February is American Heart Month | Dr. Gina Pritchard

The Importance of Heart Health
The American Heart Association's Essential Eight
Understanding Heart Disease in Women
Deep Dive into the Essential Eight
The Power of Personalized Testing
Protecting Our Hearts

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It's February! Hooray! February is one of my favorite months, and one of the reasons it's one of my favorite months is because it's Heart Month. The American Heart Association designated February as American Heart Month.

And guess what? Heart disease is still the top killer. In fact, most years it's increased in the number of heart attacks and strokes and the number of deaths. Certainly, there's way more heart attacks, strokes, and deaths today than there were back in 1934 when The American Heart Association first designated February as Heart Month.

So, you know I tell you all the time that heart disease is preventable, that heart attacks and strokes are avoidable, they're optional, so to speak. Meaning there's so much we can do to protect ourselves. And I'm going to review that again today, and it is true. And we'll talk about why heart attack is still the top killer.

If we have a month dedicated to it and we know what to do, we'll talk more about that later. But I want to say that I wore my red heart earrings for today. I'll probably wear them a lot this month and I'll wear red a lot this month to increase our awareness of heart disease. And every time you see a red heart or you think about Valentine's, and you think about those you love, I want to think about your physical heart.

The American Heart Association has designated eight essential things, eight essential areas that if we focused on the data shows us we can reduce our risk of heart attack and stroke both by 80%.

First of all, it's to eat better. We know that. Secondly is to move more, be more active. Thirdly is to quit smoking, of course. Fourthly is to manage our weight. Fifthly is to manage blood sugar. Sixth is to manage blood pressure. And seventh is to control cholesterol. You know that I believe that's too broad of a focus. We can't ignore cholesterol, but I have a lot to say about that. It's one of the essential eight though according to The American Heart Association. Yes, it cannot be ignored. It's not the topic for today's video. Then number eight, and that's a new one actually. They, added the eighth one, I believe, two years ago. Before that, it was seven topics. And finally, The American Heart Association has rightfully added high quality sleep to the essential eight. We know that we need not only an adequate quantity or amount or length of time that we're asleep, we also need ideal oxygenation all night long. It means we need to breathe nice and slow and deep through our nose, inhaling high quality oxygen all night long. That's another topic for another day.

But I want to get back to the point that if we did these eight, we would prevent 80% of heart attacks and strokes, or reduce our risk by 80%. So, why is it that so many people still have heart attacks and still have strokes? And why is it that the number of heart attacks and strokes keep going up every year, and the number of deaths keep increasing?

It's because number one, we're not understanding the nuances about each of these eight, and we're not individualizing it for ourselves. And I believe that percentage, in fact, I know it's true, because I see it in my practice and in my patients. That 80% could go much higher to 90%, 95% and greater if these last few things that I'm going to talk about were implemented in everyone's life as well.

The American Heart Association also brings to our awareness that heart disease is a women's disease as well as a man's disease. Both men and women equally die of heart disease. Women often have problems with heart disease or a heart attack or stroke about five to ten years later in life than men.

The average heart attack occurs for a man at 55 and women at 65. But women, did you know this, are more likely to die from their first heart attack than men are. More often, men will live long enough to have a second one. Maybe even a third one. But nonetheless, women are affected by heart disease as much as men. It's incredibly common.

So, what are we to do about it? So, number one. Of course, these essential eight in more in depth and a better understanding about yourself.

So remember, every time you see a Valentine's this February, every time you see a red heart and you think about your loved ones, I want you to think about your actual beating heart and the beating heart of your loved ones.