Daylight Savings Time Increases Heart Attack Risk !
Daylight Savings Time – March 8th 2009
With the end of the winter rapidly approaching, we all look forward to lighter evenings, and the additional daylight that the start of Daylight Savings Time, which begins in the United States on March 8th 2009, brings. Around the world an additional 1.5 billion people experience the same seasonal time adjustment each year.
However, a recent scientific study conducted in Sweden, based on nearly twenty years of heart attack data from 1987 to 2006, indicates that when the clocks ‘spring forward’ each year, this increases the risk of heart attack for many of us.
The research was carried out by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and the results were then published in the New England Journal of Medicine. These show that there is an amazing five percent increase in the heart attack statistics in the week after Daylight Savings Time begins.
Sleep Deprivation
The theory for this increase is that during the week after the time changes, most people suffer from sleep deprivation. This is compounded by the effect that a sudden time change has on the body’s sleeping patterns and daily biological rhythms.
With this in mind, you may expect a corresponding reduction in the number of heart attacks suffered during the weeks when the clocks ‘fall back’ in the autumn. However, this was not found to be the case, as the researchers discovered that a reduction in heart attacks also of five percent, only occurred on the first day following the end of daylight savings time.
DST results in reduction of sleep quality and duration
Many people find the bi-annual shift in time zones difficult to adjust to, and suffer a reduction in sleep quality and sleep duration, similar to that experienced with jet lag, only semi-permanent. There is a growing volume of evidence that suggests that this may have detrimental effects on our cardiovascular health.
However in the spring, the time change usually results in an hour of missed sleep, and also disrupts the body’s biological rhythms. Contrast this with the fall, when the end of Daylight savings Time combines a biological disruption, with an opportunity to GAIN some sleep, and this may counter the negative effects of the transition.
Monday most dangerous day of the week for heart attacks
It is also interesting to note that Monday is the day of the week that has been proven to be the most dangerous day of the week, and the most likely for suffering from a heart attack. This is most likely to be a combination of two factors – during Friday and Saturday nights most people tend to go to sleep later, and get up later the following morning. However this means that often they will go to sleep later on Sunday as well, but have to rise earlier on the Monday morning to go to work. This causes them to suffer from sleep deprivation. This is combined on Monday morning with a sudden increase in activity and stress related to the week ahead. This is made even worse during the week of the Daylight Savings Time change, and may account for the statistical increase in the heart attack rate.
Hypertension
Definition of Hypertension
Hypertension disease is defined as when a persons blood pressure is constantly higher than the recommended level. The United Kingdom hypertension statistics make for alarming reading, with approximately one quarter of the adult population suffering from this condition, which has been labelled as ‘the silent killer’.
If you have undetected high blood pressure, you run the risk of developing serious complications, including a higher risk of having a heart attack or a stroke. Over an extended period of time it can cause the heart to become enlarged, or it’s ability to pump blood around the body to become less effective, which is known as heart failure. Other organ damage may result, such as kidney failure or eye damage.
Because Hypertension symptoms are rarely noticeable, and seldom make people actually feel unwell, the only way of knowing whether or not you may be suffering from it is to have your blood pressure tested regularly. A worrying statistic is that over a third of people with hypertension remain undiagnosed and are not receiving treatment for it, and this is putting their heart health and life at risk.
Important Note :-
Hypertension is a serious condition
It can represent a very real long term threat to your life
What is blood pressure?
Blood pressure is caused by the pumping action of the heart forcing the blood to flow through the arteries (which are the blood vessels that transport blood from the heart to the rest of the body). A certain amount of pressure in the arteries is normal and is necessary for normal circulation. However, if the blood pressure becomes consistently too high it becomes a health hazard, as it can damage the arteries, by causing them to thicken and become less elastic. This, in turn, limits the flow of blood and may cause permanently raised blood pressure.
What causes Hypertension?
In over 90% of cases there is no single underlying cause for elevated blood pressure. However there are certain known hypertension risk factors which should be avoided, as they can all contribute to the hypertension cause. The major risk factors are :-
- Drinking too much alcohol
- Being overweight or obese
- Eating too much salt
- Not doing enough exercise
- Not eating enough fruit and vegetables
- excessive anxiety
- Certain types of medications – your doctor will always ask you if you are taking any type of medication when you visit
High blood pressure can also be hereditary, as it does tend to occur in families, and in a very small number of cases it can be attributed to a single cause, such as kidney disease.
How do I know if I have hypertension ?
There are few symptoms of hypertension, so potential hypertension patient education is very important. All adults should have their blood pressure checked at least once every five years, but preferably more often, especially as you get older, as blood pressure usually rises with age. Hypertension diagnosis will usually be given by your physician.
Your doctor will know your medical history, and will make the diagnosis from a succession of blood pressure readings. This is given as two numbers, which represent millimetres of mercury or mmHg.
The first number is called the systolic pressure, which is the force of the blood as the heart contracts to pump it around the body.
The second number is called the diastolic pressure, which is the force while the heart is relaxing and filling with blood again in preparation for the next contraction.
A normal reading for an adult should generally be no higher than 140/85mmHg. People with certain medical conditions, such as diabetes, should aim for a blood pressure even lower than this – around 130/80mmHg or below.
Several readings should be taken over a period of time to get an accurate measurement as blood pressure can fluctuate and one high reading does not necessarily mean a person has hypertension.
Is there a cure or treatment for Hypertension ?
Hypertension cure may be a misleading term. If you have high blood pressure, it is essential to control it, but this will require constant vigilance and treatment on your part. But this will pay big health dividends, as reducing your blood pressure by 5mmHg can lower your risk of having a heart attack by about 20%. There are many lifestyle changes a person can make to reduce their risk of hypertension or help to lower their blood pressure if it is already high. To reduce your blood pressure, or prevent it from getting high, you can follow some or all of the following hypertension guidelines :-
- Do more physical activity
- Keep to a healthy weight
- Cut down on your salt intake
- Cut down on alcohol
- Eat more fruit and vegetables
- learn to control your anxiety and stress levels
Also your doctor may prescribe hypertension drugs to help reduce your blood pressure and protect your heart. Various types of hypertension medications are available to help lower blood pressure, including ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers and diuretics. Doctors and heart specialists often prescribe a combination of these.
Whilst Smoking is not a direct risk factor for high blood pressure, it does increase the chance of suffering a heart attack, heart failure or a stroke. If you quit smoking, then within two years, your risk of suffering a heart attack is halved.
Anxiety Increases the Risk of Heart Attack
Most people have heard that stress is bad for the heart. Many people also know about the debilitating effects of anxiety and depression. But evidence is now emerging that these negative psychological factors appear to play a significant role in the risk of having a heart attack. People suffering from anxiety and depression have up to a 50% higher risk of developing heart disease according to two new studies conducted by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) in London, and professor Biing-Jiun Shen, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles.
Stress and Anxiety definition
Stress can come from any situation or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, nervous, or even anxious. What is stressful to one person is not necessarily stressful to another. Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension or fear. You may not know the source of this uneasiness, which can add to the distress you feel. Anxiety disorders are a group of psychiatric conditions that involve excessive anxiety.
Although stress has previously been linked with heart problems, the studies have shown that anxiety, especially heightened levels of anxiety, or chronic anxiety causes the increased risk of damage to the heart.
Anxiety tends to lead to poor lifestyle habits
However the poor health habits of those people suffering from anxiety appear to be the main causes of their increased risk of heart disease, according to the British research, which was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Two thirds of that increased risk are due to two specific factors which contribute to these statistics – smoking and a lack of exercise, as people suffering from anxiety and depression are more likely to smoke tobacco and lead an inactive lifestyle.
British Anxiety Study finds 50% increased risk of heart problems
The British study was Led by Dr. Mark Hamer, a senior researcher from University College London, and involved more than 6000 people who took part in an anxiety test designed to measure their general happiness or symptoms of depression and anxiety, whilst also being tested for common risk factors for heart disease. The survey found that around 15% of the participants were found to be suffering from stress, natural anxiety or depression.
The same people were then monitored for seven years, and statistics were gathered for the numbers of deaths and illnesses from heart disease, heart attack, stroke, and those requiring heart bypass surgery, plus other coronary-related illnesses.
During that period there were 223 cardiovascular events recorded including 63 deaths. After age and sex were taken into account, people with depression and anxiety faced more than a 50 percent increased risk when compared to happier people.
American Study broadly agrees with British Study findings
The American study led by lead researcher professor Shen, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, has independently concluded that there is a link between anxiety and heart attack amongst otherwise healthy older men. This is despite the fact that the research took into account, and corrected for other risk factors such as anger, hostility, depression and type A personality factors, plus the standard cardiovascular risk factors and general health habits.
Shen’s study involved 735 men who took part in the ‘Normative Aging Study’ research, which assesses medical and psychological changes associated with aging. Each of the men were examined in 1986 and had no heart problems at the time. They were tracked for an average of 12 years, after which the researchers found that the men who had chronic anxiety had a 30 percent to 40 percent increased risk of heart attack. Those with the highest individual levels of anxiety according to psychological testing had an even higher risk of heart attack. These results broadly agree with the results of the British survey.
Evidence from studies indicates anxiety is independent risk factor for heart disease
The evidence from these studies indicates that anxiety not only represents an independent risk factor for heart attack but may also explain the associations between heart attack risk with other psychosocial risk factors. Exaggerated responses to acute and chronic stress in anxious individuals may trigger a number of different ways that increase the risk of developing coronary artery disease and being stricken with a heart attack. Highly anxious individuals should be aware they may face an increased risk of a heart attack and take proactive steps, under the supervision of a physician, to control their cardiovascular risk factors, including blood pressure, blood cholesterol (lipid) levels, activity level and weight.
This research also implies that a wider approach to providing anxiety help in society is necessary, but also an approach to combat the unhealthy behaviours which occur as a result of people who slide into poor lifestyles as a result of their anxiety or depression.
Further studies are needed to assess benefits to heart health of anxiety disorder treatment
Further studies will be required to discover whether providing anxiety disorder treatment actually reduces the risk of heart attack, but the implication is that it is something that doctors should be aware of when their patients present themselves with symptoms of anxiety and depression, as anxiety treatments could reduce their risk of developing heart disease until a definitive anxiety cure is discovered.
Coronary Heart Disease Causes
Coronary heart disease definition (CHD)
A common question we receive is ‘what is coronary heart disease’? CHD may be summarised by what happens when your heart’s blood supply is blocked, or interrupted, by a build-up of fatty substances in the coronary arteries. These deposits can cause the walls of your arteries to become coated (or furred up), which is known as atherosclerosis. If your coronary arteries – the ones which feed the heart – are narrowed, then the blood supply to your heart will be restricted. This can cause pain in the chest, or angina.
If a coronary artery becomes completely blocked, it can cause a heart attack, or to quote the correct medical term – a myocardial infarction.
Coronary heart disease facts
It is important to consider that healthcare professionals are usually only involved when heart disease becomes evident, and sometimes this can be too late. So, overwhelmingly, prevention is better than cure. The following coronary heart disease statistics can be very sobering :-
- Heart disease affects nearly 1 million people in the United Kingdom
- Heart disease kills more than 110,000 people each year in the United Kingdom
- 40 percent of patients who die of a heart attack have no prior warning
- 50 percent of heart attack deaths occur in the first two hours following the attack
- Doctors and heart specialists typically see less than 5 percent of patients who die after a sudden heart attack
A relatively new illness?
Coronary heart disease has only been recognised as a major disease for about a hundred years. In the last few decades we have seen major scientific advances in its diagnosis and treatment through drugs and surgical procedures which has resulted in thousands of lives being saved.
However despite all this progress, worldwide heart disease statistics indicate that heart disease is still increasing dramatically.
Coronary heart disease develops in the arteries over a long period of time. However it is possible to personally influence whether this terrible dread disease will take a hold over your life or not.
Previous generations had much simpler lives
It is very obvious that our ancestors lead very different lives from us. In order to feed themselves, they had to use a lot of physical energy to hunt, or manually farm their food. The type of food they ate largely consisted of vegetables, fruit and nuts with some fish or meat if they had a lucky break on the previous hunting trip.
The way the food was cooked also differed – it would usually have been cooked in a hurry over an open fire, rather than refined and over-cooked, thus losing much nutritional value. But most importantly the pre-historic diet was extremely low in fat. We could refer to this as the perfect ‘anti’ coronary heart disease diet.
Compare that with the modern lifestyle – consumption of high quantities of highly refined processed foods that are also high in saturated fat, salt and sugar. Combined with sedentary or inactive lifestyles with insufficient physical activity and exercise - you have a recipe for illness and disease.
Excessive fat consumption puts a strain on the liver, which is responsible for maintaining the correct level of cholesterol within the body. The excessive fat consumption associated with the modern western diet causes the liver to ‘overflow’ it’s capacity to remove surplus ‘low density molecules’ which are high in ‘bad’ or ‘LDL’ cholesterol lipoproteins.
The human genome project has provided us with some incredible science regarding our genetic make-up. There is good scientific evidence that the human genetic footprint requires a diet and lifestyle that is closer to the pre-historic variety than the modern variety. So it makes sense that if we wish to avoid this disease then we need to return to a lifestyle and diet which is closer to our ancestors.
Symptoms of coronary heart disease
The symptoms of CHD may only begin to manifest themselves after many years or decades of physical neglect. this is why it is known as the silent killer. Most heart disease will remain hidden until it becomes a serious problem. the following symptoms indicate a well established heart problem which requires urgent medical action to prevent a major catastrophe in the sufferer’s life :-
- Chest pain, also called angina
- Shortness of breath when exercising or during another vigorous activity
A fast heartbeat - Weakness, dizziness, and feeling sick to your stomach (nausea)
- Increased sweating.
Importance of understanding the risk factors
In order to prevent CHD, we need to fully understand the causes, which involves looking at all the risk factors. There are many different reasons which cumulatively increase the risk of developing a heart condition. The major ones which are listed below are responsible for 90 percent of all first heart attacks :-
- smoking
- high blood pressure
- poor diet
- excess body fat
- insufficient exercise
- excess stress
It is never too late to reduce the chance of developing heart disease
Even after many years of neglecting our heart health, the health of the arteries can be improved by making some simple but major lifestyle changes. The most important of these are to adopt a healthy diet, take healthy exercise, lose excess weight, and quit smoking.