Does HDL Really Matter?

For years, we've been told that raising our levels of HDL (the good cholesterol), would help protect us from heart disease. But a study published in May by The Lancet, has many people questioning that assumption. The study found that genetically high levels of HDL (high density lipoprotein) offered no extra protection against heart disease. In fact, it concluded there was no difference in heart attack risk between people with genetically higher levels of HDL and those with somewhat lower levels of HDL. So does HDL matter? It still does, according to cardiologist K. Lance Gould, MD, a professor of internal medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School and director of the Weatherhead PET Center for Preventing and Reversing Atherosclerosis. He says some patients with genetically high levels of HDL still develop heart disease, as was found in the study. The opposite is also true, as patients with genetically low HDL levels may never develop heart disease.

Clear as mud, right? For the basics of what HDL is and what it does, check out my latest HealthLeader article on the subject.

Keeping it real about teen sex

Actually, I should have titled this post, "Keeping it real about tween sex," because that's the age some kids begin having sex, according to Melissa Peskin, PhD, a researcher I interviewed for my latest UT HealthLeader article, "It's Your Game...Keep It Real." Millennial kids begin experimenting with sex in sixth, seventh and eighth grades, long before many parents expect. An estimated one in 10 sixth-grade students has initiated sex. Yikes! It gets worse. Kids who initiate sex at an early age are more likely to have unprotected sex and become pregnant.

“Texas has one of the highest teen birth rates. If we can work on delaying teen sex, it is possible we can help reduce that rate,” Peskin says.

Motivated by the statistics, Peskin and her fellow researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health developed a classroom program to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Instead of relying on textbooks and lectures, they embraced videos and computer games, creating an interactive program that captures the fragmented teenage attention span.

The program—called It’s Your Game…Keep It Real—is helping delay the age middle school kids start initiating sex, which in turn lowers their risk for teen pregnancy and acquiring STDs. In fact, students who didn’t participate in the program were 1.29 times more likely to initiate sex by the ninth grade, according to Peskin and her colleagues’ study of 10 low-income middle schools in Southeast Texas.

What a great program! I am so glad to see it making a difference in our community.

But what I also took away from my interview with Peskin, was the importance of talking to your kids early about S-E-X. And I mean early, early. Don't wait until voices start changing, or it's time for training bra shopping. Sit them down sometime between the ages of Dora and Justin Beiber (or Thomas the Train and Batman movies for boys), and talk about it.

Experts say an age appropriate book about sex helps.

My two cents: a glass of wine never hurts either.

The talk you must have with your parents

While I am not superstitious by nature, talking about illness and death makes me feel like I am tempting fate. But after researching an article on advance directives for UTHealthLeader, I am determined to have a serious talk with my parents about their healthcare wishes. I learned that in a medical emergency, you might not be able to communicate with your parents' medical team--unless you have signed the right paperwork.

That's a scary thought. I want to be sure I honor my parents' wishes about their healthcare. But what are they? I think I know, but do I?

Do you?

Do suicide rates go up during the holidays?

Like many people, I always thought that suicide rates spike during the holidays. If you are lonely and depressed, the cheerfulness of the holidays make you feel even more lonely and depressed in contrast, right? Wrong. It turns out the idea that more people commit suicide during the holidays is common misconception. In fact, suicide rates are lowest in December, and peak in the spring and the fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Health Statistics. The reason why is unclear. Some mental health experts speculate that all the hubub and family togetherness during the holidays may temporarily prevent people from committing suicide.

"The holidays are a time when relationships are emphasized and celebrated," says Thomas Ellis, PsyD, APPB, director of Psychology at The Menninger Clinic in Houston and author of books about the treatment of suicidality. "Research is really clear that relationships act as a strong buffer to suicide."

See my Menninger News and Notes brief for more about suicide and the holidays.

On money, sex and power...

We know these three age-old influences control our lives. But they also interfere with treatment for mental illness, says Michael Groat, PhD, director of the Professionals in Crisis treatment program at The Menninger Clinic. Groat says we often tie our self-worth to the amount of money we have. "For patients, money can be closely connected to their sense of status and identity." Find out what Groat says about the roles of sex and power in treatment in my News and Notes article for The Menninger Clinic.