There is much evidence to indicate that blood with a high fat turbidity, that is to say an elevated fat content, tends to clot more readily. This evidence helps explain why many coronary victims are stricken in their sleep.
As a rule, the hours of night time sleep occur from four to five hours after the evening meal-in the United States the heaviest of the day-coinciding with the peak of a post-meal rise in blood-fat. If the meal was rich in fats, the ensuing sticky surge of fat-laden blood might be too much for already partially choked coronary arteries.
One set of statistics has it that more than 50 percent of coronary attacks occur during sleep. Only 2 percent occur during violent exercises.
There has been no breakdown indicating the number of people who have suffered an emotional shock or fright just prior to an attack, but at least we know that violent physical exertion is not often the trigger that sets off a coronary attack
Arnald of Villanova (1235-1318) set the pace for the digestion beliefs of the Renaissance, some of which have trickled down to us. Arnold wrote: "Let the individual take moderate exercise before eating, and rest entirely after it, until the food has left the stomach. Then he should ride horses, or gently ride a mule." That last rule should hold right after eating, in the light of what we know today.
The whole idea of getting-up-and-around after a meal applies doubly and trebly as you grow older. There is no doubt whatsoever that your system becomes less able to handle fats when you pass the forties. If a given meal causes the blood-fat levels to rise to a certain point in four hours when you are thirty-five, it may cause an equal elevation in only two or three hours by the time you hit fifty. In addition, the blood-cholesterol rise continues for an hour-or-two more, and recedes much more slowly. That's one of the big reasons why doctors agree that you should eat fewer calories, particularly fats of any kind, as you grow older. "Yes, Grandpa and Grandma, the get-up-and-around-after-eating rule applies most definitely to you.
Finally-ladies-if it is at all possible, talk your husband into taking a job entailing more physical activity, if such a choice can be made. There cannot be much doubt that men engaged in active physical work have a much better chance of escaping coronary disease than those in sit-down, or sedentary occupations. A London study proved quite conclusively that bus drivers, for example, are much more subject to coronary disease than conductors-who move around a lot.
Several big, broad-scale studies, made in Great Britain, confirm this general rule. In one study, 8800 autopsies indicated that almost all bodies examined showed evidence of coronary narrowing. But the narrowing was considerably less in men who were physically active in their work, than among those who had sit-down jobs. It was also noted that advanced coronary disease occurred twice as frequently among men engaged in light work, as compared to those who were doing heavy work.
Scars of actual coronary attacks were three times more common among men who did light work, than men who did heavy work.
To summarize this study: The coronary arteries of sedentary workers showed lesions and evidence of "The Grease Trap Disease" comparable to the arteries of "active" workers who were twelve years older. When the men who were physically active did have an attack, it was apt to be less severe. Men in active work tended to develop coronary dis¬ease later in life. It took longer for their arteries to fill up.
Unfortunately, however, we can't accept these studies entirely at face value and apply them to Americans, because corresponding dietary studies were not made at the same time.
Class distinctions are quite marked in England. The clerk doesn't eat the same kind of diet as the labourer, or the truck driver. In these British studies, exercise may not have been the sole determining factor that controlled the formation of coronary artery plaques.
However, exercise and activity play their part in cholesterol control. There can be no doubt about that. Rest assured that when the hard fat intake is equal, among men and women anywhere in the world, the active person is less likely to develop a high blood-cholesterol level-and coronary attack.
As a rule, the hours of night time sleep occur from four to five hours after the evening meal-in the United States the heaviest of the day-coinciding with the peak of a post-meal rise in blood-fat. If the meal was rich in fats, the ensuing sticky surge of fat-laden blood might be too much for already partially choked coronary arteries.
One set of statistics has it that more than 50 percent of coronary attacks occur during sleep. Only 2 percent occur during violent exercises.
There has been no breakdown indicating the number of people who have suffered an emotional shock or fright just prior to an attack, but at least we know that violent physical exertion is not often the trigger that sets off a coronary attack
Arnald of Villanova (1235-1318) set the pace for the digestion beliefs of the Renaissance, some of which have trickled down to us. Arnold wrote: "Let the individual take moderate exercise before eating, and rest entirely after it, until the food has left the stomach. Then he should ride horses, or gently ride a mule." That last rule should hold right after eating, in the light of what we know today.
The whole idea of getting-up-and-around after a meal applies doubly and trebly as you grow older. There is no doubt whatsoever that your system becomes less able to handle fats when you pass the forties. If a given meal causes the blood-fat levels to rise to a certain point in four hours when you are thirty-five, it may cause an equal elevation in only two or three hours by the time you hit fifty. In addition, the blood-cholesterol rise continues for an hour-or-two more, and recedes much more slowly. That's one of the big reasons why doctors agree that you should eat fewer calories, particularly fats of any kind, as you grow older. "Yes, Grandpa and Grandma, the get-up-and-around-after-eating rule applies most definitely to you.
Finally-ladies-if it is at all possible, talk your husband into taking a job entailing more physical activity, if such a choice can be made. There cannot be much doubt that men engaged in active physical work have a much better chance of escaping coronary disease than those in sit-down, or sedentary occupations. A London study proved quite conclusively that bus drivers, for example, are much more subject to coronary disease than conductors-who move around a lot.
Several big, broad-scale studies, made in Great Britain, confirm this general rule. In one study, 8800 autopsies indicated that almost all bodies examined showed evidence of coronary narrowing. But the narrowing was considerably less in men who were physically active in their work, than among those who had sit-down jobs. It was also noted that advanced coronary disease occurred twice as frequently among men engaged in light work, as compared to those who were doing heavy work.
Scars of actual coronary attacks were three times more common among men who did light work, than men who did heavy work.
To summarize this study: The coronary arteries of sedentary workers showed lesions and evidence of "The Grease Trap Disease" comparable to the arteries of "active" workers who were twelve years older. When the men who were physically active did have an attack, it was apt to be less severe. Men in active work tended to develop coronary dis¬ease later in life. It took longer for their arteries to fill up.
Unfortunately, however, we can't accept these studies entirely at face value and apply them to Americans, because corresponding dietary studies were not made at the same time.
Class distinctions are quite marked in England. The clerk doesn't eat the same kind of diet as the labourer, or the truck driver. In these British studies, exercise may not have been the sole determining factor that controlled the formation of coronary artery plaques.
However, exercise and activity play their part in cholesterol control. There can be no doubt about that. Rest assured that when the hard fat intake is equal, among men and women anywhere in the world, the active person is less likely to develop a high blood-cholesterol level-and coronary attack.
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