Prevention | Understanding complications
Diabetes and a Healthy Heart
Heart health is especially important when you have diabetes
As I write, it's February. Valentine’s Day images of hearts are everywhere, so it’s a perfect time to talk about diabetes and your heart.
Heart health is especially important when you have diabetes. Did you know that heart disease is the leading cause of death for people with diabetes? It’s true: about 80 percent of people with diabetes die of heart-related problems, and having diabetes increases your risk of heart disease two to four times! And there’s more bad news. Women who do not have diabetes seem to carry some protection from heart disease; if you have diabetes, that protection disappears, and you are just as likely to have heart problems as men with diabetes are. New research shows that heart disease is more common in people who develop diabetes even in the years before they actually have diabetes. It seems that the risk factors for heart disease are present even before blood sugar levels rise high enough for the person to be diagnosed with diabetes.
So the season of hearts is a great time to remind yourself of the benefits of heart health. Which ones mean most to you? Do you want to be around to see your grandchildren grow up and have their own children? Do you want to avoid disability in your later years? Or do you care most about the immediate benefits of a healthy heart, like feeling good every day and being able to do the things you want and need to do without getting exhausted?
Identifying your own personal motivation and keeping it clearly in mind will help you stick with the hard work required to keep your heart healthy. That means staying active, for one thing. If you are already doing that, congratulations! If you want to be more active, take heart (no pun intended). The weather will be nicer in just a few weeks in most parts of the country, so you can get out for some nice early spring walks before long. In the meantime, what can you do to get going? Anything you can do at home while you are watching television, for instance
Eating a heart healthy diet is also important. How did you do this past holiday season? Did you manage to eat carefully enough to avoid gaining much weight? This is a good time to make a few healthy changes in how you eat, especially if you did gain weight at the end of last year and had trouble sticking to your new year’s resolution to turn things around. Remember, a little change goes a long way. Cutting back from whole milk to two percent, or from two percent to skim, skipping dessert a couple of nights a week, putting one less slice of cheese or lunch meat on your sandwich: all these things can make a big difference in your heart health and your weight if you maintain them over time. Can you think of just two changes you could make to cut your calorie and fat consumption?
Keeping your blood sugars as close to normal as possible is a key to heart health. Staying active and eating carefully can help you do that. So can monitoring your blood sugars regularly and taking the right amount of diabetes medication (insulin or pills) at the right times each day.
To keep your heart healthy you have to keep your blood pressure and blood fat levels as close to normal as possible as well, since high blood pressure and high levels of blood sugar and fat are all risk factors for heart disease, and many people with diabetes have all three of these risks. Be sure you know what your blood pressure and blood fat levels are, and do all you can to keep these levels as close to normal as possible. That means taking medication, if you need to; it also means doing your best when it comes to the basics – eating carefully and staying active.
Don’t smoke! One more thing is absolutely critical for heart health: not smoking. If you do smoke, I understand how hard it can be to stop. Sir Winston Churchill, an avid (or addicted) cigar smoker, was told he would live longer if he stopped smoking, to which he replied, “I would not consider that living.” Lots of people I know who smoke feel that way. But think of the benefits of a smoke-free existence. You could add years to your life and life to your years. If you do smoke and wish you didn’t, think about your personal healthy-heart motivator. Maybe that same thing could help you finally find the strength to stop smoking – for good. The fact is, people who have diabetes and smoke are about 10 to 12 times more likely to have heart disease than people who don’t smoke and don’t have diabetes. And people who stop smoking tell me they have more energy and feel much better about themselves.
An aspirin a day. Talk to your health care provider about taking a low dose of aspirin daily. Studies show this could help protect you from heart disease. You can also talk to your health care provider if you have questions or concerns about any of the other things you can do to keep your heart healthy.
A happy heart is a healthy heart. There’s one other thing you can do to promote heart health: stay as positive as you can. I know that can be really hard when you have diabetes, and that is why it is so important to do everything you can to stay as calm and confident as possible, and to draw as much joy from your life as you can.
Managing stress, avoiding depression and staying positive are essential for two reasons. First, when you are coping well you are more likely to have the motivation you need to manage your diabetes effectively and stay healthy. Second, a recent study shows just how powerfully emotional problems can affect your physical health when you have diabetes. Researchers studied a group of people with diabetes who had suffered heart attacks. One of the things the researchers assessed at the beginning of the study was depression in the study participants. The participants were followed for five years to monitor their health. At the end of the study it turned out that the single factor that most powerfully predicted whether a person had a bad outcome (hospitalization or death) during the five years of the study was whether that person was depressed at the beginning of the study. Depression was a more powerful predictor of bad outcomes than any physical factor, including blood sugar level, blood pressure level and obesity.
So it seems that a happy heart is a healthy heart. If you are not coping well, and especially if you think you might be depressed, please talk to your health care provider. There are many ways to ease your burden. If you are depressed, for example, counseling or medication could make a big difference. Studies show that relieving depression often leads to improved blood sugar control, as well.
What helps you fill your heart? Do you feel good when you call or send a note to someone you really care about but have not seen for a while, or when you give someone you love a little special something (like a card, flower or magazine) for no reason at all? Giving is often as good – or better – than getting when it comes to keeping your heart healthy.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
