Preventing Heart Attacks

By E Douglas Kihn, OMD, LAc, CPT

Heart attacks kill more Americans every year than any other cause. When a heart attack occurs, some heart muscle cells die from reduced or obstructed blood flow through the coronary arteries. The medical term for this is “myocardial infarction” (MI).

Many different situations can restrict the blood flow to the heart muscle and cause heart attacks, such as infectious diseases, starvation, a drug overdose, poison, and genetic abnormalities. The causes discussed here are those that are commonly encountered in the U.S. and that are mostly preventable. We will examine these factors from a Chinese medical perspective, which will give us clues about how to prevent heart attacks. Even those who carry heart disease anomalies in the genes can postpone problems for a very long time by making some important changes.

Yin excess

The heart is a pump that sends oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. When excess material – yin is material – accumulates in the bloodstream, the pump can fail. If the pump is unable to nourish itself, part of it can die.

Excessive yin can include enlarged fat cells, impacted fecal matter in the intestines, phlegm, watery discharge, fluid accumulation, and growths. Another kind of excessive yin accumulates in the inner lining of the blood vessels. In Western medicine, this excess yin is known as “atherosclerosis.” As this material builds up, it will wreak its own special kind of havoc.

When the passageways in the blood vessels become narrowed with cholesterol and other unwanted material, the back pressure on the heart will increase, causing hypertension. Eventually, the tiny arteries that feed the heart can become clogged with this debris, known as “plaque,” that has accumulated over a lifetime. Debris and clotted blood can also break off somewhere in the body and get lodged in the coronary arteries (embolism). When either event occurs, part of the heart can starve. A starved heart will stop working. An MI and possible death are the result.

Liver qi stagnation

Have you ever heard of someone who suffered a heart attack as the result of bad news or other psychological trauma? Chinese medicine explains this well with the concept of liver qi stagnation. Qi is that substance in the body (and the and everywhere else) that moves everything, including the organs, muscles, and blood. Your Chinese liver (not your Western liver) functions like the director of your movie. Liver (gan) keeps the work flowing smoothly and makes sure everyone on the set is happy and has everything they need. This includes the qi in the heart.

When the muscles that surround the heart suddenly clench, heart qi will stagnate and all work in the constricted heart could come to a halt. Blood will stagnate, part of the heart will starve and die, and the heart may stop altogether, causing an MI and death. A person who lives with chronic fear and anxiety likely suffers from liver qi stagnation. This means that an emergency fight-or-flight clenching of muscles constantly exists in the body, especially the rib cage, and often without the person being aware of it. Poor circulation of qi and blood in the chest area will make a person susceptible to this kind of heart attack.

Excess yin that blocks circulation will further contribute to stagnated liver qi and blood in the chest. Conversely, stagnated liver qi will interfere with the free circulation of yin fluids in the chest and elsewhere, increasing the incidence of plaque forming in the blood vessels.

Heart heat

Alone among all of the organs, the heart is the only one that is always working. Even when you hold your breath, your heart is still moving. This means that the heart picks up a lot of friction and thus generates heat continuously. Therefore the heart is susceptible to conditions of excess heat. A speedy heart rate – over 80 beats per minute – is one of many indications of excess heat. When we exercise, our bodies generate extra heat and so the heart rate increases. This kind of heat is normal and healthy.

However, when excessive heat enters the chest area, there exists a danger that it will cause an unhealthy and even dangerous condition that could even lead to a heart attack. This pathological heat most often enters the body as a result of the inhalation of hot gases, namely smoking. Too much smoking of any substance can speed up the heart rate so fast (“tachycardia”) that the heat can tip that tiny heart cell that governs rhythm (the sinoatrial node) into a frenzy. The result is called “ventricular fibrillation,” when the rhythm of the heartbeat is completely lost and any real pumping action ceases. With effective pumping stopped, heart cells begin to starve and die due to lack of oxygen.

Tachycardia can also be initiated by overwork compounded by the heat that results from stuck liver qi pounding against barriers in the tissues.

Prevention

Here are some steps we can all take to preserve or improve the health of the heart and avoid heart attacks for as long as possible.

• Get lean. Five to ten percent body fat for men and seven to twelve percent for women is optimally lean. Lean is clean. Excess yin originates from two sources: Food and drink. Excess liquid comes and goes easily, but excess calories from food stay around as enlarged fat cells, growths, impacted waste, and of course plaque in the blood vessels. The body is just as adept at cannibalizing plaque as body fat, tumors, and waste, if given the chance. This requires eating less calories than used until the desired leanness is reached. Herbal supplements such as Bojenmi Tea and black fungus that encourage the body to clean out plaque and cholesterol from the walls of the blood vessels can also be helpful.

• Minimize pollutants. Chemicals from food and smoke can accumulate in the blood, adding significantly to plaque buildup. Stop smoking or breathing other people’s smoke. Cook most of your own food, and buy mostly organic food.

• Get calm. Work hard to establish and maintain your piece of mind. Use calming techniques that work best for you that do not cause more problems, such as Asian philosophy, cognitive behavioral therapy, religion, meditation, yoga, taiqi, and regular exercise. Beware of using food, smoking, alcohol, and drugs/medications as a substitute for real change.

• Improve your posture. Hours spent hunched over a desk or computer screen will contract the chest muscles and decrease circulation in the heart area. Sitting and standing straight will open up the chest and help move liver/heart qi.

• Limit or quit smoking.

• Get plenty of sleep and rest. Do not overschedule or speed through your day so that you do not build up excess heat in the heart.