What You Need to Know about Heart Health
Heart disease is common among Americans. It is also largely preventable. Dr. David Jones, non-invasive cardiologist with Palouse Heart Center, discusses heart health.
Featuring:
David Jones, MD
David Jones, M.D., F.A.C.C. is a Board Certified Cardiologist with Palouse Heart Center, part of the Pullman Regional Hospital Clinic Network. Dr. Jones graduated from the Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California and completed his residency and fellowship training at U.C. Davis. Transcription:
Bill Klaproth (Host): Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America and it’s the cause of one third of all deaths in women. That’s more than the number of deaths caused by all types of cancer combined. Fortunately, heart disease is mostly preventable with proper education, and lifestyle changes. And here to talk with us about what you need to know about heart health, is Dr. David Jones, a board-certified cardiologist with Palouse Heart Center at Pullman Regional Hospital. Dr. Jones, thank you for your time. First off, can you explain to us what exactly is heart disease?
David Jones, MD (Guest): So, heart disease is best thought of as any ailment that affects the heart and thinking maybe more expansively; the cardiovascular system. Some people think of heart attacks and is a heart attack heart disease? Well, it certainly is, but heart disease can also include disturbances of heart rhythm, it can include stroke, it can include peripheral vascular disease with problems such as infections in the legs, non-healing wounds or even leg pain with activity. It can include exertional chest pain or shortness of breath with a condition that might feel like asthma. It can also include problems such as passing out, congestive heart failure, or valvular heart disease.
Host: So, heart disease can lead to all of those things. So, to have a heart attack, basically you have heart disease first, is that right?
Dr. Jones: That would be correct.
Host: So, to have a heart attack, obviously you have to have heart disease which has been building up. So, speaking of building up over time; for someone that is young who is listening, do they need to worry about heart health or when should someone start worrying about their heart health?
Dr. Jones: Well I suppose that heart health is really foundational to good health. If we think about the lifestyle and the habits that lead to being healthy, those things will also often lead to heart health. What those things might include very simply put would be the things that we might all kind of intuitively think are good for us. Eating good foods from a variety of selections, low in saturated fats, diets that are heavily plant based, avoiding too much alcohol, not smoking, getting routine exercise and being ideal body weight and then going to the doctor for routine medical checks.
Host: So, paying attention to your lifestyle choices is important. Besides that, are there factors then that increase the risk for heart disease?
Dr. Jones: Yes, there are. So, aside from the lifestyle features which are of a very big and important player in risk factors for heart disease and allow a lot of modification and reduction of risk. Factors that we have control over would be things like body weight, activity level, dietary selections, smoking, overuse of alcohol. Things we can’t control would be things like our family history or our inheritance which can raise our risk and some diseases such as diabetes and high cholesterol which we can sometimes improve on with lifestyle changes but may be inherited. Fortunately, these conditions can also be treated with medications if the lifestyle modifications aren’t enough.
Host: So, if you have a family history of heart disease or one of the other things you listed; you should probably start paying attention to your heart health before you normally would. You should probably concerned with that knowing that you have a family history of heart disease.
Dr. Jones: That’s correct.
Host: So, let’s talk about heart attack in women. What are the symptoms of heart attack for women?
Dr. Jones: So, I think it’s a common misconception that women have completely different symptoms or a completely different experience with heart attacks or angina than men. The truth is, women are a little more likely to get what we will call an atypical symptom. But still, the most common symptom for women is chest pain and a lot of people will say well chest pain is not really pain and that’s because what they are really often describing is an ache or a tightness or a pressure or a vague sense of not feeling well, but it all is then centered in their chest. Women are a little more likely than men to have what we call atypical symptoms. And these would be symptoms of nausea, shortness of breath, back pain, neck pain, jaw pain or shoulder pain. Men can also get these symptoms, but men are more likely to get the straightforward symptom of chest tightness.
Host: So, if a woman feels one of these things that you were just describing; how does she know it’s a heart atta – how do you know that?
Dr. Jones: So, I think it’s again, something a lot of people struggle with. It’s not really the patient’s job to know what their problem is. It is their job taking responsibility for their health to report that to their physician or their provider. It’s part of the importance of having an established relationship. Certainly, if the symptoms feel severe, there is a sense of impending doom, they are passing out with them, it’s really uncomfortable, they are very sick with it; then the 9-1-1 call or a trip to the emergency department I think is in order. If the symptom is more, I’ll say much more mild or comes and then goes away; contacting the patient’s provider would be a reasonable first step.
Host: Okay, really good information and that’s what I was looking for. So, what can someone do to reduce their risk of developing heart disease?
Dr. Jones: So, I think this kind of goes back to what we were talking about with some of the other questions. It’s really establishing a relationship with a primary care provider, having a sense of ideal blood pressure, ideal cholesterol, a good diet. There’s a lot of information on what a good diet is. Diets we are typically recommending right now through the American Heart Association include the DASH Diet which stands for dietary approaches to stop hypertension, and the Mediterranean diet. There’s information on both diets that are easily found with a Google engine search. There are also books available through bookstores on both diets. And then routine exercise and that is actually defined as exercise most days of the week, for at least 40 minutes. So, if somebody is achieving about 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise or aerobic exercise a week, they are hitting their number.
Host: So, speaking of numbers, we hear the term “know your numbers.” When it comes to heart health, what numbers should we know and strive for?
Dr. Jones: So, I’m going to pick a few and the ones I like patients to focus on. First of all is ideal body weight which is a difficult one and there can be some variance, but I think if we are a long ways out of variance we intuitively know we are out of range. And there are calculators, we can put in our height and weight and it can give us some sense of how close we are to an ideal body weight or height, weight and build. The next number I think is important is blood pressure. Ideal blood pressure currently is under 120/80. There are some allowances for some drift and some variance but having a sense of our blood pressure is important. The amount of routine exercise we should get a week and then cholesterol numbers. And cholesterol numbers I don’t think are something that anybody should have to memorize, but they should be checked. They should be checked with some frequency based on the results and they should be addressed accordingly to what the results are.
Host: That’s excellent so anybody can find these numbers out that Dr. Jones just laid out an easy four step number strategy here. Know your ideal body weight, know your blood pressure, make sure you are exercising and know your cholesterol and keeping those in the normal range are really going to help you fight oncoming heart disease. Is that correct?
Dr. Jones: That’s correct, and I will elaborate a little more. Not just heart disease, but there are other diseases that are affected by the same risk factors. Some of them are cancer.
Host: So true. Great point. Well Dr. Jones, thank you so much for your time today. We appreciate it. For more information, please visit www.pullmanregional.org, that’s www.pullmanregional.org. This is the Health Podcast from Pullman Regional. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening
Bill Klaproth (Host): Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America and it’s the cause of one third of all deaths in women. That’s more than the number of deaths caused by all types of cancer combined. Fortunately, heart disease is mostly preventable with proper education, and lifestyle changes. And here to talk with us about what you need to know about heart health, is Dr. David Jones, a board-certified cardiologist with Palouse Heart Center at Pullman Regional Hospital. Dr. Jones, thank you for your time. First off, can you explain to us what exactly is heart disease?
David Jones, MD (Guest): So, heart disease is best thought of as any ailment that affects the heart and thinking maybe more expansively; the cardiovascular system. Some people think of heart attacks and is a heart attack heart disease? Well, it certainly is, but heart disease can also include disturbances of heart rhythm, it can include stroke, it can include peripheral vascular disease with problems such as infections in the legs, non-healing wounds or even leg pain with activity. It can include exertional chest pain or shortness of breath with a condition that might feel like asthma. It can also include problems such as passing out, congestive heart failure, or valvular heart disease.
Host: So, heart disease can lead to all of those things. So, to have a heart attack, basically you have heart disease first, is that right?
Dr. Jones: That would be correct.
Host: So, to have a heart attack, obviously you have to have heart disease which has been building up. So, speaking of building up over time; for someone that is young who is listening, do they need to worry about heart health or when should someone start worrying about their heart health?
Dr. Jones: Well I suppose that heart health is really foundational to good health. If we think about the lifestyle and the habits that lead to being healthy, those things will also often lead to heart health. What those things might include very simply put would be the things that we might all kind of intuitively think are good for us. Eating good foods from a variety of selections, low in saturated fats, diets that are heavily plant based, avoiding too much alcohol, not smoking, getting routine exercise and being ideal body weight and then going to the doctor for routine medical checks.
Host: So, paying attention to your lifestyle choices is important. Besides that, are there factors then that increase the risk for heart disease?
Dr. Jones: Yes, there are. So, aside from the lifestyle features which are of a very big and important player in risk factors for heart disease and allow a lot of modification and reduction of risk. Factors that we have control over would be things like body weight, activity level, dietary selections, smoking, overuse of alcohol. Things we can’t control would be things like our family history or our inheritance which can raise our risk and some diseases such as diabetes and high cholesterol which we can sometimes improve on with lifestyle changes but may be inherited. Fortunately, these conditions can also be treated with medications if the lifestyle modifications aren’t enough.
Host: So, if you have a family history of heart disease or one of the other things you listed; you should probably start paying attention to your heart health before you normally would. You should probably concerned with that knowing that you have a family history of heart disease.
Dr. Jones: That’s correct.
Host: So, let’s talk about heart attack in women. What are the symptoms of heart attack for women?
Dr. Jones: So, I think it’s a common misconception that women have completely different symptoms or a completely different experience with heart attacks or angina than men. The truth is, women are a little more likely to get what we will call an atypical symptom. But still, the most common symptom for women is chest pain and a lot of people will say well chest pain is not really pain and that’s because what they are really often describing is an ache or a tightness or a pressure or a vague sense of not feeling well, but it all is then centered in their chest. Women are a little more likely than men to have what we call atypical symptoms. And these would be symptoms of nausea, shortness of breath, back pain, neck pain, jaw pain or shoulder pain. Men can also get these symptoms, but men are more likely to get the straightforward symptom of chest tightness.
Host: So, if a woman feels one of these things that you were just describing; how does she know it’s a heart atta – how do you know that?
Dr. Jones: So, I think it’s again, something a lot of people struggle with. It’s not really the patient’s job to know what their problem is. It is their job taking responsibility for their health to report that to their physician or their provider. It’s part of the importance of having an established relationship. Certainly, if the symptoms feel severe, there is a sense of impending doom, they are passing out with them, it’s really uncomfortable, they are very sick with it; then the 9-1-1 call or a trip to the emergency department I think is in order. If the symptom is more, I’ll say much more mild or comes and then goes away; contacting the patient’s provider would be a reasonable first step.
Host: Okay, really good information and that’s what I was looking for. So, what can someone do to reduce their risk of developing heart disease?
Dr. Jones: So, I think this kind of goes back to what we were talking about with some of the other questions. It’s really establishing a relationship with a primary care provider, having a sense of ideal blood pressure, ideal cholesterol, a good diet. There’s a lot of information on what a good diet is. Diets we are typically recommending right now through the American Heart Association include the DASH Diet which stands for dietary approaches to stop hypertension, and the Mediterranean diet. There’s information on both diets that are easily found with a Google engine search. There are also books available through bookstores on both diets. And then routine exercise and that is actually defined as exercise most days of the week, for at least 40 minutes. So, if somebody is achieving about 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise or aerobic exercise a week, they are hitting their number.
Host: So, speaking of numbers, we hear the term “know your numbers.” When it comes to heart health, what numbers should we know and strive for?
Dr. Jones: So, I’m going to pick a few and the ones I like patients to focus on. First of all is ideal body weight which is a difficult one and there can be some variance, but I think if we are a long ways out of variance we intuitively know we are out of range. And there are calculators, we can put in our height and weight and it can give us some sense of how close we are to an ideal body weight or height, weight and build. The next number I think is important is blood pressure. Ideal blood pressure currently is under 120/80. There are some allowances for some drift and some variance but having a sense of our blood pressure is important. The amount of routine exercise we should get a week and then cholesterol numbers. And cholesterol numbers I don’t think are something that anybody should have to memorize, but they should be checked. They should be checked with some frequency based on the results and they should be addressed accordingly to what the results are.
Host: That’s excellent so anybody can find these numbers out that Dr. Jones just laid out an easy four step number strategy here. Know your ideal body weight, know your blood pressure, make sure you are exercising and know your cholesterol and keeping those in the normal range are really going to help you fight oncoming heart disease. Is that correct?
Dr. Jones: That’s correct, and I will elaborate a little more. Not just heart disease, but there are other diseases that are affected by the same risk factors. Some of them are cancer.
Host: So true. Great point. Well Dr. Jones, thank you so much for your time today. We appreciate it. For more information, please visit www.pullmanregional.org, that’s www.pullmanregional.org. This is the Health Podcast from Pullman Regional. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening