The ransomware attack that disrupted the NHS and businesses around the world has led to a boom in share prices of cybersecurity companies – including the firm used by the health service to protect it against hackers.
With governments and companies expected to increase spending on IT security after being caught out by the attack, cybersecurity firms have seen their stock market values climb sharply over the past two days.
Sophos, a cloud network security specialist which counts the NHS among its clients, has seen its shares jump 8%. Over the weekend, a claim on the company’s website that “the NHS is totally protected with Sophos” was changed to “Sophos understands the security needs of the NHS”. Last week, Sophos tweeted its “top five tips for securing NHS organisations”. But its shares have been performing well over recent months because of the increased need for cyber defences.
Meanwhile, NCC group added 5% to its share valuation and cyber consultancy group ECSC surged 42%. ISE, a fund invested in cybersecurity businesses, added nearly 4%.
The surge has been put down to the attacks refocusing businesses on the need for adequate cybersecurity. “Significant increases in public sector cyber defence spending [are] now looking inevitable,” said Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “[Sophos] already provides services to the healthcare industry and will be looking to increase selling to the sector in the aftermath of the attack.”
US firms have also benefited, with FireEye’s prices rising 7%, Symantec up more than 3% and Palo Alto Networks 2.7% better. Neil Campling, head of technology research at financial services firm Northern Trust, told Reuters: “These attacks help focus the minds of chief technology officers across corporations to make sure security protocols are up to date, and you often see bookings growth at cybersecurity companies as a result.”
It was also suggested that the success of the WannaCry hack could make other attacks more likely in the future amid doubts over governments’ ability to secure “cyberweapons” from theft.
“The attacks raise significant questions about whether or not countries that are developing and stockpiling cyberweapons can do more to protect those tools from being stolen and turned against their own population,” said Thomas Fitzgerald, associate fund manager at EdenTree Investment Management. “The WannaCry attack is likely to be a catalyst for more of these types of cyber-attacks from copycat criminal organisations.”
The effects of the attack continued to be felt on Tuesday, although one of the seven NHS trusts which had still been experiencing serious problems on Monday, James Paget university hospitals trust in Norfolk, said that all of its operations and appointments were going ahead as scheduled.
Elsewhere the disruption continued. East and North Hertfordshire trust advised people to only go to A&E if absolutely essential.
Southport and Ormskirk hospital said it was continuing to experience difficulties with its clinical information systems but insisted that patient safety was being maintained. It advised all patients scheduled for surgery on Tuesday not to attend unless contacted and said all outpatients and endoscopy appointments were cancelled.
Barts health NHS trust said it was no longer diverting ambulances from its hospitals but was still experiencing delays and disruption. York teaching hospital NHS trust said bone scans at Scarborough hospital were not going ahead on Tuesday and that breast screening clinics in some areas had been cancelled. A number of affected trusts asked patients not to contact them by email because of ongoing IT problems.
NHS Digital said none of its services had been affected by the attack.
Risk of myocardial infarction is greatest in first month of taking NSAIDs such as ibuprofen if dose is high, say researchers
Commonly prescribed painkillers including ibuprofen increase the likelihood of having a heart attack within the first month of taking them if consumed in high doses, a study suggests.
All five nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) examined could raise the risk as early as the first week of use, an international team of researchers found.
Obamacare will be the law of the land for the “foreseeable future”, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, admitted in the aftermath of the abject failure of Donald Trump or the Republican party to “repeal or replace” Obama’s flagship Affordable Care Act (ACA) after seven years of bleating about it. The colossal and humiliating collapse of the proposals was met with jubilation last Friday by millions of people, especially the poorest and disabled, who were in line to lose access to healthcare if the American Health Care Act had been successful.
Watching the events unfold I wondered: what if there had been a similar sudden downfall of the austerity programme in the UK in those early days when the dire warnings of the harm it would unleash were being shouted from the rooftops? How many people would not now be turning to food banks or battling to access social care if austerity had been stopped in its tracks?
The political rollercoaster in the US as the new health bill failed to garner the necessary votes to be passed in the house (partly because rightwing hardliners wanted an even harsher version) was stunning. The debacle came against a backdrop of months of anxiety and fear at what would unfold if it were passed and, the closer the vote deadline got, the more it hit home how much ordinary citizens would suffer. Across the country, individuals and groups rose to oppose it, highlighting the potentially devastating consequences for access to reproductive health services and the disproportionate impact on low-income women and children. Disabled campaigners worked tirelessly to draw attention to the particular injustices they would face if the law passed. Last Wednesday, more than 50 disability rights activists were arrested in Washington DC for protesting against it.
As longtime campaigner Bruce Darling from the disability rights organisation Adapt explained, many people risked being placed in institutions rather than supported in their own homes if proposed cuts of $ 880bn (£705bn) to Medicaid, the government-funded programme that assists the very poorest and disabled people, went ahead. “Disabled people will die,” Darling told me.
Leading up to the healthcare vote I talked to people who were terrified about the impact of the new act. One of these was Marta Conner, a charity consultant from Virginia whose seven-year-old daughter, Caroline, has Rett syndrome, a neurological condition that severely limits her control over her body and means she needs round-the-clock care, expensive medication and specialist equipment. Conner was like many of those speaking out. She told me she felt “it was important to have our voices heard” because children like Caroline and millions more disabled and seriously ill people could lose a lifeline.
Paul Ryan on failed healthcare bill: ‘This is a disappointing day’
According to independent analysis from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the AHCA would have seen 24 million people lose health cover in the next decade – and sent insurance premiums for older people rocketing. And, just to rub salt in the wounds, it would have meant a doling out of tax breaks to the rich.
Nevertheless, despite the healthcare reprieve, if you are poor or disabled in the US right now, the fight for rights to support and quality care is far from over. For a start, the healthcare debate isn’t going to disappear: health insurance remains prohibitively expensive for many and even with the advances of Obamacare, it is not a universal system.
But there are other reasons why complacency is not an option. The attack on the poorest is coming on multiple fronts. Trump’s “blueprint” budget, which was also published this month, is a source of widespread anxiety. It has been overshadowed somewhat by the healthcare issue, but with clear echoes of cuts in Britain, initiatives that help the most vulnerable could be decimated if Trump gets his way.
In a similarly absurd vein to Tory claims of “compassionate Conservatism” while they slash budgets, preside over soaring levels of child poverty and pummel the NHS, Republicans have had the gall to argue that culling anti-poverty programmes such as after-school nutrition initiatives and Meals on Wheels are acts of compassion towards taxpayers. The question now is, can these radical proposals come crashing down as the healthcare bill did? For the sake of the most vulnerable, let’s hope so.
Drinking in moderation helps protect heart, with study finding it lowers risk of many conditions compared with not drinking
Moderate drinking can lower the risk of several heart conditions, according to a study that will further fuel the debate about the health implications of alcohol consumption.
The study of 1.93 million people in the UK aged over 30 found that drinking in moderation – defined as consuming no more than 14 units of alcohol a week – had a protective effect on the heart compared with not drinking.
Related: Life-saving alcohol services face devastating cuts
Experiencing chest pain can be terrifying, especially when you immediately assume it is a heart attack. And you would definitely call 911 to get immediate medical attention.
IMPORTANT NOTE: However, if you experience unexplained, sudden, or severe pain, you should not wait to get urgent medical care. Call for an ambulance straight away.
All this while, you have heard about heart attack symptoms which have always been talked about everywhere, including on the net. For some reason or another you, including many other people are lacking knowledge about other health conditions that can manifest as chest pains.
The followings are explanations of some types of chest pains which may have nothing to do at all with your vital organ, the heart.
Costochondritis
Costochondritis is an inflammation of the cartilage in the rib cage which affects specific ribs, notably the fourth, fifth and sixth ribs.
The sufferers usually feel pain on the front chest wall that may radiate to his abdomen or back. Costochondritis pain, the affected areas are painful to touch, mostly affects the left side and is sharp or pressure-like.
Costochondritis pain often presents itself without apparent reasons, becomes worse after strenuous exercise or resulted from an infection of the upper respiratory tract or minor trauma. It is a relatively harmless musculoskeletal chest pain and usually resolves without treatment.
A simple way to determine if your chest pain is caused by costochondritis is the pain gets worse when you take a deep breath, cough, change position, or raise an arm over your head.
Home remedy: Goldenseal, grapefruit seed extract, olive leaf, neem, and Triphala guggul.
Heartburn
One day, while driving a car to pick up your son at school you suddenly experience excruciating chest pain. And a few seconds later you feel the pain has gained control over your heart, You stop breathing!
You wonder in panic and asking yourself whether you are having a heart attack.
You pull over and open the car door. As soon as you feel the spring breeze gently brushing against your face you suddenly feel the pain faded away and you manage to breathe again.
Afterward, your doctor tells you that you have severe heartburn.
Heartburn is a very common symptom created by acid reflux when stomach contents (including stomach acid) splashes from the stomach up into the esophagus. This usually creates a burning pain right behind the breastbone and usually after a meal.
Symptoms: A burning sensation in the esophagus (food pipe) which usually happens just above the stomach. The stomach acid can also reach higher up, possibly even as far as the back of the mouth which may be perceived as chest pains by sufferers.
Home Remedy: If your doctor finds your heart is in a good working condition, next time you experience heartburn you may try eating a handful of almonds every day.
Panic attack
Due to lacking knowledge in panic attack symptoms, people who are having it often mistaken for having a heart attack. Tightening of the chest, heart palpitations, sweaty palms, lightheadedness are all the symptoms of both conditions.
If you suffer from panic attack it would be best to talk to your doctor so that he can evaluate your heart health. If he finds there is nothing wrong with your heart, consequently, when the next time a panic attack occurs, you need not worry about your heart. You are already prepared to address the attack.
Symptoms: Some of the common symptoms of a panic attack include pounding, racing heart; sweating; shaking; shortness of breath; choking sensation; chest discomfort; nausea; dizzy; and feeling faint.
Note: During such an attack and you find it’s difficult to determine the symptoms origin, go to the emergency room.
Home Remedy: Eat foods high in omega-3 such as mackerel, salmon, sardine, walnuts, and flaxseed. Take SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine). Apply relaxation technique of your choice in your daily life.
Shingles
Shingles can cause a very painful sensation if it affects the chest, which mimics a heart attack.
It is a reactivated form of the chickenpox viral infection, which has remained dormant in the body.
It can cause severe pain – a constant burning or sharp, stabbing pains that come and go occurs on one side of the body. The pain can radiate around one side of the rib cage which usually accompanied by a significant rash, however, in some cases, it’s so small that sufferers may not notice it.
You should suspect shingles if the pain follows the line of a rib and the affected area shows any types of skin changes.
Some of the most common symptoms:
Acute pain, tingling, numbness, and itching on a specific part of the skin, on a single side of the body.
1-5 days after the pain begins, a rash appears.
Red blotches emerge that develop into itchy fluid-filled blisters.
Home Remedies: Neem (capsule) – 2 capsules thrice per day. Use a cotton ball dipped in apple cider vinegar plus cayenne powder and rub on the affected area.
Pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas that is painful, develops quickly, and can, in some cases, be fatal.
Symptoms: Its typical symptoms include a sudden onset of pain in the center of the upper abdomen, below the breastbone (sternum). In rare cases, the pain is first felt in the lower abdomen.
The pain, especially the former, is said to be possible to radiate in the chest which causes the sufferers to think that the perceived pain is heart-related. Some sufferers may also experience coughing, vigorous movements, and deep breathing, all of which usually terrify sufferers even worse.
Home Remedy: Aloe Vera dan Papaya Juices, ½ cup of each, thrice per day.
Note: The mortality rate of pancreatitis is still around 10 percent, despite medical advancement. Talk to your doctor to determine the cause of the pain so that your doctor can make the proper diagnosis.
Pneumonia
Fluid issues in pneumonia can cause chest pain and pressure which quite often causes sufferers to think of a heart attack. Pneumonia also can cause fast heartbeat and chest pain when breathing in.
Both pneumonia and heart disease are serious medical conditions. Seeking medical attention to determine what has caused your unexplained chest pain would always be the best option.
Home Remedy: Colloidal silver, garlic, wild mountain oregano oil, apple cider vinegar, and vitamin C.
Note: some herbs/supplements many aggravate the symptoms, stop using them and try others.
Gastritis or Stomach Ulcer
Pain in the stomach can radiate to the chest. The pain of gastritis or stomach ulcers may manifest as chest pain based on the premise that says anything from the mouth down to the stomach can be the cause of chest pains.
Get yourself evaluated by your doctor in order to determine whether or not your chest pains are from ulcers.
Home remedies: cabbage, boiled unripe banana with its skin, a liquid extract of simmered chunk potato includes its skin, manuka honey, and apple cider vinegar plus sodium bicarbonate.
A sudden drop in temperature in Melbourne on Monday evening from peaks of 35C brought with it severe thunderstorms and triggered a mass asthma event that left hospitals struggling to treat 8,500 patients.
There is a small group of researchers around the world working to understand the phenomena known as “thunderstorm asthma”, which although rare, can have devastating consequences. Climate change, they say, may be where part of the blame lies.
On Sunday 20 people remained in hospitals across Victoria, struggling with respiratory and related conditions, while four remained in critical condition. At least five people are known to have died after their asthma was triggered during the thunderstorm, the health department confirmed over the weekend.
A major, state-wide investigation into the response of emergency services to the event has been ordered.
Paramedics did the best they could to respond to an unprecedented 1,900 emergency calls in five hours on the evening of 21 November but were unable to reach everyone in a reasonable time. Ambulances made constant trips to emergency departments already overwhelmed as hundreds of patients streamed in under their own steam.
The acting general secretary of Ambulance Employees Australia, Danny Hill, said it would have been a traumatising night for paramedics.
“For anyone who worked that night, from staff on the ground to senior management, they regarded it as the busiest night they ever worked in their whole careers,” he said.
“Very few crews got fed. They worked 14 hours straight. Everyone worked together, worked hard, and stepped up. There was about 30 people who were so severely ill that they had to be taken straight into intensive care. So you’re talking an event equivalent to a bushfire where people are severely burned, or a terrorist attack where people are critically injured.
“That’s the level of chaos our crews dealt with on Monday night.”
Asthma patients can be some of the most difficult for paramedics to respond to. They deteriorate very quickly, and severe cases require more than the immediate treatment a paramedic can provide, including continuous days of intravenous drugs and ventilation. Many, Hill said, went into cardiac arrest.
Kathy Bowlen from St Vincent’s hospital said the emergency department there had considered opening a temporary emergency department in the foyer of the hospital to cope with the demand.
While not the first case of thunderstorm asthma in Melbourne, it was the most deadly and the severe. What researchers don’t know is why sometimes a combination of high pollen counts and thunderstorms lead to a mass asthma event, while other times, those two factors combined have little impact on people’s respiratory health at all. What other factors might be playing a part?
What is known is that grass pollen is usually too big to get into the lungs to cause asthma, and instead causes a reaction in the superficial respiratory systems of those with pollen sensitivity: a hay fever reaction such as a runny nose, sore throat and itchy eyes are more common.
But when a thunderstorm occurs, pollen which had settled during the day can be swept back into the air and the moisture in those winds combined with wind power causes the pollen to rupture into smaller pieces, between 0.5mm and 2.5mm in diameter. Those small fragments are then able to penetrate the superficial respiratory system and get into the lungs, triggering asthma and other serious respiratory responses.
Gennaro D’Amato is a professor of respiratory medicine in Italy and chairman of the World Allergy Organisation’s climate change, biodiversity and allergy committee. He is the world expert on thunderstorm asthma and one of the most published authors on the phenomena in the scientific literature.
He has been monitoring thunderstorm asthma events throughout the world and says they have also been seen in London in the UK, Naples in Italy, and Wagga Wagga in New South Wales.
A sudden and extreme asthma outbreak that occurred in London in June 1994 coincided with a heavy thunderstorm, D’Amato said. In the space of just 30 hours, 640 patients with asthma or other airway diseases attended London hospitals, nearly 10 times the usual number. For 283 patients, the storm triggered their first known attack of asthma. And for every patient that did seek help, many more suffered at home.
“Fortunately, even though it can induce severe asthma, outbreaks associated with thunderstorms are neither frequent nor responsible for a high number of disease exacerbations,” D’Amato told Guardian Australia.
“However, the mechanisms involved in the release of allergens from pollens during thunderstorm should be known so that patients can receive information about the risk of an asthma attack, including in those usually only affected by seasonal allergic rhinitis [hay fever].”
The frequency of thunderstorms had recently increased in some geographical areas, he said, particularly in temperate and subtropical climates. Research has shown that thunderstorms and their destructive winds are expected to become moresevere as the climate changes.
D’Amato has found a number of characteristics common to all of the asthma epidemics. Theiroccurrence is closely linked to thunderstorms, are limited to late spring and summer when there are high levels of airborne pollen grains, have an onset close to the arrival of the thunderstorm and to major rises in the concentration of pollen grains, and people with hay fever and asthma and who stay indoors with windows closed during the thunderstorm are unaffected.
Those not undergoing asthma treatment are at major risk, his research has also found. In the Melbourne epidemic on Monday, between 20 and 40% of those affected had never had asthma before, and so would not have been undergoing treatment.
Associate Prof Paul Beggs, an environmental health scientist with Macquarie University in Sydney, is best known for his research on climate change and its impact on allergens such as pollen.
Some research had found that the potency of pollen grains had been increasing, he said. Anthropological climate change through the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere could be responsible for this growing pollen potency, he said.
Between 20 and 40% of those affected had never had asthma before, and so would not have been undergoing treatment
“Plants use carbon dioxide in photosynthesis,” he said. “It’s like if you change your diet, there are changes in your body. So plants use carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, and if you change the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere then their growth conditions are changing.”
“A few smart scientists thought to put these highly allergenic plants into a glass house where we can control all the conditions, from the temperature to light, water and levels of carbon dioxide.”
What they found, he said, was increasing the amount of carbon dioxide led to a whole range of changes in the plants, including more pollen and more potent pollen.
“All of these thing are happening in the background: climate change, increasing pollen potency, and they all mean a thunderstorm asthma episode is more likely than it was 20 years ago.”
Beggs is a researcher with the AusPollen Partnership, a multi-centre cross-disciplinary team of investigators including eminent allergy physicians and scientists looking at pollen aerobiology and climatology. Their work is essential given Australia is the fourth worst country for allergic hay fever and asthma.
The principal investigator on that team, Associate Prof Janet Davies, said another factor researchers believed may trigger asthma is a sudden temperature change, which occurred in Melbourne on Monday as the temperature fell rapidly from 35C into the low 20s. But much more research and data was needed to understand the phenomena, she said.
“The AusPollen Partnership is encouraging people to tell us about their symptoms and triggers, and free app downloads allow people to do this daily if they want to,” she said.
“That will help us understand regional patterns and, by integrating that data with geo-spacial data, will help us understand who is at greater risk and the threshold for triggering a higher risk.”
The difficulty for researchers is that pollen monitoring, though extensive in Melbourne, did not go back far enough to help them develop a clear picture of all the factors triggering thunderstorm asthma. This would allow them to issue alerts when they could see a perfect storm of risk factors about to collide.
But Associate Professor Ed Newbigin from the school of biosciences at the University of Melbourne said thunderstorm asthma was going to be “a hard thing to get a handle on” because of the lack of data.
“The big question is why sometimes high pollen counts combined with thunderstorms sometimes trigger these asthma events and sometimes don’t,” he said.
“We need to understand what other factors work together if we want to reduce thunderstorm asthma. Because in Melbourne, high pollen counts and thunderstorms often coincide. But most of the time when they do, nothing happens.”
NHS bodies are spending as little as £2.01 per child on mental health care for young people, despite the big spike in anxiety, depression and other serious problems among under-18s.
Psychiatrists claim the small sums being spent by GP-led clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England constitute a national scandal at a time when youth self-harm and suicide are rising.
“It is a national scandal that opportunities to prevent mental illness from occurring in childhood are being missed because of unacceptably low investment,” said Prof Sir Simon Wessely, the president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
“Our analysis shows that in many parts of the country, the proportion of money that NHS clinical commissioning groups are planning to spend on the mental health of our children and young people is negligible,” he added.
Luton CCG is spending the least amount of money for every under-18 in its area this year – just £2.01 – according to research into CCGs’ spending plans undertaken by the royal college.
Other CCGs spending notably small sums on children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) include the London boroughs of Enfield (£2.33), Tower Hamlets (£4.45) and Ealing (£6.39) and North Somerset (£5.89).
In contrast, Birmingham South and Central CCG has allocated the most for such services of any of England’s 209 CCGs – £135.85 – while the figure is £131.37 in Corby CCG and £126.76 in South Tyneside.
Ten CCGs are spending less than £10 a head this year treating the growing number of psychological and psychiatric illnesses which are occurring in under-18s. Twenty-five will spend £25 or less per head. Experts say that exam stress, body image issues, the negative effects of social media and pressure to succeed are among the key factors behind the increase in mental illness.
“The tiny sums being spent in some areas of the country are disgracefully low, particularly in light of sharply rising need,” said Luciana Berger, the MP and former shadow mental health minister who is now the president of the Labour campaign for mental health.
“This is yet further evidence of the gap between Jeremy Hunt’s continued promises for increased funding and the reality on the ground for our young people’s mental health services.”
The Guardian disclosed last month that NHS mental health services were treating 234,000 children and young people in England every month, and that the real figure was much higher because 40% of mental health trusts had not yet said how many patients under 18 they had.
Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s national director for mental health, said it was putting more money than ever before into CAMHS services.
“Improving mental health for children and young people is an absolute priority for the NHS, and councils, third sector organisations, schools and social care all have a role to play in this. The additional £1.4bn invested last year is helping us to make progress on our ambition to treat 70,000 more children and young people each year by 2021,” said Murdoch.
CCGs increased their spending on mental health overall by 8.4% during 2015-16, she added, but acknowledged that there was “variation around the country” in the exact sums invested.
But research earlier this week by the Education Policy Institute said much of the extra £250m a year which the coalition government pledged to put into CAMHS care during each of the five years of this parliament was not reaching the frontline. Specialist children’s psychiatrists in many areas agree.
Berger said that underfunding CAMHS care was “a false economy” because 75% of adults who developed mental health problems first exhibited symptoms in childhood, and problems left unaddressed cost the NHS more.
The NSPCC said the wide variation in the amounts put into CAMHS care reflected a “postcode lottery”.
A spokesman for the charity said: “It is a sad state of affairs if vulnerable children and young people are subjected to a postcode lottery when it comes to getting mental health support.
“It’s really concerning that some areas of the country will only spend a fraction on mental health services for children and young people compared to what others will spend elsewhere. It should go without saying that children and young people should be able to get proper support for mental health conditions regardless of where they live.”
In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14.
I was sick, but that was to be expected. The New Year’s Eve party had been a good one: 2007 had been a tough year; I had got through four separate operations, each one longer and more involved than the one before. I had been changed, worn a bit thin, and was suffering small bouts of depression. But I was still standing. A new year was to be celebrated.
So when I woke up sick, I put it down to the excesses of the night before. There had been a lot of laughter, music, and cheap wine. It had been a fun party – I never claimed it was a classy one.
I felt sick, but it wasn’t a normal sort of nausea. It was a sickness which left me panting and breathless. As the pain in my breastbone increased, and my arm felt as though it had been punched until it was dead, I began to realise something was wrong. Very wrong. I told my husband I thought I was having a heart attack. Understandably, he laughed and told me I had a hangover.
I just needed to sleep it off and I would be fine.
So that’s what I did. I rolled over and breathed slowly, forcing myself calm until sleep took me away from the pain. I never truly believed that, at not even 30 years old, I could actually be having a heart attack. So I slept, and when I woke up in the early evening, I felt a bit better. Well enough to tell myself I had been overreacting; I just needed to calm down at parties – a thought that tied in well with my resolution to live more healthily.
The next days turned into weeks, and weeks became months. I went from being healthy, to being very, very ill. Yet fear stopped me going to the doctor. Not fear of looking stupid, but fear that my suspicions were correct. That I had something seriously wrong with me, and this time it couldn’t be cut away.
I didn’t go to the doctor until July. It took me that long to admit to myself, and my family, that I didn’t have late-onset asthma, or severe heartburn. By this point, I couldn’t leave my house at all. Some days I couldn’t leave my bed. Most days my mother, disabled and in pain, had to travel a mile to get my infant daughter from a school less than 300 metres from my front door. I was sick constantly. My heart felt like a leaden weight tucked behind my ribcage, and I could feel its torturous heavy beats in my skull. By the time I broke down in the doctor’s office it felt as though I was staying alive through sheer force of will.
Fear stopped me going to the doctor. Not fear of looking stupid, but fear that my suspicions were correct
I was right. It was one of the rare times where being right was no victory. My doctor listened to me as I explained my “hangover” and how I had been feeling worse with each passing day. As I spoke, he called the nurse, and before I had mentioned having a sick bucket as a constant companion, he had me walking – slowly – down the stairs to be hooked up to an ECG machine. I was still saying I was sure I was overreacting as he phoned the hospital, booking me in urgently. I think I was still telling doctors I was sure it was nothing as nitroglycerin was sprayed under my tongue for the pain and I was wheeled into theatre for an emergency angiogram. Dye was injected into my heart and I watched the images unfurl on the screens next to me.
As a surgeon spoke, telling me words too big for me to grasp, I nodded as I cried, signing consent forms and blanking out the risks of angioplasty even as they were being explained to me. I cursed myself for being stupid – for leaving it all so long. It was a terrifying time, as I became used to a changed reality. A slower life.
‘I was still saying I was sure I was overreacting as they hooked me up to an ECG machine.’ Photograph: Universal Images Group Limited/Alamy
The following year, as Big Ben chimed in 2009, I raised my glass with a thanks more heartfelt than before, amazed I was still standing. Changed, absolutely, but still laughing, while the music still played and my heart still beat. That New Year’s Day, I was able to jump out of bed and walk along the beach, thankful to be alive.
The heart attack taught me, profoundly, not to take my health for granted, and not to sweat the small stuff. My weight bounces up and down, and I suffer from water retention; I don’t like the way I look now, bloated and larger than before, but it’s something I can take time to fix. I tell myself it won’t be for ever. A lot of the little things I do – writing, sewing and knitting – help me to cope, and to feel useful since my health problems forced me to stop working. No one would employ me now, not when a “bad day” means I can barely roll over in my bed without needing nitroglycerin.
I take my health seriously now. I walk for miles with my dog, and I’m tuned in to what “normal” means for me. I pick up the small signs that I’m not well sooner than I would have done before. When I suffered a serious bout of pneumonia I called an ambulance the moment I found it difficult to breathe. That lesson has been learnt. I eat healthily – low fat, low salt, low sugar, lots of vegetables. I cook simply, and I live each day as it comes; when I raise a glass now, I do so with feeling. And when I wake up each morning, I take just a small moment to smile to myself, tell myself that life is good, that I made it through another night.
Anxiety can attack anybody at any age. It is a normal condition when you have to face the difficult frightening situations such as a tough exam, a job interview, or blind date. However, it becomes worse problem when you are prone to frequent anxiety attacks without good reasons. Some worries and fears may interfere and cause difficulties in your daily life. Fortunately, there are some instant home remedies for anxiety attack which can help you to boost your good mood.
Home Remedies For Anxiety Attack – Effective And Natural Solutions
Anxiety is body’s natural reaction to danger. It happens when you are under pressure, feel threatened or face challenging situations. Normally, anxiety is not a bad thing. It will improve your concentration. However, when the anxiety is overwhelming and out of control, it will become an anxiety disorder. This problem will cause difficulties and troubles in your daily activities and your relationship. When you face the physical and emotional symptoms such as shortness of breath, pounding heart, sweating, dizziness, upset stomach, diarrhea, frequent urination, tremors, muscle tension, fatigue, headaches, insomnia, trouble concentration, irritability, restlessness, and blank-minded sensation without any warnings or good reasons, it means that you have anxiety attacks and it is time for you to seek for the effective solutions to get rid of anxiety and improve your mood before it becomes worse. Some natural treatments are proven to work effectively and quickly. In this article, I would like to introduce to you some instant home remedies for anxiety attack.
Chamomile Tea
When you feel anxiety, one of good home remedies for anxiety attack is chamomile tea. It is recommended drinking three cups of chamomile tea daily in order to keep anxiety attack at bay. The possible reason may be that two chemicals including luteolin and apigenin which are present in chamomile tea will help to promote relaxation. According to a study carried out by the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, there was a significant anxiety decrease in patients who took chamomile supplements for eight weeks, compared to those who take a placebo.
Consume Omega-3 Fatty Acids
If you are prone to a frequent anxiety, the best solution is consuming omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids will lower the level of cortisol and adrenaline in your body. Cortisol and adrenaline are stress chemicals. Consuming omega-3 fatty acids will improve your mood. The great sources of omega-3 fatty acids include tuna, canned fatty acid, walnuts, salmon, and flax seeds. Moreover, a study found out that people who take fish oil supplements have less possibility to have an anxiety attack.
Breathe In Lavender
Asking for natural home remedies for anxiety attack, you should not ignore lavender. It is recommended breathing in lavender immediately as soon as you feel anxious in order to find the significant relief. One study suggested a lavender oil massage as the effective solution that helps to lower the risk of developing anxiety attacks or anxiety disorders. Moreover, there is evidence shows that lavender oil massage or lavender breathing treatment will reduce systolic pressure which can result in stress, depression and anxiety. When you feel anxious or face overwhelming difficult situations, you just need to pour a few drops of lavender in a cup of boiling water and then inhale deeply to keep your mood calm down. In order to keep anxiety attack at bay, you can put two or three drops of lavender in your pillow or your bath. Moreover, lavender oil can be applied directly on your skin. The scent of lavender oil is proven to treat and reduce the symptoms of anxiety effectively.
Increase L-lysine Intake
Diet plays the important role in not only keeping your body healthy but also balancing your mood. The advice for those who are prone to anxiety attacks is including L-lysine rich food in their diet. L-lysine, an amino acid, involves in the process of blocking neurotransmitters, the brain’s chemical messengers. Some studies have found out that people who take L-lysine supplements will reduce the symptoms of anxiety by lowering the level of stress hormones. However, if you choose to take L-lysine supplements, you should consult doctor carefully in order to make sure that you do not consume too much. However, instead of taking L-lysine supplements, you can increase L-lysine intake by eating fish, meat, and beans regularly.
Exercise
Exercise should be included in a list of home remedies for anxiety attack. This is because exercise can not only make your body healthy but also improve your good mood. Some researchers have found out that exercise will increase the body heat which may make the positive change in neural circuits. As a result, exercise balances your mood and controls your cognitive function. Therefore, it is recommended building a regular proper exercise routine in order to increase your relaxation, boost your mood and alleviate the anxiety.
Get Exposed To Natural Sunlight
Exposure to natural sunlight will boost your vitamin D levels and alleviate the symptoms of anxiety and depression. You should have a short break outdoor and take part in some outdoor activities for at least 15 to 20 minutes. One Japanese study found out that a short walk through a forest for 20 minutes will lower stress hormone levels. However, if you live in an urban area, it is the great idea to look for tree-lined streets or parks to take a short walk. Keep in mind that, you should wear sunscreen before going out in order to prevent sunburn as well as other skin damages.
A Hot Bath With Epsom Salts
A hot bath with Epsom salts is an effective solution for anxiety and depression. A soothing hot bath can increase your body heat; as a result, it will balance your mood and help to get rid of the anxiety. Moreover, if you add sufficient Epsom salts into your bath, it will bring the great benefits. Epsom salts contain magnesium sulfate which is effective in alleviating anxiety and reducing blood pressure. If you want, you can add a little vanilla essential or lavender oil. The scent of these oils has calming benefits.
Cut Down Caffeine
Many people drink caffeine-contained beverage because they think that these drink can boost their energy and improve their concentration. However, caffeine will make people anxious and jittery, according to some studies. Therefore, you should reduce the amount of caffeine intake. The best solution is replacing it with a drink which contains less caffeine, like green tea. Other sources of caffeine include chocolate, soda, and tea as well as some over-the-counter medications like Midol or Excedrin
I just mentioned 8 instant home remedies for anxiety attack. Keep in mind that if you want to keep anxiety attack at bay, you should have a healthy diet, proper exercise routine, and good habits.
This guestpost is by Huyen My
Huyen My – Writer and Blogger, who has over 5 years of experience in Beauty & Skin Care industry. She works for VKool.com and AllRemedies.com – reliable resources assisting people to resolve their health and life issues, as a content coordinator for categories including Health & Beauty. I also focus on fitness, women’s issues, relationship, and lifestyle.
Attempting to “blow off steam” through vigorous exercise could triple the risk of a heart attack within the hour, experts say.
Being very upset or angry more than doubles the risk of a heart attack within an hour, while heavy physical exertion does the same, a worldwide study suggested. But combining the two – such as using extreme exercise as a way of calming down – increases the risk even further.
Experts said the study – the biggest of its kind – provides evidence of a “crucial link” between mind and body.
The research, published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation, suggested a doubling of the risk association between anger or emotional upset, or physical exertion, and the onset of first heart attack symptoms within one hour.
The association was much stronger – just over triple the risk – for patients who said they had been angry or emotionally upset while also engaging in heavy physical exertion.
The study’s lead author, Dr Andrew Smyth, from the population health research institute at McMaster University in Canada, said extreme emotional and physical triggers are thought to have similar effects on the body.
He added: “Both can raise blood pressure and heart rate, changing the flow of blood through blood vessels and reducing blood supply to the heart. This is particularly important in blood vessels already narrowed by plaque, which could block the flow of blood leading to a heart attack.
“Regular physical activity has many health benefits, including the prevention of heart disease, so we want that to continue. However, we would recommend that a person who is angry or upset who wants to exercise to blow off steam not go beyond their normal routine to extremes of activity.”
Researchers analysed information from 12,461 patients from 52 countries with an average age of 58. They had completed a questionnaire about the kind of “triggers” they experienced in the hour before they had a heart attack.
The results showed that 13% (1,650 people) had engaged in physical activity while 14% (1,752 people) were angry or emotionally upset.
The experts took into account the effect of other risk factors such as age, smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and other health problems.
Dr Barry Jacobs, the director of behavioural sciences at the Crozer-Keystone family medicine residency programme in Springfield, Pennsylvania, said: “This large, nearly worldwide study provides more evidence of the crucial link between mind and body.
“Excess anger, under the wrong conditions, can cause a life-threatening heart attack. All of us should practice mental wellness and avoid losing our temper to extremes. People who are at risk for a heart attack would do best to avoid extreme emotional situations.”
Maureen Talbot, a senior cardiac nurse with the British Heart Foundation, said: “This research suggests that emotional upset and excessive physical exertion can be triggers for a heart attack. Whilst this is interesting these are not the underlying causes.
“Heart attacks are mainly caused by atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty plaque in the arteries. When plaque breaks off, a blood clot forms leading to a heart attack.
“That’s why it’s important people know their heart attack risk and take steps to reduce their risk, by quitting smoking, keeping physically active and maintaining a healthy weight.”
Women are 50% more likely than men to be given a wrong diagnosis after a heart attack, according to a study.
Three in 10 patients’ initial diagnosis differed from their final diagnosis. Researcher Dr Chris Gale said an initial misdiagnosis could have “potentially important clinical repercussions, including an increased risk of death”.
The study by Leeds University researchers looked at records of nearly 600,000 heart attack patients admitted to 243 NHS hospitals in England and Wales between April 2004 and March 2013. It found that 198,534 patients were initially misdiagnosed.
Heart attacks can be broken down into two main types: Stemi and Nstemi. A Stemi attack occurs when there is a total blockage of the main artery that pumps oxygenated blood around the body. The more common Nstemi type of heart attack involves a partial blockage of one or more arteries. Both result in serious damage to the heart muscle.
Women who had a final diagnosis of Stemi had a 59% greater chance of a initial misdiagnosis compared with men, according to the study, which appears in the European Heart Journal Acute Cardiovascular Care. Women who had a final diagnosis of Nstemi had a 41% greater chance of a misdiagnosis when compared with men.
Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the study, said the differences in diagnosis were “alarmingly high” but better tests were being developed for female heart attack diagnoses.
He noted that when different limits were applied to the troponin test, a routine test for a heart attack, more women received a correct diagnosis of heart attack. “However, this new study highlights the current scale of the issue and confirms more research is urgently needed into tests that will enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis of a heart attack, particularly in women,” he said.
Up to 28,000 women a year in the UK die from heart attacks, according to BHF estimates. There are around 275,000 female heart attack survivors in the UK, many of whom will be living with heart failure as a result of this illness.
The longer a heart attack is left undiagnosed and untreated, the more the heart muscle can be damaged irreversibly.
‘I think fathers are just as critical to a child’s daily life as mothers, even though the timing is diverse,’ says Penelope Leach. Photograph: Alamy
Childcare guru Penelope Leach has defended herself against fees that she sides against fathers in her new book, which suggests overnight stays with an absent mother or father are damaging for really tiny children.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, she says her book, about helping children caught in the breakdown of their parents’ connection, is “pro-fathers, not anti-them. The major purpose I wrote it was to assist dad and mom to perform collectively after marriage break-up, and a massive element of that is so fathers get the part they deserve and their youngsters require.”
Before publication, Loved ones Breakdown has been fiercely criticised by both fathers and psychologists for its assertion that below the age of 4, children must continue to be with their main caregiver – typically the mother – and not remain overnight with the absent parent. She asserts that it can undermine children’s security, make them much more irritable and perhaps interfere with their social advancement.
But she is hurt, she says, by stories of a furious reaction from fathers. “In the huge majority of circumstances, it’s the mom who is the major attachment figure: younger babies require a main caregiver and currently being separated from that figure can result in them difficulties. If a father was the main caregiver, I would say the child should not be staying overnight with the mom.
“But I feel fathers are just as essential to a child’s daily life as mothers, however the timing is distinct. They have a tendency to come into their own in the second 12 months, rather than at birth, and kids who have a shut relationship with their fathers do far better by way of existence in each and every way.”
Nevertheless, she is accused, by psychologists of possessing inadequate proof for her assertion that sleepovers can be detrimental. In the book – subtitled “assisting children hang on to both their parents” – she cites a review from Australia which, its authors say, has been misinterpreted. Not too long ago far more than 100 psychologists, mainly from the United States, signed a consensus statement which rejected those findings. “Policymakers and determination makers should recognise that depriving young kids of overnights with their fathers could compromise the high quality of building father-child relationships,” they explained.
Professor Charlie Lewis from Lancaster University was 1 of the Uk signatories. “The evidence however does not assistance her [Leach],” he explained. “Metanalyses [critiques combining the final results of big numbers of studies] that appear at whether or not or not it is much better for the non-resident parent to have contact with the little one display that the far more speak to there is with the non-resident mother or father, the greater the end result for the little one.”
He additional that co-residency, where the youngster lives sometimes with the mother and often with the father, “is a marker of the maturity of the two mothers and fathers”, which meant a better partnership, which was extremely much in the child’s interests.
Leach says that she does not want to be believed towards divorce – or separation the place parents are not married – which is now so regular: relationships break down irretrievably around 42% of marriages end in divorce. Her concern is about the youngsters who “are being utilized as weapons in the marital war when truly they are its victims”.
“We can argue about all sorts of issues around the edges, but we can’t argue about the harm it does,” she says. “Divorce or separation will always be poor for kids – there’s no obtaining away from it. It ranges from disruptive and sad to tragic. What’s greatest for kids is if their mother and father adore a single an additional for ever … but there are constantly tons of items that you can not get excellent for your kids.”
She reveals that she herself was a youngster caught in the crossfire as her mother and father – novelist Nigel Balchin and his wife, Elisabeth – split up, soon after a companion-swap arrangement with artist Michael Ayrton and his wife, Joan. She is an anonymised case research in her personal guide, a woman of eleven who is sent to boarding college because her father are not able to bear to allow her reside with her mom and new spouse, while her older sister escaped to drama school and much younger sister stayed with mum.
“I felt I would vanished,” says the little one in the guide. She does not know whether she survived the trauma, she told the Guardian. “We in no way know, do we, due to the fact you never know how you would have been,” she explained. “Early trauma can depart folks sensitive to stress later on on in their daily life, and I believe I am a person who demonstrates that. I’m not a laid-back kind of man or woman.”
“Our hope is that the American Heart Association will acknowledge causal backlinks in between oral ailment and elevated heart condition.
“That will adjust how physicians diagnose and deal with heart condition sufferers,”
Gum disease is a widespread situation exactly where the gums grow to be swollen, sore or infected.
It is estimated to impact a lot more than half of all grownups in Britain to some degree and most folks encounter it at least once in their lives.
Despite the fact that earlier research have proven back links amongst gum condition and heart ailment, it was imagined this could be basically a signal of an unhealthy lifestyle and a large sugar diet program.
In the most recent review, nonetheless, researchers infected mice with 4 certain bacteria – Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, Tannerella forsythia, Fusobacterium nucleatum – that lead to gum ailment and tracked their spread.
The investigation is element of a more substantial research on the effects of gum condition on overall health currently being performed in the laboratory of Kesavalu Lakshmyya in the University of Florida’s Department of Periodontology.
Physician Kesavalu mentioned: “In Western medicine there is a disconnect between oral health and basic wellness in the rest of the physique Dentistry is a separate discipline of examine from Medication.
“The mouth is the gateway to the physique and our information provides one much more piece of a increasing entire body of study that factors to direct connections between oral well being and systemic wellness.”
Cardiologist Alexandra Lucas, of the University of Florida University of Medicine who is a co-investigator in the research, explained: “Our intent is to improve physician awareness of back links amongst oral bacterial infection and heart ailment.
“Understanding the relevance of treating gum ailment in patients with heart illness will lead to potential studies and recommendations for cautious attention to oral overall health in order to safeguard patients towards heart illness,”
A large-college movie club in Carlsbad, Calif., has made movies centered on emotional, wrenching topics before, like the Holocaust and meals insecurity in the US. But absolutely nothing, not even reaction from white supremacists to their Holocaust movie, ready them for what would take place when they produced a movie about vaccines.
Their documentary, “Invisible Threat,” addresses the topic of vaccine refusal and the repercussions that can comply with. According to the pupil filmmakers, the genesis of the documentary was their original choice to make a brief peer-to-peer film about how the immune method performs. Even though looking into the subject, they became aware of the controversies around vaccines and turned their attention to the results vaccine refusal can have on public health. The film, begun a number of many years in the past, is now full, and a trailer is offered right here. I have not noticed the complete movie.
Vaccinia (smallpox) vaccine. Photograph credit score: Wikipedia
In accordance to the details disseminated with the trailer, students produced the documentary along with their broadcast journalism instructor and with regional education advocate Lisa Posard. Posard is a documentary producer, former president of the board of the nearby training basis, and the PTA president. She developed the students’ preceding documentaries on the Holocaust and food insecurity, as well, and her daughter, who now attends UCLA, was 1 of the college students who worked on these movies.
So what we have here is large college students creating what has been a remarkably well-reviewed documentary film for film class, with their movie teacher and a producer/mother or father/PTA president who has previously supported them in producing equally compelling, specialist work. You’d feel that this kind of efforts deserve some good interest and praise, offered that their movies have obtained widespread interest and great testimonials from these on the front lines of public health.
But that hasn’t stopped groups who voice vaccine opposition from waging what amounts to a ground campaign against these students. These groups, mainly associated by their insistence on a vaccine-autism link, have issued a news release in which they struggle to imply that the adults–teacher, parent and PTA president–had nefarious intentions in guiding their students in the filmmaking. They allege in the release that the students’ teacher has “joined forces with a vaccine sector front group” and … nicely, it is a little difficult to tell the place 1 goes incorrect advertising one’s film through public health groups when 1 is creating a movie related to public well being.
And they’ve place out a call to followers to get in touch with their congresspersons with this missive, alerting said elected officials to the sheer horror of the existence of a movie about vaccines and public well being produced by higher college college students. It’s adequate to make one really feel sympathy for our elected officials–or their interns, at any fee.
Amid other accusations that activists have produced against these students is the following from the information release:
Barry Segal, philanthropist and founder of Target Autism, stated, “All of the deceptions concerned in the making of this film are a great reminder of how the vaccine business operates.” The film’s “national premier” in January was hosted by The Immunization Task, whose activities incorporate professional-vaccination lobbying efforts. The film is sponsored by a regional Rotary grant Rotary Global receives large grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Basis, a major investor in vaccines. The film is being promoted for student viewing and is accredited by Common Core.
It pushes all the buttons, does it not? Bill Gates, a lot detested in anti-vaccine circles for his insistence that we eradicate polio “vaccine industry” Widespread Core–which by some means can “approve” things and … the Rotary Club? You know those Rotary individuals. Often up to their elbows in funds-making conspiracies.
The work to intimidate these college students started even before they’d conceived the notion for this film–indeed, it started basically because they’d determined to make their peer-to-peer film about immunity. As Camille Posard, pupil filmmaker and Lisa Posard’s daughter, wrote:
Practically three years ago an post in our small nearby newspaper talked about our broadcast journalism club, Carlsbad Substantial School Television (CHSTV) Films, was going to make a video clip about the immune program like how vaccines work. We hadn’t even commenced filming, nevertheless the blogs prompted hundreds of unsightly feedback and calls. Yes, the anti-vaccine bloggers have been harshly criticizing high school students doing an right after school project sponsored by an unrestricted local Rotary grant.
Not knowing anything about vaccines, I imagined there must be some thing shocking we have been about to uncover about young children becoming harmed and feasible cover up. Now that was well worth studying. Even so, the adult supervisors at CHSTV Films - the director (our broadcasting instructor) and the volunteer (PTA mom turned producer) - had a various response. They pulled the plug on the venture, citing a concern for us teenagers soon after all the angry comments flooded in. They had no notion that this subject was so explosive. Due to the good results of our prior films, we had other projects being pitched to us and the adults felt it best to avoid this headache.
In the end, they did not back down, in portion at the students’ urging. But according to Michael Kruse, writing at the Canadian Huffington Submit, the vitriol was scary, even in contrast to pushback from white supremacists:
… when the anti-vaccine community acquired wind of the manufacturing via a tiny information write-up in a local paper, the threats and emails started out and nearly stalled their manufacturing. At a media get in touch with for the film, she (Lisa Posard) confirmed that soon after the resistance they received from white-supremacists above their holocaust documentary, they regarded as abandoning the vaccine documentary all with each other.
I recognize the adult reaction of caution simply because threats can be rattling and the initial response to any rattling is to consider to stabilize. But I’m glad that the college students did not back down and made the decision to stand their ground, which is the ethical and courageous response to threats meant to silence and intimidate.
It is unfortunate that substantial-college students exploring a subject and applying actual-world skills to create critically acclaimed work on that topic would become targets in this way, regardless of whether by white supremacists or people who oppose vaccines. But just as making their movie was a “real-world” experience for them, standing their ground against intimidation and alleged threats is about as true-globe as it will get. As well negative they had to be the target of it ahead of they’d officially entered adulthood, just the variety of payback no substantial college student deserves for engaging in fruitful, useful extracurricular projects.
New analysis suggests hyperlink between the fall in salt consumption and a drop in heart assault and stroke fatalities. Photograph: Hera Meals / Alamy/Alamy
Declining consumption of salt in current many years has been the important issue in the big fall in the variety of individuals dying from a heart assault or stroke, research published today claims.
A 15% drop in average day-to-day consumption of salt in England in between 2003 and 2011 played an crucial role in the 42% fewer stroke fatalities and forty% drop in individuals dying from coronary heart ailment, in accordance to the research published in the health care journal BMJ Open.
The researchers, who include Britain’s leading campaigner towards extra salt in meals, claim that diminishing amounts of salt was “an essential contributor” to falls in blood strain above the eight-12 months time period. “As a end result, the reduce in salt intake would have played an critical position in the reduction of stroke and ischaemic heart condition mortality for the duration of this period,” say the authors.
Deaths from cardiovascular condition in the Uk have more than halved since 1971, falling from 335,000 to 161,000 in 2012.
Among 2003 and 2011 mortality prices from stroke dropped from 134 to 78 (42% down) per one hundred,000 population, and from 232 to 139 (forty% down) per a hundred,000 population for coronary heart illness.
Typical salt consumption fell from 9.5g a day to 8.1g (15%) a day among 2003 and 2011. That was largely due to efforts by the Meals Specifications Company to persuade meals manufacturers to gradually lessen the quantity of salt they added to their goods.
The authors acknowledge that numerous other risk aspects for cardiovascular illness also declined throughout the review period, like regular cholesterol and smoking, despite the fact that average bodyweight as measured by Entire body Mass Index rose, as did consumption of fruit and vegetables.
They reached their conclusions following analysing numerous official sources of well being and life-style information, like numerous years of the Wellness Survey for England and the nationwide diet regime and nutrition survey, which utilized urine samples to gauge salt levels.
Co-author Graham MacGregor, a professor of cardiovascular medication at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medication at Queen Mary University of London, stated the results vindicated the FSA’s prompting of food producers to cut salt ranges, including by setting targets. He is also the chairman of the strain group Consensus Action on Salt and Well being (Money), which lobbied ministers at the time for the FSA to make salt reduction a priority.
The coalition, which has been criticised for relying on voluntary offers with the meals market to tackle wellness difficulties by creating goods healthier, final month published new targets for further falls in salt intake to be attained by 2017. But ministers should be ready to regulate to impose targets if meals producers refuse to cooperate, MacGregor argued.
Clare Farrand, programme lead for Planet Action on Salt and Overall health, stated: “It would now be a gross breach of ethical and corporate accountability for organizations not to lessen salt as the rewards of salt reduction are now so clear.”
Nevertheless, some authorities recommended that the new paper overplayed the extent to which declining salt intake could be credited with the fall in heart attack and stroke deaths. Patrick Wolfe, professor of statistics at University University London, took situation with the authors for assuming that the improved blood pressure seen in the 2003-2011 was largely the consequence of lowered salt intake. “Plausibility of assumption does not equal evidence,” he said.
David Spiegelhalter, professor of the public comprehending of threat at Cambridge university, cited the researchers’ admission that the fall over that time in systolic blood stress would be anticipated to decrease strokes by just 11% and heart attacks by 6%, little amounts of the total falls. Decreased blood pressure did not represent the authors’ claimed “significant contribution” to the lowered death rates.
Switching more than to daylight saving time and dropping 1 hour of rest raised the threat of possessing a heart attack the following Monday by 25%, compared to other Mondays in the course of the year, according to a new US study released on Saturday.
By contrast, heart assault chance fell 21% later on in the year, on the Tuesday after the clock was returned to common time, and men and women acquired an additional hour’s rest.
The not-so-subtle impact of moving the clock forward and backward was noticed in a comparison of hospital admissions from a database of non-federal Michigan hospitals. It examined admissions just before the start off of daylight saving time and the Monday immediately right after, for four consecutive many years.
In basic, heart attacks historically arise most typically on Monday mornings, possibly due to the anxiety of commencing a new operate week and inherent changes in our sleep-wake cycle, stated Dr Amneet Sandhu, a cardiology fellow at the University of Colorado in Denver who led the research.
“With daylight conserving time, all of this is compounded by 1 significantly less hour of rest,” explained Sandhu, who presented his findings at the annual scientific sessions of the American School of Cardiology in Washington.
A link in between lack of rest and heart attacks has been witnessed in previous scientific studies. But Sandhu explained authorities even now do not have a clear understanding of why people are so sensitive to rest-wake cycles. “Our study suggests that sudden, even modest adjustments in sleep could have detrimental effects,” he explained.
Sandhu examined about 42,000 hospital admissions in Michigan, and found that an common of 32 sufferers had heart attacks on any given Monday. But on the Monday right away following springing the clock forward, there had been an regular of eight extra heart attacks, he said.
The all round number of heart attacks for the full week right after daylight saving time didn’t modify, just the quantity on that initial Monday. The number then dropped off the other days of the week.
Folks who are previously vulnerable to heart illness may be at greater threat proper right after sudden time changes, mentioned Sandhu, who additional that hospital staffing should probably be improved on the Monday soon after clocks are set forward.
“If we can recognize days when there could be surges in heart attacks, we can be prepared to much better care for our individuals,” he mentioned.
The clock typically moves ahead in the spring, so that evenings have a lot more daylight and mornings have much less, and returns to regular time in the fall. Daylight saving time was extensively adopted in the course of Planet War I to conserve power, but some critics have questioned whether it truly does so and whether or not it is even now needed.
Researchers cited limitations to the research, noting it was limited to one state and heart attacks that essential artery-opening procedures, this kind of as stents. The research therefore excluded patients who died prior to hospital admission or intervention.
Around thirty minutes later, Bella collapsed and her mom right away referred to as 999, and paramedics attended the handle eight minutes right after the get in touch with.
Mr McKenna was initial on the scene and carried out CPR for roughly ten minutes just before concluding that practically nothing else could be accomplished to conserve the youngster.
But the inquest heard that it was protocol for paramedics treating a kid to carry on with existence support until finally the level when the youngster is brought to hospital.
Giving proof in court yesterday (Weds), Mr McKenna stated that when he arrived at three.13am Bella was “pale, with blue lips and unresponsive” but he started to execute fundamental life help and asked a police officer to do chest compressions on Bella.
He mentioned: “There was practically nothing a lot more we could do. I carried on with CPR but quickly knew there was not going to be a response.
“Simply because of her age, I now know it is protocol that she ought to have been transferred to hospital but I was beneath the impression that because of her age she would be classed as an grownup – she wasn’t a little one.”
He added: “Bella must have been transferred to hospital but I do not believe it would have made considerably difference since of the tests I carried out.”
But the court heard that Mr McKenna had received a wonderful deal of coaching and ought to have known which process to adhere to.
Two superior technicians, who arrived minutes soon after Mr McKenna, described their “shock” and “shock” that Mr McKenna had given up on CPR so quickly.
Stephen Harrison, who arrived at Bella’s home minutes right after Mr McKenna, stated: “I felt some thing was amiss but there was practically nothing I could do about it.”
Asked if he had been told that CPR had been performed for close to 10 minutes Mr Harrison said: “I would have stated ‘let me carry on with CPR’.”
Colleague Dawn Vacation stated: “I was really shocked, it wasn’t what we had been expecting to see when we arrived.
“We full anticipated CPR to be in method when we arrived. I left the ambulance operating on the street and I total expected there would be a youngster there to get to hospital.”
Acute tension has the exact same effect as anger. Photograph: Alamy
Do you get so angry you clench your fists and raise your voice? Nicely, you need to have to calm down. Shedding your temper could trigger a heart assault or stroke, in accordance to investigation in this month’s European Heart Journal. The investigation, by a group from Harvard Health care School, located that an angry outburst elevated the chance of a heart assault in the following two hours by among 2.4 and seven.3 instances. For a stroke, it was amongst 1.7 and 7.six occasions. The chance increased the a lot more usually people acquired angry, or if they previously had heart troubles or diabetes.
The variability of the danger is because the research utilized pooled data from various studies, which took spot in distinct countries and asked about distinct time periods. But Elizabeth Mostofsky, the lead writer on the paper, says the proof from the 9 scientific studies they analysed shows that the folks impacted had greater levels of anger prior to their heart dilemma or stroke in contrast to other instances. So do you need to have to take anger management lessons, or is it nonetheless safe to yell occasionally?
While the website link amongst prolonged-phrase tension and anxiousness and heart attacks is well established, the quick-term chance of an outburst is less so. This research, for example, could not locate a clear hyperlink between how angry a particular person was and their chance of a heart attack and stroke (so there was no clear evidence of a more powerful link if individuals hurled punches rather of insults, for example).
The mechanism by which anger could be damaging is, however, well understood. Anger is recognized to raise blood stress, increase the heart fee and stiffen blood vessels. This disturbs the blood flow and promotes clot formation – with the prospective to trigger a heart assault or stroke.
Acute anxiety has the exact same effect, suggesting that brief bursts of sturdy negative emotions may possibly be hurtful to hearts. A Swedish review of one,381 guys and ladies, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Local community Well being, discovered that having a high-strain deadline at perform led to a 6-fold enhance in the risk of a heart attack within the subsequent 24 hrs.
The real chance of a deadline or angry outburst providing you a heart attack is tiny. The research looked at raised voices and fist-clenching, not dropping manage and hurling things, so you could attempt counting to ten, walking away from the situation or asking yourself if it truly issues. Consuming healthily, working out and stopping smoking are all most likely to be much more critical in lowering your threat of heart ailment than controlling your temper – and workout has the added advantage of lowering stress and anger.
“If you want wholesome offspring, will not leave fatherhood also late”: if you had been getting ungenerous, you may possibly say such headlines make a wonderful change. The existence of a male biological clock, and its ceaseless tick-tocking, is a “cause for concern” that has been cropping up on and off for many years now. Nonetheless, this is the 1st time I feel I have witnessed it framed in this kind of a “female” way, and, as we are generally the ones being told not to “leave it also late”, I have to admit that I practically cackled (younger girls have delicate, tinkling laughs, but feminists cackle, naturally).
It is challenging not to see irony in the news that males are now becoming advised to freeze their sperm. Although the thought of men getting bombarded by content articles about the functionality of their nutsacks, and currently being accosted at bus stops by armchair fertility specialists interrogating them about their reproductive histories, could provoke a tickle of schadenfreude, it really is truly no laughing matter. A study has identified that older fathers are far more very likely to have young children with psychiatric issues and learning disabilities this kind of as autism and ADHD it really does appear that sperm has a sell-by date. A kid born to a 45-year-old father is, according to the examine, 3.five occasions more probably to have autism, two.5 times more very likely to have ADHD, and 25 occasions more very likely to have biopolar disorder than a youngster born to a 24-12 months-old guy.
As typical readers of my stuff will know, autism has (to place it mildly) manifested itself somewhat within my family members, so I tend to take such findings seriously. I have, as a end result of my overpowering reliance on pseudo-sciencey magazine articles or blog posts, a slight fear of what may well take place should I delay factors extended enough to turn into what is charmingly dubbed an “elderly mom”. Nonetheless, I do not see the prospect of men turning out to be as frightened as I have been about their fertility as any wonderful phase towards equality. Most folks instinctively know that it is much better from a biological viewpoint to have young children when they are youthful, but from a lifestyle point of view? Maybe not. Figures released right now demonstrate that British house ownership is at a new minimal, with individuals under 35 renting a lot more than ever ahead of – half of all personal rented households, in reality, are occupied by this age group. Of course, you don’t want to be a homeowner to raise a child, but aspects this kind of as the expense of living crisis can be a more powerful barrier to conception than a steel diaphragm.
But gentlemen, I would not panic nevertheless. As with all studies, there is area for doubt. My tips would be to make like a lady and get all these findings with a pinch of salt. Following all, we discovered out last summer that the regularly parroted statistic that one particular in 3 girls aged 35 to 39 will not be pregnant right after a 12 months of attempting, was actually based mostly on French birth records from 1670 to 1830 (they weren’t half barren, people historical French peasants). This, as the Atlantic dryly noted, meant “millions of females are being advised when to get pregnant based mostly on statistics from a time just before electricity, antibiotics, or fertility treatment.” Let’s add cake to that checklist, and type a chorus. Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry females?
On the other hand, becoming as it is that your review looks to be based mostly on pretty much everybody in Sweden, I would not ignore the final results, either. It might be time to brush up your 5-12 months plan, reduced your alcohol intake and end resting that Macbook atop your balls. All the ideal of luck – I hear evening primrose oil assists.
An ambulance rushes to an emergency. Charities say lengthening response instances could end result in some sufferers dying. Photograph: John Li/Getty Photographs
Ambulances are taking longer to reach individuals with life-threatening conditions right after obtaining a 999 get in touch with, NHS overall performance information reveals.
In some parts of England ambulances are taking nearly two minutes longer than two many years in the past to get to patients who have suffered a stroke or heart attack or been stabbed, for instance.
Response times deteriorated in nine of the 11 regional NHS ambulance providers in between December 2011 and December last yr, the most recent efficiency figures published by NHS England demonstrate.
Well being charities warned that the lengthening waiting occasions could outcome in some sufferers dying. “Every single 2nd counts if someone’s getting a heart assault or stroke. Sadly each 7 minutes an individual in the Uk dies from a heart assault”, stated Amy Thompson, a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Basis.
The East of England ambulance support saw the greatest rise in response instances for category A calls, involving the most critically unwell patients. Its median response time went up more than the two many years from 295.2 seconds to 405 seconds – an improve of 109.8 seconds.
That ambulance service has been beset by troubles over the length of time it will take to attain some individuals, prompting criticism from nearby MPs, patients and well being unions. Its interim chairman, Geoff Harris, stood down on Tuesday just before a Care Good quality Commission report stated that it had not done ample to boost response instances to 999 calls.
A nearby coroner last yr described ambulance crews as “chaotic” following presiding over the inquest into the death of three-month-old Bella Hellings. Paramedics took considerably longer than nationwide targets call for to reach her property in Thetford, Norfolk.
The services is also beneath scrutiny more than the truth that it took an ambulance two hours to get to Paul Nelson, a 26-yr-outdated chef who collapsed at house in Blakeney, Norfolk, and later died of a brain haemorrhage.
In the north-east of England the response time for 999 calls enhanced by 51 seconds from 330 to 384 seconds whilst West Midlands ambulance service cars are now taking an further 49.eight seconds to reach emergency patients compared with two many years ago and those in the South East Coast ambulance services some 49.two seconds much more.
Only two ambulance providers enhanced their response time: in the South Central spot (34.eight seconds more rapidly) and the Isle of Wight (15 seconds fewer than in 2011).
“These figures reveal lives becoming place at risk due to the fact of the expanding chaos in England’s A&Es,” stated Andrew Gwynne, the shadow well being minister. “Outside bursting A&E departments, 1000′s of sufferers are waiting in the backs of ambulances. The paramedics can’t discharge sufferers and so cannot reply their subsequent get in touch with. People dialling 999 – even for patients in a life-threatening problem – face agonising waits when each 2nd counts.”
Regardless of getting asked to do so, NHS England refused to react directly to the longer waiting occasions or explain them, amid concern that the ageing population, cuts to social care and overcrowded A&E units might be factors.
A spokeswoman , which seeks to increase care for patients, stated it could not comment on ambulance performance just before it took more than duty for the NHS final April. But she added that performance had improved with seven services, and worsened with only four, given that December 2012.
Even so, she additional that: “As eight out of eleven ambulance trusts have not met the common this month there is plainly more operate to be completed to make positive people get a consistent, large quality support.”
Ambulance services have to respond to 75% of class A calls inside eight minutes. The data displays that the median was less than that in all eleven services in December. Individuals should get “a large quality, quick and secure support wherever they reside”, she additional.
Lord Howe, the health minister, stated: “Despite the ambulance service obtaining busier, efficiency towards all 3 specifications has enhanced on the very same time last year with a higher proportion of ambulances arriving on scene in beneath eight minutes, prepared to aid individuals who require help the most.
“But we know winter is a tough time for the ambulance service and NHS England has taken early action to assist, offering £15m to reduce quick pressures.”
Vaccinia (smallpox) vaccine. Photograph credit score: Wikipedia
