JOSH'S CONDITIONS & TREATMENTS BLOG

Enjoying Things is Harmful

Heads up, sports fans! Sports Fanaticism is hazardous to your health. Watching sports, intently and mercilessly, like an insane hawk, with eyes, can affect the heart.

During the 2006 World Cup, German researchers found that the amount of heart attacks tripled for men (merely doubled for women) on days when Germany played. The more intense the game the more cardiac arrests were reported.

Super Bowl Sunday is fast approaching with its smarmy ads all smarm covered, and Americans are at greater risk for heart disease than people overseas, because Americans have a higher rate of overweightedness. Although in fairness, obesity rates have risen for most industrialized nations. Canadians, however, remain spindly by nature.

The study found that people who had a preexisting heart condition were more four times more likely to have a heart attack. People without a condition were only twice as likely.

Here is a list of famous sports fans who have perished because of heart disease.

• Skippy The Bills-Lovin' Dog
• The LA Dodgers' Own-- Larry the Guy who Dodges Things
• Old Weak Aorta Joe the Chargers fan

If you have a weak ticker, see a doctor before you watch the Super Bowl. Talk to a Cardiologist. 

Find a local doctor.

Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware)

By now, everyone knows about the performance-enhancing juggernaut, Viagra. But the public, especially men who suffer from heart disease, have to look out for knock-offs that claim to be all natural.

Viagra is not supposed to be taken with heart-disease medication. Together, the two drugs cause the blood to flow slower than molasses, the sweet, sassy kind. This drug interaction causes strokes and heart attacks.  The irony of the situation is that erectile dysfunction can be a side effect of cardiovascular disease. Men are left frustrated.

So men, forthright and good, have turned towards all-natural herbal supplements, hoping to find a cure amongst mystical-seeming herbs and finger-lickin' spices.  If lucky, these herbal supplements will work, do nothing or give the user a mild headache.

Those herbal supplements seem harmless with their lists of silly and magical-sounding ingredients, but they often contain the same chemicals that Viagra and Levitra have and sometimes more of it.  All around the country, men have been turning up in emergency rooms with herb-related ailments.

The most common side effects were severe headaches, stroke, and priapisms. One doctor said that people may have died from this.

Before taking an herbal supplement, see a doctor-- A cardiologist for heart disease and a urologist for erectile dysfunction. To find a local medical services, click here.

Just for fun and becuase it is Friday, here is a list of horrible herbal supplement names:

• Vigorsauraus X!
• Staminasty
• Youthenizer
• Some Dashboar Dust and Other Small Particles I Found Around My Car- X2500
• Myocardial-Infarction Ensurer
• Ingestadon
• Vitalizin' Larry's

Testosteriffic

Chest Hair, not wanting to cuddle, sweet-looking beards and the willingness to wrestle at the drop of a hat may be signs of a long life. Researchers in Britain may have found a link between high testosterone and longevity.

The manlinessest of men, those with the most testosterone, had a forty-percent less chance of dying from heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular conditions. In comparison, men who sat around reading poetry and having platonic female friends were sixty percent more likely to die.

Men with low testosterone levels were also more likely to die from brokenheartedness and slender-bones disorder. Scientists are unwilling to use testosterone as treatment for cardiovascular diseases at this particular point in history because it may be a factor in prostate cancer.

"The oldest man alive communicates only through head-butting," said a scientist. "To receive his wisdom one must acknowledge that enlightenment is pain."

Testosterone is the manliest liquid in a man's body, except when gulpin' whiskey is present. Testosterone, the hormone, is directly related to cool things like sex drive, muscle mass, strength, throwing/running correctly and potency.

Scientists say that after they've done more research, those men with low testosterone levels may be able to take testosterone supplements to prevent heart disease and hypertension.

Until that day, there will still be a lot of rational men running around, making good decisions.

An Endocrinologist is a gland specialist. They know what the body's juices and greases do. To find a local doctor, click here.

"If it is Hard, Give Up," say Scientists.

Scientists are laying down their Erlenmeyer flasks and their Bunsen burners and curling up in the fetal position today, after a recent study shows that quitting things that are hard might be good for you.

   One scientist, sucking his thumb while vigorously clutching a Batman blanket had this to say, "I've worked so hard at getting these grants and learning science and trying to better mankind. Now, it seems I've just been killing myself."

   "That's been the philosophy I've lived by my entire life," said a hippie who has spent the last two nights sleeping in the bus station. "Can I get a quarter for the phone?" he added.

  Enough joking.

  The tenacious seem to suffer more health problems from their never-say-die attitudes than the lackluster of spirit. Some of those health problems include, hypertension, indigestion and headaches. The bullheaded also seemed to die younger from heart attacks and diabetes.

  It sounds like it might be better to quit if something is hard. Why doesn't science just prove that we don't have souls and there is no point to life and everything we do is a mocking absurdity?

  The flaw in this study, in my very humble opinion, is that it equated re-framing with quitting. 

For example: If a person wanted to invent a flying machine, he might create a giant harness and attach to wings to it. Obviously, that contraption doesn't work. We've all seen that stock footage. The stubborn might keep trying it, injuring themselves over and over which is, after all, a health risk. A re-framer would fall once, maybe twice (if he thought the first time was a fluke) and redesign the device, but he's not really giving up; is he? 

So is this study studying tenacity or stubbornness? Would you give up your dreams for less stress in your life?  Would Van Gogh's life of been better having known this information? The world might be worse off.

Also,  as an addition to this blog, the original story on this in Newsweek Health used this as an example for determination: "Like an infertile couple (trying to) conceiving a child"

That, to me, doesn't seem like quite the arduous task. In fact, the act of child conception is one of this biggest stress relievers known to man. It's even more widely used than that little novelty doll that is supposed to look like your boss and relieve stress when you squeeze it.

To find a doctor who chased after his or her own dreams, click here.