Heart Disease Myths

Heart Disease Myths By Yordanka Reyna, MD, FACC

Medical Director, Heart Failure Services, Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology

Your heart is a muscle that pumps blood throughout your body. If you have heart failure, your heart cannot pump blood efficiently and your body may not get all the blood and oxygen it needs to function normally.

Let’s deubunk 5 common myths about heart failure.

MYTH 1: If you have heart disease, you need to take it easy.

For the vast majority of people with heart disease, being sedentary is a bad idea. It can lead to blood clots in the legs and a decline in overall physical condition. Physical activity helps strengthen the heart muscle, improves blood flow to the brain and internal organs.

MYTH 2: If you take a cholesterol- lowering drug, you can eat anything.

If you take a statin and continue to eat foods that are high in cholesterol plus saturated fat, the drug will not be as effective, and your cholesterol level will not fall, and may even rise.

MYTH 3: It’s okay to have higher blood pressure when you’re older.

Blood pressure tends to rise with age because artery walls become stiff with age. Stiff arteries force the heart to pump harder. Blood pounding against the artery walls damages them over time. The overworked heart muscle becomes less effective and pumps harder. This increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.

MYTH 4: Young people do not need to worry about heart disease

It is true that heart disease is more likely to affect people over the age of 65, but 4-10% of heart attacks occur in people under the age of 45 years, mainly men. It is how we live our lives as children, adolescents and adults that lays the groundwork for heart health as we age.

MYTH 5: “I’d know if I had high blood pressure because there would be warning signs.”

High blood pressure is called the “silent killer” because you don’t usually know you have it. You may never experience symptoms. Early treatment of high blood pressure is critical because, if left untreated, it can cause heart attack, stroke, kidney damage and other serious health problems.

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