Daily Health News Blog

Hypertension named 'public health enemy No. 2' In many cases, high blood pressure has no symptoms, which could be why more than half of the 67 million Americans who have hypertension are doing little or nothing to control it. CDC Director Thomas Frieden has labeled high blood pressure "public health enemy No. 2." It's right behind tobacco. High blood pressure is defined as a reading greater or equal to 140/90. Normal blood pressure is 120/80. Moderately high blood pressure is 120 to 139 over 80 to 89. In hypertension, blood flows through your arteries with too much force. It stretches arteries past their healthy limit, causing microscopic tears, says the American Heart Association. Scar tissue that forms to repair the tears traps plaque and white blood cells, which can lead to blockages, clots and hardened or weakened arteries, according to the AHA. Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, the first and fourth leading causes o

Do highly stressed or angry people get more ulcers and backaches? Maybe, maybe not. People who develop these problems have a wide range of personalities and habits; some are very stressed, others are calm and contented. What about cancer and heart disease? Some studies suggest that pessimists or introverts are at higher risk, others that optimists or extroverts are no better off. Research into the relationship between personality traits and disease has created a lot of shifting ground over the years. Why the confusion? First, “personality types” are constructs by researchers and don’t necessarily correlate well with the real world. What’s more, dozens of overlapping traits, in various permutations, have been studied. There are countless ways to measure them, plus many theories of personality that use different terms and concepts. Most people don’t fit neatly into one type and may change over time. And just because there may be a link between a personality trait and a disease do