Heart Health Part I: Know Your Numbers

As January comes to a close I remind people to review the goals they set earlier this month and remember them as we roll into February, and the sweets begin to make a come-back: heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States.

Since 1963 congress has required the president to proclaim February as “American Heart Month.”

On both this and my other blog NewMexicoRD.blogspot.com, I will be dedicating the rest of January and all of February to heart disease issues.

From the Wellness perspective, there are modifiable risk factors for heart disease and non-modifiable risk factors. The non-modifiable risk factors, genetic, gender, and age you are just stuck with and as much as you may want to deny them, change them, and/or lie about them you can’t. So let’s discuss the ones you can change or modify.

The first one is your blood. Not your blood type, but the things about you and your risk for heart disease your blood can tell us.

Here is the first thing you need to do to lower you risk for heart disease: Know your numbers – and do something about those numbers.

1. Blood pressure – two numbers – the systolic and diastolic – current recommendations say that you want it to be less than 120/80 mm Hg.
2. Cholesterol numbers (aka lipid panel) taken after a 12 hour fast and you want ALL four numbers – and don’t accept any less than the four! You want to know the values of your:
   a. Total cholesterol – currently less than 200 mg/dl is desirable
   b. LDL (low density lipoprotein) – currently less than 100 mg/dl is optimal
   c. HDL (high density lipoprotein) – less than 40 mg/dl is not good, greater than 60 mg/dl is protective
   d. Triglycerides – less than 150 mg/dl is normal
3. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) taken after a 12 hour fast and you get – one number which should be anywhere between 70 – 100 mg/dl.

Each of these numbers being high, except HDL, is a risk factor for heart disease. A low HDL is a risk. The more numbers that are high, the more you are at risk. High blood glucose is also a risk for diabetes.

When you go to your health care provider for a check up, you should always have your blood pressure checked. When they do that, ask them to tell you or write down the numbers for you!

During your check-up each year or two you should be getting blood work done and it should include the lipid panel/profile and the glucose. About a week to ten days after the test is done, you should get a call from your provider with the results. Ask for the numbers, the results. Or better yet, ask them to mail or fax you a copy of the results or offer to go by and pick them up. These are your results and your records, so there is no reason why you shouldn't have a copy. This way you don’t have to worry about writing the numbers down wrong.

Keep track of these numbers and see how they are changing each year or two. You don’t want them to get worse/higher. You want them to get better (or stay the same if they are already good).

What to do to improve those numbers? Just keep checking in all through February…