World Heart Day: A Reminder to Check In on Your Heart Health

*This post is intended for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always talk with your healthcare provider about your individual health, symptoms, risk factors and appropriate screenings.

Every year on September 29, World Heart Day brings attention to something most of us rarely think about until we have a reason to: the health of our heart.

For me, heart health will never be an abstract topic. It became part of my own story in a way I never expected, and I shared that experience in My Heart Layer: When Your Heart Has a Story to Tell.

That experience is also why this message matters so much to me. Its easy to put our own health on the back bunrer while we’re taking care of our families, keeping up with work, managing our homes and simply moving through everyday life.

World Heart Day feels like a good reminder to move it back onto the list – not from a place of fear, but as part of taking care of ourselves with the same attention we give to so many other people and things. Also, not because every person needs a battery of heart tests. But because knowing a few important numbers, keeping up with routine appointments and paying attention to changes in your body can be an important part of taking care of yourself.

What Is World Heart Day?

World Heart Day is observed every year on September 29, and was created to raise awareness about cardiovascular disease and encourage people around the world to take steps toward better heart health.

For me, it is also a reminder to become an active participant in our own health. Know your numbers. Keep your appointments. Know your family history. Ask questions. And when something feels different or concerning, don’t automatically dismiss it.

My Heart Story Changed the Way I Think About Health

When I wrote about my personal heart experience, it was one of the most personal things I have shared on Living Layered, and it still is.

My heart story changed the way I think about routine healthcare. Also, the importance of listening to your body and advocating for yourself. I’m not sharing my experience because I think someone else will have the same thing happen to them. I share it because I want the person reading this to stop for a moment and think about their own health.

When was my last physical?

Do I know my blood pressure?

Do I know my cholesterol numbers?

Do I know my family history?

Have I been ignoring something I should talk to my doctor about?

Sometimes that little reminder is all we need to finally make the appointment we have been putting off.

Where Do You Start With Your Heart Health?

You don’t necessarily need to make an appointment with a cardiologist or request specialized heart testing simply because it is World Heart Day. For most people, a good place to begin is much simpler: your regular primary care appointment.

Tell your doctor that you want to understand your cardiovascular health and ask what screenings are appropriate for you based on your age, medical history and family history.

There are a few important things worth knowing and discussing with your healthcare provider.

1. Know Your Blood Pressure – High blood pressure can exist without obvious symptoms, which is one of the reasons routine blood pressure checks are so important. Know what your blood pressure is and ask your doctor what range is healthy for you. If you have a home blood pressure monitor, keeping track of your readings periodically can also give you useful information to bring to your appointments.
2. Know Your Cholesterol – When was the last time you had your cholesterol checked? A lipid panel looks at different types of cholesterol and triglycerides and helps your healthcare provider evaluate your overall cardiovascular risk. How often you need testing will depend on your age, medical history and individual risk factors, so ask your doctor when you should have yours checked again.
3. Know Your Blood Sugar – Blood sugar is another important piece of the heart-health picture. Ask your healthcare provider whether glucose or A1C testing should be part of your regular blood work, particularly if you have risk factors for diabetes or pre-diabetes.
4. Know Your Family History– Family history matters. Heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke and other cardiovascular conditions in close family members are all worth discussing with your doctor. You may not be able to change your genetics, but knowing your family history can help your healthcare provider determine how closely certain things should be monitored.

Ask This Question at Your Next Physical

There is one very simple question you can ask at your next appointment:

• What is my risk for heart disease, and is there anything I should be doing differently?

It opens the door to talking about your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, family history, lifestyle and any other individual risk factors you may have. A heart-health check does not automatically mean having an EKG, echocardiogram or heart scan. Sometimes it simply means understanding your risk. And that is a really good place to start.

The Everyday Things That Support Heart Health

Taking care of your heart doesn’t have to mean completely overhauling your life. Many of the habits that support heart health are the same ones that support our overall well-being: eating a balanced diet most of the time, moving our bodies regularly, getting enough sleep, avoiding smoking and nicotine, and keeping up with routine medical care.

It also means paying attention to the numbers that can tell us something about our health, including blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. If you take medication, take it as prescribed, keep your regular appointments and ask questions when you don’t understand a test result or recommendation.

Most of these things aren’t glamorous. They’re the small decisions we make over and over again—taking a walk, cooking dinner at home, choosing foods that make us feel good, going to bed instead of staying up another hour, making the annual physical and getting the blood work done.

And sometimes taking care of ourselves simply means following up when something doesn’t seem right, or starting again when we haven’t been taking care of ourselves quite as well as we’d like. That feels very much like the philosophy behind Living Layered: we are continually learning, adjusting and taking care of ourselves through every season of life.

Pay Attention When Something Feels Wrong

Routine prevention is important, but heart health also means knowing when symptoms may require immediate attention and recognizing when something simply doesn’t feel right in your own body. Those are two different things, and I think both are important.

Know the Warning Signs of a Heart Attack

Heart attack symptoms can include chest pressure, pain or discomfort, shortness of breath, weakness, lightheadedness, a cold sweat, nausea, or pain or discomfort in the arms, back, neck, jaw or stomach. Symptoms don’t always look exactly the way we expect them to, and some people, particularly women, may experience symptoms such as unusual fatigue, nausea or shortness of breath.

If you think you may be experiencing symptoms of a heart attack, that isn’t the time to wait and see or try to figure it out on your own. Seek emergency medical care and call 911.

When Something Just Doesn’t Feel Right

There is also a different kind of awareness that has become very important to me: knowing what is normal for your body and paying attention when something feels persistently or significantly different. Not every unusual symptom is an emergency, and this isn’t about becoming anxious over every ache or sensation. It’s about being willing to follow up when something continues to concern you.

One of the things I wish I had done differently in my own heart story was advocate for myself sooner. I knew something didn’t feel right, but I was told that what I was experiencing was anxiety and essentially all in my head. I accepted that explanation and took the medication I was prescribed, even though deep down I still felt that something wasn’t right.

Looking back, I wish I had asked more questions and gotten a second opinion. That doesn’t mean assuming a doctor is wrong or ignoring medical advice. It means understanding that you are also an important part of the conversation about your own health. If an explanation doesn’t seem to fit what you are experiencing, it is okay to ask why, request additional evaluation or seek another medical opinion.

I think many of us can feel uncomfortable questioning what we’re being told, especially when we’re sitting across from someone with far more medical knowledge than we have. I certainly did. But advocating for yourself doesn’t mean being difficult. It means explaining what you are experiencing as clearly as you can, asking questions until you understand the answers and speaking up when you genuinely feel that something has been missed.

That may be one of the biggest lessons my heart experience taught me: know the emergency warning signs, but also learn to listen to your own body. There is a difference between the two, and both matter.

Consider This Your World Heart Day Reminder

I wish I could tell you that if you eat the right foods, exercise and go to your yearly physical, you will never have an unexpected health problem. None of us gets that guarantee. What we can do is take care of the body we have today. We can know our numbers, keep our appointments, ask questions, and learn our family history. We can make choices that support our health most of the time without expecting ourselves to do everything perfectly. And we can listen when our bodies are trying to tell us something.

World Heart Day will always mean something different to me because of my own heart story.

If you haven’t read it yet, you can read My Heart Layer: When Your Heart Has a Story to Tell to understand why this subject is so personal to me.

And if this post encourages you to do one thing today, let it be something simple: schedule the appointment you’ve been putting off and simply start a conversation with your doctor.

You can also explore more of my Wellness & Self Care posts on Living Layered, where I share the things I’m learning and actually incorporating into my own life – like Healthy Living in my 50’s: Strength Training, Wellness, and Movement and aging skincare needs for LED Red Light Therapy: Does it Really Work? Benefits, Science & Best Devices. Because sometimes taking care of everyone else starts with remembering to take care of ourselves, too.