Photo: djd
Expert Interview
The WUNDERWEIB Expert for Heart Strategies: Hans-Jürgen Richter
Hans-Jürgen Richter is a doctor and a free medical publicist. He writes about biofactors and other health topics. Among other things, he is active as an author for various specialized and public media.
In the large WUNDERWEIB interview, the expert answers questions about cardiac strategies in the wake of the economic crisis.
He also explains why stress for the heart can be as harmful as cigarette smoking, so confidence is so helpful and what strategies are recommended in dealing with stress.
He gives helpful tips for a healthy life and also talks about his personal heart strategy.
Job anxiety and economic crisis are currently experienced as particularly threatening.
Do you think that these stressors could increase cardiovascular disease?
Hans-Jürgen Richter : The influence of corresponding insecurity and fears has long been underestimated, today it is clearly recognized in its importance by science.
The damage potential of such factors to our heart and other organs can reach dimensions such as those known from cigarette smoking.
What strategies do you recommend in dealing with such stress?
Hans-Jürgen Richter : It is important that we believe in the meaningfulness of life and maintain a certain basic trust.
This also applies to the job: confidence is a good, uncertainty a bad starting point.
Your book "Healthy through stress" is about the fact that stress is also positive. How is that possible?
Hans-Jürgen Richter : Our body does not work according to the wear model of the car tire, for example, where wear is equal to wear. The opposite is the case: Our heart, for example, is able to form and regenerate new cells even in old age.
Well-dosed charges are not only an elixir of life for the heart and circulation, but also for our brains and, for example, the joints. The book "Healthy through Stress" is a plea for an active life: The major common diseases of our time - from arthrosis to the mighty booming type 2 diabetes - are mainly fed by too much protection because of too little exercise.
Which movement and nutritional sins, from your point of view, are particularly conducive to the heart and circulation?
Hans-Jürgen Richter : A lack of exercise is the heart and circulation of the most secure: Our heart is a muscle that wants to be trained steadily and purposefully. For those who are really experienced extreme loads are of more use. Caution is advised in the context of infections such as colds or the flu.
It is also important to warn against dehydration during endurance exercise with corresponding losses of minerals such as magnesium, on which the heart muscle relies. For the inexperienced is less often to get started. He tends to overload, chases the pulse too high. A stress ECG at the doctor gives good information about what the body is to be expected.
As far as nutrition is concerned, from today's perspective, carbohydrates that quickly enter the bloodstream - a prime example of white flour products - are a particular problem. They promote hunger attacks and obesity.
Can the knowledge of risk factors be negative, that is to say, lead to more stress and anxiety if those affected simply can not change their lifestyle?
Hans-Jürgen Richter : One should already know his risk factors, but also pay attention to their limits. Compliance with certain standard values does not mean a health-optimal lifestyle. As the rabbit in front of the snake always staring at these risk factors can indeed fuel fears and discourages.
What do you think "typical" heart attack candidates look like?
Hans-Jürgen Richter : You talk a lot about stress and have turned it into an enemy instead of a friend. This becomes clear, for example, from the fact that in the evening, after a hard day's work, they sink into the armchair in front of the TV with a beer and fast food.
He or she does not know how refreshing a physical reaction might be, for example, in the form of a long walk through nature.
Here, cardiac calcification progresses creeping due to the physically too passive lifestyle, whereby our "typical" heart attack candidate usually only senses this when the affected coronary vessels are already 80 percent closed in their diameter.
In your experience, has the nutritional habits of Germans changed for the better when it comes to the prevention of heart attacks and Co.?
Hans-Jürgen Richter : Rather the opposite is the case. As far as the overweight is concerned, we are meanwhile - you hardly believe it - European champions! Two-thirds of the population in this country are too fat, which is not only due to a lack of exercise, but also to the diet.
Also more and more young people are affected. Serious consequences include cardiovascular disease. According to experts, the number of deaths from heart attacks will currently double from 170, 000 currently in Germany to 2025 by the year.
Do you consider the intake of additional vital substances in our affluent society useful?
Hans-Jürgen Richter : The lack of abundance is a widespread problem in Germany, as the Gesellschaft für Biofaktoren e. V. with reference to current data of the National Consumption Study. Despite an excess of sugar, fats and calories, this representative study revealed significant gaps in the population in terms of supply of biofactors - ie vitamins, minerals and trace elements.
In particular, with regard to the mineral substance magnesium, certain medications often prescribed for cardiovascular diseases - so-called diuretics - sometimes lead to considerable losses due to flushing and thus to an increased demand. Even a healthy, biofactor-rich diet reaches its limits here.
What can specifically magnesium orotate do for the protection of the heart and circulation?
Hans-Jürgen Richter : The two components of magnesium orotate - the natural, heart-strengthening orotic acid and the heart-protecting magnesium - complement each other in their spectrum of action such as key and lock. At the same time, the energizer Orotic Acid is also the ideal means of transport and fixator for magnesium: the heart muscle is protected from flushing and therefore depletion of this mineral.
Magnesium orotate gives more protection and strength to the stressed, endangered heart. Common cardiovascular therapies are complemented sensibly and effectively. This applies to all people with heart problems, from the circulation-related Herzenge over the weakening heart to the condition after a heart attack. The biofactor team helps us deal better with the daily stress. In addition, it has a favorable effect on blood pressure and blood lipids. Arterial calcification is counteracted, studies show.
What is your personal heart protection strategy?
Hans-Jürgen Richter : I switched my diet to a carbohydrate-reduced diet over a year ago. This means less baked goods, potatoes or pasta, but more fruits, vegetables, salads and fish, as well as healthy fats from nuts and oils. At the same time I have consistently expanded my exercise program in the form of extended hikes. The events of the International Voluntary Sports Association (IVV) have proven to be particularly motivating. Although I tend to be overweight, I have lost about ten kilograms in a gentle manner or without starving myself within about one year.
My job is really fun. Stress has a stimulating effect on me and promotes my creativity. That was not always so. When I did not have the boyfriend's stress a couple of years ago, I suffered from unpleasant cardiac arrhythmia for several weeks after getting flu. Magnesium orotate helped to overcome this crisis period without damage. This is how I have come to appreciate this biofactor connection, which is a great help to prepare me today for greater stress and better regeneration.
