27 February, 2015

Two hours of TV will put your kids at high BP risk

Parents must watch out as kids, who spend more than two hours watching television, computers or video consoles in a day run a 30 percent greater risk of developing high blood pressure, says new research.

Doing no daily physical activity or an activity which is less than an hour a day makes one more prone to risk by 50 percent, said researchers from University of Sao Paulo, in Brazil.

"The study shows the number of new high blood pressure cases and the connection between physical activity and different sedentary behaviours with the risk of high blood pressure in European children," explained lead researcher Augusto Cesar de Moraes from the University of Sao Paulo.

The scientists based their conclusion on data gathered over two years from eight European countries (Spain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Cyprus, Estonia, Sweden and Belgium). It involved 5,221 children, who were between two and 10 years old at the beginning of the study.

The cumulative incidence of high blood pressure in this population during the two years analysed is high: 110 in 1,000, the findings showed.

"The figures are worrying, given that sedentary behaviours are common in infancy and subsequently, later in life," said the authors.

The researchers observed that not doing an hour of physical activity a day increases the risk of high blood pressure by 50 percent.

"Scientific evidence indicates that physical activity is a powerful vasodilator. Therefore, the rate of oxygenation of the heart increases, and at the same time, decreases arterial pressure," the researchers concluded.

The study was published in the International Journal of Cardiology.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

27.02.2015

More sleep may put you at higher stroke risk

In yet another instance of how too much of a good thing can be bad for you, new research shows that people who sleep more than eight hours a night face increased risk of stroke.

Long sleepers -- those who sleep more than eight hours a night -- are 46 percent more likely to have a stroke than people who sleep six to eight hours a night, which is considered an average amount of sleep, the findings showed.

"We do not know yet whether long sleep is a cause, consequence or early marker of ill health," said study author Yue Leng from the University of Cambridge in Britain.

The study involved 9,692 people with an average age of 62 who had never had a stroke. They were asked about their sleeping habits once and then again about four years later. The participants were followed for an average of 9.5 years. During that time, 346 people had a stroke.

Of the 986 people, who slept more than eight hours a night, 52 had a stroke, compared to 211 of the 6,684 people who slept an average amount. People who shifted over time from sleeping less than six hours a night to sleeping more than eight hours a night were nearly four times as likely to have a stroke as people, who consistently slept an average amount.

The relationship between long sleep and stroke stayed the same after researchers accounted for factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, body mass index and physical activity.

The study appeared in the journal Neurology.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

27.02.2015

They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give to them

Mahatma Gandhi