Your Heart’s Age

What is real health.  If a person can exercise to a high level, does this mean their heart is healthy?  Do any other factors play a role in true heart health?

Some people think age plays a role in health.  If a person is young them must be healthy?  Right?

In my book, age is very relative.  As a physician it becomes quite clear that our chronological age is one thing, while the true age of your body is something else.

Last week, I saw a patient in the office who was forty-two years old.  Yet, when you looked at him he appeared to be mush older, at least 60 or even 65.  He was overweight, with diabetes, and had smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for nearly 30 years.  His face was old looking, with deep crevices from the effects of smoking.  And when he walked on the treadmill for a stress test, he could hardly walk.  Many 70 years olds go farther than he went.

Even though the man’s chronological age was 42, his physiological age was much older.  Age in his case didn’t make him healthy.  His heart wasn’t healthy.  After flunking the stress test we did a heart catheterization on him and found out he had major blockages of his coronary arteries.

Clearly his chronological age wasn’t his real age.

This has been my experience.  Our chronological age doesn’t always match our inner age.

You can also be young in years, but old in thinking or acting.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard patients say, “Oh, I’m too old to start exercising.”  “I’m too old to take up yoga.”  Yet, their body is telling them that they need such activities.  Their physical health demands that they do these things.

Old thinking is a hard illness to overcome.

A person can also be old in their heart’s emotional state.  What do I mean by this?  I mean that sometimes peoples hearts have been traumatized and they are afraid to allow new emotions come into their heart.  Perhaps they have had their heart broken in a relationship and they refuse to let someone back into their life.  If they don’t open the heart ages.  It becomes old and weathered.

Love is essential for being young.  If we give up on love our heart can becomes old.
It can lose the essential oil that gives it life.  When this happens our physical health can also be affected.

Haven’t you noticed that if two people are deeply in love and one of them dies, the other person often dies soon thereafter?  It is true.  It’s even been confirmed medically.  Severe sadness, emotional trauma can actually kill a person.

So what can be done about keeping our heart from aging?

First we should strive to keep our heart physically healthy.  We should exercise, eat properly, and avoid harmful activities like smoking, and excessive drinking.

Next, we need to keep our thinking young.  Break down any barriers you have in your thinking.  Take up new activities.  Go sky diving, or scuba diving.  Do things you’ve always thought you might like to do but were afraid.

Finally, allow love to enter your heart.  If you’ve been hurt in the past, seek help.  Find ways to get more love.  Volunteer at a homeless shelter.  Go and help with shut ins.  Do things that make you give love and get more love.  If you do you won’t be disappointed.

Your heart doesn’t have to become old.

Age is more what we do than the actual years we have lived.

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October 26th, 2008 - Posted in Heart Health, Emotional/Psychological | | 0 Comments

Rain for the Heart

Human beings worry.  They fret over the changes and happenings of life,  Money woes, illness, separation and divorce-  our hearts struggle with these difficulties.

When hearts struggle they can become sick.  It is a well known medical fact that stress produces heart disease.  Notice I said produces.  As doctors we no longer think or suspect that emotional difficulty is damaging to the body, we know it with certainty.

Sadness, grief, loneliness, anger, fear, anxiety, depression- any condition that stresses our heart can create illness.
People get heart attacks and they even die from such difficulty.

If you’re worried about the recent banking bailout and its effects on the world you need to be careful.  I know of people who have allowed these things to consume their minds.  They have trouble sleeping.  They’ve lost weight and come to the emergency room because of anxiety.  All they can think of is that what is happening is bad.

Yet, sometimes what we think of as bad is really a good thing.

Look at rain.  Recently, a Moroccan woman had sent me an email.  She related that one day the sky was gray in Rabat, the Capital of Morocco.  Rain was pouring down.  People had scurried indoors, shuttered their doors as if the rain were something bad.  People were feeling depressed and sad.

All of us like the sun. We like the warmth, the open feeling that it gives to our heart and mind.  We don’t like cloudy, rainy days.  But rain is important.  Rain cleanses the earth.  Rain gives life to crops.  It is a nourishment.

Our hearts have a rain.  It’s called love.  The good feelings, kind words, and happy thoughts;  All of these positive actions nourish our hearts.  They make us feel good and give us hope.

Science has proven that positive actions and thoughts are real.  The have a beneficial effect on the body.  They can reduce the chances of a cold.  They can also reduce the biochemical and hormonal factors that influence our body’s health.

If you have emotional, psychological, or even physical problems make the decision to embrace all of life.  Look at your situation with a different eye.  Perhaps there is a silver lining in the clouds that seem to threaten your life.  Perhaps, what seems difficult is really a nourishing rain.

Sure, puddles may be forming in you life, but maybe it isn’t all bad.  Is there some way for you to look with a deeper eye?   Is there a way for you to see a benefit in what troubles your life.

Hassna from Morocco has helped me to see things differently.

Her reflections on the rain have given me hope, hope that goodness can be found within difficulty.

Is it raining in your life?

Perhaps its time to look anew.

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October 13th, 2008 - Posted in Heart Health, Emotional/Psychological | | 0 Comments

Life is Interesting

Life is interesting.  It is like clouds. It moves this way and that.  But you can’t keep your finger on it.  You can’t control it.

Just the moment you think you’ve got it where you want it and then it shifts.  The cumulous clouds come piling in, their lower edges tinted, with dark colors, ready to drop rain.

I’m sitting on the balcony of a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale.  I’m on vacation by myself.  The sun is shining and the clouds are drifting.  I’ve been away from this blog for quite some time.  A crisis has overtaken my life.

Over the last few months events have left me wondering if I know up from down.  Everything I thought I knew about my life is quaking.  Oddly, the current banking crisis has appeared almost like a metaphor for my own events.  This is quite an admission, I think for some one who prides themselves on being certain of life.

I used to be certain, or thought I was about where my life was headed.

Now I don’t know.

I don’t know if the course I’m on will lead me anywhere.  I don’t know if I’ll be happier or if life will push by me like these rumbling clouds.

What I do know is that my heart has a deep yearning.  It is yearning to be loved, to be filled with love, to know love- more strongly than ever.  It is a an overwhelming current, like a rope twisted taut around my heart. It is tugging, tugging, pulling at my insides.  It longs to be uncoiled.

I have no idea were this current is leading me.

So I don’t know where it will end.  And just like I don’t know what these big, fluffy clouds are going to do today ( are they going to dissipate and leave us with glorious sunshine, or are they going to barrage us with showers- I have to accept it.   I have to accept and if I can trust that things will work out.

So i am following my heart.  I have to.  Only my heart can lead me in the direction I need to go.

The recent financial crisis is a good example of the need to trust our hearts.  If we allow ourselves to drop into fear, then nothing good will come of it.

We have to hold onto the idea that something larger than ourselves is in control.  Call it the Universe, God, or the One.  What we call it doesn’t matter.  Some force has set the planets in their course.  Some intelligence knows where this will all end.  We have to hold onto this or we’ll lose hope.

Yes, the bailout might work.  Or who knows maybe it wont.  But we don’t have to worry.

Go outside and look at the clouds. Listen to the wind.  Peer deeply up at the stars.
Go within and listen intensely to your own heart.  The wind, stars, and clouds were here long, long before we were here.  They will still be here after we are long gone.

The only certainty is change.

Life is interesting.

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October 4th, 2008 - Posted in Philosophical, Emotional/Psychological | | 1 Comments

More Than Meets the Eye: Lessons from Tim Russert’s Death

Life is complex.  Often times it is mysterious.  Sometimes things look fine on the outside but deeper troubles lurk beneath the surface.  The unexpected death of Tim Russert is a good example of how something can be “more than meets the eye.” 

On the outside Tim’s health seemed OK.  According to his physician, he had heart disease but was in no danger.  He wasn’t experiencing any symptoms of heart disease.  No chest pain plagued him.  He wasn’t limited by shortness of breath.  Recently, he had walked on a stress test and passed without difficulty. 

 

(http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/russert-dies-of-apparent-heart-attack/?hp)

 

And then disaster struck.  A cholesterol plaque in one of the major arteries of his heart ruptured.  Blood flow to his heart was compromised, and he went into a life threatening heart arrhythmia.  Even though CPR was started immediately, it was sometime before the paramedics could arrive to shock his heart back into a normal rhythm. Sadly, Tim passed away.

 

We’ve all been shocked by the loss of this magnificent human being.  

 

The outpouring of dismay has been overwhelming.

 

“How could this happen?”  “His stress test was normal!”   “Shouldn’t he have seen a Cardiac Surgeon?”  

 

The trouble is that stress tests don’t tell everything.  Even the best stress test can’t pick up a heart blockage if the blood vessel is  less than a 50% blocked.   And unfortunately, nearly half of all heart attacks are caused by blockages that are 25-50%.  

 

Heart blood vessels are living tissue, and cholesterol blockages can grow suddenly.  Like a pimple they can swell with liquid cholesterol, and then because of stress or an unexplained insult, they can suddenly rupture.   Bleeding occurs within the blood vessel and a clot can form shutting of the flow of blood.  Dangerous heart rhythms may follow.  

 

It is well known that inflammation within the heart arteries is a cause of heart disease.  Many things lead to this inflammation:  high saturated fat in the diet, diabetes, high LDL cholesterol levels, and even our emotions.  

Most people don’t know it but a negative emotional state can create heart disease.  Anger, fear, sadness, depression, and many other troublesome feelings have been shown to cause heart illness.   Stress in particular can be devastating.

 

People who are overworks, or feel overwhelmed are particularly at risk of increased inflammation and heart attacks.

 

According to NBC’s Tom Brokaw, Mr. Russert’s life was very hectic.  He stated that Tim was “burning it at both ends.”(http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/russert-dies-of-apparent-heart-attack/?hp)

 

So if things can seem fine and yet beneath the surface trouble is lurking- what can be done to keep us from suffering an unexpected heart attack?

 

 

Lessons For Preventing An Unexpected Heart Attack

 

•  Don’t Think:  “It will never happen to me”  

As Tim Russert’s death shows us even if we think we’re fine we need to be on the alert for heart disease.  If you’re someone who has significant risk factors for heart disease begin taking an active role in your health management.  

 

• Know your cardiac risk factors

The people who are more likely to suffer an unexpected heart attack are those people with risk factors.  Examine your life and see if you possess 2 or more risk factors for heart disease  If you do then you could be at risk.  Heart disease traditional risk factors include:  smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, low HDL cholesterol, males over the age of 45, females over the age of 65, sedentary lifestyle, or a family history of premature heart disease.  

 

• Make sure you aren’t at risk for excessive blood vessel inflammation

 

Most people don’t know it but there is a simple blood test for determining if you have heightened inflammation that could be ravaging your body.  The test is called:  A High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein- hs-CRP for short.  This is a simple blood test that your doctor can perform that can help tell you if you are at risk.  People with excessive hs-CRP are more likely to get heart disease.

 

If you have an elevated hs-CRP  diet and exercise has been shown to reduce your risk.

 

• Control your weight

 

Obesity is a major problem in America.  It is estimated that over 30% of the population is obese.  Obesity can lead to major health problems such as diabetes and heart disease.  Being overweight is also a component of the Metabolic Syndrome (http://www.metabolic-syndrome-institute.org/).  People who have the Metabolic Syndrome have altered insulin metabolism and are at risk for premature heart disease.

 

If you have a problem with your weight seek professional help.    

 

 

• Exercise Frequently

 

Regular aerobic exercise (the kind that gets your heart pumping) has been shown to prevent heart disease.  It’s also useful for reducing the inflammation of your heart arteries.  Exercising can reduce your chances of getting diabetes.  It can lower your chances of developing the metabolic syndrome.  Plus it can be great fun!

 

You should strive to do some form of aerobic exercise 45 minutes 4-5 times a week.  

 

Check out the recommendations at the American College of Sports Medicine:

 

(http://www.acsm.org/Content/ContentFolders/TopicsintheField/Fitness/ACSM_PUBLIC_INFORMATION___generating_interest__awareness__knowledge.htm)

 

 

• Adopt the Mediterranean Diet

 

The Mediterranean Diet is an eating plan that has been shown to prevent heart disease.  And you don’t have to move to a foreign country to follow the diet- (although it might be fun!).  Amazingly, 75% of the people who follow this plan will not get heart disease.  Even if you already have heart disease the diet can help prevent a second heart attack.

 

The key feature of the diet is limiting the intake of saturated fat in your diet.  You should avoid eating animal products, particularly red meat.  Switch to olive oil for all of your cooking and oil use.  Increase your consumption of fish and other omega-3 fatty acids.  Eat only whole grains with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.  

 

Many books are available on this topic.  A trip to the local library will prove fruitful.  If you want to get a quick start look to the left on this website!  You’ll see my simple pamphlet on  Improving Your Heart Health with the Mediterranean Diet.  Just click on the button to download a copy.

 

 

• Explore your emotional heart health- make sure you don’t have a Broken Heart

 

Is your heart broken?  Most people don’t know it but our emotions can affect our physical body!  If your heart is Broken you could be at risk for having a major heart event.  When most people hear the words, A Broken Heart, they instantly think of a heart that has been traumatized because of a romantic relationship that has fallen apart.  But this isn’t always the case. 

 

Other things can lead to a Broken Heart.  Stress, worry, anxiety, depression, or major heartache can break the heart and lead to heart disease.

 

If you’re suffering from severe emotional stress you could be at risk.  Check out my other blog posting to find out more about developing heart trouble from a Broken Heart:  http://blog.drkirklaman.com/2008/03/22/can-a-broken-heart-kill-you/

 

 

Although this list isn’t complete, if you follow these recommendation and suggestions you’ll be well on your way towards becoming more heart healthy.  

 

We’ve all felt a great loss from Tim’s passing, but perhaps it can remind us to cherish life.  

 

We may even be prompted to take a more active role in staying well.

 

 

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June 20th, 2008 - Posted in Heart Health, Philosophical | | 0 Comments

Check Out Occasionally

I’ve been gone from this blog for a few weeks.  When you want to work to get your message out to the public, guilt can sometimes crop up when your duties suffer because of a busy schedule.  

 

Yet, I have to believe that it’s OK to check out occasionally. Sometimes the tugs and pulls of our responsibilities can seem overwhelming.  We just have to pull back.  

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been working hard on a new website, E Book, with audio downloads.  The title is:  A Broken Heart Can Kill You.  

I’ve been wanting to help people who haven’t yet warmed to the idea that their emotions can lead to heart injury.  It’s  the missing link in heart disease and one that (in my view) is sorely needed.

Cardiologists are quick and rightly so to treat the physical aspects of heart disease, but often the “softer”  emotional/psychological influences are overlooked.

So in the process of getting a number of things together, working on updating my workshop, Creating a Heart Centered Life, I’ve had to put blog posts on the back burner. 

Life is a process.  One writer has said that, Life is flesh and blood, not stone.  

We have to be willing to acknowledge when we are pushed past out limits and just accept where we are in the moment.  

Trusting our heart in this way allows us to check out occasionally and not be paralyzed by guilt.      

 

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May 19th, 2008 - Posted in Self Help,