American Heart Month: How Your Lifestyle Is Affecting Your Cardiovascular Health

It’s the month of love, and we’re surrounded by big bright red hearts everywhere. But are we really paying as much attention to the real ticker that silently beats inside our chest about 115,000 times each day?

With February being American Heart Month, let's show the beating heart some love this Valentine's Day by taking a few minutes to understand how lifestyle affects cardiovascular health. IBT spoke about heart health to two cardiologists, Dr. Rohin Francis and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, both of whom have a combined following of over 770,000 subscribers on YouTube.

When it comes to cardiovascular health, Dr. Gupta says there are four main factors that affect the heart: Age, genetics, bad luck and lifestyle. “The only thing out of these four that we have any control over or we can alter is lifestyle,” he adds.

Let's take a look at how our lifestyle really affects our heart health.

1. Sleep

Adults are recommended at least seven hours of sleep. However, "a lot of people don’t sleep well. In America, for example, 1 in 5 people have sleep apnea. 1 in 3 people have chronic insomnia," Dr. Gupta said. "Lack of sleep is incredibly inflammatory to the body… It is this kind of inflammation that increases the risk of heart disease."

Disturbed sleeping patterns also lead to other unhealthy habits. "So they will go and get two cups of really big double espresso coffee in the morning to try and mask the effects of lack of sleep," or "develop a predilection for sweet foods," Dr. Gupta added.

2. Diet

"Diet is crucial to all aspects of health, particularly the heart," said Dr. Francis.

A healthy diet can control blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, reducing the risk of heart disease. Dr. Gupta suggests a low-carbohydrate and plant-based diet, adding, "I would certainly recommend cutting out sugar."

3. Stress

“Stress is increasingly better understood as a risk factor for a number of conditions, like coronary artery disease, which is a disease of aging and chronic inflammatory changes,” Dr. Francis explained. “Stress, both emotional and physiological, can contribute to low-level inflammation and causes chronic elevation of stress hormones.”

4. Physical activity

Long hours of inactivity can be bad for your heart. However, Dr. Francis said patients often complain about putting in the effort and not seeing any progress.

“The human body has evolved to put on weight easily but do its best to avoid losing it,” said Dr. Francis. “...The most common cause for a lack of response is focusing on the wrong thing. Exercise is like a wonder drug for your body, it offers so many benefits, but weight loss is not typically one of them unless you are exercising a lot. Diet is how you lose weight, and exercise is how you get healthy.”

Dr. Gupta comes with over 30 years of experience in medicine and is a consultant cardiologist at York Teaching Hospital in the U.K. Dr. Francis is a consultant cardiologist and a university researcher currently undertaking a Ph.D. at University College London.