3 min read
One person dies of heart disease every minute in America. However, by proactively living a heart friendly lifestyle, you can mitigate and reduce your risk.
Dr. John Whyte, Chief Medical Officer of WebMD and author of the new book “Take Control of Your Heart Disease Risk,” joins Dr. Phil on his Phil in the Blanks podcast to explain how emotions impact the heart and give you tools to help save a life.
“You just can’t focus on diet and exercise, you need to focus on your emotions as well,” Dr. Whyte says.
“If you're somebody who struggles with depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, you need to perk up and listen, because this could be contributing to your risk of having a life-altering or life-ending cardiac event,” Dr. Phil says. “It's time to stop ignoring this mind-body connection when it comes to our heart.” New episodes of Phil in the Blanks drop Tuesdays. Listen and subscribe today!
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KEY QUOTES & POINTS:
Dr. Phil McGraw: One person every minute dies of heart disease in America. Now, look, this is preventable.
Dr. Phil McGraw: by proactively living a heart-friendly lifestyle, you can mitigate your risk for years to come, and you have the power to reduce your risk.
Dr. John Whyte: You just can't focus on diet and exercise. You need to focus on your emotions as well.
Dr. John Whyte: What we see in people with depression is really this chronic inflammation.
Dr. John Whyte: People that are depressed have elevated levels of C-reactive protein.
Dr. John Whyte: It causes something known as Endothelial dysfunction. Fancy words for it messes up the lining of your blood vessels so it makes them less elastic.
Dr. John Whyte: That's what chronic depression and stress can do to the physical structure of your heart. And people aren't talking enough about that.
Dr. Phil McGraw: there is evidence that that shows that emotions, attitudes such as gratitude. Can have a positive impact on areas of the brain,
Dr. John Whyte: The Bio-Physiologic whole basis of gratitude is changing the way that our brain is processing emotions and then impacting our heart rate and our breathing.
Dr. Phil McGraw: write down a 65 item blessings list.
Dr. Phil McGraw: We are about 30% more efficient if we have an optimistic attitude.
JOHN WHYTE, MD, MPH
Chief Medical Officer, WebMD Author “Take Control of Your Heart Disease Risk” https://www.webmd.com/takecontrol/heartrisk Photo/Bio Credit: WebMD.com
John Whyte, MD, MPH, is a popular physician and writer who has been communicating to the public about health issues for nearly two decades.
Whyte is the Chief Medical Officer, WebMD. In this role, Whyte leads efforts to develop and expand strategic partnerships that create meaningful change around important and timely public health issues. Prior to WebMD, Whyte served as the director of professional affairs and stakeholder engagement at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Whyte worked with health care professionals, patients, and patient advocates, providing them with a focal point for advocacy, enhanced two-way communication, and collaboration, assisting them in navigating the FDA on issues concerning drug development, review, and drug safety. He also developed numerous initiatives to address diversity in clinical trials.
Prior to this, Whyte worked for nearly a decade as the chief medical expert and vice president, health and medical education, at Discovery Channel, the leading nonfiction television network. In this role, Whyte developed, designed, and delivered educational programming that appealed to both a medical and lay audience. This included television shows as well as online content that won over 50 awards including numerous Tellys, CINE Golden Eagle, and Freddies.
Whyte is a board-certified internist. He completed an internal medicine residency at Duke University Medical Center as well as earned a Master of Public Health in health policy and management at Harvard University School of Public Health. Prior to arriving in Washington, Whyte was a health services research fellow at Stanford and attending physician in the department of medicine. He has written extensively in the medical and lay press.
He continues to see patients in Washington, DC, and Maryland.
You Can Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease Starting Now.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. Although some causes of heart disease are genetic, most is caused by lifestyle. Get Your Own Book Here
Executive Summary by Dr. Phil: As written by Dr. Phil in the forward of Dr. Whyte’s book:
Many people don’t seem to focus on the fact that our emotions really do and always have played a key role in the many aspects of heart disease. This lack of awareness is despite the wealth of data in recent years that shows the relationship between our emotional health, and our heart health.
Overall Heart Disease Statistics:
• 1 person dies from heart disease every minute in America.
• Heart disease is the leading cause of death, with 650,000 people lost in 2020.
• Cause of 1 out of every 4 deaths.
• Silent heart attacks make up more than 40% of all heart attacks; means no symptoms and triples your chance of dying.
• 80% of heart disease is caused by lifestyle
• According to an American Heart Association report published in 2022, only 7% of Americas met criteria for good heart health.
• Trend has been getting worse for the last 5 years.
• Currently 30% of Americans have heart disease.
• American Heart Association estimates that by 2030, more than 40% will have some sort of HD
