Cancer Articles (Dr. S.N White)

Can even minor stresses raise blood pressure?  Yes. Just think of all the minor stresses that can be found in a day, from being stuck in traffic to conflicts at work. One example we have all experienced, and one that reminds us how even minor stresses can raise blood pressure, is a visit to a physician’s office. In the medical world this is called white coat hypertension. Blood pressure measurements taken in that situation are usually higher than the true average blood pressure, unless the patient has had a chance to rest and relax. This is why at least three measurements are taken in research projects on blood pressure. The patient rests in a quiet environment for a minimum of two minutes after each measurement. Not surprisingly, the last measurement is usually much lower than the first.

What about being overweight? First we need to clearly define what it is to be overweight. Most women not only are aware of their weight status but are actually likely to overestimate how overweight they are; men have the opposite problem. The simplest way of determining your ideal weight is to do the “pinch test.” Pull out on the skin at your waist just above your hip. If it is less than an inch and close to the width of your little finger, you are the unusual person who is at his or her ideal weight. It has been found that excess weight at the waistline is more damaging than excess weight on the hips or arms this is the socalled male pattern of obesity, because men are more likely to put on extra weight at the waistline. For men, ideal weight equals height in inches times 4 minus 120; for women, height in inches times 3.5 minus 100. Thus for a 5-foot-5-inch woman, ideal weight is 127.5 pounds. For most of us, excess weight does not increase heart disease risk until you are about ...

Why is diabetes on the list of risk factors? Almost 9 million Americans now have diabetes, and there are more than 600,000 new cases every year. About 89,000 Americans died from diabetes in 2000. The most common type of diabetes, and the kind you can do something about, is called adult-onset or Type 2 diabetes. It usually develops in adulthood, usually doesn’t require insulin for its treatment, and is diagnosed when your morning blood sugar is over about 120 mg/dl. Being overweight is one of the major predisposing factors of Type 2 diabetes. Weight loss, especially if it is accompanied by increased exercise, often reverses many of the health problems associated with this type of diabetes, and may return you to a completely normal blood sugar level. (At this point you no longer have the diabetes diagnosis, but you are susceptible to it, and it will return if you regain the weight.) High blood pressure, which often goes together with Type 2 diabetes, usually returns to normal with w...

How does high blood pressure affect my heart?  There are two primary ways high blood pressure can damage the heart. One is by increasing deposits of cholesterol in the coronary arteries, which happens because the extra pressure damages the inner lining of the arteries. Scientists have labeled the origin of this damage “shear stress,” akin to the pitting and deposits of calcium seen in water pipes in areas of greater turbulence, such as when a smaller pipe is joined to a larger pipe. High blood pressure can also affect the heart muscle itself. Hypertension occurs because the thousands of small arteries in the body are slightly narrowed, making it necessary for the heart muscle to push blood through greater resistance. The greater the resistance, the higher the pressure needed, and the higher the blood pressure that is measured at the arm. After some years of this extra workload, the heart muscle gets thicker; this is called left ventricular hypertrophy. The process is very simila...