Hookah or cigarette, what’s more harmful?

The debate on whether smoking a cigarette or Hookah is more harmful has been an endless one. However, researchers may have finally found an answer to the same.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have found that smoking Hookah for 30 minutes resulted in the development of cardiovascular risk factors similar to that of cigarette smoking, thereby implying that smoking Hookah is more hazardous to one’s health.

They measured measuring heart rate, blood pressure, arterial stiffness, blood nicotine and exhaled carbon monoxide levels in 48 healthy, young Hookah smokers before and after 30 minutes of smoking.

It was found that a single session of Hookah smoking increased heart rate by 16 beats per minute and blood pressure; and significantly increased measures of arterial stiffness, a key risk factor in the development of cardiovascular conditions such as heart attack or stroke.

The increase in arterial stiffness was comparable to data seen from cigarette smokers after smoking a cigarette.

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Mind-body therapies can help teens with anxiety

Turns out, biofeedback, mindfulness, yoga, and hypnosis provide a promising approach to the very common problem of anxiety in adolescents.

Researchers at Wolters Kluwer Health stated that the currently recommended treatments for adolescent anxiety i.e. cognitive behavioral therapy and antidepressant medications have important limitations.

Anxiety and fear are typical reactions to the academic, social, and developmental challenges that are common during the adolescent years. Clinical or pathological anxiety is excessive, persistent, and disruptive. While anxiety is often situational and time-limited, many teens develop chronic anxiety lasting six months or longer.

Mind-body therapies encompass self-regulation and positive thinking to help promote self-control, physical health, and emotional well-being.

Biofeedback techniques enable individuals to increase self-awareness and physical control through feedback on biological measures whereas mindfulness techniques incorporate aspects of meditation, body scanning…CLICK HERE

Feeling faint while standing up linked with dementia risk: Study

Any sudden drop in blood pressure in middle-aged people, which makes them feel faint, dizzy or light-headed while standing up, could be a sign of increased risk of dementia or stroke later, say researchers.

The findings suggested that people who experienced the blood pressure drop — known as orthostatic hypotension — had a 54 per cent higher risk of developing dementia.

They were also found to be at two times higher risk of developing ischemic stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel carrying blood to the brain is blocked by a blood clot.

“Orthostatic hypotension has been linked to heart disease, fainting and falls, so we wanted to conduct a large study to determine if this form of low blood pressure was also linked to problems in the brain, specifically dementia,” said Andreea Rawlings, from the Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, US.

For the study, published in the journal Neurology, the team analysed data from 11,709 people with an average age of 54 years, who were followed for an average of 25 years.

The participants were instructed to lie down for 20 minutes and then stand up in a smooth, swift motion….READ FULL STORY