These tests provide a clearer picture of heart health beyond traditional risk assessments.
Welcome to the Younger Longer 28-Day Healthy Heart Challenge, a transformative podcast series designed to help you take control of your heart health and live a longer, healthier life. Over the next 28 days, we’ll guide you through a comprehensive journey covering key aspects of cardiovascular wellness—nutrition, exercise, stress management, medical awareness, and lifestyle choices.
Each daily episode is packed with expert insights from Dr. Warrick Bishop, best-selling author and cardiologist dedicated to preventing heart disease before it becomes a life-threatening issue. Using the latest science and practical strategies, this series empowers you to make heart-healthy choices and build habits that will support your well-being for years to come.
What You’ll Learn in the 28 Days:
✔ Understanding Your Heart – How it functions and why proactive care is essential.
✔ Heart-Healthy Nutrition – The best foods to fuel your cardiovascular system.
✔ Exercise & Movement – The role of physical activity in strengthening your heart.
✔ Stress & Mental Well-being – Managing stress and anxiety for a healthier heart.
✔ The Power of Sleep – How sleep quality impacts cardiovascular function.
✔ The Impact of Smoking & Alcohol – Making informed lifestyle changes.
✔ Supplements & Medical Insights – Understanding key nutrients and medical checkups.
✔ Advanced Heart Testing & Risk Factors – Going beyond traditional risk assessments.
✔ Sustaining Long-Term Heart Health Habits – Turning knowledge into action for lifelong benefits.
Why Listen?
- Get practical tips and science-backed advice you can apply immediately.
- Learn from real-world examples and medical expertise.
- Gain daily challenges to help you stay engaged and track progress.
- Take charge of your heart health in a simple, effective, and engaging way.
Your heart is your most vital organ, and the steps you take today will shape your future health. Whether you’re looking to prevent heart disease, manage risk factors, or simply improve your overall well-being, this 28-day challenge is your roadmap to a healthier, longer life.
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Transcript
Hi and welcome to Day 24, and we're talking about testing of the heart.
Well, we've talked about traditional risk factor calculators, and I'm not sure that they're the bee's knees, so let's talk about some other stuff. I've already touched on coronary artery calcium a few times, and this is a great way to actually be precise about your risk.
In my perfect world, every male 45 to 50 years of age and every female 55 to 60 years of age should have a coronary artery calcium score done as a rite of passage as we age. One in four people are affected by coronary artery disease, so why wouldn't we check? That's pretty straightforward, and I think I've even got links to show you where you can organize your own scan without even the need to see a GP or a specialist. Check that out—that's virtualheartcheck.com—and you can pursue that as you see appropriate. Those ages I gave you? You might even do that scanning a little bit earlier if there's a really bad family history.
Well, what are the other tests we can use? If we think that there is a buildup of plaque in the arteries, or rust in the pipes if you like, and we think that buildup is so much that it might be limiting flow, we can put people through some sort of stress test or functional test. If we combine that with an ultrasound or an echocardiogram, then we can get readings on the electrical response of the heart and how the heart contracts by looking at it with ultrasonography.
A heart that's not getting enough blood shows electrical changes that we monitor, and a heart that's not getting enough blood cramps—it doesn't move properly. So stress echocardiography is a great way to assess if there's flow limitation.
You may have heard of coronary artery calcium scoring because I've been talking about it a lot, but if we take a coronary artery calcium score-style test and add dye or contrast and inject at the same time, we can outline the arteries with even more detail. This is called a CT angiogram, and it's really, really valuable. We tend to use it for individuals who have symptoms. It's not standard for risk.
You may have also heard of MRI scanning of the heart, and this is a beautiful tool used for a number of different parameters within heart evaluation, particularly things like the quality of the heart muscle itself. Are there changes that point to there being deposition of some sort of compound, chemical, or protein within the muscle? How well is the muscle working? Can we see scar within the muscle of the heart?
MRI also helps assess how well the valves are working, and we can get very, very accurate assessments of valve leakage. We can also get very accurate assessments of the function of things like even the aorta. So cardiac MRI imaging provides exquisite images for really evaluating hearts when we have some uncertainty and need more detail.
To summarize:
Coronary artery calcium scoring – Highly recommended to really figure out your risk.
Stress testing/functional testing – Used if we think there could be a risk of any flow-limiting plaque buildup in the arteries.
CT coronary angiography – A great test, more precise than coronary artery calcium scoring, and used for people with symptoms.
Cardiac MRI – A beautiful test giving us exquisite images, but it does take a while and is fairly expensive. It provides great insight into the integrity and quality of the muscle, any features of scar, and any problems with the valves.
For now, I'm going to wrap up. I look forward to seeing you at Day 25. Until tomorrow, I hope you live as well as possible for as long as possible.
Take care and bye for now.
Are You at Risk of a Sudden Heart Attack? How Healthy is Your Heart? Really?
Heart disease is the #1 killer in the Western World. In Australia, someone dies every 28 minutes from heart disease. That’s 51 people a day. In the US, someone has a heart attack every 40 SECONDS! Fortunately, many heart attacks are preventable. However, regular exercise and eating healthy are no guarantee you won’t succumb to this silent killer.
- 94% of Australians have at least One Risk Factor for heart disease.
- 59% of Australians have been Touched by heart disease.
- Yet only 3% of Australians have had a Full Heart-Health Assessment in the past 12 months.
Do the free heart check today at www.virtualheartcheck.com.au
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