Almost half of adults have high blood pressure — the “silent killer” — so you’re not alone if you’re concerned yours isn’t in a healthy range. Medication might seem the obvious course of action, but it’s not the only way to lower your numbers, whether they’re already in the dangerous zone or just starting to creep up. In fact, there’s a lot you can do to prevent and lower high blood pressure — and even get off medication if that’s your goal. In this episode, a preventive cardiologist explains how the choices you make every day affect your blood pressure and offers strategies for maintaining healthy numbers.

Expert: Dr. Sadeer Al-Kindi, Preventive Cardiologist

Interviewer: Katie McCallum

Notable topics covered: 

• How high blood pressure’s effect on arteries resembles pipe corrosion in the oil industry 
• It’s not just stroke and heart disease – high blood pressure can also affect the kidneys and brain 
• The lifestyle factors that help prevent and lower high blood pressure 
• It’s never too late to reverse high blood pressure 
• The single best thing you can do to lower your blood pressure 
• Whether behavior changes are enough to help avoid or get off blood pressure medication 
• Is vaping as bad for blood pressure as smoking? 
• You may not think you’re getting that much salt, but are you reading food labels? 
• How much you can expect your blood pressure to drop if you get down to a healthy weight 
• Actionable ways to achieve the lifestyle needed to maintain a healthy blood pressure 

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Most everyone knows acute inflammation, that short-lived redness and swelling that characterizes the healing process in response to injury or infection. But you may not be so familiar with chronic inflammation, a low-grade, insidious condition linked to the biggest killers of Western world, including heart disease, stroke, cancer and Alzheimer's disease. A constant state of immune system overactivity, chronic inflammation is all but invisible, meaning people typically don't know they have it until disease has developed. Are there telltale signs? And what can you do to prevent it? In this episode, we learn about the condition the World Health Organization ranks as the greatest threat to human health.

Expert: Dr. Joshua Septimus, Primary Care Physician

Interviewer: Todd Ackerman

Notable topics covered:

• What we know about how chronic inflammation causes disease 
• Why it took so long for low-grade inflammation to come into the chronic disease spotlight 
• Do the "-itises" (sinusitis, colitis, tendonitis) have anything to do with chronic inflammation? 
• The link between processed food and the risk of low-grade inflammation 
• The best test to determine if you have chronic inflammation 
• Are there pharmaceutical treatments targeted at chronic inflammation? 
• It's not just what you eat — the other factors that can promote low-grade inflammation 
• Does being significantly overweight always predispose a person to chronic inflammation? 
• The best dietary approach to prevent chronic inflammation

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Hosts Zach Moore, Katie McCallum, Todd Ackerman and Kim Rivera Huston-Weber kick off the new season of On Health with Houston Methodist. Each week, we'll be joined by a Houston Methodist expert to explore an everyday wellness trend or significant health topic. Stay tuned for episodes on everything from whether it's better to walk fast or walk far to how to tell a headache from a migraine to what to do when your joints start aching. Also on the schedule: tips for reading food labels and a Halloween special on the science of fear. Episodes drop every Tuesday morning for the next 10 weeks.

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Christen Press, Catarina Macario, Vivianne Miedema, Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, Janine Beckie — some of the biggest names in soccer will be missing the 2023 Women’s World Cup due to ACL injuries alone. The frequency of the injury in women’s soccer has been talked about for decades, but are ACL tears on the rise? And why is this devastating injury so prevalent in the women’s game specifically? In this episode, we ask a physical therapist and former women’s professional soccer player for her perspective on the issue and path moving forward. 

Hosts: Katie McCallum (interviewer), John Dabkowski

Expert: Jordan Jackson, Physical Therapist and Former Professional Soccer Player

Notable topics covered: 

• From youth to club to pro soccer, Jordan weighs in on how she's seen injury shape careers 
• Jordan never tore her ACL, but she also had a unique training experience growing up 
• Are ACL tears in women’s soccer on the rise, or are we just hearing about them more now? 
• Women are more likely to tear (and re-tear) their ACLs, but why? 
• Moving beyond the conversation about women’s wider hips, knee valgus and quad/hamstring ratio 
• Is wider adoption of movement training the key to reducing injuries? 
• What the research says about menstrual cycles and injuries 
• Why prevention and rehab strategies will need to be personalized 
• Studying the benefit of movement training in girls’ youth sports 
• The research says it all — now it’s time for meaningful change 

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Heat, exercise, anxiety. There are a few things that make people sweat — more than we likely want, given how uncomfortable and embarrassing sweat can sometimes be. But what do you actually know about it? In this episode, we discuss everything from the important role sweating plays in your body to whether someone can sweat "too much" and everything in between.

Hosts: Katie McCallum, John Dabkowski (interviewer)

Expert: Mag Ayyad, Exercise Dietitian

Notable topics covered: 

• Why we sweat when we’re hot — and when we’re not 
• Genetics, geography, activity level: What determines how much you sweat? 
• The actual composition of sweat might surprise you 
• Once you start sweating, how do you stop? 
• Sweat and body odor: It’s not your sweat — per se — that smells 
• How hygiene products can affect your sweat 
• Everyone sweats. Or do they? 
• Mag’s tips for heavy sweaters 
• John and Katie do sweat tests (and share their results) 

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Hot dogs are a classic summer cuisine. In fact, Americans will eat 150 million of them on the Fourth of July alone. But hot dogs, as well as other types of processed meat, have a dark side — they’re classified by the World Health Organization as a Group 1 carcinogen and linked to stomach and colorectal cancers, heart disease and more. If this is news to you, you're not alone. In this episode, we discuss everything from how processed meat affects the body to how much we can eat without taking on health risks. 

Hosts: Zach Moore, Katie McCallum (interviewer)
 

Expert: Dr. Valentine Millien, Gastroenterologist 

Notable topics covered: 

• What counts as processed meat 
• Why processed meat is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen 
• What's in processed meat that makes it so bad for us? 
• It's more than digestive issues — processed meat leads to inflammation throughout the body 
• It's not a bad idea to let your doctor know if you've eaten a lot of it in your lifetime 
• Deli meat, charcuterie, beef jerky: Are some types of processed meat less harmful? 
• The truth about "nitrate-free" deli meat 
• You don't have to stop eating processed meat, but how much is too much? 
• Whether the deli meat sliced behind the counter is better than pre-packaged options 
• Dr. Millien's recommendations for healthy swaps 
• The importance of following colorectal cancer screening guidelines 

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We all have go-to workout songs — ones you can always count on to help you get the darn thing done, no matter how unmotivated you are to exercise or how hard your workout gets. What is it about the connection between music and exercise? Is it just a way to distract us from the task at hand and make working out more bearable? Or does a song's tempo have a way of improving our physical performance? In this episode, we explore the effect music has on the brain and whether what we listen to can make for a more effective workout.

Hosts: Zach Moore (interviewer), Katie McCallum

Expert: Maegan Morrow, Senior Music Therapist

Notable topics covered:

•  How the brain senses and responds to music 
• Beats per minute: How both heart rate and musical tempo are measured 
• Why synchronizing your heart rate to a song's tempo makes for effective exercise 
• How Maegan uses these principles to help rehabilitate brain injury patients in the ICU 
• Whether the volume of what you listen to matters during a workout 
• Tips for building the perfect workout playlist 
• Ways to determine the beats per minute of your favorite songs 
• Running vs. weightlifting vs. HIIT: Do you need different playlists for different types of exercise? 
• Why your workout playlists need more than high tempo songs 
• TV shows, audiobooks, podcasts: Does it matter if you don't listen to music?

Links:

• On Health with Houston Methodist Workout Playlist

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Dementia is older Americans' most feared diagnosis, according to surveys. This is understandable given that, by 2050, such diseases are projected to rob nearly 14 million people — more than twice the current number — of their memories, personalities, ability to function. Is it just fate or can you do anything to prevent dementia? In this episode, we explore the risk factors for dementia, lifestyle strategies and interventions to keep your brain healthy and whether cognitive impairment is inevitable if you live long enough.

Hosts: Zach Moore, Todd Ackerman (interviewer)

Expert: Dr. Gustavo Román, Neurologist

Notable topics covered: 

• Alzheimer's and other types of dementia: The differences 
• How much age related mental decline is to be expected? 
• Blood flow: Its role in the development of dementia 
• How much of dementia is determined by genetics 
• When's a good age to implement prevention strategies? 
• Should you get tested to see if you're at risk? 
• The connection between hearing loss and dementia 
• Can vitamins prevent or delay dementia symptoms? 
• The best brain exercises aren't crosswords or word puzzles 
• Research to develop statin-like drugs for the brain

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Ice cream is one of America's favorite desserts, but all those calories and sugars and fats have lots of people considering alternatives — keto ice cream, plant-based ice cream, frozen yogurt, gelato, sorbet, sherbet, their own homemade ice cream. But are any really healthier? And what's the taste trade-off? In this episode, we talk with a dietitian about how we're biologically wired to like ice cream, the secret ingredients in the alternatives and what's a healthy framework for enjoying dessert.

Hosts: Zach Moore (interviewer), Katie McCallum

Expert: Amanda Beaver, MS, RDN, LD, Wellness Dietitian

Notable topics covered:

• The feel-good neurotransmitters that ice cream triggers in the brain 
• Is there such a thing as a "healthy" amount of ice cream? 
• Ice cream parlors vs. store-bought ice cream: Yes, there's a difference 
• Sugar-free, keto, vegan: The new wave of "healthier" ice creams 
• Ingredients substituted for sugar and fat and their potential downsides 
• DIY: How to make healthier ice cream at home 
• Gelato, froyo, soft serve, sorbet: Better choices than traditional ice cream? 
• Ever heard of banana nice cream? Frozen chocolate-covered bananas? 
• How to build a well-balanced smoothie 
• Beaver's tips for getting satisfaction out of dessert without overdoing it 

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Rainy day doldrums, sunny dispositions, winter blues — plenty of phrases suggest a link between weather and a person's mood. But how real is the connection? Can unpleasant conditions put you in a bad mood, a beautiful day in a good one? Why are some people more sensitive to the elements? And can past experiences with severe weather cause a kind of PTSD? We've got a jam-packed episode this week, covering everything from a psychologist's viewpoint on weather and mood to a high-profile weather expert's tips for preparing for hurricanes, flash-flooding and more.

Hosts: Zach Moore, Katie McCallum (interviewer)

Experts:

• Dr. William Orme, Psychologist
• Eric Berger, Founder of Space City Weather

Notable topics covered:

• What research says about weather’s effect on a person’s disposition 
• The complexities of mood and why it’s rarely as simple as one thing 
• Berger’s take on the worst weather month in Houston  
• Seasonal affective disorder: When mood is definitely affected by the weather 
• Can seasonal affective disorder happen in the summer? 
• Dr. Orme’s tips for handling months of humidity and heat or cold and darkness 
• The impact severe weather can have on mental health 
• Tips for handling the stress and anxiety of severe weather 
• Hurricane, flash-flooding, tornado, freeze: How to prepare in advance for a severe weather event 

Links:

• Space City Weather: https://spacecityweather.com/

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