It’s February, and New Year’s Day is in the rearview mirror. How’s that resolution going to get the American Heart Association’s recommended 150 minutes a week of aerobic exercise?
We thought so. And now you’re asking if it’s even worth trying. Is SOMETHING better than nothing?
Absolutely, say Susquehanna-region health professionals. Every step counts. Bonus: Follow these tips to blend activity into your daily life, and those weekly 150 minutes might fit into your schedule.
It’s all aerobic: “Anything that gets your heart moving” counts as aerobic, says Dr. John Nachtigall of the Heart Group at Lancaster General Health/Penn Medicine. Don’t obsess about heart rate, adds Dr. Urs Leuenberger, cardiologist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. “For a 40-year-old person who gets their heart rate up to 80 or 90, research says that’s enough to have a benefit.” Even less than that can probably help.
Consider the benefits: Activity strengthens organs and muscles, says Shannon Pomroy, exercise physiologist at Hershey Medical Center. It burns calories and builds flexibility and balance. It reduces the risk of cancer and diabetes, and improves mental health. Decades of research prove the benefits, says Leuenberger. “Even if you do just a little bit, it’s better than nothing. That’s why people are saying that sitting is the next smoking.”
Yes, you have the time: Anyone can find two 15-minute intervals that count toward the daily total. Schedule activity like you schedule a doctor’s appointment, says Pomroy. March in place while you watch TV. Walk around the field when you take the kids to soccer practice. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park farther from the door. Start with just five minutes of activity, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised when they turn to 10 or 15, says Nachtigal.
No jogging necessary: Don’t like to run? Find an activity that you like. Bike, swim, go hiking, join a sports league. If you worry that the yoga you love doesn’t count as exercise, here’s good news. “Anybody who says yoga is not exercise has never taken a yoga class,” says Pomroy. The marathon runner was once “roped into” a yoga class, “and I think I worked harder than I have ever done.”
Choose your setting: Don’t join a gym if you don’t want to. Lace up a pair of sneakers, call a friend, and go for a walk. “Some people like to join the gym for the social aspect,” says Leuenberger, a native of Switzerland who grew up bicycling to school through the mountains. “Others don’t want to. I prefer to be active outside.”
Don’t beat yourself up: If you fall short, remember that “each day is a new day,” says Nachtigal. “You can start fresh. The most important thing is carving out a little piece of time and telling yourself, ‘this is when I’m going to do that activity.’”
Watch for Watchman
One afternoon, Rosie Clapp watched a Dr. Oz show spotlighting the symptoms of heart attacks in women. That night, she woke up dizzy, with pain in her arms. It was 2:30 in the morning—because “doesn’t everything happen at 2:30 in the morning?”—and she was rushed to the hospital.
But it was no heart attack. Clapp was suffering a near-fatal, massive bleed in her torso. Three years after her diagnosis with atrial fibrillation, she could no longer take the blood thinners meant to minimize blood clots.
Fortunately, Clapp found herself at the dawn of a new option in the treatment of non-valvular AFib. When the FDA approved a device called Watchman in 2016, Clapp recalls, “Here I am with my hand up.”
Among AFib patients, the heart’s irregular beating causes blood buildup in an appendage of the heart. That blood can clot, and an escaped clot can cause a stroke, hence the need for blood thinners. But there’s a catch. Among some patients, blood thinners heighten the risk for calamitous internal or brain bleeding.
A simple, 60-minute procedure puts the Watchman in place, says Dr. Chinmay P. Patel, cardiologist with PinnacleHealth CardioVascular Institute. The surgeon makes a groin incision, so small that it doesn’t require stitches, and snakes the device through the veins. The device is implanted at the opening to that appendage, and soon tissue grows around it. The appendage is sealed off, so blood no longer accumulates and clots.
The patient is out of the hospital the next day and, typically, off blood thinners within 45 days.
Watchman is one of the fastest-growing procedures in cardiovascular medicine, says Patel. His practice has performed more than four dozen, and nationwide the numbers have topped 15,000. Patients tell Patel they can’t feel a difference—except that they are finally off their pesky blood thinners, no longer needing regular blood checks or fearing a major bleed.
“You’re going to feel the same, except that you’re going to be protected from the risk of stroke, and you don’t have to take blood thinners,” Patel says. “It’s a great advance in medicine.”
Clapp feels like she has a new lease on life. For three years, blood thinners created a “free-floating anxiety” that dictated every move. The need for weekly blood checks scuttled any vacation plans. Approaching age 70, she lived in fear of falling. After her bleed made her unsuitable for blood thinners, she worried about a stroke.
Since her Watchman procedure in summer 2017, the grandmother of 14 can walk around Children’s Lake near her Boiling Springs home, shared with her husband Bob, and “enjoy all the offerings this beautiful place has.” They travel to Cape Cod with grandchildren. She visited Ocean City with her daughter’s family—and went parasailing.
“I feel more in control of my life,” she says. “I don’t have this ghost of health issues hanging over me.”
As one of UPMC Pinnacle’s first patients to undergo the Watchman procedure, Clapp would recommend it “without hesitation. I’m proud to have been part of getting this out there for people, because it’s made all the difference in my life.”
New Blood Pressure Guidelines
There’s good news and bad news for those tiptoeing along the high end of acceptable blood pressure.
The bad news: High blood pressure now starts at 130 systolic or 80 diastolic, according to new guidelines from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology. That’s a drop from the old 140 and 90.
As research is revealing, those in the expanded range risk all the consequences of high blood pressure, including heart attack and stroke. Even readings from 120 to 129 and less than 80 are considered “elevated,” making less than 120 and 80 the new normal.
The good news: If you’re in caught in that 10-point dragnet, you probably don’t need medications. Most of those affected by the change are under 45, able to bring down their counts through lifestyle changes.
What to do about it: Act now. Talk to your doctor about heightened activity and better eating habits that can make your chubby blood pressure skinny again. Visit heart.org/hbp for help.
Check out these resources for help getting more activity into your daily routine:
American Heart Association: heart.org
Lancaster General Health/Penn Medicine: Information on recipes, exercise, diet and signs of heart problems at lghealthhub.org/Heart
Penn State Hershey: Wellness classes, resources, and education at hmc.pennstatehealth.org/patients-families-and-visitors/wellness-and-education
