Lifestyle & Wellness

Keep Your Eye on the Prize

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As the leaves begin to fall and the air starts to chill, it’s time to pre­pare for the fall sports sea­son. Sports are a great way to get the exer­cise you need while show­ing some school spir­it, how­ev­er, they are also a com­mon cul­prit of injury. The best way to lead your team to vic­to­ry this sea­son is to stay on top of your health. To help you care for your body this fall, Bri­an Ward, MD, sports med­i­cine doc­tor and orthopaedic sur­geon, has out­lined some tips on how ath­letes can stay safe and healthy in every sport this season.

What Is Cholesterol?

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Accord­ing to the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion, near­ly 71 mil­lion Amer­i­can adults have high cho­les­terol and only 1 out of every 3 adults with high cho­les­terol has their con­di­tion under con­trol. In fact, peo­ple with high cho­les­terol have approx­i­mate­ly twice the risk of heart dis­ease than peo­ple with opti­mal lev­els. Plus, hav­ing high cho­les­terol puts you at risk for devel­op­ing heart dis­ease which is the lead­ing cause of death in the Unit­ed States.

When Care Can't Wait

Ill­ness­es and injuries often seem to pop up when you least expect them. When med­ical care is need­ed at night or over the week­end, patients are often unsure where to go for treat­ment. The first step is to deter­mine if the med­ical issue can wait for a vis­it with the pri­ma­ry care doc­tor or if it is an acute issue requir­ing imme­di­ate atten­tion. If the prob­lem requires atten­tion out­side of your physi­cian’s clin­ic hours, and depend­ing on the symp­toms, care is avail­able at an imme­di­ate care cen­ter (ICC) or at an emer­gency room (ER) at a local hos­pi­tal. Both the time and cost can vary dras­ti­cal­ly depend­ing on where the med­ical care is pro­vid­ed, so it’s impor­tant to under­stand the dif­fer­ence between the two and the impact your choice may have on your wallet.