Metabolic Syndrome is the name for a group of risk factors related to heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes. Many of the risk factors are related to diet and lifestyle. Metabolic Syndrome has been defined as the presence of any three of the following five risk factors: 

• Elevated waist circumference (excess weight around the tummy)
  – If your waist measures 102cm or more (men) or 88cm or more (women) you need to reduce your waist measurement.

• Elevated triglycerides in the blood (or drug treatment for elevated triglycerides)
  – Triglycerides come from foods we eat and are also produced by the liver but lifestyle choices like drinking excess alcohol can contribute to an increase. High blood triglycerides tend to be associated with low levels of HDL cholesterol – the ‘good’ or protective cholesterol.

• Low levels of healthy cholesterol (HDL) in the blood (or drug treatment for reduced HDL)
  – Raised triglycerides and reduced HDL cholesterol increase your risk for atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries) which is a contributing factor in heart disease.

• Elevated blood pressure (or drug treatment for hypertension) ≥ 130 systolic or ≥ 85 diastolic
  – An ideal blood pressure is 120 / 80. Do you know your numbers?

• Elevated fasting blood glucose (or treatment for elevated glucose)
  – Impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance are sometimes referred to as ‘pre-diabetes’. They occur when your blood glucose level is higher than normal, but not high enough to be called diabetes. One third of people who have impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose will develop diabetes unless lifestyle changes are made.

Do YOU fit the criteria?

If you fit the criteria for Metabolic Syndrome you are at a greater risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. 

Metabolic Syndrome is reversible. 

At ReMed Natural Medicine Clinic we take pride in our comprehensive approach to heart health. We’ll assess your pathology results, consider further functional pathology testing and put in place evidence-based nutritional and herbal medicines to get results. 

Make an appointment NOW by clicking here

Do I really only need “Just 10 minutes exercise a week”?

Obviously headlines like this are designed to be controversial and get readers to click through. What the nine-year observational study of 88,000 US adults aged between 40-85 found was that even short periods of low-intensity activity can “have a meaningful impact on health”. In fact, “virtually any amount of exercise reduced the risks of dying of cardiovascular disease, cancer or any other cause”. However, what the headline doesn’t tell you is that the more you exercise the greater the reductions in risk. 

So, for an 18% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease or 14% lower risk of dying from cancer than your sedentary counterparts between 10-59 minutes a week of light-to-moderate exercise was enough. Increase that to between 60-149 minutes per week though and you have 22% less risk of early death, 150-299 minutes of exercise per week was 31% less risk and if you manage to fit in 3 hours of light-to-moderate exercise a day your risk of dying early decreased by 46%.

Now most of us would probably struggle to devote 3 hours a day everyday to exercise BUT – every little bit counts and it is cumulative! Remember we aren’t talking high intensity exercise. Light-to-moderate would include – taking the stairs, gardening, hanging washing, house work, walking the dog, collecting the mail – basically anything that requires movement is good for you.

So let’s get moving!

Link to Time article: Click Here