Love Your Heart...and Know Your Numbers

February came and went, and there were hearts everywhere...pink ones, red ones and my personal favorite- heart shaped boxes filled with chocolate!  I encourage every woman who walks into my office to take a moment to love her own heart.  Yes, I'm talking about the flesh and blood heart that is beating away in your chest.  This heart has faithfully served you since you were a wee embryo, and continues to beat tirelessly day in and day out, asking little in return.

The human heart beats at an average rate of 70 beats every minute.  Think of it...that's 4,200 beats in one hour...and over 100,000 beats a day! In one year, your heart beats 36,792,000 times.  When you actually think about it, those numbers are tremendous.  This fantastic organ keeps life's blood flowing through your veins, and deserves a moment of recognition.  What can you do to keep your heart healthy?

• Exercise!  The benefits of exercise on heart health have been solidly proven.  I could write a book about the various types of exercise and how to get started, but that is a different story for a different day.  I usually counsel my patients to walk.  Its cheap, it works and it has the lowest dropout rate of any exercise regimen.  If you have a gym membership, then walk the treadmill 30 minutes a day at least 3 days/week.  If not, then walk at the mall.  Walk at home.  Walk around the neighborhood.  Take the dog for a walk.  In short, walking works.  There is a great website: startwalkingnow.org that can help you get started.
• Eat right.  Sure, we have heard this one over and over.  And god only knows that I am as guilty as anyone else of ordering takeout for dinner at the end of a long day (isn't every day a long day?).  Our culture of eating out is making us fat, and in turn, destroying our hearts.  I try to practice what I preach, and I really do believe that with some minimal effort, healthy meals can be made at home.  It is a mindset.  To help you get started, the American Heart Association has a website www.heart.org, with a Nutrition Center link that will help guide you.
• Stop smoking.  This is a no brainer- but awfully hard to do.  Tobacco causes real physical dependance by actually creating nicotine receptors on cells in the body.  The average smoker tries to quit several times before actually succeeding.  To stop smoking, you have to make a mental decision to do so.  And once you do, your doctor can provide you with tools to help beat that dependance on tobacco.  Just ask us for guidance- we are here to provide it!
• Have your cholesterol checked.  And get to know your numbers!  Cholesterol screening is recommended once every 5 years for everyone over the age of 20.  Have you had your cholesterol checked?  You'll remember having it done, because it is a fasting blood test, which means that you couldn't have anything to eat or drink overnight before your blood was drawn.  There are a lot of numbers in cholesterol screening, but here I have boiled it down to the very basics.  
• LDL is bad cholesterol. You want to have levels under 100.  
• HDL is good cholesterol.  Aim for levels above 60.
• Your total cholesterol should come out less than 200.
• Triglycerides, which are another measure of heart health, should measure less than 150.

I have multiple patients a day who walk into my office worried about their risk for breast cancer.  I have yet to have anyone ask me about their heart- despite the fact that heart disease is the number one killer of women.  More women die of heart disease per year than all types of cancer, including breast cancer.  So make an effort to change your lifestyle a bit, know your cholesterol screening numbers and take good care of your heart!  In turn, it will take good care of you.

-Dr. Jahedi