Tales of traders throwing themselves out of windows on Wall Street in the wake of 1929 were essentially myths, as John Kenneth Galbraith noted in his 1955 account of the crash.

Nevertheless, current economic woes are clearly impacting on our country’s mental and physical health. Stress is a well documented cause of depression, suicide, heart disease, stroke, predisposition to infection, and certain kinds of cancer.

Stress is often subliminal, it may overtake you before you realize it.  The last thing a person in financial trouble needs is to be simultaneously dealing with illness, yet stress-induced illness is common.
 
SOME WORRISOME EXAMPLES OF THE EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL TROUBLES:

* In New York, calls to the Hopeline network for people with depression or suicidal thoughts leaped 75 percent to 10,368 in the 11 months ending in July 2008.

* In Chicago, ComPsych Corp., the world’s largest provider of employee assistance programs, logged 21 percent more calls seeking help for stress from financial pressures in July than they received a year earlier.

* Hospital admissions for psychiatric services are up 10 percent this year over last year in claims submitted to UnitedHealth Group Inc., the largest U.S. health insurer.

* ValueOptions Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. provider of behavioral health and wellness services, reported that calls for assistance with home foreclosures, bankruptcy and other financial hardships have grown 89 percent this year over 2007.

* Research based on 17 years of Pennsylvania unemployment records concluded that employees affected by a mass layoff at a plant were 15 percent more likely to die of any cause over the next two decades.

* Harvey Brenner, professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, projects that rising unemployment could cause as many as 47,000 more deaths than would have otherwise occurred, including 1,200 more suicides, as well as nearly 26,000 more heart attacks.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT:

* Seek emotional support, from loved ones and if needed, professionals.

* Try to continue to focus on business as usual, and to avoid obsessive negative thoughts.

* Emphasize regular exercise, try relaxation techniques such as yoga or meditation, eat regular meals, and as much as possible, observe regular sleep habits.

* Consult with your physician if your fear over your financial future is spiraling out of control. Anti-anxiety medication may be necessary to break the cycle of worry.

Dr. Marc Siegel is an internist and associate professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. He is a FOX News Medical Contributor and writes a health column for LA Times, where he examines TV and movies for medical accuracy. Dr. Siegel is the author of “False Alarm: the Truth About the Epidemic of Fear” and “Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic”. Read more at www.doctorsiegel.com

Actually the secret is—as always—freshness and variety! These light white meat and natural ocean feeders (not bottom-feeders) have so many attributes beyond great flavor, whether marinated lightly for a ceviche (a wonderful traditional dish found throughout the Americas in which the fish is “cooked” through the acids of citrus juices, such as lime, lemon, and orange) or grilled with a sprinkle of spice and fresh lemon juice. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends eating fish at least 2 times a week, and Latin Americans have naturally been following AHA recommendations for years. My patients and viewers know that I’ve been touting the virtues of eating fish for a long time (hey, I come from an island!).

Seriously, I’ve learned—and I share this with my patients, audience, and friends—that in addition to being a good source of protein without the high saturated fat found in many meat products, there are many additional health benefits to seafood. For example, because they’re high in 2 kinds of omega-3 fatty acids, seafood not only decreases the risk of arrhythmias that can lead to sudden cardiac death, but also decreases blood clot formation that can lead to heart attacks and strokes, and lower the level of blood fats called triglycerides. These facts alone should push you right out the door to your favorite fish-monger! Another fish-related perk is that cooking it is simple. Peruvians—with their sashimi-like tiradito, which is essentially carpaccio of incredibly fresh fish—know that one of the secrets to eating fresh fish is pure elegance: dress it up lightly and the flavors—along with the healthy benefits—will shine. And there are so many varieties of easy-to-prepare and tasty white fish available in the States, like Chilean congrio.

You can use chiles as often as you wish in your dishes for flavor and for health. Chiles of all types, like chipotle and other hot chiles, are high in minerals and antioxidants, giving a healthy boost to your immune system. Another interesting note about this powerfood is that although it is hot to taste, it actually has a cooling effect on your body. Blood rushes to the periphery of your body in response to the hot taste, and then the blood cools down before moving more to the center of your body, where your temperature is higher. That is why Latinos in hot tropical countries instinctively eat hot and spicy foods. Though many equate chiles with Mexico, they can be found in varied colors and shapes, as well as all different degrees of hotness, throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

There’s something called capsaicin in hot peppers that offers a whole host of benefits: it helps digestion, fights against stomach ills like diarrhea, bacterial infections, and even heart disease. In fact, it’s been associated with lowering blood pressure, reducing cholesterol, and even warding off strokes and heart attacks. And even beyond that, new research indicates that capsaicin actually reduced cancer cell growth in laboratory experiments. Well, it’s not like I needed and excuse to have my food sparky, but now I’m giving you yours!

Female coffee drinkers appear to be less likely to die from heart disease than non-drinkers, a new study finds.

Esther Lopez-Garcia, assistant professor of preventive medicine at Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain, and colleagues analyzed data from 84,214 and 41,736 men. Coffee consumption was assessed first in 1980 for women and in 1986 for men and then followed up every two to four years through 2004.

Study participants completed questionnaires on how frequently they drank coffee, and were asked about other dietary habits, smoking, and health conditions. The researchers then compared the frequency of death from any cause, death due to heart disease, and death due to cancer among people with different coffee-drinking habits.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of both men and women in the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 770,000 Americans will have a new coronary attack in 2008, and about 430,000 will have a recurrent attack.

A new kind of men’s underwear is being designed to pick up information about arterial blood flow and blood pressure, reported London’s Daily Mail.

The underwear has at least four sensors in the waistband and would determine how fast blood is flowing through the arteries, according to the newspaper.

The technology would not work as well in women’s underwear because the waistbands would be too thin to accommodate the equipment.

As part of the American Heart Association’s Go Red Campaign, the organization has released a study of the best and worst heart-friendly cities for women.

Here is a list of the cities:

Top 10 Heart-Friendly Cities

1. Minneapolis—St. Paul-Bloomington

2. Washington D.C.—Arlington, Va.—Alexandria, W.Va.

3. San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland, Calif.

4. Denver—Aurora, Colorado

5. Boston—Cambridge—Quincy, Mass.

6. Seattle—Tacoma—Bellevue, Wash.

7. Portland—Vancouver—Beaverton, Ore.-Wash.

8. San Diego—Carlsbad—San Marcos, Calif.

9. Los Angeles—Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.

10. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.

Bottom 10, Least Heart-Friendly Cities

1. Nashville-Davidson—Murfreesboro, Tenn.

2. St. Louis, Mo.

3. Detroit—Warren—Livonia, Mich.

4. Pittsburgh, Penn.

5. Dallas—Fort Worth—Arlington, Texas

6. Columbus, Ohio

7. Cincinnati—Middletown, Ohio—Ky.—Ind.

8. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev.

9. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio

10. Indianapolis, Indiana

Mid-Sized Metros, Top 5 Heart-Friendly Cities

1. Salt Lake City, Utah

2. Honolulu, Hawaii

3. Colorado Springs, Colo.

4. Rochester, N.Y.

5. Albuquerque, N.M.

Mid-sized Metros, Least Heart-Friendly cities

5. Toledo, Ohio

4. Louisville, Ky.

3. Tulsa, Oklahoma

2. Lakeland, Fla.

1. Birmingham-Hoover, Ala.

Other Metros, Top 5 Heart-Friendly Cities

1. Boulder, Colo.

2. Portland-South Portland-Biddeford, Maine

3. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif.

4. Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo.

5. Ann Arbor, Mich.

Other Metros, Least Heart-Friendly Cities

5. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif.

4. Charlottesville, Va.

3. Provo-Orem, Utah

2. Bellingham, Wash.

1. Barnstable Town, Mass.