Do THIS to Avoid a Heart Attack

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So heart disease is the number one killer in the Western world today. Number one. More people die from heart attacks between December 25th and January 1st than any other time of the year. In fact, heart attacks themselves increase by 25% during the holiday season and deaths. So the amount of people that die from a heart attack are increased by 40% during the holiday season.

So December is the deadliest month for heart attack victims. And more heart attacks happen when you are in stressful environments, when there's inactivity, when there's a lack of sleep, when there's an unhealthy diet, and there's increased drinking, right? So, here are some things that you should do.

And if you know somebody who's maybe at risk, share this with them because there are some really simple things they can do. Hey, welcome to the show. I am Dr. Josh Axe. I'm a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the founder of AncientNutritionAndLeaders.com.

And each and every week on the show, I cover the science behind how to grow yourself, your health, your wealth, and take your career, your relationships, and your spiritual wellness to the next level. On today's episode, I'm gonna be talking about why most heart attacks occur on Mondays and around the holidays, and what you can do to improve your heart health.

Also, I wanna say, you know, more and more people I see having issues related to blood and their heart. And so, I'll be talking about some natural things, some supplements, diet ideas, and stress and mindset-related things that can help you improve your heart and cardiovascular health.

Also, hey, if you're not subscribed, make sure to subscribe to the channel and click the bell button here so you get rung anytime I've got new content out. And I put out 3 new episodes every single week. I'm going to keep the content coming, but again, please subscribe and ring the notification bell here so you don't miss An episode?

Well, according to a recent study, the CDC just released something and they said one person dies every 33 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular disease. And in the US, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds. Now, the risk of a heart attack increases as much as 20% on Mondays, and more heart attacks occur on Monday mornings.

And the big reason for this is due to The stress related to your mindset around the week of work. You tend to have a more relaxing weekend and there's just less on your plate. And so, I think that generally, people have a lower rate of stress over the weekend, but Monday kicks in and people start thinking about all of the errands, all of the busyness.

And so, that anxiety and that blood pressure start to creep up there on Mondays as people start to think, well, I've got to hurry. I've got to rush around. That increases the state of anxiety. And also, the mornings, there's this sort of inherent changes in our sleep-wake cycle. That's when cortisol starts going up, melatonin starts going down. So, we start to get more in this alert state.

And it's that sort of time, that change that starts to happen. But I think a big part of what I want to dive into here, and I also want to talk about daylight savings, there's another surprising thing here, but so much about heart attacks is about our perception about the reality of what's coming up as part of our day and our week. I'll get into that more in a minute.

There's another study, though, I want to touch on here, and it says there's a 24% jump in heart attacks on the Mondays after daylight savings time when we spring forward compared to Mondays throughout the year. And previous studies have linked this sort of— the big reason here is insufficient sleep.

And so, if somebody's not getting a full night's sleep or loses even an hour The risk of a heart attack goes up. But think about how crazy that is. There's almost a 25% jump increase in heart attacks during daylight savings that Monday after. And so, all that being said, I think there's a few keys here. One, what do you believe about your week?

You know, I think if you're going into the week and you're excited about your work week and you've managed your time wisely where you know what you have going on, so you're not stressing about it, you're not in this rush mindset. And you do first things first, I think that's going to help you decrease your risk. When your mindset is, hey, you know what?

It might be a busy week, but I'm looking forward to this week. And I know I don't have to rush around. My identity is not tied to my productivity. My identity is tied to my faith or my role in my family or something even more meaningful and steadfast that can't be wiped out by you not getting one of the extra tasks done that day. So, I think going into that is really important.

I also want to point out another study, and this is one of my favorite studies when it comes to stress, but it also really can link over to heart health. And there's a Stanford researcher, her name is Alia Crum, and she found that the way we perceive stress greatly impacts what our body does. And it's something called the mind-body connection.

And so, she found in this study that if somebody viewed stress during the work week, so they knew, you know what? I've got to pick up and drop off the kids. I've got a deadline due at work. I'm a student and I have a paper due, right? All of these things going on. If they perceive that as a healthy challenge, like going in for a workout.

So, you go into the gym and you say, okay, I'm going to lift weights today and I'm going to do this and I know this is good for me. So, there's stress, but I know it's good stress and it's going to help me grow stronger. So, when people went in via this study, With that mindset, knowing, you know what?

I've got stress, but it's going to be good stress, and I'm not going to hurry and rush through it, but I'm going to go in there and I'm going to have a plan. Those people thrived when they viewed stress as what it is. It's just, it's a stressor. And as long as you don't have too much of it, you'll be just fine.

Versus if somebody went in thinking, oh, no, stress is terrible for me and increases my risk of a heart attack, it reduces my lifespan, it does all these things. Those people had worse outcomes. So, simply you shifting your mindset about what stress is and knowing, you know what?

I may have some stress at work, but I'm going to use this difficult person that's in my life around the holidays or at work. I'm going to use that as an opportunity to grow and just show them extraordinary love, right? So, when you go in with a different mind frame of not like, this is going to break me, versus, no, you know what? I'm not going to be broken.

I'm going to help repair people and the situation. And that's what I do. So, your mindset is incredibly important when it comes to how your body deals with these stressors. And there's another really enlightening study I want to hit on here. And this is— and here's what the study found. More people die from heart attacks between December 25th and January 1st than any other time of the year.

In fact, heart attacks themselves increase by 25% during the holiday season. And deaths, so the amount of people that die from a heart attack, are increased by 40% during the holiday season.

So, December is the deadliest month for heart attack victims, and more heart attacks happen when you are in stressful environments, when there's inactivity, when there's a lack of sleep, when there's an unhealthy diet, and there's increased drinking, right? So, all of those things happen. During the holidays?

Oftentimes, less sleep, more stress, less exercise, more sugar in your diet, and drinking more. Okay? Those things all increase your risk statistically of a heart attack. So, here are some things that you should do. And if you know somebody who's maybe at risk, share this with them because there are some really simple things they can do. Number 1, again, think differently about stress. Okay.

When you go in and know, you know what, I'm going to be in a stressful situation around the holidays, I'm going to be around difficult family members, we're going to be traveling, I think you want to go in and know, you know what, a little stress is good for me. My body is going to repair, it's adapted.

As long as I get enough rest, ideally, that's part of it too, then my body can deal with the stress just fine. And so, when you know that going in, and again, you have that difficult family member, reframe your mind and think of it as a challenge of that, okay, I'm going to go in there and rather than me breaking and And feeling like I'm being attacked with whatever the situation is.

I'm going to go in there and I'm going to be a peacemaker. I'm going to be a person that speaks life into this person. Maybe, maybe you have a relative and, you know, you know what, they, they, they probably, um, rarely have somebody saying an encouraging word to them or, uh, or, or say something uplifting. And so be that person in their life.

So think about stress differently and be that peacemaker and repair person. Number 2, preparation, planning, and pamper. Okay. Some principles of self-care. I really think that planning and preparation are so key. And so, if, you know, like, for instance, Chelsea and I, now, we're here this year and we're here in Nashville.

But many years, we've traveled up to Minnesota where her family lived for a long period of time. And before we would go, we would always plan and prepare.

So, when we would land in Minneapolis before driving a couple of hours to the middle of nowhere in Minnesota, We would stop at Whole Foods Market or a local health food store we'd find, and we would pick up our groceries and we would do all of those sort of things. Okay. So, so we would do that. You know, we'd go on a trip to New York City or something.

We would do a very similar thing, go to Sprouts or another health food store, and we would, we would do some of those things and we'd plan about, okay, we want to get workouts in, maybe not every day, but even if it's a 20-minute. So we really just sort of planned and prepared ahead of time and really thought through how can we make this this trip, these holidays, rejuvenating at the same time.

And so, I want to encourage you to prepare, to plan. And hey, a great gift would be for a family member, a spouse especially, something to get pampered, a massage, a reflexology appointment, something like that, some good self-care practices. And by the way, this is something that I know that I constantly do over the holidays. Like, my brother's coming in town here.

And so, what we do, I already talked to him last night and we're going to go to Lifetime Fitness in the morning, and then we're going to do a cold plunge and a sauna session, and we're going to spend some time together. So, one thing I do when I have family members come in town, I'll do the same thing with my dad. We'll go work out and do some of this stuff together.

And so, but I'm the initiator of it. I'll say, hey, what are you guys thinking about doing a cold plunge or a sauna or doing a 5K run or doing a workout in the morning? Something like that, and we'll get the family involved, and it's something they all enjoy doing. And so, be the initiator of those healthy activities in the family. Maintain a healthy diet. Avoid overeating and overdrinking.

Listen, I think there's all to be said about, hey, you have a glass of wine, right? And you have a piece of the pumpkin pie or the chocolate silk pie or whatever it is you and your family love. But I think on those days when you're not doing that, then try and eat a little healthier. Also, bring your vitamins with you.

You know, Whether it be your multis or your immune-boosting herbals or elderberry or zinc or vitamin D, pack those with you, bring those with you when you travel, or stay within those healthy habits. And it's okay.

Hey, you're going to have a vacation day off of eating healthy and eat the family gatherings that might have a little bit of extra sugar, but do your best during that time to get back on track around the days you're not doing that. And the other thing here, do your best to get good quality sleep at night. Okay? Get quality sleep, 8 hours of sleep, as much as you possibly can.

And listen, you may have 1 or 2 nights you don't. Well, then try and make up for it or get those on the other nights. Or if you have been going and going and going and not getting enough sleep, then use the holidays as a chance to maybe sleep in a little bit. Now, do I think that's going to happen on Christmas morning? Maybe not. Okay?

But any other day you can, then do your best to get quality sleep, and if you can really Change your mindset about stress. If you can plan and prepare, if you can— one other last thing I want to mention here is keep moving, going on walks.

So, even if you can't go to the gym, one of the greatest things you can do to increase your health is go on a walk outside, even if it's overcast outside, even if it's cold. Now, if it's sleeting and raining, maybe stay in if it's raining and 33 degrees out. Outside of that, walking around meals first thing in the morning, going on a walk around lunch.

So, walking around breakfast and lunch, going on a 20-minute brisk walk, especially over the holidays, is incredible for your health. So, think differently, plan, prepare, go on a lot of walks and get even a light workout in, prepare a healthy diet the best you can on those days you're not indulging a little bit, and get quality sleep.

And if you do that, Your risk of a heart attack will decrease dramatically. It'll improve your cardiovascular health, and you'll be much healthier for it. And if you know somebody who needs to watch this, which is really probably all of our family members, you know heart attacks and heart-related issues. So so heart disease is the number one killer in the Western world today. Number one.

And so it's really important that we all do our best to improve our heart health. I know there's a lot of people post. COVID and things like that that are still having heart and blood issues. And so these tips can help them as well. I do want to mention a few other just supplements here for heart health that I think would be very healthy. Turmeric is one of the best.

Okay, so turmeric, 3,000 milligrams turmeric combined with black pepper is very good for heart health. Omega-3 fatty acids like fish oil, those have been shown in clinical studies to reduce the risk of heart attacks. Hawthorn, that was an herb used in Chinese medicine. You could buy it at a lot of health food stores today or even online. That's another really good one. Garlic is another great one.

Getting antioxidants from pomegranates and berries, those are really good as well, and vegetables and wild organic meat. But generally speaking, doing omega-3 fats and turmeric are 2 of the best for improving heart health. So, if you've enjoyed this episode, hey, please subscribe and click the bell and ring that notification bell so you don't miss out on a single episode.

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