By: Jean Johnson for Heart1 “I can always tell if I didn’t get enough fluid during the day because when night comes I’ll want ice cream or a beer or milk and cookies,” said 55 year-old Charles Taylor of Vancouver, Washington who is on the hefty side and whose family has a history of heart problems. Taylor laughs. “That’s how my mind works. When I’m tired true thirst gets translated into what I call my whoopee foods.
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The American Heart Association sponsors a Web site called ‘Just Move’
The site’s philosophy is “doing something is better than doing nothing.”
Tips include:
Stand when talking on a cordless phone and even incorporate some lungs and side stretches.
It is never too late to get more active, but the rule of thumb is approach increased activity gradually and conservatively. Many people tend to take on too much too fast and then get discouraged and quit.
Planning active family outings are ways to help the whole family stay active.
Any type of manual labor including yard work and housecleaning counts as activity.
Try to leave the car at home and walk or bicycle more frequently.
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“So even when it’s winter and I don’t get as thirsty as I do when it’s hot out, I really try to make a point of getting my water. I haul a jug I can refill around in my car, and when I’m in my office or at home, I make a big pot of herb tea that I nurse throughout the day. It’s just as good room temperature as it is hot, and as far as I know it’s as good as straight water in keeping you hydrated. The ones I get don’t have caffeine, of course.” Taylor, who is a tall, rugged man and looks about as far from a tea drinker – herbal or otherwise – as a lumberjack, adds, “Between that and a bowl of nice homemade soup at lunch I think I do all right. I make the soups myself and my wife loves them too. And my physician says my heart looks great. She’s the one that got on me about the water a few years back.”
The findings Taylor’s physician most likely based her hydration recommendations on is a 2002 report released by the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Loma Linda University and Medical Center in California. (Loma Linda was established in 1905 and enjoys an internationally-renown reputation for its medical research and treatments in the areas of heart transplant surgery and non-invasive proton beam therapy for prostate and breast cancer.)
According to researchers at the center, the study was the first to show a connection between water intake and heart health. Indeed, letting the body get dehydrated could be as hard on the heart as not getting enough exercise, making poor food choices, and smoking, the research team concluded.
Data for the study was drawn from the Adventist Health Study, a massive tracking program conducted from 1973 through 1979 on the habits of 20,000 Californian Adventists aged 38 to 100. According to Jacqueline Chan, DrPH (doctor of public health) and chief researcher for the project, those who drank five glasses of water a day lowered their risk for fatal coronary heart disease significantly. In males, the risk was lowered by 54 percent. Similarly, females experienced 41 percent less risk for fatal heart attacks. “Basically not drinking enough water can be as harmful to your heart as smoking,” said Chan.
Chan also noted that water does not mean lattés, dark ales, or Coke. “There is a difference, at least for heart health, whether people get their fluids from plan water or from sodas,” said Chan. Pure water, the team noted, in the results published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, is preferred since it is absorbed quickly and easily in the bloodstream and thins the blood, helping to prevent artery-clogging clots. Other liquids that require more digestion draw liquids from the blood into the intestine and thus can create a blood-thickening effect. That goes for coffee, tea, juice, milk, and alcohol. Chan and her colleagues found that when these items are consumed in excessive quantities they produced a 46 percent increase in heart attacks.
“This study needs to be replicated, and if similar results are found, then this would be the cheapest and simplest method of preventing heart disease that could be imagined,” said head of the Adventist Health Study and cardiologist at Loma Linda, Gary Fraser, M.D.
Our researchers here a Heart1.com found no reports of further research on heart health and water consumption since the 2002 study was published. In any event, we still noticed our team congregating a bit more frequently at the water cooler.
It may not be bubbly, but good pure water need not be paired with anything and is refreshing in its own right. We’re finding it a great choice for a pick-me-up, and if our hearts are maintaining their marvelous rhythms a bit steadier and stronger as a result, all the better.
