highbloodpressure-related stories
Chronic Stress Causes Damage: 5 Ways to Protect Your Brain
Advice, Happiness, Health, Hormone Diet
Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues as well as improve their overall health.Most of us are all too familiar with the feeling of being stressed -- your heart races, your breathing becomes rapid and shallow, your blood pressure rises and your hands become cold or clammy as blood flow is directed to your limbs to prepare for escape. However, most of the time there is no escape, as we sit in front of our computers or trapped in traffic!
Effects of Chronic Stress after the jump...
Canadians Salt Intake Reaches Crisis Levels
Healthy Eating, Don't Eat This
Most of us know that sodium is bad for us but because of our mass consumption of fast and processed foods we're eating more than double the recommended amount we should. Sodium has become the new trans fat; it's the ugly word that's stealing headlines in the news. Certified nutritionist, Meghan Ford, gives us the lowdown on the sodium situation.
Q: According to an article co-written by Dr. Kevin Willis, of the Canadian Stroke Network, cutting Canada's dangerously high salt levels is of urgent public concern. Is salt intake at a crisis level?
A: I think sodium has always been an issue but as soon as a study comes out from a reputable source it sets off alarm bells. It gives people an excuse to change their diet.
Q: Research shows about a quarter of all Canadian adults have high blood pressure and 30 per cent of all cases can be traced back to salt. What is all this salt doing to us? What sorts of diseases can it cause?
A: Water retention is one of the bigger ones because it's disrupting the sodium-potassium balance in the body. When there's an imbalance it puts a lot of stress on the kidneys, causing water retention. High sodium also causes hypertension (high blood pressure), migraines, dehydration and other conditions. In a worst-case-scenario, this imbalance can lead to heart disease and stroke. There is concern that such worst-case-scenarios will continue to rise if we don't curb our sodium intake.
Q: What are the highest and lowest sodium foods? I know that pizzas, burgers, soups and sandwiches are some of the worst contenders.
Lower Your Blood Pressure With Hibiscus Tea
Advice, Health, Healthy Eating, Eat This
Hibiscus tea has been found to be extremely effective at reducing high blood pressure. Nutrition scientist Diane McKay presented the results of her study to the annual conference of the American Heart Association, which found that, after six weeks, those drinking hibiscus three times per day showed an average of 7.2 percent decrease in blood pressure, with some showing as much as a 13.2 per cent drop. The control group, given a placebo, only showed a 1.3 percent drop in blood pressure.The Daily Express quotes Andrew Weill, alternative health guru: "Hibiscus is now the most promising herb for treating blood pressure. Studies have found that people who drank two cups of hibiscus daily for four weeks lowered their diastolic blood pressure by 12 percent - results similar to those for common blood pressure medication."
10 Questions For a Dentist
Forgetting to floss here and there may not seem like a big deal, but the state of our mouth may actually affect the way the rest of our body works.
Dr. Dana Colson from Wellness Based Dentistry explains how slacking off with our dental regime could have some pretty scary consequences far beyond gum disease.
Q: How does the health of our teeth affect the rest of our body?
A: Our mouth is the gateway to our body. Research shows that our oral health and overall well-being are interconnected. Poor oral hygiene can negatively impact our health. Periodontal or gum disease has been a contributing factor to cardiovascular disease, strokes, digestive disease, enhancing diabetes and low-birth weights.
Biting Moments in Dentistry
Never one to beat a cliche to death, Mike Myers fashioned movie character after the British swingers of the 1960s -- replete with outrageous clothing and bad teetth -- a stereotyped trait of the British that many UK folk vehemently dispute. Either way, no Austin Powers Halloween costume is complete without a set of those beauties.
Tabloid wonder Pete Doherty is notorious for his massive drug consumption, sweaty porkpie hats, and rotten teeth. His questionable oral hygiene apparently left such a mark on former consort Kate Moss that in late 2006 the supermodel offered to pay a rumoured $50,000 to have his God-given gnashers replaced with a full set of shiny new veneers. Looks like they never went through with it.
A young patient in the dentist's chair holding a giant model of a set of dentures which the dental hygienist uses to demonstrate proper brushing techniques.
(Photo by Orlando/Getty Images)
Kashgar Gnashers
A set of dentures at a dentist's shop in Kashgar, in the Xinjiang region of China, 2004.
(Photo by Linda Grove/Getty Images)
China Marks Love Teeth Day
XIAN, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 20: (CHINA OUT) A dentist shows a model of the human mouth during an event to mark the Love Teeth Day at a street on September 20, 2006 in Xian of Shaanxi Province, China. A massive campaign on 'Love Teeth Day' (LTD) was initiated and celebrated nation-wide on September 20 each year in China since 1989 in order to implement preventive oral health care and oral health education.
(Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)
CIRCA 1922: Device to extract teeth. France, on 1922.
(Photo by Branger/Roger Viollet/Getty Images)
In 2005 Hilary Duff had veneers put on her teeth and the result was incessant ridicule and references to horse teeth. They were just too big! The photo on the left is pre-veneers, the photo on the right, clearly, after.
In 2008 she went back to the dentist and had her teeth shortened to match the shape of her mouth.
getty
Japan's Nippon Dental University Hospital staff Yuko Uchida demonstrates a humanoid robot of dental therapy simulator 'Simroid' for dentists and students of dental colleges, which has sensors in its mouth and can shout 'Ouch' when the dentist gives the wrong treatment, at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo 29 November 2007. The robot was developed by Japanese robot venture Kokoro and Nippon Dental University and now is in trial use at clinical training of the university.
AFP PHOTO / Yoshikazu TSUNO (Photo credit should read YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images)
AIDS victim Kimberly Bergalis, horribly emaciated & near death, being picked out of bed by her parents George & Anna as they prepare to carry her to the bathroom; she contracted HIV 14 mos. ago from her dentist Dr. David Acer during a routine tooth extra.ction
Lauren Hutton on her famous gap-toothed smile: "Eileen Ford wanted me to fix my nose and my teeth. I said, Sure, great, but I really had no intention to."
(Photo by Acey Harper//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
