Aspirin Everyday Doesn't Work for Women
An Aspirin A Day?
A few days ago, one of my patients called me to find out whether she should start taking aspirin to prevent a heart attack. Seems she'd seen a bunch of commercials on TV saying that an aspirin a day could keep heart attacks away. I told her to come on in to the office, and we'd talk about the best ways she could protect her heart, but I didn't expect a daily dose of aspirins to be one of them.
You see, a huge study of more than 40,000 women found that taking 100 mg of aspirin every other day did nothing to prevent heart attacks or even protect against death from heart disease. This strategy may work for men, but the study proves it doesn't work for women. On top of that, the women who did take aspirin had more gastrointestinal bleeding -- not enough to put them in the hospital, but no internal bleeding is really good for you.
The study did find that taking low doses of aspirin every other day could slightly reduce the risk of stroke, though. If you have other risk factors for stroke (like being at least 55 years old, a family history of strokes, or diabetes), you can ask your doctor if an aspirin regimen could help protect you.
For heart disease, though, women have to look elsewhere for protection. And your best protection is a healthy lifestyle that includes a sensible diet, plenty of exercise, and a daily dose of relaxation. In fact, another very big study found that regular exercise substantially cuts down your risk of cardiac death. Keep reading to learn just how much exercise does the trick (the answer may surprise you).
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Big Benefits of Regular Exercise
Most of my patients complain that I sound like a broken record when it comes to exercise, but that doesn't stop me from recommending it to almost everyone. There's a good reason for that -- it's always been one of the best things you can do to keep yourself healthy. Regular exercise can take credit for dozens of health benefits, from better blood sugar control to stronger bones. And it also works wonders for your heart.
A study of almost 70,000 women found that exercising as little as four hours a week could reduce their risk of sudden cardiac death by 50 percent. More exercise reduced that risk even more: Working out for more than seven hours a week knocked it down by 66 percent.
The key is consistency -- picking an exercise plan and sticking with it. You don't have to run a four-minute mile here, just some moderate aerobic activity can do the trick. So go for a walk in the park, swim some laps at the Y, join a weekly aerobics class...those four hours will pass by before you even know it.
And speaking of exercise, every move you make burns up some calories. That's why fidgety people usually weigh less. You can get the same benefit just by wiggling around a little throughout the day. Sounds silly, but it's true. Read on...
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Wiggle Your Way to Weight Loss
Fidgeting can help you burn up to 350 extra calories every day. That means you could lose a whole pound every 10 days just by wiggling around while you watch TV or surf the Internet.
Some scientists over at the Mayo Clinic found out that increasing what they call your non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT (which really just means how many calories you burn up while you're not exercising) can make a huge difference in your weight.
Now, this isn't to say that all you need to do to melt away the pounds is to start tapping your toes or drumming your fingers. But the point is, the more you move your body -- even in small, simple, non-exercise ways -- the more calories you burn, and that will help keep you slimmer and healthier.
Until next time,
Dr. Alan Inglis
House Calls
