Easy Moves to Reduce Your Risk for Heart Disease

Jim Braibish • Feb 14, 2020

The following is provided by the KCMS Wellness and Prevention Committee and the KCMS Retired Physicians Organization in conjunction with February Heart Health Month.

By Keith Jantz, MD

We all hear about lowering risk for heart attacks by controlling risk factors like hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol and tobacco use. But other minor changes in one’s lifestyle can lower the risk for heart disease and add to one’s longevity.

Studies now reveal that a sedentary lifestyle where no real physical exercise is performed on a daily basis may increase the risk for heart disease almost as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes daily. People demonstrate great creativity in their excuses for not exercising, such as being too busy, not enough time in the day with work and kids, too tired after a long day at work, arthritis or other musculoskeletal ailments, inclement weather in winter, etc.

But the solution here is easier than most people realize. Several studies reveal that walking for 30 minutes nonstop on a daily basis reduces one’s risk for heart attack by 20% in their lifetime. This 20% is a huge number in the cardiac prevention scheme of things, more significant than the benefit provided by some prescriptions your doctor may recommend.

Added benefits here include the fact that it costs nothing to take a walk and there are essentially no side effects to be concerned about like may occur with medications. Plus, only 30 minutes of your day is required. Unlike the two-plus hours it takes for working out in a gym that requires changing clothes, driving there and back, and changing clothes again after a shower, a simple walking program from your front door only requires 30 minutes out of your busy day.

To reap the cardiac benefits of a walking program, several aspects of how you exercise are critical for the process to be effective:

  • The walk must be nonstop and at a brisk pace, so no walking the dog or stopping to chat with neighbors.
  • While 30 minutes daily is preferable, you should aim for a total of 3-½ hours per week, making up any missed time for skipped walks or shorter walks by adding an extended walk later in the week. Sometimes busy weekdays prevent getting the full walk in, but that time can be made up with a longer walk on weekends.
  • Wear good quality walking or jogging shoes. Walk indoors in a gym or mall when the sidewalks are icy, but don’t use inclement weather as an excuse that will reduce your total weekly walking time.

Consider this idea for yourself and your patients.

It’s easy, safe, cheap, healthy, and it works! Happy walking!

Keith Jantz, MD, is chair of the Retired Physicians Organization of the Kansas City Medical Society and a member of the KCMS Wellness and Prevention Committee. He practiced for 32 years with Kansas City Internal Medicine and was president for six years. He served on the board of the American Heart Association Midwest Affiliate from 2010 to 2015. He can be reached at keith.jantz71414@gmail.com.

22 Jan, 2024
To Members of the Kansas City Medical Society: Greetings, My name is Greg Unruh , and I am honored to be the President of the Society for 2024. By way of a short introduction, I practice anesthesiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. I have been involved in and have held leadership positions in local, state, and national societies of organized medicine throughout the years, both in anesthesiology and non-anesthesiology societies. I was an officer in the Wy-Jo Medical Society when we merged with the Kansas City Medical Society and have remained on the Board throughout all of the reorganization. I am very proud of how far we have come, It has put us in position to speak for physicians on both sides of the state line. We have expanded our Leadership Council, and we have passionate members of our Board of Directors. I want to commend our Immediate Past President, Dr. Carole Freiberger for her leadership in 2023. She provided us with an optimistic, can-do Presidency that advanced the Society and the practice of medicine in the KC area, so thank you Carole! In addition, we have welcomed the steady leadership of our executive director, Mr. Micah Flint. We appreciate him keeping us on track and organizing our many activities. Several of the things I mention will be dealt with in more detail throughout this communication, but I wanted to highlight some the several areas the Board has chosen for our work this coming year: Advocacy We want to advocate on both sides of the state line working with both the Missouri State Medical and Kansas Medical Societies (MMSA and KMS) on behalf of physicians. On the Kansas side, the legislature is working on many issues that affect us including scope of practice, vaccinations, Medicaid reimbursement and Medicaid expansion. We are working with KMS to provide testimony and influence our legislative representatives. Support for our Foundation We want to support our crown jewel whole heartedly, the Kansas City Medical Society Foundation which continues to be a model for advocacy and education, as well as our charitable care program which provides immense benefits for our uninsured or under insured patients. The Foundation supported expansion of Medicaid on the Missouri side and is advocating tirelessly for expansion on the Kansas side. Ms. Karole Bradford is our Executive Director. Opioid abuse We have been working to help stem the tide of opioid abuse through education and visibility. We are in the process of putting together TikTok videos about the dangers of opioid abuse produced by local high school students and targeted at high school students at their level and their preferred communication platform. We also have activities targeted to school district officials and several of our Board members and members provide advice around opioid use disorder and school policies. Wellness and Suicide Prevention Our focus has been on removing the stigma that sometimes attaches to physicians help-seeking. We have been advocating for health systems and hospitals to remove credentialing language that could impede a physician from seeking help. Several systems are reviewing their language and are now trying to focus on current, not historical, mental health issues or substance use that could affect safe practice. We are also working to participate in Physician Suicide Awareness Day in September. Welcoming New Members If you are a current member, thank you! I hope you have found our activities to be meaningful for you and your practice. Please consider asking your colleagues to join our collective voices. If you are not a member, please consider joining-we’d love to have you! In conclusion, I’m excited about the year to come and look forward to hearing any and all thoughts and ideas for the Society moving forward. Thanks, and best regards, Greg
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