8 Tips for Boosting General Health and Wellbeing

On the whole, Britain has been basking in glorious sunshine now for the last month – except for the odd few typical days of British heavy rain. With summertime usually comes a nationwide health kick. Perhaps it is to fit into those skimpy healthy clothes and look better on the beach, or maybe the sun just improves peoples’ moods to the extent that it provides a motivational spur to change lifestyles for the better.

Whatever it is, summertime is commonly the time of the year when people make positive changes to their general health, whether it be dietary or simply getting out the house more and going for walks in the sunshine.

With this in mind, Medical Specialists® Pharmacy have decided to run through some tips for improving general health and wellbeing, which everyone can use as a starting point for long-term health benefits.

. Become more active

Great weather means more people will have the urge to get out the house and move about. Keeping fit and active is great for your waistline and general appearance, but exercise is great for the heart too. Previous studies have suggested that 7 in 10 of us are not engaging in physical activity and thus are increasing the risk of heart disease. Keeping active helps to lower blood pressure; a risk factor for heart disease, boosts good HDL cholesterol that is responsible for moving fat away from arteries and back to the liver for processing, and will help to improve circulation by stopping blood clots from forming which can cause a heart attack or stroke. A brisk walk for 30 to 40 minutes completed 3 times each week should ease cardiovascular risk.

. Consider a Mediterranean diet 

The Mediterranean diet has repeatedly been linked to huge health gains such as ideal for weight loss, reducing the risk of cancer, high blood pressure, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, as well as being beneficial for the skin with various anti-aging boosts.

The diet is usually comprises of a daily consumption of plenty of fruit, vegetables, beans (legumes), grains, pasta, olive oil and nuts. It also contains moderate amounts of chicken and fish, with a small amount of red wine allowed as this has been shown to boost the health benefits of the diet, helping to thin the blood safely while providing its benefit through the antioxidant resveratrol.

. Cut down on salt intake

A diet high in sodium can lead to serious health problems. Sodium increases blood pressure as it causes the body to keep hold of excess fluid and blood volume increases, creating an added burden on the heart with increased pressure in the arteries. It is generally recommended that an adult should not consume more than 6g/1 teaspoon of salt each day. Certain foods are high in hidden salts and you should try to limit how much of them you eat. These include: baked beans, canned vegetables, cheese, crisps, pizzas and ready meals.

. Drink more water

Everyone needs to be getting 6 to 8 glasses of fluid per day and water is an essential part of your diet as well as being an incredibly healthy and inexpensive way of quenching your thirst. It contains zero calories or sugar, meaning it will not damage the teeth. Try to avoid empty calories from fizzy drinks, energy drinks or juices with added sugar. Not everyone enjoys plain water, so try sparkling water or add a slice of lemon or lime, or adding no-added-sugar squash.

. Eat plenty of fruit and veg 

It’s recommended that we eat at least 5 portions of fruit and veg per day, comprising of a wide variety as they contain different combinations of vitamins and minerals. Fear not though, it is actually easier than it may sound. Merely a 150ml glass of unsweetened 100% fruit juice or smoothie counts as 1 portion, with vegetables cooked into dishes – i.e. into bolognaise sauce – can also count. Chopping up fruit to put on top of your morning cereal is another quick and easy way to bolster fruit intake.

. Get enough sleep

Past studies have shown that the gap between getting just enough and too little sleep may have a negative impact on a person’s health, mood, weight, and even their sex life. The majority of adults require about 7 to 8 hours of good quality sleep each night, on a regular schedule. Those finding it hard to get enough sleep should alter their routine to accommodate for sleep. It isn’t just important to get a certain number hours of sleep, the quality of sleep is vital too in order to feel rested when you awake.

. Limit alcohol intake

Drinking more than the recommended units of alcohol per day (3-4 for men, 2-3 for women) can have a detrimental impact to your heart health. Excessive alcohol can raise the quantity of a type of fat in the blood known as triglycerides and also lead to abnormal heart rhythms, high blood pressure, heart failure, stroke and obesity. Excess weight may then even cause type 2 diabetes. For those concerned that they are drinking too much and want to reduce their alcohol intake, Medical Specialists® Pharmacy can provide alcohol dependency treatment Selincro (nalmefene) to suitable patients.

. Stop smoking

Smoking damages the lining of the arteries, limiting the space for blood to travel through. The carbon monoxide in cigarettes also reduces the amount of oxygen able to get to the heart and other areas of the body, forcing the heart to work much harder to supply the body with the oxygen it requires. The dangers of smoking are further explained on the British Heart Foundation’s website, but remember that smokers are at double the risk of suffering a heart attack compared to those that have not previously smoked, and smoking is the primary reason for a wide range of different types of cancer. Smoking cessation treatments such as Champix can help people quit smoking for good and reduce the risk of cancer and major heart problems.

We hope these 8 tips get you on the road to a healthier lifestyle which will both boost your energy, but also cut the risk of developing serious health problems in the future. Obviously, there are countless ways to improve health and wellbeing, but at Medical Specialists®, we believe that sustaining these 8 factors are particularly vital for your long-term general health.

Mediterranean Diet can help improve the heart and erections

Men suffering with erectile dysfunction are often linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular problems like heart attack and stroke, but adhering to a healthy Mediterranean diet can decrease this risk, according to a new study.

The Mediterranean diet has repeatedly been linked to huge health gains such as ideal for weight loss, reducing the risk of cancer, high blood pressure, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, as well as being beneficial for the skin with various anti-aging boosts.

The diet is usually comprises of a daily consumption of plenty of fruit, vegetables, beans (legumes), grains, pasta, olive oil and nuts. It also contains moderate amounts of chicken and fish, with a small amount of red wine allowed as this has been shown to boost the health benefits of the diet, helping to thin the blood safely while providing its benefit through the antioxidant resveratrol.

Erectile dysfunction patients that have poor diets often have substantially more vascular and cardiac damage. Therefore, Grecian researchers wanted to conduct research to determine if the Mediterranean diet – touted as having cardiovascular benefits – could reduce the outcome of that risk, and explained their findings at the annual meeting of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging in Austria.

The study included 75 men with erectile dysfunction with an average age of 56. All had attended Hippokration Hospital in Athens, Greece – thereby having a bigger access to Mediterranean food than most – and had been diagnosed with erectile dysfunction.

Grecian doctor Dr. Athanasios Angelis, involved in the study, commented in a press release: “Erectile dysfunction is not a symptom of aging. It is a bad sign from the body that something is wrong with the vasculature. In 80 percent of cases erectile dysfunction is caused by vascular problems, and is a warning that patients are at increased risk of a heart attack or stroke.”

It was discovered that those patients that were not sticking to a Mediterranean diet had hearts and vascular systems in a poorer condition in comparison to those that often consumed foods from the diet on a regular basis.

Dr Angelis added: “Patients with erectile dysfunction who had unhealthy diets had more vascular and cardiac damage than those who followed the Mediterranean diet. Previous studies have shown that patients with erectile dysfunction have vascular damage but we found that the heart is also damaged. This may help to further explain why these patients are more prone to cardiovascular events. The formation of atheroma, the stiffening of the arteries, and the poor functioning of the heart can eventually lead to a cardiac event.”

“Our findings suggest that adopting the Mediterranean diet can improve the cardiovascular risk profile of patients with erectile dysfunction and may reduce their chances of having a heart attack or stroke. This needs to be tested in a larger study.”

Dr Angelis also offered advice for those on a lower budget, saying: “Really simple changes in our diet may help a lot, for example using olive oil which contains monounsaturated fat. If someone doesn’t have the money to buy some of the foods they can substitute them with others, for example nuts are a good source of monounsaturated fat. Sometimes it’s difficult to adopt something if you consider that it’s part of a prescription, but the Mediterranean diet is not a prescription, it’s a lifestyle. It’s about having an awareness of what foods are healthy or unhealthy.”

He concluded: “Patients who have erectile dysfunction and don’t adhere to the Mediterranean diet have vascular and cardiac damage and are at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Our findings suggest that adopting a healthy diet can reduce that risk. We also advise patients to stop smoking, exercise and ensure that they have healthy levels of blood pressure and lipids.”

A Mediterranean diet can decrease heart attack risk

Researchers claim that by adhering to a healthy Mediterranean diet, this is almost as good for your heart as statins in reducing the risk of suffering from a heart attack or stroke. The news emerges coincidentally as we approach the end of the ‘Rock up in Red’ campaign for National Heart Month, of which Medical Specialists Pharmacy are proud supporters of.

Cholesterol-busting statins such as Crestor (Rosuvastatin) and Lipitor (Atorvastatin) are currently prescribed to nearly a tenth (7 million) of the UK population and function by raising good/protective cholesterol (HDL) and lowering bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides. The higher your cholesterol level, the bigger risk there is of suffering from a heart attack and stroke due to your arteries being clogged up with the fat-like substance known as cholesterol.

However, Spanish researchers led by Prof Ramon Estruch, a professor of medicine at Barcelona University, believe that consuming a Mediterranean diet comprising of plenty lot of fruit, vegetables, fish and wine, and only small amounts of red meat or dairy products, can provide some degree of defence against heart problems.

Many have previously acknowledged the fact that people from Mediterranean countries are more inclined to have lower levels of heart disease though there has been uncertainty if this was due to hereditary factors, or linked to diet and lifestyle.

For the study, the Spanish academics tracked 7,447 people during the years of 2003 and 2009 – consisting of men aged 55 to 88 and women aged 60 to 80. None of the participants had any kind of cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study. However, they were all at risk due to having type 2 diabetes or were at risk due to having three things from a list of health problems. These were: smoking, high blood pressure, high levels of bad cholesterol, low levels of healthy cholesterol, overweight or there being family history of coronary heart disease.

The participants were assigned into one of three groups; two of which were instructed to eat a Mediterranean diet – one supplemented with four table spoons of extra-virgin olive oil and the other with about one ounce of nuts (walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts). The third group were instead told to stick to a diet that included low-fat dairy products, grains and fruits and vegetables.

Following an average of 4.8 years assessment, 228 had either suffered a heart attack or stroke or died of heart-related problems. Of this total, 96 were in the olive oil group (3.4% of participants), 83 in the group eating plenty of nuts (3.4%) and 109 in the low-fat group (4.4%). This equates to a 30% decline in risk for those on the Mediterranean diets compared with the low fat diet.

Researchers say that important elements from the diets that boosted health included moderate consumption of ethanol – derived from the wine, low consumption of meat, and high intake of vegetables, fruit, nuts, legumes, fish and olive oil. In fact they were so impressed with their study findings that they began adopting a Mediterranean diet themselves.

The authors conclude: “The results of our trial might explain, in part, the lower cardiovascular mortality in Mediterranean countries than in northern Europe or the United States.”

Although not involved with the study, Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation, commented on its findings, and advised against anybody deciding to forsake their prescribed statins in favour of merely a change in diet. He said: “This large long-term study shows that eating a Mediterranean diet is associated with heart health benefits, including reductions in heart attack, stroke and deaths from cardiovascular disease. While these findings aren’t new they add to our knowledge and confidence that a Mediterranean diet can help cut down your cardiovascular risk. A well-balanced diet low in salt, saturated fat and sugar is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle. That said, a Mediterranean diet should not replace your prescribed medication.”