Tag Archives: hypertension

How Cardiovascular Disease Connects To Inflammation

May 25, 2022 The Silo 3 Comments

I bet we all have someone near and dear to our heart, who has been touched by cardiovascular disease.

Public health and agencies such as Heart and Stroke Society have done an excellent job highlighting some of the key factors that are risk factors to cardiovascular disease. These risk factors can include hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, alcohol, smoking, and stress.

An overarching factor that exists within all of these risk factors is; inflammation.

Inflammation can be defined as “the body’s attempt at self-protection; the aim being to remove harmful stimuli, including damaged cells, irritants, or pathogens – and begin the healing process.” The symptoms of inflammation are represented as heat, redness, swelling and pain.

There have been links made between chronic inflammation and some cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, periodontitis and hay fever.

One of the key modifiable factors affecting inflammation that has been researched is diet. Meals that are contain excess calories and inflammatory fats have been linked to causing spikes in c-reactive protein, a measureable maker of inflammation. The Standard American Diet has been linked to higher inflammation rates due to the higher intake of omega 6 fatty acids compared to omega 3. In contrast the Mediterranean Diet has been linked to lower inflammation levels due to higher content of omega 3 fatty acids, low glycemic foods, higher amounts of carotenoids and flavonoids found abundantly in fruits and vegetables.

Excess body fat is also a component of inflammation as it a factory for inflammatory cytokines within the body, resulting in higher levels of inflammation. A study of postmenopausal women who where overweight or obese who lost 5% or more of their body weight had measurable decreases to their inflammation levels.

Type 2 diabetes, the result of insulin resistance also has its roots deep in inflammation. Again research has shown that more fat cells in the body result in a cascade of cellular signalling within the immune cells that results in inflammation.

In the case of acute inflammation such a healing cut finger, physical symptoms would be typical; heat, swelling, redness and pain. Chronic inflammation does not display these same symptoms, instead havoc on the cardiovascular system can go undetected. The process of atherosclerosis, the origin of cardiovascular disease is a result of the activation of the immune system during inflammation leading deposition and accumulation of cholesterol and tissue along the cardiovascular system.

From a preventative health standpoint it is important to combine the current treatment of cardiovascular health treatment with strategies to reduce inflammation.

Naturopathic Medicine as a preventative form of treatment has many options available to decrease overall inflammation within the body and can be used alongside conventional medical treatments. For the Silo, Ashley Beeton.

Culture

4 Aspects Of Your Life You Can Improve By Listening To Jazz

May 22, 2021 The Silo 3 Comments

Music is known to have a strong effect on most people. It can compel its listeners to move along its rhythm and dance. It can also provide stimulation to the brain, which can improve a person’s bodily performance.

This positive impact can double for the person performing the music. Can you image the impact that the more varied and dynamic genres of music, such as jazz, can have on you?

Jazz is not only a pleasure to listen to, but consuming it can bring about numerous improvements to your health and lifestyle. Whether you listen to this type of music in the background while working to attending dedicated worldwide jazz festivals, jazz can help improve your well being. Continue reading to learn more about how jazz can improve many aspects of your life.

Energy and Creativity

Completing daily tasks can sometimes get difficult. It can be easy for you to become bored and lose motivation or have your energy depleted due to repetition and tedium. Jazz can help you regain that focus and energy, making activities such as daily work and exercise feel easier than they are.

The unique, diverse rhythm provided by the music causes your brain to produce and release the appropriate chemicals. This is the brain attempting to match the music’s beats, and due to jazz’s improvisational nature, it keeps the brain’s stimulation high, making it easier to keep up with rigorous activities. Additionally, active, but ambient, noise increases processing difficulty, which encourages abstract thinking and creativity. More creative thinking can help you find work solutions and keep you engaged in the task at hand.

Blood Pressure

Is high blood pressure a recurring problem with you? Then music rich with rhythm, especially jazz, can help you out. Music has a dynamic relationship with people’s cardiovascular system that several researchers have investigated before. Jazz can help you decrease your blood pressure by impacting your blood vessels. Rhythmic, lively music like jazz can open your blood vessels to around 30% more than normal, reducing your pressure.

Further studies conducted by the Osaka University in Japan show that people who listen to music after three months have their blood pressure reduced by 6 mmHg. You can equate this decrease to people who have taken their blood pressure medication, lost 10 pounds, or adopted a low-sodium diet. This change can ultimately improve your overall health, as it decreases your chances of suffering from heart disease or a stroke.

Immune System

One of the most important systems in your body is the immune system. It is mainly composed of organs and white blood cells and it is your body’s ultimate line of defense against germs, infections, and diseases. While there are many healthy habits you can embrace to boost your immunity, such as regular exercise and a healthy diet, you can also add listening to jazz to the list.

Psychologist Carl Charnetski discovered in a study that people who listened to jazz for at least 30 minutes produced a higher level of immunoglobulin A (IgA) than other subjects. This chemical is one of the many antibodies created by the immune systems that manifests alongside the mucous linings of the body. Arrange for jazz listening sessions to keep a strong level of IgA going.

Stress Management

While it can be a cliché to say that jazz’s primary audience is “cool” people, there is some truth to that statement. According to the University of Nevada, music that goes up to 60 beats per minute can cause your brain to release alpha brainwaves. These waves are related to sleep and relaxation, calming your nerves and ironically making you more alert. Certain types of noise, such as smoother jazz, stringed instruments, and even rainfall, are more effective than others in winding you down after a busy day at work.

Jazz is not only one of the most dynamic music genres out there, but it can also make a positive impact on your health. From improving the body through the immune and cardiovascular systems to decreasing stress and encouraging energy, focus, and creativity, listening to jazz can bring noticeable changes to your well being. Consider these benefits the next time you choose the concerts to attend or the type of background music you will play while you work.

Culture

Artificial Stimulants In Energy Drinks Hurt Kids

April 30, 2019 The Silo Leave a comment

Why Your Kid Shouldn’t Be Guzzling ‘Energy’ Drinks
Vitamins & Minerals are Safer and More Effective than
Artificial Stimulants, Says Food Science Expert

Anxiety, hypertension, elevated heart rates, interrupted sleep patterns and headaches are just some of the side effects commonly associated with energy drinks, and those problems are more pronounced in children, according to a recent University of Miami study.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. These drinks have also been linked to heart palpitations, strokes and sudden death.

The term “energy” drink is an unfortunate misnomer, says food science expert Budge Collinson. They don’t give your body energy; they stimulate you with brief jolts of caffeine and unregulated herbal stimulants, he says.

“Soccer moms and dads buy these ‘stimulant’ drinks for their kids before matches because both kids and parents want that competitive advantage,” says Collinson, founder of Infusion Sciences and creator of Youth Infusion, (www.drinkyouthinfusion.com), an effervescent, natural multivitamin beverage that helps people maintain consistent and healthy higher energy levels.

“For a few moments, you’ll get that spike, but it’s a short-term experience with a heavy long-term toll.”

So, what are some ways kids can get a healthy energy boost? Collinson offers the following tips.

• Go for a speedy bike ride together, take a brisk walk or hold foot-races in the yard. Numerous studies demonstrate the power of vigorous exercise in boosting energy. Exercise pumps more oxygen – pure, healthy fuel — into the bloodstream and to the brain and muscles for a short-term energy boost. Exercising regularly will increase lung capacity, so the body will gets more oxygen on a sustained level for the long term. Exercise also releases endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemical, which makes us feel happy. And happy people are energized people.

• Seek nutrition from a variety of sources. As humans, we need more than 40 different vitamins and minerals to keep our bodies functioning optimally. Since there is no single food that contains them all, it is important for children and adults to eat a variety, including as many different vegetables and fruits as possible. Adding a daily multivitamin supplement with essentials such as CoQ10, arginine, theanine, resveratrol and magnesium can help ensure bodies young and old are running at top speed.

• Drink plenty of water – the natural energy drink. Even mild dehydration can leave children (and adults) feeling listless, so encourage children to make a habit of drinking plenty of water. Kids need more water than adults because they expend more energy, and they may not recognize when they’re slightly thirsty. Parents, too, often don’t recognize the signs of dehydration; a national survey of more than 800 parents of kids ages of one month to 10 years found that more than half feel they don’t know enough about dehydration. A quick, light pinch of the skin on the child’s hand or arm is an easy check. If the skin is slow to resume a smooth appearance, the child is likely at least mildly dehydrated.

About Budge Collinson

Budge Collinson was the beneficiary of his mother’s natural health formula as a sick baby, which led to a deep interest in health and wellness at a young age. After years of research and seeing the growing demand for natural products with clinical support, he founded Infusion Sciences, www.infusionsciences.com. Collinson earned a bachelor’s degree in food and resource economics from the University of Florida and certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Recently, he became a member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and consistently attends the Natural Products Expo, where he learns the latest science and news about nutritious ingredients. Collinson is also a go-to source for media outlets across the country for healthy lifestyle and food source discussions.

Sci-Tech

Technology Detects Eye Disease Years Ahead Of Current State Of The Art

October 14, 2014 The Silo Leave a comment

The technology is not limited to 'human only' use CP — The technology is not limited to ‘human only’ use CP

WATERFORD, Mich. – An Ann Arbor-based medical device manufacturer that developed a technology to detect eye disease years earlier than current methods is Medical Main Street’s “INNO-VATOR of the Year.”

OcuSciences, Inc. is a medical diagnostic device company commercializing a rapid, non-invasive test for early detection of retinal disease. Physicians can use the device to screen patients for diabetes and early eye disease. Optometrists and ophthalmologists can use the device to diagnose and monitor disease progression and guide therapy.

“I stand in awe of the work done by OcuSciences and its new imaging techniques to measure damage to retinal tissue from diabetes, macular degeneration and glaucoma,” Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said. “This achievement in medical device manufacturing is indicative of the type of world-class research being conducted in the Medical Main Street region.”

The INNO-VATOR of the Year award honors the creators of a medical device which demonstrates the most dramatic change in the health care industry in Michigan. To be considered for the award, the device must have been developed in Michigan, achieved prototype development and validation, and incorporate a game-changing innovation.

The award will be presented Oct. 22 during Medical Main Street’s INNO-VENTION 2014 conference at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi. In 2013, Ann Arbor-based HistoSonics won for its Vortx Rx® device that uses sound energy to treat tissue inside the body without the need for traditional surgery. In 2012, Sentio LLC of Southfield and Ablative Solutions of Kalamazoo were each named co-winners. Sentio created a device to alert doctors when nerves are at risk during surgery and Ablative Solutions’ technology treats hypertension.

Based on technology licensed from the University of Michigan, OcuSciences has developed a proprietary, ocular imaging technique, Retinal Metabolic AnalysisTM (RMA), as a non-invasive, rapid biomarker for measuring the damage to retinal tissue due to diabetes, macular degeneration and glaucoma. This new measure has been termed a new vital sign for patients – similar to blood pressure or body temperature.

The RMA technology provides a means to detect disease processes several years earlier than current clinical methods and before irreversible structural alterations due to cell death become visible in the retina.

OcuSciences has demonstrated that RMA is more predictive of diabetes than other tests, helping pharmaceutical companies develop ophthalmic drugs more rapidly and precisely.

With 57 million diabetics in the U.S. today, and eight percent of those as undiagnosed diabetics, diabetes is a rapidly growing epidemic, especially among children. The screening for diabetic retinopathy and early treatment can help prevent blindness in 24,000 patients annually and reduce the $174 billion costs associated with diabetes.

INNO-VENTION 2014 is set for Oct. 21-22 at the Suburban Collection Showplace.

Now in its third year, the conference will feature an expansion of the popular Demonstration Alley, with 21 companies exhibiting the latest medical technology innovations. There will also be expert panel discussions on intellectual property, accountable care organizations, health and wellness as an asset, and mobile health care.

The Medical Main Street board includes Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Beaumont Health System, Beckman Coulter Molecular Diagnostics, Crittenton Hospital, Detroit Medical Center, Ferndale Laboratories, Henry Ford Health Systems, Housey Pharmaceutical Research Laboratories, McLaren Health Care – Oakland, MichBio, State Rep. Gail Haines, R-Waterford, Oakland Community College, Oakland University, Oxus Inc., Priority Health, Rockwell Medical Technologies, St. John Providence Health System, St. Joseph Mercy Oakland and Stryker Corp.

For more information on INNO-VENTION 2014, visit www.MedicalMainStreet.com.