by | May 3, 2024 | Fox News
Seeing red could spike your heart disease risk, experts are warning.
Feeling angry for as little as eight minutes a day could raise your chances of experiencing a cardiac event, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (AHA).
The study included 280 healthy young adults with no history of heart disease, stroke, serious mental health conditions or other chronic illnesses, according to an AHA press release.
HEART HEALTH RISK FACTORS FOR WOMEN OVER AGE 50
The participants first spent 30 minutes in a relaxed state, while doctors gauged their blood pressure, blood vessel health and other cardiac measurements.
Next, the participants were randomly assigned eight-minute tasks, while the heart-related measurements were tracked.
One group was told to think about anger-inducing experiences.
A second group was asked to recall memories that triggered anxiety.
ANGER CAN MOTIVATE PEOPLE TO ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS, NEW STUDY SUGGESTS: ‘SHARPENED FOCUS’
A third group was tasked with reading passages that made them feel sad — and the final group was told to simply count out loud to achieve a neutral mindset.
Among those who were told to recall anger-inducing memories, their blood vessel dilation was reduced by 50% within 40 minutes of the task — which put them at a greater risk of heart attack or stroke.
The restricted dilation was temporary, but experts expressed concern that a longer duration of anger could have more adverse effects.
“We showed that if you get angry once, it impairs your ability to dilate,” said lead study author Dr. Daichi Shimbo, a cardiologist and co-director of the hypertension center at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, in the release.
“But what if you get angry 10,000 times over a lifetime? This chronic insult to your arteries may eventually lead to permanent damage.”
Anxiety and sadness did not have this same effect.
FORGIVENESS COULD LEAD TO BETTER MENTAL HEALTH, HARVARD STUDY REVEALS
Elizabeth Sharp, M.D., founder and director of Health Meets Wellness in New York, New York, was not involved in the study, but said the results were “not particularly surprising.”
“Anger likely increases cortisol levels, which, in turn, raises blood pressure and could likely decrease vascular dilation,” she told Fox News Digital.
“It’s a well-known adage that ‘stress is a killer,’ and there are numerous physiological explanations for this,” she went on.
“However, I would argue that it’s more about chronic stress, or that a stress response might reveal an underlying condition, such as coronary artery disease (CAD), which was already present.”
Dr. Jim Liu, a cardiologist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, also offered external input on the study.
“Psychosocial factors play an important role in cardiovascular disease, because the body’s nervous system provides a lot of input in regulating the heart and blood vessels,” he told Fox News Digital.
“This study showed that anger can cause acute, measurable changes in blood vessel function, which could be detrimental to cardiovascular health in the long run.”
The findings serve as a reminder that there are many factors that influence heart health, Liu noted.
“We all know about the traditional risk factors, such as smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure — and with this study, perhaps there should also be an increased emphasis on mental health and psychosocial factors.”
People can reduce their heart attack risk by finding healthy ways to manage anger, experts say.
“There are three major ways to deal with anger — express it, suppress it or calm it,” said Dr. Gary Small, chair of the psychiatry department at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey.
5 WOMEN’S HEALTH TIPS TO PREVENT AND DETECT STROKES, ACCORDING TO CARDIOLOGISTS
“When we suppress our anger, we hold it in and force ourselves to focus on something — often positive thoughts — to distract us,” he went on.
“A potential pitfall of anger suppression is that it festers and can elevate blood pressure and lead to depression.”
Dr. Small shared the following seven strategies to help people cope with anger.
Try to develop an awareness of what triggers angry feelings, Small advised.
“For some people, being ignored ticks them off, while others have difficulty accepting criticism,” he told Fox News Digital.
“When you identify what sets you off, you will be better equipped to gain control of your anger.”
Research has shown that daily meditation will improve mood and cognitive function, according to Small.
“This strategy involves regulating our behavior when we are angry by controlling our internal physiological responses like muscle tension and breathing,” the doctor said.
DAILY MARIJUANA SMOKERS FACE HIGHER RISK OF HEART ATTACK, STROKE, SAYS AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION STUDY
“Recognizing your triggers gives you a heads-up of when to calm yourself and relax through deep, slow breathing, conjuring up serene mental imagery, and meditation.”
“Because of the negative health and social effects of uncontrolled expressions of rage, try to avoid outbursts,” Small advised.
“Rather than exploding, take a pause and recall what triggered your aggression.”
Engaging in regular physical exercise — maybe even hitting a punching bag at the gym — can help reduce anger-induced stress, Small said.
“If you find yourself in a fit of rage, you may not be thinking clearly, because your brain’s amygdala (emotional control center) overtakes its frontal lobe (reasoning center),” Small said.
Attempt to replace your angry thoughts with rational ones, the doctor suggested.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
“Also keep in mind that your anger is not going to solve the problem or frustration at hand,” he added.
Taking an anger management class can help those who tend to “fly off the handle,” Small said, while assertiveness training can help people who suppress their anger learn to communicate their needs to others.
“Anger issues may reflect other underlying mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression,” Small noted.
Seeing a mental health professional can help people identify underlying problems and cope with anger in a more constructive way.
Fox News Digital reached out to the study authors for additional comment on their findings.
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health.
Click here to see original article
by | May 3, 2024 | Fox News
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia has been engulfed by huge protests triggered by a proposed law that critics see as a threat to media freedom and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union.
Here is a look at the bill and the protests it has ignited:
FORMER SOVIET REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA SEES RULING PARTY CAVE TO MASSIVE STREET PROTESTS AS IT SEEKS CLOSER EU TIES
WHAT IS THE NEW BILL?
The bill would require media and nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofits to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of funding from abroad.
The legislature approved a second reading of the bill Wednesday, and the third and final reading is expected later this month.
The proposed legislation is nearly identical to the one that the governing Georgian Dream party was pressured to withdraw last year after street protests.
WHAT DO THE BILL’S SUPPORTERS AND OPPONENTS SAY?
The governing party says the bill is necessary to stem what it deems as harmful foreign influence over the country’s political scene and to prevent unidentified foreign actors from trying to destabilize the country’s political scene.
The opposition denounces the bill as “the Russian law” because Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent news media and organizations critical of the Kremlin. Opponents of the bill say the fact that it is now before parliament is a sign of Moscow’s purported influence over Georgia. They fear it will become an impediment to the country’s long-sought prospects of joining the European Union.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with the governing party, has vowed to veto the law, but Georgian Dream has a majority sufficient to override a presidential veto.
WHAT IS THE STATE OF RUSSIA-GEORGIA TIES?
Russia-Georgia relations have been strained and turbulent since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
In August 2008, Russia fought a brief war with Georgia, which had made a botched attempt to regain control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Moscow then recognized South Ossetia and another separatist province, Abkhazia, as independent states and beefed up its military presence there. Most of the world considers both breakaway regions to be parts of Georgia, a former Soviet republic.
Tbilisi has ruptured diplomatic ties with Moscow, and the separatist regions’ status remains a key irritant, even as Russia-Georgia relations have improved in recent years.
The opposition United National Movement accuses Georgian Dream, which was founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, of serving Moscow’s interests — an accusation the governing party vehemently denies.
HOW DID THE PROTESTS GO?
For several successive days, thousands of demonstrators besieged the parliament building in a bid to block the bill’s passage and scuffled with police.
Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds. Over 60 protesters have been arrested and several people have been injured. Levan Khabeishvili, chairman of the United National Movement, was among those injured.
On Thursday, parliament canceled its scheduled session, saying the move was because of damage to the building during Wednesday’s protests.
WHAT IS THE EU’S POSITION?
“This law is not in line with EU core norms and values,” Borrell said in a statement last month. “The proposed legislation would limit the capacity of civil society and media organizations to operate freely, could limit freedom of expression and unfairly stigmatize organizations that deliver benefits to the citizens of Georgia.”
Click here to see original article
by | May 3, 2024 | Fox News
‘PUBLIC NEEDS TO KNOW’: Bryan Kohberger lawyer drops major claim casting doubt on key prosecution evidence in Idaho murders case
MOTHER MYSTERY: Young mom vanishes without a trace as shadowy witness implies foul play
NAKED TRUTH: Detective in cop-killer case accused of searching gal pal’s phone without warrant
FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X
POISON IVY: Dartmouth murderer set to leave prison after killing 2 professors
THE ‘WORST’: The suspected child killer who can’t stop incriminating himself
SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER
‘TEMPER TANTRUM’: Prosecutor called out in fight over suspected campus killer’s ‘alibi’
SURVIVOR STORIES: 7 children who escaped kidnappers
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: Ex-honeypot sex spy tells all on becoming a ‘master manipulator’
CROSS ROAD: Police probe whether pastor’s wife died by suicide or something sinister
GET REAL TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB
Click here to see original article
by | May 3, 2024 | Fox News
For the first time, China has publicized what it claims is an unwritten 2016 agreement with the Philippines over access to South China Sea islands.
The move threatens to further raise tensions in the disputed waterway, through which much of the world’s trade passes and which China claims virtually in its entirety.
A statement from the Chinese Embassy in Manila said the “temporary special arrangement” agreed to during a visit to Beijing by former president Rodrigo Duterte allowed small-scale fishing around the islands but restricted access by military, coast guard and other official planes and ships to the 12 nautical mile limit of territorial waters.
US, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN AND PHILIPPINES VOW TO DEEPEN DEFENSE COOPERATION AMID SOUTH CHINA SEA TENSIONS
The Philippines respected the agreement over the past seven years but has since reneged on it to “fulfill its own political agenda,” forcing China to take action, the statement said.
“This is the basic reason for the ceaseless disputes at sea between China and the Philippines over the past year and more,” said the statement posted to the embassy’s website Thursday, referring to the actions of the Philippines.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Duterte have denied forging any agreements that would have supposedly surrendered Philippine sovereignty or sovereign rights to China. Any such action, if proven, would be an impeachable offense under the country’s 1987 Constitution.
However, after his visit to Beijing, Duterte hinted at such an agreement without offering details, said Collin Koh, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies based in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and an expert on naval affairs in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly Southeast Asia.
“He boasted then that he not only got Chinese investment and trade pledges, but also that he secured Philippine fishermen access to Scarborough Shoal,” Koh said, referring to one of the maritime features in dispute.
Beijing’s deliberate wording in the statement “is noteworthy in showing that Beijing has no official document to prove its case and thus could only rely mainly on Duterte’s verbal claim,” Koh said.
Marcos, who took office in June 2022, told reporters last month that China has insisted that there was such a secret agreement but said he was not aware of any.
“The Chinese are insisting that there is a secret agreement and, perhaps, there is, and, I said I didn’t, I don’t know anything about the secret agreement,” said Marcos, who has drawn the Philippines closer to its treaty partner the U.S. “Should there be such a secret agreement, I am now rescinding it.”
Duterte, who nurtured cozy relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his six-year presidency while openly being hostile to the United States for its strong criticism of his deadly campaign against illegal drugs.
While he took an almost virulently anti-American stance during his 2016 visit to Washington’s chief rival, he has said he also did not enter into any agreement with Beijing that would have compromised Philippine territory. He acknowledged, however, that he and Xi agreed to maintain “the status quo” in the disputed waters to avoid war.
“Aside from the fact of having a handshake with President Xi Jinping, the only thing I remember was that status quo, that’s the word. There would be no contact, no movement, no armed patrols there, as is where is, so there won’t be any confrontation,” Duterte said.
Asked if he agreed that the Philippines would not bring construction materials to strengthen a Philippine military ship outpost at the Second Thomas Shoal, Duterte said that was part of maintaining the status quo but added there was no written agreement.
“That’s what I remember. If it were a gentleman’s agreement, it would always have been an agreement to keep the peace in the South China Sea,” Duterte said.
House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Marcos’s cousin and political ally, has ordered an investigation into what some are calling a “gentleman’s agreement.”
China has also claimed that Philippine officials have promised to tow away the navy ship that was deliberately grounded in the shallows of the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to serve as Manila’s territorial outpost. Philippine officials under Marcos say they were not aware of any such agreement and would not remove the now dilapidated and rust-encrusted warship manned by a small contingent of Filipino sailors and marines.
China has long accused Manila of “violating its commitments” and “acting illegally” in the South China Sea, without being explicit.
Apart from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the sea that is rich in fishing stocks, gas and oil. Beijing has refused to recognize a 2016 international arbitration ruling by a U.N.-affiliated court in the Hauge that invalidated its expansive claims on historical grounds.
Skirmishes between Beijing and Manila have flared since last year, with massive Chinese coast guard cutters firing high-pressure water cannons at Philippine patrol vessels, most recently off Scarborough Shoal late last month, damaging both. They have also accused each other of dangerous maneuvering, leading to minor scrapes.
The U.S. lays no claims to the South China Sea, but has deployed Navy ships and fighter jets in what it calls freedom of navigation operations that have challenged China’s claims.
The U.S. has warned repeatedly that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines — its oldest treaty ally in Asia — if Filipino forces, ships or aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
Click here to see original article
by | May 3, 2024 | Fox News
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
North Carolina authorities are reportedly investigating the death of Mica Miller, the 30-year-old wife of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Pastor John-Paul Miller.
Robeson County officers reportedly located Miller’s body on April 27 in the Lumber River State Park — about an hour drive from the Millers’ hometown of Myrtle Beach — last weekend and are investigating how she died, according to ABC 15.
John-Paul, however, told his congregation that his wife died by suicide and that she had struggled with her mental health for years, but authorities have not released her official cause of death.
“She had struggled with suicide before. Each time we would help her through it and take her to the doctor, and we got through it and everything was fine,” John-Paul told ABC 15. “She even gave a few testimonies here at church that we have on video. She battled suicide but God took care of her and got her through it.”
WHAT HAPPENED TO CHELSEA CABO? YOUNG MOM VANISHES WITHOUT A TRACE AS SHADOWY WITNESS IMPLIES FOUL PLAY
An obituary for Miller states that the 30-year-old woman was “energetic, affirming, adventurous, faithful, loving, giving, forgiving, talented, joyous, creative, assertive, bold, determined, authoritative, passionate, hardworking, a risk taker, and so much more.”
However, Mica’s loved ones on social media are noting one part of the obituary that strikes them as odd: “She would praise her husband after every church service telling him he was the best preacher in the world (even if it wasn’t true). She also told him he was the funniest preacher in the world (even though that wasn’t true either). Mica loved her family soooooooo much.”
COLORADO MOM SUZANNE MORPHEW’S AUTOPSY RESULTS REVEAL CAUSE, MANNER OF DEATH
The Horry County Clerk’s Office in South Carolina confirmed to Fox News Digital that Mica Miller had filed three different “separate support and maintenance” requests since last year — the latest filed on April 16. Separate support and maintence allows one spouse to receive court-ordered support from another spouse without officially divorcing.
Since Mica’s death, which has rocked the Myrtle Beach community, her family and friends have been sharing posts on social media with the hashtag, “JusticeforMica.”
MISSING TENNESSEE TEEN SEBASTIAN ROGERS’ DAD HIRES PIO AS SEARCH ENTERS 2ND MONTH: ‘COULD BE ANYWHERE’
Her sister pleaded with friends on social media to “not listen to false stories being shared about” Mica.
“Mica was a God-fearing, joyful, loving woman who did not deserve the abuse she endured. If you hear anything about this from anyone other than her family please question it, reach out to her siblings or parents,” she wrote.
GO HERE FOR MORE TRUE CRIME FROM FOX NEWS DIGITAL
“I talked to her multiple times in her final week here on earth,” Mica’s friend wrote on Facebook. “She was making plans to get her hair cut, getting help with her car payment because she was a little short after PAYING HER DIVORCE LAWYER and planning to meet us for the second service at church on Sunday. My final text with her on Friday at 9:19 pm was a woman making plans to live!!!! What happened between Friday night and Saturday?”
Fox News Digital reached out to John-Paul’s Myrtle Beach congregation, Solid Rock at Market Common, for comment but did not immediately hear back. The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office also did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital.
Click here to see original article
