How to beat HEART DISEASE
16 PAGES THAT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE
YOUR heart really is extraordinary. Although this mass of muscle is no bigger than a fist, it pushes five litres of blood through the 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body with every beat.
It does this 70 times a second, 100,000 times a day.
Over your lifetime it will pump nearly one and a half million barrels of blood. That’s enough to fill 200 swimming pools.
If you keep it in good shape it should beat at least three billion times before packing in.
My father, who was overweight and sedentary, did not look after his. And, sadly, he died of heart
failure at the early age of 74. In fact, no male member of my family has made it beyond that age, so, at the age of 62, I have a real interest in making sure mine is as healthy as possible. I’m sure you feel the same. But what does keeping your heart healthy actually mean?
Well, thanks to the ground-breaking research and advice from the world’s renowned experts featured in the following pages, we have a few of the answers. And we’re not just talking about eating a balanced diet, doing some exercise and maintaining a healthy weight – although these things are key.
Over the following pages, you’ll discover the latest scientific revelations changing t he way doctors and patients think about statins – the cholesterol-lowering pill taken by millions of Britons to prevent a heart attack.
And, if ever you needed more incentive to start looking after yourself a bit better, we have spoken to the doctors behind cuttingedge research that is proving that a healthy heart in mid-life could be the key to preventing that most terrifying illness of older age, dementia.
For much of my adult life the standard medical dogma has been, ‘eat low fat’: we’ve been told that eating fat, particularly the sort of saturated fat you find in meat, milk, cheese and butter, will clog your arteries as surely as pouring lard down a sink will clog the drain.
But this has been disproved, and studies have shown that those who follow a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, nuts and oily fish – and, yes, full-fat dairy – are 30 per cent less likely to have a heart attack or stroke than those eating a low-fat diet.
To make this easy, leading cardiologist Dr Laura Corr of the Harley Street Clinic reveals her heart healthy eating plan complete with 21 simple, delicious – and medically approved – recipes.
And, with the help of British Heart Foundation fitness specialists, we’ve designed a heart-healthy home exercise routine that you can do... even if you have had a heart attack.
But to kick things off, here are a few of my own tips for avoiding cardiovascular disease and making sure you stay in top shape. First, a bit of a science lesson. Most people have heard of cholesterol – you certainly will have if you take statins, which reduce cholesterol levels in the blood.
But there are some misconceptions about exactly what it is.
Firstly, much of the cholesterol in the blood is made by the body, in the liver.
And we actually need this waxy substance, which is a type of fat: it is essential for making cell walls, among other things.
The body ‘packages’ cholesterol for transport around the body by combining it with proteins and other fats, forming what are known as lipoproteins.
The packages which take cholesterol out of the liver and into the circulation are known as lowdensity lipoprotein, or LDL.
The liver creates a different type, high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, which ‘mops up’ excess cholesterol in the blood and transports it back to the liver where it is either recycled or destroyed.
Problems start when, due to a combination of lifestyle, diet and genetics, the liver creates more LDL than HDL, meaning there is excess cholesterol in circulation, which can contribute to a build up within blood vessel walls. This causes a whole host of problems that eventually lead to heart disease.
Overall cholesterol level is actually irrelevant, and doctors today are concerned about your ratio of LDL to HDL. Which brings me to my first top tip for a healthier heart:
Statins lower LDL. But you can also lower LDL, and raise HDL, through regular exercise. It also lowers blood pressure, burns abdominal fat and lowers blood-sugar levels – giving the heart another boost.
I do something active every day. It’s not hard. Cycling, walking, gardening – anything that gets the pulse up. And, once you’ve done that, here are my top three heart health tips, which might just surprise you:
RESEARCH shows flossing preserves the teeth, prevents bad breath, and keeps the heart and brain in good shape. Flossing gets rid of the bacteria-ridden plaque that clings to our teeth and which brushing is unlikely to dislodge. Dental plaque increases the risk of gum disease, which in turn sets off a cascade of reactions that damages your arteries, such as those that supply the heart and the brain. WOMEN reading this, be aware: the symptoms of heart disease differ between the sexes. The classic signs of heart disease that I was taught about at medical school were a pain in the jaw or neck. Or it can feel like a clenched fist in the centre of your chest. At least this is what men feel. It turns out that not only is a woman’s heart typically smaller than a man’s, but the signs that it’s in trouble are a lot less obvious, and they are nausea, indigestion or sleeplessness in the weeks or months before a heart attack, rather than chest pain.
FINALLY, try to reduce your stress levels. You are more likely to have a heart attack on Monday morning than at any other time of the week – as this is when people often feel most stressed. Make sure you prioritise sleep, exercise outdoors – or try something which I’ve found particularly useful, practising mindfulness meditation. There are apps and online guides to get you started, and your GP will probably be able to give you a leaflet on how to do it, because it’s an NHS-approved therapy.
Now, read on, to discover more about how to beat heart disease. It might just save your life.
Heart disease kills 17.9 million people a year, more than the population of Holland.