Would you be better off taking up dance? Learning new steps.
@Leap1 I have gently suggested to @JLC (who is super-fit) that he take up dance to benefit his nervous system (coordination, fast responses) as well as muscles. I even linked to a Zumba toning web site (designed to be done with weights).
No response. Maybe dance exercise is too “girly” for macho JLC? ![]()
Wendy
In reality, a 10 year ASCVD risk estimator is pretty much a crock for anyone under the age of 70. I use that as a number because it’s just about the age I was when I got the results of my CT angiogram…after close to 2 decades of getting the low risk/no need to worry faulty reassurance.
Atherosclerosis is a progressive disease with multiple risk factors/risk predictors/risk multipliers that the ASCVD doesn’t factor in…and it can manifest itself in multiple different ways.
One tidbit I picked up at my appointment that I forgot to mention. A chance remark that the odd thing with my family history is that my uncles all presumably died from sudden cardiac events. Mum was the youngest in her family by a long way so they died suddenly when I was of an age to not be included in any discussion on cause (if there even were any). My mum and her older sister’s problems were mostly peripheral…peripheral vascular disease with claudication (and amputation for my auntie), renal artery stenosis and consequent hard to manage BP back in the early 1980s for my mum, and presumably cerebral circulation as she had multiple strokes. This is apparently a known phenomenon and not the oddity it seemed to me…until a bit of explanation by Dr M. I, apparently, am all cardiac. Like I always say…“The more I learn, the less I seem to know”
a 10 year ASCVD risk estimator is pretty much a crock for anyone under the age of 70.
I’m pretty sure that my cardiologist didn’t solely use that number for his recommendation. He also used the fact that 10 1/2 years ago, my LDL was 129 and that now 10 + years later, my scans (US and CTA w/FFR) showed minimal buildup. The earliest bloodwork I can access is Feb 2016, but I’ve been trying to locate earlier data as well.
Maybe dance exercise is too “girly” for macho JLC?
“Girly” isn’t the problem. I used to regularly do yoga when we had a gym membership pre-COVID. Then we built a home gym in the “barn” and it is hard to justify any extra memberships. Not just cost but time. Having a home gym saves about on hour each time when you consider driving, parking, getting your locker, etc. Now it is sweat and then go work in the garden. No lost time. Besides, my CrossFIt program has plenty of gymnastic/balance exercises to suffice. Handstand pushups, box jumps, one legged squats, etc.
That might well be the right advice for your particular situation. Notwithstanding, the 10 year risk estimator is STILL a crock for predicting the risk for a major atherosclerotic cardiovascular event…i.e. heart attack, stroke etc. For a disease that can take decades…a LOT of them…to develop to the level of heart attack, stroke, peripheral vascular disease and so on, a 10 year timeline says nothing about the early departure from healthy homeostasis and the inevitable progression to severely occluded arteries and where a person might be on this timeline.
Now, I’ve posted this article SO many times …but once again doesn’t hurt. A truly reasurring CAC and CT angiogram would be a big, fat ZERO.
How Coronary Calcium Informed a Sexagenerian Flaneur’s Decision on Statin Therapy – The Skeptical Cardiologist https://share.google/eKw7DVGULJdv1c1JH
Even a “minimal” build up is insight that, yes, you too have some degree of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease…as evidenced by the amount of calcified plaque the tests are measuring. However, that LDL-C isn’t super low and still qualifies as elevated. Of course, it might be due to non atherogenic particles (as in the Flaneur’s case). The Skeptical Cardiologist’s site gives a very comprehensive, easy to navigate breakdown of all the puzzle pieces on the table WRT individual risk.
Part of this is looking at your parent’s and grandparent’s generations to see how they died.
In my case all of my grandparents came from families of 8 siblings. At least 5 of the 32 died of strokes in their 80s. One of my great grandfathers died earlier of a stroke. We do not know enough about the others to preclude other stroke victims.
Consider stroke and heart attack the same for this.