People who run the 26.2 miles of a marathon or the 13.1 miles of a half-marathon are presumably in good shape. They're not expected to encounter anything more than fatigue and the occasional pulled muscle during a race. They are certainly not expected to die. That's what makes the deaths of three men at Sunday's Detroit Marathon so shocking.

Jon Fenlon, Daniel Langdon and Rick Brown, ages 26, 36 and 65, all collapsed and died within 16 minutes of each other during the last two miles of the half-marathon. Brown fell and hit his head, but the cause of his fall and the deaths of the others are still unknown. All three were reportedly in good health, according to family members.

Since the weather conditions at the race were ideal by a runner's standard -- overcast and in the 40's, some speculate cardiac arrest is to blame. Veteran running coach and exercise scientist, Roy Benson, warns us not to react too quickly though and point the finger at running. "Running doesn't cause heart attacks. Heart disease causes heart attacks."

I'm willing to venture a guess that very few of us can claim to get enough sleep. I don't know about you but I am just too freakin' busy to always get eight hours a night, though I try my darndest and do pretty well most of the time. But maybe this year, it's time to make sleep a priority -- I'm starting to think that there's nothing a proper sleep can't do, short of bringing about world peace, and maybe it could even do that if all the leaders in the world were taking afternoon naps.

Recent studies show that getting enough sleep can reduce your risk of heart attacks. Getting the proper amount of sleep can help you lose and maintain weight, control cravings, even out your metabolism and manage hunger-inducing stress better. So while work, chores or that latest episode of Lost might seem more pressing, you're better off getting some shut-eye. You'll thanks me when you slip on those skinny jeans.

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On a subject I hit on a few days ago, diabetics and the potential for heart problems are highly correlated if you've looked into current research on diabetes.

But in a new report released this past week, the percentage of diabetics 35 and up saw a decrease in heart disease to the tune of 11 percent from the years 1997 to 2005. Of course, these stats are based on self-reported heart problems by patients.

Does this indicate any change in heart problems as they relate to diabetics? Perhaps not, since subjectivity enters into the data collection and not medical evidence. It is encouraging to hear that 61 percent of diabetics now check their blood sugar at least once per day, though.

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Ugh, gotta love contradicting health information these days! Seems like it's everywhere, including cardiac health and heart attacks. Where the usual advice for heart attack patients has been to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle, now new studies are showing it may be better for them not to lose weight. It seems once the damage of obesity has been done there is little to gain by losing the extra pounds, and that the additional weight may actually help the prognosis of heart attack patients.

Although I'm not a doctor this seems screwed up to me. Even if it does benefit the heart in recovering from a heart attack, what about all other serious and life threatening problems that can come from obesity?

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Second-hand smoke is dangerous. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, nonsmokers breathing the haze potentially face a 30 percent increased risk for developing heart disease and lung cancer.

A new study released today bolsters the credibility of indoor smoking bans. It's no joke, the bans are significantly reducing heart attacks. The state of New York had an 8 percent drop in heart attacks after their Clean Indoor Act passed in 2003. Dr. Michael Seigel at Boston University criticized the results, stating the decline in heart attacks could have been happening nationwide -- data needs to be assessed from every state to attribute it to indoor smoking bans.

An earlier study in Helena, Montana found a 40 percent drop in heart attacks after an indoor smoking ban went into effect. Interestingly, heart attack rates returned to previous levels after the ban was lifted. Only 22 states have indoor smoking bans. Smokers -- please stop lighting up indoors!

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Vioxx was taken off the market years ago based on a connection to heart attacks and related ailments. Soon thereafter, pain drugs in general were under the proverbial microscope to ensure heart problems were not side effects of trying to get rid of pain.

The latest on why Vioxx apparently caused heart problems in many patients now states that the prescription drug raises the production of a protein called tissue factor (TF) -- and that can contribute to unwanted blood clotting.

Blood clotting can turns into blockages, causing heart attacks. Although the percentage can be low (in terms of patients seeing heart problems), was it right to take Vioxx off the market? One death positively attributed to a prescription drug is enough, right? Or, wrong?

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Top-ranked hospitals recently ranked at the top spots by a national magazine unsurprisingly rank at the top of the list when it comes to heart attack survival rates.

U.S. News and World Report ran a report recently ranking top hospitals in the nation, and a new analysis of that data showed that the 30-day mortality rate for heart attack patients was lower than at lower-ranked hospitals.

Oddly though, some unranked hospitals seemed to have the highest heart attack survival rates out of all hospitals while some top-ranked hospitals had worse survival rates. Weird!

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Talk about odd news -- this one qualifies. In recent research from Europe, it was discovered that obese patients have only half the risk of dying after a heart attack compared to heart attack victims of normal weight.

The lead researcher concluded that "Once a heart attack has occurred and been optimally treated, obese patients switch to a more favorable prognosis compared to normal-weight patients."

This should not be any reason to throw everything we know about healthy nutrition out the window and start becoming more obese than we already are, although I do think this is very good news for current obese and morbidly obese people who are stressing their bodies to the limit with all those extra pounds.

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If you regularly think the world is unfair (for whatever reasons), you may be developing a greater risk of heart problems, according to a report published in the Los Angeles Times.

Sound odd? It really isn't -- because the psychological distress which accompanies feelings of being treated unfairly may influence health in the long term, according to the report. I agree -- some things just aren't fair, but worrying or mulling over them does no good. Move on, I say.

So, do you feel victimized all the time as a result of being "treated unfairly?" If so, why? Coping methods to that line of thinking include drinking, overeating and smoking cigarettes. That's not a healthy recipe at all for good long-term health.

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The death rate attributed to heart failure in hospitalized heart attack patients has fallen sharply in the last six years, according to a new study. Is acute heart attack care seeing increased responsiveness from the medical community?

The larger international study concludes that there may be a correlation between the growing use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, powerful blood thinners, and angioplasty. In other words, better treatment of heart patients is leading to fewer deaths.

In a striking piece of detail from the study, heart attack patients treated most recently were far less likely to have another attack within six months of being hospitalized. This group was compared to heart attack patients given treatment from six years previous. So, a final question is this -- are modern medical treatments, drugs and procedures really that beneficial? You make that call -- but this study appears to say a loud "yes."

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Earlier this week two articles were published on the same day both regarding migraines, so what do you want first: the good news or the bad? Well I can't hear you so we'll just start with the bad news: migraines may put you at increased risk for having a heart attack. And then the good news! Migraines may help boost your memory.

The fact that migraines and heart disease are linked is not a completely new idea, although doctors and scientists are still trying to uncover if it's related to inflammation or genetics or what exactly. But the memory thing, well that's a surprise. Researchers originally went into the study, which started back in 1993, expecting to find that migraines caused cumulative brain damage over time, not brain protection.

Just goes to show you never know what to expect.

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A recent study finds that deaths from heart disease and heart attacks during flu season are far more likely than at other times throughout the year. Subsequently, researchers believe influenza can cause deadly heart attacks.

And the numbers are staggering. "I have estimated that we can prevent up to 90,000 coronary deaths a year in the (United States)," says Dr. Mohammad Madjid, the study's lead author. Between 10 and 20 percent of the population catch the flu, due to the fact that the virus changes every year, making people highly vulnerable to contracting it.

As you might suspect, the way to Madjid suggests we prevent is deaths is simple: get vaccinated -- especially if you're considered at risk for coronary heart disease.

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By now, most of us have heard that a low daily dose of aspirin can help prevent heart disease. But a new study shows that many people who could benefit from this are not taking advantage of it.

The reasons why aren't clear. While many high-risk patients aren't getting an aspirin recommendation from their doctors, even when doctors do recommend it patients aren't always listening. Some people have a hard time believing low dose aspirin is really effective, and others worry that side effects of taking aspirin daily will outweigh the benefits.

It's no surprise that doctors are frustrated by this news. Americans seem stuck on the idea of aspirin being a pain relief drug rather than a heart health drug, despite the research.

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Although it can be a very silent killer, clogged arteries are responsible for heart attacks and other ailments after years (and decades) of consuming fatty foods that end up leaving deposits in all those internal pipes. After all, you would not through bacon grease continuously down the drain, right?

Research from this week stated that people with clogged arteries have a one in seven chance of dying -- or having a heart attack or stroke. No surprise there, really. What can be done to ensure those arteries don't become clogged, though?

Unfortunately, feeling good does not mean a patient is protected from clogged arteries (remember, this can be and is a silent killer). The best advice would be to carefully watch one's diet and exercise regularly to have that strong and vibrant internal connection system known as main arteries.

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In addition to weekend strokes, it's now stated that having a weekend heart attack can be more deadly than one suffered on a weekday. The funny thing is, the reason seems reasonably preventable to me in the world's best health care system.

A new study finds out that weekend heart attack sufferers have a slightly higher risk of death if they go to the hospital on the weekend. Ok, so "slightly" is not that bad of a term -- but when patients are more likely to miss or wait longer for crucial treatments, one can see how more deaths occur here.

In stating the obvious, doctors say you shouldn't avoid a weekend hospital visit if you think you are having a heart attack or stroke. Even with reduced staffing on weekends (ailments and sickness know no bounds), an immediate trip to the hospital is in order if you're showing the signs of a heart attack, yes?

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