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The American Heart Association published new scientific findings that aimed at revealing alternative treatment approaches that could help reduce high levels of hypertension. According to the research, alternative therapies like isometric hand grip exercise, strength or resistance training and aerobic training could be of great usefulness for people experiencing high blood levels of 120/80 mm Hg and above. These alternative therapies can also provide essential help to people who don’t show good response or are unable to tolerate use of standard medications.

Effective alternative treatment approaches for hypertension

High blood pressure is one of the major risk factors for stroke and heart attack. It was noted that about 26 percent of worldwide population suffered from hypertension and accounted for at least 13 percent of known premature deaths. Experts did an assessment on their alternative therapies for high blood pressure; behavioral therapies like meditation, non invasive treatments like acupuncture and exercise regimens. However, there was no review on herbal treatments and diet by the experts. Robert D. Brook explained that there are only a handful of well designed researches that lasted longer and aimed at identifying alternative therapies for treatment of high blood pressure. This was something of great concern considering that most patients are always curious to know about the value of these alternative treatments. Ann Arbor from University of Michigan said that they aimed at providing direction for patients who resist taking medications and would prefer other effective alternative approaches to deal with high blood pressure.

According to a panel of Belgium researchers, there is a high likelihood that the functioning of heart among healthy men can be raised artificially by introduction of estrogen levels. Estradiol is an estrogen that is majorly referred to as the female hormone. However, it is also true that the hormone is available in men but at a rather low level. Aromatase enzyme converts testosterone to Estradiol. This activity can also be increased significantly in the bodies of obese people by a reduction in testosterone and increased Estradiol.

A study to determine sex hormone changes

In his efforts to determine if obesity can alter the functioning of the heart function through changes in the sex hormones, a research team led by Drs Maarten De Smet from Ghent University in Belgium conducted the study on a group of 20 men in their good health. The men were aged between 20 and 40 years and the researchers used estrogen patch and aromatase inhibitor to have their hormone level altered artificially. This mimicked the high concentration of hormones present in obese persons- low testosterone and high Estradiol- vs high testosterone, low Estradiol. A cardiologist by the name Prof T De Backer assessed the function of the heart in the period of seven days after intervention of ultrasonographic. This images strain analysis that measures heart’s deformation between contracted and resting states.

According to the study, men who add sex hormone changes related to obesity resulted in altering heart function. However, the other contrasting group revealed no difference from what was expected. By altering the sex hormones artificially among the health men, the researchers aimed at showing that changing the profile of sex hormone, a scenario that happens in obese persons could results in changes to heart function. Clinical trials that are sufficiently powered can be used to show the vital role in which sex hormones play in changing the functioning of heart among obese men.

According to a recent research, drinking binge frequently in colleges has other disastrous effects later in life rather than the common hangover. Consumption of multiple drinks regularly within a short time period could lead to significant changes in normal circulation that can make a healthy young adult more vulnerable to suffering from cardiovascular disease in adulthood. This is as far as a research published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology is concerned.

Shocking data on binge drinking in colleges

Shane A. Philips from the University of Illinois, Chicago noted that one of the major public health problem deeply rooted in college campuses is drinking binge regularly. Drinking especially in colleges has not only just become quite persuasive but also led to a lot of serious destruction. Drinking binge is neurotic for the victims and data collected provides sufficient evidence that it can lead to serious consequences later in life such as cardiovascular heat diseases. Most of those engaging in many episodes of drinking binge are college students aged between 18 and 25 years of age. In addition, most those engaged in binge drinking in colleges reported to be drinking regularly.

There is a higher possibility for teens to succeed in quitting smoking habit if they participated in smoking fitness/ cessation program as well as engaging in regular exercises for about 30 minutes in a day. These findings were reported from a study undertaken by researchers at George Washington University and published in ‘Journal of Adolescent Health.’ A leading author, Kimberly Horn, said that this study provided additional evidence to the suggestion that exercise could offer essential help to teenagers in efforts of trying to stop smoking habit. Teenagers who increased the days in which they had exercises including taking short walks had higher chances of quitting smoking that teens that tried to resist smoking by not lighting up the cigarette. The study was done in West Virginia which involved 233 teens from nineteen high schools. West Virginia is known as one of the states with high rates of smoking among adolescents in the entire nation. In fact, it is estimated that about 13% of the total number of smokers in the state aged 18 years and below. All the volunteers reported to be daily smokers and were also engaged in other reasonably risky behaviors.

The recent finding that eating frequently in kids doesn’t necessarily result in overweight and obesity has surprised many people who have always associated overweight with excessive eating. Also, the study reported that kids who took more food in a day but well distributed in the course of the day recorded a lower weight increase unlike children that followed the traditional style of three squares. While referring to 11 studies done previously, researchers from Greece reported that in overall, most children especially boys who ate more than the common three times per day had a relatively low weight compared to those who dined the usual three or even fewer meals. In addition, the likely hood of the keeps being obese or overweight was 22 percent less.