Heart Health

February 18th, 2018

Happy Healthy Heart Health Month!  To mark the occasion, we should all take some time to consider one of the most important organs, the heart.  Diseases affecting the cardiovascular system including myocardial ischemia (“heart attack”), strokes, and aortic aneurysms (ballooning of the large artery in the chest) account for the leading cause of death in the US.  Sadly, these deaths are largely avoidable through lifestyle changes and proper screening.  Are you at risk?  The American Heart Association has put together a wonderful self-assessment tool called Life’s Simple 7, that you can complete to find out.

In addition, here is my checklist of things you need to consider and discuss with your primary care provider:

• Know your numbers.  Blood pressure, cholesterol (including breakdown of LDL “bad” and HDL “good” types), blood sugar, heart rate, weight, height, and BMI are essential to an assessment of your fitness.  If you have any abnormalities in any of these, you should ask your primary care provider how you can improve them.
• If you have a blood pressure monitor at home (I believe everyone should have one of these, even if you don’t have high blood pressure.  They are inexpensive and can detect blood pressure issues early), check your blood pressure a few times a week and record these numbers.  Bring these readings with you when you see your provider.  Having multiple readings at different times can help your provider find out if you have a blood pressure issue.
• Do you have a family history of cardiovascular disease.  Ask your blood-relatives for their history.  It is important to find out about high cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure) history since these are the main contributors to heart disease.  If you have any family members who have had a heart attack or stroke before the age of 50, this is a VERY significant piece of information as cardiovascular disease affecting younger people usually means there is a genetic component.
• What is your exercise capacity?  Has it changed recently?  The heart helps pump blood to muscles so that you can move around.  If you used to be able to climb three flights of stairs without getting short of breath, but now you climb just one and feel winded, something may be going wrong with your heart.
• Are you still smoking?  Smoking is the most significant risk factor for heart disease.  Quitting will reduce your heart disease risk significantly.
• Is your diet too high in saturated fats and sugars?  In general, most saturated fats are derived from meat.  However, there are also plant-based fats that are bad for you such as the “tropical oils” such as coconut oil or palm oil.  Reduce these in your diet as much as possible.  Sadly, many manufacturers of packaged goods will add these to make cookies and cakes taste better.  Be sure to read the labels of all the food you buy and if you see these oils, avoid buying those foods.  Sugar comes in many forms, some which are worse than others.  I would reduce intake of any corn-based sugars such as corn syrup as these have been shown to worsen blood sugar.  Honey or cane sugar, in moderation of course, would be better options.  Stevia, which is technically a spice that makes things taste sweet but doesn’t contain sugar and has no calories, would be the best option.
• What is your stress level?  More and more studies show that stress has a very negative impact on our health.  Stress induces our body to secrete hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine.  In small doses, these are great for helping us ‘weather the storm’ when we face challenges.  However, over time these can have deleterious effects on our body such as increasing blood sugar, weight gain, and raising blood pressure.  We all need to manage stress as much as possible.  Try meditation to help with stress, or start seeing a therapist to talk through your issues.

Be sure to get your annual physical exam, including bloodwork and possibly and EKG!