Heart-healthy nutrition, daily physical activity, eliminating tobacco, controlling conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes and a commitment to follow your healthcare professional's recommendations are all part of reducing your risk for heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

Eastern Long Island Hospital physicians Thomas A. Falco, MD, and John W. Pearson, MD answer questions on heart attacks and how to prevent them.
 

Q. What are your recommendations for prevention of heart disease and heart attack?
A. The basic recommendations have remained unchanged during our years practicing cardiology:  don’t smoke, keep your weight down, exercise regularly, and control high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes if you have any of these conditions.

Q. What role does genetics play in the occurrence of heart disease?
A. Family history is a strong risk factor for heart disease.  If there is a history of heart disease in your family, particularly heart attack or other coronary incident in a blood relative in their 60’s or younger, monitor your additional risk factors carefully, and consider earlier screenings.   

Q. Do you have some suggestions for healthy eating?
A. Most importantly, limit intake of saturated and transfat and cholesterol.  Avoiding processed foods like ready-made cakes and cookies will do a lot toward reducing bad fat intake.  To promote heart health, many medical authorities recommend following a version of the so-called “Mediterranean Diet,” which emphasizes fruits, vegetables and healthy fats, such as olive oil.

Q. Can you share samples of physical fitness activities that can help prevent heart disease?
A. Thirty minutes of aerobic exercise a day is recommended.  The best physical fitness activity is one you enjoy – jogging, swimming, biking, brisk walking—as long as your heart rate is elevated, you’re helping your heart if you engage in it regularly.

Q. What tests to you recommend and at what age levels to you recommend these screenings?
A.  Checking cholesterol level, blood pressure and blood glucose levels can be done by your family doctor, and is the first step in monitoring heart health.  Because men generally develop heart disease about ten years earlier than women, men should begin to monitor the status of these basic signs, beginning in their 30s, and women beginning in their 40s.  If there is family history of heart disease, awareness should begin earlier.   If a few risk factors exist—for instance, if you smoke and blood pressure is elevated—it’s recommended to go for further screening.  A stress test, calcium scoring and carotid ultrasound are non-invasive tests performed in a cardiologist’s office that may reveal a higher risk for heart disease.

Q. If you could have one message regarding prevention, what would it be?
A. Be aware of your risk factors and take appropriate action to reduce the risk of heart disease.  Monitoring diet and exercise, along with the extremely effective medications available now, can make a significant difference in the quality of your life.   

John Pearson, MD and Thomas Falco, MD are board certified cardiologists on the Medical Staff at Eastern Long Island Hospital.