Allana Akhtar Feb 28, 2023, 3:00 AM
Senior health reporter Allana Akhtar has a family history of heart disease, putting her at risk, too. Allana Akhtar
- Having a family history of heart attacks, hypertension, and diabetes puts me at risk for heart disease at just 27.
- A cardiologist said people should start monitoring their risk factors during young adulthood.
- To lower my risk, I should check my blood pressure and cholesterol, exercise more, and continue not smoking.
I’m a health reporter, and I wrote several stories pertaining to American Heart Month this February. In doing so, I came to a scary realization: at 27, I’m at high risk for heart disease — the country’s number one cause of death.
I’ve always been vaguely aware that my family has a history of health issues. At 8, I remember driving to the hospital in the early morning after my grandmother suffered a heart attack. I later watched the tips of her fingers get frail after repeated pricks to check her blood sugar levels. And when I was 15, my dad took the salt shaker off our dining table, saying something about the then-funny-sounding word “hypertension.”
But, as an adolescent, I could not yet grasp that these were signs my family had heart disease, plus its common risk factors diabetes and high blood pressure. Even in my early 20s, I assumed “heart disease,” an umbrella term that encompasses a range of ailments including high blood pressure and heart attacks, was an ordeal for the elderly to deal with.
This month I finally put the pieces together: My family history puts me at risk for heart disease. I learned people of my ethnicity, South Asians, are actually all disproportionately at high risk for heart problems. And, despite my naive belief that heart disease doesn’t happen until mid-life, scientists and cardiologists are increasingly seeing more young people come in with heart problems than ever before.
To help me and other 20-somethings in my position mitigate our risk, I spoke with Dr. Nilay Shah, a cardiologist at Northwestern University who is researching heart disease in young South Asian Americans, about my family history and lifestyle. Ultimately, Shah said everyone should start taking stock of their heart health immediately.
“Young adulthood is the time for you to start paying attention your own heart disease risk factors,” he said.
As someone with high risk for heart disease, I need to regularly check my cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure.
Shah said to keep heart disease at bay, I need to pay attention to its core risk factors: high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure.
Screening for these risk factors and talking about them with a doctor is important, Shah said, “because if they start to see trends moving in the wrong direction, it’s easier to intervene early in those processes than later.”
Shah said screening for high blood sugar or diabetes might mean getting routine blood tests, like a hemoglobin A1C test that measures the amount of glucose in my blood over the previous 12 weeks, and a lipid panel that checks my “good” and “bad” cholesterol levels.
Shah said I can even start checking my blood pressure at home using a monitor that sell for around $40 at CVS. Young adults should aim for blood pressure readings at or below 120/80, he said.
I should cut back on eating out and make exercise a daily priority.
If my cholesterol, blood sugar, or blood pressure come back high, Shah said hope isn’t lost — changes to my diet and exercise routine can bring down those numbers.
These factors can often be mitigated with a diet that is rich in plants and lean protein, and low on processed and fried food, Shah said. Though I pride myself on cooking nutrient-dense meals, I’ll admit I’m guilty of ordering on Grubhub or Uber Eats more often than I should.
Eating from restaurants can be a sneaky reason behind raised cholesterol, Shah said, as chefs often add more fat than home cooks do. Shah said I don’t need to stop eating out entirely, but can substitute one or two delivered meals a week with home-cooked ones.
Working out can also decrease my risk, and I know my on-again-off-again relationship with exercise won’t cut it.
Studies repeatedly show exercise decreases your risk for early death from heart disease, and Shah said his research has suggested South Asian Americans generally aren’t getting enough physical activity.
Luckily, the cardiologist said any exercise is better than nothing. Though scientists recommend getting 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, Shah said to treat that as a goal to work towards instead of an all-or-nothing rule.
Since I work a desk job, Shah suggested I try standing during the workday and take short walks instead of one long exercise break.
I don’t smoke or vape — and shouldn’t start.
I don’t smoke cigarettes and won’t start, thus bypassing one of the biggest risk factors for heart disease.
But many of my peers vape, which is perceived to be safer since you’re not inhaling burned tobacco and tar found in traditional cigarettes.
But vaping still creates stress on your heart, Shah said. There’s less research on the heart consequences from vaping compared to cigarettes, but Shah said any exposure to nicotine raises your blood pressure and can lead to heart disease.
“Electronic cigarettes and vaping are particularly prevalent among younger people, and that is one health behavior that really could stand to be improved,” he said.
Overall, Shah said the fact I’m thinking about my risk of heart disease at all is a step in the right direction: “I think that’s like 50% of moving towards good heart health, is just paying attention to the question,” he said.
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