APRIL 21, 2008

ATTENTION! Once the hot weather starts, build up your tolerance to outdoor exercise slowly. During the first week or two, your body will adjust by enlarging sweat glands and tiny blood vessels near the skin's surface. Both will help you perform better in the heat.

DOUBLE TROUBLE If you take an anti-depressant and suffer from migraines, there's something you should know: A recent government report says that mixing the medications often used to treat these two conditions can set off a rare but dangerous reaction. A small number of people--perhaps less than 1 in 1,000--who take a triptan for migraines along with a common antidepressant (either an SSRI or a type known as an SNRI) experience serotonin syndrome, with loss of coordination, hallucinations, and increased blood pressure and heart rate. It can be deadly. You may be able to switch to other medications to avoid delivering a double-whammy to your levels of the brain chemical serotonin. But don't stop either prescription without consulting your doctor first. (Prevention)

LOWER YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE by taking short walks.
Forty minutes of exercise a day will ease blood pressure by 5% - and you can do it in small segments. In reaserch from the Indiana University, Bloomington, 21 women and men who broke up their walks into short 10-minute bouts got a longer lasting dip in blood pressure - 11 hours compared with 7 hours for those who walked 40 minutes straight. Frequent activity gives the walls of your arteries more of a workout, keeping them flexible and healthy. (Prevention)

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