A complete list of preventive measures for heart disease

According to the "China Cardiovascular Health and Disease Report 2023", more than 90% of acute cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, sudden cardiac death, etc.) can be avoided through early intervention in controllable risk factors. There is no such thing as "destined to get heart disease". The essence of prevention is to manage the habits that can be changed and do the screenings that need to be done. That's it. I am not talking nonsense. I have been in cardiovascular clinics for 12 years and have seen thousands of cases, and I have come to a conclusion that is completely consistent with the consensus of the academic community.

Last week, a 32-year-old Internet programmer was admitted to the outpatient clinic. He is 1.8 meters tall and weighs almost 190 pounds. He works overtime until two or three o'clock every day, drinks Coke as water, and takes out fried chicken burgers every day. This time, he came after three days of chest tightness. After a coronary CT scan, 40% of the coronary artery was blocked. Fortunately, it was not to the point of needing a stent. If he goes back to adjust his diet and take medicine, there is still the possibility of the plaque reversal. Don’t think this is an exception. Nowadays, a lot of people in their 20s are suffering from coronary heart disease. Don’t use your youth as a gold medal to avoid death.

Many people ask me whether to completely avoid red meat and milk tea to prevent heart disease? In fact, there are still different opinions on this matter in the academic circles. Traditional cardiovascular guidelines have always recommended reducing the intake of saturated fats (red meat, butter, animal oils, etc.) and controlling the daily energy supply ratio of saturated fats to less than 10%. However, in recent years, many studies supporting low-carb ketogenic diets have also suggested that as long as they are not artificially synthesized trans fats, the negative impact of natural saturated fats on cardiovascular disease is not as great as previously thought. My personal suggestion is that you don’t need to go to extremes. Trans fats (non-dairy fat, shortening, oil for repeated frying, cocoa butter substitutes, etc.) are clear Class 1 carcinogens and are extremely harmful to the cardiovascular system. If you can’t avoid it, don’t eat it. ； As for red meat and butter, if you already have dyslipidemia or a family history of premature heart disease (your parents were diagnosed with heart disease before the age of 55), then try to eat as little as possible. If your physical examination indicators are normal, it is really okay to eat butter hot pot and drink a cup of full-sugar milk tea occasionally. Don't worry about taboos every day, which will be bad for your heart.

Talking about anxiety is a digression. By the way, when it comes to exercise, you really don’t have to force yourself to get a fitness card worth tens of thousands of yuan and run 5 kilometers every day. I have met several people who walked ten kilometers every day just to increase their exercise volume. Instead, they injured their knees and even induced heart overload. The WHO requires 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. What is moderate-intensity exercise? It means that you can speak normally but cannot sing loudly when you are active. Taking two less bus stops to walk home from work, walking the dog downstairs for 20 minutes after dinner, or taking your children to the park to climb a hill on weekends are all considered effective exercises. What I fear the most is sitting all day long, sitting in front of the computer for 8 hours at work, then slumping on the sofa after get off work and scrolling through my phone until I fall asleep. This kind of "sitting for a long time" is even more harmful than eating junk food occasionally.

Oh, by the way, there are also smoking and drinking. Don’t believe the nonsense about “a small amount of drinking softens blood vessels.” It is now clear that even a sip of alcohol is harmful to the cardiovascular system. If you have high blood pressure and continue to drink every day, the risk of cerebral hemorrhage can increase several times. Not to mention smoking. I have seen 30-year-old smokers whose coronary plaques have shrunk significantly after three years of quitting. I have also seen a 28-year-old man who has been smoking for 10 years suffer a heart attack and be sent to the rescue. Don’t take individual cases as universal truths. Second-hand and third-hand smoke are even more harmful than smoking by yourself. If you have elderly children at home, you really need to take more care.

Emotions and sleep are easily ignored by many people. Last year, there was a 40-year-old female patient whose blood lipids and blood pressure were normal. She did not smoke or drink. Her children were tutored on homework every day in junior high school. She was so angry that she could not sleep all night long. After staying up for a week, she suddenly suffered from angina pectoris in the middle of the night. She called 120 and sent her over. After a long period of checking, there was no organic stenosis in her coronary arteries. It was coronary spasm caused by excessive emotion. Severe coronary spasm can also lead to myocardial infarction. Nowadays, young people are under a lot of pressure. They are burdened with 996 every day, car and house loans, and long-term chronic stress and anxiety. The damage to the cardiovascular system is really subtle. Don't think "I'm just in a bad mood", your heart will really take revenge one by one.

Finally, let’s talk about screening. Don’t be too anxious. You should do the most expensive examination as soon as you get started. If you have no family history and do not have symptoms such as chest tightness and chest pain, radiating left shoulder pain, palpitation and shortness of breath, it is enough to have your blood pressure, blood lipids (especially the core indicator of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and a routine electrocardiogram checked every year after the age of 35. You do not need to do a coronary CT. After all, there is radiation, so there is no need for excessive examinations. But if you have a family history of early-onset heart disease, or you already have the above-mentioned uncomfortable symptoms, don’t hold it back, and go to a cardiology department to see a doctor in time. Many people just think “I’m just tired, I just need to rest.” As a result, it ends up being a myocardial infarction, and the best time for rescue is missed.

In fact, after all, there is no "encyclopedia". I have seen too many people buy various health products, deep-sea fish oil, and coenzyme Q10 and pile them up at home for meals. In the end, they end up staying up late when they should, and smoking when they should. This is not called prevention, but self-comfort. You really need to take good care of your heart. To put it bluntly, live your life with a little "restraint" and don't abuse your body. If you really feel uncomfortable, don't bear it. It's more effective than any panacea. Oh, by the way, one last thing to add, there is currently no clear evidence in the academic community that Coenzyme Q10 supplementation can prevent heart disease in healthy people. Only patients who already have cardiomyopathy or have muscle soreness as a side effect of taking statins are recommended to supplement it under the guidance of a doctor, so as not to waste money.