Heart care:
Giving your heart some TLC is the key to enjoying a healthy life. Professor Kerryn Phelps reveals how to keep it in top shape.
tips to keep your heart in top shape
Are you one of the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who have high blood pressure that’s either untreated, or treated but still at an unsafe level? The frightening news is that at least 20 per cent of us are in this situation. Over time, the consequences of untreated hypertension could be a potentially devastating stroke or heart attack, dementia or kidney disease. Even among those already taking medication, many still have dangerously high blood pressure.
In Australia, recent analysis by the Heart Foundation found that city people are the worst culprits for not keeping their high blood pressure in check. While people in the country are more likely to have hypertension – 39 per cent compared to 31 per cent – they are more like to have it properly treated.
Heart disease is the most common cause of death and a significant cause of disability. Over recent years there has been a particular focus on raising awareness of heart disease in women. Why is this? Women do not recognise symptoms until they are at a more advanced stage of cardiovascular disease than men and even then their symptoms are often vague and non-specific, so they may not trigger a visit to their doctor or emergency department. For example, rather than the classic left-sided chest pain, shortness of
“The risk is more common with age.”
breath and nausea usually associated with a need to rush to hospital with a suspected heart attack, women might experience neck or jaw pain or tightness, dizziness, vomiting, fatigue, sweating and shortness of breath.
The result of this delay is that 40 per cent of heart attacks in women are fatal.
Hypertension, the most significant risk factor for heart disease, is two to three times more common in women than in men and becomes more common with age. It has been estimated that more than half of women aged 55 and over have hypertension and, as we have discovered, many do not know.
Obesity and physical inactivity increase the risk of diabetes, and diabetes increases the risk of heart attack by three to seven times in women, compared with two to three times in men.
Your GP can arrange investigations to assess your risk of heart disease and the state of plaque in your coronary arteries.
“Relaxation techniques, such as yoga and meditation, are essential for controlling blood pressure, too.”