Red Alert. Your heart is under attack.
Dr. C.V. Alert MB BS, DM.
Family Physician.
National Wear Red Day, observed annually on the first Friday every February, is a day when everyone is encouraged to wear red to show their support for the awareness of heart disease, particularly in women. This year 2025 it falls on Friday February 7th 2025. More generally, February is designated as Heart Awareness month.
However, heart disease does not discriminate: men are affected too. Heart disease here in Barbados? Well, over the last 15 years or so we have had just over one heart attack every day, and every month about 20 persons die from these heart attacks. And if the first heart attack does not kill you right away, we have large numbers of persons who suffer from heart failure (although one can develop heart failure without having a heart attack), condemning them to repeated hospital admissions, a grocery cart list of medicines that they need to take every day, and an endless set of clinic visits, blood tests and other clinical investigations. Needless to say, a person with heart failure generally has a poor quality of life, cannot work (to earn a salary to pay for all the doctor visits, the tests and the medications), relies on other family members to do normal daily activities like preparing meals, picking up groceries and medications, and driving them up and down for their doctor’s appointments. The heart failure patient is too ill to ‘party’: no line dancing, no karaoke, no going to sporting activities, and probably can’t even ‘lime with the boys/girls’ or attend “Q in the community”. And last but not least, heart failure is more deadly than most cancers.
Heart Disease Risk factors.
A number of ‘silent killer’ diseases puts one at risk for heart disease: they are hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity. These are silent because many persons harbor these diseases for months or years. For some people, they only become apparent when a disease complication sets in: a heart attack is one such complication. [Like termites, these diseases can quietly ‘eat out your insides’ for months or years, and by the time they are picked up a lot of damage has already been done]. In turn, these diseases are caused by poor diet, little exercise, drinking and smoking, inadequate sleep, having a stressful life: at least in theory all this issues can be modified, once the individual decides to adopt many healthy habits. Some other risk factors that can’t be modified include age, gender and family history.
Defense: How can you keep your heart healthy?
Adopting a healthy lifestyle today you can avoid potential heart disease in the future. Here’s a list of habits that you can, and should, incorporate or change in your life for optimal heart health and well-being.
1. Exercise for heart health.
Taking up a sport or hobby is the way to go, so all adults can achieve a minimum of 150 minutes (2 and a half hours) of moderate intensity every week. This exercise can come from routine household activities, like sweeping and mopping the home, cutting the lawn, trimming the hedge, or sweeping up leaves. Many choose daily walking or jogging, particularly on the beach or around large open spaces like the Garrison. Dancing is popular in many women, while many men seem to like cycling or lifting weights. The gym often offers a variety of exercise options, and many persons gain great satisfaction with keeping up (and sometimes out performing) exercise routines that persons 20 years younger than themselves struggle to accomplish.
2. Eat heart healthy foods.
Available medical evidence suggests that a large majority of Bajans do not consume healthy diets; in particular fruits and vegetables are often missing from their kitchens and shopping lists. On the other hand, significant numbers drink sugar sweetened beverages, although the government if trying to reduce this unhealthy trend by increasing the taxes on these beverages. A significant number of Bajans flock to the commercial food outlets, sometimes multiple times each week, to purchase breakfast, lunch and dinner (and perhaps sometimes snacks as well). They consume hot dogs and hamburgers, fried chicken and fish, BBQ pig tails and fish cakes, and French fries. [French fries did not come from France, they were passed through Greece first.]
3. Maintain a healthy weight.
Many people eat ‘like they were born hungry’, This, coupled with the fact that many of these persons refuse to participate in any sort of regular physical activity, are the main contributors to our large (’no pun intended’) population of obese persons. Obesity, or even just being overweight, is the main pathway to our chronic non-communicable diseases, including heart disease.
Current medical evidence says that reducing your weight by even just 5–10% can make a significant and positive improvement on your health. Being overweight or obese puts you at risk for many diseases, including heart disease and diabetes.
4. Have regular medical check-ups.
Far too many people think that you should only see a doctor when you are sick. They believe “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”. They don’t think that a an annual check can identify many silent diseases, and risk factors for these silent killers, and institute measures before it is too late. Since many of the risk factors for heart disease are silent, a regular check-up, generally annually, is recommended even if you think you are in good health. A family physician can perform a clinical examination, and request appropriate tests, to uncover these silent diseases, and offer appropriate advice and medication to lower one’s risk of developing full blown disease. One of the benefits of having a regular physician is that he/she can follow your health over time, and can see if/when you are approaching that ‘slippery slope’. If the physician sees signs of trouble early, he/she may be able to get the disease to change course. if we wait until symptoms of disease complications show up, then it may be too late. Don’t delay, schedule an appointment today.
5. Develop a ways to overcome stress.
Chronic stress- such as that caused by demanding jobs or family issues, can contribute to heart problems. Prolonged stress can negatively affect the heart by raising blood pressure and increasing the risk of heart attack or stroke. Stress also encourages unhealthy coping mechanisms, like overeating, drinking or smoking. Chronic job stress can elevate blood pressure, lead to poor eating habits, and disrupt sleep, all of which can harm heart health over time. So, it’s crucial to have effective coping strategies for managing stress.
This is often easier to say than to do, and fortunately some ‘stress management tips’ have already been covered. Plan and follow a daily routine. Plan time for activities you enjoy. Get regular exercise. Make time to relax. Spend some time outdoors. Develop a healthy sleeping pattern, try to go to bed at roughly the same time every night. Share your thoughts and feelings with family members or a close friend, as you are not Atlas, you don’t have to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders. Socializing decreases anxiety. Try controlled breathing. And if these do not result in significant stress reduction, then it is time to seek professional support.
6. Don’t drink excessively.
Drinking alcohol in excess (meaning more than one to two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women),can cause damage to your budget, your brain, your liver and your heart. Yes, the calypso singer was right when he sang “Rum goin kill yuh”. And the heart damage can occur whether you drink heavily only on weekends, i.e. binge drinking, or you just drink ‘a few drinks every day, as you have done for months or years.
Unfortunately, current adolescents are not being bombarded with messages of the dangers of drinking and smoking, as occurred with previous generations. They drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes, marijuana, in significant quantities that it is posing a danger both to short term and long term health. In these circumstances, the heart is unlikely to be spared
7. Get enough sleep.
Sleep medicine is an emerging medical specialty, but it is well recognized that what happens, or doesn’t happen, at night, does influence what happens the next day. Both getting too much, or getting too little, sleep, are associated with a variety of health problems, including heart disease.
Lack of sleep or poor-quality sleep can increase blood pressure, contribute to obesity, and disrupt the body’s natural repair processes. Sleep disorders like sleep apnea can also significantly affect heart health.
To aid natural, restful sleep, establish a consistent sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. This helps regulate your body’s internal clock and promotes a more consistent sleep pattern. Engage in calming activities before bed, such as reading and avoid stimulating activities like watching intense TV shows.
Also, try to avoid consuming too much caffeine, nicotine and/or alcohol in the evenings. Consuming caffeine or nicotine in the late afternoon and evening can interfere with sleep. While alcohol may initially make you feel sleepy, it can disrupt your sleep cycle later in the night.
8. Don’t smoke.
Historically, smoking has been closely linked to lung and other cancers. Any smoking, whether it is cigarettes, cigars, or marijuana, or even vaping, increases your risk of developing heart disease. Perhaps one redeeming factor is that the proportion of Bajans who smoke is lower than many of our Caribbean neighbors, but I participated in a study about two decades ago which showed a high percentage of patients admitted to the medical wards of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital were smokers. The simple message: Thou shalt not smoke.
I am quite sure that many individuals can, and will, take note of these tips to help them adopt a healthy lifestyle. They should take stock of their individual situations, and decide how best they will adjust his/her lifestyle to protect his/her health. And remember, since many ‘silent killers’ are focused on Barbados and the Caribbean, then, after personal lifestyle being the first line of defense, a regular medical check-up is an important second line. Remember, on Wear Red day, during Heart Awareness Month, and all during the year, heart disease affects everyone.