As the leading cause of death for Americans, one person dies from heart disease every 33 seconds in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

With American Heart Month recently coming to a close in February, Dr. Saif Al-Najafi from Winchester Medical Center shared what area residents should know about caring for their blood-pumping muscle year-round.

In the past 10 to 20 years, we advanced from a prognosis of heart failure being similar to cancer to almost people living a normal life on medications, Al-Najafi said.

Despite treatment improvements, it is still crucial for folks to stay away from smoking, poor diet choices and other causes of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which can lead to developing a weak heart, he said.

Smoking and obesity both seem to be highly prevalent in the community treated at Winchester Medical Center, according to the observations of Al-Najafi and his cardiologist colleagues.

Once you have a weak heart, we want to prevent hospitalizations. And that's easily preventable as well with a good education, he said. For example, with heart failure, they come again and get admitted and many times it's just lack of education when it comes to salt intake.

One diet misconception the doctor often sees is overconsumption of canned soups, which are sometimes perceived as healthy, but usually contain high amounts of sodium. Instead, one should aim to consume less than 2 grams of salt per day, especially in cases of a weak heart, he said.

His recommended diet is intermittent fasting, which consists of restricted eating during certain periods of time. Contrary to popular belief, the keto diet raises cholesterol due to increased consumption of foods such as red meat, he said. If one chooses to go the keto route, Al-Najafi advises attempting a modified version that eliminates or lessens food high in cholesterol.

An estimated 80% of the hospitals cardiac patients are elderly, with much fewer being young. One reason Al-Najafi suggested to explain this is that the surrounding community seems to be a place where people settle down after retirement.

Older people tend to experience more heart issues, he said. But placing an emphasis on healthy lifestyles as a young person is an extremely helpful heart disease prevention tactic, he expressed.

You don't just suddenly get morbidly obese because there's stages to get there, he said. And I think discussions happen relatively later than sooner and that's a problem.

Coronary artery disease (CAD), the most common type of heart disease, is almost entirely preventable based on lifestyle choices, he said. However, genetics can certainly play a role and he recommends being screened for a family history of premature CAD.

CAD is the primary cause of heart attacks, according to the CDC.

We have actually one of the fastest or shortest response times when it comes to heart attacks in the state of Virginia, Al-Najafi said. I think last year we were number one.

Al-Najafi, who specializes in advanced cardiac imaging, reported that Winchester Medical Center has roughly 90% of the most advanced imaging technologies, such as the ability to perform cardiac CT and MRI scans.

Other specializations at the center are electrophysiology, which focuses on patients who need pacemakers or have an irregular heartbeat, as well as interventional cardiology and heart failure specialists.

In the cases where Winchester Medical Center is unable to provide the help a patient needs, it connects with nearby institutions with which it has a working relationship, Al-Najafi explained.

I think the community is lucky to have such a hospital here that, at least from the cardiology standpoint, I would say provides 90% of what is needed by the community, he said.

The good fortune goes both ways, the doctor expressed.

We're very lucky to work in a community such as Winchester where most people are extremely nice and appreciative, Al-Najafi said.

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