Being able to manage levels of stress can cut the risk of stroke, the Daily Mail reported. People who have a “good sense of coherence”, a measure of “how well a person adapts to stressful situations”, are less likely to suffer a stroke. Those with a relaxed approach to problems have a 24% lower risk of stroke, the newspaper reported. BBC News quoted the lead researcher as saying: "This evidence raises the possibility that improving our ability to respond to stress may have benefits for vascular health.”
The research was based on data from a large study originally set up to look at diet and cancer, and offers some evidence of a link between an individual’s ability to adapt to an adverse event and the risk of stroke. It is not clear how this outcome relates to stress as we more commonly understand it, and the news reports may have overstated a link between ‘stress’ and stroke. More robust studies that take into account all possible reasons why people might be at greater risk of stroke are needed before the effects of stress on stroke risk are known.
Being overweight may not be as unhealthy as it was 40 years ago," BBC News reports. New research has found a body mass index (BMI) of 27 is linked to the lowest rate of death – but someone with a BMI of 27 is currently classed as being overweight. BMI is a score calculated by dividing your weight (usually in kilograms) by the square of your height (usually in metres and centimetres). Currently, a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is classified as being overweight. Researchers looked at 120,528 people from Copenhagen, recruited from 1976 to 2013, and separately compared those recruited during the 1970s, 1990s and 2000s. They were followed up until they died, emigrated, or the study finished. The BMI linked to the lowest risk of having died from any cause was 23.7 in the 1970s group, 24.6 in the 1990s group, and had further risen to 27 in the 2003-13 group. It may be the case that the suggested upward shift in optimal BMI is the result of improvements in preventative treatments for weight-rela...