Fred Bakht, MD

08/28/2020

Here is an interesting article on exercise that has practical applications:

Hate Exercise? This New Fitness Trend Might Be for You
Janet Tiberian Author
By Janet Tiberian, MA, MPH, CHES
July 17, 2019
Hate Exercise? This New Fitness Trend Might Be for You
A new trend in physical activity is quickly gaining popularity -- high-intensity interval physical activity (HIIPA). It’s based on the high-intensity interval training (HIIT) method and could be a way for you to get the benefits of intense training without the risks or even working out.

HIIT
Bursts of intense athletic activity such as sprinting, burpees or mountain climbers that last a few seconds to a few minutes.
Helps manage weight, blood pressure, blood sugar
Works best with fitness enthusiasts and athletes who are conditioned and want a vigorous workout.
Often attracts participants who are not conditioned enough to handle these types of workouts.
More on HIIPA in a minute. If you’ve been to the gym recently, you might have seen people moving from machines to free weights to stretching areas in a quick circuit — that’s HIIT, the more intense inspiration for HIIPA. It involves working out with repetitive short bursts of very intense exercise (few seconds to a few minutes) to get close to your maximum heart rate, cool down and repeat. Think of sprinting as fast as you can for 30 to 45 seconds in the middle of a walk or jog.

HIIT workouts are known to burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time, raise your metabolic rate and lower blood sugar, blood pressure and heart rate. It’s effective because workouts produce large amounts of free radicals that break down calcium channels in muscles, allowing calcium ions to leak into muscles. Calcium is necessary for muscular function; it enables muscles to contract and relax. So when calcium ions seep directly into muscles, it improves their strength, efficiency and resistance to fatigue, studies show.

HIIT has drawbacks, too — it’s associated with musculoskeletal injuries and rhabdomyolysis, a syndrome in which fibers from an injured muscle breakdown. HIIT workouts can be problematic if you have a pulmonary or cardiovascular disease or a pre-existing musculoskeletal injury. And of course, if you hate exercising, you probably won’t last very long in an HIIT class.

But you might embrace HIIPA, which can give you many of the same benefits as HIIT without the risks, according to experts at University of Sydney Charles Perkins Centre and School of Public Health. Adding a few high-intensity activities – such as a quick walk around the block, carrying heavy loads of laundry, active work in the garden or heavy yardwork — over the course of a day can make a difference.

HIIPA
Bursts of intense physical activity such as raking, walking upstairs with bundles or pulling weeds that last a few seconds to a few minutes.
Helps manage weight, blood pressure, blood sugar
Works best with people who are middle age or older, sedentary or have some physical limitations.
Every day chores can be used as HIIPA activities.
In an editorial published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD and colleagues claim that depending on your age, gender, weight and physical capabilities, working in a handful of high-intensity daily tasks can help you reap benefits similar to HIIT.

“HIIPA is valuable for everyone, but people who are middle aged or older, overweight and sedentary will probably experience the biggest benefits,” says Bernard Kaminetsky, MD, medical director, MDVIP. “What’s great about HIIPA is that it’s making a few, simple lifestyle changes – you don’t have to train like an athlete.”

Incorporating HIIPA into your routine is fairly easy. Engage in three to five vigorous activities throughout the day, equaling five to 10 minutes per day, most days of the week. Examples of activities include:

Walking briskly
Carrying groceries
Heavy housework
Pulling weeds, raking leaves, trimming hedges
“It’s using the stairs instead of the escalator at the mall or subway station that will help you get HIIPA into your day,” Kaminetsky says.

03/10/2020

Dear Friends,
We’re all getting inundated with news of the coronavirus epidemic, and with starting to see a handful of cases in the greater Houston area, I thought a little practical summary of what to do would be helpful. At the end of this paragraph, there will be some links to authoritative websites for further reading. This is a RNA type virus , called a Novel coronavirus SARS-C0V-2, and is the virus responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The virus can be transmitted both from animals to people ,and people to people . Usually to catch this, there has to be close contact with an infected person (less than 6 feet distance) for some time, or exposure to respiratory secretions (cough droplets or saliva) that land on furniture or other objects.
Who should get tested? Persons with fever and or symptoms of acute respiratory illness (cough, trouble breathing) AND who have either traveled within the preceding 2 weeks to affected countries (China, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Iran,) or have been exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 case.
What precautions can an individual take to help prevent catching coronavirus?
1. Avoid shaking hands, instead use a fist bump, or some other greeting
2. Use your knuckle to touch a light switch, elevator button, use a paper towel or napkin to lift gasoline dispenser, use a napkin to open doors or open with a hip or closed fist(especially high traffic areas.) The virus is transmitted from hand to mouth and nose, so keep the fingers and palm as germ free as possible. People touch their face, nose and mouth at least 3.5 times per hour, basically self inoculating. Use tissue and avoid this habit.
3. Wash hands with soap and water a good 20 seconds, and use sanitizer everywhere else where that’s not possible, especially upon return from public areas with high human traffic. Use the sanitizers provided at supermarkets. Keep sanitizers in the car and purse.
4.Always cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and discard; sneezing into the sleeve area would keep germs there for a week.
5 . Use disinfectant such as Lysol, to clean surfaces where others have been, think of judicious use of nitrile or latex gloves for cleaning purposes. A mask (N-95) is useful to put on if you are the one coughing, does not do too much to prevent catching the virus in general ( although useful if you are a health care worker exposed to lots of folks who are coughing.)
6.Keep your immune system strong. The people who get into trouble with any infection, are the very young, the very old and the very sick. Tips: stay warm in cold weather, sleep enough, eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Keep stress levels as low as possible and keep exercising. There may be a small benefit , although of questionable significance, from taking Vitamin C and Zinc supplement in terms of shortening the duration of a cold, but if you do, do not use the intranasal form of zinc as it can cause subsequent problems with the sense of smell.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-criteria.html
https://coronavirus.baylorcme.org/professionals/resources.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/index.html
https://www.mdvip.com/about-mdvip/blog/what-you-need-know-about-coronavirus-or-covid-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a virus (more specifically, a coronavirus) identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China.

02/05/2020

https://www.mdvip.com/about-mdvip/blog/protecting-yourself-coronavirus-what-you-need-know

The above link is a short review on coronavirus with some good basic advice. Along with avoiding ill contacts, and good hand washing with soap and water, remember to keep your immune system strong with fresh vegetable and fruit intake, staying warm, well hydrated and getting enough rest and enough exercise.

02/05/2020

https://www.mdvip.com/about-mdvip/blog/studies-suggest-these-4-methods-can-prevent-migraines?

Happy start of 2020!
Starting this year's educational section with a well written article on migraine headaches cited above. This article focuses on lifestyle changes, not the various medications which are also available. From Imitrex (Sumatriptan) and its class to Botox to the once a month injectables which are new on the market for frequent migraine sufferers (Egality, or galcanezumab), there are many treatments available. Remember the basics: enough sleep, rest and pay attention to the many triggers by playing "detective" to see what triggers your migraine. I had a patient once who got a migraine the following day after eating oranges, another who got them after eating apricots (due to sulfite additives used there to keep the yellow color and fresh look)

11/20/2019

https://www.mdvip.com/about-mdvip/blog/why-we-focus-inflammation-when-it-comes-heart-disease-prevention?utm_source=mdvip-m&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=201911livingwell&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiT0dSak5HWXdNalZoTmpVeSIsInQiOiJob1RXVEdOOFFudW5xdWo1Q2RUOXkwdmFBOVB6Y2RTV3FaeFRMdkNOVVFwYnc5alFLVDBqanFEN01vU2FwNzFQMmtaZzNnWm8zVFNoTHFFY2h3YXN1Zz09In0%3D

The above link discusses the rationale for testing for inflammation, an important concept that is linked to heart disease, dementia, and all sorts of chronic disease. This is part of what we are doing in the annual wellness program at MDVIP.

Happy and safe Thanksgiving to all.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. This is nothing new – heart disease has been identified as a major public health problem for the past 80 years. What is new is how we’re trying to prevent it. Since about half heart attacks in the United States occur in p...

11/20/2019

https://www.uptodate.com/contents/diet-and-health-beyond-the-basics?search=berberine&topicRef=4561&source=see_link

So much information out there on healthy eating. The above link from "Up to Date", a well used medical reference source, is practical and helpful.

Happy Thanksgiving

The food choices we make can have an important impact on our health. However, expert opinions continue to change about which and how much of these foods are opt

11/20/2019

https://www.uptodate.com/contents/diet-and-health-beyond-the-basics?search=berberine&topicRef=4561&source=see_link

The above link from the "up to date" series is a good review of eating well. So much out there regarding diets, I found this to be useful and practical article.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Use the Resource Trusted by Clinicians and Healthcare Practitioners Worldwide Learn more about a medical condition and explore treatment options using UpToDate®, the same resource trusted by more than [stats:users-world-en] clinicians around the world. After you read the information in UpToDate, yo...

10/29/2019

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/talcum-powder-and-cancer.html

An interesting article about the possible health hazards of talc powder, in light of recent litigation involving talcum products.with the allegation that there is a weak link to ovarian cancer. A recent FDA bulletin reported that Johnson and Johnson voluntarily recalled one lot ( ) of Baby Powder due to a minute amount of asbestos, although they are typically stating that their product is asbestos free. Think of alternatives such as corn starch products.

Talcum powder is made from talc, a mineral composed mainly of the elements magnesium, silicon, and oxygen. It is widely used in cosmetic products such as baby powder and adult body and facial powders.

10/08/2019

https://www.mdvip.com/about-mdvip/blog/red-wine-really-heart-healthy

I found this brief article helpful. Another study in the American Journal of Medicine 2016 involving over 28k subjects found no evidence of lower overall mortality rates in association with moderate alcohol use.

There have been many conflicting studies of the effects of red wine on heart health. Discover if red wine is good for your heart.

08/23/2019

https://www.mdvip.com/about-mdvip/blog/getting-enough-sleep-can-reduce-your-heart-disease-risk-improve-overall-health?utm_sourcemd

Friends, this is a good general article about the benefits of sleep written by a colleague.

Your sleeping patterns are closely tied with your heart health. Learn more about the types of sleep disorders that can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.

08/22/2019

https://www.mdvip.com/about-mdvip/blog/exercise-good-your-brain-dementia-risk

The above link is to an interesting article on how exercise may play a role in protecting us from dementia as we all age😁