Posted: April 27th, 2010 | Filed under: Heart Disease Prevention | Tags: Heart Disease, Heart Health, Heart Staple, HeartStaple, Intelligent Health, Portable ECG Machine, Portable EKG Machine, Risk Factor, Risk Factors for Heart Disease |
Posted: April 18th, 2010 | Filed under: Diabetes, Guest Contribution | Tags: Diabetes, ECG, Heart Disease, Heart Health, Heart Rhythm Management, HeartStaple, Portable ECG Machine, Portable EKG Machine |
Our pancreas is affected by diabetes – specifically, Type 2.Our body contains glucose found in the blood stream, which it gets from the sugar in food. Our body uses the glucose, but only when it goes into our blood cells and the insulin released by our pancreas converts it. Insulin production and utilization is difficult for someone who lives with Type 2 diabetes .There is a lot of glucose in the body, but your cells cannot locate them.
The American Diabetes Association has the duty of looking for information regarding this important medical condition. 23.6 million individuals living in America currently have diabetes, and because of this the country is seen as very unhealthy. Ninety percent of this figure has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes and the tendency to be overweight usually run in the family. If there is too much glucose in your body, it could result in serious internal organ damage and affect one’s nervous system.
Living with Diabetes
A life with Type 2 diabetes is best lived in a healthy way. Diabetics will find that healthy practices will have a huge effect on them. Simple actions like eating healthy food and exercising are considered as healthy practices. Keeping the levels of your glucose within the appropriate range ensures you stay away from health complications.
To check the levels of blood glucose in your body, you can do the common finger prick test. Physicians say that such a test is comparable to the HbA1c test when tracking the glucose fluctuations in your body. This HbA1c test works by determining how high your glucose levels are and by identifying the blood’s exact glycated hemoglobin percentage. According to results of the A1c tests, people who have diabetes maintain their levels at seven percent. A seven percent maintaining level of a1c, according to the CDC, can dramatically reduce the risks of this disease by around forty percent.
Too-Tight Controls
Many studies in the medical field show that if your a1c levels are below seven percent it could mean a bad thing. People who use insulin and people who have median a1c levels have a higher death risk, according to the Seattle Lancet and Swedish Medical Center’s studies. Other tests maintain that keeping your a1c level at seven percent is still on the healthy side. Accredited endocrinologist Matt Davies shares that seven percent is healthy but it is still important for physicians to consider a patient’s medical history before implementing treatment.
About the Author – Kristina Ridley writes for the bloodless glucose meter blog , her personal hobby blog focused on healthy eating and tips to measure blood glucose levels at home to help people understand early diabetes symptoms.
Posted: February 15th, 2010 | Filed under: Heart Disease Prevention | Tags: Excercise, Heart Disease, Heart Diseases, Heart Staple, HeartStaple, Obesity, overweight, Risk Factors |
Obesity is a well-known as risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Carrying excess body fat predisposes individuals to developing elevated blood cholesterol and diabetes. You will begin to appreciate that many of the modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular diseases are interlinked. This means that influencing one, such as reducing the amount of stored lipids in the body, may have a positive effect in reducing the risk associated with high blood cholesterol levels and hypertension.
Obesity is an issue that increasingly needs to be addressed in developing countries, as well as in the developed or ‘Westernised’ world. Type 2 diabetes used to be described as a mainly adult disease, but that is changing as the incidence of obesity is increasing in young people, including children . This trend extends across the globe – even in countries such as Thailand and China, home to traditionally slender people. While awareness of the problem is growing, there is very limited guidance on what can be done to reverse or stem the problem.
Increase in obesity in children in England between 1995 and 2005
The amount of lipid stored within the body – an individual’s adiposity – can be indirectly measured. Body shape (e.g. ‘apple’ or ‘pear’ shapes), waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) are all used to classify obesity and being overweight, although BMI is the most common. Everyone should aim to have a body weight within the normal range for their height. Slightly different ranges apply between populations due to different body shapes. It is worth noting that there is increasing scientific evidence that excess abdominal adiposity may be more associated with cardiovascular disease risk than the general degree of adiposity throughout the body (Iacobellis and Sharma, 2007). Thus where the lipid is stored within the body may have more bearing on cardiovascular disease risk than how much lipid is stored. Some scientists and clinicians are now suggesting that the waist-to-hip ratio or the waist circumference should be used in conjunction with BMI when considering cardiovascular disease risk factors.
In general, people who are overweight need to reduce their calorie intake in a balanced way and to increase the amount of exercise that they take in order to burn up calories. Moderate physical activity is generally considered to be 30 minutes of activity per day, e.g. taking a brisk walk. Exercise in itself improves blood glucose control, even when no weight changes are occurring, so it is equally important for people who are not overweight to take regular moderate exercise to maintain cardiovascular health.
Source:The open University
