"Take it easy"

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Why is getting up early unhealthy for some people? And what does the stomach have to do with the heart? In the interview, Prof. Jürgen Ennker * explains how your heart stays healthy.

Prof. Dr. med. Jürgen Ennker

Prof. Dr. med. Jürgen Ennker is a doctor and Medical Director of the Clinic for Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery at the MediClin Heart Center in Lahr / Baden. More information: www.ennker.de

Prof. Ennker, I am the person who is most active at night. Still, I have to get up at six every morning to be in the office on time. Is that bad for my heart?

It's actually not particularly healthy. You are an “owl”, a night owl, but you have to live like an early bird, a so-called lark. So you work against your internal clock - like half of Europeans, by the way. You are practically in a social “permanent jet lag”.

What are the specific consequences of this?

Anyone who, like you, constantly struggles against their biorhythm becomes fat faster and is more likely to develop diabetes and high blood pressure. These are decisive factors that promote arteriosclerosis and thus endanger our heart. If, on the other hand, you follow your personal rhythm, you can save a lot of energy and protect your heart.

Keyword overweight: A beer belly is considered particularly critical - why actually?

Belly fat is particularly metabolically active. It sends out signals that trigger inflammatory responses. And that promotes, among other things, the deposition of cholesterol on the vessel walls. The so-called waist-to-hip ratio is a measure of belly fat. The ratio of waist to hip circumference should be less than 1.0 for men and less than 0.85 for women.

Being overweight also increases the pressure in the blood vessels. How quickly is the heart actually damaged when the blood pressure is too high?

You can't say that in general. It's a gradual process that doesn't happen overnight. But if you have high blood pressure for several years and do not seek treatment, you drastically increase your risk of heart attack, heart failure or a stroke. And the higher the pressure, the faster it happens.

Do you have a few specific tips for keeping blood pressure healthy?

The most important tips are of course always the same - eat healthy and exercise regularly. But there are also little things that make a difference.

An example?

Drink plenty during the day but only a little in the evening. You do not convert the fluid so quickly at night and this leads to a certain increase in blood pressure. You will also be woken from deep sleep when you have to go to the bathroom at night - and that is what all organs need in order to regenerate.

How do you personally keep your heart healthy?

For me the most important rule is: Take it easy. Stress causes the blood pressure to skyrocket for a short time. Above all, however, those who are chronically electrified or who eat into themselves anger, anger and frustration drive their blood pressure up permanently. Then at some point the stress also damages the blood vessels and the heart. So you have to gain the right attitude towards life in order to be more relaxed and stay healthy.

There is a saying: "First people run after money with health and later with health money". There is something true. As a heart surgeon, I see everything that can happen every day. Many people take health for granted, but unfortunately that is not the case.

Book tip: Jürgen Ennker and Bianca Lorenz: Live healthier, longer. Springer Medicine, 2014.

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