On Call with Dr. Kumar: Benefits of cardiac rehab after heart attack or stroke

NEW YORK -- After suffering major cardiac events, like heart attacks or stroke, a lot of focus goes toward medications and procedures.

But rehabilitation is also a major component of recovery.

While very important, only 8 percent of patients attend up to 36 sessions of cardiac rehab, which is considered the full dose, according to the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.

Dr. Nidhi Kumar is On Call for CBS New York to help understand this essential part of making a full recovery.

"Cardiac rehab is a wholistic approach to recovering after having a cardiac event. It's compromised of physical activity, such as cardio and strength training, and then there's an education piece, which is so important, geared toward lifestyle changes. And finally, mindfulness based stress reduction techniques," she said. "These have been shown over and over to go a long way."

She explains cardiac rehab can help reduce hospitalizations, stroke, heart attack and heart failure, while improving quality of life.

"When people suffer a heart attack, or really any kind of cardiac event, we see that patients start to become insecure, they lack that confidence in their health," she said. "Cardiac rehab really addresses these issues. It can help people titrate their medications, so they're feeling good when they emerge back into regular physical activity. But it also helps alleviate the stress, the anxiety and the depression that also comes along with having heart disease."

Watch her full interview above for more information.