Seven ways to prevent heart disease

Keep your weight within a reasonable range, continue to monitor and control blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood lipids, insist on a combination of aerobic and strength exercises every week, quit smoking completely and stay away from second-hand smoke, adjust your daily diet to reduce high-oil, salt, and sugar intake, learn to relieve long-term chronic stress, and do targeted heart-related screenings every year.

Many people still stick to the BMI value when it comes to their understanding of weight. In fact, it is really unnecessary. I followed up with a 43-year-old Internet product manager last month. He used to be 175 in height and 182 pounds in height. He had to hold on to the handrails to catch his breath when climbing the third floor. His resting heart rate was around 90 all year round, and his triglycerides were twice as high as the standard. It took him 8 months to slowly reduce it to 145 pounds. Now after a review, all indicators have returned to the normal range, and even the chest tightness that he often suffered before is gone. Here is a different point of view from the academic circles: for people who have been exercising all year round and have high muscle mass, it is okay to have a BMI slightly higher than the critical value of 24. The core point is to look at the body fat rate. It is enough to control the body fat rate at 15%-20% for men and 20%-25% for women. There is no need to starve to the point of dizziness and harm the body just to stick to the BMI number.

Oh, by the way, a more insidious killer than weight is the "three highs without symptoms." I have seen too many young men in their thirties in the emergency department. Their systolic blood pressure soared to 160 and they felt that they did not need to take medicine to avoid dizziness. By the time they were sent to the hospital with chest pain, 70% of their coronary arteries had been blocked. There are indeed differences in the thresholds of high blood pressure in different guidelines: the American ACC/AHA standard is that it is considered high blood pressure if it exceeds 130/80mmHg. my country’s current guidelines still use 140/90mmHg as the boundary. You can adjust it according to your family history. If your parents have high blood pressure before the age of 50, it is best to control it according to stricter standards, and don’t wait until problems arise and then regret it.

When it comes to exercise, don’t fall into the misunderstanding that “you must run a marathon or practice for an hour every day.” The old director of our department is 68 years old. He doesn’t do any high-intensity training. He just walks briskly around the park for 40 minutes every morning and occasionally climbs a hill with his grandson on weekends. He is in better shape than many 30-year-olds. There are also different opinions about exercise patterns: Some studies say that high-intensity interval training in groups of 10 minutes is more efficient in improving cardiorespiratory fitness. Some scholars believe that it is safer for middle-aged and elderly people to choose gentle exercises such as brisk walking and Tai Chi. My suggestion is to look at your own foundation. People who rarely climb stairs should not challenge Pamela or half-marathon. On the contrary, it is easy to induce myocardial ischemia. How to do it is comfortable, and exercise that can be sustained is good exercise.

Let’s talk about a point that many people overlook: second-hand smoke is much more harmful than you think. Last year, I received a 49-year-old female patient. She never smoked and rarely socialized outside. It was found that she had three plaques in her coronary arteries. After questioning her medical history, I found out that her husband had been smoking for 30 years and puffed up at home every day. There is also the previously rumored saying that "drinking a small sip of red wine every day softens blood vessels" has long been overturned by the latest clinical research. Even a drop of alcohol can aggravate the damage to the vascular endothelium. Don't believe the propaganda of health wine anymore. Drink less if you can, and it's better if you don't drink at all.

When it comes to diet, you don’t have to eat boiled vegetables every meal or go on an extreme vegetarian diet. You say you order takeout every day at work, but if you really want to eat Malatang, it’s okay. Just choose a clear soup base, put less sesame sauce and salt, and don’t add a bunch of processed meatballs. It’s not a big problem to eat one pound of vegetables and half a pound of fruit every day, and drink milk tea once a week to satisfy your cravings. The academic circles now have different tendencies on dietary patterns: some schools advocate that a vegan diet is better for blood vessels, while other studies believe that eating white meat such as deep-sea fish and poultry in moderation can better ensure nutritional intake. In fact, the core is to avoid fatty meats, processed meats, and trans fatty acids. You don’t need to make yourself unhappy when eating for the so-called "healthy diet", but it will be difficult to stick to it for a long time.

Nowadays, more and more young people have heart problems, which are actually caused by stress. In the past two years, we had a 28-year-old researcher from a securities firm. He only slept 3 hours a day while working on a project for 3 months in a row. He was so stressed that he hid at his workstation crying every day. In the end, he had a heart attack and was sent to him. He had to put in two stents before he could be saved. There is really no need to force yourself to learn to meditate to relieve stress. Some people feel comfortable after running two laps. Some people feel better after playing Lego for two hours or playing with cats for half an hour. Do whatever works best. Don't turn "decompression" into a KPI to be completed, which will make you more tired.

Finally, let’s talk about screening. For ordinary people, routine physical examinations such as electrocardiogram, blood lipids, and blood sugar are enough. If you have a family history of heart disease, smoke all year round, and have three high blood pressure, you can consider adding coronary CT after the age of 40. Of course, this is also controversial: some doctors believe that there is no need to do coronary CT if there are no symptoms, and the radiation dose will have an impact on the body. My suggestion is to truthfully tell the doctor your risk factors and decide together whether to do it without making generalizations.

In fact, heart disease prevention is never something that needs to be "completed by taking blood shots." There is no need to set yourself a bunch of rules that are so strict that you can't even do them. Even if you do two or three of them first, such as quitting smoking first and going for a half-hour walk three days a week, it is better than doing nothing. After all, our heart beats with us all our lives. If you have more patience with it, it will also give you more protection.