That's Fit

Ever wonder how healthy your heart is? There's a fairly easy way to get an accurate answer, says Men's Health magazine, citing a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

After following over 5,700 men for 23 years, researchers concluded that the faster your rate drops after exercise, the lower your risk of dying of a heart attack. To perform the calculation, first take note of your heart rate at exactly one minute after you've finished your workout. Then, take that number and subtract it from the maximum heart rate you reached during the workout. If the difference is more than 35bpm, there's a good chance you do not face an increased risk.

If, however, it is less than 35bpm, the study suggests there's need for caution. Specifically, if the difference is between 31-35bpm, your risk is increased by 40 percent; 25-30bpm, risk increase is 30 percent; less than 25bpm, risk increase is 110 percent.

Statistics can sometimes seem like a doomsday language, spoken in callous tones and unfeeling generalizations by faceless analysts. Even a simple Google search on topics ranging from cancer risk to the possibility of an asteroid striking the earth produces a numerical likelihood that, despite it being of questionable accuracy, can leave a person rather unnerved.

This is certainly the case with a statistic I just came across, which highlighted the fact that 1.1 million people will suffer a heart attack in the U.S. this year. What's worse, almost half of those people will not survive. Now, how is a person supposed to read that and then just go on with their day?

Thankfully, just like the lingering fear of a horror film can be subdued by constantly reminding yourself that it's just a movie, the statistics scare can similarly be quelled with knowledge. With regard to heart attack risk, a person can feel much safer knowing that eating blueberries can reduce a person's risk of heart attack by as much as 60 percent. Good - so I'll be sure to buy blueberries the next time I'm at the supermarket. But what about my mother? And my grandmother? And my father? And every person I've ever met in my entire life? How can I make sure they're all eating blueberries and protecting their hearts?!!!!

And so goes the panic and hysteria, caused almost entirely by what Mark Twain himself stated were not much more than damned lies: statistics.

It seems that just about everything in this world can hurt us. We are inundated with reports about the dangers of every possible disease, diet, behavior, and cataclysmic event known to man. And, these reports of danger oddly seem to come just after hearing reports that the opposite of that danger is actually the real danger. It can all quickly become quite convoluted and a bit overwhelming, really. Thankfully, there's new research out of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis that suggests a very straightforward way to reduce at least one of our risks.

Based on a study on the effects of pet ownership on heart health, researchers discovered that you can cut your chances of suffering a myocardial infarction by as much as 30 percent just by taking care of a cat. The finding, from a 10-year study of more than 4,300 Americans, suggests that pets are a great means of stress release for their owners. In fact, one study presented in 2005 at a meeting for the American Heart Association meeting revealed that a single 12-minute visit with a dog improved the heart and lung function of people with known heart problems.

If you're interested in finding a pet that's in need of a good home, and in reducing your risk of health problems in the process, click here to be taken to a nationwide directory of animal shelters.

I had a friend in elementary school who used to hold in his pee for as long as he could, only because he said he liked the feeling of relief he experienced once he finally went. Strange kid. He also used to pick his nose and put the boogers in library books, but that's highly irrelevant. Anyway, I have no idea where he is today, but being that he's obviously much older than he was during our grade school days, I hope he's changed his pee-holding ways. It could save his life.

Men's Health reports that the stress of having a full bladder can up a person's heart rate by as much as 9bpm. When your bladder expands, it increases activity in your sympathetic nervous system, sometimes causing coronary vessels to constrict. This, in turn, forces your heart to beat more often, elevating your risk of heart attack.

So, even if you're not a strange little kid, you still should think twice about "holding it in." The last thing you want to do is to give yourself a heart attack because you were too lazy to pee. If you're lucky enough to survive, you'll never live that one down.

I've admitted a number of times before that I'm a blurb reader. I like punchy, to-the-point bits of information, usually served in terse and mostly prosaic turns of phrase. This is probably why I'm such a fan of ESPN's Plays of the Day, the rapid-fire sports talk show Pardon the Interruption, and the Facts of Life blurbs that appear in every edition of Men's Health magazine.

With respect to the last of the three, the most recent issue of Men's Health does its usual good job of entertaining those of us with a thirst for information but short attention spans. Here are this month's Facts of Life:

26. Percentage of men who know all major signs of a heart attack.

180. Average number of days annually you have to experience a headache for it to be considered "chronic."

1 in 11. Number of online personals that are ripped directly from the online personals of other internet daters.

19.9. Average amount, in ounces, of a single restaurant serving of soda. The official FDA serving size: 8 ounces

3,114. Amount of potassium, in milligrams, the average guy consumes daily -- nearly 1,600mg less than the RDA

Val Thomas is being called a medical miracle. After suffering a heart attack at her West Virginia home, she was rushed to a nearby hospital. There, despite doctors' efforts, her heart stopped twice more. Thomas was placed on life support and her family was told she had less than a 10% chance of recovery.

Preparing themselves to say goodbye, the family asked doctors to remove her from life support. As the family considered organ donation, Thomas was left on a ventilator. Thomas had shown no sign of brain waves for 17 hours and had no pulse of her own. Doctors say that "death set in" and that her body was showing signs of rigor mortis. As a nurse went to remove the ventilator, Thomas suddenly woke up and asked for her son.

Let me say it again: She had no pulse. Even doctors can't explain why she's alive today. Experts at the Cleveland Clinic, where Thomas was sent after she woke up, say that there's no blockage in her heart, and Thomas will likely make a full recovery. Amazing.

A recent study published in Circulation: Heart Failure reveals that, for heart failure patients, the day that they're admitted to the hospital may dictate the length of their stay.

The researchers reviewed data for more than 48,000 heart failure patients admitted to 259 different US hospitals. Those admitted on Tuesdays had the shortest stays, while patients admitted on Thursdays and Fridays had the longest stays. This finding didn't hold true for heart attack patients.

Researchers theorize that the discrepancy in length of stay could be do to reduced staffing over the weekend. Though many hospitals are already eschewing the old trend of running on a tighter staff over the weekend. If short staffing is to blame for the increased lengths of stay, correcting the staffing issue could potentially save hundreds of thousands for a hospital.

Sometimes heartburn -- or as my Italian grandmother calls it, agida -- is just that. It's uncomfortable, it's annoying, and it's no fun whatsoever. It's also not cause for any great concern. Most of the time, anyway.

For women who are getting up there in age, however, a little chest pain may be more than a simple case of heartburn. It could be a heart attack. This is because the chances of feeling a heart attack drops with age and, as a recent study from the National Institute of Health shows, women are less likely than men to recognize the signs of a first heart attack. This is likely because women tend to have their first infarction about 10 years later than men.

While this doesn't mean that a trip to the emergency room is necessary every time you feel a little heartburn or indigestion, it's certainly worth being aware and in tune with what your body could potentially be telling you.

Recent research shows that the anniversary of a parent's death can trigger sudden death, particularly for men. Researchers think the mental stress from the anniversary of the event may induce sudden death in people that are prone to heart failure. People at risk will likely have a family history of heart attack, sudden death, and/or coronary disease. Other risk factors include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, obesity, or a sedentary lifestyle.

Researchers evaluated 102 sudden deaths of people between 37 and 79 years old. 70% of those people died from coronary artery disease. 12% of the people died on the anniversary of a parent's death. 80% of those who died on an anniversary date were male.

An American Heart Association study states that young, otherwise healthy patients who use cocaine can sometimes experience heart attack symptoms such as palpitations, nausea, chest pain, sweating, and shortness of breath. It can also result in high blood pressure.

Often, cocaine-related chest pain occurs within 3 hours of taking the drug, but cocaine can cause complications up to 18 hours after taking it. The American Heart Association report encourages doctors to ask patients exhibiting heart attack symptoms if they've used cocaine. Some common heart attack treatments such as beta-blockers and clot-busting drugs are very dangerous to cocaine users.

Heart Disease is something few talk about, even though its touched many of our lives. But one notable star has spoken up about how heart disease has affected her life--Marie Osmond. The child star, who recently competed on Dancing With The Stars, talked with Everyday Health about matters of the heart. Here are the highlights:

• (On changing her unhealthy habits) : I started by exercising with my kids - taking long walks, riding bikes, even playing outside games. Then I kicked it all up a big notch by appearing on Dancing With the Stars. My mother told me a couple of months before she passed away (from heart disease,) "Marie, don't do what I did. Take the time to take care of yourself."
• (On passing on healthy habits): My 10-year-old daughter will order a salad instead of pizza. Even my 5-year-old surprised me when she chose an orange once after being offered a bag of chips. They still love their video games, but physical activity is a part of every day.
• (On her advice to other women): Most women spend 90 percent of their time taking care of others, so we put ourselves last on the priority list. I think women have to stop and decide that it's better for everyone in the long run if they take care of themselves in healthy ways every day.
  

Read more here.

When Americans got a pop quiz testing their heart attack knowledge (via a telephone poll), only 16% passed with flying colors. Not only did most Americans not know the five major signs of a heart attack, they also weren't exactly sure what to do if someone close to them suffered some of those signs. So just to review, the five most common signs of a heart attack are:

• Pain and/or discomfort in the jaw, neck, or back
• Feeling weak, light-headed, faint
• Chest pain, discomfort
• Pain or discomfort in the arms or shoulders
• Shortness of breath

There are other symptoms as well, including breaking out into a cold sweat and nausea, among others. If you or someone close to you starts experiencing the above symptoms, health experts say that you should call 911 immediately so that necessary drugs and medical care can be given in a timely manner.

Though heart disease began to steadily decline in the 1960s, a recent study suggests that that decline is about to take a sudden turn...upward. Researchers studied autopsy records of young people who had died of unnatural causes. About 8% of them had significant heart disease at the time of their death, and 83% had the beginnings of coronary artery disease. Health experts say that this finding is significant, and call it the result of the "perfect storm" of a blossoming fast food industry and a decline in physical activity.

As a young person myself, these findings make me more than a little nervous. Heart disease is already the number one killer in America. It's definitely time that we address the issues surrounding diet and exercise so that we can reverse those numbers back downward again.

Your heart is racing, to the point where it is at risk of failing. But, in a countermeasure atypical of the almost always smart-functioning human body, the adrenal gland responds with an excessive output of fight of flight hormones such as epinephrine and norepindephrine. In effect, the body mistakenly responds by making the heart beat even faster -- clearly a problem. Researchers from the Center for Translational Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia examined this cause and effect relationship.

By blocking an important regulatory enzyme called GRK2, the researchers prevented the hormone production that causes the heart to pump in overdrive, which is what ultimately leads to heart failure. While previous examination of heart failure has targeted the heart alone as the source for failure, this supplementary look into the role of the adrenal gland may lead to new insight.

In the past, doctors have used beta-blockers to block the hormones that force the heart to go berserk and beat like you ate a few handfuls of espresso beans and chased them with a twelve-pack of Red Bull. Researchers involved in this study instead focused on the adrenal gland, and were able to prevent heart failure in laboratory animals.