HEALTH TIPS
HEART HEALTH:
What you need to know
Here are four things you can do right now to be healthier
10
2019 EDITION (201) HEALTH
1
GETTING MORE
EXERCISE IS EASIER
THAN YOU THINK
The Department of Health
and Human Services currently
recommends 150 minutes of
moderate aerobic activity — brisk
walking, swimming, even mowing the
lawn — per week, ideally, spread out
as opposed to over a short time.
But hitting goals is less important
than getting incrementally better,
says Dr. Richard Besser, president and
CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation in Princeton. “Adding even
10 minutes a day to what you are
doing right now will make a
difference,” he says. “Start small,
experience some success, and then build from there. Every little bit helps.” Skip the elevator for the stairs; if possible,
walk to your destination instead of driving there. Get an activity tracker like a Fitbit, and don’t leave home without it.
A word about kids: Many health providers express concern about a trend of increasing obesity in young people
due to a lack of exercise. “This is a population that’s going to develop coronary disease earlier because they’re
sedentary, playing video games,” warns Dr. Fadi N. Chaaban, chief of cardiology at Clara Maass Medical Center in
Belleville. He urges parents to make sure their children get aerobic [heart rate-raising] exercise for 30 to 45 minutes,
four to five times weekly.
2
A GOOD DIET IS A GIFT TO YOUR HEART
Healthy food choices, per the AHA, include a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables; whole grains;
oily fish such as salmon; some lean meats; nuts, and low-fat dairy products, in reasonable portions with
no accompanying high-calorie, low-nutrient sweets. Teenagers who learn to make these choices for
themselves won’t have to break bad habits as they get older.
But watching what you eat and the portions you give yourself doesn’t mean having to consume small amounts of
calories for the rest of your life. “Studies have shown that reducing body weight by just 5 percent may decrease your
blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol,” says Dr. Irina Benenson, an assistant professor at the Rutgers School of
Nursing in Newark and New Brunswick. “ All of these changes are beneficial for your heart.”
3
4
SMOKING IS A BAD HABIT, PERIOD
Smoking damages blood vessels and increases the risk of multiple diseases. And with the advent of the
e-cigarette, Dr. Chaaban sees a resurgence of the practice among young people. “The whole (idea) is for folks
who are smokers to use them as a transition to not smoking, but what we’re seeing in the young population
is the opposite,” he says. He sees a movement by young people from e-cigarettes to regular cigarettes, and believes
that more regulation of the product is required.
LET YOUR DOCTOR BE YOUR COACH
No matter how good your diet and exercise habits are, it’s important to have regular checkups. Your doctor
will tell you if your blood pressure, cholesterol levels and weight are where she’d like them to be.
“Elevated blood pressure and cholesterol don’t produce symptoms, so people don’t know they have
them, but they’re important risk factors,” says Benenson. The AHA warns that blood pressure of 130/80 or higher
increases your risk of stroke and heart attack. “Bad” cholesterol (LDL) should optimally be below 100. And because
fat tissue produces chemicals that increase inflammation in the blood vessels of the heart, potentially leading to a
heart attack, your doctor may suggest lifestyle adjustments to lower your weight.
“You have to know your numbers,” says Dr. Sahni. She gives patients pamphlets about nutritional advocacy and
advises them to seek information at Cardiosmart.org, a patient-friendly site, and Heart.org, the website of the
American Heart Association. ❖
Y
ou don’t have to be a husband
to have a “widowmaker.”
Oakland resident Cathy
Garbor, 67, learned that the
hard way seven years ago.
For a month, Garbor, a fixed
income trader, had been having on-and-off
pains that radiated from the center of her
chest and down both arms. Thinking that she
didn’t want to over-react, she continued to
shop and decorate for the holidays.
But over the Thanksgiving weekend, the
pain came to stay. Only then did Garbor, who
was living in Maplewood at the time, ask her
son to take her to St. Barnabas Hospital in
Livingston, where an EKG showed a near
total blockage in her left main artery. Garbor
had triple bypass surgery hours later.
“Men will come in because their wives
are their advocates, but women are often
caregivers who’re always taking care of
everybody but themselves,” says Dr. Sheila
Sahni, an interventional cardiologist affiliated
with Hackensack Meridian Health. “Also,
men tend to have more dramatic presenta-
tions of symptoms, such as chest pains.
Women may have neck or jaw pain, heart-
burn, a migraine or a one-sided headache.
Anything that comes out of the blue between
the navel and the nose should be ruled out
for heart disease.”
Cardiovascular disease isn’t just the num-
ber one killer of men; more women die of it
than any other disease, including breast
cancer. The American Heart Association and
other nonprofits have educated and advocat-
ed for ways to reduce heart disease for years,
and it’s been working; rates have decreased
by 75 percent since its peak in the 1960s.
What are the habits and lifestyle choices that
can keep you and your loved ones healthy?
Here’s what experts want you to know:
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER