Stay in School ~ It's Good for your health!

It has long been noted that lower income people have poorer health. Deductive reasoning would imply that a higher education level effects your income, therefore, it effects your health.

Now there can be various reasons for this, but whatever the slant of view, the facts cannot be denied.

You may not be able to change your situation in life, and you may just now be getting a hold on your own health. But we need to encourage others toward healthy living.

The character that it takes to complete school, and then to go on to higher education will only aid in successful living.

"We found that even after accounting for various risk factors, people in poverty still had higher CRP {C-reactive protein (CRP), a risk factor for heart disease}," said Dawn Alley, another corresponding author and a recent doctoral graduate from the USC Davis School. "This suggests that even beyond issues like health behaviors and chronic conditions, there is something about poverty that makes people sick, and at least part of this effect is working through CRP."

Education IS healthy!

http://www.emaxhealth.com/92/7494.html

A HIGH Quality Life!

Quality of life is a term often referred to toward the end of our lives. But what are we doing to ensure that we live a Quality Life now? In the coming days I’ll be discussing things that most of us already know, but obviously a little reminder won’t hurt. And if I can help just one person to live a longer, healthier life, my goal will have been accomplished.

IS YOUR EMOTIONAL HEART HEALTHY?

I know that life gets complicated, and sometimes there are twists and turns in life that we never anticipated or planned for. But I want to encourage you, that if there is something in your life that has you emotionally distressed “Deal with it!” No really, I MEAN deal with it.

Sometimes things happen completely out of our control (ie: grown children making poor decisions, friend or loved one ill) and we allow these things to affect our physical health by worrying, & stressing over things that we CANNOT change. If you can’t change it, admit that you can’t change it. But you CAN change how it affects you! And if there are things that emotionally have you down that you CAN change… then devise a plan to change those things so that they are no longer a negative factor.

Now, don’t everybody get mad at me all at once! I’m not a pie in the sky person, and I do live in reality. I’m just saying, WE ALL allow things to bother us that will eventually have a negative impact on our physical health if not handled properly. So, deal with those things! Face them, don’t make them bigger than they already are, and then find something positive to dwell on! Trust me, it will help!

IS YOUR PHYSICAL HEART HEALTHY?

The Center for Disease Control reports that Heart Disease is the leading cause of death in American Adults. Now I would think that just the awareness of this fact would bring down the statistic. Why don’t we make sufficient changes that are required to prevent our lives ending in this way?

But even for those of us who do make a conscious effort to increase our awareness of our physical health, sometimes there are factors beyond our control that will still remain with us.

The most complicated questions usually have pretty simple answers. So I’m not trying to be an expert. I will be here stating the obvious and discussing matters of our heart health.

Have a great day today – do something positive for your heart! And if you’re toward the end of your day, look back on today and see the good things that you did. You can’t change your mistakes, but you can learn from them to have an even better tomorrow!

Congress has Agreed:

Congressional Bill #106 Title IV "Cardiac Arrest Survival"

states the following findings accepted by the United States Congress.

(1) Over 700 lives are lost every day to sudden

(2) Two out of every three sudden cardiac deaths

(3) More than 95 percent of these cardiac arrest

 occur before a victim can reach a hospital.victims will die, many because of lack of readily available life saving medical equipment.

(4) With current medical technology, up to percent of cardiac arrest victims could be saved if victims had access to immediate medical response, including defibrillation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

(5) Once a victim has suffered a cardiac arrest,every minute that passes before returning the heart to a normal rhythm decreases the chance of survival by 10 percent. (6) Most cardiac arrests are caused by abnormal heart rhythms called ventricular fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation occurs when the heart's electrical system malfunctions, causing a chaotic rhythm that prevents the heart from pumping oxygen to the victim's brain and body.

(7) Communities that have implemented programs ensuring widespread public access to defibrillators, combined with appropriate training, maintenance, and coordination with local emergency medical systems, have dramatically improved the survival rates from cardiac arrest.(8) Automated external defibrillator devices have been demonstrated to be safe and effective, even when used by lay people, since the devices are designed not

to allow a user to administer a shock until after the device has analyzed a victim's heart rhythm and determined that an electric shock is required.

(10) Limiting the liability of Good Samaritans

and acquirers of automated external defibrillator devices in emergency situations may encourage the use of automated external defibrillator devices, and result in saved lives.

(Emphasis mine.)

 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-106hr2498eas/pdf/BILLS-106hr2498eas.pdf

(9) Increasing public awareness regarding automated external defibrillator devices and encouraging their use in Federal buildings will greatly facilitate their adoption.cardiac arrest in the United States alone.

Simple Device Saves Lives

According to a study by Pila Martinez of the University of Arizona, almost 75% of people who receive defibrillation within the first 3 minutes after a heart attack survived their heart attack. That is opposed to only 50% of those who received treatment after the 3 minutes.

America is seeing a widening trend in laws that are mandating the provision in AED defibrillators in public places. Studies have already proven the effectiveness of these devises. It’s only going to be a matter of time until they are considered a regular part of a company’s first response or first aid.

Approved by Governor Crist, and effective July 1, 2011 house bill No. 945 requires that assistedliving facilities with 17 or more beds must have a defibrillator on site.

All one has to do is search on the web for stories where on site defibrillators have saved the lives of young and old alike. For the small financial investment that these defibrillators suggest, it is a small price to pay to be able to save the life of one person. 
 http://www.defibrillatoroutlet.com/

The Difference

We've all heard of someone that we know or love having a 'heart attack' or that someone has suffered 'cardiac arrest'. But there is a great difference as to what these terms mean.

A Heart Attack, or myocardial infarction, occurs when a coronary artery becomes suddenly blocked. This blockage prevents blood flow to the heart, and an affected area of the heart muscle dies.

Cardiac Arrest, or  ventricular fibrillation is caused by sudden heart arrhythmia (arrhythmia is confused, erratic heart rhythm). During cardiac arrest the electrical currents that trigger each heart beat become completely chaotic. These  electrical currents control the rhythm and organization of the heartbeats, and when they become completely incomprehensible, the heart stops.

A Heart Attack can be treated with medication and sometimes surgery may be required to open the blocked artery.

Cardiac Arrest should be treated with immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and, as soon as possible, to deliver a large electrical shock to the heart with a device called a "defibrillator." The large shock allows the heart's electrical signal to reorganize itself, and the heart starts beating again. Unfortunately, because death occurs within a few minutes of cardiac arrest unless expert help is available, the large majority of individuals who suffer cardiac arrest are not successfully resuscitated.

In the past, most Cardiac Arrest victims have been lost. But due to tremendous advances in this field On-Site Defibrillators are now available to the public. The leading provider of this technology is the Phillips company.
http://www.defibrillatoroutlet.com/

If a loved one has recently died, especially suddenly, or if you know of a close family member that has suffered a Heart Attack or Cardiac Arrest, it is important that you find out as much about their health history as you can. Your own risk or a heart attack or cardiac arrest may be higher if a close relative has experienced these things. Ask their doctor to speak with you in detail about these matters. Because, IT MATTERS!

Women & Heart Health

Women spend their lives taking care of others. But when you think about it, by taking care of yourself, you are taking care of others... ensuring that you will be able to continue to fulfill your vital role in their lives.

71% of women experience early warning signs of heart attack with sudden onset of extreme weakness that feels like the flu - often with no chest pain at all. Medical professionals are challenged to respond to women's milder symptoms, acting with insufficient guidelines.

Nearly two-thirds of the deaths from heart attacks in women occur among those who have no history of chest pain.

Men's plaque distributes in clumps whereas women’s distributes more evenly throughout artery walls. This results in women's angiographic studies being misinterpreted as “normal”.

Women wait longer than men to go to an emergency room when having a heart attack and physicians are slower to recognize the presence of heart attacks in women because “characteristic” patterns of chest pain and EKG changes are less frequently present.

Women & Heart Disease

So, You're at the Peek of Health!

I was speaking to a friend the other day, and she was explaining that her and her husband were updating their wills.
Now they are both in their 50's and in relatively good health. I knew there was more to this story.
It turns out that about 9 months ago an associate of hers at the VA hospital went home sick with a headache and backache. She thought she was coming down with the flu.
She got home, and tried everything to gain relief from these symptoms. On her way home, she called and stopped by her doctors, to make sure that everything was all right. He saw her, could not diagnose her symptoms, and sent her home with a mild pain medication for her back, in case she needed it.
That evening she died of a massive heart attack.
She was in peek health. She even went to the doctor.
They both did not consider the fact that her family has a history of heart disease.

So often women exclude themselves from suspicion of heart disease. Our culture used to be one where mostly the men worked high stress jobs, or physical jobs. But that is not the case any more, and one cannot ignore recent statistics that show that:

• Worldwide, 8.6 million women die from heart disease each year, accounting for a third of all deaths in women. Three million women die from stroke each year. Stroke accounts for more deaths among women than men (11% vs 8.4%) with additional risk for CHD unique to women related to oral contraceptive use in combination with smoking.
• 8 million women in the US are currently living with heart disease; 35,000 are under age of 65. Four million suffer from angina.
• 435,000 American women have heart attacks annually; 83,000 are under age 65; 35,000 are under 55. The average: 70.4.
• 42% of women who have heart attacks die within 1 year, compared to 24% of men.
• Under age 50, women’s heart attacks are twice as likely as men’s to be fatal.
• 
  
  267,000 women die each year from heart attacks, which kill six times as many women as breast cancer. Another 31, 837 women die each year of congestive heart failure, representing 62.6% of all heart failure deaths.

http://www.womensheart.org/content/HeartDisease/heart_disease_facts.asp