 92.7 W-O-B-M. Good morning, Sean and Sue with you on a Monday morning at his February 13th, 8.40. Time right now to be joined by our special guest today. We're joined by Dr. Ali Mosfi, cardiologist with the Meridian Cardiovascular Network, part of the Hack and Sack Meridian Health Group. And we thank you, doctor, for joining us. Talk about heart month. Good morning. Hi, doctor. Morning, how are you doing? Very good. Let's begin, obviously, heart disease. It's serious. Let's talk about some of the statistics when we're talking about heart disease. Yes, it's the number one cause of death in the US. And we think of, whenever we think of death, we think of cancer, we think of AIDS and all that. But this has been for many, many years the number one cause of death. Do you think that people are as knowledgeable about heart disease as they should be? Or do you think we're getting better? How do we stand with all that? Unfortunately, I think they do think that they are knowledgeable about it, because they hear about it all the time. But the fact of the matter is that they have to learn a lot more about it. We are getting better, but we are not there yet. Something I'm surprised about, Sue, and I'm sure you find this to be a bit alarming, the amount of women who deal with heart disease. Oh, yes. The majority of the women who have heart problems have not even had the typical symptoms of chest pain and all that. And when they get a heart attack, their complication rates are higher. And therefore, it's very important for them, more than men, to know about heart disease. What steps can we take to learn more about our heart or to see how our heart is doing? I think the most important thing is to read. There is so much in information available today on the internet and the social media that you sometimes get confused way to get the information. My recommendation would be to go to American Heart or American College of Cardiology sources, as your best sources, as such. Let's talk about the risk factors that can lead to heart disease. These are what, like, your big five here you have? High blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity, and diabetes. Those would be the major risk factors which go along with heart disease. All right, 80% of heart disease, according to your literature you provided with me, is preventable. What are some things we can do to prevent heart disease or to help make us less prone to it? I think the first and foremost thing we have already spoken about is to first learn about it. That's the most important thing. Read about it. Read about it, learn about it. And the next thing to do is to try to do what is being taught. That is to exercise, like two and a half hours a week, about 20 minutes a day. Eat a healthy diet which is rich in fruits and vegetables. Try to reduce your stress. And in today's world, that's easier said than done. Take steps to reduce smoking. It's critical to quit smoking. With each puff, you're creating a poison within your body, not just for heart, but for many other conditions. And also, an important thing to do is to have a regular checkup with your doctor. I had to put in a plug for myself. There you go. Now, some of the symptoms that signs in general here that if you go through, should be a warning to maybe either call the doctor, get to the ER. There were some things that you talked about with cardiovascular disease. What would be some of those symptoms? Chest pain is the most dramatic thing that happens in these individuals. And that happens because the blood flow to the heart muscle is stopped by the closure of the artery that is supplying that area. It is like a water pipe getting closed and there's no water coming through and you're thirsty. And that dying heart muscle cries out with chest pain. Shortness of breath is the other feature. A dead heart muscle, weak heart muscle, now it's not pumping enough blood. The fluid pulls up in your lungs and you become short, short of breath. You can have palpitations like racing of the heartbeat, you may be fatigued, you may be tired, and you get dizzy. All those symptoms part together. But the most dramatic thing is chest pain and shortness of breath. Doctor, does anybody ever say to you, every time I talk to a heart doctor, because I like to get my heart checked and stuff, I feel like my chest is tightening right now. Speaking to you, is this happening to you, Sean? No. I feel my chest going rrrr. Maybe we'll have you check her out before you go. Maybe we better have you check her out before we go. I know, it's weird. It's like anxiety. I think it's a little nerve. It's a subject matter. They've called it the white coat syndrome. That's why I don't wear a white coat. Oh, okay, there you go. All right, if you want more details, you can visit hack and sack meridianhealth.org, then put slash, and then put heart in there. Very simple for heart disease. Just put the dot org slash heart for more details and find out all you need to know about National Heart Month and the heart disease and how you can prevent it and stay healthy. Doctor, thanks so much for being in with us today. It's a very important topic, and I think it affects so many people, so many families. Everybody has had someone in their family who's had a heart problem at some point or another. Definitely. My pleasure. I hope it helps somebody. No worries. Thanks for being with us.