{"id":1557,"date":"2026-09-05T12:55:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T12:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/?p=1557"},"modified":"2026-09-05T12:55:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T12:55:35","slug":"6-life-changing-lessons-on-transforming-your-heart-health-from-world-leading-cardiologists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/2026\/09\/05\/6-life-changing-lessons-on-transforming-your-heart-health-from-world-leading-cardiologists\/","title":{"rendered":"6 life-changing lessons on transforming your heart health, from world-leading cardiologists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Health<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 life-changing lessons on transforming your heart health, from world-leading cardiologists<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

What do heart doctors actually do to look after their own hearts? We asked four leading experts to find out<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Abbi Henderson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Blood
Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The human heart is a remarkable organ. For your whole life, its chambers and valves work tirelessly to pump blood around your body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this effort takes a toll. As the years pass, your heart and blood vessels can become damaged, stiff or coated with fatty plaques \u2013 changes that can be deadly if left unchecked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we age, we may notice reductions in our exercise capacity or, in vulnerable hearts, development of heart failure,\u201d says Dr Nikki Stamp<\/a>, a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon. \u201cThere is an increase in issues such as coronary artery disease and diseases of the heart valves as people get older.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can you prevent this from happening to you? It\u2019s everything you\u2019ve heard before: a healthy diet, sleep, exercise, no smoking and limited alcohol, as well as keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Stamp, the best way to look after your heart is to keep up with these habits consistently. She says: \u201cThe more we lean into those basics and away from the noise, the better off we are likely to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does that look like in practice? Well, there\u2019s no one better to ask than cardiologists themselves. Here\u2019s what heart doctors do to protect their own long-term heart health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Running up (or down) flights of stairs during work breaks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The unfortunate truth is that life gets busy, and when it does, it\u2019s all too easy to deprioritise your own wellbeing. That might mean cancelling a workout to ferry around family members, or skipping your lunchtime walk to eat lunch al desko while sending those emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your calendar gets overcrowded, it can be difficult to fit in the 150 minutes of moderate activity that the World Health Organization (WHO) advises<\/a> per week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Little chunks of exercise \u2013 called snacks \u2013 can be a helpful way to incorporate movement into a busy schedule. This can look like climbing stairs, doing star jumps in the living room or dancing around the kitchen while making dinner. Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where exercise snacks \u2013 short bursts of activity \u2013 can come in useful, says Dr Stephen Kopecky<\/a>, author and preventive cardiologist at Mayo Clinic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His snack of choice? Scaling stairs during work breaks. \u201cI work on the fifth floor of an office building. Five floors below me is the breakroom for workers where they offer us beverages and fruit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three or four times a day, he explains, Kopecky walks down the stairs to get a beverage and then runs back up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe running back up takes about 90 seconds,\u201d he says. \u201cBy running, I mean stepping up three steps per second. The average step is seven inches [18cm] in height so this is a 21-inch [53cm] vertical lift every second which is fairly intense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has actually been shown, when done on a regular basis, to improve cardiovascular fitness significantly and prolong life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If running isn\u2019t possible for you, research shows that walking down stairs also has the potential to improve heart health. One study<\/a> found that walking down stairs \u2013 rather than up \u2013 resulted in greater improvements in resting heart rate among overweight older women.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, you needn\u2019t bother with stairs at all if this isn\u2019t a habit that would fit into your routine. The important point is to add in little bursts of movement wherever you can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n