- What are cardiac arrest, heart attack and heart failure?
- Worried about your drinking? Here's how to check it
- Omicron offshoot XBB.1.5 could drive new Covid-19 surge in US
- Best diet for 2023 is the science-backed Mediterranean style of eating
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What are cardiac arrest, heart attack and heart failure? |
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, 24, went into cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field during the first quarter of Monday night's game against the Cincinnati Bengals, his team said. It's not clear what caused his cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest results from electrical disturbances that cause the heart to suddenly stop beating the way it should. Death can result quickly if steps aren't taken right away. "Cardiac arrest may be reversed if CPR is performed and a defibrillator shocks the heart and restores a normal heart rhythm within a few minutes," the American Heart Association says. Team doctors were able to get to Hamlin within 10 seconds of his collapse and immediately begin CPR. They were able to restart his heart on the field before he was taken away in an ambulance, the Bills said. It was crucial to restart the heart and resume the process of normal pumping. It sounds like that happened, which is a good sign, but Hamlin is still in critical condition. Cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack, although almost any known heart condition, including a heart attack, can cause cardiac arrest. A heart attack is a circulation problem. When circulation is blocked or cut off in some way and blood is no longer supplied to the heart muscle, this can damage that muscle. Doctors may refer to it as myocardial infarction. Blockages that lead to heart attacks are mostly caused by a buildup of plaque in the arteries. Plaque forms when cholesterol combines with fat, calcium and other substances in the blood. Heart attacks can be fatal, but they do not automatically lead to death. Immediate emergency medical help can often prevent a serious outcome. Heart failure happens when the heart – essentially a pump – cannot effectively push blood out through the arteries and circulatory system to the other organs and tissues. Congestive heart failure, a worsening of this general condition, means blood flow from the heart through the arteries has slowed while blood returning to the heart through the veins has begun to back up, and combined, they cause congestion – a blood traffic jam – in the body's tissues. Heart failure is a medical condition that needs to be treated to prevent a life-threatening heart attack but is not as immediately life-threatening as heart attack or cardiac arrest. |
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Worried about your drinking? Here's how to check it |
There are lots of great reasons to go "dry" in January and give up alcohol. Perhaps you imbibed a bit too much over the holidays, or maybe you want to start a diet or exercise routine and can't afford the calories or the zap in energy and motivation that drinking can bring. "Or it may be someone who truly is starting to wonder or question their relationship with alcohol, and this is an opportunity to really explore that," said Dr. Sarah Wakeman, medical director of the Substance Use Disorders Initiative at Massachusetts General Hospital. Wakeman suggests starting with being clear about your goal. Concrete goals such as embracing new sleep habits or an exercise routine will help make it easier to give up drinking, she said It also helps if you share that goal with others and track your progress. Even if you don't end up cutting out all alcohol, tracking your emotions and urges to discover your triggers can be helpful, Wakeman said. Drinking is often associated with social gatherings or fun times. That can train your brain to see alcohol as a positive. You can combat those urges by replacing your drink of choice with something equally festive or flavorful, experts say. There's an additional piece that's important in accomplishing a "dry January," experts say. It's important to notice if you – or a loved one – are showing any negative symptoms from cutting back or eliminating alcohol. It could be a sign that you need professional help to reach your goal. |
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Omicron offshoot XBB.1.5 could drive new Covid-19 surge in US |
Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Covid-19 variant dashboard revealed a new dark horse that could soon sweep the field of subvariants causing new infections: XBB.1.5. Virologists and epidemiologists say this Omicron sublineage has features that give it the potential to drive a new surge of Covid-19 cases in the US, although it's still unclear how large that wave will be and whether it could send many more people to the hospital. In terms of immune evasion, Columbia University microbiology and immunology professor Dr. David Ho says recent variants like XBB, XBB.1, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 have shifted as far away from the antibodies we have made to use against them as the original Omicron variant was from the Covid-19 viruses that preceded it roughly a year ago. In recent lab studies, Ho found that XBB.1 was the slipperiest of them all. It was 63 times less likely to be neutralized by antibodies in the blood of infected and vaccinated people than BA.2 and 49 times less likely to be neutralized compared with BA.4 and BA.5. He calls these levels of immune evasion "alarming" and said they could further compromise the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines. His findings were recently published in the journal Cell. Ho said Monday that XBB.1.5 was the same story in terms of antibody evasion as XBB.1, which means it has the potential to escape the protections of vaccinations and past infections. It's also resistant to all current antibody treatments, including Evusheld. In addition to being highly immune-evasive, XBB.1.5 has an additional trick up its sleeve that seems to be helping to fuel its growth. It has a key mutation at site 486, which allows it to bind more tightly to ACE2, the doors the virus uses to enter our cells. Still, experts say it's hard to know how much of XBB.1.5's growth can be attributed to properties of the virus and how much simply to good timing. Coming out of the holidays, during which time people were more likely to travel and socialize, gives any infection – whether it's the flu, Covid-19 or RSV – more room to run. Michael Osterholm, who directs the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, notes that the updated boosters should provide some protection, even against this highly immune-evasive strain. "They still provide a level of immunity that may not prevent you from getting infected but may have a significant impact on whether or not you become seriously ill and die," he said. "Right now, the most recent data we have shows that for those who have the bivalent vaccine, they have a three-fold lower risk of dying than those who don't." |
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Best diet for 2023 is the science-backed Mediterranean style of eating |
The gold medals are piling up. For the sixth year in a row, the Mediterranean style of eating earned the title of best overall diet, according to 2023 ratings from U.S. News & World Report. Meals from the sunny Mediterranean also ranked first in the categories of best diet for healthy eating and best plant-based diet. New this year: Reviewers ranked only 24 diets instead of the 40 or so analyzed in past years. Five diets from the original list – vegetarian, vegan, Nordic, the traditional Asian and the glycemic index – were integrated into the Mediterranean and other diets due to their underlying plant-based principles. "The take-home message here is the recognition that the Mediterranean diet is really not just about the foods around the Mediterranean," said Gretel Schueller, managing editor of health for U.S. News & World Report, who oversees the annual diet ranking. "You can take the lessons and the approach of the Mediterranean eating pattern and apply it to any cuisine in any country." Numerous studies have found that the Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of diabetes, high cholesterol, dementia, memory loss, depression and breast cancer. The eating plan has also been linked to stronger bones, a healthier heart and longer life. The diet features simple, plant-based cooking, with the majority of each meal focused on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and seeds, with a few nuts and a heavy emphasis on extra-virgin olive oil. Other fats such as butter are consumed rarely, if at all, and sugar and refined foods are reserved for special occasions. Red meat is used sparingly, usually only to flavor a dish. Eating healthy, oily fish, which are packed with omega-3 fatty acids, is encouraged while eggs, dairy and poultry are eaten in much smaller portions than in the traditional Western diet. Social interactions during meals and exercise are basic cornerstones of the Mediterranean style of eating. Lifestyle changes that are part of the diet include eating with friends and family, socializing over meals, mindfully eating favorite foods and choosing mindful movement and exercise. Want to make the Mediterranean style of eating one of your goals this year? Sign up for CNN's Eat, But Better: Mediterranean Style newsletter, an eight-part series that guides you in a delicious expert-backed eating lifestyle that's good for your health. |
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| When it comes to the pillars of health, hydration is one that seems to come with numerous benefits. After all, staying hydrated helps control calorie intake, cushions your joints, improves short-term memory and can even reduce the duration and intensity of headaches. This is why I emphasize hydration so heavily in my book "12 Weeks to a Sharper You." Being dehydrated by just 2% impairs performance in tasks that require attention, psychomotor skills and immediate memory skills, as well as assessment of the subjective state. If all of these weren't enough reasons to make sure you're drinking enough water each day, a new study finds that being hydrated is associated with a significantly lower risk of chronic diseases, a lower risk of dying early, and a lower risk of being biologically older than your chronological age. The study used data that was collected over 30 years from more than 10,000 adults and found that adults with serum sodium levels – a marker of how well-hydrated someone is – at the higher end of the normal range had worse health outcomes than those at the lower end of the range. Serum sodium levels are influenced by liquid intake from water and other drinks, as well as fruit and vegetables with high water content. So although the study didn't have information for how much water participants drank, the researchers could gauge hydration levels overall. "The results suggest that proper hydration may slow down aging and prolong a disease-free life," said study author Natalia Dmitrieva, a researcher in the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, in a news release. But remember, while you can get hydration from other sources than water, options like fruit juice can come with negative side effects such as increasing your sugar intake. While you gear up to tackle those new year's resolutions, making sure you're drinking plenty of water is a good place to start. This is an especially good habit for the morning because chances are you have just gone several hours without drinking any fluids. |
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