February 12, 2025 • 35 mins
February is American Heart Month, a time when everyone is encouraged to focus on their cardiovascular health, and for good reason. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and the leading killer of women. Cardiologist and Columbia University professor Dr. Jennifer Haythe joins Danielle and Simone to talk about how heart disease affects women and shares prevention tips that truly could save a life.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello Sunshine, Hey bessies.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright side, it's Wellness Wednesday, and we're
tackling a topic that affects millions of women every year,
heart disease. Cardiologist doctor Jennifer Haith is here to drop
some truth bombs and share a few surprising tips that
honestly could save your life. It's Wednesday, February twelve. I'm
Simone Voice, I'm.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Danielle Robe and this is the bright side from Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
All right, besties. All week we are talking love and
relationships as we look forward to Valentine's Day this Friday.
We hope you've got your Gallantine's Day plans in order.
And for today's Wellness Wednesday, we're talking about the one
thing that symbolizes all things love and romance.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Our heart be still our hearts. Okay, this is actually serious.
February is American Heart Month, a time when everyone is
encouraged to focus on their cardiovascular health, and for good reason.
This may come as a surprise to everybody, but heart
disease is the leading cause of death in the United
States and unfortunately the leading killer of women, more so
(01:09):
than breast cancer, and estimated one in four women will
die from some form of the disease.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I mean one in four women. That is a truly
shocking number. And I was also surprised to learn that
even though heart disease is the leading cause of death,
an estimated eighty percent of cardiovascular disease is preventable. Just
to say that one more time, it's preventable, it's mind blessing.
So if you are as surprised by these statistics as
we are, just know that there are a lot of
(01:35):
things that we can actually start doing today to feel
empowered on this journey of lowering our risk for her
heart disease.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Absolutely, and I think it goes without saying that we
all know the importance of eating well, exercising, sleeping well,
and our guest today is building on that. She's sharing
some lesser known ways that we can protect our hearts
and improve.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Our cardiovascular health.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Doctor Jennif for Haith is a cardiologist and Columbia University professor.
She specializes in heart failure, cardiac transplant, and women's cardiovascular disease.
Doctor Jennifer hath Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Hi, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
We're really grateful for your time today.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
The stats around heart disease are equal parts terrifying and empowering.
We just mentioned that cardiovascular disease is the number one
killer of women, but it's also preventable eighty percent of
the time. I just want to reiterate that eighty percent
of the time. Can you help us make sense of
that contradiction. If heart disease is so preventable, why is
(02:37):
it still the leading cause of death in the United States.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
It's a really good question, and it's probably the most
important thing we should talk about today, which is that
most of heart disease is in fact preventable and also
very treatable, which is part of why I picked cardiology
as my profession. The reason that people develop heart disease
is usually.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
The combination of factors.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
So there are risk factors that predispose you, and it's
a lot of women and men, but women especially where
since we're talking about women, don't necessarily take care of
these risk factors. And so when you have unchecked diabetes,
high blood pressure, obesity, tobacco use, sedentary lifestyle. I mean,
(03:19):
the list goes on high cholesterol, and you don't treat
those from an early age. Those things add up and
you end up with having heart disease. But if from
a young age people were paying more attention to these
risk factors and modifying them, you really would see a
dramatic reduction in heart disease in women.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I also learned through researching for this interview that there's
been an increase in heart attacks for women ages thirty
five to fifty four. Thirty five to fifty four is
very young, and that's increased over the past two decades.
What does that increase about.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
There's a couple of different reasons.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
One is that women are now working in the workforce
in a similar capacity to men, and so for a
long time, you know, when women were not as much
a part of the workforce, cardiac disease was more prevalent
in men. Thought to be you know, in part related
to stress of you know, having a job and you know,
manual labor and things like that.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
But women are also now falling.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Victim to the same risk factors that men have had
for years.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Right.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
So smoking obesity huge problem in this country, and we're
seeing it younger, So women have those risk factors younger.
Diabetes again goes hand in hand with obesity, so women
developing insulin resistance at younger ages, higher blood pressure is
a result. So all of these things are really wrapped together.
(04:45):
And when you have a more sedentary lifestyle or you
are now working more longer hours overnight shifts, not not
aware that you are now at risk for diabetes, hypertension,
high cholesterol. Those things are all putting women at increased risk.
Women are also at higher risk for something called SCAD,
which is spontaneous cornary artery dissection. Is something you know
(05:08):
you may read about or hear about in the news
where the blood vessel wall actually splits apart and kind
of causes the blood vessel to close and cause a
heart attack, and that is common in women, particularly women
in the peripartum period. It's a very poorly understood phenomenon
where hormones may play a role, stress may play a role.
(05:29):
You know, we don't really know, but we know that
it affects women more than men, and that it's scary
because it's not so easily treated. So you know, there's
a lot of different things that play But you're right,
and being younger and being more aware of your risk
of heart disease is so important because it's when you
start young taking care of yourself. You're really preventing so
(05:51):
much misery down the road.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I was looking at your Instagram account and it says
that you encourage people to eat using the Mediterranean diet,
which I'd like to get into more. But I do
think that that seems like that's something you can do
at a young age. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:08):
I mean, unfortunately, our diet is terrible in the United States,
and I think we're very fixated on being very intense
about different kinds of diets, and that's why there's.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Been so many diet books.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
And you know, it's not sexy to just eat like
a balanced, normal diet, but that's actually the best thing
for you, you know. So what I tell patients is,
you know Mediterranean diet, like avoid butter, use olive oil,
have salads, have vegetables, have fruits, have nuts, try.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
To limit meat, you know, takee.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
You can have chicken, white meats, very focused on fish.
It's not so hard to stick to it.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
It's pretty simple.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
You just have to commit to like a healthier diet,
not eating fast food, fried food.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
It's so part of our culture. Unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Talk to me about genetics here. If your grandmother or
your mother suffers, are you more likely to suffer.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
Yeah, So genetics of heart disease is fascinating. Some of
the diseases are clearly genetically based, are inherited. There's such
a bigger push for genetic testing. And so not only
is that helping us identify, you know, causes for some
of the syndromes we're seeing, but it also helps women
(07:25):
know that they should screen their children, or that their
parents should be screened, you know, if they have something
that their parents may not have known about, or their
siblings should be screened.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
And it's fascinating.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
I mean, there's genetic associations with almost every single heart problem.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
We know some more than others.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
And it is crucial for women to talk about their
family history with their family.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
And it's interesting.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Women are embarrassed historically to talk about their heart disease.
They feel like it's a man's disease, you know. I
always say in the movies, you see a woman like
playing tennis and then having a heart attack or having
a heart attack in the middle of having sex.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Right, that's so true.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Right, And also this association with this like overweight, smoking,
cheeseburger eating man, you know, and that is not the case.
And there's many women who do not fit that profile.
I mean even people who run marathons, who are healthy
and who have maybe, like you're saying, this very strong
family history of early heart attack that may have nothing
(08:29):
to do with how much shape you're in, and maybe
entirely genetically driven, and it's important to be screened. So
I tell women, talk to your mothers, talk to your siblings, like,
try to talk about it with your friends.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Don't have it be embarrassing.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
You know somehow it's not embarrassing to talk about breast
cancer or other kinds of cancers, but heart disease feels shameful, in.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Which we as a community are really trying to reverse that.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Is there a way to override your genetic predisposition? I'm
thinking obviously lifestyle facts. But can people with a family
history reduce their risks significantly by doing anything?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
So it depends.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
So if you are inheriting a significant like autosomal dominantly
inherited genetic abnormality that leads to certain kinds of heart
failure syndromes like no, probably not, You're maybe predisposed like
hypertrophic cardimiapathy, you are going to get hypertrophic cardomampathy. But
what you can do is be screened early so that
(09:33):
you don't miss it and have a catastrophic event. Know
what you have, there are medications available like start treatment
sooner and be aware of it. It's always better to
be prepared than to have something catastrophic or sudden happen.
Then you're in much sicker situation. There is a huge
amount you can do, though, if your genetics predispose you
(09:55):
to more like athrosclerosis. So if your father was thirty
five and drop dead, or your mother and was running
and was otherwise a totally fit person, you know, that
makes you wonder there's some genetic predisposition. And there's certainly
some cultures that have much earlier cornary vascular disease than
other cultures. And so what I recommend for those people is,
(10:16):
besides you know, eating healthy and taking pills for your
blood pressure and taking cholesterol medication and making sure you
don't smoke and exercise, you also should get screened because
even if you're doing all those things, you can still progress.
And so if you catch that early and treat it,
you will be okay, okay and fine.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So in addition to genetics, when we think about our
anatomy as women, when we think about our hormones as women,
what role does all of that play in heart disease.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
So we know that women seem to be protected from
athoskerotic heart disease until postmenopause, which prompted a big study,
you know, over twenty years ago now where they looked
at the use of hormone replacement in women as a
mechanism to prevent heart disease. You know. The feeling was
(11:11):
that there was something about estrogen that was protective and
that once women went through menopause their risk for heart
disease was the same as men. And so they did
that study and then they found a higher risk of
cardiovascular events and the women who were taking estrogen. So
after that everybody said, oh my god, we can't use
hormone replacement in women. It kills women, actually gives them
(11:33):
heart attacks and strokes. And so for like the last
twenty years, they've taken away hormone replacement for a long time,
until a few vocal doctors and scientists said, well, actually
the study was really misinterpreted, and yes, if you have
risk factors for heart disease, strong family history, hypertension, diabetes, obesity,
(11:55):
high cholesterol, smoking, and then you take hormone replacement, may
be increased.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
But if you are a fifty five year.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Old woman who's otherwise healthy, doesn't have a lot of
cardiac risk factors or any and you're suffering from horrible
hot flashes and insomnia, that taking hormone replacement is totally safe.
Whether or not it's going to prevent you from developing
heart disease maybe still be up for some debate, but
(12:23):
its safety is certainly clear. And that you know, I
think we deprived women of hormone replacement for a long
time because of sort of this misinterpreted study, and people
are recognizing that now. So you guys are a little young,
but when you hit like your late forties, early fifties,
you'll see, you know, my friends are all asking me, like,
(12:45):
what do you think about hormone replaces? When you think
about hormone replace and then tell them like, if you don't,
you know, we go through their risk factors, and if
their risk factors, okay, it's definitely okay and can cause
a lot of relief from a lot of horrible symptoms
of metopause.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Okay, let's talk symptoms, especially for heart attacks. This part
of this conversation is so important. I've heard that women
are less likely to experience some of the same symptoms
as men, some of the classic symptoms that we've been
trained to look for. So what should we be looking for?
Speaker 5 (13:17):
So the number one symptom for a heart attack in
men or women is going to be chest pain and pressure. Remember,
it can be a sharp pain, but the traditional what
we call angina or angenal chest pain of a heart
attack is often described as like a pressure on the chest,
like an elephant sitting on your chest, and it's this
heaviness that you can't quite like, never felt before, but
(13:40):
also can have pain. So women are more likely to
have these atypical symptoms, which I say they're not really
atypical because women can also be typical, but they call
them a typical.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
So pain in your left arm radiating up to your jaw.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
The reason why we always hear about that, and people
always don't understand it is that the nerve bundles.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
From your arm and into your jaw. They travel with
the cardiac nerve bundles.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
So it's not that your arm actually hurts, it's that
your brain is confusing the pain from the nerves traveling
from your heart with the nerves traveling from your arm
and your jaw, So you're feeling a sensation of pain
in your arm and your jaw, but it's really just
it's originating really from the heart and it's being misinterpreted.
(14:26):
Does that make sense, So we call it like referred pain.
Women are very likely to feel short of breath. I
try to tell people. It's the kind of thing where
every day, let's say you walk three blocks to get
to the subway, you go down the subway stairs, you
come up the subway stairs. Sometimes everyone feels a little
short breath when they go upstairs. But if you start
(14:48):
to say, like the last couple days, or when today
I walked to the subway and I just couldn't catch
my breath and I went up the stairs, I couldn't
catch my breath, that is when I feel worried.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Take it really seriously.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Another thing that women feel more commonly is mid epigastric pain.
So you know, sometimes when you're having a heart attack
and a certain part of your heart, it can be
referred to the mid epigastric region. So they were like,
you'll hear people say, like I didn't feel well. I
felt the little nauseous. I felt like this kind of
like I thought I had reflux again. That's also an
(15:21):
atypical symptom back pain, chest pain, lightheadedness, whoa palpitations. And
also this, I think this is always an interesting one,
like a feeling of doom.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Which feels very strange and sort of like a little.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Bit sounds like a Sunday to me, like, yeah, Sunday scaries's.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Exactly, but there is something about this, like I feel
like there's something not right with me, and I can't
quite figure out what it is, but I know something's wrong.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
I tell people to take those things seriously.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
So if you don't feel okay, go to a doctor,
and if you're not happy with what that doctor provider
told you, get another opinion, or take yourself to the
emmergence sea room. You know, I've seen a lot of people,
women in particular, be told that they're having an anxiety attack,
they're having a panic attack, and maybe some of them
may be having a panic attack. But before we decide
(16:11):
it's a panic attack, let's do an EKG and let's
check your blood work, and let's do a proper evaluation.
And then only then say it's maybe anxiety or panic.
Before jumping to that conclusion.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I want to double down on the anxiety part. I've
done several interviews in the past about heart health, and
most of the doctors or researchers that I've talked to
have said, if there's one thing that you could take
away from today, it's that if you feel like you
are having an anxiety attack, make sure that you are
(16:45):
also making the hospital look at your heart.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
It could save your life one hundred percent. You can
message of the day, yes, and not always the hospital,
even if you go to your regularly. If you wait
and make an appointment with your regular doctor, make sure
that they're taking you seriously too well.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
A lot of times they dismiss you if you ask
for that because they're busy or other reasons, and it's
hard to stand up for yourself in that moment, but
you really I've now learned anxiety check for heart health.
I've known a woman who saved her life because of.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
That, and I know people who've lost their lives because
they haven't done that. And it's sad and terrible, But
if you don't feel right, go and see someone, and
then if that person doesn't make you feel like they're
really taking your symptoms seriously, or you still don't feel
(17:40):
good after you see that person, go somewhere out go
to the er, like, yeah, please call nine one one
and have them take you to the emergency room. If
you're sitting in your house and you can't breathe and
you're having pain and you're like nervous, just call numb
one one. Put yourself first for once, you know it's
really it is life or death.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Haith, I just want to underscore everything you just said
with a statistic I came across that seventy two percent
of women who had a heart attack waited more than
ninety minutes to go to the hospital or call nine
one one. In your experience, I can't imagine that all
of that is shame.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Why are women not calling for help?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
I think there's also fear.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
I mean I think there's a you know, there is
a shame part or a I don't want to bother anybody,
or I have other stuff to do and I'll deal
with it later. But I think people are scared, right, Like,
having a heart attack is scary. And what I think
is important for me to convey to your audience is
(18:44):
that there's all different kinds of heart attacks. Right, there's
really big heart attack that could chill you right on
the spot, but there's also small heart attacks.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Right.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
The heart has three big arteries, but there's branches of
vessels off of all of those arteries, and some of
them can be small and they can do damage. But
I don't want people to be scared that the outcome
may be that they go to the hospital and that
they get a stent and that they have to take
some medication, you know, for their cholesterol and a baby
aspen for the rest of their life, or a few medications.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
And I think there's this avoidance and denial of what
those symptoms are.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
And so it's really important to try to push that
to the side and recognize that if you keep doing that,
either you could have a catastrophic event or over time,
even if it's little heart attacks, like for instance, in
diabetics who may not feel this heart attack the same
way as other people because of how diabetes works, that
even though the heart attack may not be actually killing
(19:43):
them on the spot, they are developing a heart failure syndrome.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
And so what our goal is in taking care of
people is really we want you.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
To be like super healthy, healthy, exercise and then like
drop dead when you're ninety five, right, like fall die
in your sleep.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
That would be everybody goal, right.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
They don't want to suffer with some kind of chronic
illness and they want to be active. I mean, another
important thing that I want to tell women about being
active is that it's so important to start when you're
young and stay active through your life. I understand that
there are times where you can't always be as active
as other times, but even just practicing standing up from
(20:24):
a seated position in a chair. You know, we know
that women and men who have more core strength and
can do activities in their seventies and eighties like stand
up by themselves from a chair with no hands or
you know, have that inner strength, have a longer life
expectancy and do better. And so that is also really,
really maybe the most important thing for people to be
(20:46):
aware of.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
We've got to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back to our conversation with doctor Jennifer Haith and
we're back to Wellness Wednesday with doctor Jennifer Haith.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Well, I want to speak next about something that I
know you get excited about talking about which is prevention,
so exercise food.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Can we get into the nitty gritty of that.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Yeah, I mean, it's funny what you said before.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
But like I was like one day, I was like,
I think I'm going to write a book that's called
like eat Less, Move More.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
And then I was like, but that's kind of like
that's it. I don't know what I put in the rest.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Of the book.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
I don't know how many pages there are for that story.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
I just I think my message for people is, well,
first of all, we haven't even talked about the whole
glip one, Munjaro and all of these you know, ozembic
and these drugs, which, by the way, you know, I
know some people feel are controversial, but from a cardiovascular perspective,
the data suggests an incredible mortality morbidity benefit.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
So really, yes, very.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
That's wonderful to hear.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
Yeah, very protective cardiovascular, so they have a lot of
cardiovasterlar benefit. Weight loss, I know is very hard for people,
and I think the concept of exercise is very hard
for people who are overweight.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
But there are ways to do it, you know.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
I don't expect anyone to jump on a treadmill and
do forty five minutes of running. I tell people to
start really slow and try to incorporate it with something
they'd like. So if you like to listen to podcasts,
or if you like to listen to books on tape,
or if you have a really best friend that you
like to talk to, like start with just all you
really need is a pair of sneakers and just start
(22:37):
by taking a walk.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
And if you're really obese or really out of shape.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
It can be ten minutes and then make it, you know,
fifteen minutes and it's just you got to just start
somewhere and it can take a long time, but you
will see a dramatic effect over time.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Does it matter how high you get your heart rate?
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Well, I mean, you know, look not in the beginning,
Like my goal is to first get people off the
couch and just moving a little bit. If we're talking
about peak fitness, you know, to twenty minus your age
is supposed to be your peak heart rate during max exercise.
You know, everybody has I wear this whoop. You know,
everybody has a different bringing on or Apple Watch or
(23:14):
whatever they like. And it can tell if you want
to wear one of those fitbits or one of those devices.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
It can check your heart rate.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
So you're you said you're thirty four, so your you know,
max predicted heart rate is two twenty minus thirty four.
And then you know you're not supposed to stay at
that the whole time. That's your max. So if you
go for a run or you do a hard hit class,
you want to hit that maybe a couple times, but
you're probably going to settle in somewhere a little bit
(23:41):
lower as you're sustained, you know, high level activity. You know,
the American Heart Association they want people to exercise, you know,
five times a week, you know, forty five minutes.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
But yeah, I was reading it said one hundred and
fifteen minutes a week of moderate exercise or seventy five
minutes of vigorous exercise. Which that's I mean, that's considerable.
That's a commitment.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
It's a commitment.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
But I don't like to say that to people who
are doing nothing, because I'd rather you do something and
build up to that. So if you even get if
you have a peloton or you want to sit and
watch your favorite TV show on an exercise spoke. It
doesn't even have to be a fancy one and just
sit there and get on it and just like pedal
for twenty minutes. That makes me happy, you know, because
(24:26):
people actually feel so much better when they do exercise.
And my husband I always have this joke when we're
talking about whether or not to work out, and I
don't want to work out, I'm tired, and then we
have this joke like no one ever regrets a run.
You don't come back and be like, damn, I shouldn't
have taken it. Yeah, it just like never happens. It
always ends up where you're like, I'm so glad I
(24:46):
did the run, you know. So I try to rewind
myself of that, but you know, it's hard to motivate.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I get it. You know.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Is there a hierarchy of exercise if we're talking about
the next level here and not just like trying to
get up off the couch and and make a little
bit happen. Is it jogging, swimming, walking? Like, what's your
hierarchy cardiovascular fitness? I mean, there's a lot of different
ways to get your heart rate up. There's all different
philosophies about it.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
You know, we want someone to have to be like
in a sustained high heart rate, you know, for at
least like what thirty five minutes. But it can be running,
it could be swimming, it could be tennis, it could
be playing basketball, it could be you know, anything where
you're running around and being physically active.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
It could be on the rowing machine, it could be
a hit class.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
It's not the same as lifting weights, right, Lifting weights
is not going to make your heart rate be sustained.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Lifting weights is good for.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Core strength, but that's not as a cardiologist my main focus.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
That's what I was curious about. How about frequency?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
What if you are a person who doesn't like to
work out during the weeks, but you go hard on
the weekends.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Is does that matter for your heart?
Speaker 5 (25:57):
I mean it's hard because the week it's only two
But yes, I think as I would I take any exercise.
I'm happy if you're doing anything, so I'm not going
to judge. I think, you know, if you could get
in three days a week would be great. The other
thing to remember is that on the other days that
you're not maybe going to the gym per se, can
you stay like moving a lot? Like I work at
(26:18):
a hospital, I don't sit at a desk. I mean
I'm sitting at desk right now to talk to you.
But for the most part, I'm not at a desk.
I'm like walking through the hospital. I'm seeing patients, I'm
on rounds, I'm standing up. I mean, at the end
of my day with doing zero exercise, I'm at like
fifteen thousand steps sometimes yeah, and I haven't broke a sweat.
So if I'm doing that three days a week, and
then three days a week I go and ride the
(26:39):
peloton for thirty five minutes, that's pretty good, you know.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Like I'm moving around a lot.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
I don't think people need to get this is where
we get into the obsessive culture.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
We go like all or nothing.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
It's very hard for us to stay in the middle,
which is actually what's probably the best for you. Right
Like eat it, eat like a normal healthy diet, and
then every now and then you can have a beat
that and you get on this and exercise, like.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Do thirty five minutes of exercise a couple days a week.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Instead people are like become crazy. They go, you know,
they have to do fitness freaks.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
You know, it's like you don't have to get so crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
It's time for another short break.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
But we'll be right back to Wellness Wednesday with doctor
Jennifer Haith, and we're back with doctor Jennifer Haith.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
So, doctor Hath, my dad was a dentist.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
And growing up, he would come home for dinner and
we would ask him about his day, and probably about
once a week or once every two weeks, he would
say that he caught some form of cancer in somebody's mouth,
or some indication of much larger illness. And I learned
that there's actually a link between oral health and heart disease.
(27:53):
Why is taking care of your mouth so important to
your heart.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Well, there's a couple things.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
One is that that gingivitis and gum disease is like
a chronic problem, right, and so it's associated with a
high level of inflammation, and there is a link between
this chronic inflammatory state and cardiovascular disease. There may even
be a link between certain bacteria that grow in your
mouth and cardiovaster disease. And also we know that when
(28:20):
you go to the dentist, if you have existing certain
kinds of heart disease, you need to take prophylactic antibiotics
because when you get your teeth cleaned or have your
teeth worked on, bacteria is transiently released into your bloodstream
and a normal person clears that bacteria and you don't
get a horrible infection. It's just to get your teeth cleaned.
There was maybe a little bacteria for a second. Your
(28:43):
natural white blood cells take care of that and it's fine.
If you have had rheumatic heart disease, or you have
a defibrillator wire, or you have a valve replacement, your
doctor should have instructed you to take prophilactic antima biotics
prior to getting your teeth cleaned so that when that
(29:04):
bacteria is released into the bloodstream that the antibiotics will
take care of it and it won't stick, because that
bacteria can sometimes stick onto the valves and cause a
condition called endocarditis, which is an infection of the heart valves.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
So yeah, is there a link between alcohol and heart disease?
Speaker 4 (29:22):
That is such a hard question.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
As a heart failure doctor, we know that alcohol can
cause heart failure syndromes. If you're an alcoholic, like if
we have an alcohol use disorder, as we say now,
you can develop a heart failure syndrome that can reverse
if you stop using alcohol. So for heart failure perspectives,
I tell patients not to drink. We also know that
using a lot of alcohol leads statial fibrillation now in
(29:46):
the Mediterranean diet, and there is a lot of data
that one glass of red wine a day is okay
for you, and that it may actually be protective. So
there's conflicting data. My advice, you know, rather than being
a teetotaler, is to tell if you have a real
heart problem. I tell you people that they shouldn't drink,
(30:07):
but if you're otherwise healthy, I stick to the guideline
recommendations and minimize excessive alcohol use.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
But it's okay to have a drink.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Now in that this is not necessarily having to do
with heart health.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
It's more about longevity.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
But I'm obsessed with this study I read years ago
about centurians who were they studied their sleep, and people
that lived to one hundred basically slept on average seven
point twenty five hours a night. And sleep is super
important for longevity. Is sleep important for your heart health?
Is there a recommended number of hours?
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Yes? So actually the AHA just changed this.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Yes, they want you to get like more sleep than
they use to, and they will include naps in that.
So sleep is now listed as one of like the
big cardiovascular important risk factors that we know that lack
of sleep earned some yet now general sleep is a
time to repair and restore and it is really important
(31:06):
for stress.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
And you know when you wake up in the morning.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
You know a lot of heart attacks happen in the
early morning because as you come out of sleep, your
heart rate comes up, your your cortisol levels increase, your
blood pressure goes up. So when you're asleep, you're in
a relaxed what we call your parasympathetic nervous system is
in control.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Your heart rate is slower.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
You know, people might say, like when I'm asleep, my
heart rate went down to forty and like I'm like
that's normal because you're like really relaxed. Or my blood
your blood pressure is much lower. So all of those
things are protective of your heart and important.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
So the Mediterranean diet, some movement during the week, no
process foods and moderation in alcohol, dessert, all those types
of things, all that common sense stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Is it ever too late to start.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
No, definitely not too late. You can always start.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
You can always go to the doctor, you can always
start treating whatever your risk factors are. You can always
start doing more activity and get stronger.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
My grandmother at eighty nine years old, it's not too late.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
For her, No, definitely not.
Speaker 5 (32:14):
If anything, well, actually, her life expectancy is probably higher
than it was a few years ago. So if you
make it to eighty five, your life expectancy actually goes
up because it's a J curve, So if you make
it to a certain age, your chances of living are
higher than your chances of dying in the next year. Yeah, yeah, cool, Yeah,
I mean, I'll think you should put her on like
(32:38):
a rowing machine, but depending on how fit she is.
Always walking and practicing strength exercises is good. And you know,
we didn't talk about depression as a risk factor, but
you know, being depressed is also a risk factor for
heart disease. And actually sometimes people after they have heart
disease and a diagnosis of it, or have a heart
attack and become very depressed. So it's important to treat
(33:00):
that and help people get through that.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
I'm so glad you brought that up. Thank you for
adding that.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
I was at a health panel years ago and people
were talking about the health of meat and one of
the experts said something I'll never forget somebody asked what
type of cows or meat do we need? Is it organic?
What should we be looking for? And the expert said,
you need to eat a happy cow. And I thought
that was the weirdest answer at the time, and now
(33:28):
I understand what she means, because the happier the cow
was in their life, the healthier the cow is, and
then the healthier the meat is for you when you're
eating it. My question for you is is a happy
heart a healthy heart?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Is there a link there?
Speaker 5 (33:46):
I think there is a link, and the mind heart
connection is major. There is actually a condition called stress cardiomyopathy,
and what it is is someone who's had a severe
traumatic emotional experience, could be the death of a child,
a breakup, a horrible fight with someone. They develop chest pain,
(34:06):
their EKG looks like they're having a heart attack like
the same changes.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
They are rushed to the hospital.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
They do a cardiac catheterization, but they don't have any blockages,
but their heart has this ballooned out appearance and it's
actually caused purely by stress. It usually recovers with good
treatment and it doesn't stay forever.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
But so yes, if breaking up.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
With a significant other or having some loved one die
can cause a heart failure syndrome. Then we know that
there's a link, and so yes, happiness keeps your heart happy.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Doctor Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (34:46):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this conversation.
You're such an excellent communicator.
Speaker 5 (34:52):
Well, I hope we can help women out there get
what they need and get treated properly.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Doctor Jennifer Haith is a cardiologist and associate professor at
Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
That's it for today's show. Tomorrow, we're keeping our Week
of Love going strong with writer Elana Kaplan. She joins
us to talk all about the legacy of Nora Efron,
aka the Queen of rom Coms, in her new book
called Nora Efron at the Movies. Join the conversation using
hashtag the bright Side and connect with us on social
media at Hello Sunshine on Instagram and at the bright
(35:30):
Side Pod on TikTok oh, and feel free to tag
us at Simone Boyce and at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Listen and follow The bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
See you tomorrow. Folks keep looking on the bright side.
Hello Sunshine, Hey bessies.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright side, it's Wellness Wednesday, and we're
tackling a topic that affects millions of women every year,
heart disease. Cardiologist doctor Jennifer Haith is here to drop
some truth bombs and share a few surprising tips that
honestly could save your life. It's Wednesday, February twelve. I'm
Simone Voice, I'm.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Danielle Robe and this is the bright side from Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
All right, besties. All week we are talking love and
relationships as we look forward to Valentine's Day this Friday.
We hope you've got your Gallantine's Day plans in order.
And for today's Wellness Wednesday, we're talking about the one
thing that symbolizes all things love and romance.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Our heart be still our hearts. Okay, this is actually serious.
February is American Heart Month, a time when everyone is
encouraged to focus on their cardiovascular health, and for good reason.
This may come as a surprise to everybody, but heart
disease is the leading cause of death in the United
States and unfortunately the leading killer of women, more so
(01:09):
than breast cancer, and estimated one in four women will
die from some form of the disease.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I mean one in four women. That is a truly
shocking number. And I was also surprised to learn that
even though heart disease is the leading cause of death,
an estimated eighty percent of cardiovascular disease is preventable. Just
to say that one more time, it's preventable, it's mind blessing.
So if you are as surprised by these statistics as
we are, just know that there are a lot of
(01:35):
things that we can actually start doing today to feel
empowered on this journey of lowering our risk for her
heart disease.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Absolutely, and I think it goes without saying that we
all know the importance of eating well, exercising, sleeping well,
and our guest today is building on that. She's sharing
some lesser known ways that we can protect our hearts
and improve.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Our cardiovascular health.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Doctor Jennif for Haith is a cardiologist and Columbia University professor.
She specializes in heart failure, cardiac transplant, and women's cardiovascular disease.
Doctor Jennifer hath Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Hi, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
We're really grateful for your time today.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
The stats around heart disease are equal parts terrifying and empowering.
We just mentioned that cardiovascular disease is the number one
killer of women, but it's also preventable eighty percent of
the time. I just want to reiterate that eighty percent
of the time. Can you help us make sense of
that contradiction. If heart disease is so preventable, why is
(02:37):
it still the leading cause of death in the United States.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
It's a really good question, and it's probably the most
important thing we should talk about today, which is that
most of heart disease is in fact preventable and also
very treatable, which is part of why I picked cardiology
as my profession. The reason that people develop heart disease
is usually.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
The combination of factors.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
So there are risk factors that predispose you, and it's
a lot of women and men, but women especially where
since we're talking about women, don't necessarily take care of
these risk factors. And so when you have unchecked diabetes,
high blood pressure, obesity, tobacco use, sedentary lifestyle. I mean,
(03:19):
the list goes on high cholesterol, and you don't treat
those from an early age. Those things add up and
you end up with having heart disease. But if from
a young age people were paying more attention to these
risk factors and modifying them, you really would see a
dramatic reduction in heart disease in women.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I also learned through researching for this interview that there's
been an increase in heart attacks for women ages thirty
five to fifty four. Thirty five to fifty four is
very young, and that's increased over the past two decades.
What does that increase about.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
There's a couple of different reasons.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
One is that women are now working in the workforce
in a similar capacity to men, and so for a
long time, you know, when women were not as much
a part of the workforce, cardiac disease was more prevalent
in men. Thought to be you know, in part related
to stress of you know, having a job and you know,
manual labor and things like that.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
But women are also now falling.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Victim to the same risk factors that men have had
for years.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Right.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
So smoking obesity huge problem in this country, and we're
seeing it younger, So women have those risk factors younger.
Diabetes again goes hand in hand with obesity, so women
developing insulin resistance at younger ages, higher blood pressure is
a result. So all of these things are really wrapped together.
(04:45):
And when you have a more sedentary lifestyle or you
are now working more longer hours overnight shifts, not not
aware that you are now at risk for diabetes, hypertension,
high cholesterol. Those things are all putting women at increased risk.
Women are also at higher risk for something called SCAD,
which is spontaneous cornary artery dissection. Is something you know
(05:08):
you may read about or hear about in the news
where the blood vessel wall actually splits apart and kind
of causes the blood vessel to close and cause a
heart attack, and that is common in women, particularly women
in the peripartum period. It's a very poorly understood phenomenon
where hormones may play a role, stress may play a role.
(05:29):
You know, we don't really know, but we know that
it affects women more than men, and that it's scary
because it's not so easily treated. So you know, there's
a lot of different things that play But you're right,
and being younger and being more aware of your risk
of heart disease is so important because it's when you
start young taking care of yourself. You're really preventing so
(05:51):
much misery down the road.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I was looking at your Instagram account and it says
that you encourage people to eat using the Mediterranean diet,
which I'd like to get into more. But I do
think that that seems like that's something you can do
at a young age. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:08):
I mean, unfortunately, our diet is terrible in the United States,
and I think we're very fixated on being very intense
about different kinds of diets, and that's why there's.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Been so many diet books.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
And you know, it's not sexy to just eat like
a balanced, normal diet, but that's actually the best thing
for you, you know. So what I tell patients is,
you know Mediterranean diet, like avoid butter, use olive oil,
have salads, have vegetables, have fruits, have nuts, try.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
To limit meat, you know, takee.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
You can have chicken, white meats, very focused on fish.
It's not so hard to stick to it.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
It's pretty simple.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
You just have to commit to like a healthier diet,
not eating fast food, fried food.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
It's so part of our culture. Unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Talk to me about genetics here. If your grandmother or
your mother suffers, are you more likely to suffer.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
Yeah, So genetics of heart disease is fascinating. Some of
the diseases are clearly genetically based, are inherited. There's such
a bigger push for genetic testing. And so not only
is that helping us identify, you know, causes for some
of the syndromes we're seeing, but it also helps women
(07:25):
know that they should screen their children, or that their
parents should be screened, you know, if they have something
that their parents may not have known about, or their
siblings should be screened.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
And it's fascinating.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
I mean, there's genetic associations with almost every single heart problem.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
We know some more than others.
Speaker 5 (07:43):
And it is crucial for women to talk about their
family history with their family.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
And it's interesting.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Women are embarrassed historically to talk about their heart disease.
They feel like it's a man's disease, you know. I
always say in the movies, you see a woman like
playing tennis and then having a heart attack or having
a heart attack in the middle of having sex.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Right, that's so true.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Right, And also this association with this like overweight, smoking,
cheeseburger eating man, you know, and that is not the case.
And there's many women who do not fit that profile.
I mean even people who run marathons, who are healthy
and who have maybe, like you're saying, this very strong
family history of early heart attack that may have nothing
(08:29):
to do with how much shape you're in, and maybe
entirely genetically driven, and it's important to be screened. So
I tell women, talk to your mothers, talk to your siblings, like,
try to talk about it with your friends.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Don't have it be embarrassing.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
You know somehow it's not embarrassing to talk about breast
cancer or other kinds of cancers, but heart disease feels shameful, in.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Which we as a community are really trying to reverse that.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Is there a way to override your genetic predisposition? I'm
thinking obviously lifestyle facts. But can people with a family
history reduce their risks significantly by doing anything?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
So it depends.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
So if you are inheriting a significant like autosomal dominantly
inherited genetic abnormality that leads to certain kinds of heart
failure syndromes like no, probably not, You're maybe predisposed like
hypertrophic cardimiapathy, you are going to get hypertrophic cardomampathy. But
what you can do is be screened early so that
(09:33):
you don't miss it and have a catastrophic event. Know
what you have, there are medications available like start treatment
sooner and be aware of it. It's always better to
be prepared than to have something catastrophic or sudden happen.
Then you're in much sicker situation. There is a huge
amount you can do, though, if your genetics predispose you
(09:55):
to more like athrosclerosis. So if your father was thirty
five and drop dead, or your mother and was running
and was otherwise a totally fit person, you know, that
makes you wonder there's some genetic predisposition. And there's certainly
some cultures that have much earlier cornary vascular disease than
other cultures. And so what I recommend for those people is,
(10:16):
besides you know, eating healthy and taking pills for your
blood pressure and taking cholesterol medication and making sure you
don't smoke and exercise, you also should get screened because
even if you're doing all those things, you can still progress.
And so if you catch that early and treat it,
you will be okay, okay and fine.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So in addition to genetics, when we think about our
anatomy as women, when we think about our hormones as women,
what role does all of that play in heart disease.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
So we know that women seem to be protected from
athoskerotic heart disease until postmenopause, which prompted a big study,
you know, over twenty years ago now where they looked
at the use of hormone replacement in women as a
mechanism to prevent heart disease. You know. The feeling was
(11:11):
that there was something about estrogen that was protective and
that once women went through menopause their risk for heart
disease was the same as men. And so they did
that study and then they found a higher risk of
cardiovascular events and the women who were taking estrogen. So
after that everybody said, oh my god, we can't use
hormone replacement in women. It kills women, actually gives them
(11:33):
heart attacks and strokes. And so for like the last
twenty years, they've taken away hormone replacement for a long time,
until a few vocal doctors and scientists said, well, actually
the study was really misinterpreted, and yes, if you have
risk factors for heart disease, strong family history, hypertension, diabetes, obesity,
(11:55):
high cholesterol, smoking, and then you take hormone replacement, may
be increased.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
But if you are a fifty five year.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Old woman who's otherwise healthy, doesn't have a lot of
cardiac risk factors or any and you're suffering from horrible
hot flashes and insomnia, that taking hormone replacement is totally safe.
Whether or not it's going to prevent you from developing
heart disease maybe still be up for some debate, but
(12:23):
its safety is certainly clear. And that you know, I
think we deprived women of hormone replacement for a long
time because of sort of this misinterpreted study, and people
are recognizing that now. So you guys are a little young,
but when you hit like your late forties, early fifties,
you'll see, you know, my friends are all asking me, like,
(12:45):
what do you think about hormone replaces? When you think
about hormone replace and then tell them like, if you don't,
you know, we go through their risk factors, and if
their risk factors, okay, it's definitely okay and can cause
a lot of relief from a lot of horrible symptoms
of metopause.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Okay, let's talk symptoms, especially for heart attacks. This part
of this conversation is so important. I've heard that women
are less likely to experience some of the same symptoms
as men, some of the classic symptoms that we've been
trained to look for. So what should we be looking for?
Speaker 5 (13:17):
So the number one symptom for a heart attack in
men or women is going to be chest pain and pressure. Remember,
it can be a sharp pain, but the traditional what
we call angina or angenal chest pain of a heart
attack is often described as like a pressure on the chest,
like an elephant sitting on your chest, and it's this
heaviness that you can't quite like, never felt before, but
(13:40):
also can have pain. So women are more likely to
have these atypical symptoms, which I say they're not really
atypical because women can also be typical, but they call
them a typical.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
So pain in your left arm radiating up to your jaw.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
The reason why we always hear about that, and people
always don't understand it is that the nerve bundles.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
From your arm and into your jaw. They travel with
the cardiac nerve bundles.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
So it's not that your arm actually hurts, it's that
your brain is confusing the pain from the nerves traveling
from your heart with the nerves traveling from your arm
and your jaw, So you're feeling a sensation of pain
in your arm and your jaw, but it's really just
it's originating really from the heart and it's being misinterpreted.
(14:26):
Does that make sense, So we call it like referred pain.
Women are very likely to feel short of breath. I
try to tell people. It's the kind of thing where
every day, let's say you walk three blocks to get
to the subway, you go down the subway stairs, you
come up the subway stairs. Sometimes everyone feels a little
short breath when they go upstairs. But if you start
(14:48):
to say, like the last couple days, or when today
I walked to the subway and I just couldn't catch
my breath and I went up the stairs, I couldn't
catch my breath, that is when I feel worried.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Take it really seriously.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Another thing that women feel more commonly is mid epigastric pain.
So you know, sometimes when you're having a heart attack
and a certain part of your heart, it can be
referred to the mid epigastric region. So they were like,
you'll hear people say, like I didn't feel well. I
felt the little nauseous. I felt like this kind of
like I thought I had reflux again. That's also an
(15:21):
atypical symptom back pain, chest pain, lightheadedness, whoa palpitations. And
also this, I think this is always an interesting one,
like a feeling of doom.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Which feels very strange and sort of like a little.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Bit sounds like a Sunday to me, like, yeah, Sunday scaries's.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Exactly, but there is something about this, like I feel
like there's something not right with me, and I can't
quite figure out what it is, but I know something's wrong.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
I tell people to take those things seriously.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
So if you don't feel okay, go to a doctor,
and if you're not happy with what that doctor provider
told you, get another opinion, or take yourself to the
emmergence sea room. You know, I've seen a lot of people,
women in particular, be told that they're having an anxiety attack,
they're having a panic attack, and maybe some of them
may be having a panic attack. But before we decide
(16:11):
it's a panic attack, let's do an EKG and let's
check your blood work, and let's do a proper evaluation.
And then only then say it's maybe anxiety or panic.
Before jumping to that conclusion.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I want to double down on the anxiety part. I've
done several interviews in the past about heart health, and
most of the doctors or researchers that I've talked to
have said, if there's one thing that you could take
away from today, it's that if you feel like you
are having an anxiety attack, make sure that you are
(16:45):
also making the hospital look at your heart.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
It could save your life one hundred percent. You can
message of the day, yes, and not always the hospital,
even if you go to your regularly. If you wait
and make an appointment with your regular doctor, make sure
that they're taking you seriously too well.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
A lot of times they dismiss you if you ask
for that because they're busy or other reasons, and it's
hard to stand up for yourself in that moment, but
you really I've now learned anxiety check for heart health.
I've known a woman who saved her life because of.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
That, and I know people who've lost their lives because
they haven't done that. And it's sad and terrible, But
if you don't feel right, go and see someone, and
then if that person doesn't make you feel like they're
really taking your symptoms seriously, or you still don't feel
(17:40):
good after you see that person, go somewhere out go
to the er, like, yeah, please call nine one one
and have them take you to the emergency room. If
you're sitting in your house and you can't breathe and
you're having pain and you're like nervous, just call numb
one one. Put yourself first for once, you know it's
really it is life or death.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Haith, I just want to underscore everything you just said
with a statistic I came across that seventy two percent
of women who had a heart attack waited more than
ninety minutes to go to the hospital or call nine
one one. In your experience, I can't imagine that all
of that is shame.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Why are women not calling for help?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
I think there's also fear.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
I mean I think there's a you know, there is
a shame part or a I don't want to bother anybody,
or I have other stuff to do and I'll deal
with it later. But I think people are scared, right, Like,
having a heart attack is scary. And what I think
is important for me to convey to your audience is
(18:44):
that there's all different kinds of heart attacks. Right, there's
really big heart attack that could chill you right on
the spot, but there's also small heart attacks.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Right.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
The heart has three big arteries, but there's branches of
vessels off of all of those arteries, and some of
them can be small and they can do damage. But
I don't want people to be scared that the outcome
may be that they go to the hospital and that
they get a stent and that they have to take
some medication, you know, for their cholesterol and a baby
aspen for the rest of their life, or a few medications.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
And I think there's this avoidance and denial of what
those symptoms are.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
And so it's really important to try to push that
to the side and recognize that if you keep doing that,
either you could have a catastrophic event or over time,
even if it's little heart attacks, like for instance, in
diabetics who may not feel this heart attack the same
way as other people because of how diabetes works, that
even though the heart attack may not be actually killing
(19:43):
them on the spot, they are developing a heart failure syndrome.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
And so what our goal is in taking care of
people is really we want you.
Speaker 5 (19:51):
To be like super healthy, healthy, exercise and then like
drop dead when you're ninety five, right, like fall die
in your sleep.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
That would be everybody goal, right.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
They don't want to suffer with some kind of chronic
illness and they want to be active. I mean, another
important thing that I want to tell women about being
active is that it's so important to start when you're
young and stay active through your life. I understand that
there are times where you can't always be as active
as other times, but even just practicing standing up from
(20:24):
a seated position in a chair. You know, we know
that women and men who have more core strength and
can do activities in their seventies and eighties like stand
up by themselves from a chair with no hands or
you know, have that inner strength, have a longer life
expectancy and do better. And so that is also really,
really maybe the most important thing for people to be
(20:46):
aware of.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
We've got to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back to our conversation with doctor Jennifer Haith and
we're back to Wellness Wednesday with doctor Jennifer Haith.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Well, I want to speak next about something that I
know you get excited about talking about which is prevention,
so exercise food.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Can we get into the nitty gritty of that.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Yeah, I mean, it's funny what you said before.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
But like I was like one day, I was like,
I think I'm going to write a book that's called
like eat Less, Move More.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
And then I was like, but that's kind of like
that's it. I don't know what I put in the rest.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Of the book.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
I don't know how many pages there are for that story.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
I just I think my message for people is, well,
first of all, we haven't even talked about the whole
glip one, Munjaro and all of these you know, ozembic
and these drugs, which, by the way, you know, I
know some people feel are controversial, but from a cardiovascular perspective,
the data suggests an incredible mortality morbidity benefit.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
So really, yes, very.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
That's wonderful to hear.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
Yeah, very protective cardiovascular, so they have a lot of
cardiovasterlar benefit. Weight loss, I know is very hard for people,
and I think the concept of exercise is very hard
for people who are overweight.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
But there are ways to do it, you know.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
I don't expect anyone to jump on a treadmill and
do forty five minutes of running. I tell people to
start really slow and try to incorporate it with something
they'd like. So if you like to listen to podcasts,
or if you like to listen to books on tape,
or if you have a really best friend that you
like to talk to, like start with just all you
really need is a pair of sneakers and just start
(22:37):
by taking a walk.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
And if you're really obese or really out of shape.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
It can be ten minutes and then make it, you know,
fifteen minutes and it's just you got to just start
somewhere and it can take a long time, but you
will see a dramatic effect over time.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Does it matter how high you get your heart rate?
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Well, I mean, you know, look not in the beginning,
Like my goal is to first get people off the
couch and just moving a little bit. If we're talking
about peak fitness, you know, to twenty minus your age
is supposed to be your peak heart rate during max exercise.
You know, everybody has I wear this whoop. You know,
everybody has a different bringing on or Apple Watch or
(23:14):
whatever they like. And it can tell if you want
to wear one of those fitbits or one of those devices.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
It can check your heart rate.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
So you're you said you're thirty four, so your you know,
max predicted heart rate is two twenty minus thirty four.
And then you know you're not supposed to stay at
that the whole time. That's your max. So if you
go for a run or you do a hard hit class,
you want to hit that maybe a couple times, but
you're probably going to settle in somewhere a little bit
(23:41):
lower as you're sustained, you know, high level activity. You know,
the American Heart Association they want people to exercise, you know,
five times a week, you know, forty five minutes.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
But yeah, I was reading it said one hundred and
fifteen minutes a week of moderate exercise or seventy five
minutes of vigorous exercise. Which that's I mean, that's considerable.
That's a commitment.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
It's a commitment.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
But I don't like to say that to people who
are doing nothing, because I'd rather you do something and
build up to that. So if you even get if
you have a peloton or you want to sit and
watch your favorite TV show on an exercise spoke. It
doesn't even have to be a fancy one and just
sit there and get on it and just like pedal
for twenty minutes. That makes me happy, you know, because
(24:26):
people actually feel so much better when they do exercise.
And my husband I always have this joke when we're
talking about whether or not to work out, and I
don't want to work out, I'm tired, and then we
have this joke like no one ever regrets a run.
You don't come back and be like, damn, I shouldn't
have taken it. Yeah, it just like never happens. It
always ends up where you're like, I'm so glad I
(24:46):
did the run, you know. So I try to rewind
myself of that, but you know, it's hard to motivate.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I get it. You know.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Is there a hierarchy of exercise if we're talking about
the next level here and not just like trying to
get up off the couch and and make a little
bit happen. Is it jogging, swimming, walking? Like, what's your
hierarchy cardiovascular fitness? I mean, there's a lot of different
ways to get your heart rate up. There's all different
philosophies about it.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
You know, we want someone to have to be like
in a sustained high heart rate, you know, for at
least like what thirty five minutes. But it can be running,
it could be swimming, it could be tennis, it could
be playing basketball, it could be you know, anything where
you're running around and being physically active.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
It could be on the rowing machine, it could be
a hit class.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
It's not the same as lifting weights, right, Lifting weights
is not going to make your heart rate be sustained.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Lifting weights is good for.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Core strength, but that's not as a cardiologist my main focus.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
That's what I was curious about. How about frequency?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
What if you are a person who doesn't like to
work out during the weeks, but you go hard on
the weekends.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Is does that matter for your heart?
Speaker 5 (25:57):
I mean it's hard because the week it's only two
But yes, I think as I would I take any exercise.
I'm happy if you're doing anything, so I'm not going
to judge. I think, you know, if you could get
in three days a week would be great. The other
thing to remember is that on the other days that
you're not maybe going to the gym per se, can
you stay like moving a lot? Like I work at
(26:18):
a hospital, I don't sit at a desk. I mean
I'm sitting at desk right now to talk to you.
But for the most part, I'm not at a desk.
I'm like walking through the hospital. I'm seeing patients, I'm
on rounds, I'm standing up. I mean, at the end
of my day with doing zero exercise, I'm at like
fifteen thousand steps sometimes yeah, and I haven't broke a sweat.
So if I'm doing that three days a week, and
then three days a week I go and ride the
(26:39):
peloton for thirty five minutes, that's pretty good, you know.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Like I'm moving around a lot.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
I don't think people need to get this is where
we get into the obsessive culture.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
We go like all or nothing.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
It's very hard for us to stay in the middle,
which is actually what's probably the best for you. Right
Like eat it, eat like a normal healthy diet, and
then every now and then you can have a beat
that and you get on this and exercise, like.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Do thirty five minutes of exercise a couple days a week.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Instead people are like become crazy. They go, you know,
they have to do fitness freaks.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
You know, it's like you don't have to get so crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
It's time for another short break.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
But we'll be right back to Wellness Wednesday with doctor
Jennifer Haith, and we're back with doctor Jennifer Haith.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
So, doctor Hath, my dad was a dentist.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
And growing up, he would come home for dinner and
we would ask him about his day, and probably about
once a week or once every two weeks, he would
say that he caught some form of cancer in somebody's mouth,
or some indication of much larger illness. And I learned
that there's actually a link between oral health and heart disease.
(27:53):
Why is taking care of your mouth so important to
your heart.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Well, there's a couple things.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
One is that that gingivitis and gum disease is like
a chronic problem, right, and so it's associated with a
high level of inflammation, and there is a link between
this chronic inflammatory state and cardiovascular disease. There may even
be a link between certain bacteria that grow in your
mouth and cardiovaster disease. And also we know that when
(28:20):
you go to the dentist, if you have existing certain
kinds of heart disease, you need to take prophylactic antibiotics
because when you get your teeth cleaned or have your
teeth worked on, bacteria is transiently released into your bloodstream
and a normal person clears that bacteria and you don't
get a horrible infection. It's just to get your teeth cleaned.
There was maybe a little bacteria for a second. Your
(28:43):
natural white blood cells take care of that and it's fine.
If you have had rheumatic heart disease, or you have
a defibrillator wire, or you have a valve replacement, your
doctor should have instructed you to take prophilactic antima biotics
prior to getting your teeth cleaned so that when that
(29:04):
bacteria is released into the bloodstream that the antibiotics will
take care of it and it won't stick, because that
bacteria can sometimes stick onto the valves and cause a
condition called endocarditis, which is an infection of the heart valves.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
So yeah, is there a link between alcohol and heart disease?
Speaker 4 (29:22):
That is such a hard question.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
As a heart failure doctor, we know that alcohol can
cause heart failure syndromes. If you're an alcoholic, like if
we have an alcohol use disorder, as we say now,
you can develop a heart failure syndrome that can reverse
if you stop using alcohol. So for heart failure perspectives,
I tell patients not to drink. We also know that
using a lot of alcohol leads statial fibrillation now in
(29:46):
the Mediterranean diet, and there is a lot of data
that one glass of red wine a day is okay
for you, and that it may actually be protective. So
there's conflicting data. My advice, you know, rather than being
a teetotaler, is to tell if you have a real
heart problem. I tell you people that they shouldn't drink,
(30:07):
but if you're otherwise healthy, I stick to the guideline
recommendations and minimize excessive alcohol use.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
But it's okay to have a drink.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Now in that this is not necessarily having to do
with heart health.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
It's more about longevity.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
But I'm obsessed with this study I read years ago
about centurians who were they studied their sleep, and people
that lived to one hundred basically slept on average seven
point twenty five hours a night. And sleep is super
important for longevity. Is sleep important for your heart health?
Is there a recommended number of hours?
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Yes? So actually the AHA just changed this.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Yes, they want you to get like more sleep than
they use to, and they will include naps in that.
So sleep is now listed as one of like the
big cardiovascular important risk factors that we know that lack
of sleep earned some yet now general sleep is a
time to repair and restore and it is really important
(31:06):
for stress.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
And you know when you wake up in the morning.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
You know a lot of heart attacks happen in the
early morning because as you come out of sleep, your
heart rate comes up, your your cortisol levels increase, your
blood pressure goes up. So when you're asleep, you're in
a relaxed what we call your parasympathetic nervous system is
in control.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Your heart rate is slower.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
You know, people might say, like when I'm asleep, my
heart rate went down to forty and like I'm like
that's normal because you're like really relaxed. Or my blood
your blood pressure is much lower. So all of those
things are protective of your heart and important.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
So the Mediterranean diet, some movement during the week, no
process foods and moderation in alcohol, dessert, all those types
of things, all that common sense stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Is it ever too late to start.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
No, definitely not too late. You can always start.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
You can always go to the doctor, you can always
start treating whatever your risk factors are. You can always
start doing more activity and get stronger.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
My grandmother at eighty nine years old, it's not too late.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
For her, No, definitely not.
Speaker 5 (32:14):
If anything, well, actually, her life expectancy is probably higher
than it was a few years ago. So if you
make it to eighty five, your life expectancy actually goes
up because it's a J curve, So if you make
it to a certain age, your chances of living are
higher than your chances of dying in the next year. Yeah, yeah, cool, Yeah,
I mean, I'll think you should put her on like
(32:38):
a rowing machine, but depending on how fit she is.
Always walking and practicing strength exercises is good. And you know,
we didn't talk about depression as a risk factor, but
you know, being depressed is also a risk factor for
heart disease. And actually sometimes people after they have heart
disease and a diagnosis of it, or have a heart
attack and become very depressed. So it's important to treat
(33:00):
that and help people get through that.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
I'm so glad you brought that up. Thank you for
adding that.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
I was at a health panel years ago and people
were talking about the health of meat and one of
the experts said something I'll never forget somebody asked what
type of cows or meat do we need? Is it organic?
What should we be looking for? And the expert said,
you need to eat a happy cow. And I thought
that was the weirdest answer at the time, and now
(33:28):
I understand what she means, because the happier the cow
was in their life, the healthier the cow is, and
then the healthier the meat is for you when you're
eating it. My question for you is is a happy
heart a healthy heart?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Is there a link there?
Speaker 5 (33:46):
I think there is a link, and the mind heart
connection is major. There is actually a condition called stress cardiomyopathy,
and what it is is someone who's had a severe
traumatic emotional experience, could be the death of a child,
a breakup, a horrible fight with someone. They develop chest pain,
(34:06):
their EKG looks like they're having a heart attack like
the same changes.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
They are rushed to the hospital.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
They do a cardiac catheterization, but they don't have any blockages,
but their heart has this ballooned out appearance and it's
actually caused purely by stress. It usually recovers with good
treatment and it doesn't stay forever.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
But so yes, if breaking up.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
With a significant other or having some loved one die
can cause a heart failure syndrome. Then we know that
there's a link, and so yes, happiness keeps your heart happy.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Doctor Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (34:46):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this conversation.
You're such an excellent communicator.
Speaker 5 (34:52):
Well, I hope we can help women out there get
what they need and get treated properly.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Doctor Jennifer Haith is a cardiologist and associate professor at
Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
That's it for today's show. Tomorrow, we're keeping our Week
of Love going strong with writer Elana Kaplan. She joins
us to talk all about the legacy of Nora Efron,
aka the Queen of rom Coms, in her new book
called Nora Efron at the Movies. Join the conversation using
hashtag the bright Side and connect with us on social
media at Hello Sunshine on Instagram and at the bright
(35:30):
Side Pod on TikTok oh, and feel free to tag
us at Simone Boyce and at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Listen and follow The bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
See you tomorrow. Folks keep looking on the bright side.
Hosts And Creators
Simone Boyce
Danielle Robay
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