Muscle of a particular part of the body is related to the aging of blood vessels.
The weakness of the muscle of a particular part of the body increases the risk of death due to heart diseases. Therefore, if you train the muscle related to the aging of blood vessels, there is a possibility that blood vessels will be rejuvenated. Which muscle in the body is related to the aging of blood vessels? According to the research published on The Lancet which is a medical journal, the muscles related to the aging of blood vessels are the muscles for grasping power. Can you open the lid of a jar smoothly? It has been reported a lot recently that people who can’t maintain their grasping power have more risk of death due to heart diseases, and it has tuned out why the blood vessel of the people who maintain their grasping power is young. Women have younger blood vessel age than men. According to a research in Japan, women’s grasping power decreases by 5.7 kg from the highest at 40s to the one at 70s, while men’s grasping power decreases by 11.1 kg from the highest at 30s to the one at 70s. The daily life of a couple in their age of 60s was observed with electromyograph for grasping power attached. The wife’s blood vessel age was younger than her age, while the husband’s blood vessel age was older than his age. The wife used her grasping power 1913 times a day, while the husband used his grasping power 83 times a day. That proves the wife’s blood vessel age is younger than her age because she uses her grasping power a lot to do housework like housekeeping, cooking, washing. Light intensity of grasping like housework is good enough to maintain grasping power. Why does using grasping power maintain young blood vessels? Because NO that softens the blood vessel is secreted. The blood vessel becomes hard with age, but even if the blood vessel becomes hard, if NO is secreted, the hardened blood vessel becomes soft. After you grasp your hands strongly for 5 seconds, when you open the hands, the color of the palms turns red from white. When you grasp your hands strongly, the blood vessel constricts and the blood gets stagnated, turning the palms to white. When you open your hands, the blood vessel expands and the blood suddenly flows, turning the palms to red. At this moment, a lot of NO is secreted from the wall of the blood vessel. The important thing is that the stagnated blood flows with greater force than usual by loosening grasping power, the wall of the blood vessel is stimulated more strongly than usual, and a lot of NO is secreted. To secrete NO, it is effective to accumulate light intensity of grasping like housework every day. If you have habits to soak into the bathtub with warm water, it is effective to grasp color balls for kids to play in the bathtub because warm water in the bathtub increases the blood flow and expands the blood vessel. Even if you don’t soak into the bathtub, it is still effective to grasp the color balls any time, like watching TV (Fig. 1 & 2). Experiment The husband in the above who was 64 years old and whose blood vessel age was 70 years old tried grasping color balls in the bathtub for a week. A week later his blood vessel age became 55 years old. Before the experiment, the secretion of NO in the blood was 51.6 μM, but after the experiment, it became 137.4 μM.
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Healthy blood vessels are flexible enough to endure blood pressure, but unhealthy blood vessels which have hardening of blood vessels are not flexible enough to endure blood pressure, resulting in rupture of blood vessels. This is aging of the blood vessel. Instant elevation of blood pressure causes the rupture of the blood vessel, causing brain bleeding, rupture of artery that lead to life threatening condition.
According to a recent study, it has turned out that a nutrition helps keep your blood vessel young. The nutrition removes active oxygen which progresses hardening of blood vessels. It has turned out that insufficiency of the nutrition causes the elevation of blood pressure and the progression of hardening of blood vessels by the research using rats. Even if you take sufficient other nutrition which has been said that is good for blood vessels such as EPA, DHA, alpha-linolenic acid, you can’t avoid the aging of blood vessels if the nutrition is not sufficient. What is the most important nutrition to keep your blood vessels young? The essential nutrition to keep our blood vessels young is Zinc. Below are the foods rich in zinc (per 100 grams). Oyster (13.2 mg) Pork liver (6.9 mg) Beef loin (5.8 mg) Cashew nuts (5.4 mg) Almonds (4.4 mg) King crab (4.2 mg) Hari crab (3.8 mg) Processed cheese (3.2 mg) Camembert cheese (2.8 mg) Elderly people tend to be a lack of zinc because the amount of meat they eat decreases and their digestion declines. How to check a lack of zinc Lack of zinc causes abnormality of taste. People with lack of zinc like foods tasting strong better than foods tasting bland. That is why they take more salt before they notice, leading to high blood pressure. Add 3 ear-picks of salt (0.08 grams) to a glass of water (200 ml). When you drink it, if you feel salty taste, you are not a lack of zinc. If you don’t feel salty taste and feel it tastes like plain water, you can have abnormal taste due to a lack of zinc. Even if you don’t feel the salty taste, if you take sufficient zinc, the cells to feel the taste increases and your taste will be restored. 2 Foods to increase zinc in your meals Even if you don’t eat oyster or meat very much, you don’t need to worry about it. (1) Egg yolk Egg yolk contains 4.2 mg of zinc per 100 g. The amount of zinc in an egg yolk is equal to 2 pieces of diced steak. (2) Parmesan cheese Cheese is rich in zinc and among all cheese, parmesan cheese is richest in zinc. Parmesan cheese contains 7.3 mg of zinc per 100 g. The amount of zinc in 2 table spoons of parmesan cheese is equal to 2 pieces of diced steak. Also sesame is rich in zinc, containing 5.9 mg of zinc per 100 g, which is almost equal to beef loin containing 5.8 mg of zinc per 100 g. 10 mg of zinc a day is recommended. The above 3 foods are easy to find and add to your daily meals. A 60 years old woman whose blood vessel age was 70 years old tried to take more zinc through the above 3 foods, and when she checked her blood vessel age a week later, her blood vessel age was 49 years old. Please try to take zinc to keep your blood vessel young. Do you know what diseases rapidly increase among women after menopause?
The diseases are stroke and heart attack which are life-threatening blood vessel diseases. The cause is menopause. After menopause, the secretion of female hormone (estrogen) which protects women’s body decreases, causing not only wrinkles and sagging but also hardening of blood vessels, and makes it easier to have lifestyle-related diseases. The decrease of female hormone happens to all the women with age and it is not avoidable. That has been the common sense of medicine. However, it has tuned out that a substance protects the body instead of female hormone. The substance is Equol. If you can get Equol, the blood vessels that arteriosclerosis progressed with age can be rejuvenated. The prevention of stroke and heart attack also can be expected. Another good news is that it can be expected that wrinkles will disappear and you look younger, and the prevention of cancer also can be expected. Equol is not only effective for women but also effective for men and the same effect such as rejuvenation of blood vessels can be expected. What kind of substance is Equol? Equol can be extracted from urine of pregnant horses. Why does Equol protect the body instead of female hormone? Because the chemical structure of Equol is very similar to female hormone, so Equol has the same function as female hormone. There is a research result that administration of Equol makes age of blood vessels younger, and Equol prevents breast cancer for women and prostate cancer for men. In fact, you can create Equol in your body without depending on urine of horses. How can Equol be created in the body? Equol protects blood vessels like female hormone (estrogen). Equol improves wrinkles, shallowing the depth of wrinkles and shrinking the area of wrinkles. There are people who can create Equol and who can’t create Equol, and among people who can create Equol, there are people who can create Equol a lot and people who can’t create Equol very much. The secret to create Equol is Soy Products (Fig. 1). Equol is created in the intestine. When Soy products come to the intestine, the intestinal bacteria break down soy products and create Equol. If you regularly eat soy products for a long time, the number of the intestinal bacteria creating Equol increases and more Equol is created. How much soy products have been eaten until now decides whether you can create Equol or not. The foodstuff helping increase Equol if you eat with are burdock and onion. Burdock and onion contains Fructooligosaccharides which are food of the intestinal bacteria. Fructooligosaccharides increase good bacteria in the intestine, making better environment to create Equol. Other foodstuff containing Fructooligosaccharides are tomato, banana, garlic and asparagus. Even if you can’t create Equol, if you continue to eat soy products for a long time, there is a possibility that you can become a person who can create Equol. Self-Check for the risk of stroke
Q1. More than 40 years old. Yes or No? Q2. You eat only a little of vegetables and fruits. Yes or No? Q3. You like salty dishes. Yes or No? Q4. You are obese. BMI (Weight (Kg)/Tall (m)/Tall/(m))>25. Yes or No? Q5. You rarely do exercise. Yes or No? Q6. You smoke. Yes or No? Q7. You have people who had stroke in your family or relatives. Yes or No? If you have more than 3 Yes, you get a yellow card. You can have stroke in the future so it is necessary to improve your life habit. If you have more than 5 Yes, you get a red card. You have a high risk having stroke in the future. You need to improve your life habit right now. People with fluctuating blood pressure has 6 times more risk of stroke than normal blood pressure. How to check if you have fluctuating blood pressure (1) Measure your blood pressure in the resting condition. (ex. 114/85) (2) Measure your blood pressure once again. Stand up when the pressure starts going down. (ex. 130/86) If the difference between 2 measurements of higher blood pressures is more than 15, there is a possibility of fluctuating blood pressure. (ex. 130-114=16) Signs of stroke Many diseases in the brain cause abnormalities on one side of the body. When the left part of the brain is damaged, aphasia which is an inability comprehend and formulate language and acalculia which people have difficulty performing simple mathematical tasks show up. Damage to the brain makes people lose contact sensation and misunderstand it as feeling cold. There is a case that abnormalities appear in the eyes, accompanying with double vision or visual field defect. When the damage to the brain is suspected, a grip of one of the hands becomes weak like you can’t lift up a coffee cup or you often drop a spoon. How to find an abnormality of the brain appearing in the arms – Barre's arm sign Extend both arms upright in the supinated position and hold them at shoulder height for at least 10 seconds with eyes closed. Pronation (the arm rotates inward like the palm faces down) or downward drift of the arm indicates the abnormality in the brain such as stroke (Fig. 1). Treatment of stroke (cerebral infarction) (Acute stage) 1. Medication Thrombolytic agent called t-PA is used, which dissolves blood clots but only can be used within 4 hours after the onset. 2. Surgery Blood clots can be removed completely, but the burdens on the body is large. 3. Clot recovering treatment A stent retriever is sent to the place where is a blood clot in the brain from the thigh, using catheter. This treatment has less load to the body and can be done within 8 hours after the onset. Correct approach until an ambulance arrives (Fig. 2) (1) In the case of cerebral hemorrhage or subarachnoid hemorrhage, 80 % of people vomit. So lay the person on his or her side, facing down. (2) Paralyzed side of the body should be upper side because the throat is also paralyzed on the same side. If paralyzed side is lower side, vomit goes into the airway. Causes of stroke (1) High blood pressure (2) Irregular heart beat (3) Abnormal lipid diseases (4) Diabetes (5) Smoking (6) Overconsumption of salt (7) Drinking too much alcohol (8) Insufficiency of water intake Dehydration makes the blood sticky, making the blood vessel easily clogged and making the risk of stroke (cerebral infarction) higher. Overconsumption of salt, smoking and alcohol attack the blood vessel, causing high blood pressure. If there is a fragile part in the blood vessel, hemorrhage or clogging of the blood vessel in the brain occurs. Women after menopause should be careful because female hormone has the function to lower the blood pressure and to protect the blood vessels. Even if the blood pressure was lower when they were young, there are a lot of cases that their blood pressure elevates after menopause. Constipation can be a cause of stroke. When you strain to eliminate stools, the blood pressure suddenly goes up. In that case, the body involuntarily tries to lower the blood pressure, lowering the heartbeat. That causes irregular heartbeat, making blood clots in the heart. That sometimes causes stroke (cerebral infarction). Abnormalities of the arm Dropping things, Inability to fasten buttons, Inability to wear one side of shoes Food to prevent stroke The food is chocolate. One of the biggest causes of stroke is high blood pressure. Chocolate prevents and improve the high blood pressure. Cacao polyphenol included in cacao which is material of chocolate is bitter taste component. Cacao polyphenol prevents breakdown of NO which makes the blood vessels flexible and wide, lowering the blood pressure. High cacao content chocolate which contains more than 70 % of cacao is effective to lower the blood pressure. About 25 grams per day of high cacao chocolate is good to lower the blood pressure. 65 years old male had cerebral hemorrhage. An artery running near the motor nerve in his right brain was ruptured causing hemorrhage having a size of around a ping-pong ball (Fig. 1). The overflowed blood pressed the motor nerve and the left side of his body below the neck was completely paralyzed. He had a diagnosis that it was not sure that the left side of his body would move again.
How could he recover from the hemiplegia? Though rehabilitation started, he didn’t feel anything in his left limbs even if they were rubbed and moved. 2 days after he regained consciousness, his old friend visited and told him who was saying he saw no point at living if he couldn’t move their limbs that his limbs were not broken but his brain was out of order. By his words, he realized that if he trained his brain, he might be able to move his limbs. What came to his mind first was the movement of a baby. The brain of a baby learns how to stand and walk by repeating failure many times. He thought his brain was the same as the baby’s so his brain should learn how to move his limbs and his limbs would move someday if he tried to move them with imaging it repeatedly. What is his miraculous rehabilitation of the brain? He started to have in mind that his thumb would move, but of course his thumb didn’t move at all. Even so, he didn’t give up. He continued this around the clock until he fell asleep except his meal time. He thought his thumb might be moving a little so he put his normal right hand under his left hand to feel a slight movement of this left thumb. In the morning of the fourth day, he felt his left thumb moved slightly on the back of his right hand. After that, he tried this brain’s rehabilitation for his other fingers, left hand and left foot while he had usual rehabilitation in the hospital. Then only 2 months later he could leave the hospital and one month later he could move fully. His individual rehabilitation is used in the newest rehabilitation method called neurorehabilitation. While the conventional rehabilitation tries to promote the recovery by stimulating the brain with improving the function of the joints and muscles, neurorehabilitation tries to recover faster by increasing the stimulation to the neurons by concentrating the consciousness to the movement when the patient moves their hands and feet. The stimulation of the neurons by this method makes a new neural circuit other than the damaged circuit more easily, leading to more effective recovery of the lost body function.
Q9. The blood vessel which was damaged before can recover. (A) True (B) False A9. (A) True It had been thought that damaged blood vessels could not recover, but according to the newest research, it turned out that recovering was possible. The most inside layer of the blood vessel can recover at a certain level by the improvement of the lifestyle. The foods which are expected to help the damaged blood vessels recover are miso, cheese and onions in addition to balanced meals. LTP (Lactotripeptides) is a kind of amino acids recently discovered contained in miso and cheese and it is expected to lower blood pressure and prevent arteriosclerosis. Quercetin is a flavonol that prevent active oxygen damage the blood vessel with antioxidant action and also makes the blood flow better. Quercetin is contained in onions a lot. If you peel the skin of onions and place them under the sun for about a week, the amount of quercetin becomes 3 times more. So a recommended recipe is miso soup with onions and cheese.
Q5. Why do stroke and heart attack occur most in winter?
(A) Because blood vessels contract with cold. (B) Because blood flow becomes faster with cold. A5. (A) Because blood vessels contract with cold. Blood plays a very important roll to control the body temperature. For example, when you go to a warm place, your body tries to release heat enlarging the blood vessels to lower the body temperature. On the contrary, when you go to a cold place, your body tries not to release heat contracting the blood vessels to keep the body temperature. This is similar to the relationship between cars and roads. Assuming the warm place is 3 lanes and the cold place is 1 lane, when cars come from 3 lanes to 1 lane, traffic jam happens at 1 lane. That is like blood tends to be clogged if it is cold because the blood vessel becomes narrower. That is why stroke and heart attack tend to occur more in January and February (winter). Q6. Who has the risk to have stroke or heart attack (myocardial infarction) during sleep? (A) A person who snores (B) A person who talks in his or her sleep (C) A person who often tosses and turns A6. (A) A person who snores Q7. Why does the person who snores during sleep have the risk? A7. Because blood pressure goes up and down repeatedly, applying a burden to the blood vessels. Rapid rise of blood pressure applies a burden to the blood vessels and there is a high possibility that it damages the blood vessels. A person who snores frequently has a high possibility to cause sleep apnea syndrome. When snoring starts, blood pressure goes up and when snoring stops, blood pressure goes down so every time snoring starts and stops, snoring puts a tax on the blood vessels. Q8. Heart attack (Myocardial infarction) tends to occur in the morning, especially within an hour after waking up. What are dangerous habits if they are done especially on cold morning? A8. Going to the bathroom, washing one’s face, taking out the garbage, taking the dog for a walk, jogging, etc. So what are the reasons that they are dangerous habits? First, cold morning makes the blood vessels contract, leading to the rise of blood pressure. That is why it is dangerous. Straining to defecate leads to the rise of blood pressure. If you jog or take the dog for a walk dressed lightly on a cold morning, blood pressure goes up by coldness and exercises. So when you take the dog for a walk, it is important to protect yourself against the cold wearing a scarf and a coat. It is very dangerous to let your guard down, thinking it is OK because it is very short time. Stroke and heart attack occur most in winter so let's learn the basic information from the following quiz.
Q1. What disease are both stroke and heart attack (myocardial infarction)? A1. They are blood vessels’ diseases. Q2. What is clogged when myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction occur? (A) Cholesterol (B) Blood clots A2. (B) Blood clots A blood clot is something similar to congealed nosebleed, formed in the blood vessel. The cells in our body can work with oxygen and nutrition from the blood vessels. If the blood vessels which are passages to deliver oxygen and nutrition are clogged by blood clots, the cells die because the required energy is not delivered. Q3. How long will it be if all the blood vessels are connected? A3. About 100000 km (about 62000 miles) (distance of earth 2.5 rounds) For example, if there is a road of earth 2.5 rounds, it is not so unusual that there is a traffic jam or an accident somewhere. Similarly, it is not a surprise that a blood clot happens in the blood vessels at any moment. Q4. When you have stroke or myocardial infarction, there are subjective symptoms. (A) True (B) False A4. (B) False There are signs but no obvious subjective symptoms. So people feel it suddenly occurred. The sign of heart attack is such as when you climb up stairs, you feel pressure and pain in your chest. The sign of stroke is such as temporary tingling sensation in your hands and feet or speaking inarticulately. This is Part-IV of The Risk of Insufficient Sleep.
Taking a nap is recommended to spend afternoon actively, but incorrect nap raises the risk of cerebral infarction. In the case of elderly people, taking a nap for more than 1 hour increases the risk of cerebral and cardiac infarction. When you go into deep sleep, waking up from it increases burden on the blood vessels and raises the blood pressure, increasing the risk of cerebral and cardiac infarction. When you sleep, the blood vessels expand, but when you wake up, the blood vessels contract suddenly, giving a heavy burden to the blood vessels. It is good to drink a cup of hot coffee before taking a nap because caffeine in coffee will take effect in 20 to 30 minutes so you can wake up feeling well. Ideal duration of nap is 15 minutes. 15 minutes nap also prevent dementia. Amyloid β (beta) is known as a cause of dementia, which attacks and decreases neurons in the brain, but amyloid β melts and is discharged while you are sleeping. However, sleeping more than 60 minutes increases the risk of dementia because it causes sleep at night to be shallow, shorten the time to clean amyloid beta. I added MMA Vol 27 What you need to know to prevent Heat Stroke (Dehydration) on Home Therapy page. There are some other diseases you need to be careful in summer.
In summer, blood tends to get sticky because we sweat more, resulting in dehydration. This tends to lead to cerebral infarction and gout. Cerebral infarction tends to occur while we are sleeping. We can't drink water while we are sleeping, so it is important to take water before you go to bed. It is recommended to drink a glass of sports drink which is about 50 degree F. Sports drinks are easy to be absorbed into our system because they contain plenty of electrolyte. Also 50 degree F is the temperature which is easy to be absorbed through our intestines. If you can't move your fingers or you can't speak clearly, you may be in dangerous condition. Easy checking method is trying to lift your arms horizontally, closing your eyes. If you can't do that, you have a risk of cerebral infarction. Gout occurs when concentration of uric acid becomes too high. When you sweat, you lose water in your blood and concentration of uric acid becomes high. That is why gout tend to occur in summer more. So it is important not to accumulate uric acid and not to be dehydrated. Making your urine alkalized helps elimination of uric acid for your body, so it is recommended to take root vegetables, sea vegetables, beans and vinegar. They say drinking a glass of low fat milk lowers the risk of gout by 43%. |
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