Obesity weighs on the heart
All that grease is like napalm to the heart. High-fat diets and oversize portions add weight, which bombards the body with excess cholesterol. That cholesterol begins lining the arteries, causing a gradual narrowing, which damages the heart muscle, said Gerald DeVaughn, MD, a cardiologist and president of Cardiology Medical Associates in Philadelphia.Obesity is a risk factor in cardiovascular disease, especially for young men, but where you carry fat on your body can also be a good predictor of heart health. Being “apple-shaped,” with extra fat on the belly, can put you at a higher risk than someone with the fat distributed around the hips and thighs.

Extra fat cells can also lead to type 2 diabetes, itself a risk factor for heart disease.

Even if you don’t reach your ideal weight, every little bit can help. According to the National Institutes of Health, losing just 10% of your total body weight can lower your risk of heart disease and other conditions associated with obesity.Heavy kids, heavy hearts
While fat-clogged arteries have traditionally been more of an adult issue, rates of obesity and high blood pressure among young people are also soaring, according to researchers at University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, where 20% of students studied were overweight or obese. Read the rest of this entry »

A good diet is always important for health, but the stakes are especially high for people with heart disease. Food can either help protect the heart or provide fuel for a heart attack.

The diet plan you choose to prevent heart disease will depend on your unique risk factors. People with hypertension, for example, should choose a plan low in sodium and fat.

Those with high cholesterol should consider a diet rich in olive oil, omega-3 fatty acids, and other heart-healthy fats.Those who need to lose weight should consider a calorie-restricted version of their heart-healthy diet. On average, cutting 500 calories a day from your diet leads to a loss of one pound per week. The safest way to lose weight is to aim to drop up to one pound per week; crash diets can be harmful and rarely lead to permanent weight loss. Read the rest of this entry »

The old thought was that vigorous exercise could be dangerous to people at risk for heart disease. Emerging evidence suggests that the more vigorous the workout, the more value to your heart—though short, 15-minute spurts of exercise may be as beneficial as one marathon session.

One cardiovascular death per year may be preventable for every 145 people with diabetes who are persuaded to walk at least two hours a week, according to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Exercise keeps you ticking
David Cullen’s brother Steve died of a heart attack in 1995 at age 40. In 2002 two more of his brothers died of the same fate, one day apart. Cullen, a state representative from Milwaukee, doesn’t expect to die young. At 5’11″, he weighs only 165 pounds and has low cholesterol. He credits his good health to running six to eight miles each day.

How exercise clears arteries
Exercise helps dilate the body’s blood vessels and enables blood to circulate more freely, said Byung-il William Choi, MD, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

In one study Harvard researchers found up to a 20% reduction of heart-disease risk for those who most frequently got vigorous exercise. This category included running or jogging, swimming laps, playing tennis, or doing aerobics. Read the rest of this entry »

Medical Treatment

Drug treatment for migraine headaches can relieve the pain and symptoms of a migraine attack and prevent further migraine attacks.

Migraines can be treated with two approaches: abortive and preventive.

Abortive: The goal of abortive therapy is to stop it once it starts. The prescribed medications stop a migraine when you one coming or once it has begun and may be taken as needed. Abortive medications can be administered by self-injection, by mouth, or by nasal spray. These forms of medication are especially useful for people who have nausea or vomiting related to their migraine, and they work quickly. Read the rest of this entry »