How To Survive A Heart Attack When You’re Alone

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Dr. Alan Mandel emphasizes the importance of staying calm and following these steps to improve survival chances:

Simple is best

Here’s how you will survive a heart attack alone: briefly.

So, you will need to get help as quickly as possible. 90% of people who make it to a hospital alive, go on to survive their heart attack, so that’s your top priority.

Call emergency services as soon as you suspect you are having a heart attack. Stay on the line, and stay calm.

While having a heart attack is not an experience that’s very conducive to relaxation, heightened emotions will exacerbate things, so focus on breathing calmly. One of the commonly reported symptoms of heart attack that doesn’t often make it to official lists is “a strong sense of impending doom”, and that is actually helpful as it helps separate it from “is this indigestion?” or such, but once you have acknowledged “yes, this is probably a heart attack”, you need to put those feelings aside for later.

If you have aspirin available, Dr. Mandel says that the time to take it is once you have called an ambulance. However, if aspirin is not readily available, do not exert yourself trying to find some; indeed, don’t move more than necessary.

Do not drive yourself to hospital; it will increase the risk of fainting, and you may crash.

While you are waiting, your main job is to remain calm; he recommends deep breathing, and lying with knees elevated or feet on a chair; this latter is to minimize the strain on your heart.

For more on all this, plus the key symptoms and risk factors, enjoy:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Want to learn more?

You might also like to read:

Heart Attack: His & Hers (Be Prepared!)

Take care!

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  • Kombucha vs Kimchi – Which is Healthier

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing kombucha to kimchi, we picked the kombucha.

    Why?

    While both are very respectable gut-healthy fermented products,
    •⁠ ⁠the kombucha contains fermented tea, a little apple cider vinegar, and a little fiber
    •⁠ ⁠the kimchi contains (after the vegetables) 810 mg sodium in that little tin, and despite the vegetables, no fiber.

    You may reasonably be surprised that they managed to take something that is made of mostly vegetables and ended up with no fiber without juicing it, but they did. Fermented vegetables are great for the healthy bacteria benefits (and are tasty too!), but the osmotic pressure due to the salt destroys the cell walls and thus the fiber.

    Thus, we chose the kombucha that does the same job without delivering all that salt.

    However! If you are comparing kombucha and kimchi out in the wilds of your local supermarket, do still check individual labels. It’s not uncommon, for example, for stores to sell pre-made kombucha that’s loaded with sugar.

    About sugar and kombucha…

    Sugar is required to make kombucha, to feed the yeast and helpful bacteria. However, there should be none of that sugar left (or only the tiniest trace amount) in the final product, because the yeast (and friends) consumed and metabolized it.

    What some store brands do, however, is add in sugar afterwards, as they believe it improves the taste. This writer cannot imagine how, but that is their rationale in any case. Needless to say, it is not a healthy addition, and specifically, it’s bad for your gut, which (healthwise) is the whole point of drinking kombucha in the first place.

    Want some? Here is an example product on Amazon, but feel free to shop around as there are many flavors available!

    Read more about gut health: Gut Health 101

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  • Beetroot vs Carrot – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing beetroot to carrot, we picked the carrot.

    Why?

    It was close! And beetroot does have its advantages, but we say carrot wins on balance.

    In terms of macros, these two root vegetables are close to identical, down to both having 9.57g carbs per 100g, and 2.8g fiber per 100g. Technically, beetroot has a smidgen more protein, but nobody’s eating these for their tiny protein content.

    When it comes to vitamins, it’s not close and the margins are mostly huge: carrots have a lot more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, C, E, K, and choline, while beetroot has more vitamin B9.

    In the category of minerals, superficially it swings the other way, but the margins this time are small. Nevertheless, beetroot has more copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while carrots have more calcium.

    This would make things, on balance, a tie: equal on macros, carrots win on vitamins, beetroot wins on minerals.

    But because of the relative margins of difference, carrots win the day, because they’re almost as good as beetroot on those minerals, whereas beetroot doesn’t come close to carrot on the vitamins.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    From Apples to Bees, and high-fructose C’s: Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same?

    Take care!

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  • Luxurious Longevity Risotto

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    Pearl barley is not only tasty and fiber-rich, but also, it contains propionic acid, which lowers cholesterol. The fiber content also lowers cholesterol too, of course, by the usual mechanism. The dish’s health benefits don’t end there, though; check out the science section at the end of the recipe!

    You will need

    • 2 cups pearl barley
    • 3 cups sliced chestnut mushrooms
    • 2 onions, finely chopped
    • 6 large leaves collard greens, shredded
    • ½ bulb garlic, finely chopped
    • 8 spring onions, sliced
    • 1½ quarts low-sodium vegetable stock
    • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
    • 1 tbsp chia seeds
    • 1 tbsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • 1 tsp MSG or 2 tsp low-sodium salt
    • 1 tsp rosemary
    • 1 tsp thyme
    • Extra virgin olive oil, for cooking
    • Optional garnish: fresh basil leaves

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Heat a little oil in a large sauté pan; add the onions and garlic and cook for 5 minutes; add the mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes.

    2) Add the pearl barley and a cup of the vegetable stock. Cook, stirring, until the liquid is nearly all absorbed, and add more stock every few minutes, as per any other risotto. You may or may not use all the stock you had ready. Pearl barley takes longer to cook than rice, so be patient—it’ll be worth the wait!

    Alternative: an alternative is to use a slow cooker, adding a quart of the stock at once and coming back about 4 hours later—thus, it’ll take a lot longer, but will require minimal/no supervision.

    3) When the pearl barley has softened, become pearl-like, and the dish is taking on a creamy texture, stir in the rest of the ingredients. Once the greens have softened, the dish is done, and it’s time to serve. Add the garnish if using one:

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

    Share This Post

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  • Correct An Upper Spine Hump (Simple Stretch & Exercise)

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    Generally called a neck hump in this video, it can be in the cervical (neck) vertebrae or it can be in the thoracic (upper back) vertebrae. It’s also known as a dowager’s hump, buffalo hump, or kyphosis.

    However, it can be fixed:

    What to do

    First understand the cause: it generally comes from poor posture, especially from prolonged desk work or phone use.

    With that in mind…

    1. Posture adjustments: lean back in a chair to counter gravity’s pull on your head. Avoid slumping; keep your head aligned with your spine.
    2. Stretching: lie flat on the floor without pillows to restore spinal alignment. Gradually reduce pillow height during sleep to decrease neck hyperflexion.
    3. Neck retraction: pull chin straight back while keeping your eyes looking forwards. Hold for 15 seconds, gradually increasing to 60 seconds. Perform 10 repetitions, resting between sets.
    4. Strengthening: lean forward and pull the chin back against gravity. Hold, or repeat for 10 repetitions. Over time, increase duration to a minute.

    For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

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    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    The Pains That Good Posture Now Can Help You Avoid Later

    Take care!

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  • Dial Down Your Pain

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    This is Dr. Christiane Wolf. Is than an MD or a PhD, you ask? The answer is: yes (it is both; the latter being in psychosomatic medicine).

    She also teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, which as you may recall is pretty much the most well-evidenced* form of meditation there is, in terms of benefits:

    No-Frills, Evidence-Based Mindfulness

    *which is not to claim it is necessarily the best (although it also could be); rather, this means that it is the form of meditation that’s accumulated the most scientific backing in total. If another equal or better form of meditation enjoyed less scientific scrutiny, then there could an alternative out there languishing with only two and a half scientific papers to its name. However, we at 10almonds are not research scientists, and thus can only comment on the body of evidence that has been published.

    In any case, today is going to be about pain.

    What does she want us to know?

    Your mind does matter

    It’s easy to think that anything you can do with your mind is going to be quite small comfort when your nerves feel like they’re on fire.

    However, Dr. Wolf makes the case for pain consisting of three components:

    • the physical sensation(s)
    • the emotions we have about those
    • the meaning we give to such (or “the story” that we use to describe it)

    To clarify, let’s give an example:

    • the physical sensations of burning, searing, and occasionally stabbing pains in the lower back
    • the emotions of anguish, anger, despair, self-pity
    • the story of “this pain has ruined my life, is making it unbearable, will almost certainly continue, and may get worse”

    We are not going to tell you to throw any of those out of the window for now (and, would that you could throw the first line out, of course).

    The first thing Dr. Wolf wants us to do to make this more manageable is to break it down.

    Because presently, all three of those things are lumped together in a single box labelled “pain”.

    If each of those items is at a “10” on the scale of pain, then this is 10×10×10=1000.

    If our pain is at 1000/10, that’s a lot. We want to leave the pain in the box, not look at it, and try to distract ourselves. That is one possible strategy, by the way, and it’s not always bad when it comes to giving oneself a short-term reprieve. We balanced it against meditation, here:

    Managing Chronic Pain (Realistically)

    However, back to the box analogy, if we open that box and take out each of those items to examine them, then even without changing anything, even with them all still at 10, they can each be managed for what they are individually, so it’s now 10+10+10=30.

    If our pain is at 30/10, that’s still a lot, but it’s a lot more manageable than 1000/10.

    On rating pain, by the way, see:

    Get The Right Help For Your Pain

    Dealing with the separate parts

    It would be nice, of course, for each of those separate parts to not be at 10.

    With regard to the physical side of pain, this is not Dr. Wolf’s specialty, but we have some good resources here at 10almonds:

    When it comes to emotions associated with pain, Dr. Wolf (who incidentally is a Buddhist and also a teacher of same, and runs meditation retreats for such), recommends (of course) mindfulness, and what in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is called “radical acceptance” (in Buddhism, it may be referred to as being at one with things). We’ve written about this here:

    “Hello, Emotions”: Radical Acceptance In CBT & DBT

    Once again, the aim here is still not to throw the (often perfectly valid) emotions out of the window (unless you want to), but rather, to neutrally note and acknowledge the emotions as they arrive, á la “Hello, despair. Depression, my old foe, we meet again. Hello again, resentment.” …and so on.

    The reason this helps is because emotions, much like the physical sensations of pain, are first and foremost messengers, and sometimes (as in the case of chronic pain) they get broken and keep delivering the message beyond necessity. Acknowledging the message helps your brain (and all that is attached to it) realize “ok, this message has been delivered now; we can chill about it a little”.

    Having done that, if you can reasonably tweak any of the emotions (for example, perhaps that self-pity we mentioned could be turned into self-compassion, which is more useful), that’s great. If not, at least you know what’s on the battlefield now.

    When we examine the story of our pain, lastly, Dr. Wolf invites us to look at how one of the biggest drivers of distress under pain is the uncertainty of how long the pain will last, whether it will get worse, whether what we are doing will make it worse, and so forth. See for example:

    How long does back pain last? And how can learning about pain increase the chance of recovery?

    And of course, many things we do specifically in response to pain can indeed make our pain worse, and spread:

    How To Stop Pain Spreading

    Dr. Wolf’s perspective says:

    1. Life involves pain
    2. Pain invariably has a cause
    3. What has a cause, can have an end
    4. We just need to go through that process

    This may seem like small comfort when we are in the middle of the pain, but if we’ve broken it down into parts with Dr. Wolf’s “box method”, and dealt with the first two parts (the sensations and the emotions) as well as reasonably possible, then we can tackle the third one (the story) a little more easily than we could if we were trying to come at it with no preparation.

    What used to be:

    “This pain has ruined my life, is making it unbearable, will almost certainly continue, and may get worse”

    …can now become:

    “This pain is a big challenge, but since I’m here for it whether I want to be or not, I will suffer as I must, while calmly looking for ways to reduce that suffering as I go.”

    In short: you cannot “think healing thoughts” and expect your pain to go away. But you can do a lot more than you might (if you left it unexamined) expect.

    Want to know more from Dr. Wolf?

    We reviewed a book of hers recently, which you might enjoy:

    Outsmart Your Pain – by Dr. Christiane Wolf

    Take care!

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  • I’m iron deficient. Which supplements will work best for me and how should I take them?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Iron deficiency is common and can be debilitating. It mainly affects women. One in three premenopausal women are low in iron compared to just 5% of Australian men. Iron deficiency particularly affects teenage girls, women who do a lot of exercise and those who are pregnant.

    The body needs iron to make new red blood cells, and to support energy production, the immune system and cognitive function. If you’re low, you may experience a range of symptoms including fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, headache, irregular heartbeat and reduced concentration.

    If a blood test shows you’re iron deficient, your doctor may recommend you start taking an oral iron supplement. But should you take a tablet or a liquid? With food or not? And when is the best time of day?

    Here are some tips to help you work out how, when and what iron supplement to take.

    LittlePigPower/Shutterstock

    How do I pick the right iron supplement?

    The iron in your body is called “elemental iron”. Choosing the right oral supplement and dose will depend on how much elemental iron it has – your doctor will advise exactly how much you need.

    The sweet spot is between 60-120 mg of elemental iron. Any less and the supplement won’t be effective in topping up your iron levels. Any higher and you risk gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea, cramping and stomach pain.

    Three pregnant bellies during a stretching class.
    Low iron can especially affect people during pregnancy and women who do a lot of sport. Kamil Macniak/Shutterstock

    In Australia, iron salts are the most common oral supplements because they are cheap, effective and come in different delivery methods (tablets, capsules, liquid formulas). The iron salts you are most likely to find in your local chemist are ferrous sulfate (~20% elemental iron), ferrous gluconate (~12%) and ferrous fumarate (~33%).

    These formulations all work similarly, so your choice should come down to dose and cost.

    Many multivitamins may look like an iron supplement, but it’s important to note they usually have too little iron – usually less than 20 mg – to correct an iron deficiency.

    Should I take tablets or liquid formulas?

    Iron contained within a tablet is just as well absorbed as iron found in a liquid supplement. Choosing the right one usually comes down to personal preference.

    The main difference is that liquid formulas tend to contain less iron than tablets. That means you might need to take more of the product to get the right dose, so using a liquid supplement could work out to be more expensive in the long term.

    What should I eat with my iron supplement?

    Research has shown you will absorb more of the iron in your supplement if you take it on an empty stomach. But this can cause more gastrointestinal issues, so might not be practical for everyone.

    If you do take your supplement with meals, it’s important to think about what types of food will boost – rather than limit – iron absorption. For example, taking the supplement alongside vitamin C improves your body’s ability to absorb it.

    Some supplements already contain vitamin C. Otherwise you could take the supplement along with a glass of orange juice, or other vitamin C-rich foods.

    A woman pours orange juice into a glass next to a bowl of strawberries and kiwifruit.
    Taking your supplement alongside foods rich in vitamin C, like orange juice or kiwifruit, can help your body absorb the iron. Anete Lusina/Pexels

    On the other hand, tea, coffee and calcium all decrease the body’s ability to absorb iron. So you should try to limit these close to the time you take your supplement.

    Should I take my supplement in the morning or evening?

    The best time of day to take your supplement is in the morning. The body can absorb significantly more iron earlier in the day, when concentrations of hepcidin (the main hormone that regulates iron) are at their lowest.

    Exercise also affects the hormone that regulates iron. That means taking your iron supplement after exercising can limit your ability to absorb it. Taking your supplement in the hours following exercise will mean significantly poorer absorption, especially if you take it between two and five hours after you stop.

    Our research has shown if you exercise every day, the best time to take your supplement is in the morning before training, or immediately after (within 30 minutes).

    My supplements are upsetting my stomach. What should I do?

    If you experience gastrointestinal side effects such as diarrhoea or cramps when you take iron supplements, you may want to consider taking your supplement every second day, rather than daily.

    Taking a supplement every day is still the fastest way to restore your iron levels. But a recent study has shown taking the same total dose can be just as effective when it’s taken on alternate days. For example, taking a supplement every day for three months works as well as every second day for six months. This results in fewer side effects.

    Oral iron supplements can be a cheap and easy way to correct an iron deficiency. But ensuring you are taking the right product, under the right conditions, is crucial for their success.

    It’s also important to check your iron levels prior to commencing iron supplementation and do so only under medical advice. In large amounts, iron can be toxic, so you don’t want to be consuming additional iron if your body doesn’t need it.

    If you think you may be low on iron, talk to your GP to find out your best options.

    Alannah McKay, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sports Nutrition, Australian Catholic University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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