Sunday, June 28, 2015
YOUNGSTOWN
Age is the No. 1 risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which kills someone in the United States every minute.
Though there is nothing that can be done about getting older, there are basic things that people can do to stay heart healthy, said Dr. Joseph Graziano, cardiologist at ValleyCare’s Northside Medical Center.
Exercise, eating healthy and regular checkups by a primary-care physician are important for men who want to ensure lifelong heart health, said Dr. Graziano.
June is National Men’s Health Month, the purpose of which is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men. This month gives health care providers, public-policy makers, the media and individuals an opportunity to encourage men to seek regular medical advice and early treatment for disease and injury, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Graziano, 49, who has been in practice here since completing his medical education at the Cleveland Clinic in 1988, said the most-important thing, particularly as the population ages, is to continue to move and be active.
“Exercise cuts all the biggest, quantifiable heart-disease risk factors” such as sugar and blood cholesterol levels, he said.
He suggested walking in the neighborhood or the mall or a local track, doing yard or garden work, any physical activity that is safe but not sedentary.
And, said Dr. Graziano, a graduate of Mentor High School and Ohio State University College of Medicine, add healthful eating to the mix, with fewer carbohydrates and processed food and more fresh fruits and salads.
He said it is sometimes difficult for people to recognize symptoms that indicate they may be having a heart attack.
“Clear-cut chest pain is only one of many symptoms. A heart attack can also feel like indigestion, and shortness of breath and sweating are symptoms,” Dr. Graziano said.
He urged people to learn the signs of a potential heart attack, be alert to things that change and persist and get worse and to not ignore them.
A 2014 American Heart Association Cardiac Service Award recipient, Dr. Graziano, who lives in Poland with his wife, Patti, and their five children, said he was drawn to medicine as a teenager because his father had a heart attack and because his mother and older sister are nurses.
He said he came to Youngstown because it was a nice practice with a “good group of guys,” and to Northeast Ohio, where he grew up, to be near his family.