Tag Archives: hypertension

Tai Chi Helps Prevent Falls and Improves Mental Health in Elderly

Tai Chi helps reduce the risk of falls in the elderly, and improves mental health, is what a new study shows. However, practicing the ancient Chinese art does not help to ease the symptoms of cancer or rheumatoid arthritis.

The information is from the research of a team that analyzed 35 reviews of studies evaluating the effects of Tai Chi on health.

The databases reviewed were British, Chinese and Korean that assessed the impact of Tai Chi on various diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, cancer, osteoarthritis, Parkinson’s, musculoskeletal pain, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. (more…)

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New Study Suggests Link Between Estrogen, Blood Pressure

EAST LANSING, Mich. — While recent studies have shown long-term exposure to estrogen can be a danger to women – overturning physicians’ long-held beliefs that the hormone was good for their patients’ hearts – the process by which estrogen induces high blood pressure was unclear.

In a new study, Michigan State University researchers found long-term estrogen exposure generates excessive levels of the compound superoxide, which causes stress in the body. The buildup of this compound occurs in an area of the brain that is crucial to regulating blood pressure, suggesting that the estrogen-induced buildup causes increased blood pressure. (more…)

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Older Lesbians, Gays Have Higher Rates of Chronic Disease, Mental Distress, Isolation

*California’s aging LGB population is set to double in next 20 years*

Members of California’s aging lesbian, gay and bisexual population are more likely to suffer from certain chronic conditions, even as they wrestle with the challenges of living alone in far higher numbers than the heterosexual population, according to new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. 

Half of all gay and bisexual adult men in California between the ages of 50 and 70 are living alone, compared with 13.4 percent of heterosexual men in the same age group. And although older California lesbians and bisexual women are more likely to live with a partner or a family member than their male counterparts, more than one in four live alone, compared with one in five heterosexual women.  (more…)

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Obesity Has Doubled Since 1980, Major Global Analysis of Risk Factors Reveals

*Study shows western high-income countries have achieved impressive progress in lowering hypertension and cholesterol*

The worldwide prevalence of obesity has nearly doubled since 1980, according to a major study on how three important heart disease risk factors have changed across the world over the last three decades. The study, published on Feb. 4 in three papers in the Lancet, looked at all available global data to assess how body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol changed between 1980 and 2008.

The study shows that in 2008, more than one in ten of the world’s adult population was obese, with women more likely to be obese than men. An estimated 205 million men and 297 million adult women were obese – a total of more than half a billion adults worldwide. (more…)

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Energy Drinks: To Drink or Not to Drink?

Energy drinks are a recent invention of mankind, even though their ingredients have long been used to stimulate the nervous system. They have become the salvation for students during the exams and office workers that have to meet the deadlines. Yet, are these products as good as they seem? (more…)

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