A recent article from Time suggests that unemployment can have detrimental effects on the heart and the body as a whole, and that employed people with health problems are far more likely to lose their jobs in the near future.

“Among people unemployed under these circumstances and who did not report any health problems prior to losing their job, 80% were diagnosed with a new health problem — ranging from hypertension and heart disease to diabetes — 18 months later. (Not surprisingly, those who started out with one or more of the conditions asked about on the survey were 54% more likely to lose their job within a year and half, for any reason, than those who did not report any health problems.) The most commonly reported conditions among this group were high blood pressure, arthritis and other cardiovascular-related problems.”

So what can be done about this? In a nutshell, health problems the unemployed develop are typically a result of stress. There are many ways to reduce the amount of stress in your life, some of the most effective being regular exercise and a healthy diet.

If those things aren’t helping and you have heart problems to address (stress-related or otherwise) click here to visit Sherman’s Heart & Vascular Center. We have the strongest team of cardiac specialists in the area at your service, eager to get you back on the path toward good health.

To read the Time article in its entirety, click here.

It’s fairly well-known that a glass of red wine every day has proven to be a great way to maintain a healthy heart. Not as well-known are other benefits of a glass of wine, including boost to the memory and immune system. Not only that, but wine in moderation might also help with weight loss.

From Health Magazine:

“The list of wine’s benefits is long—and getting more surprising all the time. Already well-known as heart healthy, wine in moderation might help you lose weight, reduce forgetfulness, boost your immunity, and help prevent bone loss.”

To read the complete list, click here for the full article from health.com!

If your heart needs more attention than a glass of wine, or if you simply want more information from the leading heart experts in the Fox Valley community, click here to visit Sherman’s Heart & Vascular Center.

Image courtesy of Flickr user @96dpi

This guy has the right idea

Most of Woman’s Day’s life-saving tips are well-known already, including advice to drink a daily glass of wine and eat oatmeal for breakfast to protect your heart and prevent diabetes, but some tips involve newer research that some of us may not know.

One of the most interesting tips relates to how much sleep we get. Studies have shown that getting too little sleep (particularly under 5 hours per night) has negative effects on your heart and also increases the likelihood of diabetes and high cholesterol.

From Woman’s Day:

“So how much [sleep] is enough? Research has found that five or fewer hours a night does the most damage, but the key is to figure out how much you need and get that as regularly as you can. On your next vacation, wake up without an alarm for three nights in a row. On the first two nights you may oversleep because you’re catching up, but by the third night you should naturally wake up after the right amount.”

For the complete list of 11 life-saving health habits, click here to read the entire Woman’s Day article.

Click here to visit Sherman’s Heart & Vascular Center, where you’ll find information on the center preferred 4-to-1 to perform cardiac surgery among area hospitals.

Image courtesy of Flickr user @fofurasfelinas

Dr. Maciej Malinski is on the medical staff at Sherman Hospital. He has been kind enough to answer some frequently asked questions related to maintaining a healthy heart. Look for additional articles in our popular Ask the Cardiologist series over the coming weeks.

Q: I was recently diagnosed as having severe atheroma in my aorta and descending coronary artery-what can be done about this? I’ve had 2 TIAs and feel like I’m a walking time bomb. Help! -Colleen

A: What you refer to is atheromatous plaque. Atheroma in the arterial vessel is an accumulation in the artery wall that is made up of various cells and cell debris containing lipids (cholesterol, and another fats), calcium and fibrous tissue. The process forming this pathological structure starts in young children, and all children older than 10 have them. It is an unhealthy condition, but it is present in all older humans.

As we age we develop more atheromatous plaques, and in some people the arteries (in the heart, brain, legs) become severely narrowed, and they become diseased. That is what we call cardiovascular disease (CVD). Depending on which organs are affected it can be called coronary artery disease (heart), TIA/stroke (neck or brain), or peripheral arterial disease (pelvis and legs).

That’s a lot of information to take in, so let’s back up a bit. TIA stands for transient ischemic attack. You can think of it as a mini-stroke in which all the symptoms are the same as a stroke, but they last for less than 24 hours. If the symptoms persist for longer than 24 hours, the TIA officially becomes a stroke.

Sometimes people also have large atheromatous plaques in the largest artery in the body, the aorta. When pieces of this plaque go to peripheral arteries they can ‘plug’ them causing small strokes/TIAs in the brain or kidney damage.

As you now know, we all have these plaques, so to a certain extent we are all loaded with “time bombs,” so to speak. But it turns out that not everybody develops the symptoms, and not at the same age. So far we can’t explain it, but most likely this depends on both our lifestyle and our genes.

The most effective approaches to reduce atheroma progression are:

• reduction in saturated fat ( meat, cheese, milk ) intake
• if indicated, treatment with cholesterol-lowering medications, especially ones known as statins
• aerobic exercise
• normalizing blood glucose levels
• weight loss
• if indicated, aspirin

As you see, help is available. The best option for you, Colleen, is to see your cardiovascular specialist if you’ve already had symptoms, which it sounds like you have. Thanks so much for your question!

-Maciej

Do you have a question for Dr. Malinski? To submit your question, either post it in the comments section below or email luke@shermanhealth.com with the subject line “Question for Dr. Malinski.” For more information on heart health, click here to visit Sherman’s Heart and Vascular Center.

This post is published by Sherman Health to provide general health information. It is not intended to provide personal medical advice, which should be obtained directly from your physician.