Advice for general heart health
Dr Paul Chiam looks at lifestyle changes that promote a healthy cardiovascular system
The basic advice for general heart health is lifestyle change, Dr Chiam says. “And lifestyle has two components, one is a balanced diet and I think also equally important is exercise, and of course don’t smoke if you’re not a smoker or quit smoking if you’re already a smoker.”
For the diet, what we aim to do is reduce saturated fat intake, reduce added salt, reduce refined sugars and really take a lot more fiber, from either vegetables or fruits, and perhaps some fish or lean meat. At the end of the day, it’s everything in moderation.
As for exercise, the recommendation is that you have to get certain amounts of exercise three times a week. For most people, it’s not easy to do, so I suggest to get any activity as much as possible, even if it is walking, climbing stairs, brisk walking or even a short burst of 10 minutes of exercise a day – it is still better than no exercise at all.
Of course, other things we can do are to screen ourselves for risk factors for heart disease, conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
The recommendation for screening starts at around 40 years of age. If you look at the cholesterol guidelines, the first test recommended, if the patient has no previous history, is around 40 years of age. If the test is normal, or has a good cholesterol result, then the subsequent test will be in three to five years. If the results are borderline or not so good, then the next test will be in a year’s time.
Then of course depending on if the first test was abnormal or had a very high result, then we have to consider starting therapy for these patients to reduce the risk of heart disease later on.
Dr Paul T.L. Chiam is a consultant cardiologist with a subspecialty interest in interventional cardiology. He is in private practice at The Heart and Vascular Centre at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre in Singapore and can be reached at +65 6735 3022.
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