Causes of Varicose Veins, Definitely Not Crossing Legs

I remember when I was younger, I was kept being told by parents and also friends, not to cross legs after exercising or after a long walk, as this can cause varicose veins. I didn't know how true that was, but I just followed their advice anyway. Oh well, until I read on this health article. Crossing legs does not cause or exacerbate varicose veins.

What is varicose veins? These are veins with weakened walls, which cause them to bulge above our skin surface. And this damage to the wall affects the vein's job of returning blood circulation to our heart. Varicose veins can cause itching, pains, and sometimes eczema and ulcers.

According to Dr Ken Myers, a Melbourne vein expert, crossing legs does not affect the risks of varicose veins or even spider veins (smaller veins). It does not make the varicose veins any worse either.

A study was conducted to look at the risk factors for varicose veins conditions, and none points to crossing legs.

One of the causes of varicose veins is genetics. But many other causes remains unknown yet. An increased pressure in veins is not a cause, according to this study. The study also dismiss the previous beliefs that varicose veins was caused by the backwards pressure of blood in the veins, blowing them up like a balloon. The study concluded that when the damage to the veins is already done, then the back pressure can become a factor, thus is not the initial cause of varicose veins.

Below is the list of myths that was believed to worsen varicose veins:

• Crossing legs, as the pressure in veins is minimal, thus this habit does not worsen the existing condition


• Smoking


• Having high blood pressure


• Wearing heels

The known factors to cause varicose veins condition to worsen is:

• Standing for long period, as it increases pressure on veins and worsen the condition slightly


• Pregnancy, probably due to hormonal changes


• Obesity, no known reason why this worsen the condition

Treatment for varicose veins involving closing off the affected veins by removing and/or letting it absorbed by the body. This can be done by means of surgical or non-surgical. This procedure does not harm circulation because other veins can take over the job of veins that no longer carry blood. But this does not guarantee that other veins will not be affected by varicose veins.

What you can do in the meantime is to wear support stockings, as this reduces swelling nd discomfort. Especially for my preggar friends, do wear support stockings (as your gynae might have suggested to you already)!

We All Can Die From Broken Hearted

It hit me long time ago, as I saw in some families, when one member of the family (be it the parent or the child) died due to some reasons, the other member of family will also die in the following weeks. It occurred to me back then, whether there might be some logical explanation that can justify why the other member of the family can die too? Is it dying because of broken hearted? Because of unbearable grieve and sorrow?

It turned out that this actually has a logical explanation behind it. I saw the news several days ago about dying because of broken hearted.

The fact is, you can die when someone you love dies, especially if the person is your partner or your child. This is due to increased risks of heart attack, according to Dr Thomas Buckley, a researcher and lecturer at the University of Sydney.

Based on their research, the bereaved people experienced:

• psychological symptoms such as anger, depression, anxiety.


• physical symptoms such as reduced sleep, reduced appetite, increase in blood pressure and stress hormones, changes in immune system and blood clotting

The biological risk of heart attack is most intense in the first few weeks after the death of the loved one. But it decreases considerably 3 months after the death, and still continue to reduce down to 6 months (at this point, the researchers stopped measuring).

What's worth noting is that it's not just older people who are at increased risks of a heart attack. Younger people are also at significant high risks of a heart attack.

It is recommended for people to be prepared for death as this seems to be very important. And also having the right social support also helps greatly.

Decaffeinated Coffee is No Safer than Caffeinated Coffee for Pregnant Women

Just drank my cup of coffee for today. Loves the smell of strong black coffee. It has been way too long I've stopped drinking coffee, all were due to being pregnant and breastfeeding back then. My gynae told me though, that I could still take 1 cup of coffee, tea, or chocolate each day. But I didn't want to take any risks by drinking these beverages. It was very hard to part from coffee as I used to drink at least 5 cups of coffee every day. I was really addicted to coffee. But again, since coffee is not that good for pregnant woman, I really didn't drink coffee for full 16 months.

My friends though, they kept on drinking coffee, 1 glass per day. They had decaf coffee, which was thought to be safer than caffeinated coffee.

Oh I gotta tell you fellows who are coffee addicts and are pregnant now, this doesn't hold true. Decaffeinated coffee is NOT any safer than caffeinated coffee.

It has been known though, that coffee drinking in early pregnancy is linked with miscarriage. Coffee drinking later in pregnancy is associated with low birth weight of the baby.

The current study by Danish researchers, was performed on preggars drinking caffeinated and decaffeinated instant coffee from about 20 weeks of gestation. The results showed that there is no differences in birth weight or prematurity, despite the fact that the caffeinated coffee group had about 180mg of caffeine more per day. And for preggars who drank caffeinated coffee and smoked, they had smaller babies.

So, to all my pregnant friends, please steer clear from coffee. Also avoid tea or chocolate whenever possible. Subsitute with fruit juices instead. Do the best we can do as a mom, and we will have nothing we could regret about in the future

Plants To Clear The Air In Your Office

Looking for something to freshen up the air in your office?

Here is some good news. We may at some relief now, thanks to the research from Plants and Environmental quality Group at the University of Technology in Sydney. Their study has found that plants removed about 70% of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) at concentrations above 100ppb from the office air. Volatile Organic Compounds are emitted from certain types of plastic in chairs, furniture and office appliances. Plant metabolism and soil microorganisms are involved in this clearing the air process.

The plants used in this study are common house plants: Howea forsteriana (Kentia palm); Spathiphyllum wallisii var. Petite (Peace Lily); and Dracaena deremensis var. Janet Craig.

So you might want to start looking for these plants to put in your office, for a safer and clearer air to breathe.

Dark Chocolate Easter Eggs, Anyone?

Happy Early Easter!!! (^-^)

And yeah, the reasons why I greet happy Easter now is because I just read this interesting research, that I thought you all should know soon!!!

If you guys have not yet bought any Easter chocolate for your beloved friends and families, you'd better rush to nearest sweet tooth stores to get dark chocolate easter eggs!!! Why? Because a new study shows that dark chocolate can lower blood pressure, with no changes to cholesterol or blood sugar.

The main reason is because dark chocolate can contain blood-pressure reducing polyphenols. In this preliminary research, a small piece of dark chocolate was able to lower blood pressure by 2 or 3 points on average. The effects might be caused by polyphenols relaxing the arteries.

However, this study needs further research. But anyhow, a small or few small pieces of dark chocolate won't do you harm. Just remember the classic principle, not to take in any food in excessive amount.

Some of you might be wondering, why not white chocolate? what's with white chocolate then? Besides that it is too sweet (for me, of course), white chocolate is actually polyphenol-free.

So, if you want to indulge your guilty pleasure, at least you have to do it in the right way. Correct?


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References:
Title: Journal of the American Medical Association
Author: Taubert D et al. Effects of low habitual cocoa intake in blood pressure and bioactive nitric oxide. A randomized controlled trial. URL: http://jama.ama-assn.org/
2007;298:49-60

Omega 3 Supplements: Not So Worth It?

I find this new finding about Omega 3 fats very interesting. As I have been taking Omega 3 supplements all these whiles, even my family and people around me worship Omega 3 so much!! Well..not any longer if they read new finding on Omega 3.

It was believed that Omega 3 fats in fish oil are good for our health. For us who concern about our future health, a.k.a our health when we are old. Most of us are afraid of this monsterous cancer. We all have learned long while ago that Omega 3 fats are good to prevent us from cancer, stroke and heart disease.

A review of the current belief on benefits of Omega 3 was conducted by British researchers. The review suggests that taking extra fish oil may not have as much benefit as we all thought.

The researchers conducted most trials on supplements. Surprising results, that taking the Omega 3 supplements showed NO BENEFIT for cancer, doubtful benefits for heart disease.

It is advised that people suffering from a heart attack would benefit from consuming whole fish. However, if we are all well and healthy, taking Omega 3 supplements may just not worth the money and the bad breath.

Learning from this new finding, I would now stop buying Omega 3 fats, and as it has been said, it is better to consume fresh food rather than processed food, in this case supplements.


For Reference:
Title: British Medical JournalAuthor: Brunner E. Oily fish and omega 3 fat supplements. URL: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/2006;332:739-740

Title: British Medical JournalAuthor: Hooper Lee at al. Risks and benefits of omega 3 fats for mortality, cardiovascular disease and cancer: systematic review. URL: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/2006;332:752-755

Buddhism, Emotions and Happiness

Yesterday, Sunday, like usual I went to temple. It is one of the biggest temples here in Jakarta. And yesterday unlike any other Sundays, there was this guest Reverend from England, visiting Jakarta and therefore he gave a sermon on Emotions.

As was said, developing positive emotions is developing positive states of mind. In the words of Buddha himself, "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world."

This is in fact, an idea that's in line with current thinking in psychology. This simple philosophy, that changing the way we think can change the way we feel.

For Buddhists, the key method of achieving this is meditation – which usually involves fixing our attention on a body part, the breath, a mantra or an inspirational picture – to arrive at a state where we are not distracted by our thoughts. And psychologists do agree that quite aside from any spiritual connotations, meditation is a powerful tool.

Research has shown that practising meditation regularly – and being more 'mindful', that is, focused on the present moment – has beneficial effects for a range of conditions. These include stress, anxiety, depression, poor sleep and coping with chronic pain. It also has other health benefits like reduced inflammation, improved immunity and lower blood pressure.

Most methods suggest meditating for about 20 minutes twice a day, although many people will find it useful to start with five to 10 minutes twice a day and to build from there.

Meditation in the lab

Dr Richard Davidson, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the US, and his team, have examined the brain activity of eight longtime expert Buddhist practitioners, including monks, while they meditated on unconditional compassion, generating loving empathic thoughts toward all beings.

As a control, 10 student volunteers with no previous meditation experience were also tested after one week of training.

"Our research is related to what Buddhists call neuroplasticity," explains Dr Antoine Lutz, the project's principal investigator.

"We wanted to test whether the training of the mind as cultivated using Buddhist meditative techniques can alter brain functions such as attention and emotions. Comparing these two groups was a way to see whether there's a relationship between mind training and brain activity."

As both groups meditated on compassion, the scientists recorded gamma waves in the subjects' brains using an electroencephalogram. Gamma waves are some of the highest-frequency and most important electrical brain impulses, due to their association with perception and consciousness.

Intriguingly, the electrodes detected much greater gamma wave activity in the experienced meditators, and found that this was much better organised and coordinated than in the brains of the novice meditators.

The novice meditators showed only a slight increase in gamma wave activity while meditating, but some of the experienced meditators produced gamma wave activity more powerful than has ever been reported. And those who had spent the most years meditating had the highest level of all.

Significantly, previous studies have associated mental activities such as attention, memory and learning with the kind of augmented neural coordination found in the experienced meditators.

The extreme gamma wave activity detected in this group has also been associated with weaving together far-flung brain circuits, suggesting higher mental activity and heightened awareness of those mental states most likely to bring happiness.

"The spectacular difference between the two groups suggests that mental training as cultivated in this contemplative tradition can radically alter brain functions," confirms Lutz.

"This is further supported by the group difference in the initial electrical baseline," he continues, "which also suggests these changes persist in a way that infuses daily life with certain qualities cultivated by meditation.

"So certainly this collaborating research with the Buddhist tradition informs our understanding on the possible mechanisms involved in mind training, and possibly wellbeing."


All in all, we have to control our emotions, so we can develop positive states of mind, which would bring happiness to us and people around us.

Coffee: Good or Bad?

Some of us, including myself, need coffee to start a day. And even worse, we need caffeine to kick-in to get our brain start 'working'. This is actually quite a common situation for us, working people.

Well, some findings do show coffee contains higher anti-oxidants than found in fruits. And also that coffee consumption is beneficial for men. It is said that this would increase the swimming speed of sperms.

However, you should also know the side effects of coffee consumptions. Besides heart beating faster and insomnia, coffee actually have greater side effects that these common knowledge.

Coffee is indeed doing no good for women as it may cause infertility if it is consumed in excess amount.

In fact, there is a new US study shows that pregnant women who drink two or more cups of coffee a day can double their risk of having a miscarriage.

US researchers say they have conclusive proof to show that women who drink a lot of caffeine on a daily basis in the early months of pregnancy have an elevated risk of miscarriage.

The researchers say in a paper published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology to be absolutely safe, expectant mothers should avoid caffeinated beverages of any kind during the first five months of pregnancy.

Expectant mothers should avoid daily caffeine consumption, be it from coffee, tea, hot chocolate, caffeinated beverages, or a combination of all of these.

So, do watch out your caffeine intake, especially for working expectant mothers.