High Blood Pressure? A Little Weight-Loss Goes a Long Way

By Jon Herring

Hypertension - or high blood pressure - is just one side effect of being overweight. But if you get discouraged thinking of how many pounds you’ll have to drop to make a difference, take heart. Losing just a little weight can provide substantial and long-lasting benefits for people who have high blood pressure.

In a study of 102 people with severe hypertension, researchers discovered that those who lost an average of just seven pounds reduced their need for medication for more than two years. Lead researcher Daniel W. Jones, M.D., said, "The patients maintained their weight loss for only six to 12 months, but the benefits were sustained for as long as 30 months."

It is remarkable that such a modest improvement in weight can have such a major impact on the health of those with high blood pressure. This finding should give encouragement to anyone with hypertension and excess weight.

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about an easy way to improve your blood pressure through diet.
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The Dangerous Myth of the Dream Job

By Timothy Ferriss

It is popular to fantasize about "dream jobs," read about them, and envy those who have escaped the daily grind to revel in career nirvana. But how do those who have found The Promised Land really feel? Beyond the sound bites they offer to magazines lies a very different truth.

Converting passions into "work" can be the fastest way to kill those passions. Surfing two hours on a Saturday to decompress from a hard week might be heaven, but waking up at 6 a.m. every morning to do it 40 hours per week teaching difficult clients how to surf is a very different animal. Mixing business and pleasure can be a psychologically toxic cocktail.

If you depend on your dream job for daily bread or your children’s college tuition, we hit a nasty conundrum: An activity that used to give you pleasure and get your mind out of the office now reminds you of the evils of the 9-to-5 business world. What do you then do to give yourself a break?

. Don’t expect too much.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t be interested in our work. We should be. I am saying that we shouldn’t expect too much of it. The more unrelated demands we make of a single vehicle, the less likely that vehicle - whether work or marriage or painting - is to get us where we want to go.

By analogy, I would argue that fun sports are seldom the best path to fitness. Why? They are examples of recreation - and while there is a component of physical exertion, they are not the most time-efficient vehicles. Planned resistance training would be an example of pure exercise. Most people aren’t in ideal shape because they attempt to mix recreation and exercise and, consequently, get both mediocre enjoyment and mediocre results.

. Aim to separate instead of integrate.

I am a strong advocate of work-life separation as opposed to work-life balance. The concept of work-life "balance" is a dangerous one, because "balance" is often mistaken to mean blending, where work and personal tasks are alternated in the same environments or where one activity is expected to provide both work and life. The Blackberry is checked while you wait for dinner in a restaurant, the laptop is cracked while your spouse waits for you in bed, and the passion you loved so dearly for 10 years is now expected to pay the mortgage. This keeps your mind in the office 24/7 and destroys the few activities you cherished for the pure joy of experiencing them. This produces - at best - a state of constant low-grade overwhelm, even if actual workload is low.

Are there examples of people who chase passions and make it work? Sure. That said, don’t judge a book by its cover. I’ve interviewed close to a dozen millionaire passion-as-work entrepreneurs who smile for the cameras and then tell me about the existential crisis they face every Monday morning: They have no escape from the office.

The ideal job? The one that takes the least time.

For most of the planet, I would assert that the ideal dream job is the one that takes the least time. Be productive instead of busy, and recognize that life is full of special relationships and activities that need to be protected from one another. Focus on artful separation instead of integration, and you might just feel - as I did - as though an enormous burden has been lifted.

Expect a lot out of life, but don’t expect too much from your job. It’s just one tool. Make it a specific one.
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It’s Fun to Know: The Belize Barrier Reef

Second in size only to the better-known Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the 185-mile-long series of coral reefs known as the Belize Barrier Reef lies off the Central American coast in the Caribbean Sea. It is Belize’s most popular tourist destination and a mecca for scuba divers. The reef has more than 100 different types of coral, 500 species of fish, and hundreds of different invertebrates.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Michael Masterson
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These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2080, 06-28-07], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.