Health TO YOUR
Mid-Valley Newspapers
May 2012
A guide to wellness and healthy living in the Mid-Willamette Valley
STAT Quick reads about health topics in the news Walking wonders Studies using pedometers show Americans take fewer steps per day than walkers in any other industrialized nation, according to a recent article in Slate. The average Australian takes 9,695 steps per day; the average American about half that — 5,117. In 1969, nearly half of all students in kindergarten through eighth grade walked or biked to school. Forty years later, that percentage dropped to 13 percent, according to a 2011 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Studies show walking just six miles a week makes you smarter, reduces depression, lowers your risk for Alzheimer’s, drops blood pressure and raises your self-esteem. Walking briskly one mile a day can cut in half the risk factor of someone genetically prone to obesity. – McClatchy Newspapers
Men get work done, too
Cassandra Griner takes the VO2 max test at Samaritan Albany General Hospital to determine her fitness level after suffering a blood clot in her lungs a year ago. DAVID PATTON | TO YOUR HEALTH
Mask marvel VO2 max test monitors heart and lungs, assessing risks and fitness By STEVE LATHROP
C
assandra Griner confirmed that she was in pretty good shape. At least the readings from the new VO2 max gave her the go-ahead to keep up her exercising. “It was a different feeling for me. I usually walk or use an elliptical machine, but the news is good,” said Griner after completing her work on the stationary bike while being hooked up to the VO2 max. Dr. George Giacoppe, pulmonologist at Samaritan Pulmonology in Albany, says the new computerized instrument that fits around the nose and mouth can provide a wide range of readings that can benefit athletes in training as well as patients suffering from cardiac or pulmonary issues. “It really has two uses, a training side and a medical side,” Giacoppe said. As a training aid, the VO2 max is valuable for those who are trying to establish a regiMatthew White of Samaritan’s Cardiac Rehabilitation program works with Griner during her test men for fitness. It can give more detailed readings on energy levels and track improve- last Thursday. Her results show that the clot has fully dissolved and it’s safe to keep on exercising. ment over a period of time. It’s medical use ranges from cardio rehawhat strategy to take with patients who may to improve their performance,” Giacoppe bilitation to determining whether breathing be facing a heart transplant, for instance. said. problems may be related to the heart or the One plus is that mid-valley patients no The device measures the workload in lungs. longer have to travel to Portland to undergo watts. Censors connected to the mask moniThe mask sends readings to a computer the testing. tor oxygen consumption — how much air is screen that the attenGiacoppe also expects it will coming in and out — reads heart rate, and dant can monitor as the be a great tool for rehabilitation. can track metabolic rates. Those taking a patient or athlete works ‘It can make you sweat Matthew White of Samaritan’s ride or walk have their blood pressure moniout on either a stationRehabilitation crew said tored throughout the test and also are conlike crazy. We ramp it Cardiac ary bike or a treadmill. it allows trainers there to help nected to an EKG. up every minute.’ Readings include the enshow patients that they are Once in progress, the system relays when ergy levels, and cardio healthy enough to push themsomeone’s performance on the machines MATTHEW WHITE and respiratory funcselves to the next level. becomes more intense, switching from aeroCARDIAC REHABILITATION tions. “Sometimes patients reach a bic to anaerobic exercise. Griner, a surgical point they aren’t willing to The test takes about 12 to 15 minutes. nurse at SAGH, was first monitored for base move beyond,” White said. “We can show “It can make you sweat like crazy,” White readings before moving to the bike for her them through the readings that they are in said. “We ramp it up every minute.” workout. She had suffered a blood clot in her no danger to keep going. It removes that Giacoppe said it is valuable in underlung over a year ago and was looking to see if psychological block.” standing how the body works. It can detershe could safely continue to exercise. Local athletes may be the ones who can mine an individual’s exercise limits and their “According to the test, her clot has disbenefit the most, according to Giacoppe. He pulmonary and cardiac limits. solved. Her readings were normal,” Giacoppe said many professional teams have a similar The machine, which arrived two months said. “She’s good to go.” system to track progress of an athlete’s fitago and cost about $100,000, was funded by One of the main purposes of the new ma- ness. Lance Armstrong helped popularize it the Samaritan Albany General Hospital chine, which according to Giacoppe is the when he used similar instruments to train Foundation. only one in the mid-valley, is to asses surgi- for the Tour de France. The service is expected to provide a new cal risk for lung cancer or heart surgery pa“We would like to open it up to local athrevenue stream for the hospital and possibly tients. The evaluation can help determine letes so they can track their levels and work job opportunities.
In 2011, 9 percent of surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures in the United States were conducted on men, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery — a 121 percent increase since 1997. While the number of cosmetic surgical procedures performed in the United States increased just 1 percent from 2010 to 2011, the number of males getting liposuction and eyelid surgeries is on the rise. More than 41,000 lipoplasty procedures and almost 23,000 eyelid surgeries were performed on men in 2011, increasing 14 percent and 6 percent, respectively. – Los Angeles Times
C and blood pressure Large doses of Vitamin C may moderately reduce blood pressure, Johns Hopkins researchers have found. But the scientists don’t recommend people start taking large amounts of the vitamin. Researchers led by Dr. Edgar “Pete” R. Miller, an associate professor in the division of general internal medicine at Hopkins, reviewed and analyzed data from 29 previous clinical trials and found that taking 500 milligrams of Vitamin C daily, or five times the recommended amount, could lower blood pressure by 3.84 millimeters. However, Miller warned that none of the studies showed that vitamin C directly prevents or reduces rates of cardiovascular disease, including stroke. – The Baltimore Sun
Obesity costs rise The cost of hospitalizations in the United States related to childhood obesity rose from $125.9 million in 2001 to $237.6 million four years later, according to a study in the journal Health Affairs. – McClatchy Newspapers
Allergy bills go up By 2005, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Americans spent $11.2 billion for medications (more than half were prescriptions) to treat airborne allergies. That was nearly double what Americans spent on such drugs in 2000. – The Seattle Times
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To Your Health
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Chasing after health Corvallis game show-style event will raise funds for American Heart Association TO YOUR HEALTH
On Saturday, May 19, teams of energetic people will descend on the Samaritan Health Services campus on the north end of Corvallis to go through a series of wacky challenges at HeartChase, a new game show-style fundraiser for heart disease research. Some people will be there for a good time. Some will be there to support a good cause. Mckenna Koon will be there for her family. “I’ve always had a really healthy heart, and I didn’t really think it affected my family,” the OSU senior said. Then her aunt was diagnosed with coronary artery disease and told she may need open heart surgery. “After that, I wasn’t just on the outside anymore,” Koon said. Koon’s mother has now started a team in her sister’s honor, called “Team Connie;” Mckenna, her mother and her aunt will all be there at HeartChase, playing games and tackling challenges in an effort to combat the disANDY CRIPE/TO YOUR HEALTH ease that has now become a Oregon State University student Mckenna Koon will compete in her reality for their family.
aunt’s honor in the upcoming HeartChase fundraiser.
Organizers of HeartChase describe it as “Amazing Race” meets “Minute to Win It.” Teams will compete against each other to complete a series of health-themed challenges, with prizes for the teams that rack up the most points. The event is a new one for Corvallis and for the sponsoring organization, the American Heart Association. “This is a pilot event. It’s never been done in Oregon before, and there are only six or seven in the entire U.S.,” said Alison Blazer, one of the volunteer organizers of the event. Blazer said the American Heart Association
thought Corvallis in particular would be a good place to grow the event. “Oregon is known as a healthy state, and they were drawn to Corvallis because it’s community-oriented.” Teams can be made of up two to five people — it could be families, couples, coworkers or friends. Each team needs one smartphone to help navigate their way through the chase. It starts at 10 a.m. on May 19 at the entrance to the Samaritan Heart and Vascular Institute, and costs $30 per person to register. You can register online at corvallisheartchase.org. Each checkpoint is spon-
sored by a local group or business, and each is aimed at somehow educating participants about heart health. For example, a checkpoint called “Build This, Not That,” is sponsored by the OSU Student Dieticians Association and Devco Engineering. It challenges teams to guess the calories in a particular item — and, if they guess wrong, they have to strap on pedometers and do jumping jacks or some other exercise until they’ve worked off the caloric difference. At the end of the event, there will be a fair with live music, food booths and tables from the sponsors.
IF YOU GO What: HeartChase, a fundraiser for heart disease research. When: Saturday, May 19; the HeartChase begins at 10 a.m. The competition will be followed by a fair with live music, food booths, and tables from the sponsors. Where: The event begins at the entrance to the Samaritan Heart and Vascular Institute, 3600 N.W. Samaritan Drive. How much: The event costs $30 per person to register. You can register online at corvallisheartchase.org. Organizers say they hope the fledgling event draws a large crowd — their goal is 400-500 participants — and raises a good chunk of money for the American Heart Association. But more than that, they hope participants will come away knowing more about heart disease.
A bit of awareness A little bit of awareness is what first led Mckenna Koon’s aunt to see the doctor in the first place. Koon did an internship with the American Heart Association last summer, and was so inspired that she told her family all about the things she was learning about heart health. “It was from that research that she decided to get tested for heart disease,” Koon said. “Now she’s trying to get healthy so that maybe she won’t have to have open heart surgery.” Koon said the diagnosis has been a reminder for her entire family that they need to pay attention to their health. “You always think, ‘oh, that could never happen to me,’” she said. “And then you find out that it can.”
Strokes abound in Oregon BY JENNIFER ROUSE TO YOUR HEALTH
Organizers of the mid-valley’s new heart disease benefit event, HeartChase, say they chose the location because Oregon is known as one of the healthier states in the union — and that’s true by many common measures, such as rates of obesity, rates of diabetes, and the number of people who smoke. But in one important way, Oregon sticks out as particularly unhealthy: its rate of stroke. According to the Centers for Disease Control’s “Atlas of Stroke Mortality,” Oregon is the fifth-worst state in the country for stroke rates. Karen Phillips, stroke program coordinator for Samaritan Health Services, said that when you look at national maps showing stroke data, the other high-risk states are in the southern United States, where rates of diabetes and obesity also tend to be higher. Other Northwestern states have lower rates than Oregon. “No one knows why,” Phillips said. “Oregon is this sore thumb sticking out in the middle of the stroke rate maps. It’s crazy.” May is American Stroke Month, and organizers of HeartChase hope the coinciding event will increase awareness of stroke, which is a cardiovascular disease, similar to coronary artery disease or other conditions more commonly associated with heart health. “It is a cardiovascular disease that just affects the brain as well,” Phillips
FYI For more information, visit www.samhealth.org/services/stroke or www.strokeassociation.org. said. Just as clogged or blocked arteries in other parts of the body can cause a heart attack, a clogged or ruptured artery in the brain can cause a stroke, sometimes called a “brain attack.” Locally, Linn County and Marion County fall into the worst category ranking for stroke rates, with 147 or more deaths from stroke per 100,000 people. Benton and Lincoln counties are in the second-worst category, with between 134 and 146 deaths per 100,000.
Taking FAST action Phillips emphasized two things as she reviewed the negative data: First, it’s possible to modify many of your risk factors. Following the advice that will improve your heart health — such as eating healthy foods, increasing exercise and taking steps to lower cholesterol — also will bring down your risk of stroke. Second, residents of a high-risk stroke area should be watchful for symptoms of stroke in themselves or those around them. The signs aren’t always immediately apparent, and so Phillips likes to use the acronym FAST: • The letter F stands for face: Is there a facial droop, blurred vision or
dizziness? Phillips said asking someone experiencing possible stroke symptoms to smile, and then seeing whether both sides of the face respond, is one simple test. • A stands for arm or appendage. This could be an entire side of the body gone numb, or it could be a strange weakness or tingling sensation on one half of the body. “I’d ask a person to close their eyes and hold out their arm,” she said. If they can’t do that with their eyes closed, there may be a problem. • S is for speech. If words are slurred or garbled, or if the person is speaking but the words are jumbled and don’t make sense, that’s a sign of stroke. “Sometimes it’s like a paragraph got put into a blender,” Phillips said. “Ask the person to repeat a couple of sentences and see if they can do it.” • T is for time. The faster a person experiencing a stroke gets to the hospital, the better. “Time lost equals brain tissue lost,” Phillips said. She said that in one instance in Corvallis recently, a woman with no previous health problems walked into church and began having stroke symptoms. Church members recognized the signs and got her to the hospital immediately. “She came in with no function on one half of her body, and her speech involved,” Phillips said.“If she hadn’t been treated, she might have had to live her life in some kind of home. But instead, she left walking and talking and was able to return to her former quality of life.”
Good night’s sleep contributes to healthy eating BY ELLEN WARREN CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Here’s a new spin on the saying, “If you snooze you lose.” What if the “lose” part applied to your weight? No, it’s not as simple as going to sleep and waking up slimmer. Alas. But a recent Harvard study does suggest that people who get a good night’s rest find it easier to resist overeating — especially when it comes to gorging on high-calorie foods like ice cream, cheeseburgers or French fries. We all know the temptation: You’re drowsy during the day, get hungry and head to the snacks aisle or a vending machine for junk food or a candy bar.
borne diseases, even snake venom,” says Dr. David Maybe if your mom hadn’t Robinson, a Virginia Mason stopped you from eating Medical Center allergist. As hygiene increases, dirt at the playground, you wouldn’t be all itchy now these cells have fewer parand runny-nosed because asites to fight, but they’ve got to fight something. it’s allergy season. They decide to fight polIt is that time of the year again, as nature sends out lens, which they do by remillions of grains of pollen, leasing a compound called seemingly mostly into your histamine, which gives us a runny nose and watery eyes eyeballs and nostrils. Are you part of that select to expel those pollens the club of 3 to 5 percent of the cells believe are parasites. By the way, when you buy population who experts say are severely affected by air- over-the-counter allergy medication that contains borne allergens? How severe? Oh, maybe antihistamines, you’re not buying something that like this: As James Thurber, the stops histamine produccelebrated humorist, is said tion. The antihistamine simply atto have comtaches itself plained, “I to the recepused to wake tor sites to up at 4 a.m. Pollen.com offers allergy which the and start forecasts, “best” and histamine sneezing, “worst” cities, and more. sometimes for would attach five hours. I itself, and tried to find out what sort blocks it by having gotten of allergy I had but finally there first. came to the conclusion that As for climate change, a it must be an allergy to con- 2011 report by the federal sciousness.” Environmental Protection And guess what, pollen Agency says warmer temsufferers? It’s only going to peratures and more rain will get worse. cause some plants to grow The allergy season is ex- faster, bloom earlier and pected to last for longer produce more pollen. And, stretches, because of — what says the EPA, we can expect else? — global warming. “allergy seasons to begin Plus, pollen allergies may earlier and last longer.” also affect a larger group of That doesn’t mean a people as more and more of drastic change in pollen the world’s population lives seasons. in ... too-hygienic a society. What the EPA says Yes, too clean. “makes a lot of sense,” says “One of the ideas about Dr. Reynold Karr, a clinical why allergies seem to be professor in the University increasing in the developed of Washington’s Division world is that we have all of Allergy and Infectious these cells that function as Diseases, and the Division a defense mechanism of Rheumatology. “But I against parasites — bad haven’t seen a significant water, bad food, mosquito- change at this point.” BY ERIK LACITIS
BY JENNIFER ROUSE
A healthy challenge
Blown away by pollen?
“Daytime sleepiness was positively related to greater hunger and elevated preference for high-calorie foods,” concluded the study, led by William Killgore, an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School. MRIs of study volunteers showed why. Sleepier people had less activity in the selfcontrol part of the brain — the prefrontal cortex. That’s the area “that puts the brakes on and slows you down from doing things you shouldn’t do” — like eating too much fattening, unhealthy food, says Killgore. “If you’re sleepy, you’re more likely to reach out and take a few extra bites of food or go for that extra dessert or
say yes to something you wouldn’t have,” says Killgore. New preliminary findings show that women are even more inclined than men to overeat and to prefer junk food when they get sleepy during the day.
“People think they’re so busy that, if they’re going to chintz on something, they’re going to cut out some sleep. And that’s one thing they shouldn’t do,” says Killgore. “It affects our ability to control food intake.”
THE SEATTLE TIMES
ON THE WEB
For healthy old age: Let go of your regrets BY MELISSA HEALY LOS ANGELES TIMES
For the young, regret over poor choices or missed opportunities can be a powerful carrot: It sparks reappraisal, accelerates learning and motivates change. In the old, regret appears to be no better than a stick — a stern reminder of poor choices, lost powers and our short time remaining on earth. So what’s the key to happy old age? Don’t lunge after the carrot and you won’t get hit by the stick. A new study finds that how we deal with foregone options and lost opportunities makes a huge difference in whether we will grow into happy seniors or succumb to late-life depression. Reporting their findings in Science magazine, German researchers found that in repetitive games of chance, when healthy young adults pay a price for a wrong decision, they shift their strategies accordingly in the next round. If their caution lost them a big payoff, they’ll be bolder in the next game; if they risked too much and came up empty-handed, they’ll become more cautious the next time around. Their response to regret is to act on it. And their physiological response to
that regret was active too: Their heart rates increased and their skin became clammy. Like miniskirts, muscle shirts and long hair, what worked well for young people did not work so well after age 50. Among older subjects (a total of 40 adults with average age of 65), the 20 who had experienced late-life depression (defined as a first episode of depression after age 55) were far more likely to respond to regret in the same way a healthy young person would: Their hearts would pound, their hands would get moist, and they would adjust their playing strategy in the next game. The emotionally healthy older adults, however, were like Zen masters in the face of regret: Whether they went all in and lost or held and lost had no bearing on how they played the next game. Their palms stayed dry and their hearts did not race. When researchers used fMRI scanners to peer into their subjects’ brains as they played, they saw a similar pattern, in which the older depressed adults reacted to regret in the same way a healthy young person would.
To Your Health
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
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