How to improve your heart health

By Uma Krishnan, MD

February is Heart Month.

The first Friday of February is National Wear Red Day. Please wear red on Feb. 2, 2024, to show your support for women and heart disease.

This is the right time to not only celebrate your Valentine Feb. 14, but also cherish the Valentine that keeps you going — your heart!

It is well known across the world that heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death among men and women. This may sound alarming, but the good news is 80 percent of heart attacks can be prevented.

To start, knowing your risk factors and taking steps to control them can help prevent cardiac events. Sleep, stress reduction and happiness are the new additions that have been shown to promote cardiovascular health, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

Know your risk

Risk factors you can control:

• Smoking
• High blood pressure
• Lack of physical activity
• Elevated lipids (cholesterol panel)
• Type 2 diabetes

Risk factors you cannot control:

• Family history of premature heart disease (stent, bypass surgery or heart attack)
  • First-degree male relative (father, brother, son) before 55
  • First-degree female relative (mother, sister, daughter) before 65
• Age: Men 45 and older; women 55 and older

Some risk-enhancing factors:

• Autoimmune diseases (Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, mixed connective tissue disease)
• Chronic kidney disease stage 3
• Persistent elevated LDL cholesterol greater than 160

Risk factors unique to women:

• Pregnancy-related issues: Preeclampsia, gestational diabetes
• Breast cancer: Chemotherapy and radiation treatments

The Pulse Cardiovascular Health Program is designed to help identify patients at risk for cardiovascular disease as well as manage that risk. We also use a coronary calcium score to assess for coronary artery disease.

4 ways to care for your heart

1. Physical activity

The AHA recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week. This can range from a 10-minute walk to marathon running.

There is evidence that strength training will assist in increasing muscle mass, leading to increasing calorie burn and improving weight management. Exercise will keep your brain young, or at least slow down the normal decline in age-related thinking skills.

John Ratey, MD, of Harvard Medical School and author of “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain,” has documented how exercise protects against vascular dementia. Imaging studies suggest that key brain areas responsible for thinking and memory are larger in people who exercise than in people who don’t.

2. Food choices

The newest data shows that the top three diets are the Mediterranean diet, DASH diet and vegetarian diet. These diets include at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, whole grains, low-fat dairy products and avoidance of processed red meat. The data shows improved heart health and brain health.

3. Sleep

This is an area we haven’t traditionally looked at in connection to heart disease, but a recent article in the Journal of Cardiology compared four-hour sleep length to nine-hour sleep length. It showed that shorter sleep led to increase in abdominal fat and increased calorie consumption. While this was a small study, it has ramifications for cardiovascular outcomes.

Sleep is restorative and necessary for healthy living. Some tips for sleep success:

• Avoid high intensity exercise the hour before bed
• Eat your final meal of the day at least three hours before bedtime
• Stay away from screens for at least two hours before bedtime
• Avoid alcohol before bed — it has been linked to irregular sleep patterns and can impact melatonin production, affecting circadian rhythm

4. Stress and relaxation

This an area of much thought and study. The last few years have tested us all, and we’ve had to find strength and resilience. Much of the data shows that we do better if we work and socialize together. A study of small towns showed that the small town where everyone knew each other had less heart disease than the town where they did not, highlighting the fact that we are meant to be social beings and need a sense of belonging.

Don’t forget joy

Joy is a positive emotion that can have a significant impact on your health and well-being. Facets of positive psychological well-being, such as optimism and gratitude, are positive health assets.

Psychological health impacts cardiovascular health. The AHA recently published information related to happiness and the impact on healthier behaviors. Happiness leads to healthier behaviors, such as eating healthy, exercising regularly and sleeping better, which in turn improves blood pressure and reduces excess body fat, resulting in lower risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease.

The pillars of health are spiritual, physical, emotional, social well-being and purpose. Gratitude releases feel-good hormones like oxytocin, and studies show it causes a biochemical response that has anti-inflammatory benefits.

Tips for cultivating joy, optimism and emotional vitality (a sense of enthusiasm, hopefulness and engagement):

• Find a purpose
• Take short breaks throughout the day for physical activity or meditation
• Get seven to eight hours of sleep
• Take a moment to pause and write down three things that bring happiness or cause laughter
• Reach out to family members and friends

What’s next