Dr Oz, this is your expertise.
Why are you so fascinated by the heart?
Well, first of all, it's our most poetic organ, right?
They have an internal metronome.
It starts pounding away when you're in your mother's womb
and it never stops.
And the fascinating thing about it when you actually see it
is it looks like python
coiling out of the chest of the patient
with every ripple of muscle visible
and then as you begin to take care of hearts,
which is what my passion in life,
you realize it's actually scared.
It's fearful and you learn to cajole it
and coax it and get it do what you want it to do.
It's the same inside of our bodies right now.
It's pounding away.
You think it's a strong powerful tool
but it runs away from things it fears.
So part of our challenge in life
is to manage the heart
cause it is what's going to keep us pounding away.
Okay, there is an assumption that more men deal
with heart disease and heart attacks than women.
Myth bust is that--
Bust that myth.
Actually, interestingly numerically
more women have heart attacks and strokes than men,
and women get it a little later in their lives,
but it is without question it dwarfs every other illness.
Okay, what are the biggest risk factors
for women with heart disease.
Blood pressure, which we've talked about
earlier in the show.
Number one risk factor cause it's like a fire hydrant
scraping the lining of your arteries.
The body has to heal those ripped arteries.
If I pound pound, that are holding that wall there
you'd have to put some plaster in there.
The body's plasters cholesterol.
So just layer cholesterol into that hole
try to fix the hole made by the blood pressure.
So both of those are risk factors,
both the blood pressure and the cholesterol that you have.
Diabetes is a big risk factor,
and of course cigarettes, which I'm unbelievably, you know
it approximates 20% in most States
of people smoking, women smoke cause they got
they thought it was cool
and they were advertised to,
and it's hard to get rid of it.
Okay. We have another VFF here
with a heart health question for Dr. Oz,
Erica
Hi Hi
So I've heard that the pain of indigestion
it can feel like a heart attack.
How do I know the difference?
Yeah. I'll tell you
it's a vital problem to deal with
because tens of millions of people struggle with it
and they're not always sure.
I'm going to share with you
what really happens in heart attacks.
You'll be better educated about it.
So hopefully you'll figure it out yourself.
And this is pretty cool.
So let's say you're walking into park
you start having chest pain.
Now look at the heart, was going to zoom in there
and see what's happening to your heart.
That big vessel in front of that yellowish areas
that's called the, widowmaker blood vessel.
It's pretty important.
Inside of it the blood is coursing through
rushing through there
and that plaque begins to build up.
If the plaque gets large
and it gets irritated, it starts to tear.
and then wait to see it rip.
It just ripped.
When you have a tear in the heart
that now you've got to form a scab on that tear
like you would anywhere else in your body.
That scab fills the artery
fills the space that now blocks off the blood supply.
It's like someone punched you in the heart.
You get a bruise there,
that is an acute heart attack.
That's what sometimes happens.
And you want to intervene obviously way before that
because we don't do so well
when people collapse outside of the hospital.
It's very important for us
to really get to them early enough.
So if they can recognize that
it's not always going be chest pain,
it'll often be shortness of breath,
that's the most important risk factor.
Pay attention to that.
If you feel shortness of breath
that's when you don't take any risks
and go get some help.
Otherwise the reality is
heart problems will usually happen
when you're exerting yourself,
and it'll give you a clue from that.
Heartburn is generally associated with meals
especially if you lie down afterwards,
and so those two clues will help
most people figure it out without a panic,
but if you're not sure, talk to a pro.
What can we do to reduce the risk of heart disease.
Food. We talked about
probably the single most important thing.
The daily activity, where it could even be a walk
but just walk fast enough that you get a little breathy
get your heartbeat rate up a little bit.
So it's not like a stroll through the park,
just, you know, move.
And I don't think we manage stress well in America.
And one of the best tools
because stress is going to be there
it's ubiquitous.
It's not the stress we should run for
it's the response to stress that we should aim for.
And the response to stresses
I think for me personally, is best done through meditation
or prayer, just that drops stress levels dramatically
which affects all the risk factors I listed earlier.
You want to do a meditation?
(laughs) All right Yes
I'll give you a super simple one.
The one part of your body that you always ignore
but it's always there as your breath.
So we'll take a nice, Oh, there it is.
Do this breathe,
but you want to do breathing
you want to do breathing period anyway
but there's an annotation around breathing
where you just close your eyes,
they won't do it at home now,
and just focus on that breath.
And you're going to do it in a very important way.
We can take a deep breath in
by pushing your stomach out.
So push your belly out
put your right hand on your belly button.
I'm going to count the four.
and I'm going to have you do a belly breath
where you push your belly out
and then inhale your lungs.
You're going to hold it for four,
then you go to exhale for four.
Are you ready?
Deep breath in push your belly button out
(inhales) three, four,
get to the right to the top
it will ache a little bit
right where your hand is
and then hold it there
one, two, three, four
now breathe out gently
(breathing out)
through your mouth, through your nose
and bring your belly button towards your spine.
(Dr Oz exhales loudly)
Really push all the air out.
If you repeat that 10 times
slowly gently focusing on the breath
and its natural flow,
it'll take you out of the moment.
I think that breathing and meditation really is that key
and I've trained, I've learned
and yet I just don't put it into practice.
Is there scientific evidence
that meditation changes everything?
There's overwhelming evidence.
It is an incredibly powerful and age-old tool.
And when I see old solutions
it doesn't mean they're always right
but there's something there
or we would have gotten rid of them.
Well, that's why I love the blue zones
is because everybody's living
to 100 years old on the average,
and I'm like, that is the proof that this works.
Yeah, and they'd been doing it a long time
because it works not because they were forced to
Oh, there you have it.
All right, Dr. Oz is sticking around,
but before we go to break
ever wonder what vitamins you should really be taking.
I do.
I'm obsessed with this question.
I'm so excited for the answer
health specialist Dr. Sandra Gelbard has the answers
take a look.
Hi Drew I'm Dr. Sandra Gelbard,
and one of the questions
I always get asked by my patients is
what vitamins do I actually need to be taking?
First fish oil 1000 milligrams daily
can protect your heart and your brain,
and can also help with anxiety.
Vitamin D 1000iu daily
can actually double the strength of your immune system.
It also protects your heart
and can prevent certain cancers.
Don't forget your probiotic
because your gut health is so important
to many of your bodily functions.
The probiotic will actually restore healthy bacteria
to your gut and protect your immune system
and calcium last but not least
from all my young women
I recommend 1000 milligrams a day.
This is very important
because this is your opportunity to build up your bone mass
so that when you get older
and you lose bone density
you're starting from a higher threshold.
I always say that with any of these supplements
you should take them with food
because otherwise you can get that uncomfortable GI upset.
(upbeat music)