My wife lost her first love recently. Preceding me by five years, this guy was a constant presence in her house when we met. He shared her bed. He slept on her sofa. He ate her food. Even when I cast questioning glances his way during the early days of our courtship, nothing changed. I…
So You’re Exposed to Ebola. Now What?
America’s worst microbial nightmare stepped through the looking glass and into our lives this September when a patient arrived at a Texas hospital harboring the first U.S. case of Ebola. In the months preceding this index case, news organizations had tracked the West African death toll of this unforgiving virus. A plane carrying an infected…
Can Alcohol Make You Live Longer?
Many myths surround the consumption of alcohol, its effects on the heart and the question 'can alcohol make you live longer?'. One myth proposes that if some alcohol is good for the heart, more must be better. Another myth contends that the best way to protect the heart is to avoid alcohol altogether. Like all…
Is Chocolate Good For Your Heart?
By Stephen Russell MD It’s the season of love during Valentine’s day. A time for romance. For greeting cards. For heart-shaped decorations. And for chocolate. Since antiquity, couples have called on the memory of St. Valentine to profess their love for one another, and perhaps no other gift better represents those emotions than a box…
Depression and Heart Disease – A Killer Combination
In 1937, during the thick of the Great Depression, a doctor from the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene made a curious observation: patients with depression died more often than their healthy peers. What was the main cause of death in these patients with so-called “involutional melancholia”? Heart disease. As investigators have pulled back…
How Exercise Can Save Your Life
I cut my teeth on country music in college. Having come from Alabama, one would think that country music was in my blood, but it took a move to Nashville to have the country melody course through my soul. In a line from a country music classic at that time, Clint Black sang: “Walking away,…
Is Vitamin D Important for your Heart?
Even a casual glance at health magazines and medical journals reveals widespread interest in vitamin D. A common theme of these articles is that most people are not getting enough of “the sunshine vitamin.” Studies over the last 15 years have consistently demonstrated an epidemic of low vitamin D levels, highest among elderly adults but…
