Eight simple heart tests you can do at home that could save your life
WHEN Cathy Read’s arm went numb and her heart started beating faster, she didn’t think much of it.
It was only after several similar episodes that her husband Chris persuaded her to go to hospital.
There, the couple — from Looe in Cornwall — were shocked when Cathy, 47, was told she’d had a HEART ATTACK.
Not once did Cathy, a communications manager, suspect it. She now admits she thought heart disease was more of a “man’s disease”.
“All the heart attack symptoms you see in the movies are had by men,” she says.
“But I didn’t realise until I had a heart attack myself.”
While we are all aware of a gender gap when it comes to pay in the workplace, there is another dangerous inequality in terms of healthcare.
A new study, published last week, found men fare better than women when they turn up at hospital with signs of a heart attack.
Researchers in New York noticed it took longer for women to be triaged, they waited longer to be seen by a doctor and were less likely to be offered standard heart tests compared to their male counterparts complaining of the same symptoms.
They reviewed 29million visits to emergency departments and found that women wait on average 11 minutes longer than men to be seen.
“Time is very important when you are treating heart attacks,” says the study’s lead author Darcy Banco.
“The longer people wait, the worse their outcomes can be.”
While chest pain is the most common symptom of a heart attack for men and women, studies have shown women can experience a range of other signs that are less easily recognised.
These include nausea, breathing difficulties, vomiting, fatigue, sweating and back pain, Dr Banco adds.
Cathy was out walking in February with Chris, a business intelligence manager, when she first noticed her symptoms, which lasted for about 30 minutes.
“I had several other episodes like that — my hand would tingle and not once did I think I was having a heart attack,” she tells Fab Daily.
After a couple of weeks, Chris, 47, persuaded his wife to go to hospital. Yet even there, doctors said Cathy showed no risk factors of a heart attack.
“Because I was young and female they thought I was fine,” she says.
“I was about to be sent home when a doctor looked at a blood test and decided I needed more tests urgently.
“My blood showed I had traces of a protein that is only present after a major heart incident.
“I didn’t have the chest clutching that I associate with heart attacks. I just felt really sick, so I didn’t think it was my heart.”
Cathy was diagnosed with spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) in March and is now on medication.
Her doctors are hopeful her heart will heal itself with rest and time.
“I’m one of the lucky ones,” she says.
“Since I was diagnosed I’ve read about many other women who weren’t taken seriously or diagnosed accurately because so little is known about female-specific heart attacks.”
In a bid to change that, here we look at the heart tests and checks you can perform at home to assess your risk.
And, in the interests of equality, most work for both men and women alike.
STAIRS TEST
EXPERTS reckon the easiest method of determining your own heart health is to skip the lift and take the stairs.
A recent study suggested the gold standard is climbing four flights of stairs in under a minute.
“The stairs test is an easy way to check your heart health,” said the study’s author Dr Jesus Peteiro, a cardiologist at northern Spain’s University Hospital A Coruna.
“If it takes you more than a minute and a half to ascend four flights of stairs, your health is suboptimal and it would be a good idea to see a doctor.”
WORK RISK
SPENDING too much time working isn’t just stressful – it can actually put your ticker at risk.
A study published in medical journal The Lancet found a 13 per cent increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease among those who work more than 55 hours a week.
The risk of stroke rose by 33 per cent.
Researchers believe lifestyle factors contribute to this.
When you are pushed for time, you are more likely to drink excess alcohol, exercise less and also eat more convenience food.
Further research is under way to find out exactly why working long hours is so bad for your heart.
5 HEART HEALTH TIPS
IF you are worried about your heart health, there are some lifestyle changes you can make to reduce your risk of heart disease. The main one is to keep a healthy weight. Cardiologist Aseem Malhotra shares his top tips:
- Eat real food – avoid dietary villains that drive heart disease: Sugar, white carbs and ultra-processed foods.
- Move mindfully – avoid sitting for more than 45 minutes at a time and aim to be active for at least 30 minutes a day.
- Sleep – aim for seven hours a night. Avoid caffeine after midday and screens for two hours before bed.
- Meditate – chronic stress is a silent killer when it comes to the heart, so try breathing exercises and also the Calm app.
- Love – spend more time with family and friends, as it will boost your wellbeing and protect your heart.
JAM JAR ABILITY
BREAKFAST is arguably the most important meal of the day. . . and opening the jam for your toast could give you a clue about the health of your heart.
A study of more than 5,000 people found those with a strong grip had better heart health than those with a weaker grip.
Scientists at Harvard in the US and Queen Mary University in London found a strong grip indicates more blood is being pumped around the body by the heart.
Harvard University researcher Dr Sebastian Beyer said: “Many risk factors – such as smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure – affect the heart.
“Our study showed that handgrip strength might also be linked to the structure of the heart.
"Participants with a lower handgrip strength had, on average, hearts that were heavier relative to their size.
“These changes can point to abnormal stressors the heart has to respond to.”
MEOPAUSE CHECK
GOING through menopause before the age of 40 was found to double the risk of a cardiovascular event before the age of 60, experts at the University of Queensland in Australia found.
Lead author Professor Gita Mishra said: “Knowing which groups of women are at most risk is useful for earlier diagnosis and preventive health strategies.”
Your GP should be able to tell if you are menopausal based on your symptoms and blood test results.
But something else you can do is chat to your mum.
That is because most women go through the menopause at roughly the same age as their mother did, experts claim.
GREY/WHITE HAIR
WHILE the menopause check is one for the ladies, a man’s hair colour could give an insight into his heart health.
Researchers from Cairo University in Egypt looked at 545 men, who each defined their hair on a scale from pure black to pure white.
They found those who rated their hair white were at significantly higher risk of coronary heart disease, even when age and general health was taken into account.
The study also showed that those already diagnosed with the condition had significantly more white hair than those who did not have heart disease.
SIT/STAND TEST
THIS is an easy one you can do in front of the TV.
The sit-and-stand test was designed by Dr Claudio Gil Araujo in Brazil and gives a good idea of the health of your ticker and your risk of dying.
In a study, his team asked over 2,000 people to sit down cross-legged from standing and then stand up again, without using a hand to help.
Those who could stand up without using any other part of their body, or just one hand, had a 21 per cent lower mortality risk than those who needed extra help.
Dr Ajaujo said: “If a middle-aged or older man or woman can sit and rise from the floor using just one hand – or, even better, without the help of a hand – their survival prognosis is probably better than those unable to do so.”
HEIGHT CHECK
IT might sound like a tall tale, but your height can predict your risk of heart disease, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
If you are just 2.5in shorter than the average height of 5ft 9in for a man and 5ft 3in for a woman, your risk increases by 13.5 per cent.
Researchers analysed the genes of nearly 200,000 people and found shorter people are more likely to have clogged arteries, which can cause heart attacks and stroke.
Most read in Fabulous
STRING THEORY
IF your waist is bigger than your hips, you could have a greater chance of getting heart disease, experts warn.
Being “apple-shaped” – carrying more fat around your middle – puts people at higher risk, scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, found.
They noticed waist circumference is a strong predictor of problems with the heart’s left ventricle, a common cause of both heart disease and heart failure.
The good news is that reducing your waist size lowers your risk.
But how big is too big? One quick and easy test is to take a piece of string and cut it to the same length as your height.
Fold it in half, then wrap it around your waist.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
If it meets or overlaps, you are a healthy weight.
But if you can’t make the ends meet, you are probably carrying too much visceral fat – meaning tummy fat – and would benefit from losing weight.