Do you want to hear something scary? On average, doctors spot only 1 in 4 children that have high blood pressure. I would say that is a reason for concern. And when you do the math, that would mean that there are over 1.5 million kids that are “living” with undiagnosed hypertension.
What is the reason behind this very, very frightening little statistic…
One of the biggest reasons that hypertension is missed in children is that normal blood pressure values change based on a child’s age, gender and height. So, while 120/80 mm/Hg is a normal reading for an …read more

Well, it’s been almost a month since taking over for Hsien here at A Hearty Life. Do you like what I have done so far? Am I providing the kind of information that you want to see?
It is hard taking over a site that had a previous writer. It poses a dilemma. Do you keep true to the old writer, or do you try to bring yourself and personality to the existing site to transition the blog to be what you visualize it to be? I have tried to do the latter.
I want to …read more

What came first, the chicken or the egg? That is a question I often ask myself while “taking care of” my cardiac patients. As a nurse, my mind often wanders to the thought of, “what if they had taken better care of themselves years ago”? Now, I know that genetics and family history plays into cardiac disease, but so does obesity, lethargy and an unhealthy lifestyle.
So when my patients that haven’t exercised in years, not even a walk to the end of the driveway, are admitted to the hospital with CHF, MI, STEMI’s, angina, ACS and high …read more