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5 Things You Should Actually Be Afraid Of

5 Things You Should Actually Be Afraid Of

Fear presides over this presidential campaign, a perpetual fear.

For Democrats, it’s the fear that the real but elusive gains of the Obama Administration will be wiped away the same way much of eight years of imperfect but immense progress under Bill Clinton was sapped in just a few years of George W. Bush.

For Republicans, it’s the fear of a demographic apocalypse in which decades of well nurtured racial resentments and authoritarian instincts are rising to the surface right at the moment when the party most desperately needs to appear inclusive.

For both sides, it’s the fear that the other will wrest control of a rapidly aging Supreme Court, setting the course of our democracy for a generation.

And for all Americans, it’s the fear that the tragedies of 9/11 and the financial crisis, from which we still haven’t properly healed, may inevitably be relived, again and again, as farce.

The fears are real — but fear can be as promiscuous as an unchecked libido.

We know this from the Ebola freakout of last year and from the focus on Islamic terrorism.

The shooting at Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs on Friday reminds us that the majority of incidents of domestic terrorism we’ve experienced on these shores since 9/11 has been caused by non-Muslims, mostly white supremacists. That’s a pretty heavy “since,” but it does underscore that while we fixate on fears from abroad, the greatest threats to our individual lives remain among us. That could change rapidly, especially if terrorists figure out how to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into this country. Vigilance against terror in the era of ISIS, with its fanatical and savage barbarism, is absolutely necessary. That’s why the U.S. has launched thousands of strikes against the terror group, aiming to destroy it without replicating the disastrous mistake that made ISIS possible — a western occupation of a Middle Eastern country.

Terror is real, but living in terror is a choice. Doing so enables demagogues who feed on our worst instincts. So here’s a cold, rational examination of the threats you actually face, just so you’ll know that if someone is trying to make you scared of other things more than these, he probably has an agenda that won’t make you any safer.

1. Heart Disease and Cancer
If you’re reading this, chances are you’ll die after you reach your seventies, in a hospital bed, hopefully surrounded by people you love. And chances are you’ll die of heart disease or cancer, as more than 600,000 Americans do each year. The good news is you can avoid this fate or, at least delay it. The Centers for Disease Control reports that 91,757 premature heart disease deaths and 84,443 cancer deaths a year are preventable with an increase of “risk factor prevention and reduction, screening, early intervention, and successful treatment of diseases or injuries.” What are the greatest risk factors of heart disease and cancer? Pretty much exactly what you’d expect. You’ll notice that not properly fearing Muslims is not on the list.

2. Smoking
While cable news spent a year looking for a lost plane during the safest year of plane travel ever, more than 41 million Americans kept smoking. “Tobacco use is a major factor in four out of the five leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung disease and stroke,” the CDC’s Dr. Tom Frieden wrote. “It causes about a third of heart disease and cancer, and most emphysema.” If terrorists could cause the damage we do to ourselves with tobacco, we’d probably never leave our homes.

3. Motor vehicle accidents and gun deaths, especially for gun owners
While it’s still the CDC’s fifth leading cause of preventable death, we’ve actually made huge advances in preventing automobile-related mortality. With regulations and advances in technology, the percentage of Americans killed while driving in a car continues to drop each year. It’s still a significant threat, however, with two of five workplace fatalities in 2013 having taken place in a motor vehicle. For young males, car accidents and use of firearms are far too likely causes of death — and 2015 may be the first year ever when gun deaths outnumber automobile deaths. We know a great deal about car deaths but way too little about death by bullet, due to an intentional blackout on scientific research, enforced by the gun lobby. But we do know that most gun deaths are suicides. It’s not just a logical conclusion that fewer guns lead to fewer gun suicides, it’s also the result of a Harvard study, which “found that in states where guns were prevalent—as in Wyoming, where 63 percent of households reported owning guns—rates of suicide were higher. The inverse was also true: where gun ownership was less common, suicide rates were also lower.”

4. Inequality
A new study has found that middle aged members of America’s majority group are seeing a sudden spike in deaths. “The mortality rate for white men and women ages 45-54 with less than a college education increased markedly between 1999 and 2013, most likely because of problems with legal and illegal drugs, alcohol and suicide, the researchers concluded,” The Washington Post reported. The results of three decades of conservative economic policy, emboldened by the deterioration of the labor movement, has been misery for white people who lack college degrees (ironically, the same voters who have largely migrated rightward since the mid-1970s). While encouraging white resentment of affirmative action and welfare recipients, conservatives have helped immiserate the same group of workers who most need support from the government and labor to secure decent wages, benefits, and working conditions. And the result — the loss of pensions, of bargaining power, of an evaporating safety net — is a new set of mortality rates that increasingly resemble what America’s minorities, conservatives’ favorite targets of resentment, have long experienced. What would Republican candidates do about the growing crisis of inequality? They’ve promised to make the problem far worse with trillions more in tax breaks for the rich.

5. Climate change
So you don’t believe the scientists, the generals or even the insurance industry, all of whom understand that climate change isn’t just a vague theoretical threat, but may be our greatest long-term risk? Fine, you know better than any of them. But why not at least be agnostic about climate change, if for no other reason than to keep the starving hordes from feasting on your descendants? The likelihood of the oceans drowning our most populated regions is far greater than ISIS ever wresting control of our shores.

Photo: Barry Shaffer via Flickr

To Stay Healthy This Winter, Don’t Forget Vitamin D

To Stay Healthy This Winter, Don’t Forget Vitamin D

Two new studies indicate that low levels of vitamin D are linked to cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses — but only one offers enthusiastic support for supplementation in pill form.

Both studies, published recently in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), were meta-analyses of earlier research that looked at the relationship between various illnesses and vitamin D levels, as well as whether taking a daily D supplement had a positive impact on health.

The studies, which looked at data on more than one million people, confirmed previously reported evidence of the risks associated with vitamin D deficiency:

Inadequate vitamin D levels can increase your risk of dozens of serious health problems, including cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, asthma, Alzheimer’s disease, and even the common cold and influenza. And apparently, nearly all of us are at risk of vitamin D deficiency …

“Ninety-five percent of Americans are deficient in vitamin D — that’s how big the problem is,” says John J. Cannell, MD, who heads the nonprofit Vitamin D Council. “It’s very difficult to overstate the seriousness of the situation.” —“The Vitamin D Debate” (Experience Life, December 2011)

One of the studies found that adults with lower levels of vitamin D in their blood had a greater mortality risk; they also had a 35 percent increased risk of death from heart disease, and 14 percent increased risk of death from cancer.

This study also looked at supplementation. The researchers found that middle-aged and older adults who took vitamin D3 had an 11 percent reduction in overall mortality compared to those who didn’t take the supplement. D3 is the type of vitamin D produced by the body in response to sun exposure and is also found in a few foods, such as wild salmon and shiitake mushrooms. (There was no apparent benefit to supplementing with another form of the vitamin, D2, the researchers found.)

The other study found that evidence suggested that high levels of vitamin D could protect against such illnesses as diabetes and hypertension — but they did not conclude that supplementation had a significant beneficial effect. (Research published late last year also showed that although low vitamin D levels are associated with higher risk of a wide variety of diseases, supplementation had little impact on disease occurrence.)

The researchers noted that exposure to sunshine (for 30 minutes, twice a week, sans sunscreen) and incorporating vitamin D-containing foods could help boost flagging D levels.

With all this information, you’re probably wondering: Should I take a supplement? And if so, how much should I take?

When we talked to our sources in the aforementioned “The Vitamin D Debate,” they were all in favor of supplementation — especially since most Americans are deficient. Here are some guidelines from that piece:

— Ask your doctor for a “25-hydroxy vitamin D” blood test. Levels below 30 ng/ml indicate a deficiency. The optimal level is at least 40 ng/ml. Surfers, lifeguards and people who spend a lot of time outdoors typically have levels of 70 to 90 ng/ml.

— If you don’t currently have a significant deficiency, and if during the summer you spend a lot of time in the sun, with at least your arms and legs exposed, and you are not always slathered with sunscreen, you probably don’t need to take vitamin D supplements.

— If it’s fall, winter or early spring, if you don’t get a lot of sun exposure, or if you know you are D-deficient, you should definitely take a vitamin D3, also known as cholecalciferol.

— If you have not taken a vitamin D blood test and you’re looking for general guidelines, it is suggested that children take 1,000 to 2,000 IU and adults take 2,000 to 3,000 IU daily.

— Follow up with blood tests to monitor your levels.

Republished with permission from Experience Life Magazine.

Photo: Roman Boldyrev via Flickr

Obesity Causes Silent Heart Damage

Obesity Causes Silent Heart Damage

You’re probably aware that carrying too much weight can damage your health. But you may not know that a lot of the damage — including diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure — can develop without your even feeling it, and can lead to heart disease, disability ,or death.

According to a study conducted at the Johns Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure, “obesity is a well-known accomplice in the development of heart disease.” The study’s lead investigator, Dr. Chiadi Ndumele, adds that “our findings suggest it may be a solo player that drives heart failure independently of other risk factors that are often found among those with excess weight.”

More than 9,500 participants between the ages of 53 and 75 from Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, and North Carolina were followed for 12 years. None of the participants had heart disease at the start of the study. During the timeframe of the study, 869 developed heart failure, an inability to properly pump blood throughout the body.

The study showed that severely obese people developed heart failure at twice the rate of those with normal weight. Obesity was determined to be an independent risk for heart damage and heart failure, often without any outward symptoms.

“The direct relationship we found between obesity and subclinical heart damage is quite potent and truly concerning from a public health standpoint given the growing number of obese people in the United States and worldwide,” Dr. Ndumele said in a news release.

Dr. Roger Blumenthal, director of the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, added: “these results are a wake-up call that obesity may further fuel the growing rate of heart failure, and clinicians who care for obese people should not be lulled into a false sense of security by the absence of traditional risk factors, such as high cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension.”

“Obese people, even when free of cardiovascular symptoms, should be monitored for the earliest signs of heart failure and counseled on ways to improve their lifestyle habits,” he said.

Women Often Dismiss Signs of Heart Disease

Women Often Dismiss Signs of Heart Disease

Nobody wants to find out they have heart disease, but according to a new study women are more likely than men to ignore the danger signs and delay essential care. And the later treatment is started, the fewer the options.

The findings, published in a press release from the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Vancouver found men who developed symptoms such as angina (a type of chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart) sought treatment sooner, rather than ignoring or denying them or dismissing them as unimportant. Women on the other hand were more likely to assume that the symptoms would go away or get better on their own.

In addition to dismissing obvious warning signs such as chest pain, pain in the arm, or shortness of breath, both men and women may not be aware that there are many atypical signs of heart disease such as nausea, sweating, jaw pain, or any pain that is unusual. But women may experience and describe pain differently than men.

The press release also referred to earlier studies that show women were more concerned about the economic impact being out of commission would cause, and less concerned about the most effective treatments.

Photo: James Palinsad via Flickr