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Show Death-defying Advice b-t Find Time To Exercise creases the heart rate and conditions con-ditions the heart muscle, she explains. Examples are running, run-ning, swimming and hiking. Weight lifting, tennis and golf, on the other hand, are not aerobic. Reducing stress is equally important. She points to the self-styled "arsenic hour" be-tween'5 be-tween'5 and 6 p.m. when family fami-ly members converge at home, each seeking attention to vent their day's frustrations. "ONE WAY to break the arsenic hour components is to have a short cool-down time," she says. "Children can learn to recognize and respect the 15 minutes of privacy needed every ev-ery day to relax." All 50 participants in her award-winning study had desk jobs and were closely matched for responsibilities and stresses. stres-ses. None had heart disease, nor were their blood pressure or cholesterol levels high. TO ESTABLISH a "coronary "coron-ary profile" for each, the researcher re-searcher assessed leisure-time physical activity after work; measured blood pressure and body fat percentage; estimated oxygen consumption during exercise; and drew blood samples sam-ples to analyze fatty components, compo-nents, such as triglycerides and cholesterol. bad reputation, one form, called cal-led high density lipoprotein, may be beneficial, she says. "We now know that HDL may help carry the other two cholesterol components through the blood stream to the bowel where they're eliminated." eli-minated." Physical training seems to increase HDL levels, she says. For instance, marathon runners run-ners have higher levels of HDL in their systems and a lower incidence of coronary disease. ONE M AN in my study had a HDL in the protective zone." says Quaal. "He jogs 45 minutes mi-nutes three time a week. He doesn't run great distances, but it's continuous, on-going aerobic activity." Quaal offers this advice on leisure-time exercise: -TALK with a physician before be-fore starting any exercise program. --Get into group programs that are affordable and near home. -AVOID exercising alone. Develop a partnership which offers checks and balances. "Contract with a friend to exercise at certain times and days. One will call if the other doesn't show," she says. "I have empathy for those wilh serious intentions, but who back out when something else comes up. Yet commitment to exercise is serious and earnest. It shouldn't be canceled." ACCORDING to Quaal. stress increases cardiovascular cardiovascu-lar risk factors, such as cholesterol, choles-terol, body chemicals and lipid levels. "We may not be able to change deadlines or avoid traffic traf-fic jams," she says, "but we can change how we handle stressful situations." Some suggestions for dealing deal-ing with stress include: -LOCATE programs that offer training in handling stress. --Reorganize workloads to deal with one piece of information informa-tion at a time. -OBTAIN family counseling counsel-ing so each can learn to respect the other's needs, and offer help in recognizing stress smptoms. --Be guilt-free about making time for rest and relaxation. "AS AMERICANS, wcarea greater risk for developing coronary disease," says Quaal. "Unless we intervene and work arduously to condition condi-tion our bodies and reduce stress, coronary disease will probably become epidemic." Prescription for a healthy heart: exercise and reduce stress. THIS death-defying "lifestyle "lifes-tyle package" will have a profound pro-found impact on human performance per-formance and reduce the risks of heart attack, says Susan Quaal, a clinical instructor at the University of Utah. In a recently completed study, Quaal startled a group of men ranging in age from 35 to 50 with the finding that 94 percent of them were in the poor or very poor fitness catagory. "YET THESE people saw themselves as healthy," says Quaal, w ho is also a cardiovascular cardiovas-cular nurse clinician at the Veterans Administration Hospital Hos-pital in Salt Lake City. "They initially doubted the accuracy of the calculations, then were shocked to find they were at rick for coronary disease." Quaal, a veteran in coronary care units, notes a distressing trend: heart attack victims seem younger and there are more of them, including women. THE SOLUTION, she emphasizes, is relatively simple: sim-ple: regular aerobic exercise. Exercising only on weekends is not healthy," she stresses. "We need to make time for exercise, treat it as a priority and log it on appointment appoint-ment calendar s just like an important im-portant business meeting." AEROBIC exercise is any sustained activity that in- Estimated oxygen consumption con-sumption is a measure of physical phy-sical fitness, she notes. Also, key information about heart attack risks is revealed in the blood. WHILE cholesterol has a |