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Take Stock in Your Heart’s Future
What you do now can affect your health for years to come
Most of us plan for our financial future – sacrificing some luxuries now in the hopes of having a solid nest egg when we are older. Yet, many of us may not plan for an even more important part of the future: our health.
Elizabeth Jackson, M.D., a cardiologist at the University of Michigan Health system, likens protecting your heart at a younger age to investing in your retirement fund. Indeed, researchers reported recently in Hypertension, a journal of the American Heart Association, that preventing major heart problems from occurring in your 70s or 80s may hinge on how well you maintain a healthy weight and manage your blood pressure when you are younger. For example, the Massachusettsbased Framingham Heart Study found that an increase of just one standard deviation in systolic blood pressure (20 mm Hg) at age 50 could lead to 36% higher risk of heart failure up to 20 years later.
Elevated levels of blood pressure, sugar and a high body weight, coupled with bad habits such as an inactive lifestyle and smoking, can have severe repercussions on your heart at an advanced age, experts say. The trick to preventing heart disease is investing in your heart’s future now. Here’s how to start.
Know where you stand.
Have your doctor do a thorough evaluation to find out your blood pressure, glucose levels and cholesterol count. Having one of these risk factors increases the likelihood of having heart disease by anywhere from 50% to 200% over a 10-year period, according to Marc Brodsky, M.D., Beaumont Hospital’s medical director for cardiology services in West Bloomfield.
Develop a strategy to beat the risk factors.
Most cardiologists agree that the biggest risk factors for heart disease are smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity or high body weight, and an inactive lifestyle. “It’s rare to find a patient with heart disease who doesn’t have one or a combination of those factors,” says Michael Hudson, M.D., a senior staff cardiologist and director of the coronary care unit at Henry Ford Health System.
The Framingham study found that even though high BMI and hypertension are often diagnosed later in life, when it comes to heart disease, the effects of these conditions actually begin far earlier.
Use your diet to protect your heart.
Strive for a low-fat, low-sodium, low-cholesterol diet. The American Heart Association recommends eating fruits, vegetables, unrefined wholegrain foods and other items that are high in fiber. Not only does a good diet help to maintain a healthy body weight and reduce blood pressure, it can also be an effective weapon against diabetes.
Exercise three to five times a week and maintain a healthy weight.
The most valuable exercise, by far, is aerobic, according to Charles Nino, M.D., director of the cardiac cauterization laboratory and an intervention cardiologist with St. John Health System. Aerobic exercise includes walking, running, cycling and swimming. All healthy adults ages 18 to 65 years need moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity for at least 30 minutes, five days each week or vigorous activity for at least 20 minutes, three days each week, according to the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association.
YOUR LUCKY NUMBERS
It’s a numbers game in the cardiovascular arena, and you need to be intimately familiar with three kinds of them:
Blood pressure. In general, the optimal systolic or higher number is 120, says Elizabeth Jackson, M.D., a University of Michigan Health System cardiologist. For the lower or diastolic number, most cardiologists say to aim for 80. “If you’re between 120-139 and 80-89 you are in an in-between phase and you are pre-hypertensive,” according to Marc Brodsky, M.D., of Beaumont Hospitals.
Blood sugar. There are two important numbers. The ideal fasting blood glucose number, which measures sugar in the blood the morning after a night of not eating, is 100. Anything over 100 is diabetic or pre-diabetic, says Charles Nino, M.D., a cardiologist with St. John Health System. The second key measurement is the hemoglobin A1c, which is proportional to average blood glucose concentration over the previous four weeks to three months. That optimal number is below 6.0.
Cholesterol. The American Heart Association recommends keeping total blood cholesterol below 200 mg/dL, and LDL (bad) cholesterol) below 100. With HDL (good) cholesterol, higher levels are better; an HDL cholesterol of 60 mg/dL or higher gives some protection against heart disease.
THE LATEST CHOLESTEROL TEST
Would you like to know your chances of having a heart attack? A new cholesterol test helps your cardiologist do just that. Known as the lipoprotein subfraction test, it measures the size of cholesterol particles and issues a warning when small LDL and HDL particles are detected.
Experts say the smaller LDL particles can easily sneak into the heart’s vessels, ultimately leading to atherosclerosis. The test is so new, many cardiologists have their reservations.
“I don’t recommend it routinely because of the cost factor, but I recommend it for people with evidence of coronary disease, as well as diabetics,” says cardiologist Marc Brodsky, M.D., of Beaumont Hospitals.