By Dan Murphy
February is American Heart Month and cardiologists from the Mount Sinai Health System are sharing tips on heart disease prevention to lower the risk of heart attack and stroke during COVID-19.
According to the American Heart Association, nearly half of adults in the United States—more than 121 million people—have some type of cardiovascular disease, yet it is preventable 80 percent of the time.
This week, Alon Gitig, MD, Director of Cardiology at Mount Sinai Doctors-Scarsdale and Mount Sinai Doctors-Yonkers, focuses on stress in our lives, and the impact it has on our heart health.
“One of the common sayings in popular culture is ‘you are going to give me a heart attack.’Stress can impact our heart and our health, and during COVID, our stress has reached unprecedented levels, and can materialize in the phychologiical symptoms of depression, anxiety, or in anger and hostility. All of these will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Gitig.
“Studies have found that depression can increase the risk of a heart attack by two fold, while anxiety or an increase in anger and hostility can increase the risk of a heart attack six fold. Studies by the Mayo clinic have found that mental stress is the most powerful risk factor in heart disease; even greater than cigarette smoking.”
“In stressful situations, our bodies shift to fight the responses and over time a lot of things can happen that pose a danger to our heart health, including increasing heart rate while resting and higher blood pressure. During extremely stressful situations, blood pressure rates can go through the roof.”
“We also know that stress increases inflammation in our body and affects our immune system. Increases in weight gain and changes in our cholesterol lead to plaque formation in our arteries, lead to atherosclerosis.”
We asked Dr. Gitig, what happens to us when our stress levels increase?
“We know that impaired sleep is common and people can’t stop their minds from racing at night. Insomnia and the quality of our sleep is a powerful risk factor for heart disease over time.
“Especially during COVID, there is a lack of social and interpersonal connectiveness. If you don’t have that in your life there is a higher risk of cardio vascular disease. Over the past year, people have tended to retreat in their lives, and we all need to make a greater effort to connect with one another, even if its on Zoom.”
What Can We Do About Reducing Our Stress?
“While there is no Home Run theory or study, we do know about some very simple things you can do in your everyday life that can help your heart health.
I-Simple Breathing techniques, “which have shown to help with feelings of stress can lower blood pressure by double digits. Breathe through your abdomen instead of with your chest. Use your belly to expand and take a deep breath, 5-6 times per minute. Breathe in through your nose, hold your breath, and then exhale through your mouth. If you can do this for 10-15 minutes per day, it will reduce your nervous activation and its very easy to incorporate in your life, while at your desk or in the morning while having coffee. There are lots of videos on YouTube about it. Also try to identify when you will have high levels of stress, perhaps a meeting with your boss. Take two minutes before that meeting and use these breathing techniques and check in with your body and reduce your internal thermostat,” said Dr. Gitig.
II-Meditation- “This is harder to include in your daily life but also accessible to learn on YouTube. Two of the most common types of meditation are Transcendental Meditation, TM, and mindfulness based mediation. Both reduce your stress levels and studies have shown they also lower your blood pressure. There is also a lower symptom of shortness of breath and your heart rate is also lowered.”
“TM clears your mind, and Mindfulness focuses on a part of your body. Breathing techniques are the first step in mediation, and adding the thought process to your breathing is important. The power of the brain can help you in your heart health, and resetting your minds to more peaceful thoughts will reduce your stress levels.”
III-Yoga-“This is also easy to learn online and reduces stress levels, including blood pressure and lowers heart rates.”
IV-Exercise– “This will help your stress levels will go down and exercise during the day will help you sleep at night. While we are all stuck at home we need to find ways to carve out some time for some healthy activity. Exercise will lower your risk for cardio vascular disease.”
“During COVID there are more reports of higher stress levels. We all need to take stock of COVID and the impact on our lifes. The increased stress from COVID is having a long term impact and it will absolutely increase cardio vascular disease, unless we do something to manager our stress better.”
“We can focus on what we can control and respond to the reality of COVID by getting out of our comfort zone and try to find a few minutes every day to reduce our stress and improve our heart health. Look at your schedule and plan it out when can I find time to relax. If you can’t find the time, take a warm bath and lock the door. Try to focus on what your body needs.”
Alon Gitig, MD, is Director of Cardiology at Mount Sinai Doctors-Scarsdale and Mount Sinai Doctors-Yonkers. He is also an Assistant Professor of Cardiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Medical Director of the Heart Failure Management Program for the Mount Sinai Health Network.
To learn more about Mount Sinai Doctors- Yonkers click here Mount Sinai Doctors – Yonkers – YouTube.
