Healthy Habits, Happy Life – The Pulse on Heart Health Vol. 2

Written by: Katie Cook

The Clark County Health Department is happy to promote health and wellness to our county residents. With this, we hope to provide readers with reliable health information within your trusted source of information. This series will be on heart health, including what it is, signs and symptoms of a heart attack, and habits to keep us happy and healthy.

The last edition, we talked about the leading killer in our county, cardiac disease, as well as warning signs, symptoms of a heart attack, and what you can do to know your risk.

This edition is going to focus on two things we can do to decrease our heart’s work load.

Using products that contain nicotine and moderate alcohol consumption are two huge risk factors for cardiovascular disease. These habits are controversial as they are often engrained in our culture and habits early on.

Did you know that it is not only the smoke from smoking cigarettes that can cause cardiac issues, but also the nicotine that can trigger inflammation and constriction of our blood vessels? This means that all products that contain nicotine- cigarettes, vapes, chewing tobacco-they’re all bad. According to the World Health Organization, quitting smoking is the number one thing you can do to improve not just your heart health, but overall health as well.

Many of us probably know smoking is bad for our health overall, so I won’t bore you with those details. What I really want to do is to encourage people to make heart healthy decisions and to give you tools to help along the way.

But why is it so hard to quit smoking? Cardiologists like Parag Joshi with John Hopkins Medicine, state that quitting smoking is difficult not only because of the nicotine addiction but because of the habits we associate with smoking.

Joshi states that to succeed there are several steps to follow:

• Decide to quit. This is often the biggest hurdle. You have to WANT to quit, because it is HARD.

• Picture your motivations (grandchildren, health, finances) to help you quit.

• Tap into free resources such as smokefree.gov or 800-QUIT-NOW

• Pick a quit date. This lets you prepare and taper off if needed. You don’t have to quit cold turkey.

• Tell family and friends. This keeps you accountable and helps others cheer you on.

• Get rid of smoking reminders like ash trays and lighters as this often triggers cravings.

• Remove triggers by shaking up routines. This is especially helpful as many of our triggers are habits or routines that revolve around smoking.

• Create substitute habits like going for a walk, talking to a friend, or reading when you would normally smoke. This may help you avoid weight gain while quitting as well. Consider quit aids such as nicotine patches, gum, or medications.

• Ask your doctor for help. They may help with medications, and encouragement.

Quitting is hard. That is why so many people teeter totter or pick the habit back up. Help and support is out there and make sure to utilize them.

Ask your doctor for help. They may help with medications and encouragement.

Our next tricky topic is drinking alcohol. First, we are all human and we give in to vices, habits etc.

As Wisconsinites, drinking is deeply rooted in our culture. Many of us drink after a long day of work, to celebrate, at local fairs, and to socialize in general. Drinking can also lead to alcoholism, which strains not only our liver, but our cardiovascular system as well.

The big factor with alcohol is frequency and amount. If you are a man and you are drinking more than one to two alcoholic beverages a night, or one for women, it is considered to be moderate alcohol consumption. This also applies to binge drinking on the weekends. This is detrimental to our health and can cause more problems than just heart complications. Alcohol is a substantial source of calories, leading to weight gain. Your blood pressure and heart rate increase with alcohol consumption as well. Many of the same tips for smoking cessation can be applied to alcohol cessation.

If you or someone you know has a drinking problem, there are resources available.

Resources include

• SAMHSA’s Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator

• NIAAA’s Alcohol Treatment Navigator • National Treatment Referral Routing Service available at 1-800- 662HELP