Several of my readers who have long suffered with daytime neck pain and nighttime snoring have commented about those funny travel-type pillows that are shaped like a horseshoe.

Some people hate them and some people love them, and as always when there are dissenting opinions on a topic I just have to nose in and find out what the benefits and drawbacks are.

Being a traveler myself, I see those pillows all the time.  Even before a flight takes off, usually someone in my area has whipped it out and is attempting to shut out the world and catch a few Zs.

I hadn’t considered the use of this kind of pillow in the regular bedroom setting, though.  As I surfed around the ‘Net looking for examples, I found many, many separate companies that market this product.

Those with high blood pressure that can’t live without their morning cup of Joe can drink up without worsening their hypertension, a research study involving more than 170,000 people found. While many public health officials warn those with high blood pressure to steer clear of Starbucks, this recommendation may be rooted more in what goes in the coffee as opposed to coffee itself.

The research, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that even coffee addicts that downed five or more cups of coffee per day experienced the same hypertension risk of those that didn’t drink any. However, they warn that excessive caffeine consumption can get in the way of healthy sleep –something that definitely does boost blood pressure.

Natural ways to drop blood pressure…

Warm regards,
Christian Goodman

Reducing high cholesterol levels may do more than protect your heart –it can also make blood sugar easier to manage—reports a research team from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. In their study, a group of diabetic mice were given a compound that reduced cholesterol production in their blood. They found that the mice’s blood sugar dramatically improved, without changes to their diet.

The researchers hypothesize that lowering cholesterol helps reduce inflammation –the underlying cause of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.  They add that diabetics should aim to aggressively treat their cholesterol in order to better control blood sugar.

A 21-day plan for eliminating type 2 diabetes…

Natural method to lower cholesterol…

To Your Health,
Jodi Knapp

I was looking over a news story (really it was more of an editorial blog posting) that was blasting a drug and technique for treating Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. While the focus of my article today isn’t on PTSS, it does touch on this controversial treatment.

The issue at hand was a technique that combines a pharmaceutical that is considered an amnesiac, similar to what is administered during some surgical procedures such as colonoscopy with psychotherapy, whereby the recipient relives a severely traumatic event.

In the surgical setting, the drug renders the recipient unable to remember the procedure or the unpleasantness of it, which can be rather useful in the appropriate surgical setting.

Vertigo can be a frustrating condition that requires dozens of tests and doctors’ appointments. However, a pair of research studies note the importance of reducing sodium intake to reduce one of the leading causes of vertigo, Meniere’s disease.

The first study, published in the Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America, notes that limiting sodium-rich foods in the diet like canned and frozen foods is one of the most effective treatments yet discovered for this common vertigo cause. The second research review, published by a team of Spanish scientists, notes that aggressive treatment of Meniere’s disease –including sodium reduction—is effective in more than 8 out of ten cases.

Even more natural ways to relieve vertigo and chronic dizziness…

Warm regards,
Christian Goodman

Those wondering what they should eat to lower their blood pressure may be surprised that the answer may be “nothing,” according to a research team from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute. In a new study, they found that periodically fasting boosts overall heart health by reducing cholesterol and blood pressure.

In this study, a group of volunteers were assigned to fast for 24 consecutive hours. They found that the single-day fast was enough to significantly improve cardiovascular disease risk factors like hypertension, triglycerides and “bad” LDL cholesterol. The researchers add, however, that the long-term health effects of fasting have not been studied as of yet.

Here’s what else you can do to reduce your blood pressure naturally…

It turns out that people with arthritis aren’t immune to the obesity epidemic, reports a new study commissioned by the CDC involving 400,000 research subjects. The CDC research, published in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found that the prevalence of obesity in arthritis patients significantly increased since 2003. Louisiana was hit the hardest –nearly half of their arthritis sufferers were also obese. But all 50 states saw a rise in the number of their arthritis citizen’s who were obese (only Washington DC was immune).

The importance of maintaining a healthy body weight in those with arthritis is a major public health concern. The study authors note that even a modest reduction in the amount of obese arthritis sufferers could potentially side step more than 110,000 knee replacements annually. Obesity worsens arthritis symptoms by increasing inflammation and adding to the weight that arthritic joints have to bear on a daily basis.

How to stop arthritis with a 21-day…

Revolutionary method to deal with obesity…

We get this question a lot.  Usually, the people asking are those that are either newly diagnosed with a heart condition or have a loved one who just did.

The condition it is used primarily for is Coronary Artery Disease, or CAD. This is when the blood vessels surrounding the heart begin to narrow.  This puts a tremendous amount of strain on the heart in order to get the blood pumped through the body.

This strain, and acute attacks of it, are called angina.  This is the pain in the chest that people feel with stress in different forms such as that experienced during strenuous exercise, episodes of fear or anger, and environmental triggers that impact the body’s function such as heat exhaustion.
When prescribed for people with CAD, nitroglycerin comes in the form of a spray or a tablet.

Tablets can be the kind that dissolve quickly under the tongue for acute onset situations, or the extended release kind that is more for prevention of episodes.

It is not used to cure CAD; it only prevents or stops the angina attacks that result from it.

While this medication has many times been the primary factor in saving the lives of those with CAD during severe angina attacks, it carries a host of detrimental baggage with it.

According to a large-scale research study published this week in Diabetes Care, poor sleep is closely linked to insulin resistance and poor blood glucose management in type 2 diabetics. As lead author of the study Kristen Knutson, PhD states, diabetics that don’t sleep enough “…have a reduced quality of life. And, they have a reduced life expectancy.”

While the poor sleep/insulin resistance tie is nothing new, the results from this study are important because it demonstrates the extent that sleep interferes with insulin’s action. They discovered that 82% of diabetics that had “poor sleep” either from sleep apnea or simply lack of adequate sleeping hours had higher blood glucose levels than diabetics that got enough shut eye.

The study authors claim that the blood glucose benefits of getting enough sleep rival many common diabetic drugs for managing blood sugar.

Learn more ways to manage type 2 diabetes naturally …

Can’t sleep? Learn to overcome insomnia tonight…

Those looking for motivation for managing their hypertension may find fuel for their efforts based on the results out of the Chinese Third Military Medical University in Chongqing. These researchers discovered that aggressively treating high blood pressure reduced Alzheimer’s disease risk by more than 1/3rd.

Additionally, they found that blood pressure nearly doubled Alzheimer’s disease risk in older people. Although this study was observational, they hypothesize that elevated blood pressure may impair blood flow to the brain, making brain cells more susceptible to damage or destruction. Also, levels protein that promotes the brain cell plaque development that causes Alzheimer’s, beta-amyloid, may increase in those with high blood pressure.

Here’s how you can drop blood pressure the natural way…