Monthly Archives: January 2013

January 28th, 2013
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Maintaining a Healthy Blood Pressure & Keeping it Healthy!

It’s critical for your heart health that you work on achieving and maintaining  a healthy blood pressure.  The best time to work on this is before you even develop high blood pressure, but if you’ve already been diagnosed, it’s not too late to start.

First, avoid tobacco products.  If you’ve never smoked, don’t start. And if you’re a smoker, or you use smokeless tobacco there’s no time like the present to stop.  This is one habit that can cause you to have high blood pressure and many other health problems.

Make sure that you get regular exercise.  It’s recommended that you get thirty minutes to an hour of exercise daily.  This doesn’t mean you have to join a gym.  Even taking a daily walk can do amazing things for your heart health. Continue reading “Maintaining a Healthy Blood Pressure & Keeping it Healthy!” »

Blood Pressure
January 25th, 2013
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Your Heart And The Word “Exercise”

You have probably heard that it’s important to exercise to keep your heart healthy.  But you may not know how it actually does this important job.  Sometimes knowing the actual mechanism that helps your heart will help motivate you to make the changes you need for a healthier heart.

Exercise actually helps your heart to stay in shape.  It increases the amount of blood it can pump with a single beat.  It also helps to physically strengthen the muscle that makes up your heart  (cardiac muscle.)  Improving your heart health can improve the circulation all over your body.  That means that your body is getting oxygen and nutrients delivered to it more efficiently.

Exercise is also one of the only ways that you can increase your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. This is the good cholesterol that actually helps to reduce the amount of plaque on your blood vessels.  Having high HDL levels actually helps you to keep your blood vessels from becoming blocked. Continue reading “Your Heart And The Word “Exercise”” »

Heart Information
January 24th, 2013
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Let’s Talk Cholesterol

Cholesterol is something that we have learned to fear.  We spend a lot of time eating foods that don’t have much of it and we get our blood tested for it, but what is this strange substance that’s responsible for damaging our hearts?

Cholesterol is material that’s waxy and fatty.  It’s found in the blood and in all of the cells of the body.  In fact, cholesterol can be a good thing – you’re supposed to have some.

Our body actually puts it to good use when it’s making cell membranes and putting together the building blocks of hormones.  So why do we worry so much about having it if we need it?

Too much cholesterol in the body results in hypercholesterolemia.  This is the technical term for high cholesterol.  When our body has more cholesterol than it can use for its everyday processes, the rest of it ends up floating freely in our blood.  When this happens, it begins to become deposited on the blood vessel walls. Continue reading “Let’s Talk Cholesterol” »

Heart Information
January 22nd, 2013
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Eating Healthy When Eating Out

When you’re making an effort to eat healthy, eating at a restaurant can be a problem. While the food is usually quite tasty and you didn’t have to prepare it, it can also be loaded with enemies to your heart like saturated fat and sugar. But most menus offer some healthy selections that can make eating out both delicious and healthful. When my wife and I are out we always check for low calorie menu items.

Usually at first people look in the menu for healthy food located in the salad section. Many salads can be healthy, but you need to make sure that the ingredients – especially dressings – are low in saturated fat. In some cases there’s so much fat and so many calories in restaurant salads, you’d be better off eating a hamburger!

You can always choose grilled items that are lower in grease. Chicken makes a lower fat alternative to beef. And fish offers a heart healthy fat that actually helps to protect your arteries and veins from cholesterol. Baked or grilled fish is the perfect option when eating out. Continue reading “Eating Healthy When Eating Out” »

Heart Information
January 17th, 2013
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Depression and Aging

 

As time goes by and we age, the more likely we are to suffer life-changing situations and grief in our lives that might bring on bouts of depression. We’re more vulnerable to changes and sometimes don’t have the energy or the money or any other means to change situations that happen to upend our lives.

There are some types of depression that you should be aware of. Short-term depression occurs in most all of us at some time or other in our lives, but severe depression is more serious and may require some type of medical care or intervention. Severe depression is when the feelings become so agonizing that it extends to every area of life, and the person suffering may think that there’s no solution.

Most elderly depression occurs when there is separation or loss. There’s a feeling of helplessness – especially if aging leads to poverty and isolation. Even a bout of bad weather may cause depression if an elderly person feels “stuck.” The elderly are certainly more vulnerable than the rest of the population and as physical and environmental changes lead to isolation, depression may occur. Continue reading “Depression and Aging” »

Senior Health
January 12th, 2013
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My Story

 

THAT FIRST STRANGE FEELING

 

I remember the night well. It was in September of 1992 and my wife and I had gone to bed for a good night’s rest after a very enjoyable day at Disneyland. My mind was pretty care free and I drifted off to sleep. We had a friend that had traveled with us to Disney, and two of our three children.

I was on the second bed away from the door with my wife. Suddenly, at about 3:30 AM I bolted awake. Wow, that was a startling awakening. I had a strange feeling of being very enclosed and I wanted to be outside. My mind raced with a wild anticipation of something ready to happen. I got up, walked to the bathroom and noticed the shampoo laying in the middle of the tub.

Truth be told, we had had a 6.5 earthquake just before I had awaken. I found that out in the morning while having breakfast. But I remembered the strange feelings I had when I awoke, and did not think that the feelings were related to the earthquake.

Continue reading “My Story” »

My Story