The Oasis

PTSD and Your Heart

Almost everyone is familiar with the term PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD can effect people who have been though a harrowing event, such as in the aftermath of war or other terrible disaster. With the wars in Irag and now in Lebanon, plus in the aftermath of the tsunami in Indonesia and Katrina off our own Southeastern Gulf coast, there is no lack of candidates for this distressing disorder.

But PTSD isn't limited to people who have been through a war or survived a natural disaster. This month's Havard Health Letter reports that some people who suffer from heart disease are also susceptible. The authors point out that unlike natural disasters and war-related PTSD, for the heart disease patient, the trauma comes from within. The person is constantly on the alert for any sign of an impending heart attack, such as a skipped heart beat, a racing heart or shortness of breath.

The problem is, these symptoms can also be quite normal responses to everyday activities, such as climbing a flight of stairs or drinking too much coffee. Some heart patients who struggle with PTSD try to cope by avoiding anything that will bring on symptoms that they might interpret as a heart attack. So they stop.

They stop climbing stairs. They stop going for walks. They stop engaging in sexual activity...anything that makes their hearts beat faster. Some people will even stop taking the very medications that their cardiologists prescribe to prevent another heart attack...all because the medications remind them of their illness!

The authors of the Harvard Health Letter tell us that there are four questions that are helpful in identifying PTSD after coping with a heart attack:

1) Do you find yourself thinking about the heart attack even when you don't want to think about it?

2) Are you avoiding places, people, situations or other things that remind you of the heart attack?

3) Notice your feelings...are you constantly on alert?

4) Do you feel removed, detached emotionally from your friends and family?

PTSD can be treated...with talk therapy that aims to get a person reconnected and by helping them come to terms with the traumatic event. Some people also benefit from medications.

Tip from your Wellness Coach: If you, or a loved one, has had a heart attack or other form of heart disease and you suspect PTSD, see your physician. Your heart will thank you!

Sugar High

Reaching for a sugary soft drink to combat that afternoon slump? Think again.

Researchers looked at the effects on afternoon alertness of some of the so-called energy drinks that were high in sugar but moderately low in caffeine. Turns out that the sugary drinks didn't boost energy with that mythical "sugar rush" but after a time, those who consumed the sugary beverages actually got sleepier and had decreases in alertness.

The researchers stated that it's the caffeine and not the sugar which has effects on alertness. Surprisingly, they suggested a jolt of caffeine combined with a short nap, to be the most effective strategy in combatting afternoon drowsiness. Caffeine takes about 30 minutes to work, so theoretically, you could get in your nap before your Starbucks kicks in.

What the researchers didn't say was that the effects of caffeine last a long time...as much as six to twelve hours in some people. So that cup of coffee or one of the higher caffeine energy drinks consumed in the afternoon could very well wreak havoc on your sleep that night...setting you up for a lethargic and uproductive afternoon the next day...which you could combat with a cup of coffee and another short nap.

In a very short while you could be on a health defeating rollercoaster ride.

Tip from your wellness coach: reduce or eliminate your sleep debt by consistently getting to bed earlier every evening.

Watermelon Dectective

If you've been keeping up with the latest in health news, you may have seen a few articles reporting that watermelon is more nutritious when served at room temperature. Personally, I prefer my watermelon ice cold, so I was a bit dismayed when I heard about this. After all, that's one of the joys of these sweltering summer days here in Georgia...a juicy, deep red, icy cold slice of my favorite fruit. The thought of eating watermelon at room temperature is well...a little less than appetizing.

I did a little sleuthing by taking a look at the study behind these headlines. Turns out that watermelons continue to produce more lycopene and beta-carotene even after they are picked, as long as they are stored at room temperature. Lycopene, as you may know, is a powerful anti-oxidant that gives watermelon (and tomatoes) that beautiful red color and also plays a role in preventing heart disease as well as some cancers. Beta-carotene is converted by the body into Vitamin A.

The study, completed by U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists and published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, showed that whole watermelons, when stored at 70 degrees, had substantially more of these nutrients than melons that had been freshly picked or that had been stored at 51 or 41 degrees Fahrenheit.

When compared to freshly picked melons, whole watermelons which had been stored at 70 degrees  (the temperature of an air-conditioned building) for 14 days, gained up to 40 percent more lycopene and a whopping 50 percent more beta-carotene.

Watermelon is a great summer food. True to its name, this favorite summer fruit is 92% water and two cups (a 1-inch half moon slice) contain only 80 calories. Watermelon is also loaded with potassium and is very low in sodium. Of course, watermelon contains no cholesterol or fat.

Tip from your Wellness Coach: store whole watermelons up to 2 weeks at room temperature, rather than your refrigerator, before eating. Chill just prior to serving, so you don't lose out on any of those great nutrients watermelon has to offer. Look for watermelons that are free of damage (cuts, bruises, cracks or dents). The yellow, flat  place on one side of the melon is perfectly normal, as this was the part of the melon that had contact with the ground as the melon was ripening on the vine. Rinse the melon well before cutting, as your knife could drag dirt and germs into the fruit.

Happy eating!

For more tips and tasty watermelon recipes, including Watermelon Fire and Ice Salsa, go on over to North Carolina's Department of Agriculture.

Rich Dad, Tired Dad

One reason the rich may live longer than people who are poor is that rich people get more sleep.

Researchers at the University of Chicago looked at nearly 700 adults in Chicago and compared sleep characteristics by sex and race. Blacks got less sleep than whites and women got less sleep than men.

The researchers initially thought that people with high income, high status jobs would report less sleep, but that turned out not to be true. This finding could help to explain why blacks suffer from more health problems than whites.

Not only did researchers rely on the study participants self-report, but they also monitored them with a wristwatch-like device, called an actigraph, that recorded their body movements while they were in bed. Study participants thought they were all getting about seven hours of sleep a night but they were really getting only about six hours. White women slept, on average, 6.7 hours a night, white men, 6.1 hours, black women, 5.9 and black men slep only 5.1 hours a night. These racial and sex differences remained even after the researchers took into account such things as socioeconomic status, lifestyle and  type of employment.

The study was published in the July 1st issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Rich Dad, Old Dad

Perhaps money can't buy happiness, but it does appear that extra cash can buy you a few years...perhaps as many as seven.

An intriguing new study from Britian looked at 1,552 women twins between the ages of 18 and 75, dividing them into five socio-economic groups. Even after adjusting for things such as obesity, exercise and smoking, which can also acclerate aging, researchers found chromosomal evidence of faster aging in the women who fell into the lower socio-economic groups.

The researchers theorize that poor people are under increased psychological stress, which has been shown to have a biological impact on the body. The study is to be published in the October issue of the journal Aging Cell.