by Dr. Gabe Mirkin | Apr 6, 2014 | Heart Health
Knowing when to take your blood pressure can help you predict your likelihood of suffering a heart attack. We know that having high blood pressure markedly increases your risk for heart attacks. Blood pressure is usually lowest just before you go to bed at night and...
by Dr. Gabe Mirkin | Jan 1, 2014 | Heart Health
Twenty years ago, reports from Harvard School of Public Health showed that a diet rich in plants lowers high blood pressure (1,2). It’s called the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.) Other studies show that similar eating patterns lower...
by Dr. Gabe Mirkin | Nov 24, 2013 | Heart Health
The American College of Cardiology (ACC), the American Heart Association (AHA) and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) formulated guidelines for prescribing statin drugs to prevent heart attacks (J Am Coll Cardiol, Nov 2013;62(16):e147-e239). The old...
by Dr. Gabe Mirkin | Aug 22, 2013 | Heart Health
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that one of the best tests to predict your risk for having a heart attack is your Recovery Heart Rate. Recovery heart rate is a measure of fitness and a slow recovery from exercise means that you are out of shape....
by Dr. Gabe Mirkin | Aug 22, 2013 | Heart Health
Doctors no longer predict your chances of suffering a heart attack by how high your total cholesterol is. The current guidelines recommend that everyone should have a blood level of the bad LDL cholesterol below 100. If you live in Canada, divide the American number...
by Dr. Gabe Mirkin | Aug 22, 2013 | Heart Health
One in ten Americans suffers from mitral valve prolapse and the vast majority have no symptoms and will never know that they have it. Valves are located in your heart to keep blood from backing up. With aging, some of these valves can stretch and fail to close...
