Harvard Heart Letter articles from August 2004

Harvard Heart Letter archives from August 2004

No age limit for blood pressure control.
August 1, 2004... Older people are more likely to have -- and be harmed by -- high blood pressure. If you are in the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population -- people ages 80 and older -- you are part of the group that's most likely to have high...

Wishing you a speedy recovery.
August 1, 2004... As hospital stays get shorter, some heart attack survivors now head home after just three days in the hospital. Feeling rushed these days? It's hard not to. Signs of a faster pace of life seem to be all around us, even in the hospital....

Wake-up call for better sleep.
August 1, 2004... Add a good night's sleep to the healthful things you can do for your heart. Whether you look forward to your nightly sleep -- "Nature's soft nurse," as Shakespeare called it -- or, like novelist Virginia Woolf, regard it as "that...

Small steps to straightening out sickle cell disease.
August 1, 2004... Drug, diagnostic advances are improving life for people with this inherited blood disorder. In the 1970s, American children born with sickle cell anemia rarely lived beyond their teenage years. Now many will reach their 60s and 70s. ...

Heart Beat; Breast test flags heart risk.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Many women have mammograms as part of their yearly or biennial checkups. These special x-rays could someday be used to reveal signs of an even bigger threat to a woman's health than breast cancer -- heart disease. Calcium deposits inside artery...

Heart Beat; Aspirin use lags in high-risk women.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Taking an aspirin should be near the top of the daily to-do list for people who have survived a heart attack or stroke or who have heart disease or diabetes. Yet only 45% of such women and 58% of men actually do it, according to a University of...

Heart Beat; Depression common in heart failure.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... A heart that has trouble pumping blood clearly affects the rest of the body. It can also have a profound effect on one's mind and mood. A new study of people with heart failure from a single outpatient practice showed that half had signs...

Ask The Doctor; How does a beta blocker affect my heart rate and exercise?
August 1, 2004... Q High blood pressure is common in both sides of my family, and I have it as well. I exercise every day, don't smoke, and eat a healthy diet. I have also been taking medication for 10 years to keep my blood pressure in check. A week ago, my...