#176: Heart Doctor Champions Exercise & Mind-Body Connection For Your Health

Run The Race

Will exercise help you live longer or can you push yourself too hard that it can lead to heart issues? We talk about that and much more with the only trained specialist in both heart failure and pulmonary hypertension in the Chattahoochee Valley (West GA, East AL). The doctor also dives deep into the mind-body connection. (2:07) Dr. Hunter Champion, of Southeastern Cardiology in Columbus GA, first talks about how exercise or lack of impacts your heart, which can lead to good or bad thickness of the heart. He celebrates the process of trying to get healthier vs. the numbers of weight loss. He talks about experiments he's done and if you can push yourself too much, after we've seen a number of pro and college athletes recently collapse on the field or court. What can you do to avoid that? What are the red flags for amateur athletes? He lists, answers those and says...Listen to your body! To track your health stats, (11:37) like heart rate, there's technology that can help. Dr. Champion also discusses what it was like working with pro athletes in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. What keeps them motivated and what does he say to average patients who say they don't have time to exercise? The key: find what works for you. (17:03) As one of the men who coined the phrase "Broken Heart Syndrome" (sudden emotional stress of the mind, impacting heart failure), this physician shares a lot about the mind-body connection. That includes being strong mentally for athletic performance and when you're under pressure...mindfulness to keep negative thoughts at bay...box breathing...meditation instead of panic. (24:48) As for healthy aging, Dr. Champion tells people of all ages to eliminate excuses and find what you can do, even walking in a pool. He also has patients with the YOLO mentality, but too much pizza and living it up can lead to a shorter life. A hug thing, he says, is to know you family history for heart, health, cholesterol. That can help catch things before a heart attack. (33:57) He also give warning signs and preventative tips for everyday athletes. And there's also a shortcut that involves maalox. Dr. Champion also won't tell you to stop running or playing tennis or exercising...but will tell patients, you can't do it like you're used to (you may not be 20 years old anymore), so ease into it. (45:00) Finally, we talked about the mood benefits of exercise and especially the connections between faith and fitness. Dr. Champion discusses research on the power of prayer, plus wakeup calls for us to have a healthy mind/spirit/body. We all want to be around longer for a family, like this doctor who has 3 children. I close the episode talking about the war in Israel, world mental health day, and my closing prayer. Thanks for listening to the #RunTheRace podcast, which I hope you'll subscribe to! Share it with your friends. Also, write a quick review about it, on Apple podcasts. For more info and listen to any previous episodes, go to www.wtvm.com/podcast/.