MEDICAL MATTERS
And of course obesity often comes with other health issues, such as a weak heart or lungs, a poorly functioning kidney or type 2 diabetes. Thus the reason for grouping all these issues into this article.
A report issued by one insurance company said that some jobs and their associated lifestyles have been linked to higher levels of cholesterol, and amongst the various professions examined, taxi drivers – with their sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy eat- ing habits – were found to have amongst the highest cholesterol levels on average. Surprise, surprise.
And as we all know, by virtue of the nature of the job, taxi/PHV drivers are amongst the highest risk group of catching Covid-19, which is why they’ve been included in the Government’s recent Test and Trace alloca- tions.
Tying all these factors together – high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart and lung problems, type 2 diabetes and BMI – you come up with a list of “confounders” (as opposed to causes):
• Age • Gender • Smoking • Basic measures of alcohol consumption • Physical leisure activity (lack of) • Obesity • Type of job = stress levels
NO KIDDING
Now you can start to see the link between the possible red-flag elements within your system. If you’ve been diagnosed with high blood cholesterol, you may already be taking medications to control it, and you may have made some lifestyle changes to help lower your cholesterol levels naturally.
Meanwhile, it’s important to keep an eye on your blood pressure. People livingwith high blood cholesterol often end up dealing with high blood pressure aswell. Youwill already know that high blood pressure is when “the force of your blood pushing against thewall of your blood vessels is consistently too high.”
The figures as regards healthy blood pres- sure readings are well known: for most of (us!) youngsters the ideal reading is 120/80. Anybody over 45 should be ticked off as OK with 135/80 - but realistically these readings should be kept as low as possible.
JULY 2020
The good news is that these risk factors are very manageable. Medications are available that are effective at keeping both high cholesterol and high blood pressure under control. The important thing is to stay in communication with your doctor, and to watch your numbers carefully. Add your BMI to those numbers to ensure you’re not at additional risk of catching Covid-19.
Imagine your garden hose again. If you’re out watering your small plants, you may turn the water on at low pressure so you don’t damage the tender blooms. If you’re watering a line of shrubbery, though, you may turn up the water pressure to get the job done faster.
Now imagine that garden hose is several years old and full of grit and grime. It’s also a bit stiff with age. To get the water to come through at the pressure you’d like, you have to turn up the tap to full force. The higher pressure helps the water blast through all that gunk inside your hose so you can still use it to water your plants.
If you have high blood pressure, your heart and your arteries go through a similar sce- nario. Because the arteries are stiff or narrowed - perhaps because of high choles- terol build-up - your heart has to work harder to pump the blood through them. It’s as if your heart has to turn its tap up to high and blast the blood through to get enough oxygen and nutrients out to all the body organs that need it.
Over time, this high pressure damages your arteries and other blood vessels. They just aren’t built to manage a constant high- pressure blood flow. As a result, they start to suffer from tears and other types of damage.
Those tears make nice resting places for excess cholesterol. That means that the damage high blood pressure creates inside arteries and blood vessels can actually lead to even more plaque build-up and artery narrowing because of high blood choles- terol. In turn, your heart has to work even harder to pump blood, putting excess strain on your heart muscle.
The two conditions are like a team of vil- lains working together to make things worse for your heart, arteries, and overall health. Indeed, over time, high blood pres- sure and cholesterol can cause problems in your eyes, kidneys, brain, and other organs as well. The third villain is avoirdupois: your weight.
You can also adopt lifestyle changes that can naturally fortify your heart and blood vessels and help you resist any damaging effects – plus boost your immune system. Try these tips:
• Don’t smoke, or quit smoking.
• Stay active—exercise at least 30minutes a day. If you’ve been taking Government advice about doing more walking and cycling, step it
up.Work some resistance training in two times a week. Take any opportunity to get out of the car, stretch your legs and do a bit of pacing to reduce your risk of DVT.
• Eat a healthy diet that includes lots of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean pro- teins, and healthy fats such as those found in fish and nuts.
• Drink more water. More than what? More than you’re drinking at the present time.
• Eat small, light meals that won’t sit heav- ily, and that are relatively low in fat, salt and sugar.
• Eat more omega-3 fats: sardines, tuna, salmon, kippers, mackerel, avocados, dark green vegs, walnuts.
• Try to reduce road rage-related stress levels: How important is it when some idiot just cut you up? He’s probably just going to be first to the red light.
• Statins: If you’ve been prescribed them, keep taking them.
Interestingly, we’ve heard reports from round the place where licence holders – concerned that their weight might balloon through self-isolation or just plain not being able to work – actually have lost weight. Walking, cycling, gardening, just more physical activity than they were experienc- ing before the lockdown did the trick, and they intend to keep up that sort of regime.
Ourmessage to you all here, in addition to STAY SAFE, is: STAY HEALTHY! It’ll pay off in all directions.
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