ALL ABOUT BLOOD PRESSURE READINGS
Thursday, April 9, 2009 | 5:30 amHowever, I believe that having you rest and lie down before a blood pressure reading doesn’t provide for an accurate reading, either, because it doesn’t reflect the true state of your health. After all, how many of us are that relaxed in the course of a normal day? The many stresses of modern life, including poor diet and lack of exercise, are, after all, the major causes of high blood pressure. In fact, I always have a patient come back to the office at least twice before I start her on any medication, unless that first blood pressure reading is dangerously high.
Even though most people view having their blood pressure taken as a routine procedure during a checkup, they remain surprisingly unfamiliar with the numbers of their reading and what they mean. There are two numbers that are used to measure your blood pressure. The upper, or larger, number is called the systolic pressure, and it refers to the pressure your blood is exerting on the arteries whenever your heart beats. In a healthy person, the systolic pressure should not be above 140. The lower number is called the diastolic blood pressure, and refers to the pressure that is exerted on your arteries between heartbeats. This number should not be above 90. A normal reading is considered to be 120 over 80. A borderline reading is 140 to 150 over 90 to 100. If, however, your blood pressure is 150/100,1 view it as a serious risk that you will need to address immediately with a combination of diet, drugs, and relaxation techniques.
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(posted in General health)
BLOOD PRESSURE, ELEVATED (HYPERTENSION): DESCRIPTION AND POSSIBLE MEDICAL PROBLEMS
Thursday, April 9, 2009 | 5:27 amIn some social circles, it may seem at times as if the primary topic of conversation is blood pressure, most often that it’s too high. But high blood pressure really is a major health problem in America because it can lead to a number of other serious diseases. Simply put, high blood pressure is a condition in which blood moves through your arteries at a pressure that is too high for good health.
If you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor will want to determine the length of time your pressure has been elevated, to get an idea of its severity. The signs your doctor will look for include changes in the blood vessels of the eye, which may affect your vision, an enlarged heart, and an elevated blood urea nitrogen (BUN) level, which shows that the kidney has been damaged due to the elevated pressure. A routine blood test will also detect the other serious risk factors that aggravate high blood pressure, such as elevated cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
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(posted in General health)
THE HARMONIOUS COUPLE – CASES OF HARMONIOUS RELATIONSHIPS (AL AND BETTY)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | 5:36 am“There’s some kind of primitive bond there that we don’t understand, but which keeps us united and contented,” Betty says.
“Whatever it is, it works,” Al adds. “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke, as the saying goes.”
If there is one common thread in all of these happy marriages it is the willingness of both marital partners to look at and take responsibility for their own contribution to any conflicts. I have stressed throughout this book, both directly and indirectly through the kinds of games I have devised, how essential it is for both partners to be able to work through defensive postures that prevent resolution. Unfortunately, many people are convinced that their point of view is right; to give up their defensive postures means being willing to acknowledge—at least partially—that they are wrong.
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(posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction)
GAMES FOR ABSTINENT COUPLES – GAME 5: MYSTERY LOVER (PART 3)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | 5:31 amThis poem is followed by little gifts that arrive in the mail, and more flowers—and of course more letters:
“Dear Lady, I wish I could know what you are thinking right now. I wish I could know the passion that lurks inside you, the secret passion that few have known, the passion that yearns for expression. Perhaps this is presumptuous of me, but I do think I know you—know you better than you might imagine anybody could. I know that there’s a lot of love inside you, and that that love has often been misunderstood. I think you need somebody who would truly understand you and give you all the space you need to blossom. I think I could be that person, but I don’t know if you’d trust me enough to give me the chance. I’m not asking for much at first—just friendship, the chance to prove I care. I do know that if you give me the chance, I’d love to love you as you’ve never been loved before—with profound understanding of your every sensitivity. Lately, I have had fantasies of revealing myself to you, but I’m still too shy. So I content myself watching you from afar, and with imaginings of you, picturing your thoughtful, wry smile and your eyes looking at me with your typically pointed gaze. . . . Someday!—Your Mystery Lover.”
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(posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction)
GAMES FOR POLITICALLY OR MORALLY CORRECT COUPLES – GAME 1: POLITICALLY CORRECT SEX (PART 2)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | 5:25 am“But even if you ask me, you might be asking me in order to appease a dominant male—and hence it will still be rape.” “True.”
“Asking wouldn’t be enough. I think you’d have to beg me to have sex, and perhaps take an oath that your desire for sex has nothing to do with wanting to appease me or submit to male domiance but rather has to do with your wish to gratify your own desire.”
“That may be right.”
“So, start begging.”
“Get real!”
This conversation may be repeated numerous times until the wife somehow convinces the husband that she indeed wants to have sex and that the sex is solely to gratify her own desire for him. At that point the actual sexual encounter begins. Throughout this encounter, the husband continues to be exaggeratedly considerate of the wife’s feminist stand.
“Would you prefer to undress yourself, or would you like me to undress you?”
“I’ll undress myself, thank you.”
“Should we lie side by side, so as to be on an equal basis?” “All right.”
“Or would you prefer to get on top, as a kind of affirmative-action sex?”
“Side by side is fine.”
“Excuse me. I touched your breast.”
“It’s all right.”
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(posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction)
GAMES FOR ANGRY COUPLES – GAME 3: HOW DO I HATE THEE? (PART 3)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | 5:19 amAfter they have completed this part of the exercise, they take turns saying the same thing to themselves. “How do I hate myself? Let me count the ways.” The wife might say, “I hate myself because I’m always so angry and bent out of shape. I hate myself because I’m so oversensitive. I hate myself for rejecting you sexually all the time.” And the husband might say, “I hate myself because I can’t get an erection. I hate myself because I feel like a failure. I hate myself for being so passive.”
The game allows each not only to verbalize the anger that they’ve been acting out, but also to get in touch with and verbalize the anger at themselves of which they are usually less aware. Having them do the exercise while in the act of love-making serves to bring out the erotic elements that attach to the anger, and the sexual atmosphere softens the anger and helps them work through it.
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(posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction)
GAMES FOR IMPULSIVE COUPLES – GAME 5: ONE-NIGHT STAND (PART 2)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | 5:06 amThe couple is therefore instructed to go to a lodging for the weekend and “pick each other up” as if they were meeting for the first time. They are encouraged to dress like a single play-girl and playboy, whatever that label conjures up for them. The game might start in the hotel’s bar on Saturday evening. The man comes into the bar and spots the woman sitting alone. He sallies forth, smiling confidently.
“Excuse me,” he says. “Would you mind if I join you?”
“No, not at all.”
“Thanks. May I buy you another drink?” “Why not?”
“You know, I hope you don’t take this the wrong way— but you really have beautiful eyes.”
“Oh, thank you. I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but you have terrific buns.”
“You know, you remind me of somebody. Somebody I once fell in love with.”
“Oh, really? You know, now that I think of it, you also remind me of somebody I once fell in love with.”
“Isn’t that remarkable?”
“I’ll say!”
“Cheers!”
“To your sexual health!”
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(posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction)
HYPOGLYCEMIA AND CAR ACCIDENTS
Thursday, April 2, 2009 | 5:47 amNow that diabetics are being taught to keep their blood sugar levels under tighter control with more frequent injections of regular insulin, the American Family Physician (30#4:189) reports, more car accidents are occurring as a result of hypoglycemia, an excessively low blood sugar level.
The nonwarning type of hypoglycemia is the most dangerous since it occurs suddenly and without the usual premonitory symptoms, such as hunger, faintness, sweating, tremor, etc. Without warning, the diabetic person begins behaving in a robot-like, purposeless manner and may convulse and lose consciousness. Many people who have had such reactions while driving have made U-turns and crashed head-on at high speed into the oncoming traffic. Medications (such as aspirin, sulfa-drugs, phenylbutazone, and beta-blockers) and alcohol make such reactions much more likely to occur.
To minimize the possibility of hypoglycemia while driving, diabetics can check their own blood sugar levels at home with a Glucometer, which is reported to be more accurate than Chemstrips. If the glucose level is below 200 mg, the situation can be quickly dealt with by taking a sugary drink and some food. On long trips, it is recommended that diabetics test the blood sugar every two hours, even if they are feeling well.
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(posted in General health)
EFFECTIVE SUNGLASSES: WHAT YOU MUST ASK FOR
Thursday, April 2, 2009 | 5:41 amWhen buying sunglasses, look for those that filter ultraviolet (UV) light, the tumor-producing component of sunshine, and thereby block its entry to the eyes. This helps to prevent cancer of the iris, the colored tissue that surrounds the pupils. UV light is now also thought to be a causative factor in some eye diseases formerly attributed to “aging.”
Thus, the We stern Journal of Medicine (144:454) reports, the cumulative effect of UV on the retina over a period of several decades seems to be a major factor in the development of macular degeneration, one of the most common causes of failing vision, even blindness, in the elderly.
While passing through an eye, however, much of the UV in a sunlight beam gets filtered out by the lens, which, in this way, serves as a shield for the retina. Not surprisingly, therefore, the lens bears some of the brunt of repeated and prolonged exposure to UV, becoming discolored and opaque as the result. Known as cataract, this lens condition produces progressive visual clouding until all that can be sensed is the difference between darkness and light.
Fortunately, these bad effects of UV light upon the retina and lens can be prevented with sunglasses that filter UV from sunlight, thereby stopping it from even entering the eye. However, many sunglasses don’t filter out enough UV light to protect us properly, even when their manufacturer states that they are “UV absorbing.” By itself, that claim can be misleading since any glass or plastic blocks at least some UV.
To properly protect the eyes, we need sunglasses that block out light of all wavelengths below 400 nm (nanometers). As a rule of thumb, lenses that can do this should be dark enough not to let you see your own pupils when looking in a mirror. Glasses that merely block out UV wavelengths below 350 are not good enough. Actually, there is now an instrument that enables professionals to determine if sunglasses can absorb UV sufficiently. This is why you ought to go to an eye professional when purchasing a new pair.
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(posted in General health)
COFFEE AND CHOLESTEROL
Thursday, April 2, 2009 | 5:36 amReports about coffee and its effects upon the level of cholesterol in the blood have been alarmingly contradictory, j Some researchers find that coffee, even in moderate amounts, raises cholesterol blood levels and thereby increases the risk of both heart attack and stroke. Others are unable to see any of these effects. Now, according to the Lancet (2:1283), there may be an explanation for these conflicting results.
The conflict began with a study by researchers in Norway in which they found that coffee drinking raised the blood levels of both cholesterol and fat. Furthermore, they discovered, the effect grew stronger the more cups of coffee the subjects’ consumed. In light of that, the New England Journal of Medicine (308:1454) said that heavy coffee drinkers probably at least incur double the risk of coronary artery disease. However, researchers in this country were unable to confirm these conclusions.
A new report says that the difference may lie in the variations in the methods by which the coffee was prepared for drinking. If coffee is made by boiling (as it was in the Norwegian study), there is a cholesterol-raising effect. In contrast, when our coffee is prepared by filtration (as it usually is nowadays in the U.S.A.), no bad effect on the blood cholesterol or the cardiovascular system is to be seen. Possibly, however, when we percolate coffee, although this is not proven, we may be producing at least some of the same undesirable effects as we would do if we boiled it.
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(posted in General health)