Posted on 04/19/2007 6:22:24 PM PDT by blam
'Stress threatens epidemic of heart disease'
Last Updated: 1:36am BST 20/04/2007
The stress of everyday life is threatening a global epidemic of cardiovascular disease, a report by international health experts has warned.
High blood pressure is a "silent condition" which is "grossly underestimated" by patients, their families, medics and politicians, according to the study unveiled at the European Parliament in Brussels.
The move towards "Westernised" lifestyles - associated with high-fat diets, long working hours and lack of exercise - is partly to blame. But by 2025 almost two thirds of the world's adults could have high blood pressure.
The report, High Blood Pressure and Health Policy: Where We Are and Where We Need to Go Next, said a quarter of the world's adults, or one billion people, were afflicted. In Britain, more than a third of adults are estimated to suffer from hypertension.
Already, 7.1 million sufferers are dying each year because of hypertension, they claim. It is a growing problem in Brazil, China, India, Russia, Turkey and the Central European states.
The report said people were dying unnecessarily because up to 50 per cent of patients failed to take prescribed medication or make lifestyle changes. Smoking, high-salt and high-fat diets, excessive alcohol intake and obesity are the "lifestyle factors" to blame.
"If high blood pressure was an infectious disease, we would mobilise against it as militantly as if it was avian influenza or Aids," it said.
A year after I was laid off due to a reorganization, my headaches and high blood pressure reduced significantly. IMO (as a Human Resources professional) a lot of stress and illness is being caused by bad managers and supervisors in the workplace along with unrealistic workloads.
I’m troubled with high blood pressure; mostly from stress. I’m trying to get out of the bad habit of living under too much stress from a whole lot of nonsense trying to accommodate the ridiculous agendas of too many people (who probably wouldn’t even notice if I flatly quit doing all the things I’ve been doing all those years trying to please the “more you do, the more you need to do” crowd.) . . and the more you do, the less they’re pleased.
I think the government should outlaw stress.
WE’LL ALL GONNA DIE !!
I agree, the speed and omnipresence of our business communications has forced us to do much, much more and handle everything much, much faster than in prior eras. Faster than the human body and mind can handle without serious damage.
Our PDAs and Blackberries keep us accessible and at work 24/7, 365, wherever we are (even on vacation). "Emergencies" that require you to immediately respond have become practically anything. We're never not at work anymore.
We'll have long, pleasurable retirements...that is if we survive work life in the 21st century.
Very good physician, patients loved him, nurses loved him. He was the most consistently cheerful and positive guy I ever met.
One day shortly after he started working in the clinic I got nailed with a hideous back spasm. I couldn't walk, could hardly move, I was a mess.
"Oh, well what you need to do is have more sex! Sex is good for the back muscles you know." That was his advice to me.
I remember someone else complaining of insomnia. "You're not having enough sex. People always sleep well when they've had sex." And so it went. Depressed? More sex. Manic? More sex, but slower, etc.
It wasn't long before we had figured out Dr. Patel's standard treatment plan for whatever was ailing you.
I have a pretty good idea what Dr. Patel would likely suggest for stress or hypertension.
All patients love and admire their therapist.
But boy, they really liked this guy.
Yep, and it comes from all sides. I have business stresses, 2 ex-wives, 2 teenage children - plus my own bad habits - and on March 30th I was carried out of my house by EMTs who kept me alive to make it to the hospital. It was about 2 weeks before my 57th birthday and what I’ve been surprised to learn is how many guys my age, many of whom did not have my personal bad habits - especialy smoking - have gone through the same thing. A heart attack changes everything, though - even demanding “exes” back off.
I had headaches and neckaches 24/7 and was swallowing Excedrin by the handfuls. After I retired, it took one year before my headaches and neck pain ceased. I promise you, the damage that work stress is doing to our bodies is beyond what any of us realize. We will pay the price in our later years. I have friends who just retired and their comments are “I didn’t realize I was in so much stress until I left my job.”
You left out companies expecting twice the work with half the staff.
That last is probably a line that’s in my future.
A lot of factors involved; I think one of the big reasons executive management believes that it can force twice the work on half the staff is due to those technological advances that keep us at the job around the clock.
Do they actually think it is more stressful now than in WWII...
It’s called “the bottom line” which is their God. What happens to the employee’s health is their tough luck. If you have a heart attack at your desk, so be it. The days of an employee doing a good job (with a good work ethic) and being appreciated by their boss and the company are gone. We’re numbers and we’re expendable. I’ve done my time and I’m glad to be retired. Today’s workplace isn’t a nice place to be anymore. Sorry if that sounds negative. Just reality.
I'm glad you said it first, not me. I do think that throughout history people have actually had more stress than today, because there was no safety net of social services to help if you screwed up financially or lost a job, no police force to stop some raiders from another city or country burning your village and stealing your women, no grocery store where you could buy food in case of a drought. These days you don't have Indians hanging your baby up in a bush and using him for target practice while they slowly peel strips of your skin off, for fun.
The reason we're all dying of stress-related diseases now is that we're living longer. And a couple of hundred years ago, if somebody got a heart attack and died at 45, that was considered normal. Now we all expect to live to ninety.
All that said, the muscles in my neck are chronically spasmed and I spend half my time trying to figure out how to quit my job.
"...roughly 100 g of flavonol-rich chocolate eaten daily reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure by amounts comparable to beta-blocker or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor monotherapy. (CME)"
When I was younger, my father told me that he had failed in his efforts to instill (his version) of the work ethic in me.
Years later he said to me that he was glad he failed. That I was much better off not being a workaholic. Better that my kid grew up with a father around.
Disclaimer: I have always been responsible, reliable and productive. Just not particularly ambitious, nor in danger of letting work become my life.
There are dozens of factors...At the turn of the century 19th to 20th...The average life expectancy was 49 and the infant mortality rate was 75%.
Sure people lived longer but there was no treatment for smallpox, diphteria, cholera, thypoid, measles, mumps, rubella, or polio.
There was a minimal amount of reliable surgery. People routinely died of apendicitis or gall bladder problems.
The flu epidemic of 1918 killed millions world wide.
Something as simple as an infected minor laceration could leave you septic and dead.
Post partum sepsis was huge.
Nobody expected to raise all the kids they brought into the world.
People are living tremendously longer. To loose even a single child these days (unless you abort it) is profoundly rare and a devastating event.
The reason the retirement age was set at 65 during the forties was because they only expected 1/2 the population to live that long...
We get all hot and upset about a lot of roody-poo stuff, and we worry about a lot of things we really need to just cast on the Lord and truly forget about. If someone truly cares about us, they will allow us to have a peaceful life. We need to pursue peace with everyone, and most of all - relax, relax, relax and rest whenever we are tired even if we (mistakenly) think we are just being lazy. - I’ve had to deal with my own habits, dependence on that cup of regular coffee every morning to get me going (caffeine), negative thinking, overeating (gluttony). There are lots of people who have these bad habits and many more who will castigate another person for smoking or drinking and still not acknowlege their own nasty habits that need changing. We need to love and care for each other and quit thinking the answer is only found in a romantic relationship (which over fifty percent of the time turns sour).
Magnesium citrate is a muscle relaxing mineral. - Any other ideas from anyone?
Amen.
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