What is metabolic syndrome and why is it important to people with a mental illness/psychiatric diagnosis?

Having metabolic syndrome (also known as syndrome X or the dysmetabolic syndrome) means that a bunch of things are happening in your body at the same time that increase your risk for having a stroke, diabetes or heart disease. On the diabetes page [text link to page on diabetes] we’ve already looked at the link between diabetes and early death by having a heart attack.

The Mayo Clinic considers metabolic syndrome to be a cluster of conditions, not symptoms, but conditions. These conditions are:

• Obesity - When a woman's waist size is larger than 35 inches or a man's waist is larger than 40 inches.
• High triglyceride level - Triglyceride is a blood fat that transports lipoproteins and cholesterol throughout our bodies. When a high triglyceride level occurs with a low level of high density lipoprotein (LPL) it is a risk factor.  LPL is the good cholesterol that can be in our systems. Triglyceride level is considered to be a risk factor of heart disease because the triglyceride containing fat also transports the cholesterol. Too much of one often means too much of another. 
• Insulin Resistance - Insulin is a hormone that helps to regulate the amount of sugar you have in your body.
• High blood pressure - Having blood pressure with a top number (systolic) over 120 or a bottom number (diastolic) over 80 is considered a warning signal. The danger zone for the upper number (systolic) used to be 130 but has been lowered to 120. Some organizations consider a bottom number of 85-90 to be OK, but the Mayo Clinic does not. 
• Some organizations (the American Heart Association and the World Health Organization) consider a fifth measurement in the metabolic syndrome cluster, HDL cholesterol lower than 50 mg/dl in women and 40 mg/dl in men. HDL is the bad kind of cholesterol.

If you have one part or piece of the cluster that makes up metabolic syndrome, you are likely to have more than one. If you have three or more of the pieces of metabolic syndrome, you have metabolic syndrome. You can have the pieces that make up metabolic syndrome and not know it. 

What does that mean and what can I do?

Metabolic syndrome increases your risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and stroke. Having one or two of these conditions means you don't have metabolic syndrome, but you are still at an increased risk for heart disease, diabetes and stroke.

If you know that you have one or two of the pieces of metabolic syndrome, try to keep on top of your health. You don't want things to escalate. The longer things go wrong, the longer they can take to straighten out. Medications are available that can help.

If you have metabolic syndrome or if you have any of the signs and symptoms of metabolic syndrome, what you can do that will help the most is to change your lifestyle. Changing your lifestyle means changing what you do each day. Here are some options for small changes.

• Get away from using hydrogenated oils or fats. Hydrogenated oils and fats have had hydrogen atoms added to fats what weren't saturated before. They do this to keep oils and fats from becoming rancid (going bad). 
• Read labels. Become aware of what you are putting in your body. 
• Cut back on the calories. It doesn't have to be all at once, but become aware of what you are eating. Learn the calorie counts of foods that you regularly eat so you know what you are putting in your body. Ask questions if you don't know.
• Following the Mediterranean Diet has been found to improve overall health and can effects the severity of metabolic syndrome. 
• Get adequate rest so that you aren't attacked by stress hormones.
• Drink more water instead of pop or soda (less processed foods). 
• Eat “real” foods, foods that don't have unpronounceable ingredients.
• Cut back on corn syrup. Corn syrup is a type of sugar that is added to many foods that sugar weren't previously a part of. This sugar (corn syrup) can trigger spikes in blood sugar and may help us to crave more of a food, helping us to eat too much.

Remember that small changes can really help.

Whatever you choose to do, remember that any small, sustainable change will build up over time. The small changes that stay in your life can be an extremely valuable way to improve your health.