Category: harvardhealth_news_UNDEFINED

For people who buy over-the-counter hearing aids, getting the devices is only a first step toward better hearing. It takes time to learn how to use, wear, and adjust the hearing aids, especially during the first two weeks. Tips to ease through this adjustment period include wearing devices at home for at least a few hours per day, and longer if possible; allowing soft sounds to be louder than normal at first; and learning to switch device settings for changes in environmental noise, such as going from a quiet street into a noisy restaurant.

Online tools enable consumers to vet dietary supplements before taking them. That’s important, since dietary supplements sometimes contain hidden prescription drugs, controlled substances, or untested and unstudied components. Some of the most reliable tools to vet supplements are provided on the websites of the FDA, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Defense. Consumers can look up basic information about dietary supplements, clinical evidence about their use and effectiveness, suspicious ingredients they may contain, and safety violations.

Statin dosages fall into three categories (low, moderate, or high) based on how much the medication can lower LDL. The choice of a statin depends on a person’s risk.

More than one in seven adults has chronic kidney disease, yet many of them aren’t aware of the problem. Early-stage kidney disease often has no symptoms, but the condition slowly and silently worsens over time. The two most common causes of chronic kidney disease—high blood pressure and diabetes—are also leading risk factors for heart disease, which means the two diseases often overlap. Most people know their blood pressure and cholesterol values, but few are familiar with the tests used to assess kidney health. They include serum creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and urine protein tests.

Marijuana use, which is rising among older adults, appears to heighten the risk of heart-related problems. Cannabis is known to increase heart rate and blood pressure, although high doses can have the opposite effect. Marijuana use has been implicated in causing heart attacks, atrial fibrillation, stress cardiomyopathy, and arteritis.

Many foods traditionally eaten in China, such as vegetables, tofu, and seafood, are all linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. So are the unsaturated oils (such as canola, soy, or peanut oil) frequently used to prepare Chinese dishes. But some Chinese cooking staples like soy sauce and other savory sauces (black bean, hoisin, and oyster) are quite high in sodium, which can raise blood pressure. At restaurants, people should request no monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer that also contains sodium. For home cooking, people can buy soy sauce with 37% less sodium, which is marketed as “less sodium soy sauce.

Major league baseball players have team cardiologists to diagnose and treat common cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure and cholesterol. Distinguishing normal exercise-induced cardiac remodeling (which may cause the heart’s main pumping chamber to enlarge) from certain inherited or acquired heart diseases, known as cardiomyopathies, often requires a specialist.

Learn to manage your triglyceride levels to avoid having a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.

Learn to manage your triglyceride levels to avoid having a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.

Optimism and other positive emotions may guard against serious heart-related events and death. Simple exercises such as expressing gratitude and performing acts of kindness can counter depression and improve well-being. These interventions may encourage people—including those with heart-related conditions such as heart attacks and heart failure—to exercise more and take their medications more consistently. Having a more positive outlook may help reinforce other positive behaviors, or what psychologists refer to as the “upward spiral.” This momentum can help people start healthy habits like exercise, which then becomes self-reinforcing.