Heart-Healthy Secrets
During Valentine's week 2007, The Early Show presented a special, weeklong series on heart health, called Heartscore.
Medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay is exploring the latest on numerous aspects of this ever-important area.
Saturday, Feb. 17, 2007
HEART-HEALTHY SECRETS
A good nap three times a week, or a full night's rest, is good for your heart. In fact, a study by the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston found that women who sleep less than five hours a night have a 30 percent higher risk of heart disease than those who get eight hours regularly.
And there are clear reasons for this: getting too little sleep has been shown to raise blood pressure and levels of the stress hormone cortisol, lower glucose tolerance and lead to variations in heart rate. All these are precursors of heart disease.
Here's another heart-healthy secret: Tai Chi, the Chinese exercises that look like a kind of slow-motion dance. This ancient Chinese exercise combines simple, flowing body movements with deep breathing. A study out of Harvard showed that heart failure patients who did Tai chi twice a week were able to walk farther without getting winded and reported a better quality of life. Tai chi has also been shown to help lower blood pressure. It also helps with balance and flexibility.
Another recent study out of Harvard has shown that eating broiled or baked ocean fish like tuna or salmon once or twice a week can lower your heart rate and help regulate your heart rhythm can can lower your risk of sudden cardiac death. This benefit has been attributed to the good fats in theses fish, the omega 3 fatty acids, but it's unclear how they help.
It appears that pomegranate juice helps prevent hardening of the arteries and may even help reverse it. Dr. Senay says that one recent study found that pomegranate juice cut the rate of cholesterol plaque buildup in the arteries of lab mice by 30 percent. And heart cells treated with the juice showed a 50 percent increase in production of a substance that fights plaque.
Deep breathing is heart-healthy, too. Most of us breathe between 16 and 19 times a minute, and the more often you breathe, the shallower that breath is. Experts say shallow breathing slows your body's excretion of salt, which can cause high blood pressure. But you can lower your blood pressure by slowing and deepening your breathing. That means taking, say, 10 or 12 breaths per minute for at least 15 minutes a day.
Here's an oldie but a goodie: laughter is the best medicine. Studies have shown that movie-goers who see comedies that really make them laugh have better blood flow than those who watch dramas or scary movies. Some experts even recommend laughing at least 15 minutes a day.
And to bring it all back around to the start, here's an old Irish proverb: "A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book."
Friday, Feb. 16, 2007
STRESS AND HEART DISEASE
The stress of modern life can do more than sour your mood. It may, as the American Heart Association points out, increase your risk of heart disease.
On The Early Show, Senay said, "You would think there was a definitive study that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that stress either causes heart disease, or increases one's risk, or makes it worse. That study actually has not been done.
"What has been done is the accumulation of evidence suggesting or hinting at the fact that stress plays an incredibly important role in our overall health, and our hearts. It is growing. In fact, we'd be foolish to ignore stress as a risk factor for heart disease.
"Some physicians go so far as to say stress should be considered on the same level as things like cholesterol, or high blood pressure. (That hasn't been) proven yet. The studies aren't there yet. But in time, we will have that answer."
Senay also looked at how stress affects our bodies, signs that we're under stress, and how to manage it.
To watch the segment,
.Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007
CALCIUM SCORES
Do you know your calcium score? It could help ward off a heart attack.
Senay says a new, non-invasive test enables doctors to peer inside heart arteries and find telltale signs of disease early, so they can try to stop heart attacks before they happen.
Patients undergo a CT-scan and, says Dr. Valetin Fuster, director of the Cardiovascular Institute at New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center, high calcium levels could point to cardiac trouble ahead.
Fuster says the calcium test isn't for everybody: On its own, it just doesn't tell enough. But, in people who show other evidence of heart risk, such as high cholesterol or a family history of heart disease, it's a good tool for fine-tuning the diagnosis, and helping doctors know how aggressively to treat the disease.
Patients with high calcium scores need to be watched more closely and treated more aggressively, he says, but aggressive treatment carries its own risks, so doctors save it for patients who really need it.
Senay explains that calcium is actually a tool the body uses to heal artery damage. When heart disease injures the wall of the artery, a layer of calcium is deposited at the site of the damage, to preserve and help heal the affected tissue. So, if the scan finds calcium, it means there was an injury there in the past. Evidence of past damage is a sign that future damage, including heart attack, is more likely.
To watch the segment,
.Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007
COUPLES AND HEART HEALTH
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. In part three of the "Heartscore" series, which happened to fall on Valentine's Day, Senay had ideas on how couples can help each other reduce their risk of heart disease.
That's important, Senay said, because research has shown that the health of one spouse can affect the risk of the other. And that makes sense: When people live together, they usually eat the same meals and frequently have similar habits.
Senay's suggestions:
Commit to a healthy lifestyle for each other: Studies have found that being married can be good for your health. A main reason is that it's a built-in source of social support. People in relationships tend to use the health care system, meaning they see doctors more, than people who are not in relationships.
By healthier lifestyle, Senay meant:
Eating right: A key to eating right is controlling your fat consumption and cholesterol. Reducing your intake of bad fats and eating more good fats can make a big difference in the state of your arteries and the condition of your heart.
Exercise together: Make a commitment to exercise together a few times a week. The two of you could just walk at a moderate pace after dinner or early in the morning. Don't forget to talk to your doctor before you start exercising and to build up slowly to more vigorous exercise.
Stop smoking: That reduces your risk of having a heart attack by 50 percent after just one year.
Love each other: There is a growing body of research that shows how love and relationships that last are an important factor in long-term health.
Senay stressed that it's never too late to change your habits. Even people with serious heart disease who make substantial changes in their diet and get on a regular exercise program can greatly improve their prospects.
Senay conceded that all this is easier said than done, but think of all of those Valentine's Days in the years ahead!
To see the segment,
.For more on this, log on to these Web sites:
BeatYourRisk.org
American heart Associartion's ABCs of Preventing Heart Disease, Stroke and Heart Attack
AHA's Healthy Heart quizzes
Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007
WOMEN AND HEART DISEASE
Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States but, reports Senay, there is good news on that front.
In November, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health said the number of heart disease deaths in American women was decreasing. Newly analyzed data showed that the number had gone from one-in-three to one-in-four, a decrease of nearly 17,000 deaths from 2003 to 2004.
On The Early Show Tuesday, Senay profiled one heart attack victim who was severely overweight, but is turning that around.
To watch the report,
.Monday, Feb. 12, 2007
SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST
As the name suggests, it can take your life with no warning.
Senay explained the difference between sudden cardiac arrest and a heart attack. She also looked at the possible causes of sudden cardiac arrest, who might be at elevated risk, and potential preventative treatments.
To watch the segment,
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