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Calm down: Anger linked to heart arrhythmias
From KARE 11.com, Wendesday, Feburary 25, 2009, by Renee Tessman, KARE 11 News There's new proof that anger can be bad for your heart. And that's not all. There are other things that can take a toll on the old ticker. In a new study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers followed people with implantable cardiac defibrillators and found that when they became angry it could lead to heart arrhythmias. Dr. Thomas Kottke, with Hudson Hospital & Clinics, and the American Heart Association, comments on that study. Hesays, "Being angry is associated with defibrillation. You get nasty rhythm disturbances, nasty rhythm when you're angry." Kottke says that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest. There are other choices you can make for a healthy heart. The first is to eat smart. Kottke says, "Really the tragedy in the U.S. is that 3% of people eat 3 servings of vegetables a day and it's not changing." He says be mindful of what you eat, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and maintain a healthy weight. Second is to control your cholesterol levels. The third is to get some exercise. Kottke says it's as simple as, "just 10,000 steps a day." Fourth is to avoid developing type 2 diabetes because it's a risk factor for heart disease. The fifth is to control your blood pressure. It should be 120 over 80 or lower. Kottke says, "High blood pressure is the leading cause of death in the world." The sixth way to a healthy heart is to stay away from tobacco smoke. Kottke says this is very important. He says, "Normally your arteries expand and contract. They're really living things with muscles. And with exposure to smoke they stop moving." Dr. Kottke says for many of us a healthy heart can be a choice we make. He says, "What we decide to do when we get out of bed in the morning has the biggest impact, by far, on how long we live and when we die."
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