Women’s health in the workplace may be at risk due to a three times higher incidence of stroke for those aged 35 to 54.
Strokes in men the same age have remained the same. The cause is attributed to an increase in obesity in this younger, midlife pre-stroke population. These results are especially shocking because the 5,000 women taking part in the study were taking medicines to control their cholesterol and blood pressure, steps that are designed to lower the risk of stroke. What is going on here? And why are women in midlife having more strokes than men?
According to a International Stroke Conference report presented at the 2008 International Stroke Conference, women’s waistlines are nearly two inches bigger than they were a decade earlier. Women’s body mass index (BMI), a standard measure of obesity, rose from 27 in the earlier study to 29.
Another findingby neurologist Dr. Amytis Towfighi from UCLA, is an increase in blood sugar levels, a measurement for diabetes. These statistics point to an alarming trend in women’s health, which could have a severe impact upon the quality of life, family well-being and careers of women in midlife.
All the more reason to develop wellness in the workplace programs that encourage education and prevention.
Did you see the last 35 seconds of Super Bowl 2008? Talk about a heart stopper! The Giants’ Manning to Burress touchdown knocked the wind out of me and the win from the Patriots. As I sat down to recover my cool, I remembered what Meyer Friedman, M.D. had to say about big-game sports and your heart. Dr. Friedman, in case you forgot, was the original Type A personality researcher and a pioneer in mind-body medicine. During the ten years I worked with him, we counseled heart patients to watch football games on TV with no sound. Yep, they had to put the remote on Mute! Why? The sound and rush of adrenaline during football games are enough to give you a heart attack.
Soccer tournaments can be just as lethal. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that Germans who followed the 2006 World Cup soccer matches had 2.66 times more serious heart problems on game days than non game days. Most at risk were people who had known heart disease. They had a 4 times greater incidence of cardiac emergencies! Why? Perhaps it was the combination of stress, forgetting to take medicines and eating more fatty junk food than usual.
If you or a loved one becomes too excited, angry or tense about a sporting event, remember…….it is just a game. Turn off the sound, walk outside for deep breaths of fresh air or give someone a hug. Your life is worth it.
How is your personal leadership performance the first thing in the morning? Are you preoccupied with the pressures and challenges of the day ahead? One of your most important decisions of the day is what to eat for breakfast. A great breakfast is your most powerful ally for delivering high energy on demand to your brain and body. Are you ever in such a rush that you think you don’t have time to eat? If you are like me in the morning, you are half awake getting breakfast together for yourself and your run out-the-door family, so breakfast has to be easy and it has to be nutritionally dense. The best bet? Just the right cereal and seasonal fresh fruit. It takes less than 3 minutes to make. Take the time to eat and you are ready for anything. It is your first and best great decision of the day!
Not just any breakfast cereal though….it has to be sensational enough to eat five or six days a week. I vary the fruit so it never gets boring. Instead of soy milk, some days I mix in low-fat yogurt and supercharged BioK+, which packs a whopping 50 billion live and fresh l.acidophilus & l.casei cultures. Great for digestion all day long. Special bonus: if you have to take antibiotics, the yogurt prevents those annoying side effects from the medicine.
Research shows that people who eat a low-sugar, low-fat cereal for breakfast are more successful at maintaining their weight loss. It works for me! Throw in the data about eating enough protein, with high fiber and complex carbohydrates like fresh fruit and my breakfast concoction is just about perfect. That’s why everybody calls me the morning Queen of Lean. Breakfast has to be neat,quick and powerful.
So, what’s the name of this favorite can’t- wait -to -eat- it breakfast cereal? Kashi GoLean. Believe me, the competiton around here for the perfect breakfast cereal is intense. After throwing out the CoCo Puffs and Honey Grahams, Kashi GoLean became the unanimous choice and was hired on the spot. Alert: Kellogg’s now owns Kashi, so watch out for the crunchy version of GoLean cereal. Crunchy is code for added sugar and fat. The original version of GoLean, the one I eat every day, has only 6 grams of sugar per serving and is a mix of crispy fiber twigs, 13 grams of soy protein grahams and seven whole grains & sesame toasted yummy honey puffs.
For the ultimate nutritional breakfast, I often grace my GoLean cereal with 2 Tbs. of Platinum Performance granules. Each serving of Platinum Performance gives you 5 grams of Omega-3 essential fatty acids, which support cardiovascular, joint, brain and eye health. I really like the brain boost. This high packed tasty supplement has only 100 calories, plus 4 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, Omega-6 fatty acids, vitamin C and calcium.
The best thing about my yummy twigs and honey puffs breakfast cereal? I can pack it plus the supplement into individual zip lock bags to go. That way I always have time to eat a healthy, energy- packed breakfast that primes me for a productive and positive work day. What’s on your agenda today for a healthy, high performance breakfast?