Monique Lineback, PhD, RN

Submitted photo

The word “February” was derived from the Roman festival of purification, Februarius, and means to purify. The month conjures up sentiments of love, reflection, heart emojis and the color red.

It’s also Heart Health Awareness Month and American Heart Month. Million Hearts 2027 is a give-year challenge that started in 2022  to save lives and protect those impacted by cardiovascular disease.

This toolkit delves into those who are at risk, how to monitor your own heart health, tips on keeping a healthy heart, common signs and symptoms of heart issues, where to go for help, and community resources.

Who is at risk

According to the Centers for Disease Control and the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. for men and women. This is true for most racial and ethnic groups, and is second only to cancer for Asian American, Pacific Islander and Hispanic people.

Health promotion and disease prevention for heart attack and heart disease include consideration of the following risk factors:

• Those you can change — activity, lifestyle, nicotine/tobacco, vaping, alcohol, sleep, obesity, diet and nutrition, high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure.
• Those you can’t change — increasing age, gender, heredity and genetics.

Monitor your heart health

The key to monitoring your own heart health is to do so with a consistent, intentional approach while noting trends. Keeping track of heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, temperature, pain, hours of sleep and stress management, either on paper or digitally, can be helpful.

Notate trends that may affect your heart health include changes in prescriptions or medication dosage, illnesses, weight loss and whether you consult with your primary care doctor regularly.

Tracking these data points and using new wearable heart-health technologies offer helpful insight into your cardiovascular health. Heart health trackers, paper trackers, blood pressure logs and/or fitness tracking competitions, to name a few, can help inspire your thoughts and actions.

Some recent medical advances include a wearable EKG device with multiple sensors, smart phone test strips for heart failure markers, dissolvable implants, smart stents and brain health blood biomarkers.

Tips for keeping your heart healthy

There are eight essential key measures to improve your heart health, according to the AHA. They include lifestyle choices such as eating a healthy diet (see AHA heart-healthy recipes), maintaining an active lifestyle, no nicotine/tobacco, getting adequate sleep, maintaining a healthy weight, cholesterol management, diabetes prevention and blood pressure control.

This wellbeing includes consideration of the mind-body connection as well. There are specialists like cardiologists, psychiatrists and/or board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioners, for example, who may be part of your care/care collaboration.

Common signs and symptoms

A basic understanding of common cardiovascular conditions — arrhythmias, atherosclerosis, cardiac arrest, congenital heart disease, coronary heart disease, diabetes, heart attack, heart failure, high blood pressure, preeclampsia, stroke — is important.

While each individual is different, some common but serious warning signs may include chest pain, chest heaviness and unusual fatigue. According to a few cardiologists, there are also nine weird symptoms that you should not ignore, like whooshing in the ear, pain or fatigue in the legs while walking and carpal tunnel discomfort combined with shortness of breath.

Beyond the classic “elephant-on-the-center-of-the-chest pain,” women-specific (CDC, 2024) heart issues include angina; pain in the neck, jaw or throat; pain in the upper abdomen or back; nausea; vomiting; and/or excessive tiredness that will not go away. Use these indicators with caution and in collaboration with your care provider(s).

Where to turn for help and more

If you or someone you know is experiencing an emergency, call 911 immediately. Do not wait to have a health care professional check your symptoms. Early care has better outcomes.

Health promotion and disease prevention are key.

For help and support there are online, in-person and hybrid communities on social media as well as through professional platforms like the AHA. A good example is the AHA Support Network at https://supportnetwork.heart.org/s/topic/0TO4T000000TY2GWAW/heart-attack. Additionally, the AHA Professional Heart provides communities with insight and guidance on select clinical topics at https://professional.heart.org/en/communities.

Editor’s note: Monique A. Lineback, PhD, RN of the University of Phoenix College of Nursing is a clinical coordinator and nurse with 20 years of experience in the medical field. Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.