What to know about heart valves

How getting angry may increase the risk of heart disease, stroke

• Even brief moments of anger can cause your blood vessels to constrict, raising cardiovascular disease risk, according to a new study.
• Researchers reported that other emotions such as sadness and anxiety did not provoke a similar response in blood vessels.
• Experts say mindfulness practice and meditation could help manage anger responses and mitigate the negative health risks of frequent anger episodes.

Getting briefly angry — but not other emotions such as sadness or anxiety — can raise your risk of heart disease and stroke, according to a studyTrusted Source published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Experts say the findings are not entirely surprising.

After all, “raising one’s blood pressure” is idiomatic for anger, but the researchers from Columbia University in New York wanted to explore what even brief episodes of negative emotions from remembering past experiences do to the vascular system.

Details from the study on anger and heart disease

Using an established protocol, researchers assigned 280 young adults (average age 26) to one of four tasks designed to trigger an emotional response to anger, anxiety, sadness, or neutrality.

Before, during, and after the tasks, the scientists also measured the participants’ blood vessel dilation and cellular function.

They said they found that participants who experienced a state of anger had impairment in blood vessel dilation in the lining of blood vessels for up to 40 minutes after the initial experience of the emotion. Blood vessel dilation can lead to high blood pressure and related complications, such as heart disease and stroke.

“We saw that evoking an angered state led to blood vessel dysfunction, though we don’t yet understand what may cause these changes,” Dr. Daichi Shimbo, the lead study author and a professor of medicine at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, said in a press releaseTrusted Source. “Investigation into the underlying links between anger and blood vessel dysfunction may help identify effective intervention targets for people at increased risk of cardiovascular events.”

How well our blood vessels respond to changes can have a strong effect on risks of stroke and atherosclerotic heart disease, experts note.

“Anger and heart disease have been linked for a long time. Anger can release adrenaline bursts, at high levels, which in turn can have a harmful effect on the cardiovascular system,” added Dr. Lou Vadlamani, a cardiologist and founder of VitalSolution, a company that offers cardiovascular and anesthesiology services to hospitals nationwide.

“It can cause vessels to constrict and tighten. This in turn can put pressure on the heart,” Vadlamani, who was not involved in the study, told Medical News Today.

According to the study, other emotions, such as anxiety or sadness, did not induce this effect.

However, experts note that doesn’t mean other emotions don’t affect cardiovascular health. It just means none were observed under this particular study mechanism.

“There is a heart condition known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy that is precipitated by a stressful event such as the loss of a home, job, or loved one,” Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine who was not involved in the study, told Medical News Today. “In this condition, there is a high level of stress hormones that is measurable. Perhaps different emotions have different effects on the cardiovascular system and it would be interesting to explore this further.”

How to manage anger issues 

No one can prevent becoming angry from time to time, but there’s good reason to think that trying to remain calm and centered on a regular basis could have long-term heart health benefits.

“I think balancing one’s emotions and learning to deal with stressful situations is most productive,” Vadlamani said. “I know it is very difficult to avoid these emotions given the environment we live in. But things like taking a breath and counting to ten, meditation — they work. I practice these methods and I really find them to be helpful. I can’t say I never get angry, but I try not to have an outburst.”

Goldberg agreed.

“Physical and emotional health are linked, and we should change the way we think about health: health means a healthy body and mind,” she said. “In addition to a healthy diet and exercise for the body, there are other lifestyle practices and exercises for the mind that we can incorporate into our daily lives such as yoga and meditation. These are just a few practices that can help us to manage stressful situations or a spike in emotions that could negatively impact heart health.”

High testosterone levels linked to increased risk of AFib in older men

• Atrial fibrillation (AFib) affects millions of people in the United States alone. Increased age is one risk factor for AFib, but many other risk factors are not as well understood.
• Researchers are interested in what additional factors increase someone’s chances of developing AFib.
• Results of a recent study found that among older men, higher levels of testosterone are associated with an increased risk for AFib.

Addressing cardiovascular problems in older adults is a critical area of health. Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is a common and problematic heart rhythm, and researchers are interested in understanding its risk factors.

A study published in eClinicalMedicineTrusted Source examined the association between testosterone levels and AFib in over 4,500 male participants. Researchers found that older men with higher levels of circulating testosterone were at an increased risk for AFib. The results highlight the importance of proper monitoring for AFib and testosterone levels in older men.

As research moves forward, doctors may need to consider the risks of AFib when helping older men evaluate the risks of testosterone therapy.

Atrial fibrillation: Dangers and risk factors

Atrial fibrillation occurs when the heart’s upper chambers beat irregularly. AFib is the most common type of heart arrhythmiaTrusted Source, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC also estimates that by 2030, 12.1 million people in the U.S. will have AFib.

AFib can be dangerousTrusted Source because it increases the risk of blood clots, which can lead to strokes in the brain.

Non-study author Kevin Rabii, DO, a cardiologist with Memorial Herman, explained to Medical News Today:

“Atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm abnormality that causes the top heart chambers(atria) to have erratic electrical activity and contractions. This can lead to unpleasant symptoms but it can also increase the risk of stroke and weaken the heart. It is a condition that needs to be closely monitored and treated by a cardiologist.”

While doctors can help treat AFib through certain medications and even surgical intervention, it’s also important to consider how to reduce the risk for AFib. A few common risk factorsTrusted Source for AFib include advanced age, a family history of AFib, panic disorders, large amounts of alcohol consumption, and smoking.

How do testosterone levels affect risk of AFib?

The researchers of the current study wanted to examine how testosterone levels in older men affect the risk for AFib. They note that circulating testosterone levels usually decrease with age and that testosterone replacement in older men has increased.

Non-study author Mehran Movassaghi, MD, board certified urologist and director of Men’s Health at Providence Saint John’s Health Center and Assistant Professor of Urology at Saint John’s Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, CA, explained:

“As patients age, testosterone levels drop . Starting at age 30 there’s a one percent reduction in testosterone levels annually. Some patients who start off with relatively high numbers may never notice any change in their energy , their mood, or their sexual performance. However, patients generally complain of symptoms starting around the age of 40 and it’s appropriate to test their levels. It’s important to not just treat a number but actually treat symptoms that patients may be experiencing.”

Researchers utilized data from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study. Researchers included 4,570 healthy male participants. All participants were over seventy years old and had no previous history of cardiovascular disease or thyroid cancer. About 12% of the participants had diabetes mellitus, and 75.9% had a history of high blood pressure.

The average follow-up time was 4.4 years. During the follow-up, 286 men, or 6.2%, developed AFib. Researchers could keep track of participants because of annual in-person visits and phone calls every six months.

Researchers divided serum testosterone levels into quintiles and looked at how participants’ testosterone levels related to the incidence of AFib.

The results of the study found a nonlinear relationship between testosterone levels and the incidence of AFib. They found that men with testosterone levels in the highest quintiles had a higher risk of developing AFib than those with more average levels of testosterone. They found similar results when they excluded participants who had experienced heart failure or other major adverse cardiovascular events during follow-up.

They found the association was independent of several factors, including body mass index, alcohol consumption, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Study author Cammie Tran, BSci, MPH with Monash University, noted the following:

“We studied 4,570 initially healthy older aged men aged 70 or more years, and found that men who had higher concentrations of testosterone had nearly double the risk of developing atrial fibrillation over 4 years of follow-up, compared to men with testosterone concentrations in the middle of the range. What was interesting was that the higher risk applied to men whose testosterone concentrations were within the normal range.”

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Study limitations and continued research

This research does have a number of limitations. First, the research relies on some level of self-reporting, which is subject to bias. The study was also observational, so it cannot prove that higher testosterone levels cause AFib.

Measurements of testosterone have circadian variation, and sample collection did not occur at a regular time of day, so this could have impacted the results. They also did not use systematic surveillance with electrocardiograms to determine the presence of AFib. Finally, researchers acknowledge the risk of confounding and possible selection bias.

Researchers note that more research is required to understand the underlying mechanisms involved in the observed relationship. Researchers also declared a few funding sources as declarations of interest.

Movassaghi noted the following limitations of the study as well:

“The study itself has several confounding issues: One [is] the data that was used was not specifically from a study design to study the problem at hand. The participants were enrolled in a clinical trial designed to study the benefits of aspirin use elderly. Given that the data was mined to look for potential causation or a relationship between testosterone levels and atrial fibrillation while statistical significance may be achieved, clinical significance is more difficult to deduce from these types of studies.”

Regardless, the study has clinical implications and areas for researchers to focus on in the future.

Tran noted the following:

“Our results suggest that atrial fibrillation may be an adverse consequence of having higher testosterone concentrations, even within the normal range. Clinicians should be aware of this risk when assessing testosterone concentrations in older men. Further research is required to investigate the possible mechanisms underlying this association, and to better understand how this impacts health in ageing men.”

Eating too fast may lead to weight gain, heart disease

Eating too quickly may add an extra size to your waistline, as well as raise your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, according to new research.

The results of a new study — recently presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions Trusted Source2017, held in Anaheim, CA — suggest that gobbling down your food may seriously harm your cardiometabolic health.

Dr. Takayuki Yamaji — a cardiologist at Hiroshima University in Japan — is the lead author of the study, which examined more than 1,000 participants over a period of 5 years.

The study focused on the relationship between eating speed and the incidence of metabolic syndromeTrusted Source, which is the collective name given to five risk factors for serious cardiometabolic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

These five risk factors are high blood pressure, high triglycerides, or the fats found in the blood, high blood sugar, low levels of the “good” cholesterol, and a large waistline.

More and more people are developing the syndrome due to increases in overall obesity rates, warn the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Currently, it is estimated that over a third (34 percentTrusted Source) of the adult population of the United States have metabolic syndrome.

“In the future,” the NIH caution, “metabolic syndrome may overtake smoking as the leading risk factor for heart disease.”

Worldwide, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome can be anywhere between 10 percent and 84 percent of the population, depending on where we focus.

Studying eating habits in Japanese adults

Dr. Yamaji and his colleagues examined 1,083 participants, 642 of whom were male. On average, participants were a little over 51 years old.

These people had no signs of metabolic syndrome at the beginning of the study in 2008, and the researchers followed them over a period of 5 years.

Using a self-administered questionnaire, the participants gave information on their lifestyle, eating habits, physical activity, and medical history.

If the participants had gained at least 10 kilograms since the age of 20, this qualified as “weight gain” for the purposes of the study.

Participants were also divided into three groups, according to their eating speed: slow eaters, normal eaters, and fast eaters.

Fast eating linked with metabolic syndrome

Over the 5-year follow-up period, 84 people developed metabolic syndrome. Overall, higher eating speed correlated with greater weight gain, higher blood sugar, higher levels of low-density lipoprotein, or “bad,” cholesterol, and a larger waistline.

Fast eaters were almost twice as likely to develop metabolic syndrome compared with their normal eating counterparts.

More specifically, fast eaters had an 11.6 percent higher chance of developing the risk factors, compared with a 6.5 percent chance in normal eaters. Meanwhile, slow eaters had only a 2.3 percent chance of developing metabolic syndrome.

The study authors conclude, “Eating speed was associated with obesity and future prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Eating slowly may therefore […] be a crucial lifestyle factor for preventing metabolic syndrome among the Japanese.”

Dr. Yamaji comments on the findings, saying, “Eating more slowly may be a crucial lifestyle change to help prevent metabolic syndrome […] When people eat fast they tend not to feel full and are more likely to overeat.”

14 myths about healthy eating

What are the secrets to healthy eating? Diet experts offer all sorts of rules on what we can’t eat – but what about what we can eat? Do we need to ditch all of our favorite foods? Who better to ask than a doctor who’s also a chef? Keep clicking as  Dr. Tim Harlan, author of “Just Tell Me What to Eat!,” dispels 14 persistent myths about healthy eating…

Myth: Snacking is bad for you

“Actually, snacking is essential,” says Dr. Harlan. People need to eat something when they’re hungry – as long as they are the right snacks. He recommends dried fruit and nuts. If you’re craving less healthy snack foods, choose the least processed – like tortilla chips or popcorn.

Myth: You’ll get fat if you eat out a lot

It all depends on where you eat. “Some restaurants have dishes that are pretty healthy,” says Dr. Harlan. He recommends dishes like grilled shrimp at Red Lobster, or steamed vegetable dumplings at P.F. Chang’s, or a petite sirloin at Ruby Tuesday.

Myth: Eating red meat will kill you

Dr. Harlan says it’s okay to eat beef – just choose lean cuts, and avoid highly processed meats like hot dogs and bologna. And limit your red meat consumption to once a week. Make sure to focus on the percentage of fat in the meat you do eat.

Myth: Dessert is the devil

Some sweets are okay, including low-fat frozen yogurt, pudding, popsicles, and fudge pops. What about chocolate? “The secret to eating chocolate and not gaining weight is to keep small portions of high-quality chocolate in your cupboard – you’ll eat fewer calories and it’ll be satisfying,” he says.

Myth: There are dishes you’ll just have to give up

Trying to lose weight? You won’t have to give up your favorite dishes, but you may need to get creative. “Even french fries can be made in a healthy way,” says Dr. Harlan. Just bake them instead of frying, and try substituting yams or sweet potatoes.

Other surprising possibilities include oven-fried chicken, or even a flank steak or london broil Philly cheese steak made with lower-fat cheddar cheese.

Myth: Counting calories doesn’t work

“Keeping a food diary is a powerful tool for losing weight,” says Dr. Harlan. But studies show that people aren’t good at judging the number of calories they eat – most people underestimate by more than 20 percent.” Get a food diary program for your smart phone, or use an online version to track your meals.

Myth: Pasta isn’t a healthy meal

“Even rich, creamy pasta sauces can be healthy,” says Dr. Harlan. How? He makes his fettuccine alfredo with lower-fat cream cheese and serves it over whole wheat pasta.

As for his meatballs, he uses ground beef that’s 93 percent lean, and if he can’t find it, he asks the butcher to grind some from a cut of bottom round that has had the fat trimmed off of it.

Myth: Carbs make you fat

“When I hear someone say carbs are bad, I just want to scream,” Dr. Harlan says. “Carbohydrates are good for you! They’re the fuel your body uses to get you through the day on a minute-by-minute basis.”

He says low-carb diets only work because people are eating poor-quality carbohydrates to begin with. “It’s easy to lose weight when you just stop eating potato chips. People succeed on Atkins and South Beach simply because they quit eating carbohydrate-based junk food.”

Myth: Fast food must be avoided at all costs

No need to avoid fast food entirely – just be sure to check the nutrition facts that restaurants now provide. Dr. Harlan says the chipotle BBQ snack wraps with grilled chicken at McDonald’s are only 260 calories and 9 grams of fat. But despite the name, he says the snack wraps should be eaten as a full meal.

As for supersizing? “Don’t do it,” says Dr. Harlan. “Ever.”

Myth: Frozen dinners bring weight gain

On the contrary, says Dr. Harlan. Convenience foods can be good since they control portion size.

What’s on his recommended list? Kashi Chicken Pasta Pomodoro, Weight Watchers Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Amy’s Santa Fe Enchilada Bowl, and Lean Cuisine Sesame Stir Fry with Chicken.

Myth: Stuff labeled “diet” will help you lose weight

For a food product to be labeled “diet,” it must either be low-calorie, reduced-calorie, or have a special use in a diet. That means diabetic foods could be labeled “diet” even if they’re not low in calories – just sugar.

Ironically, studies show that you’re likely to eat more of a “diet” food than the regular version.

Myth: Pizza packs on the pounds

Pizza needn’t be off-limits to dieters. Try a whole wheat pizza crust, and pile on veggies instead of sausage or pepperoni. Dr. Harlan also suggests using fresh mozzarella since it’s rich and creamy, and lower in calories than other types.

Myth: Diet sodas are fine

Drinking diet soda can lead to obesity, just like the real stuff.

How can that be? Constant sweetness reduces one’s natural ability to judge the caloric content of food – so a person ends up eating more food when drinking diet soda. Instead, he recommends water, or tea or coffee, which are rich in antioxidants.

Myth: You need a multivitamin to be healthy

“It’s becoming clear from research that all those pills, capsules, and supplement drinks are worthless,” says Dr. Harlan. The main exception, he says, is women of child-bearing age – they should take folic acid.

Everybody else? “You need to get your vitamins from real foods.”

Innovative New Treatment for Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is a debilitating condition that can persist for years, even a lifetime, and traditional treatments often provide little relief.

Ketamine for Chronic Pain

Traditional pain medications essentially dull your pain signals to help you lead a more fulfilling life. What makes ketamine infusion therapy different, however, is that it uses ketamine—a common anesthetic for humans and animals—to effectively reboot the neurotransmitters in your brain that are linked to pain.

Since ketamine disconnects the pain signals from the part of the brain that perceives pain, you may experience temporary relief during your infusion. Sometimes this relief persists for some time after the infusion.

Results vary, and patients with chronic pain typically require more aggressive ketamine infusion therapy, so you and the team will work together to determine the right number of treatments for you.

Innovative New Treatment for Migraines

Low dose ketamine infusions as a therapy for the treatment of depression is slowly becoming a more mainstream concept. There have been several recent reports in the media profiling the type of patient successes that we here at Evexia Wellness Centers have seen regularly. Less well-known is ketamine’s effectiveness in treating several pain syndromes, including migraine headaches.

How can ketamine help with migraines?

There are hospital in-patient services and hospital emergency rooms that have already employed ketamine infusions for several years to treat intractable migraine headaches. Recently, Dr. Eric Schwenk, the Director of Orthopedic Anesthesia at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, and colleagues completed a retrospective study to ascertain the effectiveness of ketamine in this population. All sixty-one patients studied received daily low-dose ketamine infusions for three to seven consecutive days.

Almost 75 percent of the patients experienced an improvement in their migraine intensity. On a scale of 0 – 10, the average migraine headache pain rating at admission was 7.5, compared to 3.4 at discharge. The average infusion was 5.1 consecutive days. The infusion day with the lowest average pain rating was day 4.

This study’s focus was on short-term relief. The author is encouraged by the potential for ketamine infusions to provide long-term relief.

Innovative New Treatment For OCD

The field of mental health treatment has expanded greatly in the last ten years. Innovative new mental health treatments are popping up all the time, and treating your own personal mental health disorder is becoming more and more desensitized. OCD is one of the top 20 causes of illness-related disability, and in the United States about 1 in 40 adults and 1 in 100 children have OCD. The first step to finding treatment for your OCD is to understand and learn more about your own mental health condition.

Ketamine, which some doctors are calling the biggest breakthrough in depression treatment in fifty years, is able to provide relief from the symptoms of OCD within minutes, rather than the weeks a typical antidepressant may take. If you or a loved one is suffering from OCD, please call us today to help determine if ketamine infusion can help you find relief.

Ketamine and OCD

Exactly how ketamine treats OCD and other mental health disorders is still being researched. The current understanding is that ketamine binds to receptors in the brain and helps increase the amount of glutamate (a neurotransmitter) that is released. This will then set off a chain of reactions within the brain that affects thinking and emotional regulation.

To put this in simpler terms, the brain reacts to ketamine in a way that triggers hormones that help create more positive emotions. This can occur within minutes after a person receives their infusion, but some people may need several treatments before they experience the highest level of benefits.

Innovative New Treatment for Anxiety

Occasional feelings of anxiety and panic are a natural part of everyday life, but those with a diagnosed anxiety disorder feel it much more persistently. Anxiety disorders are thought to affect up to 40 million adults every year. Unfortunately, not even 40% of those cases are getting treatment for their anxiety. Anxiety may not be able to be “cured” with treatment in most cases, but the symptoms can be managed with treatment and relief can be provided.

Ketamine for Anxiety

Ketamine, first developed and approved by the FDA as an anesthetic, is a promising new innovation in the field of anxiety treatment. While you may know it as the club drug often abused as Special K, ketamine is what some doctors are calling the biggest breakthrough in depression and anxiety treatment in decades. When infused at a low dose into the bloodstream, research shows that ketamine may be up to 80% effective at providing relief for anxiety disorder symptoms.

The Different Types of Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety tends to vary between each individual case, but there are a few basic types of anxiety disorders most cases can be identified as:

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Characterized by consistent worry, anxiety, and tension, even if there is nothing to bring it on.
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Characterized by recurrent intrusive thoughts (known as obsessions) and repetitive behaviors (known as compulsions). These compulsions, sometimes called rituals, are performed in an attempt to prevent these obsessive thoughts or make them subside. The compulsions typically only offer temporary relief, however, and can further contribute to anxiety.
• Panic Disorder: Characterized by repeated episodes of intense fear that bring on physical symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, dizziness, or abdominal distress.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Brought on after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening or traumatic event.
• Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia): Characterized by intense anxiety and self-consciousness in everyday social situations. It may be limited to only public speaking, but some people may experience symptoms whenever they are around other people.
• Agoraphobia: Characterized by avoidance of places or situations that trigger feelings of anxiety or panic.

People with high stress or childhood trauma may be more likely to develop an anxiety disorder, as well as people with a family history of anxiety or other mental health disorders. Anxiety disorders can bring a higher risk of developing depression or heart disease, and some may turn to substance abuse to try to alleviate the symptoms of their disorder.