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Summary
On episode 494 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Dr. Sadi Raza, a cardiologist trained in invasive and advanced non-invasive cardiology at the University of Vermont with additional training at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, whose interests include preventative cardiology and the management of acute and chronic cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Raza explains that while COVID-19 dominated the headlines, the shutdowns and shift to telemedicine caused a quieter crisis: people stopped going to the doctor, and CDC data later showed heart disease deaths rose for the first time in two decades.
The conversation covers the warning signs of a cardiac event, how symptoms can differ between men and women, and Dr. Raza’s four step plan for getting back on track: get vaccinated, re-engage with your doctors, get back to exercising, and take ownership of your long term health.
Links
- https://twitter.com/SadiRazaMD
Key Takeaways
- Heart disease deaths rose for the first time in two decades during the pandemic. This wasn’t because cardiovascular disease got worse in a single year (that doesn’t happen), it’s because emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and routine cardiology appointments all dropped while people stayed home.
- Telemedicine has real limits for cardiology. You can’t do an EKG, listen to a heart, or examine a patient over a screen, so symptoms got minimized or lost in translation, and follow up appointments were missed or pushed six months out.
- Don’t rationalize away classic warning signs. Chest pain or pressure, arm numbness, jaw pain, nausea, sweating, shortness of breath (including when lying flat), palpitations, or unexplained fainting all warrant medical attention right away, not a guess that it was the pizza.
- Subtle fatigue is a warning sign too. If stairs or a walk you used to handle easily now leave you winded, don’t chalk it up to being a year older or the “COVID 15.” Rule out a cardiac cause first, then assume it’s deconditioning.
- Men and women can present differently. Women are more likely to also have nausea, sweating, and dizziness layered on top of the classic chest pain and pressure down the left arm.
- The four step post-COVID plan: get vaccinated, re-engage with every doctor you’d normally see (primary care, OB-GYN, cardiologist), get back to exercising even at home, and set three to five year health goals instead of just reacting to symptoms.
- The pandemic weight gain was worse than the “COVID-15” nickname suggests. The average American gained around 29 pounds, some as much as 50. Dr. Raza’s advice: give yourself a pass for what happened, then get an honest baseline and start correcting course.
- Health is a long game, not a quick fix. Gaining weight is far easier than losing it, so set ambitious targets but measure progress season by season, and remember the scale isn’t the only metric: losing fat while building muscle counts even if the number doesn’t move much.
- Dr. Raza’s three strategies to get and stay well: find something that makes you happy, find people you can be happy with, and find your own way to achieve both, whatever path that takes, because it’s about the journey as much as the destination.
“It is far easier to gain weight than it is to lose weight, and you have to have a plan in place. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Dr. Sadi Raza