A top cardiologist has highlighted the 10 heart symptoms that should never be ignored, including breaking into a sweat during light exercise, feeling nauseous alongside chest pain, and waking up tired. Dr Ameet Bakhai, a consultant cardiologist at Spire Bushey Hospital, also pointed out other signs of potential heart issues such as experiencing heaviness in the arm during exertion, struggling to breathe when climbing stairs, and noticing frequent extra or skipped heartbeats.
Other indicators that your heart may need attention include difficulty in bending down and standing up, feeling dizzy upon standing quickly, and having swollen legs, which could suggest your heart is not adapting to changes in position or is retaining excess fluid.
Dr Bakhai, who specialises in research into how lifestyle factors affect cardiac health and prevention methods, also stated that a healthy adult should be able to run up two flights of stairs without losing breath and squat on a toilet, assuming they have no other health conditions.
In addition, a healthy individual should comfortably hold their breath for 20 seconds. Dr Ameet, who has been advising Healthspan’s Love Your Heart supplement range, which commissioned the study, warned: “We often ignore our heart health and it’s signals until it’s too late.”
“There’s no annual MOT to be passed for most of us, so we ignore the small signals that our own engine is not performing ideally. Heart issues can often get progressively worse, until one day you have a more complicated issue – that could have been avoided if you’d heeded the warning signs.”, reports Gloucestershire Live.
“Heart issues can be connected to other things – you might consider not being able to run up two flights of stairs more of a lung condition or a lack of fitness or of weight gain, but there is a lot of overlap with coronary artery disease or heart valve problems or irregular heart rhythms. So, looking after your heart health is essential and should be planned as a new year resolution every year.”
Dr Bakhai added: “Heart disease can affect people of all ages, particularly in the era of Covid and beyond, as the virus can attack the heart and the heart lining quite commonly as a condition called myopericarditis (inflamed heart and heart covering – the pericardium).”
“Warning signs like chest tightness, aches in your arms or jaw, dizziness on standing, breathlessness with bending down should act like a wake-up call that your heart is calling out for help. Becoming heart aware is vital and more than half of those in the survey were not aware that if they partner had suffered a cardiac episode in the last five years it was highly likely that their risk factors are also increased due to parallel lifestyles.”
Rob Hobson, a top nutritionist with Healthspan, has sounded the alarm on heart health negligence, stating: “Millions know heart health is vitally important yet ignore warning signs and do heart-unfriendly things like eating junk food, smoking and the survey showed people are trying to make changes but there is a clear lack of knowledge.”
He further advised: “Simple dietary changes and supporting dietary gaps with heart specific supplements, such as Love Your Heart, can all make a difference over time, and over half of those asked are conscious they need to keep their heart healthy but knew little about what supplements to take to help them.”
10 HEART HEALTH SYMPTOMS BRITS HAVE HAD – AND NOT ALWAYS INVESTIGATED:
1. Dizziness on standing up quickly
2. Shortness of breath
3. Difficulty bending down
4. Palpitations
5. Tightness of the chest
6. Arm pain – neck or upper arms often the left
7. Difficulty standing up
8. Chest discomfort (excluding tightness)
9. Swollen legs
10. Frequent extra or skipped heartbeats