Take Control of Your Health
Reported November 29, 2004
IOWA CITY, Iowa (Ivanhoe Broadcast News)–Many doctors will tell you Americans are making themselves sick. Obesity has become an epidemic, and while we know how harmful cigarettes are, many continue to smoke. Here’s a doctor who’s trying to help his heart patients before they get sick.
Cardiac electrophysiologist Brian Olshansky, M.D., uses technology to open blocked arteries, but he says that technology often trivializes the disease. “They are expecting the medical profession to take care of the problems, and they want to continue to go on in the same way,” he tells Ivanhoe.
Dr. Olshansky, of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, wants patients to take control of their health. “There are some data now that meditation will reduce your risk for sudden death and can cause lowering in blood pressure.”
At 85, Bart Bernardini hopes to confirm that theory. Doctors recommended surgery to open his clogged arteries. “I did not feel like being cut open like that, so I had a choice of doing something else, so I chose the alternative.”
Now, as part of a study, Bernardini meditates and exercises for one hour, twice a day. After just a few months, he’s off his blood thinner and only needs a baby aspirin.
“There are very few things in medicine that we have that will cause reversal of blocked arteries,” Dr. Olshansky says. “This is one of the first approaches that seems to show some encouragement.”
As a former smoker, Dr. Olshansky knows the benefits of lifestyle changes firsthand. “I exercise every morning at five in the morning,” he says. “I do it every single day, and I have not gained a pound since I was 17.” Now, he hopes his example will rub off on others.
Dr. Olshansky says another good addition to a healthy diet is fish oil supplements, which could prevent the risk of sudden death. He says with his approach, patients can basically take their lives into their own hands, so it empowers the individual.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Dave Pedersen
University of Iowa
5139 Westlawn
Iowa City, Iowa 52242
(319) 335-8032