fats. This is a favorite among professional bodybuilders, some of whom routinely eat dozens of egg whites in one sitting

• Protein Fish: Fish is living, swimming protein. Look at the nutrition facts to make sure it does not contain too many preservatives. Look out for fish with good amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, a crucial nutrient to healthy diets that few people get their daily requirement of.

• Protein Chicken and turkey: Chicken and turkey are my personal favorites because they can be prepared and cooked in so many different ways. They have more fat content than egg whites, but they sure do make it up with taste. They can be cut up into small pieces and fry them up with vegetable oil, salt and pepper.

• Carbohydrates Milk: Fat-free milk is approximately 2/3 carbs and 1/3 protein. Milk also contains vitamin D and calcium, key nutrients for bone growth. Try to drink it first thing in the morning. Since milk is a liquid, your body can absorb the nutrients from it more quickly than if it were a solid.

• Carbohydrates Whole grains: Whole grain products are great for breakfast, and keep you full for a long time. They are crunchy, delicious, and have numerous heart-related benefits. But for every product that claims to be whole grain, check its ingredients and make sure that whole grains is the first item on the list. If it is not, it is not truly whole grain.

• Carbohydrates Fruits: Fruits contain a lot of fast-acting sugars, which are good for when you need energy quickly. Nearly all fruits are great sources of carbohydrates, from apples, peaches, and watermelon to pineapple, cherries and grapes. When possible, eat whole fruits, rather than fruit juices. Most fruit juices contain from 10% to 0% real fruit juice. Surprisingly low, but also surprisingly common.

• Carbohydrates Vegetables: Vegetables have high potassium, calcium and sometimes even protein (did you know broccoli is 40% protein?). They are great for people trying to lose weight, because they contain a lot of fiber.

• Carbohydrates Baked potatoes: Potatoes get a lot of bad press and are often labeled as bad and unhealthy. But, potatoes will only be bad for you if you eat too many of them or you prepare them in non-healthy ways, like frying. Stay away from french fries and potato chips, but do not miss out on nutritious and delicious baked potatoes. Keep in mind that one medium potato is around 150 calories. Potatoes are a great source of fiber and vitamin C.

• Fats Nuts and legumes: Some people avoid peanuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts and other members of the nut and legume family because they contain a lot of fat. But these foods contain healthy fats that are very different from the bad fats that people want to avoid. Nuts and legumes are great snacks, and are just as crunchy as potato chips, but much better for your heart.

• Fats Oils: Oil is also commonly avoided because of its fat content. But not only do certain oils, like olive oil, contain 75% mono-unsaturated fat (the best kind of fat), but most oils contain good amounts of omega-6, a nutrient that the body needs but cannot make. Do not go overboard with oil, but do not limit yourself to no oil at all – you may be missing out on some health benefits.

New study revealed natural protein halts, reverses & reverses brain disorder in animal models

Loss memory, cognitive impairment, brain cell degeneration and cell death were prevented or reversed in several animal models after treatment with a naturally occurring protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The study by a University of California, San Diego-led team – published in the February 8, 2009 issue of Nature Medicine – shows that BDNF treatment can potentially provide long-lasting protection by slowing, or even stopping the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in animal models.

Mark Tuszynski, professor of neurosciences at the University of California (UC), San Diego School of Medicine, United States, and neurologist at the Veterans Affairs, San Diego Health System said: “The effects of BDNF were potent. When we administered BDNF to memory circuits in the brain, we directly stimulated their activity and prevented cell death from the underlying disease.”

BDNF is normally produced throughout life in the entorhinal cortex, a portion of the brain that supports memory. Its production decreases in the presence of Alzheimer’s disease. For these experiments, the researchers injected the BDNF gene or protein in a series of cell culture and animal models, including transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, aged rats, rats with induced damage to the entorhinal cortex, aged rhesus monkeys and monkeys with entorhinal cortex damage.

In each case, when compared with control groups not treated with BDNF, the treated animals demonstrated significant improvement in the performance of a variety of learning and memory tests. Notably, the brains of the treated animals also exhibited restored BDNF gene expression, enhanced cell size, improved cell signalling and activation of function in neurons that would otherwise have degenerated, compared to untreated animals. These benefits extended to the degenerating hippocampus where short-term memory is processed, one of the first regions of the brain to suffer damage in Alzheimer’s disease.

The demonstration of the effectiveness and safety of BDNF administration in animals provides “a rationale for exploring clinical translation” to humans, the team concludes, suggesting that the protective and restorative effects of BDNF on damaged neurons and neuronal signalling may offer a new approach to treating Alzheimer’s disease.

This work builds on previous studies by Tuszynski and others, demonstrating the therapeutic affects of nerve growth factor (NGF) administered to patients with Alzheimer’s disease. In 2001, Tuszynski and his team at UC San Diego Medical Centre performed the first surgical implants of NGF genes into the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, with follow-up results showing these patients experienced a possible slowing in cognitive decline and increased metabolic function in the brain. The NGF studies continue today, with phase two, multi-centre studies currently underway.

“NGF therapy aims to stimulate the function of specific cholinergic neurons, which are like the air traffic controllers of the brain, helping to direct the activities of cells in broad regions of the brain,” Tuszynski explained. However, he added that the benefits of NGF therapy, if validated in ongoing trials, would not be curative. Eventually, the effect of the NGF “boost” would be countered by the widespread death of neurons in the cerebral cortex as a result of advancing Alzheimer’s disease.

“In contrast, BDNF acts directly on dying cells in specific memory circuits of the brain,” Tuszynski said. “In this series of studies, we have shown that BDNF targets the cortical cells themselves, preventing their death, stimulating their function and improving learning and memory. Thus, BDNF treatment can potentially provide long-lasting protection by slowing, or even stopping disease progression in the cortical regions that receive treatment.”

The protective and restorative effects of BDNF occurred independently of the build-up of amyloid, a protein that accumulates in the brain to form plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. Many current experimental treatments for Alzheimer’s disease target amyloid production, so the potential role of BDNF as an alternative protective intervention is of great potential interest, said Tuszynski. Because BDNF targets a different set of disease mechanisms than amyloid modulation, there is also potential to combine BDNF and amyloid-based treatments, theoretically providing a two-pronged attack on the disease.

Researchers refill that multivitamins may not thwart cancer or heart disease

Lot of people take multivitamin in the hopes of averting disease, but the supplements seem to offer no deference against cancer or heart disease, according to a research study that was reported on Monday. In the study that followed more than 160,000 older Americans women, the researchers found that the 41% who used multivitamins were neither less likely to develop cancer or heart disease over eight years nor to have a lower overall death rate. About half of Americans routinely use a dietary supplement, often a multivitamin, and studies show that one of the primary motivations is the belief that supplements will protect them from chronic diseases like cancer or heart disease.

However, the current findings suggest that, at least for postmenopausal women, multivitamin use “does not confer meaningful benefit or harm” when it comes to cancer and heart disease, the researchers report in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The team, led by Dr. Marian L. Neuhouser of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, United States, asks, “Why do millions of Americans use a daily multivitamin for chronic disease prevention when the supporting scientific data are weak?”

One reason, they say, “may be the varied health messages received by the public.” Position statements from medical organisations that multivitamins do not prevent disease are mixed with messages to take a multivitamin if dietary intake is less than optimal – leaving the public confused, Neuhouser and her colleagues note. Until clinical trials prove otherwise, the researchers write, multivitamins should not be seen as a way to prevent chronic disease.

New research linked egg intake to diabetes risk

People who sit down to a daily breakfast of eggs may have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research suggests. In a long-term study of 57,000 U.S. adults, researchers found that those who ate an egg a day were 58 per cent to 77 per cent more likely than non-egg-eaters to develop type 2 diabetes. The findings, published in the journal Diabetes Care, do not necessarily mean that eggs themselves put people on a path to diabetes, according to the researchers, but they do suggest it is wise to limit your egg intake.

“Based on the current data, our recommendations would be to consume eggs in moderation and not to exceed six eggs per week,” lead researcher Dr. Luc Djousse, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, told Reuters Health. The study does not explain exactly why eggs are linked to diabetes, but cholesterol may play a role. The study participants’ daily cholesterol intake was also related to diabetes risk and when the researchers factored this in, the relationship between egg intake and diabetes weakened.

In animal studies, high-fat diets have been shown to raise levels of blood sugar and the sugar-regulating hormone insulin suggesting a way that a cholesterol-heavy diet might promote diabetes. According to Djousse, it’s important for people at risk of type 2 diabetes due to factors like family history and obesity to pay attention to their overall cholesterol intake and not just cholesterol from eggs. Even more important, he noted, was a focus on overall health maintaining a normal weight, exercising regularly and eating a well-balanced diet rather than any one food or nutrient. He pointed out that eggs also contain important nutrients like protein, vitamins and minerals and “good” unsaturated fats.

Smoking in pregnancy link with antisocial behavior in children

A cardiff University, United Kingdom, research project has for the first time studied whether smoking during pregnancy can directly make children more likely to behave anti-socially. The unique study by scientists at the University’s Schools of Medicine and Psychology examined the records of 779 children born by in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) whose prenatal environment was provided by either a related mother or an unrelated mother. They found a link between anti-social behaviour in children whose mothers smoked in pregnancy – but only when the mother was genetically linked to the child.

When the child came from a donated egg and donated embryo – egg or embryo donation or surrogacy – there was no link, suggesting factors other than smoking during pregnancy influence anti-social behaviour. The results of the study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, are published today (Tuesday 3 February 2009) in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It is well-established that smoking during pregnancy, whether the mother is genetically related to the baby or not has an adverse effect on birth weight. However, links between what mothers do in pregnancy and how it may affect the mental health and behaviour of children are less researched. While mothers who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have anti-social children, it has not been clear if this is a direct result of the smoking.

The Cardiff University researchers were able to study IVF children, with differing degrees of genetic relation to their parents, to disentangle the effects of genetic influences and the prenatal environment. The study is the first study of its kind in the world to allow these effects to be separated. In the published paper, the researchers looked at effects of mother’s smoking in pregnancy on the child’s birth weight and the child’s behaviour, paying particular attention to mothers not genetically related to their unborn baby.

Professor Anita Thapar, clinical child psychiatrist and Principal Investigator on the study said: “What we have been able to confirm is that cigarette smoke in pregnancy does lower birth weight regardless of whether the mother and child are genetically related or not, but the link with children’s behaviour is different. It is now clear that offspring anti-social behaviour is more dependent on inherited factors passed from mother to child, as our group of children with mothers who smoked during pregnancy with no direct genetic link showed no increased signs of anti-social behaviour. This suggests that other influencing factors such as the mother’s personality traits and other inherited characteristics are at play during the development of a baby.”

Thapar, who is based in the School of Medicine’s Department of Psychological Medicine and Neurosciences and Mental Health Interdisciplinary Research Group worked with Dr Frances Rice (first author) and Professor Gordon Harold along with other researchers from the School of Psychology. She believes this unique approach opens the way to tease apart the effect of genes and environment on a variety of other conditions in the future and has significant policy implications. She said: “This type of research is able to tell us what sorts of interventions in pregnancy are the right ones to focus on in order to improve the physical and mental health of children.”