Living Well
Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012
Muskogee Phoenix
Page 2
Get moving to keep heart healthy By Dylan Goforth Phoenix Staff Writer
Dr. Achala Singhal, a cardiologist at the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center has one word of advice when it comes to heart health: “Move.” It’s a very important thing, just moving,” Singhal said. “We call it ‘not being sedentary.’ Don’t underestimate the value of moving.” Singhal said there are different ways to improve the condition of your heart — diet, for instance, or even calm music that destresses you. But exercise is king. Too often, Singhal said, people find excuses for why they can’t get moving. “They will say, ‘Oh, my knees hurt’ or ‘My back hurts,’” Singhal said. “These are legitimate problems, but it does not mean they cannot get exercise.” Singhal said someone who is overweight or elderly may decline a trip to the gym, because they’re unable to perform a strenuous exercise program. But improving your health doesn’t have to start in sixth gear. “Begin gradually, be careful,” Singhal said. “What we say is to move in whichever way you can. Start a program to increase your daily movement.” Technology, Singhal said, has robbed us of some of the movement we used
Staff photo by Dylan Goforth
Cindy Wayman teachers a water aerobics class at the Muskogee Swim and Fitness Center. Wayman’s class offers a low-resistance workout designed to get the heart pumping and blood flowing without putting too much stress on joints. “Here in the water, this gravity is working for you, not against you,” Wayman said.
to receive. Whether it was walking to turn off the television or lights, many of these movements are now
automated or done by a remote. Her suggestion is to turn that movement-stealing
technology against itself. “Technology has taken movement from us,” Singhal said. “But it can also
benefit us in many ways. I like to encourage people to get a pedometer, which will measure the amount of
Some heart conditions can be ‘silent’ The image many people get when they think of heart conditions is a grown man cluthing his chest. But not all heart conditions are as obvious or pronounced as heart attack. Ischemia is a term used to describe the restriction of oxygen-rich blood to an area of the body. Cardiac ischemia occurs when the blood cannot reach the heart. Generally cardiac ischemia causes pain in the chest, known as angina. However, in some cases there is no warning pain and the condition is called silent ischemia.
Facts on silent ischemia Silent ischemia affects roughly 3 to 4 million Americans every year. Individuals who have had a previous heart attack are at higher risk for silent ischemia than others. But there are many other risk factors: • Diabetes • Coronary artery disease • Hypertension • Coronary artery anomalies • Smoking • Obesity • Alcohol and drug abuse • Cardiomyopathy
If ischemia lasts too long or is especially severe, it may cause a heart attack. It can also affect the natural rhythm of the heart and its pumping ability, which can cause fainting, and even sudden cardiac arrest.
exercise stress test to determine silent ischemia. Also, a special monitor called a Holter monitor will record the heart rate and rhythm over the course of a day and determine if ischemia occurred.
Symptoms and diagnosis
Treatment
Silent ischemia has no symptoms. However, if a person has had previous episodes of chest pain, there’s a liklihood that he or she could also be experiencing silent ischemia and not know it. Doctors may use an
The main ways to treat silent ischemia is to reduce certain behaviors that increase risk. This includes quitting smoking, avoiding alcohol and maintaining a healthy weight and diet. For those who are diagnosed with silent ischemia, there are some treatment op-
tions available. Most of these involve improving blood flow to the heart, which often requires prescription medications. Oxygen also may be given to increase the oxygen content of the blood that is reaching the heart. Other people may take medicines that relax blood vessels, enabling more blood to flow. In most cases this is all that is needed to fix the situation. For those not responding to treatment, they may need a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), such as balloon angioplasty, coronary artery bypass surgery, or a similar procedure.
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Did you know? CPR has roots in 1740 recommendation The history of cardiopulmonary resuscitation dates all the way back to 1740. Back then, the Paris Academy of Sciences officially recommended mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for drowning victims. However, CPR as we know it today involves more than just mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Chest compressions are now an important part of performing CPR, but it was not until 1891 that Dr. Friedrich Maass performed the first documented chest compression in humans. What’s more, the first successful use of external chest compressions in human resuscitation did not occur until 1903. Even then, it was not until more than half a century later that CPR was developed. In 1960, the American Heart Association began a program to acquaint physicians with close-chest cardiac resuscitation. Three years later, after cardiologist Leonard Scherlis started the American Heart Association’s CPRCommittee, the association formally endorsed CPR as a means to saving lives. Nowadays, the American Heart Association reports that effective bystander CPR, when provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest, can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival.
Laughter and music just may be good for the heart. Millions of people routinely take prescription medications or make dietary changes, such as eliminating salt from their diets, in an effort to lower blood pressure. However, for those who are interested in making some easy lifestyle changes that can result in modest reductions in blood pressure, listening to music or laughing more may do the trick. In a Japanese study presented in May at an American Heart Association meeting, researchers explained that people who took part in bimonthly group sessions built around music or laughter lowered their systolic blood pressure (the top number in the reading, which measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats) by an average of five to six points after three months. In contrast, the average blood-pressure reading in a control group that received neither therapy didn’t move. According to experts, this decline in pressure is the equivalent of what someone could expect from adopting a low-salt diet or losing 10 pounds. The American Heart Association recommends that healthy blood pressure should be less than 120 for systolic and less than 80 for diastolic.
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(See BEING, Page 3)
Laughter, music can reduce stress
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steps they take. Turn it into a game and encourage
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