The specialists from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London looked at data from 7,524 civil servants between the ages of 35 and 55 during the period between 1985 and 1988. Those civil servants who said that they were bored were nearly 40% more likely to have died by the end of the study than those who said they were not.

It was also found that there was sufficient evidence that there is a link between heart disease and boredom.

But why do some people claim that they are bored to death?

* This may be due to the work they are doing being not challenging enough. They need to find something more challenging and stimulating to do at work or else they’ll really be bored to death.
* Sometimes boredom could be the result of depression. If you’re depressed, you usually lose interest in what you are doing. Depression interferes with your work, social and family life.
* People have too much time on their hands. These people include retirees and wealthy people with not very much to do to keep themselves occupied.
* People with high intelligence are grouped with people with average intelligence. Take the case of a very intelligent child being in the same class as children of average intelligence. The intelligent child picks up information very quickly and is ready to move on to a new topic. They are unable to move on because the rest of the class is still learning the topic. As a result the intelligent child very quickly gets bored with lessons.
* There is a lack of change in the environment. If you’ve been in the same environment for too long you’ll soon get bored with your surrounding.

Some people who are bored to death turn to drinking and smoking to combat their boredom. They get addicted to drinking, smoking and other drugs which are detrimental to their health.

Some of the ways to cure boredom are:

* If you find the work routine too repetitive and boring, speak to your manager and ask if the work of the department can be rotated. For example, if you work in the accounts department, one person may be dealing with the accounts receivable, another person may be dealing with accounts payable, yet another may be dealing with asset ledgers. If you’re dealing with only one area of the departmental work, then it will get rather boring after a while. You may feel that you can do the tasks blindfolded. It’s not challenging enough to keep you stimulated.A job rotation every 3 – 4 months will help to stimulate you and your colleagues because you look forward to doing something different when you rotate to another task within the department. The departmental workload is still done and it’s good for the department as you’ll be able to cover for each other during holiday period or when you or your colleague is on sick leave.
* Once you recognize the signs of depression and if you are bored as a result of it, you should ask for help and support. Speak to your family and friends and let them know what you’re going through. Tell them you need their support and understanding. Don’t shut them out as your depression might get worse in isolation.The signs of depression include feelings of helplessness, feeling bored with daily activities, feeling tired and physically drained, change in the sleep pattern or appetite and having problems with their concentration.
* If you have too much time on your hands, you can sign up as a volunteer worker. There are many charitable organisations looking for the services of volunteers. You’ll feel great within yourself knowing your contribution has helped to make the lives of other people better.
* If you feel bored because you’re not in the right learning group, make a request to get transferred to a more advance learning group. You may have been accidentally put to a beginner’s class instead of an intermediate or advanced class. You may be happy and feel that the pace of this class is well within your comfort zone but the price you’ve to pay for this comfort is boredom.
* If you’re bore with your environment, make changes to it. If you’re bored with the colour of your room, change it to a different colour to please your senses. If you’re bored with your surrounding, take a short break from your surrounding. Go away for a few days and visit your relative or friend in another location.

Boredom is a state of mind and should be tackled as soon as possible. The mind needs to be challenged and stimulated before you’re bored to death. A change in your lifestyle can also open up new interests to keep you from being bored

There has been a dramatic decline in the number of deaths from heart attacks in the last decade. In 1970, nearly a million Americans died of cardiovascular disease; now the annual toll is below 600,000. The cause for this improved mortality rate are unknown, but most experts believe that the increased awareness of cardiovascular risk factors and their correction have played an important role in cutting the death toll.

What are the risks? Eventually, about half of all Americans develop some form of heart disease. The most common is a hardening of the arteries caused by a buildup of fatty deposits along the vessel lining. This is a slow process that usually takes many years to develop into serious disease. If the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart muscle, become severely blocked by the fatty deposits, warning symptoms of heart disease may appear. These include shortness of breath, chest pains (angina pectoris) that are relieved by rest, or a combination of the two. In many people, however, there are no warning signs — the first symptom of heart disease may be a heart attack. This is why it is important to identify and correct possible risk factors before they reach this stage.

In recent years, a number of these risk factors have been identified. Some of them, such as age, sex and family history of heart disease, are things over which we have no control. But there also are a number of factors that can be modified or eliminated, and such action appears to reduce the portability of a heart attack. The three most important controllable risk factors are high blood pressure, high levels of blood cholesterol and cigarette smoking. In fact, many experts attribute the recent decline in cardiovascular deaths to the fact that more people than ever before are now being treated for high blood pressure. Changes in the American diet that have reduced the consumption of butter, eggs and animal fats – and consequently lowered the average blood cholesterol — and a reduction in smoking by middle-aged men also are credited with lowering the toll. Since the likelihood of developing heart disease increases when two or more risk factors are present, modifying the controllable ones helps reduce the hazard of those over which we have no control.

Role of Diet

Studies have shown that population groups whose diets are rich in cholesterol and other animal and dairy fats have more heart attacks that those whose diets are low in these saturated fats. Americans, whose diets are high in meat and eggs, have a higher incidence of heart disease than the Japanese, who end to eat very little meat and other animal and dairy fats.

Studies have also shown that high blood cholesterol — more than 200 miligrams per mililiter of blood — can be lowered by modifying the diet. This means eating more fish and poultry while cutting consumption of red meat, eggs, butter and other dairy fats, and increasing consumption of fruits, vegetables and cereal grains. Substituting polyunsaturated cooking oils (corn, safflower or sunflower oil, for example) for lard or hardened shortening, and using margarines whose labels indicate a high ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fats (for example, 4 to 2) instead of butter or margarines with less favorable ratios (e.g., equal or 2 to 3) also help to lower blood cholesterol.

Role of High Blood Pressure

People with high blood pressure have a marked increase in heart attacks and strokes. The cause of most high blood pressure is unkown, but it usually can be lowered by the use of antihypertensive drugs, reduced salt intake, and weight loss in people who are overweight. Controlling high blood pressure is an important preventive measure because it increases the work load of the heart and also directly contributes to hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis).

Role of Cigarette Smoking

Since 1964, when the Surgeon General reported that cigarette smokers on the average had a 70 percent greater chance of having a heart attack than nonsmokers, many other studies have confirmed that cigarette smoking is a major risk factor. This risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked, and recent studies hae found that low-tar, low-nicotine cigarettes do not lower the risk of heart disease. Stopping smoking is now considered one of the best things you can do to help prevent a heart attack.

Other Risk Factors

Sedentary life style. Although evidence linking a sedentary life style to increased likelihood of heart disease is indirect, physically active people are known to have wider coronary arteries, which presumably would not be as prone to blockage as those sedentary people.

Type A personality. In recent years, much discussion has focused on the relationship between the type A personality, characterized by anxiety, impatience and perfectionism, and the risk of a heart attack. Although many assessments have confirmed this relationship, scientific proof definitely linking personality type and the development of heart disease is yet to come.

Diabetes. People with diabetes, a serious disease in which the body cannot regulate its blood sugar (glucose), have a higher incidence of coronary disease and heart attacks. The incidence is increased further if the diabetic has other risk factors.

Obesity. the Framingham Study recently concluded that obesity alone increases the risk of heart disease — a hypothesis that has been debated for years. Since obesity often coexists with hypertension, diabetes and a sedentary life style, weight control is an important factor in reducing a number of coronary risk factors.

Sex and age. Some risk factors, such as age and aging and a person´s sex, are unavoidable. Statistics show that men under the age of 45 years are 10 times as likely to develop coronary artery disease as women in the same age group. Between the ages of 45 and 60 years, however, the sex difference diminishes. After age 60 years, the incidence of coronary artery disease is about equally distributed between men and women.

Family history. An inherited susceptibility is also an important risk factor that cannot be avoided. Some manifestations, such as high blood pressure or an inherited tendency to have very high blood blood cholesterol levels (familial hyper-cholesterolemia) can be controlled by drugs and diet.

Serious illness is more than a crisis of the body; it is a crisis of the soul. Many patients react to a serious disease by becoming paralyzed by fear. Resistance quickly crumbles, and is followed by depression and despair. Yet others marshal the inner resources needed to overcome the crisis.

How can people be empowered to mobilize their innate resources for health and healing? The twin keys to unlocking the door are Comprehension and Communication.

Comprehension means first understanding that the outcome of most common diseases-cancer and heart disease-is rarely inevitable. Yourillness need not be your fate. Every doctor has seen patients with a life-threatening illness make a miraculous recovery after they were thought to be beyond hope. Read the rest of this entry »

Heart disease and cancer are closely intertwined due to the fact that cancer treatments put a risk for heart disease. Having cancer can predispose one to heart disease, the number one known killer. Not only does chemotherapy drugs affect the heart, but further research shows that cancer survivors are more likely to face heart and other cardiovascular diseases as these cancer therapy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, tend to be toxic to heart muscles and organs as well as killing not only cancer cells but also other cells in the body. Read the rest of this entry »

Expanding epidemic You can’t have missed the news, Britain has some of the worst igures in Europe with almost two-thirds of adults either overweight or obese. And it’s not just adults – children are getting heavier too, with more than a quarter of under 11s carrying more fat than they should. Being overweight isn’t just about how you look. As waistlines get bigger so does the risk of heart disease, strokes and some cancers. Read the rest of this entry »