Simple Breath Test Might Diagnose Heart Failure

Title: Simple Breath Test Might Diagnose Heart Failure
Category: Health News
Created: 3/25/2013 4:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 3/26/2013 12:00:00 AM

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Simple Breath Test Might Diagnose Heart Failure

Noninvasive method found accurate in small, early study

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental breath test, designed to quickly identify patients suffering from heart failure simply by analyzing the contents of a single exhaled breath, has demonstrated promise in early trials, a team of researchers says.

The investigators stressed that their evaluation is based on a small group of participating patients, and that more extensive research will have to be done to confirm their initial success.

But by subjecting a patient's breath to a rigorous but fast analysis of the hundreds of so-called volatile organic compounds contained therein, the study team said it has so far been able to correctly diagnose heart failure among newly hospitalized patients with a 100 percent accuracy.

"Every individual has a breath print that differentiates them from other people, depending on what's going on in their body," explained study lead author Dr. Raed Dweik, a staff physician in the department of pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine with the Respiratory Institute at Cleveland Clinic. "And that print can tell us a lot about a person, what they've been exposed to and what disease they have," he added.

"That's what makes the new field of breath testing so promising, because it is non-intrusive, so there is no risk involved," Dweik said. "And you can do it anywhere, in a clinic, in a hospital, anywhere."

The findings were published March 25 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The study authors pointed out that the most common reason American patients are admitted to a hospital is when there is a suspicion of heart failure -- a tough-to-treat condition in which the heart's pumping action grows gradually weaker over time.

Currently, a diagnosis of heart failure comes from a variety of factors, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. These include medical history and symptoms, and a physical exam in which a doctor will listen to a patient's heart and lung sounds, and check ankles, feet, legs and abdomen for signs of fluid buildup. Blood tests and an electrocardiogram can help confirm that heart failure exists.

In the new study, to gauge how well the noninvasive breath test could identify heart failure, the team collected exhaled breath samples from 41 patients who had been admitted as in-patients to the Cleveland Clinic.

Of those, 25 had been admitted with a primary diagnosis of "acute decompensated heart failure" while another 16 patients had shown no signs of heart failure but did have other cardiovascular issues. A single breath sample was obtained from each of the patients within 24 hours of admission, as well as from an additional 36 patients with acute decompensated heart failure as an independent point of comparison.

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6 Simple Steps to Keep Your Heart Healthy

A healthy heart -- and a healthier you -- starts today with these quick tips from the experts.

Keeping your heart healthy is so simple it can be put into catchy, two-word phrases: Eat right. Get exercise. Don’t smoke.

Putting those heart-healthy catch phrases into action, of course, isn’t so simple.  Which matter most? How can you put them into daily practice?

Here are practical heart health hints you can use every day.

Adults need at least 30 minutes of exercise five or more days a week for heart health. But improving cardiovascular and overall health isn’t only about sweating on a treadmill or climbing stairs, say the pros. Getting out to play is exercise too, and improving heart health is just as easily about kickball with your kids, walking the dog, or shooting hoops with colleagues during your lunch break.

Get a total of at least 30 minutes of exercise daily -- and you don’t have to do it all at once. Aim for a 10-minute morning walk perhaps, a short workout with hand weights at lunch, and some digging in the garden before dinner, and you’ve met your goals.

To get the full benefits of aerobic exercise "folks should get their heart rate up so they’re somewhat breathless, but can still carry on a conversation," says Susan Moores, RD, MS, a registered dietitian and American Dietetic Association spokeswoman. She adds that all kinds of exercises are important, from strength training and aerobics, to flexibility and stretching exercises.

"Nobody’s going to keep an eye on your medical health other than you," says Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, author of Food Synergy, and WebMD’s "Recipe Doctor." "You are in charge."

That’s an easy thing to forget, especially when talking about the ho-hum pragmatism of routine health exams. Yet getting regular blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol checks, as well as physical exams are important steps in maintaining heart health.

"Anything you can find out about what’s going on inside your body the better," says Magee. Especially true when you consider that heart-threatening conditions like high blood pressure and high cholesterol are "silent" -- meaning there’s almost no way to know you have them unless you get tested.

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Simple Changes in Lifestyle to Achieve Weight Loss

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Guest Post Written by Sachin

Losing weight seems a humungous task for somebody who has just started in this direction. During the initial days one looks for various options available on the net that suits them and there is also a tendency to look out for easy ways to achieve weight loss. There are some who start off with a strict weight loss regimen which they are not able to handle after some days or weeks. This result in reverting back whatever benefit was gained with respect to weight loss. There are some simple weight loss tips which if practiced may help in bringing about significant benefits. Some of these have been discussed below.

Serving in smaller plates and bowls greatly helps in reducing the portion size of the food you consume. A three ounce serving on a big plate looks small, but the same serving on a small plate looks larger.

Positive Changes in Life to Control Weight

It has been found that when you sleep six hours or less before starting your day, the tired body craves sugary or high carbohydrate foods to restore the energy it lacks. Doctors from the University of Chicago studied two hormone levels, ghrelin and leptin, in 12 healthy males while monitoring the men’s appetites and activity levels. When the men received less sleep their leptin levels decreased and ghrelin levels increased. Their appetites were significantly larger, resulting in a 45% increased demand for carbohydrates and other high-calorie foods. Thus, providing sufficient rest to the body helps in avoiding cravings for sugary foods.

Exercise smart instead of hard. Walking helps in diminishing “bad cholesterol”, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) while increasing “good cholesterol”, high-density lipoprotein (HDL). It reduces blood pressure and also helps in enhancing mood. Jogging, running and bicycling are high-impact exercises. Start with a few minutes of stretching and then preferred exercise at least 3 days a week. The length of workout should be increased gradually over time.

In a weight loss regimen rewards have a significant role to play. For instance, if you are sacrificing three of your favorite junk foods or candies out of your diet plan, set aside a day when you reward your efforts by eating one of those three foods.

According to researchers some spices like cinnamon, turmeric, paprika, garlic powder, oregano and rosemary have positive benefits on the metabolism of the body.

Hormones, like adrenalin and CRH, are released when you’re too stressed, decreasing your appetite for a short time. This is known as the “fight or flight” response, but when the stressors are events that one can neither fight nor avoid and then you tend to eat more.

In contrast to chicken skin, which contains 30% of the fat that poultry has, edible fruit skins contain most of the nutrients of the fruit. Some of these are blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, prunes, and some others.

Time Management: A Boon to your Life Style

Time management is an often overlooked aspect when going on a weight loss regimen. Planning ahead for the time dedicated for exercise and other important work greatly helps in sustaining your weight loss efforts.

Keeping the kitchen stocked up with fruits, vegetables, healthy meats, grains, cereals, spices, and other relevant items encourages healthy cooking. Apart from these eating healthy home cooked meals is a great way to avoid excess calories which come along with packaged meals and other junk foods.  Whether it’s you who’s cooking, a family member, or house help, one must ensure that every one practices healthy cooking methods, and ingredients. Using less oil, low salt, fresh produce, start showing their results in no time.

Thus if one adheres to these simple weight loss tips one can not only bring about positive changes in one’s lifestyle but also be more healthy and fit.

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How to Design Your Own Simple Workout: Easy Workout Ideas

I hear from people all the time that they don't have time to workout, much less design their own simple workout program.  We all know that achieving our goals really is a matter of prioritizing. 

If you aren't exercising regularly, you simply aren't putting fitness high enough on your list of priorities. It happens to all of us.  The best thing to do if you find your exercise commitment slipping is to recognize the problem (which you are obviously doing now,) and then renew your commitment by reminding yourself of why you wanted to get fit in the first place. 

Designing your own simple workout and exercise regimen is not complicated, really.  Let's say you're a beginner and your goal is to do cardio three times a week and strength training three times a week.

For cardio - you could pick three different activities, or choose the same activity but switch up the methodology.  For example, if you jog for your cardio, one day you could do a tempo jog for 30 minutes, one day you could do sprints, and one day you could do a slow, steady hour jog.

Strength training plans are just as easy to whip together, even when you have very little planning or prep time. 

1.  Select the muscles you want to target      
2.  Choose 1 to 3 exercises per muscle group (preferably compound moves)
3.  Perform them back to back in superset form
4.  Repeat in rounds (generally 2 to 4 rounds, or as long as time allows.)

So here's a quick example following the above method:

1.  Legs, shoulders, abs
2.  Legs - squats, lunges.
Shoulders - overhead press, upright rows.
Abs - lower crunches, bicycle crunches.
3.  Superset one: 20 squats, 15 overhead presses, 30 lower crunches.
Superset two:  10 lunges, 15 upright rows, 30 bicycle crunches.
4.  Repeat each superset 3 times.

I try keeping a set of exercise bands in the car or with me when I travel, so I'm never without resistance options for a simple workout off the cuff.  I also keep a jump rope with me for effective cardio where ever I go.  If I only have 10 minutes to get a little exercise in, the jump rope is a lifesaver.  A little prep goes a long way.

Of course, if you’re the type of person who prefers to have a coach doing the entire workout planning for you and helping you take it up a notch, I can help you with that, too. 

Remember, procrastination kills and makes us fat and lazy. Your chosen exercise methods aren’t that important -  Just get moving!

Here are a bunch of workouts to try. Remember to suit them to your specific needs. Some of them use bands (I love the convenience of these), some use free weights, some are body weight routines, and some are traditional gym workouts. I'm always hunting new ways to spice it up, so there are pointers and tips for each workout. Have fun!

Best Workout Ever

How to Design Your Own Simple Workout

3 Day Total Body Workout

Bootcamp Style

4 Day Split

5 Day Split

Total Body Band Workout

No Gym Req. Exercises

Killer Upper Body Workout

Best Glute Workout

 

View the original article here

Design your own simple training: easy Workout ideas

I hear from people all the time that they don't have time to train, much less design their own simple workout program.  We all know that really achieving our goals is a matter of priority.

If you are not exercising regularly, you just am not high enough on your list of priorities put fitness. It happens to all of us.  The best thing to do if you find your exercise is to recognize the problem bet slip (which you obviously does now), and then renew your commitment by reminding yourself of why you wanted to get fit in the first place.

Design your own simple workout and exercise regime is not really complicated.  Suppose you are a beginner and your goal is to do cardio three times a week and strength training three times per week.

For cardio -you could choose from three different activities, or choose the same activity but switch of the methodology.  For example, if you jog for your cardio, jogging a day you could do a jogging pace for 30 minutes, you could do one day sprints, and one day you could do a slow, steady hours.

Strength training plans are just as easy to whip together, even when you have little planning or prep time.

1. Select the muscles that you want to target
2. choose 1 to 3 exercises per muscle group (preferably compound movements)
3. run them back to back in superset form
4. repeat in rounds (generally 2 to 4 rounds, or as long as time allows.)

So here is a quick example after the above method:

1. Legs, shoulders, abs
2. legs-squats, lunges.
Shoulders-overhead press, upright rows.
Lower ABS crunches, bicycle crunches.
3. a: 20 squats, overhead presses Superset 15, 30 lower crunches.
Superset two: 10 lunges, 15 upright rows, 30 bicycle crunches.
4. repeat each superset 3 times.

I try to keep a set of exercise bands or in the car with me when I travel, so I never without resistance the cuff a simple training options.  I also keep a skipping rope with me for effective cardio where ever I go.  If I only have a little exercise in 10 minutes, the jump rope is a lifesaver.  A little prep goes a long way.

Of course, if you're the type of person who prefers to have a coach who the entire training schedule for you and help you take it up a notch, I can help you with that too.

Remember, procrastination kills and makes us fat and lazy. Your chosen exercise methods are not so important-Just get moving!

Here is a bunch of workouts to try. Remember to customize them to your specific needs. Some of them use tires (I love the convenience of this), some use free weights, some are body weight routines and some are traditional gym workouts. I'm always hunting new ways to spice, so there are pointers and tips for every workout. Have fun!

Best Workout ever

Design your own simple training

3 Day Total Body Workout

Bootcamp style

4 day Split

5 day Split

Total body workout Band

No Gym Req. exercises

Killer Upper Body Workout

Best Glute Workout

 

View the original article here