Rio Grande Campus Rm. A118·831-4144 · [email protected] · www.epcc.edu/sites/departments/hcop
April 2010, Vol. 1, Issue 4
April 2010
April Fool's Day
The month of April is known for the April Fools
‘Day that usually falls on the first of April. Each
year, many fall into the traps of jokes, usually for
the sake of entertainment.
How did this April Fools Celebration come about?
April Fools' Day, sometimes called All Fools' Day,
is one of the most light hearted days of the year. Its
origins are uncertain. Some see it as a celebration
related to the turn of the seasons, while others
believe it stems from the adoption of a new
calendar.
Source: infoplease.com
New Year's Day Moves
Ancient cultures, including those as varied as the
Romans and the Hindus, celebrated New Year's
Day on or around April 1. It closely follows the
vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st.) In
medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March
25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of
the New Year.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar
(the Gregorian calendar) to replace the old Julian
calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's
Day to be celebrated Jan. 1. That year, France
adopted the reformed calendar and shifted New
Year's Day to Jan. 1. According to a popular
explanation, many people either refused to accept
the new date, or did not learn about it, and
continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1.
Other people began to make fun of these
traditionalists, sending them on "fool's errands" or
trying to trick them into believing something false.
Eventually, the practice spread throughout Europe.
So whether it was for the turn of the seasons or the
beginning of the New Year, the first of the month of
April is fun and amusing, to say the least.
Source: infoplease.com
April is the month of your interpretation of
faith and forgiveness as two of the holiest
holidays fall into it. Easter is the Christian
holiday that falls this year on April 4, 2010.
Actually, this holiday could be considered the
epitome of Christianity where Jesus Christ, the
son of God, gave his life to absolve the sins of
his followers and forsake humanity. Passover
is the Jewish holiday that falls on April 5,
2010. Passover in 2010 will start on Tuesday,
the 30th of March and will continue for 7 days
until Monday, the 5th of April. Note that in the
Jewish calendar, a holiday begins on the sunset
of the previous day, so observing Jews will
celebrate Passover on the sunset of Monday,
the 29th of March.
This Holiday
commemorates the Hebrews' liberation from
slavery in Egypt and the “passing over” of the
forces of destruction, or the sparing of the
firstborn of the Israelites, when the Lord
“smote the land of Egypt” on the eve of the
Exodus.
Enjoy your holidays!
Inside This Issue:
April Fool's Day......................1
New Year's Day Moves...........1
What are the best ways to cut
Sodium from your diet?..........2
What is High Blood Pressure
or Hypertension?....................2
What's keeping you awake at
night?......................................3
Interesting!..............................3
Eat this and burn more fat......4
Cocktails under
220 calories............................4
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Rio Grande Campus Rm. A118 · 831-4144 · [email protected] · www.epcc.edu/sites/departments/hcop
April 2010, Vol. 1, Issue 4
What are the best ways to cut
Sodium from your diet?
What is High Blood Pressure or
Hypertension?
If you are at risk of High Blood Pressure and you
need to be careful with salt intake, you just need
to make wiser food choices.
Overall, the average American consumes about 4,
000 mg per day of salt, the required daily amount
of salt needed is about half, at 2300 mg per day.
Cutting back on Sodium could potentially save
about 150,000 lives a year according to the
American Medical Association.
Know that frozen foods contain the largest
amount of salt-even the “healthy” frozen dinners
can contain as much as Sodium as the person
needs in an entire day. Salt, in this case, is used as
a preservative. Canned foods, cereals, and
pastries are also some of the biggest culprits of
hidden Sodium levels. Here are some tips to
decrease your salt intake:
It is called the silent killer, unfortunately. It is
defined as the force of blood pushing against the
walls of arteries as it flows through them. As the
blood flows through the arteries, it pushes against
the inside of the artery walls. The more pressure
the blood exerts on the artery walls, the higher
the blood pressure will be. When the muscular
walls of the arteries dilate or relax, the pressure
of the blood flowing through them is lower than
when the artery walls narrow or constrict.
Blood pressure is highest when the heart beats to
push the blood into the arteries. Systolic Pressure
is when the heart beats (120 mmhg or less).
Diastolic Pressure is when the heart is at rest
(80mmhg or less).
•
•
•
When purchasing foods, look not only at
the labels but also on the servings and
serving sizes.
Portion your favorite foods-Eat in
moderation.
Remove your salt shaker from the table;
instead, spice up your food. It will taste
better!
Source: health.com
What are the risk factors for high blood
pressure (HBP)?
1. Family History (if someone in your
immediate family has it, then you are at risk
of getting it as well),
2. Race(African Americans are at a higher risk
for HBP),
3. Age (the older you are, the higher the risk),
Obesity tends to put you at risk of HBP,
4. Smoking already constricts the arteries of
the heart and puts you at risk of HBP,
5. Alcoholism attacks the kidneys and make
you work harder at transporting blood,
6. Sedentary Life style-Lack of physical
activity leads to HBP,
7. Diabetes is one of the causative factors for
HBP,
8. Sodium Intake, and
9. Stress.
So if you have HBP, you are at risk for stroke,
Heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure, and
Arteriosclerosis. To prevent HBP, you can check
your blood pressure, reduce your salt intake,
reduce your fat intake, lose weight, and exercise
regularly, quit smoking and manage stress.
Source: Health Literacy Curriculum
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Rio Grande Campus Rm. A118 · 831-4144 · [email protected] · www.epcc.edu/sites/departments/hcop
April 2010, Vol. 1, Issue 4
What's keeping you awake at
night?
"If you try tips and are still not getting enough
sleep or are still sleepy, you may have a
problem that requires a greater level of
intervention, such as medication or light
therapy, which can help re-train or reset your
body's internal clock,” doctors say.
The rate of diagnosed sleep disorders differs
among the groups, the survey found. Whites
were more likely to have been diagnosed with
insomnia, while African Americans were more
likely to have sleep apnea, a breathing problem
that causes people to wake up frequently.
What else is keeping us awake at night?
Roughly 20 percent of whites, African
Americans, and Hispanics said that financial
problems were causing them to lose sleep at
night, compared to just 9 percent of Asians.
More so than other groups, Hispanics also
worried about health-related concerns.
Priyanka Yadav, D.O., a sleep medicine
specialist at Somerset Medical Center in
Somerville, New Jersey, says that the survey's
findings suggest that she and other experts in
the field need to tailor their treatment to
different ethnicities.
While Asians reported the fewest sleep
problems and were among the least likely to use
sleeping aids (such as medication), for instance,
they were also least likely to bring up sleep
problems with their doctors.
"Now that I know this, if I had an Asian patient,
I would ask them about their sleep to get the
dialogue started," says Yadav.
"It is really important to realize how ethnicities
view sleep, so we can better target our treatment
recommendations," she adds.
In the end, the racial and ethnic differences in the
survey may be less important than the fact that so
many people struggle to get a good night's,
suggests Mark W. Mahowald, M.D., the director
of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders
Center.
"There are ethnic and cultural differences and
socioeconomic factors that play a role in how
much sleep everyone gets, but a significant
percent of the adult population is sleep deprived,"
he says. "The main consequence of this is
impaired performance in the workplace, in the
classroom, and behind the wheel, followed by
irritability."
People with busy schedules often cut back on
sleep to make time for other things, Mahowald
adds. But, he says, "Sleep is non-negotiable and is
as important as diet and exercise to our overall
well-being."
Source: health.com
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Rio Grande Campus Rm. A118 · 831-4144 · [email protected] · www.epcc.edu/sites/departments/hcop
April 2010, Vol. 1, Issue 4
Eat this and burn more fat
Cocktails under 220 calories
In the study, researchers at the Harvard School
of Public Health and Brigham and Women's
Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts, surveyed
19,220 healthy, normal-weight women about
their diet and drinking habits. Nearly 40
percent of the women didn't drink at all, and a
very small number -- just 3 percent -consumed more than about 2.5 drinks a day.
Over the 13-year study period, 4 out of 10
women became overweight or obese.
The women who drank cut down on their
calorie intake from food, especially
carbohydrates, the study showed. However,
total calorie intake did inch up as alcohol
consumption increased; women who drank at
least 2.5 drinks a day averaged about 1,800
calories a day, compared with 1,670 for
teetotalers.
R. Curtis Ellison, M.D., the director of the
Institute on Lifestyle and Health at the Boston
University School of Medicine, says this study
is the strongest evidence to date that calories
from food and booze are not created equal.
"Many other studies that are not nearly as well
done or as large as this suggest that calories
from alcohol are metabolized differently,"
Ellison says. "The alcohol calories probably
don't count as much as calories from a
Hershey's bar."
Kahan says that the findings challenge the
conventional wisdom about calories from
alcohol. "The way that the body handles those
calories very possibly might be very different
from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins," he
says. "It makes you wonder if we've been
thinking about alcohol as a nutrient a little bit
incorrectly."
One drawback of the study, Kahan adds, is that
the researchers did not examine how alcohol
consumption might influence weight gain in
women who are already overweight or obese.
Another limitation, according to Ellison, is that
the study contains no information on the role a
woman's drinking patterns might have played
-- whether, for instance, a glass of wine each
day had a different effect than downing several
drinks once or twice a week.
Although recovering alcoholics and people
with uncontrolled epilepsy shouldn't drink,
Ellison says, moderate alcohol consumption
can have health benefits for people middleaged and older, especially when it comes to
heart health and stroke risk.
For most women, he adds, these benefits will
outweigh the small increase in breast cancer
risk associated with alcohol consumption. "I
am someone who's a strong believer that
substances in wine are helpful," he says.
Source: health.com
Source: health.com
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