As we talked about in this Chapter , your levels of cholesterol, combined with your other risk factors for heart disease, determine your need for medication. Your doctor will ikely recommend prescription medication if your LDL level remains between 160 and...
Learning to meditate could actually help your body clean out its arteries, according to a study published in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association. The researchers assigned 60 African American men and women with high blood pressure to either...
Sometimes the simple act of writing things down can help you clarify your feel-_. ings and render them less emotionally and physically stressful. Some studies even find that by reducing stress, keeping a journal can improve medical conditions such as asthma....
If you’re serious about using siower, deeper breathing to help you destress and even lower your blood pressure, consider investing in a biofeedback device called RespeRate. The size of a paperback book, it analyzes your breathing via a sensor buckled around...
To measure hostility in study subjects, researchers use the CookMedley Hostility Scale, based on 50 different measures. While the test should be administered and scored by a professional, you can get a general sense of your own hostility by reading the...
Lowering your cholesterol can improve your mood. When Canadian researchers compared mood changes in 212 patients being treated for high cholesterol, they found that people who reduced their levels of total cholesterol and LDL also reported feeling less anxious, with women...
The answer is ale you’re ay vulnerable to begin with. Here’s how: AD stressful situation raises blood pressure and heart rate, mimicking the effects of physical exertion, If you have plaque obstructing your arteries, the additional blood pressure can rupture the...
Happiness is ephemeral, subject to the vagaries of everything from the weather to the size of your bank account. We’re not suggesting that vou can reach a permanent state called “happiness” and remain there. But there are many ways to swerve...
Creating a sense of peace and calm in your life means more than just coping with stress as best you can; it also means actively embracing those things that bring pleasure and satisfaction. A big part of doing this is finding...
As babies we instinctively know how to breathe properly. But as adults we tend to forget. Babies breathe with their whole bodies, their stomachs —__ puffing out every time they breathe in and collapsing when they breathe ¢ ’ out. Now...
