If you’ve ever seen a heart attack on TV, you probably picture an older man clutching his chest and collapsing. Real life doesn’t always look like that.
While men experience more heart attacks overall, heart disease — the underlying conditions that can lead to a heart attack — is the No. 1 cause of death for both men and women. The good news is that most heart disease is preventable.
To address common misconceptions about heart health, we spoke with Vicki Wild-McLeod, a family nurse practitioner specializing in interventional cardiology at Novant Health Heart & Vascular - Physicians Plaza in Hilton Head. Here she explains the facts about seven heart health myths.
Take the first step in improving your cardiac health.
Myth No. 1: A heart attack will always feel like chest pain.
Not necessarily. Other symptoms include jaw pain, shoulder pain, or pain between the shoulder blades. This is called referred pain, and we see it in women more often than men. Other symptoms of a heart attack include difficulty getting a deep breath, a feeling of panic or impending doom, and heartburn-like discomfort.
If you’re unsure whether symptoms are heart-related, consider your medical and family history. For example, true heartburn may improve with antacids like Tums. Heart-related symptoms won’t. If symptoms persist, or if you’re in doubt, seek medical care immediately.
Myth No. 2: Most heart attacks happen in older men
Risk increases with age, but heart attacks can happen at any age as an adult, and to women as well as men.
Myth No. 3: There is always a history of health problems and poor lifestyle choices in people who have heart attacks.
Some people may be living extremely healthy lifestyles and still experience heart attacks, sudden cardiac arrest, or live with other heart issues that are due to genetic factors. That’s why knowing your family’s heart history is key.
There are also some less obvious lifestyle risks for heart attack. Here’s an example: Women who take combination birth control pills and also have a history of smoking are at a higher risk for a heart attack.
The key to prevention is to be open with your primary care provider about your heart history, your family's heart history, and your lifestyle.
Myth No. 4: Heart problems run in my family, so there's nothing I can do to prevent them.
It’s easy to think so, but this isn't the case. Just because our parents or grandparents had heart disease or a history of heart attacks does not mean we are destined for that as well.
We can take accountability for our own health by exercising, eating a heart-healthy diet and managing any heart conditions with medication, if necessary. Many people with a history of heart disease in their families can live long and happy lives.
Myth No. 5: I'm treating my high blood pressure/diabetes/cholesterol, so I don't need to worry about my activity levels or what I eat.
Common heart conditions
It's easy it is to mix up terminology when talking about heart health – so here’s a breakdown of some of the most common conditions.
- Heart attack: When blood flow is decreased or stopped to a part of the heart muscle. Leads to damage or death of some parts of the heart.
- Cardiac arrest: When the heart stops beating, cutting off blood flow to the body and brain. Life-threatening emergency.
- Congestive heart failure: A long-term condition characterized by weakness of the heart and fluid buildup in the lungs and other organs.
- Angina: Chest pain that occurs when there isn’t enough blood reaching the heart.
- Cardiovascular disease: Broad term for the conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels.
While medications can be highly effective at managing conditions that affect the heart, they aren’t replacements for regular physical activity and a heart-healthy diet. Your heart benefits tremendously from a healthy lifestyle. If you know you need to make changes, start with small steps and build on those habits. An overnight reboot of how you eat and exercise is challenging for most of us to stick with.
Myth No. 6: I've smoked/vaped for years. There is no benefit to my heart if I quit now.
There actually is a benefit to your heart, no matter when you quit. Even if you’ve smoked for decades, your body begins healing within a day of quitting.
Smoking and vaping cause narrowing of the arteries and veins throughout your body. The narrower your arteries and veins are, the harder your heart and the arteries and veins that carry blood throughout your body have to work.
By stopping smoking or vaping, you’re preventing putting even more of a load on your cardiovascular system, not to mention the benefit to your lungs. Your lungs and heart work together, so anything that benefits your lungs also benefits your heart.
Myth No. 7: Now that I've had a heart attack, I should reduce movement as much as possible, so I don’t cause another one.
Reducing movement after a heart attack is actually the worst thing you could do.
Your heart needs to get stronger. Cardiac rehabilitation programs provide supervised, gradual exercise plans tailored to each patient, and I recommend them to all of my patients who have had a heart attack. Movement of any kind is key to recovery.
Take it slowly, listen to your body, and start with small steps, such as gentle walking. Talk to your clinician about what’s appropriate. Exercise with a buddy if that helps motivate you.
Are there any other myths you see?
No, but I do see common concerns that can be easily addressed through an open conversation. For example, the desire not to take blood thinners in patients who have atrial fibrillation, or AFib. Atrial fibrillation, which can lead to a stroke, is an irregular, rapid heart rhythm that begins in the upper chambers of the heart, or the atria.
Many AFib patients are hesitant about blood thinners because they can cause bruising. I want patients to know that we can treat that. Strokes can be deadly or cause permanent disability. Blood thinners can be a key prevention; don’t take the risk.
Takeaway: It’s never too early to take care of your heart, and it’s never too late to change lifestyle habits to improve your heart health – no matter your age or gender. Heart attacks are often preventable, and heart health is possible for everyone. Always talk to your clinician about heart health.
