by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
Here’s my prediction for this infectiously upbeat Walk The Heart Walk song: the impressive lead vocal harmonies of Vanderbilt Heart & Vascular Institute’s cardiology fellow Dr. David Kim and 4th year med student Laura Tortora are so good that these folks just might have a real future in music (in case that medicine thing doesn’t work out!) Continue reading “Get off that couch and “walk the heart walk””
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
It doesn’t come in a pill bottle, nor is it supported by multi-million dollar marketing campaigns. It’s affordable, and often even completely free. It has few if any harmful side effects. It’s appropriate for both young and old alike. And just like the fistful of cardiac medications I now take every day since my own heart attack, I keep careful track of it (as evidenced by the stickers on my exercise calendar). It is exercise.
And it helps to prevent heart disease “better than any drug”, says Mario Mitkov of the University of California at Davis. Continue reading “What prevents heart disease “better than any drug”?”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
Last winter, I heard about four men in Ottawa – ages 45-72 – who had heart attacks, all on the same afternoon and all while shovelling snow. Despite news reports like this, it is not true that Ottawa men will do just about anything to get out of doing their chores.
Nor is it true that exercise all by itself will trigger a heart attack.
According to Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Sharonne Hayes:
“All heart attack patients have had an underlying condition that caused the attack.”
Most heart attacks, in fact, are 20-30 years in the making.
About half of all heart attack survivors, however, mistakenly blame the attack on one specific event – such as extreme exertion. Continue reading “Can exercise trigger a heart attack?”
Heart Sisters 