February is Heart Month

There is some good news when it comes to heart disease.

New research published in JAMA Cardiology has shown that running at a 10 minute/mile pace for 5-8 hours per week, in this study classified as high-volume, high-intensity exercise, does not increase your risk of heart attacks. This study shows that men with high calcium scores don’t have a higher risk of heart attack.

None of the 20,000 participants in this study were women. The study authors say this is because women’s “mortality rates are lower than men”, but this makes no sense. Women have heart attacks and their symptoms are often ignored.

What is a high calcium score?

Coronary calcium is a marker of atherosclerosis. When blood vessels start to clog, coronary calcium can be detected in the heart. The researchers found that higher calcium scores did not raise the risk for cardiovascular disease in the runners.

Coronary calcium scanning can show how much calcium is in the blood vessels that supply the heart. 

The study followed over 20,000 men for 5 years and warned against thinking that exercise would protect them from other bad health habits.

One of the authors, Dr Benjamin Levine says,

“You cannot overcome a lifetime of bad behaviours — smoking, high cholesterol, hypertension — just from doing high levels of physical activity, so don’t use that as a magical cure.”

No, you can’t. 

It doesn’t matter if you exercise if your diet is terrible, you don’t sleep and have high levels of stress. 

The bad news?

Almost half of all American adults have heart disease. The American Heart Association defines cardiovascular disease as having coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke or high blood pressure. 

Any developed country would have the same rates of disease.

The American Heart Association states that 8 out of 10 cases of cardiovascular disease can be prevented by controlling high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. 

80% of all cardiovascular disease is completely preventable.

But, there is more good news.

You can prevent cardiovascular disease with your lifestyle habits. 

Here are five simple steps.

1. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Eating a plant-based diet reduces your risk of heart disease by 42%.
2. Have a regular sleep routine.
3. Don’t smoke.
4. Have a healthy waist-to-hip ratio.
5. Eliminate processed foods and saturated fat from your normal diet.

It is possible to reduce your risk and exercise is one of the best ways to stay healthy!

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla