Promoting Heart Health

Heart health remains one of the cornerstones of Dr. Schaffel’s practice. Just as music has its own tempo and cadence, so too does the heart — and learning to keep that rhythm steady is essential. Dr. Schaffel spends a lot of time at his yearly wellness exams doing a deep dive identifying warning signs that put patients at risk for developing heart disease. Because these appointments are longer, he can manage the major risk factors like blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes as well as work with patients to identify aspects of their lifestyle that promote bad eating habits, lack of exercise, and lack of sleep.

There is also time to consider the indirect impact of emotional stress, spiritual nourishment, mindfulness, and other mind-body functions that can strain the heart over the course of a patient’s lifetime if ignored.

Because cardiovascular disease continues to be a leading cause of illness and death in the US, we all need to actively work on lowering our risk. There are several specific steps we can take to lower risk:

1. Focus on diet – eat a plant-based diet that is low in processed food, low in “bad fats”, and stay hydrated. Because food is so abundant, we all need to limit our portion sizes and try to avoid going to sleep on a full stomach.

2. Exercise – technology has made our lives too sedentary. More important than intense exercise, we need to find more opportunities to get up and move. Find ways to walk more and move in ways that you wouldn’t consider exercise like work around the house, gardening, or walking at a mall.

3. Stress management – our world has become stressful for many reasons. This needs to be actively managed. While stress can have a directly negative impact on the body, it also impacts our decisions on eating, exercising, and sleeping.

4. Sleep – sleep is restorative. It is a high priority for good health and wellbeing. Sleep disturbances are often a result of our lifestyle habits that impact sleep negatively.

Gary Schaffel, MD

February 4, 2026