Healthy Heart Tips

CPR – How to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation

2009-10-28T00:55:00.002+08:00

If a person falls to ground right next to you, what should you do? Follow this guideline, but remember that it is for adults only and in children the procedure is different.

1) Check their breath by approaching your ear to their mouth. Can you feel them breathing? Do you hear them breathing? Can you see their chest going up and down as they breathe? If the answer to all of these is no proceed to step 2.

2) Do mouth to mouth breathing. With one hand close their nose and pull their head back to open their mouth. With the other hand check if there is nothing obstructing their airways, including their tongue. Then inhale, put your mouth on theirs, and exhale for 3 seconds. Wait 3 seconds and repeat. If the person was involved in an accident the procedure is different. In that case, just don’t do mouth to mouth nor move the person in any way, or they may become paraplegic (this is not the standard procedure, and if you want to learn what to do in this type of situation, you should take a CPR course).

3) Check their pulse. The best place to feel is in the neck, but you can double check in the arm. If you can’t feel it, proceed to step 4. If you can, call 911 and continue to do mouth-to-mouth.

4) Intertwine your fingers and with your hands down placed on their sternum make 30 heart massages. Use your whole body to do the pressure, not just your arms. It is about the same pressure it would take to bend a watermelon without breaking it. But don’t worry about breaking their ribs – it is best to have a few broken ribs than to have no heartbeat at all.

5) Do more 2 mouth to mouth's and then another cycle of 30 heart massages until you did 4 cycles.

6) Call 911.

7) Continue doing 2 mouth-to-mouths and 30 massages until the person wakes up or the ambulance arrives. When the paramedics arrive, tell them how many cycles you did and state that you did 30 massages in each, because guidelines keep changing and you need to make sure you are all on the same page.

The most important thing, as with any emergency, is not to panic.

Having a Heart Attack?

2009-10-23T20:25:00.008+08:00

How to know if you are having a heart attack

To know for sure if you are having a heart attack you need access to devices only available in hospitals and in doctors' offices. However, some symptoms should alert and drive you to the emergency room.

The typical symptoms of a heart attack are described as “angor”. Angor is a feeling behind your sternum that something is pressing hard, as if someone was crushing your heart. This pain may seem to travel up to your jaw, neck or left arm and you may feel your heart beating faster than usual and feel dizzy.

However, if you are an elderly person or if you have diabetes, a heart attack may not give you any angor. Instead, you should be alert when you feel nausea, faintness, sweating, discomfort in your chest, or breathlessness.

What to do if you are having a heart attack

If you or someone next to you is feeling any of the above, you should immediately dial 911 or go to the nearest hospital. The most important thing (after that) is not panicking.

Meanwhile, the person having the heart attack can take an aspirin or, if you have it, nitroglycerin. Just remember to tell the paramedics what you gave the person and if you are in doubt don't give anything at all.

If the person drops to the floor, lay them on their back and make sure nothing is obstructing their airways (check if their tongue isn't doing it). Listen to check if they are breathing and also check their pulse. If they are not breathing or have no pulse, start CPR and call 911 again. Otherwise, raise their legs to make sure the brain gets enough blood.

Remember again not to panic and all will go well.

5 Things Damaging Your Heart

2009-10-21T15:28:00.009+08:00

Smoking

If you smoke it is damaging your heart more than anything else. What’s even worst is that preventive measures beyond quitting smoking will make almost no effect unless you also quit smoking. So, if you can only make one thing for your heart, that thing should be quitting smoking.

Smoke from cigarettes will make your arteries tighten leaving less space for blood to flow on, will cause atherosclerosis, and will link itself to red cells which will carry less oxygen than normal. All this means that your heart will be getting much less oxygen than if you weren’t a smoker.

Obesity

After quitting smoking, losing weight is the next best thing you can do. Excess fat will clog your arteries, make your blood thicker, and it implies that you do less exercise. All these combined make your heart weaker and make its job harder. Lose 10% of your weight over 6 months and you will see improvements!

Alcohol

Alcohol does not protect against heart disease. Red wine might, but alcohol doesn’t! Alcohol is a toxin and it increases oxidants throughout your body, which damage all cells, including heart cells, and, most importantly from a cardiovascular point of view, it also increases atherosclerosis.

As for red wine it may or may not protect. But if it does protect it is because of substances found only in red wine, thus it is the only alcoholic drink you should have. And even so, only two glasses per day for men or one for women. No excuses.

Lifestyle

A mix of a diet rich in statured and trans fats (found in meat, dairy products, cookies and almost all processed and canned food) and poor in fiber, and a low activity level lead to disaster. This diet will make your arteries weaker and atherosclerotic; the lack of exercise makes your heart smaller (just like any muscle, it needs training).

So, check your lifestyle. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables, walk every day and avoid meat.

High blood pressure

Half of the people with high blood pressure don’t know they have it. And of those that do know, only a third is controlled. However, blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke.

You want to measure your blood pressure regularly, eat less salt, do regular exercise and avoid saturated fats. Aside from that, the other measures I suggested will also lower your blood pressure.

5 Heart Conditions Your Should Know About

2009-10-21T00:15:00.002+08:00

Heart Attack

A heart attack happens when some of cells that make up your heart don’t get enough oxygen or nutrients. This is because of some obstruction in the arteries and it leads to the death of these cells. When this happens, the cells release substances that were supposed to be inside them. These substances, in turn, cause pain and can be detected in your blood in order to know if part of your heart died or not.

The major symptom of a heart attack is feeling pressure behind your sternum. But sometimes heart attacks appear as dizziness, nausea, sweating and confusion, especially in older people and diabetics. These are called silent heart attacks.

If you suspect a heart attack take an aspirin and dial 911 immediately.

Angina

Angina is a bit like a heart attack and it will also cause you to feel pressure behind your sternum. However, this happens when you are doing some kind of effort (like climbing stairs) and not when you are resting like with a heart attack.

In angina the arteries that supply your heart are thinner and can’t deliver enough blood to your heart when it begins to work more than average. Thus you feel the pain. But then you stop whatever you were doing and the heart doesn’t need that extra blood, so the pain goes away.

If you suspect you may suffer from angina, talk to your physician.

Heart Failure

A heart failure is when you heart can’t do enough pressure to push out all the blood already inside it. It can happen because there is too much blood due to some form of heart defect, or because you have hypertension and the heart has to beat a larger pressure in order to put the blood out there in the arteries.

When this happens, blood begins to collect on the lungs and you will feel breathless. As the condition progresses, blood also accumulates on your veins and your belly will grow larger and your legs will swell.
This happens over the course of months or years, so it is easy to not notice it at all.

If you suspect you may have a heart failure, talk to your doctor.

Arrhythmia

Arrhythmias happen when your heart’s electrical system malfunctions and the rhythm of your heartbeat is changed. When this happens you may feel your heart beat stronger, feel dizzy, light headed or even faint.

If you have two or more of those symptoms without an apparent reason (like being very nervous, very happy, or very in love) go to the hospital.

Heart Murmur

Heart murmurs are not actually diseases but signs of disease. They are produced when the blood hits the walls of your heart and doctors can find out if there is a problem in one of the valves that are part of your heart and in which by listening to the sounds.

Heart murmurs can appear at any age, which is one of the reasons why you should do a yearly check up with your physician.

Exercise for a healthy heart

2009-10-19T08:12:00.007+08:00

Exercise is an important part of keeping your heart healthy. It can also help you if you already have some form of heart disease. However, in both cases the first thing you should do is talk to your doctor about the kind of exercise you are planning on doing, for it may not be advisable.

Exercise is a part of an active lifestyle, but it is not the only part. Look at your daily life and honestly answer: how can you increase your activity? Are you taking the stairs or the elevator? Parking right in front of the mall or far away? Taking the nearest bus station or walking down a few blocks? Have you played with your children/pets lately?

Once you have increased your activity level on a daily basis it is time to look at exercise.

The best exercise for your heart is walking. Actually, any type of cardio exercise (treadmill, bicycle, stairs, step, dance, etc) is great, but walking has several advantages:

1) It is easy to do and requires no equipment.

2) It can be done in groups, which increases the likelihood you stick to it.

3) You can take different routes to make sure you never grow bored.

4) It can be inserted onto your daily activities – instead of driving to work, why not go by feet? Or if it is too far take the bus but drop at a station 30 minutes away from work. If you prefer, do it the other way around and walk home.

The only equipment you will need is yourself. However, I recommend you buy walking shoes and comfortable clothes (you can use regular clothes and take the shoes in a bag if you are walking to or from work).

But there is something you want to get anyway – a walking buddy. There are several ways to get one. The best is asking your family and friends – everyone wants to have a healthier heart (or drop some pounds). If you search the Internet you will find many walking or exercise buddies sites where you can look for people in your area who want to exercise too.

Another tip is getting a diary where you log when you walk/workout and for how long. You want to aim for 30 minutes 5 or 6 times per week and then gradually increase to 60 minutes (maybe a 30 minutes walk to work and then 30 minutes back to home). When you miss a session, reschedule it to another day, so as to make at least 150 minutes per week at the beginning and having 300 minutes as a target.

A final tip – drink lots of water. The last thing you want is a heart attack because of the lack of liquids in your body!

A Simple Heart Health Plan

2009-10-16T16:15:00.004+08:00

So, you’ve decided you want to start taking care of your heart. Maybe you had a recent cardiac event. Maybe someone close to you did. Or maybe you just decided to start taking care of yourself and want to start with your heart!

Whatever the reason, congratulations! Heart disease is the major killer in the western world and even small steps can help you avoid it.

So, here is a simple list of 21 things to do. I recommend you start at the top and then go down the list when you feel the top recommendations are part of your lifestyle. Alternatively, you may want to start all of them at the same time, but that will be much harder. Either way, good luck.

1)Quit smoking

2)Create a plan and stick to it, but change it as necessary

3)Moderate alcohol intake to two glasses of red wine per day, no other alcoholic beverage should be allowed

4)Eat less meat and other sources of saturated fat

5)Exercise (walk 30 minutes every day at the beginning and try to increase to 60 minutes)

6)Lose weight if you are overweight

7)Control your blood pressure

8)Become more active (take the stairs, play games, walk to work)

9)Avoid trans fats found in cookies, fried foods and canned foods

10)Eat more fruit and other fiber rich food

11)Eat less sugar and control your blood sugar

12)Add nuts and seeds to your diet

13)Relax - look for sources of stress in your life and avoid them or learn to deal with them

14)Learn about how your heart works and heart conditions (it actually helps!)

15)Don’t drink more than two cups of coffee per day

16)Eat whole grains instead of processed grains

17)Drink plenty of water

18)Become vegetarian, or abolish meat completely though keeping fish

19)Join a structured sport (in addition to the regular walking sessions)

20)Control your portions, never eat just for eating

21)Make annual checkups with your doctor

Nutrition for a Healthy Heart

2009-10-15T14:29:00.003+08:00

Having a healthy heart depends a lot on what you eat and there are many things you should avoid. But a heart-friendly diet doesn’t have to be about deprivation – you need to learn what you need to avoid and what you can use instead of that. For each of the things you can’t eat, you need to find a replacement, or you won’t be able to stick with your heart diet.

Fat

The first thing to do is avoiding saturated and trans fat and eat more omega-3 fats. Saturated fat and trans fat clog your arteries making it hard for your heart to breath, and they have also been linked to cancer, aging, obesity and diabetes.

Trans fat is found in almost every processed food, especially in cookies. Saturated fat is found only in animal products. For this reason you should eat less meat and fat dairy products. To replace these, you can use soy dairy products and instead of the meat use fish (red fish is loaded with omega-3), soy and soy products like tofu.

Other sources of omega-3, which you want to include in your diet, are nuts, dried fruits and seeds.

Sugar

Processed sugar (i.e. white sugar) can also harm your heart, because it increases your chance to have diabetes. People with diabetes have a risk of having a heart attack as great as that of a person which already had one! Instead of cookies and cake, eat fruits with fiber, like apples and pears.

Weight

Your weight is a major factor. If you are overweight you should lose weight. Aim to lose 10% of your body weight in ten months. It is not the quickest diet, but it will lower your heart risk to as much as half what it was before! On the other hand, if you lose weight too fast, two things will happen to your heart – it will have less energy and will become more likely to fail, and it will literally be eaten to give energy for the brain and the heart itself.

Salt, Wine, and Caffeine

Salt is a big no-no. Salt increases blood pressure and blood pressure increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and other ischemic events, not to mention heart failure, blindness and several deleterious effects on your brain. And more than half of the people with hypertension don’t know they suffer from the condition. Better safe than sorry – cut on the salt.

Red wine may have some effect in protecting your body. However, if you drink more than 2 glasses of 200mL per day it will increase your heart risk. Some doctors believe 2 glasses of wine per day protect your heart, because in studies people who drink no wine die more of heart attacks than people who drink moderately. However, a study showed that this happens because people who don’t drink wine do so because they already have had a heart disease of some kind and thus wine does not protect at all. Your call.

Finally, caffeine is another substance prone to discussion. Some studies show a lowering in heart risk when people stop drinking caffeine, but this also happens because they did it for they already had a problem. Recently, it was shown that a moderate consumption of caffeine may actually protect against diabetes, a major heart risk factor. So, it’s your call again.