LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — We are, again, tackling a subject near and dear to our hearts. In fact, it is all about our hearts. It's a message that is so important, we've got two doctors lined up to talk about it.
Whoever heard of the start of a race also being the finish of the race — cardiologists at CHI St. Vincent's have.
That's the analogy doctors Fred Meadors and Mike Bauer use for their holistic approach to heart health.
“Having an awareness that heart disease is so prevalent,” Dr. Meadors said.
“If you already know that you've got it in your family, you gotta start earlier,” Dr. Bauer said.
That's the start. Taking a good, honest look at your lifestyle and how it might be impacting your heart.
“If you're gonna have any lifestyles that are predisposing you to coronary artery disease, then you're gonna sooner or later pick it up,” Dr. Bauer said.
“And a sedentary lifestyle is terrible, smoking is terrible, obesity is terrible and all of these things can contribute to a risk for coronary artery disease,” Dr. Meadors said.
The stress of a relentless winter storm combined with sheltering in place already in place because of COVID-19 invites bad habits.
“And so then you what may have once been a healthy lifestyle can begin to go off the rails,” Dr. Meadors said.
To know and to understand, it takes seeing a cardiologist regularly. But for older people, a cardiologist is a must-see.
“Honestly I think everybody that's 50 ought to have somebody run their heart,” Dr. Meadors said.
And now something all wives need to hear: The same sound advice for men applies to women.
“I think the difference a lot of times is that women just ignore a lot of stuff because they haven’t, it's just not as commonly thought about,” Dr. Bauer said.
But, our two doctors quickly point out if problems occur, women are tough.
“And they also follow instructions, and they're gonna take care of things, they're gonna take their medicine,” Dr. Bauer said. “They're gonna follow the rules and they're gonna have a better recovery.”
In this run up to better heart health, it's good to have your cardiologist .
“It gets down to how we take care of ourselves, and let’s face it, being humans is a stressful undertaking,” Dr. Meadors said.