Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
General Heart Health as We Age Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND I have talked about how we can keep both our cholesterol levels and blood pressure healthy as we age. But what if your heart is already healthy? How do you keep your heart healthy as …
Cholesterol as We Age Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND Every year you most likely go to your doctor for a physical exam and routine blood work. When you look over your blood work you may notice something called a lipid panel or cholesterol panel. Your doctor …
Heart Health As We Age (part 1)
Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND
Keeping our hearts healthy as we age is an important part of healthy aging. However heart health is a huge topic that can take forever to go over! For the sake of this blog I will focus on blood pressure, cholesterol and overall heart health. It’s a lot to cover so let’s get into it, shall we?
Let’s start with blood pressure since high blood pressure is so common. In fact I am sure if you do not have high blood pressure yourself then you know someone who does have it. Now how do we even define high blood pressure (HBP)? HBP occurs when your blood pressure is higher than is normal. There are 6 blood pressure categories. These are normal, elevated, Stage 1, Stage 2, severe hypertension and hypertensive emergency. Blood pressure is a combination of systolic or top number and diastolic or bottom number. The systolic number is the pressure blood exerts on the vessels when the heart is actively pumping. The diastolic is the pressure that blood exerts on the vessels when the heart is at rest. Blood pressure is placed into the different categories based on these numbers. Please see the following chart for the breakdown of the categories and how different blood pressure readings are shorted into categories. (1)
Blood Pressure Categories
| BLOOD PRESSURE CATEGORY | SYSTOLIC mm Hg (top/upper number) | and/or | DIASTOLIC mm Hg (bottom/lower number) |
| NORMAL | LESS THAN 120 | and | LESS THAN 80 |
| ELEVATED | 120 – 129 | and | LESS THAN 80 |
| STAGE 1 HYPERTENSION (High Blood Pressure) | 130 – 139 | or | 80 – 89 |
| STAGE 2 HYPERTENSION (High Blood Pressure) | 140 OR HIGHER | or | 90 OR HIGHER |
| SEVERE HYPERTENSION (If you don’t have symptoms*, call your health care professional.) | HIGHER THAN 180 | and/or | HIGHER THAN 120 |
| HYPERTENSIVE EMERGENCY (If you have any of these symptoms*, call 911.) | HIGHER THAN 180 | and/or | HIGHER THAN 120 |
*symptoms: chest pain, shortness of breath, back pain, numbness, weakness, change in vision or difficulty speaking
There are basically 2 categories of risk factors for HBP. These include those risks that are modifiable (such as diet) and those that can’t be changed such as age. Even though you can’t actually change these risk factors it’s still important to be aware of them. One risk factor that is related to who you are is your family history of HBP. If your parents or a close family member has HBP you are more likely to develop it as well. Age is another risk factor. Since we don’t have a time turner to turn back time we will all get older. Typically your risk of HBP increases as you age. Other risk factors include gender, prior to age 64 men have a higher risk of HBP, however after age 65 women actually have a higher risk of HBP. Certain racial and ethnic groups such as Black, Hispanic and Asian adults also have a higher risk of HBP. Lastly kidney disease may cause HBP (just as an aside HBP can also cause kidney damage!). (2)
Now those are the risk factors you can’t change. However there are quite a few risk factors that you can change. Diet is one factor that comes up all the time! In my clinical experience the more processed foods and take out you eat the greater your risk of developing HBP. Part of the reason for this fact is that these foods tend to be higher in salt, sugar, statured and Trans fats and even just overall higher in calories. All of these factors can increase your risk of HBP. Diets of this nature can also increase your overall weight. Being overweight and obese can also increase your risk of HBP and other types of heart disease. Being overweight/obese can also increase your risk of diabetes, which is another risk for HBP! But it’s not just what you eat that can increase your risk of HBP! It’s what you drink too! I bet I know what you’re thinking, I know Dr. Claire Soda is bad for me! It’s got all those chemicals! And while yes that is true I am actually talking about drinking too much alcohol. In fact in addition to increasing our blood pressure too much alcohol can lead to heart problems such as heart failure, stroke and even arrhythmia! Smoking and Tabaco use can also increase our blood pressure. Obstructive sleep apnea can also increase HBP risk. Another risk factor that may take you by surprise is lack of activity. Another risk factor that can be affected by diet, weight and life style is high cholesterol. In fact more than half of those with HBP have high cholesterol. Certain heart defects and kidney disease as well as stress can all increase your risk of HBP. (2)
Typically HBP has very few symptoms. This is why it’s important to get regular checkups. Symptoms of HBP can include headache, chest pain, shortness of breath, back pain, numbness, weakness, changes in vision and difficulty speaking. It’s important to contact your doctor if you notice any of these symptoms. (3) That being said there’s so much to do to help with blood pressure! To finish up this part of heart health as we age I will do a quick review of nutrients that I typically suggest to those who are concerned about blood pressure. In part 2 of heart health as we age we will venture into the world of high cholesterol!
Suggestions:
Sources:
Staying Hydrated in the Summertime Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND One of the downfalls of summer’s warm weather is dehydration. Being dehydrated is more than just feeling a little thirsty. When you are dehydrated you have used or lost more fluid than you take in. This …
Winter and Heart Health Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND Wintertime, as we all know, can have negative effects on our immunity, mood and even our heart health. But how exactly can the cold of winter impact our heart health? What can you do to protect …
Hot Weather and the Impact on Blood Sugar?
Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND
Everyone knows hot weather can make you feel hot and sticky and just plain old yucky! But what most people do not realize is that hot weather can also lead to fluctuations in our blood sugar. This means that hot weather can make it more difficult for those with diabetes to regulate their blood sugar levels. Let us get into it, shall we?
One way that excessive heat can affect our blood sugar is by triggering an increase in how much we sweat. This increase in sweating can lead to dehydration which in turn leads to an increase in our blood sugar! Extreme heat can also trigger our body to produce cortisol, the stress hormone! Among its many functions in the body, this hormone helps to regulate blood sugar levels. When you make more cortisol your blood sugar will be higher. In addition to affecting cortisol levels the stress of extreme heat can stimulate the hypothalamus and influence the way it affects insulin, thus affecting how well insulin works in our body. Sunburn, a common concern during these hot days, can also trigger the hypothalamus to change how insulin works. This can lead to insulin resistance and as a result the blood sugar will be higher. (2) Extreme heat not only affects how well we respond to insulin but can also affect the ability of our body to absorb any injected insulin! As a result, you will have higher blood sugar levels than expected. (3) In my years of working for Invite I have seen an increase in blood sugar levels in people during the summer quite often! In fact, in my clinical experience it is common for people to notice a change in their A1c or morning blood sugar readings during the summer. I have had plenty of people say Dr. Claire my blood sugar reading has been much higher than normal, but I have not changed my diet! What is going on?? I tell them it is simply extremely hot weather! I tell them how to adjust their supplements and that it will go back to normal when the weather does. And sure, enough, it does normalize as the weather cools down! So, if your blood sugar seems higher during extreme heat waves do not get upset, it is not something that you are “doing wrong” but is a natural side effect of the weather.
Now I know I have focused on high blood sugar but in some case extreme heat can lower blood sugar levels. While heat stress can increase blood sugar if a person’s blood sugar is already low or at the lower end of normal the heat can cause “the blood sugar levels to plummet.” (4) Studies have also found that heat can increase glucose metabolism in those that are overweight. (5) What this can mean for a diabetic is that the glucose will be metabolized faster than expected and your blood sugar may drop to low levels. Now remember how I said that extreme heat and sweating can affect our ability to absorb insulin leading to less medicine being absorbed? (3) Well, it is true HOWEVER in some cases the hot weather can increase insulin absorption leading to tooo much medicine and lower blood sugar levels. (6)
I bet I know what you are thinking, high blood sugar, low blood sugar which one is it? And just what type of diabetes is most affected by heat? Simply put, extreme heat just overall makes blood sugar harder to control. It can trigger either high or low blood sugar. The reason I have not talked about which type of diabetes is most affected by heat is because in my experience anyone with any form of diabetes is at risk for blood sugar regulation issues when there is extreme heat!
What can you do to help regulate blood sugar when there is too much heat?
Sources: