Health24.com | How to save yourself from a stroke before it’s too late

Posted on 19/02/2018 by Boris Clair

A stroke could change your life (or end it) in an instant. But the damage that leads to a brain attack is often years in the making.

That’s why David Liebeskind, a professor of neurology at UCLA, uses MRIs and CT scans to detect narrowed arteries and other early warning signs. Even dental X-rays, which show arteries to the brain, can hold clues.

“Imaging shows changes over time,” he says. His prescription? Ask your dentist and doctor for copies of every imaging study you’ve ever had and stash them on a HIPAA-compliant site, like MyVault. That way, your doctor can compare your past results to now.

Read more: How top docs avoid cancer

Below are some more tips and tests to dodge the bullet:

1. Make Joe your bodyguard

“The antioxidants found in coffee have multiple health benefits, and research suggests that drinking three to four cups a day may significantly lower your stroke risk. I make a cup of Nescafé instant every morning. Then I drink two large cups of regular, brewed coffee during the day.”

2. Travel light, snack lighter

“Business trips are mentally taxing. I always pick up a bottle of water to stay hydrated and usually grab a snack like peanuts or cashews at the airport. The H2O, along with the essential fatty acids in the nuts, helps my brain stay energised. Nuts are rich in nutrients that aid blood flow.”

3. Carve for your cardio health

“I have a Skier’s Edge machine that I use for 30 minutes a day. Aside from making me a strong skier, it provides an intense yet low-impact form of exercise. People who do cardio regularly have higher levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a chemical that plays a big role in your cognitive function.”

4. Change your scenery

“When I’m stressed out, I think, ‘What can I control, and what is out of my control?’ One way to gain perspective is to just change your environment: take a walk outside. If I have to work during my free time, I do it quickly and then jump back to leisure. That way, I don’t worry about unfinished business.”

5. Shift your lift

“Demand more from your deadlifts by using a staggered stance for half your sets. By putting one leg behind you, you’ll be able to work your front leg and hip harder without sacrificing too much stability. This also helps you strengthen any imbalances between sides.” – BJ Gaddour, CEO of StreamFIT.com; author of Your Body Is Your Barbell (Rodale, 2014); creator of Men’s Health DeltaFIT Speed Shred

6. Watch your tongue

“When you finish brushing your teeth, stick out your tongue and look in the mirror. Changes in its colour and texture can presage a variety of problems. An unusually glossy surface, for instance, could signal an iron or vitamin B12 deficiency. Bring any concerns to your dentist.” – Dr Mark S Wolff, professor and chair, department of cariology and comprehensive care, New York University College of Dentistry

7. Back off the energy elixir

“In a Swiss study, men who drank an energy drink and did a mentally stressful task saw systolic and diastolic blood pressure spikes that were six and three points higher, respectively, than those of water drinkers. The jump could lead to heart problems.” – Dr Prediman Krishan Shah, professor of medicine and cardiology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, Los Angeles

^{This article was originally published on}^www.mh.co.za

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Health24.com | Can eating cheese really give you nightmares?

Posted on 19/02/2018 by Boris Clair

For centuries, the belief has abounded that eating cheese can give you nightmares. So if you chow down on brie before bed, will you find yourself dashing through some Saw-inspired haunt when you finally conk off into dreamland later?

Although this is a very common perception, there’s not much research to support that conclusion, says nutritionist Joy Dubost.

“There isn’t much investigation into specific foods and nightmares,” she says. But although the research may be scant, there are a few studies out there that attempt to delve into the nosh-then-nightmares question.

One of the most-cited cheese and nightmares research comes from the British Cheese Board, who funded a study back in 2005 to explore the relationship. Their findings? There was no evidence to support that dairy caused bad dreams.

But the researchers did suggest that cheese can influence your dreams in general. The research even went so far as to point to different types of cheese and their dream output. Want to dream about celebrities? Pick cheddar, apparently.

Now, caveats abound with this research, since it was never actually published and it was funded by the British Cheese Board, who may have pretty good reason to want to clear cheese’s good name.

But other research on the topic has been published. For example, a 2015 study sought to further explore the relationship between dairy and dreamland.

When researchers asked 382 people whether they believed what they ate influenced their dreams, they found that 18% believed their food could influence their shuteye, causing disturbing or bizarre dreams.

Out of the people who said food can cause disturbing dreams, 44% pointed to dairy as the potential culprit.

The people who held the belief that their food could cause nightmares also reported more frequent and unsettling dreams, poorer sleep and – perhaps worthy of more investigation itself – higher coffee intake.

So what might be going on there? It’s possible that the perception of bad dreams after eating dairy could simply be due to disrupted sleep, the researchers say. They call this the “food distress hypothesis”, and say it can occur with foods that trigger gastrointestinal distress.

The fact that cheese was fingered as the top culprit for disturbing dreams fits with this theory, especially since dairy can cause symptoms like gas, bloating and cramps in people with lactose sensitivity or intolerance. And that, of course, can mess with your sleep, which can have an effect on dreams.

Another possibility? It might not be what you’re eating, but how much you’re eating. “Eating larger meals prior to sleep, particularly those higher in fat and are spicy, can cause sleep problems,” Dubost says.

Spicy foods can induce heartburn, leading to fragmented sleep, she says. And foods higher in fat also take longer to digest, which can alter sleep, too, since your digestive system will be hard at work to shuttle those foods through your system

Also, you may remember dreams more often because your pre-sleep meal is waking you up in the middle of your REM cycle – in the middle of your dream state. Still, the current research out there just isn’t strong enough for nutritionists to issue a blanket statement to avoid certain foods because of nightmares, Dubost says.

“If you’re having recurring nightmares, I’d suggest keeping a food diary, noting the amounts of food eating, specific types, and timing,” advises Dubost.

“Perhaps you can establish a pattern that might be inducing the bad dreams.”

And if you notice a pattern? Then you can try to cut out the offenders for a while to see if that helps – but for the majority of nightmare sufferers, cutting out cheese probably won’t be the factor that’ll make you sleep peacefully.

^{This article was originally published on www.menshealth.com}

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