Category: Articles

Erection Issues, More Erection Levels For Girth Training, and Hanging Training: Ask The Experts

Big Al, of MaleEnhancementCoach.com, answers questions about erection issues, more erection levels for girth training, cycle lengths, and hanging training.

If you have questions you’d like answered in an Ask the Experts article, please PM Big Al

Q. I’ve been doing the basic stamina workout but have not had much luck maintaining erections for most of the exercises. Morning erections are sporadic and not always hard and I require a lot of arousal for sex. When I do manage to get hard, I ejaculate pretty fast. Is there anything I can do to make my erections better? I’m not even stressed out over it and my wife is understanding, but it’s no fun!

Al: It would be good for you to monitor yourself to see if you’re getting morning erections. Duration and hardness should be considered. You can use the stamp test to see if there’s erectile activity during your sleep.

It would also be good to get a hormone profile done. Even if your T levels are normal or even high, there could be imbalances with other hormones like SHBG which can affect EQ and libido.

In the meanwhile, we can see how the next week or so plays out to note changes. An increase in cardio or working more towards the aerobic range with your walking should be helpful also. You can’t have too strong a heart, especially for penile functioning.

Q. Why is it that I was making better gains when I was using a lower degree of erection for jelqing? I thought more intensity means more growth.

Al: The equation isn’t as simple as that. With girth work, it’s easy to get caught up into thinking training with a higher erection level is always better. If you’re new to training or to an exercise, it’s good to err on the side of caution with intensity. In this case, a 70% erection jelq (or other girth movement) is considered a good place to start because there’s still ample room for tissue flexibility. Once you begin to approach 90% erect, the internal pressure begins to make it much more difficult to manipulate the tissues- and increasing force is needed.

If you’re not conditioned enough then higher intensity will actually harm you or lead to a lack of gains.

Q. So far I have been adding time and weight to my hanging for 9 weeks but still don’t feel worked. Am I adding the weight too slowly? EQ is improving so this has to be ok?

Al: If you can go for much longer than 6 weeks without overtraining length, it’s a sign you’re UNDERworking. That being said, we need to be very careful with training and recovery clues and note during and each session how the movement affects us. It’s VERY easy to get caught up with the weight in hanging and lose the feel of the stretch.

It may pay to test out a weight you feel comfortable but challenged for 3 sets of 10 minutes (as per the 3×20 Routine instructions). Once you’ve found a suitable weight, begin to add 1 minute per set per session, as described until you get to 3×20- then add weight and start the process over.

Get your male enhancement questions answered at MaleEnhancementCoach.com

Our Key Takeaways

• A lower salt intake implies a significant decrease in the blood pressure, thus reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease.
• The WHO recommends the adult population of consuming no more than 5 grams of salt per day and 2 grams (or less) of salt per day for children.
• Many people are not aware of the amounts of salt contained in most processed foods, thus WHO recommends Member States to intensify the policy on the use of clear and consistent front-of-pack nutrition labelling to help consumers better understand the products that they are procuring.
• Meal delivery apps (MDAs) became increasingly in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic and it is important to consider that most of the foods that they offer contain high levels of salt, calories, sugar and saturated fat.
• Socioeconomically disadvantaged groups are specifically more vulnerable in higher salt intakes which results to health inequities. Both government and non-government organizations in each Member States should ensure that appropriate actions must be made so that people would be properly educated in the effects of salt consumption in their health and well-being.

This article is a repost which originally appeared on www.euro.who.int
www.euro.who.int/ - March 14, 2022
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexels
Sources: Accelerating salt reduction in Europe: a country support package to reduce population salt intake in the WHO European Region (2020), WHO global sodium benchmarks for different food categories, A systems approach to meal delivery apps (‎MDAs)‎: WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (2021), Manual to develop and implement front‑of‑pack nutrition labelling: guidance for countries on the selection and testing of evidence‑informed front‑of‑pack nutrition labelling systems in the WHO European Region (2020), and Improving dietary intake and achieving food product improvement: policy opportunities and challenges for the WHO European Region in reducing salt and sugar in the diet (2020)

During Salt Awareness Week, WHO is highlighting 5 simple recommendations that can help lower salt intake and blood pressure, significantly reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease. High salt intake is one of the leading causes of death in the WHO European Region.

Often, we can consume large amounts of salt without even knowing it – while eating processed food or choosing meals through delivery apps.

WHO emphasizes the importance of reducing salt intake and highlights practical actions that Member State authorities can take to implement policies to reduce population level salt intake and promote health and well-being.

1. Shake the salt habit: no more than 5 grams (g) per day

For adults, WHO recommends consuming no more than 5 g of salt every day. For children the recommendation is even less: 2 g of salt a day. However, current daily salt consumption in the Region ranges between 8 g and 19 g – well above this recommendation.

It is estimated that reducing salt intake even by 15% would prevent 8.5 million premature deaths in 10 years in low- and middle-income economies and could deliver cost savings in high-income countries.

Member States have agreed to a 30% reduction in salt intake by 2025 as a priority intervention to reduce noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

2. Check the label, and choose the lower salt option

In some countries of the Region, up to 75–80% of salt consumed by people every day comes from processed foods. Many people are not aware of these amounts.

WHO recommends Member States to implement an important policy tool – clear and consistent front-of-pack nutrition labelling. This will help consumers to understand what is in the foods that they are buying as well as drive the reformulation of products by the food industry.

3. Reformulate salty products

Given the high proportion of processed foods in current diets, many countries in the Region have chosen to focus efforts on improving the composition of processed foods.

Reformulation has been identified as a cost-effective policy, and – for the most part – a politically feasible one. Studies have demonstrated that diets containing more products meeting nutritional targets are associated with an overall reduction in the risk of disease.

Reformulation may be accompanied by efforts to change individual purchase habits and consumption behaviour, gradually and over time, and without announcement to consumers.

WHO has developed global sodium benchmarks for sodium levels in different food categories as an important step to facilitate the reformulation of food products which contribute to salt intake, and drive progress towards meeting global goals to reduce population salt intake.

4. Meal delivery services: take away the salt

Foods available through meal delivery apps (MDAs), which became increasingly popular in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, are also associated with high levels of salt, as well as calories, sugar and saturated fat.

As more and more of our decisions surrounding food and beverages are made in the digital arena, it is important for public health authorities to understand the potential impacts of MDAs on NCDs and other public health concerns.

5. Focus on vulnerable groups

Salt intake patterns – as well as nutrition habits in general – differ between social groups, and this may lead to health inequities.

Research shows that, among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, knowledge of government guidance and health literacy is often lower while voluntary table salt use and total salt intake may be up to 5–10% higher.

Data from salt surveys indicate that salt intake among the general population ranges from 8.7 g in the Netherlands to 19.0 g in Kazakhstan.

The WHO European Programme of Work 2020–2025 (EPW) calls for action to reduce health inequities and advocates united action for better health. WHO guidelines and country support packages can assist Member States to find the right approach in this context.
“It is crucial for all countries to build a solid foundation for health literacy. People deserve to know how dietary intake and salt consumption affect their well-being and their future,” said Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe, Acting Head of the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases.

“An enabling environment for salt reduction can be created through local policy interventions and the promotion of healthy food settings in schools, workplaces, health facilities, communities and cities. A healthier choice should be an easier choice for consumers in the WHO European Region and beyond.”

Our Key Takeaways:

• A night of sleep exposed to moderate room lighting can negatively contribute to heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.
• Moderate room lighting in sleep causes ‘sympathetic activation’, a body state where heart rate, force of heart contraction, and blood circulation increases.
• It also causes insulin resistance the morning after sleep, increasing risk for diabetes and obesity.
• Exposure to artificial light at night during sleep is common, but adjustments with the presence of light can be done in different circumstances.

This article is a repost which originally appeared on scitechdaily.com
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY - MARCH 15, 2022
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexels
Source: DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2113290119

Close the Blinds During Sleep To Protect Your Health

• Exposure to artificial light at night during sleep is common
• Sleeping in a moderately light room increases risk for heart disease and diabetes
• Your heart rate rises, and body can’t rest properly in light bedroom at night

Close the blinds, draw the curtains and turn off all the lights before bed. Exposure to even moderate ambient lighting during nighttime sleep, compared to sleeping in a dimly lit room, harms your cardiovascular function during sleep and increases your insulin resistance the following morning, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.

“The results from this study demonstrate that just a single night of exposure to moderate room lighting during sleep can impair glucose and cardiovascular regulation, which are risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome,” said senior study author Dr. Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician. “It’s important for people to avoid or minimize the amount of light exposure during sleep.”

There is already evidence that light exposure during daytime increases heart rate via activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which kicks your heart into high gear and heightens alertness to meet the challenges of the day.

“Our results indicate that a similar effect is also present when exposure to light occurs during nighttime sleep,” Zee said.

The study was published on March 14, 2022, in PNAS.

Heart rate increases in light room, and body can’t rest properly

“We showed your heart rate increases when you sleep in a moderately lit room,” said Dr. Daniela Grimaldi, a co-first author and research assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern. “Even though you are asleep, your autonomic nervous system is activated. That’s bad. Usually, your heart rate together with other cardiovascular parameters are lower at night and higher during the day.”

There are sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems to regulate our physiology during the day and night. Sympathetic takes charge during the day and parasympathetic is supposed to at night, when it conveys restoration to the entire body.

How nighttime light during sleep can lead to diabetes and obesity

Investigators found insulin resistance occurred the morning after people slept in a light room. Insulin resistance is when cells in your muscles, fat and live don’t respond well to insulin and can’t use glucose from your blood for energy. To make up for it, your pancreas makes more insulin. Over time, your blood sugar goes up.

An earlier study published in JAMA Internal Medicine looked at a large population of healthy people who had exposure to light during sleep. They were more overweight and obese, Zee said.

“Now we are showing a mechanism that might be fundamental to explain why this happens. We show it’s affecting your ability to regulate glucose,” Zee said.

The participants in the study weren’t aware of the biological changes in their bodies at night.

“But the brain senses it,” Grimaldi said. “It acts like the brain of somebody whose sleep is light and fragmented. The sleep physiology is not resting the way it’s supposed to.”

Exposure to artificial light at night during sleep is common

Exposure to artificial light at night during sleep is common, either from indoor light-emitting devices or from sources outside the home, particularly in large urban areas. A significant proportion of individuals (up to 40%) sleep with a bedside lamp on or with a light on in the bedroom and/or keep the television on.

Light and its relationship to health is double-edged.

“In addition to sleep, nutrition and exercise, light exposure during the daytime is an important factor for health, but during the night we show that even modest intensity of light can impair measures of heart and endocrine health,” said co-first author Dr. Ivy Mason, who at the time of the study was post-doctoral fellow at Northwestern and now is a research fellow at Harvard Medical School.

The study tested the effect of sleeping with 100 lux (moderate light) compared to 3 lux (dim light) in participants over a single night. The investigators discovered that moderate light exposure caused the body to go into a higher alert state called sympathetic activation. In this state, the heart rate increases as well as the force with which the heart contracts and the rate of how fast the blood is conducted to your blood vessels for oxygenated blood flow.

“These findings are important particularly for those living in modern societies where exposure to indoor and outdoor nighttime light is increasingly widespread,” Zee said.

Zee’s top tips for reducing light during sleep

1. Don’t turn lights on. If you need to have a light on (which older adults may want for safety), make it a dim light that is closer to the floor.
2. Color is important. Amber or a red/orange light is less stimulating for the brain. Don’t use white or blue light and keep it far away from the sleeping person.
3. Blackout shades or eye masks are good if you can’t control the outdoor light. Move your bed so the outdoor light isn’t shining on your face

Is my room too light?

“If you’re able to see things really well, it’s probably too light,” Zee said.

Proponents of the Silicon Valley–based health trend say you can biohack any part of your lifestyle, including your sex drive. Here’s what that entails.

By Sophia Benoit
February 6, 2019

This article is a repost which originally appeared on GQ

Edited for content

Our Takeaways:

‧ Someone doesn’t have to go to extremes to biohack their bodies for better sexual performance.

‧ Some of the best techniques are as simple as learning how to develop a better emotional attitude.

‧ “…anything through natural lifestyle changes via diet, exercise, sleep, hormones, and stress reduction. So, basically, anything you’re already doing that’s healthy? Yep, ‘it’s all biohacking’”

Biohacking, for the unfamiliar, is a controversial health trend that’s popularized thinking about wellness like you’d think about a computer system—and finding backdoor ways to “hack” that system, so to speak. According to its proponents, the applications of biohacking are essentially limitless, offering practitioners the ability to optimize anything from their sleep schedule to their sex life. Biohacking’s patron saint, Dave Asprey, the 45-year-old multimillionaire founder of Bulletproof Coffee, described how he goes about the latter by injecting stem cells into his dick. This, according to him—there’s not many other people out there shooting up their dicks, so hard to say for sure—is a cure for erectile dysfunction. He also makes a point to specify that he doesn’t have ED but that he still, for some reason, wants stem cells injected into his penis. An extreme approach, to say the least.

The good news here is that you, a normal person, don’t have to go that far to biohack your way to better sexual health, at least according to Jeff Egler, M.D., at Parsley Health. What does that mean, exactly? Well, according to Dr. Egler, biohacking is “getting away from traditional medicine and into more natural, healthy ways of doing things.” If that sounds about as specific as a newspaper horoscope, that’s by design: The doctors at Parsley Health claim to be able to do just about anything through natural lifestyle changes via diet, exercise, sleep, hormones, and stress reduction. So, basically, anything you’re already doing that’s healthy? Yep, “it’s all biohacking,” says Dr. Egler.

When it comes to getting your freak on (and keeping your dick hard), what would a biohacking appointment look like? I asked Dr. Egler what he would do if someone came in complaining of low libido, and he stopped me. “Men coming in complaining of a low sex drive is actually very rare.” Color me surprised. “They will come in for erectile dysfunction,” he added. But typically his male patients are “in the office for something else, and the talk of not having a sex drive comes up.” Come on, guys! If you’re not having good sex with your partner, please for the love of God, talk to your doctor. Low sex drive is not uncommon, especially in people who are taking antidepressants or anti-anxiety meds. (One 2010 study estimated between 25 and 73 percent of patients taking SSRIs experience some kind of sexual dysfunction.) It’s incredibly normal, and the very least you can do is get a professional to try to help you with it. If that’s you, here’s a few places to start:

Find the real problem, don’t just treat the symptoms.

A major tenet of biohacking is using traditional medicine as a last resort, so don’t expect to go in and get a prescription for Cialis or Viagra. The focus of the doctors at Parsley Health is diagnosing the root cause of the issue, rather than just treating the symptoms themselves. “We just want to make sure that we’re not bypassing the actual problem. If you go more upstream, where the problem is, by changing their diet, for example, you’ll not only relieve their symptoms but you’ll cure them. Those problems will go away.” Okay, so eat differently and perhaps your erectile dysfunction will go away, according to biohackers? Well, maybe.

Incorporate more strength training in your workouts.

It might not be your diet. It could also be that HIIT workout you’ve been doing for the past five years, according to Dr. Egler. The way he breaks it down, high-intensity workouts cause a release of the stress hormone cortisol, which ends up competing with testosterone in your body. So now you have stellar abs, but your dick doesn’t get as hard. Apparently, it can be something that simple. A 2017 study actually found a similar connection: High-intensity workouts were correlative (but not necessarily causal) with low sex drive. As with most things in life, the key to balanced exercise is moderation; just pepper in some low-intensity and strength-building workouts among your regular cardio routine.

Take it to the lab.

Here’s where biohacking gets “sexy,” according to Dr. Egler. “We look for points of leverage. They might be eating perfectly and exercising in a really balanced fashion, they might be meditating, but they’re only sleeping six hours a night, so we try to see where the weak spots are. And then you test your hypothesis. That’s where we bring in lab testing.” The major emphasis in all of biohacking is monitoring, testing, tracking, and then using that feedback to get healthier. (Dave Asprey famously has a blood-glucose monitor implanted into his arm, and no, he’s not diabetic).
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Increase your testosterone levels.

From these blood tests, depending on what your hormone levels suggest, they might “prescribe” biohacks like dietary fiber, lignans from flax seeds, or even simply green tea, all of which are aromatase inhibitors. Aromatase is what converts the testosterone in your body into estrogen, which then gets broken down. So theoretically, if you have an issue with low testosterone, one thing that you can do is inhibit that enzyme, leaving you with more of the hormone.

Another possible treatment involves inhibiting 5-alpha reductase, an enzyme that turns testosterone into DHT (Dihydrotestosterone) and also often causes male hair loss. Natural 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (don’t worry, you’ll never need to remember the name) include omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil, quercetin (an anti-inflammatory supplement), and once again green tea or flax seeds. According to Dr. Egler, all these things can help raise your testosterone levels, which are a key component to sexual health.

Finally, relax.

The last thing he recommends? Reducing stress. “A simple biohack to increase testosterone is anything that reduces stress.” So make time for meditating, exercising, or any other hobby that helps you clear your head. And if you aren’t sure what’s causing you to be so stressed out, it might be time to consult a therapist. As Dr. Egler says, “CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) is a biohack.”

At the end of the day, this approach to biohacking your sex life essentially encourages people to cultivate healthy habits in order to improve their overall health. So if you’re the kind of person who wants more from your Fitbit (and your coffee and green tea) and loves the word “metrics,” maybe re-labeling the advice your GP doc has been giving you for years as “biohacking” will help you get it done.

Our Key Takeaways

• Alternative sweeteners can replace sugar in sweetened beverages to produce a healthier substitute for those with obesity and diabetes.
• Low- or no-calorie sweetened beverages (LNCSB) were linked to minor weight and cardiometabolic risk factor reductions.
• Unfortunately, drinking two or more LNCSB a day is linked to an increase in clot-based strokes, heart attacks, and early death (in women over 50).
• Intaking water is still deemed best by experts as an alternative for drinking sweetened beverages to maintain one’s health.

This article is a repost which originally appeared on edition.cnn.com
Madeline Holcombe, CNN - March 14, 2022
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexels

(CNN) – In our soda, tea, coffee and juice: We like to drink sugar.

Americans eat about 60 pounds (27 kilograms) of sugar annually on average — and almost half of that comes from drinks, according to the American Heart Association.

For people who are at risk for or have diabetes, drinks sweetened without sugar may help, according to a study published Monday.

In a meta-analysis published in JAMA Network Open, researchers found replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with low- or no-calorie sweetened beverages (called “LNCSB” by nutrition professionals) was associated with small reductions in weight and cardiometabolic risk factors, the study said.

“Universally, everyone is recommending a reduction of sugar,” said senior study author Dr. John Sievenpiper. “Now the next question is: What’s the best way to replace it?

“Some beverages will give you that intended benefit and in a way that’s similar to what you would expect from water,” said Sievenpiper, consultant physician at St. Michael’s Hospital and associate professor in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto.The study was set up well and adds evidence “that in the moderate term LNCSBs are a viable alternative to water for those with overweight or obesity,” but more evidence is needed to know the long-term impact, said Julie Grim, director of nutrition for the American Diabetes Association, via email. Grim was not involved in the study.

The goal is still to drink water as often as possible, Sievenpiper said, but the results may be good news for people looking to manage weight or diabetes risk. “You know that you’ve got a choice, and I think that’s important for a lot of people that they have that,” he added.

The debate

This study may pose a positive outlook for beverage choices for people with weight and diabetes concerns, but there has been a long debate over alternative sweeteners and overall health. Drinking two or more of any kind of artificially sweetened drinks a day is linked to an increased risk of clot-based strokes, heart attacks and early death in women over 50, a 2019 study found. Another study the next year found diet soda may be just as bad for your heart as the regular, sugary stuff.

That’s despite the fact that artificial sweeteners have been deemed safe by regulatory bodies, said Danielle Smotkin, a spokesperson for the American Beverage Association, a US trade association representing the nonalcoholic beverage industry. This recent study did not identify increased risk factors, but it couldn’t account for long-term impacts and was not able to identify if one low- or no-calorie sweetened beverage was more effective than another, Grim said. Water is best, experts said, but it can be hard to go cold turkey on sweet drinks, CNN nutrition contributor and registered dietician Lisa Drayer said. “Cut back by one serving per day until you’re down to one drink per day,” Drayer told CNN in a prior interview. “Then aim for one every other day until you can phase out soft drinks entirely.”

She recommended sparkling water, infusing fruit and a two-week no sugar challenge to help curb cravings. Your taste buds will adjust to find “natural foods with sugar more satisfying,” she said.

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This article is a repost which originally appeared on edition.cnn.com
Tasnim Ahmed, CNN - March 28, 2022
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexels
Source: DOI: acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M21-4389

Our Key Takeaways

• There are currently no US Food and Drug Administration warnings against the use of men planning to have children.
• Men who took metformin before or after the three-month maturation period did not have an increased risk of having a baby with birth defects.
• Genital birth defects, seen only in male babies, was the only birth defect in the study that was found to be associated with a statistically significant increased risk after paternal metformin use.

(CNN) Metformin use by men in the three-month period before they conceived a child was linked to a 40% higher risk of birth defects in the offspring, according to a study published Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. Metformin is a first-line drug in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The research, which was done out of Denmark, used national registries to follow over 1 million births between 1997 and 2016 and compared the risk of major birth defects in babies based on paternal exposures to diabetes medications. The study observed only children who were born to women under 35 and men under 40. Babies born to women with diabetes were excluded.

The researchers considered men exposed to metformin if they filled a prescription for it in the three months before conception, which is how long it takes the fertilizing sperm to fully mature.

According to the study, the frequency of birth defects in babies born to men who had a type 2 diabetes diagnosis but who were not taking metformin was 3.1% (1,594 children), but the frequency was 4.6% (788) in children with paternal exposure to metformin during the preconception period. Genital birth defects, seen only in male babies, was the only birth defect in the study that was found to be associated with a statistically significant increased risk after paternal metformin use. Men who took metformin before or after the three-month maturation period did not have an increased risk of having a baby with birth defects. Similarly, the babies’ unexposed siblings were not affected.

Because previous research has shown that diabetes can compromise sperm quality and impair male fertility, the researchers also compared the rates of birth defects in the babies of men who took insulin to those who took metformin in order to ensure that a diabetes diagnosis itself was not a contributing factor. They found that insulin use was not associated with a change in the birth defect rate. The researchers did not find any significant association between birth defects and paternal exposure to diabetes medication other than metformin. However, the authors note that they did not have data on other aspects of diabetes, such as glycemic control or medication compliance, as they assessed data only on when prescriptions were filled. In addition, babies who had paternal metformin exposure also tended to have parents who were older and of a lower socioeconomic status, which may play a role. In an editorial published alongside the study, Germain Buck Louis, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at George Mason University who was not involved in the research, said there is evidence from past studies to suggest that “altered testosterone levels may be an underlying mechanism raising concern about the antiandrogenic activity of oral diabetes pharmacologic agents, including metformin” to explain these findings.

Louis also noted that due to the limitations of this study, further research is needed to find out whether men taking metformin should make any considerations, especially given the high prevalence of diabetes that may require metformin use.

There are currently no US Food and Drug Administration warnings against the use of metformin by men planning to have children. “Clinical guidance is needed to help couples planning pregnancy weigh the risks and benefits of paternal metformin use relative to other medications,” Louis wrote.

This article is a repost which originally appeared on https://www.eatthis.com
Hether Newgen
 - March 29, 2022
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexel

Our Key Takeaways

• It is critical for adults to have their blood pressure checked regularly.
• Other reasons for having high blood pressure is one’s diet.
• It is important to have regular headaches and chest pains checked-up because this could be a potential reason for having hypertension.

An average of 116 million Americans live with high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, a condition that puts you at risk for stroke and heart disease which are leading causes of death according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Dr. Jagdish Khubchandani, MBBS, Ph.D., a professor of public health at New Mexico State University tells Eat This, Not That! Health, “Nearly half of the U.S. adults have hypertension, but less than a quarter of the individuals diagnosed with hypertension have it under control.  So, it is not surprising that hypertension is a major or contributing cause for more than half a million deaths every year.” The widespread problem is a major concern and Dr. Khubchandani explains signs to watch out for and how to prevent hypertension. Read on—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had COVID.

1. What is Hypertension?

According to the World Health Organization, “Blood pressure is the force exerted by circulating blood against the walls of the body’s arteries, the major blood vessels in the body. Hypertension is when blood pressure is too high. Blood pressure is written as two numbers. The first (systolic) number represents the pressure in blood vessels when the heart contracts or beats. The second (diastolic) number represents the pressure in the vessels when the heart rests between beats. Hypertension is diagnosed if, when it is measured on two different days, the systolic blood pressure readings on both days is ≥140 mmHg and/or the diastolic blood pressure readings on both days is ≥90 mmHg.”

2. Headaches

Dr. Khubchandani shares, “Due to very high blood pressures that are a part of hypertensive crises and should be considered a medical emergency. It should be noted that headache is an inconsistent and inconclusive symptom, the best way to know about hypertension is to check for blood pressure.”

3. Chest Pain

Dr. Khubchandani says, “Chest pain is another pain symptom that may occur with or without headache during hypertensive crisis. However, in most people with hypertension, this is not a commonly observed symptom. Chest pain could only be with extremely high blood pressures especially with heart attacks or coronary artery disease.”

4. Other Signs to Watch Out For

“Other nonspecific symptoms that may occur during a hypertensive crises or infrequently with hypertension are fatigue, difficulty breathing, tiredness, vision problems, or confusion,” says Dr. Khubchandani.

5. Get Your Blood Pressure Checked Regularly

Dr. Khubchandani explains, “Unfortunately, many people may not have any symptoms of hypertension or might not even know that they have hypertension. The American Heart Association labels the disease as largely symptomless and a ‘silent killer’. Therefore, it is critical for adults to have their blood pressure checked regularly or find devices in public settings (e.g. pharmacy shops, grocery stores, etc) to quickly screen their blood pressure.” 

6. Hypertension Can Cause Serious Health Issues

According to Dr. Khubchandani. “If hypertension is severe, some symptoms may appear in individuals. However, one should not wait for or anticipate these symptoms as they are a part of a hypertensive crisis (a medical emergency) that may be followed by stroke, heart attack, acute kidney failure, or other severe outcomes.”

7. Lifestyle Choices Increase the Risk of Hypertension

Dr. Khubchandani shares, “The risk factors for hypertension need to be kept in mind by all that include, but are not limited to, older age, being overweight, heavy alcohol or tobacco use, eating a high salt diet or having sedentary lifestyles with high stress.”

8. Blood Pressure and Pregnancy

Dr. Khubchandani. emphasizes, “Blood pressure should also be carefully monitored during pregnancy as hypertension complicates nearly a tenth of all pregnancies or occurs during more than a tenth of all pregnancies.  Hypertension can affect pregnancy because of preexisting high blood pressure (chronic hypertension), hypertension during the latter part of pregnancy (gestational hypertension or preeclampsia), or chronic hypertension with superimposed gestational hypertension (the risk of hypertension increasing due to risk of pre-existing hypertension). While the symptoms of pregnancy related hypertension are non-specific similar to hypertension in the general public, regular checkups are the key to ensuring healthy babies and reduced maternal death and complications.”

9. Secondary Hypertension

Dr. Khubchandani reveals, “Sometimes, hypertension is due to an underlying disease condition (known as secondary hypertension). A wide variety of diseases can cause elevated blood pressure such as kidney disease, tumors of adrenal glands, thyroid or parathyroid gland diseases, obstructive sleep apnea, congenital heart disorders, and the use of cough and cold medications, antidepressants, certain birth control pills, some diet supplements, or illegal drugs (e.g. cocaine or meth). Some key features of secondary hypertension are that it can occur in younger individuals, there may not be a family history of high blood pressure, the hypertension is resistant to traditional treatments, can be accompanied with changes in body weight, there are signs and symptoms of other diseases, and laboratory tests may show abnormal levels of markers such as sodium, calcium, potassium, creatinine, thyroid hormones, or blood urea nitrogen (BUN).”

10. How to Help Prevent Hypertension

Dr. Khubchandani reminds us that, “Regular checkups and screening remain key in diagnosing and managing hypertension. Certain lifestyle changes can also reduce the risk of hypertension or help manage hypertension. These lifestyle changes include increasing exercise and physical activity, eating less salt and more fruits and vegetables, managing stress and body weight, maintaining sleep hygiene and daily routines,  and avoiding alcohol, tobacco, or drug use.”

This article is a repost which originally appeared on https://www.sciencealert.com
Yue Leng, The Conversation - March 26, 2022
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexels
Source: DOI: doi/10.1002/alz.12636

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Doctors often recommend “power naps” as a way to compensate for a poor night’s sleep and help keep alert until bedtime. But for older adults, extensive power naps could be an early sign of dementia.

Research on how napping affects cognition in adults has had mixed results. Some studies on younger adults suggest that napping is beneficial to cognition, while others on older adults suggest it may be linked to cognitive impairment. However, many studies are based on just a single self-reported nap assessment.

This methodology may not be accurate for people with cognitive impairment who may not be able to reliably report when or how long they napped.

As an epidemiologist who studies sleep and neurodegeneration in older adults, I wanted to find out if changes in napping habits foreshadow other signs of cognitive decline.

A study my colleagues and I recently published found that while napping does increase with age, excessive napping may foreshadow cognitive decline.

The link between daytime napping and dementia

Sleep disturbance and daytime napping are known symptoms of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia in older adults. They often become more extreme as the disease progresses: Patients are increasingly less likely to fall asleep and more likely to wake up during the night and feel sleepy during the day.

To examine this link between daytime napping and dementia, my colleagues and I studied a group of 1,401 older adults with an average age of 81 participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal study examining cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.

The participants wore a watchlike device that tracked their mobility for 14 years. Prolonged periods of inactivity were interpreted as naps.

At the start of the study, approximately 75 percent of participants did not have any cognitive impairment. Of the remaining participants, 4 percent had Alzheimer’s and 20 percent had mild cognitive impairment, a frequent precursor to dementia.

While daily napping increased among all participants over the years, there were differences in napping habits between those who developed Alzheimer’s by the end of the study and those who did not.

Participants who did not develop cognitive impairment had nap durations that averaged 11 extra minutes per year. This rate doubled after a mild cognitive impairment diagnosis, with naps increasing to 25 extra minutes per year, and tripled after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, with nap durations increasing to 68 extra minutes per year.

Ultimately, we found that older adults who napped at least once or for more than an hour a day had a 40 percent higher chance of developing Alzheimer’s than those who did not nap daily or napped less than an hour a day.

These findings were unchanged even after we controlled for factors like daily activities, illness, and medications.

Napping and the Alzheimer’s brain

Our study shows that longer naps are a normal part of aging, but only to a certain extent.

Research from my colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, offers a potential mechanism for why people with dementia have more frequent and longer naps.

By comparing the post-mortem brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease with the brains of people without cognitive impairment, they found that those with Alzheimer’s had fewer neurons that promote wakefulness in three brain regions.

These neuronal changes appeared to be linked to tau tangles, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s in which the protein that helps stabilize healthy neurons form clumps that hamper communication between neurons.

While our study does not show that increased daytime napping causes cognitive decline, it does point to extended naps as a potential signal for accelerated aging. Further research might be able to determine whether monitoring daytime napping could help detect cognitive decline.