Skip Breakfast? A Heart Attack May Be in Your Future

Saw a disturbing snippet on CBS this morning about people who skip breakfast.  Apparently, they're at higher risk for heart attacks.

Breakfast is good for a lot of things.  It helps you get prepared for the day.  It can help you lose weight (even though that seems counterintuitive).  Sometimes mine even tastes good.

But the new study finds that it's quite possible that skipping breakfast can hurt your health.

"Researchers found an association between skipping breakfast and having a 27 percent higher risk of dying from coronary heart disease or experiencing a heart attack," according to The Huffington Post. This held true even if you were an exerciser, had low blood pressure, didn't smoke or drink, and had an average BMI, and no other health-related heart risks

Even scarier, there was a link between the time you ate and the time you went to bed.  "Those who ate right before bedtime had 55 percent higher risks of coronary heart disease," The Huffington Post relates.  So much for my nighttime treat, Weight Watcher ice cream bars.
 .
Now, when I was a teenager (and verging on anorexia), I always skipped breakfast.  But over time I began to learn that breakfast helped me think better and I didn't get quite so hungry (and be tempted to snack on chips and sweets the rest of the day).

But if you don't eat breakfast, you're not alone.  Approximately 10% of Americans don't.  Many obese people also don't.  But eating some carbohydrates and fiber can keep you from getting tired, the Post goes on.  It may even lower your cholesterol (if you eat the right breakfast, that is).

So why should this be so?  CBS notes that it could be because people who don't eat breakfast may have other unhealthy behaviors -- like smoking, or lack of exercise, or weight (even though skipping these don't prevent healthy people from having heart risks, either, it appears).

Eat breakfast.  So you have to get up a few minutes earlier.  It's time well-spent.  And it might even give you a little more time with your loved ones.  Scratch that.  Not in my house in the morning.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Herbal Supplements? Even Green Tea Extract Can Lead to Liver Damage

Take herbal supplements? You might want to listen up. A new study is warning that new information is showing that some supplements may damage the liver, along with over the counter drugs and even those prescribed by physicians, according to newswise.com. The rate of drug-induced liver injury (DILI), a rare adverse drug reaction which is challenging to diagnose -- and which can lead to jaundice, liver failure and even death -- is increasing more and more.  Experts put it down to the overwhelming use of herbal supplements and other drugs in the last 10 years.  “A lot of consumers have a preconceived notion that if it’s a natural product, it must be safe. But that is not necessarily the case,” the Web site quotes Herbert Bonkovsky, MD, FACG, co-author of the guidelines. “Most of these products are not well-regulated and have very little oversight. Traces of heavy metals and prescription drugs have even been found in some herbal and dietary supplements. We encourage patients to
Read more

Social Media Replacing Human Contact? Nah

I used to think my son only talked to his "girlfriend" (did I mention he'll be 12 in June?) in school.  Then I happened to walk by his computer and saw her on his screen.  They Skype.  About three hours a day.  Then I got it.  It's real.  Kids mostly communicate electronically these days. But Joe McKendrick at smartplanet.com believes there are reasons social media won't completely replace face-to-face interactions.  For one, there's less distraction.  If you're sitting at your computer, you're scanning for emails or googling or watching the news, in addition to talking to someone.  When you're actually with someone, it's harder to do this -- though, Joe, are you living on Mars? Have you never seen a teen texting at the table, while talking to you, or God forbid, driving? Most of McKendrick's points have to do with the office, and meeting in person to do business rather than connecting online.  I have to admit here, it makes sense.  He
Read more

Be Humble. Your Employees May Work Harder

You wouldn't know it from our current crook- er - commander-in-chief but it pays to be humble , new research is showing. It’s good to be humble when you’re the boss – as long as that’s what your employees expect, according to newswise.com. Researchers studying workplaces in China found that some real-life teams showed more creativity if the employees rated their bosses as showing more humility. “Whether leader humility is a good thing really depends on the team members’ expectations,” says  Jia (Jasmine) Hu , lead author of the study and associate professor of  management and human resources  at The Ohio State University’s  Fisher College of Business . Humble leaders are most effective when team members expect a low degree of distance between the leaders and followers, Hu explains. When there is "low power distance" (I assume, this means when the boss is humble), employees share power with their boss in a collaborative way. But humility may be seen as a weaknes
Read more