Iron deficiency may raise heart disease risk

Recent research suggests that iron may have a protective effect against heart disease. These promising findings could pave the way for new treatments.

Share on Pinterest

New research suggests that low levels of iron may lead to coronary artery disease.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among people in the United States, responsible for approximately 610,000 deaths each year.

A team of researchers from Imperial College London and University College London, both in the United Kingdom, set out to examine the link between levels of iron in the body and the risk of developing the most common type of CVD: coronary artery disease (CAD).

The findings were published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.

CAD, also known as coronary heart disease, occurs when the flow of blood is blocked or slowed down and becomes unable to reach the heart properly.

Often a consequence of atherosclerosis, which is the hardening of the arteries as a result of plaque buildup, CAD may lead to angina or even heart attack. It is currently estimated that more than 370,000 U.S. adults die as a result of CAD every year.

Before You Shovel Snow, Know the Signs of Heart Attack

Shoveling snow is a strenuous exercise that can put undue strain on the heart. Factor in cold air, which constricts the blood vessels and increases blood pressure, and you have a dangerous combination for people with coronary artery disease or other forms of heart disease. So before you go shovel your walkway or let a loved one shovel their own, take a few moments to review these heart attack symptoms.

Heart Attack Signs that Can Appear in Men and Women

• Chest pressure or pain – This usually lasts more than a few minutes and can come and go.
• Ache or soreness radiating through the back, jaw, throat, or arm – while your upper body may be aching for the shoveling itself, you should seek medical attention if the soreness is in conjunction with other heart attack symptoms.
• Anxiety – people who have had heart attacks sometimes describe having felt panicked for no apparent reason.

What to Do if You Have Heart Attack Symptoms While Shoveling

Acting quickly in response to heart attack symptoms can save lives. If you feel like you are experiencing symptoms of a heart attack, call 9-1-1 immediately. Do not attempt to drive yourself to the hospital.

If you see someone who exhibits symptoms of a heart attack, call 9-1-1 right away and remain with the person.

Try to keep them calm, and have them sit or lie down. If the person stops breathing, you or someone else who is qualified should perform CPR immediately.

The 911 operator will assist you with CPR until the emergency medical team arrives.

Knowing your personal risk of a heart attack, symptoms, and what to do if you or a loved one has a heart attack can save a life.

6 Best Exercises to Strengthen Your Heart

Strengthening your heart is one of the best things you can do for your health. And as you know, the best way to strengthen your heart is to exercise. In fact, if you don’t exercise you’re more than twice as likely to get heart disease as someone who does. If you have a history of heart disease, or just worry about your heart health, you need to develop a regular exercise routine. Experts recommend you spend at least 150 minutes doing moderate exercise per week.

But is all exercise created equal? Here are the best exercises to strengthen your heart.

1. Walking

Yes, it might seem a little too easy. But walking, especially speed walking, is a great way to strengthen your heart. Walking fast will get your heart rate up and is easier on your joints than other types of exercise. You can walk anywhere at any time. All you need is a pair of supportive shoes. Do a short walk during your lunch break or a longer walk on the weekend. You can listen to music, a podcast, or walk with a friend. The flexibility of walking makes it easy for anyone to do — and to keep doing it.

2. Weight Training 

Building the other muscles in your body will help your heart. Weight training will help you build muscle mass and burn fat. Although you can hit the gym to train with weights, some of the most effective weight training happens when you use your own body weight. Things like push-ups, squats, or even pull-ups all help you build muscle and contribute to bone and heart health.

3. Swimming

Swimming isn’t just for lazy summer afternoons. Taking a water aerobics class or swimming laps can be a full-body workout that will strengthen not only your body but your heart. Unlike other types of exercise, walking is easy on your joints and allows you to move your body without a lot of pain.

4. Yoga

Although it might not seem like it, yoga is great for your heart health. Doing yoga will help you strengthen and tone your muscles. Certain types of yoga can really get your heart rate up, while still providing the calm that will lower your blood pressure.

5. Interval Training

Interval training — which alternates between short bursts of high-intensity exercise with longer periods of active recovery — is a great way to get a full-sized workout in a short amount of time. For example, you can do it by running for one minute and walking for three minutes, then repeating the cycle. Raising and lowering your heart rate helps to burn calories and improves the function of your blood vessels.

6. Cycling

Jumping on your bike can do more than just get you from one place to another. Cycling has been shown to help reduce the risk of heart disease. It uses your large muscles in your legs, which helps to elevate your heart rate. Bonus: Cycling has even been shown to improve your mental health.

Whether you choose to hit a yoga class three times a week, go walking with a friend, or swim every morning, regular exercise is essential to taking care of your heart. Always talk to your doctor before you begin an exercise routine.

What is Holter Monitoring Used For?

Wanting to understand more about Holter monitoring because you may need to wear one in your near future? Whenever you are experiencing any medical conditions that relate to your heart, it is often necessary to undergo certain procedures or certain tests in order to find out exactly what is going on. A Holter monitor is a test that records the rhythm of your heart, allowing medical professionals to better understand what is happening so they can offer solutions.

What exactly is a Holter monitor?

Finding out more about Holter monitoring is recommended if you are someone who may need to wear a Holter monitor in your very near future. It is a small device that must be worn close to your body for about two days. It monitors the rhythm of your heart during this time and records all of your heartbeats, which allows for a thorough understanding of your heart’s current condition.

What is Holter monitoring used for?

A Holter monitor checks for irregular heartbeats, which lets a medical professional know whether or not the patient is experiencing heart rhythm problems. This particular heart test is one that is recommended for patients who are experiencing any signs or symptoms of having a heart problem. It is noninvasive and instead uses electrodes that are taped to the patient’s chest in order to monitor the rhythm of their heart.

If the results from wearing the heart monitor for a couple of days do not provide a medical professional with enough information, the patient may need to wear a wireless Holter monitor. A wireless monitor can capture important heart-related information for many weeks, giving medical professionals the information they need to make a proper diagnosis.

Risks

There are not many risks that come with wearing a Holter monitor. Patients may experience some skin irritation in their chest area where the electrodes were put, which is a small price to pay to get necessary heart information. It is important for those who are getting ready to wear a Holter monitor to understand that they cannot get wet. If it does get wet, it will damage the monitor. Patients should also try to avoid getting too close to magnets or microwave ovens and may want to avoid using an electric blanket, an electric razor, an electric toothbrush or metal detectors.

Results

Once a medical professional receives the results recorded by the Holter monitor, they will discuss these results with the patient. Together, they will come up with a treatment plan to address any heart-related conditions that may have been found. If no heart problems were found, the patient may need to undergo additional heart monitoring in the future to make sure that it is performing correctly.

Have any questions for us?

If you have any questions about Holter monitoring, please do not hesitate to contact us when you have a few moments. The more you understand about this common heart test the more comfortable you will feel when wearing the monitor. You only need to wear the monitor for a couple of days, and, once the results come in, you will have a better idea of how your heart is performing.

Heart Palpitations After Eating – What Does It Mean?

Heart palpitations are scary, no matter when they occur. The sudden feeling of your heart pounding in your chest, beating faster or thumping much harder than you’re used to is a frightening experience. It makes you wonder and worry. Sometimes, palpitations can be so frightening that you call 9-1-1, fearing heart attack, or stroke. It’s smart to pay attention to those palpitations, but often they aren’t serious at all. Many people talk about experiencing heart palpitations after eating, for example. You can’t very well call 9-1-1 every time you sit down to a meal, can you? Of course not. Here’s what you need to know about palpitations after mealtime.

What Kind of Meal?

Many factors can contribute to heart palpitations after a meal, but one of the first things to look at is what kind of meal you just consumed. If it was a particularly rich meal, your body might just be working a little harder to digest the food. These particular palpitations are not all that uncommon. As long as the palpitations don’t get worse or become particularly bothersome, you shouldn’t have to worry about them.

Pay Attention

For some people, heart palpitations after eating can be an indication of a food sensitivity. The way a food sensitivity presents itself is not always the same from person to person, so if you notice palpitations after eating, consider the circumstances surrounding it. Do you get them after every meal, or only after meals containing a specific food? If you aren’t sure, try journaling your meals for a week or two and noting when you feel these symptoms.

Blood Sugar

If you haven’t eaten for too long, or your blood sugar has dropped, overeating or eating too late can contribute to heart palpitations as well. It’s a complicated process for your body to convert food into the energy you need, and your blood sugar levels at the time of consumption can have an impact on whether or not you feel those palpitations as your body levels out.

Talk to Your Doctor

No matter what the cause, if you’re feeling new or worsening palpitations for any reason, the best first line of defense is to discuss them with your doctor. Any unexpected cardiac activity should be tested and monitored if necessary. Whatever the cause, your doctor or a cardiologist can help you get to the bottom of it and create a plan to adjust your lifestyle and/or add medication to help mitigate the problem.

Mitral heart valve replacement: What to expect before and after the surgery

The mitral valve is located on the left side of the heart, between the left atrium and left ventricle. It has a very important role to play in the circulation. It is one of the four valves in the heart, that ensures that the blood flows throw the heart in the right direction and that the organs receive oxygenated blood from the heart. Oxygen-rich blood flows into the left atrium from the pulmonary veins. When the left atrium fills with blood, the mitral valve opens to allow blood to flow to the left ventricle.

Thus, the malfunctioning of the mitral valve can have serious consequences.

Purpose of the mitral heart valve replacement:

Mitral valve replacement is a procedure whereby the diseased mitral valve of a patient's heart is replaced by either a mechanical or tissue (bioprosthetic) valve.

The mitral valve may need to be replaced because:

• The valve is leaky (mitral valve regurgitation)
• The valve is narrowed and doesn't open properly (mitral valve stenosis).

Mitral valve disease is usually caused due to infection, calcification and inherited collagen disease. Current mitral valve replacement approaches include open-heart surgery.

Open Heart Surgery:

What to expect before open-heart surgery?

There are two kinds of valves, which can be used as replacement-biological and mechanical. The doctor decides which is the best for the patient.

• Biological valves are made mainly from pig, cow, or human heart tissue. Biological valves don’t last as long.
• Mechanical valves are man-made. However, if one gets a man-made valve, he/she has to take blood-thinning meds for the rest of their lives.

The following precautions need to be taken before the surgery.

• Avoiding to eat or drink anything since midnight before the surgery.
• Avoiding smoking
• Certain medications need to be stopped.

Certain routine tests are done, and about an hour before the surgery, certain medications are given which helps the patient to relax.

What to expect during the surgery?

Anesthesia is given before the surgery starts. The surgery takes several hours to complete. As the surgical procedure is an open surgery, the doctor makes an incision down the chest to access the heart. The patient is then supported using an artificial heart-lung machine during the entire course of the surgery. Then the defective valve is removed, as is replaced by the new valve.

What to expect after the surgery?

Recovery happens in the ICU or recovery room. Most people who have mitral valve replacement notice immediate symptom relief after their surgery. Doctors check for heart rate, and other vital signs. The patient is kept under intensive care. Usually, a breathing tube is kept for proper breathing, but it is removed within 24 hours. There is also a drainage pipe to remove any excess fluid which may have accumulated in the chest in the course of the surgery. The patient is usually kept in the hospital for around 5 days.

Even after getting back home from the hospital, care has to be taken. The stitches are removed in around 7-10 days during the follow-up appointments. Temperature is to be checked daily, and a temp. higher than normal should be immediately reported. Heavy exercises or strenuous jobs should be avoided for several weeks.

How anxiety impacts your heart health

Anxiety is the feeling of worry, queasiness, and unease we’ve all felt at one point during our lives. But what if you’re part of the approximately 5-10% of the population that lives with an anxiety disorder? What affect will that have on your heart health?

While some of the most common complications of having an anxiety disorder are co-occurring substance abuse or the development of depression, generalized anxiety disorder is also associated with poor cardiovascular health and coronary heart disease, as well as mortality. Anxiety disorders typically result from multiple and uncontrollable worries, which often change over time, though the common worries are typically about the future welfare of one’s family, money or health. Isn’t it then ironic that to worry excessively about one’s health, is detrimental to one’s health?

As humans, we’ve been pre-programmed with a sympathetic nervous system to help us react in high danger situations appropriately. If you’re running away from a bear, you’ll want your heart rate to be increased to be able to supply sufficient blood flow to your muscles. But what if you’re worrying sitting on the couch, and all that worry has no place to escape? Anxiety disorders cause a dramatic increase in your heart rate during situations that are not a fight or flight scenario and can lead to poorer cardiovascular health in previously healthy people.

A recent meta-analysis looking at over 250,000 patients showed that in patients without previous heart disease, who suffered from anxiety disorders experienced a 26% increased risk of incident Coronary Artery Disease. In other words, a healthy individual with no history of heart problems became much more at risk for early signs of a heart attack, due to issues with anxiety.

One can also argue that worry may be beneficial for health promotion, but no studies so far have shown that such worry would have any benefits for health. Which brings out the perennial chicken or egg question. Does excessive worry lead to poorer cardiovascular health by and in itself, or do patients in already poorer health worry about their cardiovascular health excessively? Multiple studies have shown that in patients who have had an acute heart attack poorer outcomes were associated with additional worry or anxiety. Increased anxiety was also found to be an independent predictor of cardiac complications in other studies.

So why worry? While worrying may be actively helpful in intense situations, it’ll do you no good when it comes to your health, particularly cardiac health. You should try different methods and tools to help keep you calm and to encourage a positive mental attitude.

If you are experiencing anxiety that is prolonged, which you are unable to manage on your own, it is best to speak to your doctor about treatment options. Many people have found ways to cope with their anxiety through holistic or therapeutic methods, and some with medication. This is especially important if you already have heart issues or a family history of heart problems. It is important to make your heart health, as well as your mental health, a priority to ensure a long, happy life.