Coronary Artery Disease

Does Worry Cause Heart Disease?

Have you ever been accused of being a chronic worrier? Do you ever lie awake at night going over the mental list of problems just waiting to pounce the next morning at the office, wasting precious sleep as you anticipate and plan just how you’ll handle these worries? Perhaps a meeting with a friend or loved one just went badly and too late you thought of all the right things to stay? Like a rerun of a bad play, you keep replaying the scene over and over again in your head, beating yourself up with the could have, should have syndrome instead of moving on past the incident?

A Woman’s Heart, Music and the Beat of Your Heart

Personally, I love music. I’m a musician and have to admit that music is and always has been a passion of mine. Whether I’m teaching, performing, singing, playing or writing, there is nothing (next to my family and faith) that evokes quite so much pleasure and joy in my life. In many ways, music completes me and I’ve found that it has a power to heal a multitude of ills and attitudes. I am, naturally, quite prejudiced when it comes to music. I believe everyone should have the opportunity to experience and enjoy music as much as I do whether it’s singing and playing professionally or simply singing in the shower or jamming with friends around a campfire. When it comes to music, it’s all good!

A Woman’s Heart, Can a Positive Attitude Improve Your Heart Health?

There is a proverb that says “a merry heart does good like a medicine.” While being happy certainly improves ones disposition (and that of those around you!), can your outlook on life, particularly a positive outlook, actually impact and improve your heart health?

Behavioral Cardiology: Do Psychosocial Stressors Impact Your Heart?

Our eastern neighbors have long recognized the mind-body connection in the role of health, a concept which has been largely ignored by western medicine which traditionally treats the body as being separate from the mind or emotions. This western philosophy, as least as it relates to heart disease, may be changing. A new discipline within the field of cardiology, behavioral cardiology, is on the rise and brings a new approach to preventing and treating heart disease.

Monday morning blues and your heart

Have you ever noticed how the work week does not really begin on Monday morning, but instead on Sunday night?

You know what I’m talking about – the stress level that rises and rests in the pit of your stomach, the slight tension headache, the race to make certain clothes are clean, homework is done, lunches are prepared and ready. Don’t forget the mental list of all the things that must be done on Monday morning when you get to the office which replays constantly into the wee hours of the morning robbing you of precious, needed sleep.

A Woman’s Heart: Does Aspirin Really Help?

Most of us have seen the commercials and are aware that taking an aspirin a day is beneficial in preventing heart attacks in men.

What about women? Will taking an aspirin a day lower a woman’s risk of heart disease as well? Does aspirin provide us with the same heart protective benefits that it does for men?

Does combination hormone replacement therapy prevent heart disease?

You wake up one morning and you’re fine. The next morning, a very unwelcome guest has strong-armed its way into your life bringing night sweats, mood swings, a belly the likes of which you haven’t seen since you were pregnant, along with a vague feeling of disorientation as you wonder what just hit you.

Exercise in Postmenopausal Women

Let’s face it. Despite the evidence that exercise is good for us, many of us in the U.S. are pretty sedentary and don’t get the exercise we need. According to The Heart Truth, 40 percent of all women do not list exercise as one of their “leisure” activities. Compared to men, women exercise a lot less.